diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/12101-0.txt | 16728 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/12101-0.zip | bin | 0 -> 365738 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/12101-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 392943 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/12101-h/12101-h.htm | 21001 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/12101-8.txt | 16787 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/12101-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 366361 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/12101.txt | 16787 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/12101.zip | bin | 0 -> 366211 bytes |
8 files changed, 71303 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/12101-0.txt b/old/12101-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3e0ba1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12101-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16728 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Social History of The American Negro, by Benjamin Brawley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: A Social History of The American Negro +Being a History of the Negro Problem in the United States. Including A History And Study Of The Republic Of Liberia + +Author: Benjamin Brawley + +Release Date: April 25, 2004 [eBook #12101] +[Most recently updated: August 22, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Suzanne Shell, Leonard D Johnson and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN NEGRO *** + + + + +A SOCIAL HISTORY +OF THE +American Negro + + +BEING +A HISTORY OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM +IN THE UNITED STATES + +INCLUDING +A HISTORY AND STUDY OF THE +REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA + +by BENJAMIN BRAWLEY +1921 + + + + + +TO THE MEMORY OF +NORWOOD PENROSE HALLOWELL + +PATRIOT +1839-1914 + + * * * * * + + _These all died in faith, not having received + the promises, but having seen them afar off_. + +Norwood Penrose Hallowell was born in Philadelphia April 13, 1839. He +inherited the tradition of the Quakers and grew to manhood in a +strong anti-slavery atmosphere. The home of his father, Morris L. +Hallowell--the "House called Beautiful," in the phrase of Oliver Wendell +Holmes--was a haven of rest and refreshment for wounded soldiers of the +Union Army, and hither also, after the assault upon him in the Senate, +Charles Sumner had come for succor and peace. Three brothers in one +way or another served the cause of the Union, one of them, Edward +N. Hallowell, succeeding Robert Gould Shaw in the Command of the +Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. Norwood Penrose +Hallowell himself, a natural leader of men, was Harvard class orator in +1861; twenty-five years later he was the marshal of his class; and in +1896 he delivered the Memorial Day address in Sanders Theater. Entering +the Union Army with promptness in April, 1861, he served first in +the New England Guards, then as First Lieutenant in the Twentieth +Massachusetts, won a Captain's commission in November, and within the +next year took part in numerous engagements, being wounded at Glendale +and even more severely at Antietam. On April 17, 1863, he became +Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, and on May 30 +Colonel of the newly organized Fifty-Fifth. Serving in the investment +of Fort Wagner, he was one of the first to enter the fort after its +evacuation. His wounds ultimately forced him to resign his commission, +and in November, 1863, he retired from the service. He engaged in +business in New York, but after a few years removed to Boston, where he +became eminent for his public spirit. He was one of God's noblemen, and +to the last he preserved his faith in the Negro whom he had been among +the first to lead toward the full heritage of American citizenship. He +died April 11, 1914. + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA +1. African Origins +2. The Negro in Spanish Exploration +3. Development of the Slave-Trade +4. Planting of Slavery in the Colonies +5. The Wake of the Slave-Ship + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NEGRO IN THE COLONIES +1. Servitude and Slavery +2. The Indian, the Mulatto, and the Free Negro +3. First Effort toward Social Betterment +4. Early Insurrections + + +CHAPTER III + +THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA +1. Sentiment in England and America +2. The Negro in the War +3. The Northwest Territory and the Constitution +4. Early Steps toward Abolition +5. Beginning of Racial Consciousness + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE NEW WEST, THE SOUTH, AND THE WEST INDIES +1. The Cotton-Gin, the New Southwest, and the First Fugitive Slave Law +2. Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louisiana, and the Formal Closing of the + Slave-Trade +3. Gabriel's Insurrection and the Rise of the Negro Problem + + +CHAPTER V + +INDIAN AND NEGRO +1. Creek, Seminole, and Negro to 1817: The War of 1812 +2. First Seminole War and the Treaties of Indian Spring and Fort Moultrie +3. From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to the Treaty of Payne's Landing +4. Osceola and the Second Seminole War + + +CHAPTER VI + +EARLY APPROACH TO THE NEGRO PROBLEM +1. The Ultimate Problem and the Missouri Compromise +2. Colonization +3. Slavery + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE NEGRO REPLY--I: REVOLT +1. Denmark Vesey's Insurrection +2. Nat Turner's Insurrection +3. The _Amistad_ and _Creole_ Cases + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE NEGRO REPLY--II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION +1. Walker's "Appeal" +2. The Convention Movement +3. Sojourner Truth and Woman Suffrage + + +CHAPTER IX + +LIBERIA +1. The Place and the People +2. History + (a) Colonization and Settlement + (b) The Commonwealth of Liberia + (c) The Republic of Liberia +3. International Relations +4. Economic and Social Conditions + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NEGRO A NATIONAL ISSUE +1. Current Tendencies +2. The Challenge of the Abolitionists +3. The Contest + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOCIAL PROGRESS, 1820-1860 + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE ERA OF ENFRANCHISEMENT +1. The Problem +2. Meeting the Problem +3. Reaction: The Ku-Klux Klan +4. Counter-Reaction: The Negro Exodus +5. A Postscript on the War and Reconstruction + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW SOUTH +1. Political Life: Disfranchisement +2. Economic Life: Peonage +3. Social Life: Proscription, Lynching + + +CHAPTER XV + +"THE VALE OF TEARS," 1890-1910 +1. Current Opinion and Tendencies +2. Industrial Education: Booker T. Washington +3. Individual Achievement: The Spanish-American War +4. Mob Violence; Election Troubles; The Atlanta Massacre +5. The Question of Labor +6. Defamation; Brownsville +7. The Dawn of a To-morrow + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW AGE +1. Character of the Period +2. Migration; East St. Louis +3. The Great War +4. High Tension: Washington, Chicago, Elaine +5. The Widening Problem + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE NEGRO PROBLEM +1. World Aspect +2. The Negro in American Life +3. Face to Face + + + + +PREFACE + +In the following pages an effort is made to give fresh treatment to the +history of the Negro people in the United States, and to present this +from a distinct point of view, the social. It is now forty years since +George W. Williams completed his _History of the Negro Race in America_, +and while there have been many brilliant studies of periods or episodes +since that important work appeared, no one book has again attempted to +treat the subject comprehensively, and meanwhile the race has passed +through some of its most critical years in America. The more outstanding +political phases of the subject, especially in the period before the +Civil War, have been frequently considered; and in any account of +the Negro people themselves the emphasis has almost always been upon +political and military features. Williams emphasizes this point of view, +and his study of legal aspects is not likely soon to be superseded. A +noteworthy point about the history of the Negro, however, is that laws +on the statute-books have not necessarily been regarded, public opinion +and sentiment almost always insisting on being considered. It is +necessary accordingly to study the actual life of the Negro people in +itself and in connection with that of the nation, and something like +this the present work endeavors to do. It thus becomes not only a Social +History of the race, but also the first formal effort toward a History +of the Negro Problem in America. + +With this aim in mind, in view of the enormous amount of material, +we have found it necessary to confine ourselves within very definite +limits. A thorough study of all the questions relating to the Negro in +the United States would fill volumes, for sooner or later it would touch +upon all the great problems of American life. No attempt is made to +perform such a task; rather is it intended to fix attention upon the +race itself as definitely as possible. Even with this limitation there +are some topics that might be treated at length, but that have already +been studied so thoroughly that no very great modification is now likely +to be made of the results obtained. Such are many of the questions +revolving around the general subject of slavery. Wars are studied not so +much to take note of the achievement of Negro soldiers, vital as that +is, as to record the effect of these events on the life of the great +body of people. Both wars and slavery thus become not more than +incidents in the history of the ultimate problem. + +In view of what has been said, it is natural that the method of +treatment should vary with the different chapters. Sometimes it is +general, as when we touch upon the highways of American history. +Sometimes it is intensive, as in the consideration of insurrections and +early effort for social progress; and Liberia, as a distinct and much +criticized experiment in government by American Negroes, receives very +special attention. For the first time also an effort is now made to +treat consecutively the life of the Negro people in America for the last +fifty years. + +This work is the result of studies on which I have been engaged for +a number of years and which have already seen some light in _A Short +History of the American Negro_ and _The Negro in Literature and Art_; +and acquaintance with the elementary facts contained in such books as +these is in the present work very largely taken for granted. I feel +under a special debt of gratitude to the New York State Colonization +Society, which, coöperating with the American Colonization Society and +the Board of Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia, in 1920 +gave me opportunity for some study at first hand of educational and +social conditions on the West Coast of Africa; and most of all do I +remember the courtesy and helpfulness of Dr. E.C. Sage and Dr. J.H. +Dillard in this connection. In general I have worked independently +of Williams, but any student of the subject must be grateful to that +pioneer, as well as to Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, who has made contributions in +so many ways. My obligations to such scholarly dissertations as those +by Turner and Russell are manifest, while to Mary Stoughton Locke's +_Anti-Slavery in America_--a model monograph--I feel indebted more than +to any other thesis. Within the last few years, of course, the _Crisis_, +the _Journal of Negro History_, and the _Negro Year-Book_ have in their +special fields become indispensable, and to Dr. Carter G. Woodson and +Professor M.N. Work much credit is due for the faith which has prompted +their respective ventures. I take this occasion also to thank Professor +W.E. Dodd, of the University of Chicago, who from the time of my +entrance upon this field has generously placed at my disposal his +unrivaled knowledge of the history of the South; and as always I must +be grateful to my father, Rev. E.M. Brawley, for that stimulation and +criticism which all my life have been most valuable to me. Finally, the +work has been dedicated to the memory of a distinguished soldier, who, +in his youth, in the nation's darkest hour, helped to lead a struggling +people to freedom and his country to victory. It is now submitted to the +consideration of all who are interested in the nation's problems, and +indeed in any effort that tries to keep in mind the highest welfare of +the country itself. + +BENJAMIN BRAWLEY. Cambridge, January 1, 1921. + + + + +SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA + + +1. _African Origins_ + +An outstanding characteristic of recent years has been an increasing +recognition of the cultural importance of Africa to the world. From all +that has been written three facts are prominent: (1) That at some time +early in the Middle Ages, perhaps about the seventh century, there was +a considerable infiltration of Arabian culture into the tribes living +below the Sahara, something of which may to-day most easily be seen +among such people as the Haussas in the Soudan and the Mandingoes along +the West Coast; (2) That, whatever influences came in from the outside, +there developed in Africa an independent culture which must not be +underestimated; and (3) That, perhaps vastly more than has been +supposed, this African culture had to do with early exploration and +colonization in America. The first of these three facts is very +important, but is now generally accepted and need not here detain us. +For the present purpose the second and third demand more attention. + +The development of native African art is a theme of never-ending +fascination for the ethnologist. Especially have striking resemblances +between Negro and Oceanian culture been pointed out. In political +organization as well as certain forms of artistic endeavor the Negro +people have achieved creditable results, and especially have they been +honored as the originators of the iron technique.[1] It has further been +shown that fetichism, which is especially well developed along the +West Coast and its hinterland, is at heart not very different from the +manitou beliefs of the American Indians; and it is this connection that +furnishes the key to some of the most striking results of the researches +of the latest and most profound student of this and related problems.[2] + +[Footnote 1: Note article "Africa" in _New International Encyclopedia_, +referring especially to the studies of Von Luschan.] + +[Footnote 2: Leo Wiener: _Africa and the Discovery of America_, Vol. I, +Innes & Sons, Philadelphia, 1920.] + +From the Soudan radiated a culture that was destined to affect Europe +and in course of time to extend its influence even beyond the Atlantic +Ocean. It is important to remember that throughout the early history of +Europe and up to the close of the fifteenth century the approach to the +home of the Negro was by land. The Soudan was thought to be the edge of +the then known world; Homer speaks of the Ethiopians as "the farthest +removed of men, and separated into two divisions." Later Greek writers +carry the description still further and speak of the two divisions as +Eastern and Western--the Eastern occupying the countries eastward of the +Nile, and the Western stretching from the western shores of that river +to the Atlantic Coast. "One of these divisions," says Lady Lugard, "we +have to acknowledge, was perhaps itself the original source of the +civilization which has through Egypt permeated the Western world.... +When the history of Negroland comes to be written in detail, it may be +found that the kingdoms lying toward the eastern end of the Soudan were +the home of races who inspired, rather than of races who received, the +traditions of civilization associated for us with the name of ancient +Egypt."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _A Tropical Dependency_, James Nisbet & Co., Ltd., London, +1906, p. 17.] + +If now we come to America, we find the Negro influence upon the Indian +to be so strong as to call in question all current conceptions of +American archæology and so early as to suggest the coming of men from +the Guinea Coast perhaps even before the coming of Columbus.[1] The +first natives of Africa to come were Mandingoes; many of the words +used by the Indians in their daily life appear to be not more than +corruptions or adaptations of words used by the tribes of Africa; and +the more we study the remains of those who lived in America before 1492, +and the far-reaching influence of African products and habits, the more +must we acknowledge the strength of the position of the latest thesis. +This whole subject will doubtless receive much more attention from +scholars, but in any case it is evident that the demands of Negro +culture can no longer be lightly regarded or brushed aside, and that as +a scholarly contribution to the subject Wiener's work is of the very +highest importance. + +[Footnote 1: See Wiener, I, 178.] + + +2. _The Negro in Spanish Exploration_ + +When we come to Columbus himself, the accuracy of whose accounts has so +recently been questioned, we find a Negro, Pedro Alonso Niño, as the +pilot of one of the famous three vessels. In 1496 Niño sailed to Santo +Domingo and he was also with Columbus on his third voyage. With two men, +Cristóbal de la Guerra, who served as pilot, and LuÃs de la Guerra, +a Spanish merchant, in 1499 he planned what proved to be the first +successful commercial voyage to the New World. + +The revival of slavery at the close of the Middle Ages and the beginning +of the system of Negro slavery were due to the commercial expansion of +Portugal in the fifteenth century. The very word _Negro_ is the modern +Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin _niger_. In 1441 Prince Henry +sent out one Gonzales, who captured three Moors on the African coast. +These men offered as ransom ten Negroes whom they had taken. The Negroes +were taken to Lisbon in 1442, and in 1444 Prince Henry regularly began +the European trade from the Guinea Coast. For fifty years his country +enjoyed a monopoly of the traffic. By 1474 Negroes were numerous in +Spain, and special interest attaches to Juan de Valladolid, probably the +first of many Negroes who in time came to have influence and power over +their people under the authority of a greater state. He was addressed as +"judge of all the Negroes and mulattoes, free or slaves, which are in +the very loyal and noble city of Seville, and throughout the whole +archbishopric thereof." After 1500 there are frequent references to +Negroes, especially in the Spanish West Indies. Instructions to Ovando, +governor of Hispaniola, in 1501, prohibited the passage to the Indies of +Jews, Moors, or recent converts, but authorized him to take over Negro +slaves who had been born in the power of Christians. These orders were +actually put in force the next year. Even the restricted importation +Ovando found inadvisable, and he very soon requested that Negroes be not +sent, as they ran away to the Indians, with whom they soon made friends. +Isabella accordingly withdrew her permission, but after her death +Ferdinand reverted to the old plan and in 1505 sent to Ovando seventeen +Negro slaves for work in the copper-mines, where the severity of the +labor was rapidly destroying the Indians. In 1510 Ferdinand directed +that fifty Negroes be sent immediately, and that more be sent later; and +in April of this year over a hundred were bought in the Lisbon market. +This, says Bourne,[1] was the real beginning of the African slave-trade +to America. Already, however, as early as 1504, a considerable number +of Negroes had been introduced from Guinea because, as we are informed, +"the work of one Negro was worth more than that of four Indians." In +1513 thirty Negroes assisted Balboa in building the first ships made on +the Pacific Coast of America. In 1517 Spain formally entered upon the +traffic, Charles V on his accession to the throne granting "license +for the introduction of Negroes to the number of four hundred," and +thereafter importation to the West Indies became a thriving industry. +Those who came in these early years were sometimes men of considerable +intelligence, having been trained as Mohammedans or Catholics. By 1518 +Negroes were at work in the sugar-mills in Hispaniola, where they seem +to have suffered from indulgence in drinks made from sugarcane. In 1521 +it was ordered that Negro slaves should not be employed on errands as +in general these tended to cultivate too close acquaintance with the +Indians. In 1522 there was a rebellion on the sugar plantations in +Hispaniola, primarily because the services of certain Indians were +discontinued. Twenty Negroes from the Admiral's mill, uniting with +twenty others who spoke the same language, killed a number of +Christians. They fled and nine leagues away they killed another Spaniard +and sacked a house. One Negro, assisted by twelve Indian slaves, also +killed nine other Christians. After much trouble the Negroes were +apprehended and several of them hanged. It was about 1526 that Negroes +were first introduced within the present limits of the United States, +being brought to a colony near what later became Jamestown, Va. Here the +Negroes were harshly treated and in course of time they rose against +their oppressors and fired their houses. The settlement was broken up, +and the Negroes and their Spanish companions returned to Hispaniola, +whence they had come. In 1540, in Quivira, in Mexico, there was a +Negro who had taken holy orders; and in 1542 there were established at +Guamanga three brotherhoods of the True Cross of Spaniards, one being +for Indians and one for Negroes. + +[Footnote 1: _Spain in America_, Vol. 3 in American Nation Series, p. +270.] + +The outstanding instance of a Negro's heading in exploration is that of +Estévanico (or Estévanillo, or Estévan, that is, Stephen), one of the +four survivors of the ill-fated expedition of De Narvaez, who sailed +from Spain, June 17, 1527. Having returned to Spain after many years of +service in the New World, Pamfilo de Narvaez petitioned for a grant, and +accordingly the right to conquer and colonize the country between the +Rio de las Palmas, in eastern Mexico, and Florida was accorded him.[1] +His force originally consisted of six hundred soldiers and +colonists. The whole conduct of the expedition--incompetent in the +extreme--furnished one of the most appalling tragedies of early +exploration in America. The original number of men was reduced by half +by storms and hurricanes and desertions in Santo Domingo and Cuba, and +those who were left landed in April, 1528, near the entrance to Tampa +Bay, on the west coast of Florida. One disaster followed another in the +vicinity of Pensacola Bay and the mouth of the Mississippi until at +length only four men survived. These were Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca; +Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, a captain of infantry; Alonzo del Castillo +Maldonado; and Estévanico, who had originally come from the west +coast of Morocco and who was a slave of Dorantes. These men had most +remarkable adventures in the years between 1528 and 1536, and as a +narrative of suffering and privation Cabeza de Vaca's _Journal_ has +hardly an equal in the annals of the continent. Both Dorantes and +Estévanico were captured, and indeed for a season or two all four men +were forced to sojourn among the Indians. They treated the sick, and +with such success did they work that their fame spread far and wide +among the tribes. Crowds followed them from place to place, showering +presents upon them. With Alonzo de Castillo, Estévanico sojourned for +a while with the Yguazes, a very savage tribe that killed its own male +children and bought those of strangers. He at length escaped from these +people and spent several months with the Avavares. He afterwards went +with De Vaca to the Maliacones, only a short distance from the Avavares, +and still later he accompanied Alonzo de Castillo in exploring the +country toward the Rio Grande. He was unexcelled as a guide who could +make his way through new territory. In 1539 he went with Fray Marcos of +Nice, the Father Provincial of the Franciscan order in New Spain, as a +guide to the Seven Cities of Cibola, the villages of the ancestors of +the present Zuñi Indians in western New Mexico. Preceding Fray Marcos +by a few days and accompanied by natives who joined him on the way, he +reached Háwikuh, the southern-most of the seven towns. Here he and all +but three of his Indian followers were killed. + +[Footnote 1: Frederick W. Hodge, 3, in _Spanish Explorers in the +Southern United States_, 1528-1543, in "Original Narratives of Early +American History," Scribner's, New York, 1907. Both the Narrative of +Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and the Narrative of the Expedition of +Coronado, by Pedro de Casteñada, are edited by Hodge, with illuminating +introductions.] + + +3. _Development of the Slave-Trade_ + +Portugal and Spain having demonstrated that the slave-trade was +profitable, England also determined to engage in the traffic; and as +early as 1530 William Hawkins, a merchant of Plymouth, visited the +Guinea Coast and took away a few slaves. England really entered the +field, however, with the voyage in 1562 of Captain John Hawkins, son of +William, who in October of this year also went to the coast of Guinea. +He had a fleet of three ships and one hundred men, and partly by the +sword and partly by other means he took three hundred or more Negroes, +whom he took to Santo Domingo and sold profitably.[1] He was richly +laden going homeward and some of his stores were seized by Spanish +vessels. Hawkins made two other voyages, one in 1564, and another, +with Drake, in 1567. On his second voyage he had four armed ships, the +largest being the _Jesus_, a vessel of seven hundred tons, and a force +of one hundred and seventy men. December and January (1564-5) he spent +in picking up freight, and by sickness and fights with the Negroes he +lost many of his men. Then at the end of January he set out for the +West Indies. He was becalmed for twenty-one days, but he arrived at the +Island of Dominica March 9. He traded along the Spanish coasts and on +his return to England he touched at various points in the West Indies +and sailed along the coast of Florida. On his third voyage he had five +ships. He himself was again in command of the _Jesus_, while Drake +was in charge of the _Judith_, a little vessel of fifty tons. He got +together between four and five hundred Negroes and again went to +Dominica. He had various adventures and at last was thrown by a storm on +the coast of Mexico. Here after three days he was attacked by a Spanish +fleet of twelve vessels, and all of his ships were destroyed except the +_Judith_ and another small vessel, the _Minion_, which was so crowded +that one hundred men risked the dangers on land rather than go to +sea with her. On this last voyage Hawkins and Drake had among their +companions the Earls of Pembroke and Leicester, who were then, like +other young Elizabethans, seeking fame and fortune. It is noteworthy +that in all that he did Hawkins seems to have had no sense of cruelty or +wrong. He held religious services morning and evening, and in the spirit +of the later Cromwell he enjoined upon his men to "serve God daily, love +one another, preserve their victuals, beware of fire, and keep good +company." Queen Elizabeth evidently regarded the opening of the +slave-trade as a worthy achievement, for after his second voyage she +made Hawkins a knight, giving him for a crest the device of a Negro's +head and bust with the arms securely bound. + +[Footnote 1: Edward E. Hale in Justin Winsor's _Narrative and Critical +History of America_, III, 60.] + +France joined in the traffic in 1624, and then Holland and Denmark, and +the rivalry soon became intense. England, with her usual aggressiveness, +assumed a commanding position, and, much more than has commonly been +supposed, the Navigation Ordinance of 1651 and the two wars with the +Dutch in the seventeenth century had as their basis the struggle for +supremacy in the slave-trade. The English trade proper began with the +granting of rights to special companies, to one in 1618, to another in +1631, and in 1662 to the "Company of Royal Adventurers," rechartered +in 1672 as the "Royal African Company," to which in 1687 was given the +exclusive right to trade between the Gold Coast and the British colonies +in America. James, Duke of York, was interested in this last company, +and it agreed to supply the West Indies with three thousand slaves +annually. In 1698, on account of the incessant clamor of English +merchants, the trade was opened generally, and any vessel carrying the +British flag was by act of Parliament permitted to engage in it on +payment of a duty of 10 per cent on English goods exported to Africa. +New England immediately engaged in the traffic, and vessels from Boston +and Newport went forth to the Gold Coast laden with hogsheads of rum. In +course of time there developed a three-cornered trade by which molasses +was brought from the West Indies to New England, made into rum to be +taken to Africa and exchanged for slaves, the slaves in turn being +brought to the West Indies or the Southern colonies.[1] A slave +purchased for one hundred gallons of rum worth £10 brought from £20 to +£50 when offered for sale in America.[2] Newport soon had twenty-two +still houses, and even these could not satisfy the demand. England +regarded the slave-trade as of such importance that when in 1713 she +accepted the Peace of Utrecht she insisted on having awarded to her for +thirty years the exclusive right to transport slaves to the Spanish +colonies in America. When in the course of the eighteenth century the +trade became fully developed, scores of vessels went forth each year +to engage in it; but just how many slaves were brought to the present +United States and how many were taken to the West Indies or South +America, it is impossible to say. In 1726 the three cities of London, +Bristol, and Liverpool alone had 171 ships engaged in the traffic, and +the profits were said to warrant a thousand more, though such a number +was probably never reached so far as England alone was concerned.[3] + +[Footnote 1: Bogart: _Economic History_, 72.] + +[Footnote 2: Coman: _Industrial History_, 78.] + +[Footnote 3: Ballagh: _Slavery in Virginia, 12_.] + + +4. _Planting of Slavery in the Colonies_ + +It is only for Virginia that we can state with definiteness the year +in which Negro slaves were first brought to an English colony on the +mainland. When legislation on the subject of slavery first appears +elsewhere, slaves are already present. "About the last of August +(1619)," says John Rolfe in John Smith's _Generall Historie_, "came in a +Dutch man of warre, that sold us twenty Negars." These Negroes were +sold into servitude, and Virginia did not give statutory recognition to +slavery as a system until 1661, the importations being too small to make +the matter one of importance. In this year, however, an act of assembly +stated that Negroes were "incapable of making satisfaction for the time +lost in running away by addition of time"; [1] and thus slavery gained a +firm place in the oldest of the colonies. + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, II, _26_.] + +Negroes were first imported into Massachusetts from Barbadoes a year or +two before 1638, but in John Winthrop's _Journal_, under date February +26 of this year, we have positive evidence on the subject as follows: +"Mr. Pierce in the Salem ship, the _Desire_, returned from the West +Indies after seven months. He had been at Providence, and brought some +cotton, and tobacco, and Negroes, etc., from thence, and salt from +Tertugos. Dry fish and strong liquors are the only commodities for those +parts. He met there two men-of-war, sent forth by the lords, etc., of +Providence with letters of mart, who had taken divers prizes from the +Spaniard and many Negroes." It was in 1641 that there was passed in +Massachusetts the first act on the subject of slavery, and this was the +first positive statement in any of the colonies with reference to +the matter. Said this act: "There shall never be any bond slavery, +villeinage, nor captivity among us, unless it be lawful captives, taken +in just wars, and such strangers as willingly sell themselves or are +sold to us, and these shall have all the liberties and Christian usages +which the law of God established in Israel requires." This article +clearly sanctioned slavery. Of the three classes of persons referred to, +the first was made up of Indians, the second of white people under the +system of indenture, and the third of Negroes. In this whole matter, as +in many others, Massachusetts moved in advance of the other colonies. +The first definitely to legalize slavery, in course of time she became +also the foremost representative of sentiment against the system. In +1646 one John Smith brought home two Negroes from the Guinea Coast, +where we are told he "had been the means of killing near a hundred +more." The General Court, "conceiving themselves bound by the first +opportunity to bear witness against the heinous and crying sin of +man-stealing," ordered that the Negroes be sent at public expense to +their native country.[1] In later cases, however, Massachusetts did not +find herself able to follow this precedent. In general in these early +years New England was more concerned about Indians than about Negroes, +as the presence of the former in large numbers was a constant menace, +while Negro slavery had not yet assumed its most serious aspects. + +[Footnote 1: Coffin: _Slave Insurrections_, 8.] + +In New York slavery began under the Dutch rule and continued under the +English. Before or about 1650 the Dutch West India Company brought some +Negroes to New Netherland. Most of these continued to belong to the +company, though after a period of labor (under the common system of +indenture) some of the more trusty were permitted to have small farms, +from the produce of which they made return to the company. Their +children, however, continued to be slaves. In 1664 New Netherland became +New York. The next year, in the code of English laws that was drawn +up, it was enacted that "no Christian shall be kept in bond slavery, +villeinage, or captivity, except who shall be judged thereunto by +authority, or such as willingly have sold or shall sell themselves." As +at first there was some hesitancy about making Negroes Christians, this +act, like the one in Massachusetts, by implication permitted slavery. + +It was in 1632 that the grant including what is now the states of +Maryland and Delaware was made to George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore. +Though slaves are mentioned earlier, it was in 1663-4 that the Maryland +Legislature passed its first enactment on the subject of slavery. It was +declared that "all Negroes and other slaves within this province, and +all Negroes and other slaves to be hereinafter imported into this +province, shall serve during life; and all children born of any Negro +or other slave, shall be slaves as their fathers were, for the term of +their lives." + +In Delaware and New Jersey the real beginnings of slavery are unusually +hazy. The Dutch introduced the system in both of these colonies. In the +laws of New Jersey the word _slaves_ occurs as early as 1664, and acts +for the regulation of the conduct of those in bondage began with the +practical union of the colony with New York in 1702. The lot of the +slave was somewhat better here than in most of the colonies. Although +the system was in existence in Delaware almost from the beginning of the +colony, it did not receive legal recognition until 1721, when there was +passed an act providing for the trial of slaves in a special court with +two justices and six freeholders. + +As early as 1639 there are incidental reference to Negroes in +Pennsylvania, and there are frequent references after this date.[1] In +this colony there were strong objections to the importing of Negroes in +spite of the demand for them. Penn in his charter to the Free Society of +Traders in 1682 enjoined upon the members of this company that if they +held black slaves these should be free at the end of fourteen years, +the Negroes then to become the company's tenants.[2] In 1688 there +originated in Germantown a protest against Negro slavery that was "the +first formal action ever taken against the barter in human flesh within +the boundaries of the United States." [3] Here a small company of +Germans was assembled April 18, 1688, and there was drawn up a document +signed by Garret Hendericks, Franz Daniel Pastorius, Dirck Op den +Graeff, and Abraham Op den Graeff. The protest was addressed to the +monthly meeting of the Quakers about to take place in Lower Dublin. +The monthly meeting on April 30 felt that it could not pretend to take +action on such an important matter and referred it to the quarterly +meeting in June. This in turn passed it on to the yearly meeting, the +highest tribunal of the Quakers. Here it was laid on the table, and +for the next few years nothing resulted from it. About 1696, however, +opposition to slavery on the part of the Quakers began to be active. In +the colony at large before 1700 the lot of the Negro was regularly +one of servitude. Laws were made for servants, white or black, and +regulations and restrictions were largely identical. In 1700, however, +legislation began more definitely to fix the status of the slave. In +this year an act of the legislature forbade the selling of Negroes out +of the province without their consent, but in other ways it denied the +personality of the slave. This act met further formal approval in 1705, +when special courts were ordained for the trial and punishment of +slaves, and when importation from Carolina was forbidden on the ground +that it made trouble with the Indians nearer home. In 1700 a maximum +duty of 20s. was placed on each Negro imported, and in 1705 this was +doubled, there being already some competition with white labor. In 1712 +the Assembly sought to prevent importation altogether by a duty of £20 +a head. This act was repealed in England, and a duty of £5 in 1715 was +also repealed. In 1729, however, the duty was fixed at £2, at which +figure it remained for a generation. + +[Footnote 1: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 1.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 21.] + +[Footnote 3: Faust: _The German Element in the United States_, Boston, +1909, I, 45.] + +It was almost by accident that slavery was officially recognized in +Connecticut in 1650. The code of laws compiled for the colony in this +year was especially harsh on the Indians. It was enacted that certain of +them who incurred the displeasure of the colony might be made to serve +the person injured or "be shipped out and exchanged for Negroes." In +1680 the governor of the colony informed the Board of Trade that "as for +blacks there came sometimes three or four in a year from Barbadoes, and +they are usually sold at the rate of £22 apiece." These people were +regarded rather as servants than as slaves, and early legislation was +mainly in the line of police regulations designed to prevent their +running away. + +In 1652 it was enacted in Rhode Island that all slaves brought into the +colony should be set free after ten years of service. This law was not +designed, as might be supposed, to restrict slavery. It was really a +step in the evolution of the system, and the limit of ten years was by +no means observed. "The only legal recognition of the law was in the +series of acts beginning January 4, 1703, to control the wandering of +African slaves and servants, and another beginning in April, 1708, in +which the slave-trade was indirectly legalized by being taxed."[1] "In +course of time Rhode Island became the greatest slave-trader in the +country, becoming a sort of clearing-house for the other colonies."[2] + +[Footnote 1: William T. Alexander: History of the Colored Race in +America, New Orleans, 1887, p. 136.] + +[Footnote 2: DuBois: Suppression of the Slave-Trade, 34.] + +New Hampshire, profiting by the experience of the neighboring colony of +Massachusetts, deemed it best from the beginning to discourage +slavery. There were so few Negroes in the colony as to form a quantity +practically negligible. The system was recognized, however, an act being +passed in 1714 to regulate the conduct of slaves, and another four years +later to regulate that of masters. + +In North Carolina, even more than in most of the colonies, the system +of Negro slavery was long controlled by custom rather than by legal +enactment. It was recognized by law in 1715, however, and police +regulations to govern the slaves were enacted. In South Carolina the +history of slavery is particularly noteworthy. The natural resources +of this colony offered a ready home for the system, and the laws here +formulated were as explicit as any ever enacted. Slaves were first +imported from Barbadoes, and their status received official confirmation +in 1682. By 1720 the number had increased to 12,000, the white people +numbering only 9,000. By 1698 such was the fear from the preponderance +of the Negro population that a special act was passed to encourage white +immigration. Legislation "for the better ordering of slaves" was passed +in 1690, and in 1712 the first regular slave law was enacted. Once +before 1713, the year of the Assiento Contract of the Peace of Utrecht, +and several times after this date, prohibitive duties were placed on +Negroes to guard against their too rapid increase. By 1734, however, +importation had again reached large proportions; and in 1740, in +consequence of recent insurrectionary efforts, a prohibitive duty +several times larger than the previous one was placed upon Negroes +brought into the province. + +The colony of Georgia was chartered in 1732 and actually founded the +next year. Oglethorpe's idea was that the colony should be a refuge for +persecuted Christians and the debtor classes of England. Slavery was +forbidden on the ground that Georgia was to defend the other English +colonies from the Spaniards on the South, and that it would not be able +to do this if like South Carolina it dissipated its energies in guarding +Negro slaves. For years the development of Georgia was slow, and the +prosperous condition of South Carolina constantly suggested to the +planters that "the one thing needful" for their highest welfare was +slavery. Again and again were petitions addressed to the trustees, +George Whitefield being among those who most urgently advocated the +innovation. Moreover, Negroes from South Carolina were sometimes hired +for life, and purchases were openly made in Savannah. It was not until +1749, however, that the trustees yielded to the request. In 1755 the +legislature passed an act that regulated the conduct of the slaves, and +in 1765 a more regular code was adopted. Thus did slavery finally gain a +foothold in what was destined to become one of the most important of the +Southern states. + +For the first fifty or sixty years of the life of the colonies the +introduction of Negroes was slow; the system of white servitude +furnished most of the labor needed, and England had not yet won +supremacy in the slave-trade. It was in the last quarter of the +seventeenth century that importations began to be large, and in the +course of the eighteenth century the numbers grew by leaps and bounds. +In 1625, six years after the first Negroes were brought to the colony, +there were in Virginia only 23 Negroes, 12 male, 11 female. [1] In 1659 +there were 300; but in 1683 there were 3,000 and in 1708, 12,000. In +1680 Governor Simon Bradstreet reported to England with reference to +Massachusetts that "no company of blacks or slaves" had been brought +into the province since its beginning, for the space of fifty years, +with the exception of a small vessel that two years previously, after a +twenty months' voyage to Madagascar, had brought hither between forty +and fifty Negroes, mainly women and children, who were sold for £10, +£15, and £20 apiece; occasionally two or three Negroes were brought from +Barbadoes or other islands, and altogether there were in Massachusetts +at the time not more than 100 or 120. + +[Footnote 1: _Virginia Magazine of History_, VII, 364.] + +The colonists were at first largely opposed to the introduction of +slavery, and numerous acts were passed prohibiting it in Virginia, +Massachusetts, and elsewhere; and in Georgia, as we have seen, it had at +first been expressly forbidden. English business men, however, had no +scruples about the matter. About 1663 a British Committee on +Foreign Plantations declared that "black slaves are the most useful +appurtenances of a plantation," [1] and twenty years later the Lords +Commissioners of Trade stated that "the colonists could not possibly +subsist" without an adequate supply of slaves. Laws passed in the +colonies were regularly disallowed by the crown, and royal governors +were warned that the colonists would not be permitted to "discourage a +traffic so beneficial to the nation." Before 1772 Virginia passed not +less than thirty-three acts looking toward the prohibition of the +importation of slaves, but in every instance the act was annulled by +England. In the far South, especially in South Carolina, we have seen +that there were increasingly heavy duties. In spite of all such efforts +for restriction, however, the system of Negro slavery, once well +started, developed apace. + +[Footnote 1: Bogart: _Economic History_, 73.] + +In two colonies not among the original thirteen but important in the +later history of the United States, Negroes were present at a very early +date, in the Spanish colony of Florida from the very first, and in the +French colony of Louisiana as soon as New Orleans really began to grow. +Negroes accompanied the Spaniards in their voyages along the South +Atlantic coast early in the sixteenth century, and specially trained +Spanish slaves assisted in the founding of St. Augustine in 1565. The +ambitious schemes in France of the great adventurer, John Law, and +especially the design of the Mississippi Company (chartered 1717) +included an agreement for the importation into Louisiana of six thousand +white persons and three thousand Negroes, the Company having secured +among other privileges the exclusive right to trade with the colony for +twenty-five years and the absolute ownership of all mines in it. The +sufferings of some of the white emigrants from France--the kidnapping, +the revenge, and the chicanery that played so large a part--all make +a story complete in itself. As for the Negroes, it was definitely +stipulated that these should not come from another French colony without +the consent of the governor of that colony. The contract had only begun +to be carried out when Law's bubble burst. However, in June, 1721, there +were 600 Negroes in Louisiana; in 1745 the number had increased to +2020. The stories connected with these people are as tragic and wildly +romantic as are most of the stories in the history of Louisiana. In +fact, this colony from the very first owed not a little of its abandon +and its fascination to the mysticism that the Negroes themselves brought +from Africa. In the midst of much that is apocryphal one or two events +or episodes stand out with distinctness. In 1729, Perier, governor at +the time, testified with reference to a small company of Negroes who +had been sent against the Indians as follows: "Fifteen Negroes in whose +hands we had put weapons, performed prodigies of valor. If the blacks +did not cost so much, and if their labors were not so necessary to the +colony, it would be better to turn them into soldiers, and to dismiss +those we have, who are so bad and so cowardly that they seem to have +been manufactured purposely for this colony[1]." Not always, however, +did the Negroes fight against the Indians. In 1730 some representatives +of the powerful Banbaras had an understanding with the Chickasaws by +which the latter were to help them in exterminating all the white people +and in setting up an independent republic[2]. They were led by a strong +and desperate Negro named Samba. As a result of this effort for freedom +Samba and seven of his companions were broken on the wheel and a woman +was hanged. Already, however, there had been given the suggestion of the +possible alliance in the future of the Indian and the Negro. From the +very first also, because of the freedom from restraint of all the +elements of population that entered into the life of the colony, there +was the beginning of that mixture of the races which was later to tell +so vitally on the social life of Louisiana and whose effects are so +readily apparent even to-day. + +[Footnote 1: Gayarré: _History of Louisiana_, I, 435.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., I, 440.] + + +5. The Wake of the Slave-Ship + +Thus it was that Negroes came to America. Thus it was also, we might +say, that the Negro Problem came, though it was not for decades, not +until the budding years of American nationality, that the ultimate +reaches of the problem were realized. Those who came were by no means +all of exactly the same race stock and language. Plantations frequently +exhibited a variety of customs, and sometimes traditional enemies became +brothers in servitude. The center of the colonial slave-trade was the +African coast for about two hundred miles east of the great Niger River. +From this comparatively small region came as many slaves as from all the +rest of Africa together. A number of those who came were of entirely +different race stock from the Negroes; some were Moors, and a very few +were Malays from Madagascar. + +The actual procuring of the slaves was by no means as easy a process as +is sometimes supposed. In general the slave mart brought out the most +vicious passions of all who were in any way connected with the traffic. +The captain of a vessel had to resort to various expedients to get his +cargo. His commonest method was to bring with him a variety of gay +cloth, cheap ornaments, and whiskey, which he would give in exchange for +slaves brought to him. His task was most simple when a chieftain of +one tribe brought to him several hundred prisoners of war. Ordinarily, +however, the work was more toilsome, and kidnapping a favorite method, +though individuals were sometimes enticed on vessels. The work was +always dangerous, for the natives along the slave-coast soon became +suspicious. After they had seen some of their tribesmen taken away, they +learned not to go unarmed while a slave-vessel was on the coast, and +very often there were hand-to-hand encounters. It was not long before it +began to be impressed upon those interested in the trade that it was not +good business to place upon the captain of a vessel the responsibility +of getting together three or four hundred slaves, and that it would be +better if he could find his cargo waiting for him when he came. Thus +arose the so-called factories, which were nothing more than warehouses. +Along the coast were placed small settlements of Europeans, whose +business it was to stimulate slave-hunting expeditions, negotiate for +slaves brought in, and see that they were kept until the arrival of the +ships. Practically every nation engaged in the traffic planted factories +of this kind along the West Coast from Cape Verde to the equator; and +thus it was that this part of Africa began to be the most flagrantly +exploited region in the world; thus whiskey and all the other vices of +civilization began to come to a simple and home-loving people. + +Once on board the slaves were put in chains two by two. When the ship +was ready to start, the hold of the vessel was crowded with moody and +unhappy wretches who most often were made to crouch so that their knees +touched their chins, but who also were frequently made to lie on their +sides "spoon-fashion." Sometimes the space between floor and ceiling +was still further diminished by the water-barrels; on the top of these +barrels boards were placed, on the boards the slaves had to lie, and +in the little space that remained they had to subsist as well as they +could. There was generally only one entrance to the hold, and provision +for only the smallest amount of air through the gratings on the sides. +The clothing of a captive, if there was any at all, consisted of only +a rag about the loins. The food was half-rotten rice, yams, beans, or +soup, and sometimes bread and meat; the cooking was not good, nor was +any care taken to see that all were fed. Water was always limited, a +pint a day being a generous allowance; frequently no more than a gill +could be had. The rule was to bring the slaves from the hold twice a +day for an airing, about eight o'clock in the morning and four in the +afternoon; but this plan was not always followed. On deck they were made +to dance by the lash, and they were also forced to sing. Thus were born +the sorrow-songs, the last cry of those who saw their homeland vanish +behind them--forever. + +Sometimes there were stern fights on board. Sometimes food was refused +in order that death might be hastened. When opportunity served, some +leaped overboard in the hope of being taken back to Africa. Throughout +the night the hold resounded with the moans of those who awoke from +dreams of home to find themselves in bonds. Women became hysterical, and +both men and women became insane. Fearful and contagious diseases broke +out. Smallpox was one of these. More common was ophthalmia, a frightful +inflammation of the eyes. A blind, and hence a worthless, slave was +thrown to the sharks. The putrid atmosphere, the melancholy, and the +sudden transition from heat to cold greatly increased the mortality, +and frequently when morning came a dead and a living slave were found +shackled together. A captain always counted on losing one-fourth of his +cargo. Sometimes he lost a great deal more. + +Back on the shore a gray figure with strained gaze watched the ship fade +away--an old woman sadly typical of the great African mother. With her +vision she better than any one else perceived the meaning of it all. The +men with hard faces who came to buy and sell might deceive others, but +not her. In a great vague way she felt that something wrong had attacked +the very heart of her people. She saw men wild with the whiskey of the +Christian nations commit crimes undreamed of before. She did not like +the coast towns; the girl who went thither came not home again, and a +young man was lost to all that Africa held dear. In course of time she +saw every native craft despised, and instead of the fabric that her own +fingers wove her children yearned for the tinsel and the gewgaws of the +trader. She cursed this man, and she called upon all her spirits +to banish the evil. But when at last all was of no avail--when the +strongest youth or the dearest maiden had gone--she went back to her hut +and ate her heart out in the darkness. She wept for her children and +would not be comforted because they were not. Then slowly to the +untutored mind somehow came the promise: "These are they which came out +of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in +the blood of the Lamb.... They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any +more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb +which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them +unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from +their eyes." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NEGRO IN THE COLONIES + + +The Negroes who were brought from Africa to America were brought hither +to work, and to work under compulsion; hence any study of their social +life in the colonial era must be primarily a study of their life under +the system of slavery, and of the efforts of individuals to break away +from the same. + + +1. _Servitude and Slavery_ + +For the antecedents of Negro slavery in America one must go back to the +system of indentured labor known as servitude. This has been defined +as "a legalized status of Indian, white, and Negro servants preceding +slavery in most, if not all, of the English mainland colonies."[1] A +study of servitude will explain many of the acts with reference to +Negroes, especially those about intermarriage with white people. For the +origins of the system one must go back to social conditions in England +in the seventeenth century. While villeinage had been formally abolished +in England at the middle of the fourteenth century, it still lingered in +remote places, and even if men were not technically villeins they might +be subjected to long periods of service. By the middle of the fifteenth +century the demand for wool had led to the enclosure of many farms +for sheep-raising, and accordingly to distress on the part of many +agricultural laborers. Conditions were not improved early in the +sixteenth century, and they were in fact made more acute, the abolition +of the monasteries doing away with many of the sources of relief. Men +out of work were thrown upon the highways and thus became a menace to +society. In 1564 the price of wheat was 19s. a quarter and wages were +7d. a day. The situation steadily grew worse, and in 1610, while wages +were still the same, wheat was 35s. a quarter. Rents were constantly +rising, moreover, and many persons died from starvation. In the course +of the seventeenth century paupers and dissolute persons more and more +filled the jails and workhouses. + +[Footnote 1: _New International Encyclopædia_, Article "Slavery."] + +Meanwhile in the young colonies across the sea labor was scarce, and it +seemed to many an act of benevolence to bring from England persons who +could not possibly make a living at home and give them some chance in +the New World. From the very first, children, and especially young +people between the ages of twelve and twenty, were the most desired. The +London Company undertook to meet half of the cost of the transportation +and maintenance of children sent out by parish authorities, the +understanding being that it would have the service of the same until +they were of age.[1] The Company was to teach each boy a trade and when +his freedom year arrived was to give to each one fifty acres, a cow, +some seed corn, tools, and firearms. He then became the Company's +tenant, for seven years more giving to it one-half of his produce, at +the end of which time he came into full possession of twenty-five acres. +After the Company collapsed individuals took up the idea. Children under +twelve years of age might be bound for seven years, and persons over +twenty-one for no more than four; but the common term was five years. + +[Footnote 1: Coman: _Industrial History_, 42.] + +Under this system fell servants voluntary and involuntary. Hundreds of +people, too poor to pay for their transportation, sold themselves for +a number of years to pay for the transfer. Some who were known as +"freewillers" had some days in which to dispose of themselves to the +best advantage in America; if they could not make satisfactory terms, +they too were sold to pay for the passage. More important from the +standpoint of the system itself, however, was the number of involuntary +servants brought hither. Political offenders, vagrants, and other +criminals were thus sent to the colonies, and many persons, especially +boys and girls, were kidnapped in the streets of London and "spirited" +away. Thus came Irishmen or Scotchmen who had incurred the ire of the +crown, Cavaliers or Roundheads according as one party or the other was +out of power, and farmers who had engaged in Monmouth's rebellion; and +in the year 1680 alone it was estimated that not less than ten thousand +persons were "spirited" away from England. It is easy to see how such +a system became a highly profitable one for shipmasters and those in +connivance with them. Virginia objected to the criminals, and in 1671 +the House of Burgesses passed a law against the importing of such +persons, and the same was approved by the governor. Seven years later, +however, it was set aside for the transportation of political offenders. + +As having the status of an apprentice the servant could sue in court and +he was regularly allowed "freedom dues" at the expiration of his term. +He could not vote, however, could not bear weapons, and of course +could not hold office. In some cases, especially where the system was +voluntary, servants sustained kindly relations with their masters, a few +even becoming secretaries or tutors. More commonly, however, the lot of +the indentured laborer was a hard one, his food often being only coarse +Indian meal, and water mixed with molasses. The moral effect of the +system was bad in the fate to which it subjected woman and in the +evils resulting from the sale of the labor of children. In this whole +connection, however, it is to be remembered that the standards of the +day were very different from those of our own. The modern humanitarian +impulse had not yet moved the heart of England, and flogging was still +common for soldiers and sailors, criminals and children alike. + +The first Negroes brought to the colonies were technically servants, and +generally as Negro slavery advanced white servitude declined. James II, +in fact, did whatever he could to hasten the end of servitude in order +that slavery might become more profitable. Economic forces were with +him, for while a slave varied in price from £10 to £50, the mere cost +of transporting a servant was from £6 to £10. "Servitude became slavery +when to such incidents as alienation, disfranchisement, whipping, and +limited marriage were added those of perpetual service and a denial of +civil, juridical, marital and property rights as well as the denial of +the possession of children."[1] Even after slavery was well established, +however, white men and women were frequently retained as domestic +servants, and the system of servitude did not finally pass in all of its +phases before the beginning of the Revolutionary War. + +[Footnote 1: _New International Encyclopædia_, Article "Slavery."] + +Negro slavery was thus distinctively an evolution. As the first Negroes +were taken by pirates, the rights of ownership could not legally be +given to those who purchased them; hence slavery by custom preceded +slavery by statute. Little by little the colonies drifted into the +sterner system. The transition was marked by such an act as that in +Rhode Island, which in 1652 permitted a Negro to be bound for ten years. +We have already referred to the Act of Assembly in Virginia in 1661 to +the effect that Negroes were incapable of making satisfaction for time +lost in running away by addition of time. Even before it had become +generally enacted or understood in the colonies, however, that a child +born of slave parents should serve for life, a new question had arisen, +that of the issue of a free person and a slave. This led Virginia in +1662 to lead the way with an act declaring that the status of a child +should be determined by that of the mother,[1] which act both gave to +slavery the sanction of law and made it hereditary. From this time +forth Virginia took a commanding lead in legislation; and it is to be +remembered that when we refer to this province we by no means have +reference to the comparatively small state of to-day, but to the richest +and most populous of the colonies. This position Virginia maintained +until after the Revolutionary War, and not only the present West +Virginia but the great Northwest Territory were included in her domain. + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, II, 170.] + +The slave had none of the ordinary rights of citizenship; in a criminal +case he could be arrested, tried, and condemned with but one witness +against him, and he could be sentenced without a jury. In Virginia +in 1630 one Hugh Davis was ordered to be "soundly whipped before an +assembly of Negroes and others, for abusing himself to the dishonor of +God and the shame of Christians, by defiling his body in lying with a +Negro."[1] Just ten years afterwards, in 1640, one Robert Sweet was +ordered "to do penance in church, according to the laws of England, for +getting a Negro woman with child, and the woman to be whipped."[2] Thus +from the very beginning the intermixture of the races was frowned upon +and went on all the same. By the time, moreover, that the important acts +of 1661 and 1662 had formally sanctioned slavery, doubt had arisen +in the minds of some Virginians as to whether one Christian could +legitimately hold another in bondage; and in 1667 it was definitely +stated that the conferring of baptism did not alter the condition of a +person as to his bondage or freedom, so that masters, freed from +this doubt, could now "more carefully endeavor the propagation of +Christianity." In 1669 an "act about the casual killing of slaves" +provided that if any slave resisted his master and under the extremity +of punishment chanced to die, his death was not to be considered a +felony and the master was to be acquitted. In 1670 it was made clear +that none but freeholders and housekeepers should vote in the election +of burgesses, and in the same year provision was taken against the +possible ownership of a white servant by a free Negro, who nevertheless +"was not debarred from buying any of his own nation." In 1692 there +was legislation "for the more speedy prosecution of slaves committing +capital crimes"; and this was reënacted in 1705, when some provision was +made for the compensation of owners and when it was further declared +that Negro, mulatto, and Indian slaves within the dominion were "real +estate" and "incapable in law to be witnesses in any cases whatsoever"; +and in 1723 there was an elaborate and detailed act "directing the +trial of slaves committing capital crimes, and for the more effectual +punishing conspiracies and insurrections of them, and for the better +government of Negroes, mulattoes, and Indians, bond or free." This +last act specifically stated that no slave should be set free upon +any pretense whatsoever "except for some meritorious services, to be +adjudged and allowed by the governor and council." All this legislation +was soon found to be too drastic and too difficult to enforce, and +modification was inevitable. This came in 1732, when it was made +possible for a slave to be a witness when another slave was on trial +for a capital offense, and in 1744 this provision was extended to civil +cases as well. In 1748 there was a general revision of all existing +legislation, with special provision against attempted insurrections. + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, I, 146.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., I, 552.] + +Thus did Virginia pave the way, and more and more slave codes took on +some degree of definiteness and uniformity. Very important was the +act of 1705, which provided that a slave might be inventoried as real +estate. As property henceforth there was nothing to prevent his being +separated from his family. Before the law he was no longer a person but +a thing. + + +2. 737 _The Indian, the Mulatto, and the Free Negro_ + +All along, it is to be observed, the problem of the Negro was +complicated by that of the Indian. At first there was a feeling that +Indians were to be treated not as Negroes but as on the same basis as +Englishmen. An act in Virginia of 1661-2 summed up this feeling in the +provision that they were not to be sold as servants for any longer time +than English people of the same age, and injuries done to them were to +be duly remedied by the laws of England. About the same time a Powhatan +Indian sold for life was ordered to be set free. An interesting +enactment of 1670 attempted to give the Indian an intermediate status +between that of the Englishman and the Negro slave, as "servants not +being Christians, imported into the colony by shipping" (i.e., Negroes) +were to be slaves for their lives, but those that came by land were to +serve "if boys or girls until thirty years of age; if men or women, +twelve years and no longer." All such legislation, however, was +radically changed as a result of Nathaniel Bacon's rebellion of 1676, in +which the aid of the natives was invoked against the English governor. +Henceforth Indians taken in war became the slaves for life of their +captors. An elaborate act of 1682 summed up the new status, and Indians +sold by other Indians were to be "adjudged, deemed, and taken to be +slaves, to all intents and purposes, any law, usage, or custom to the +contrary notwithstanding." Indian women were to be "tithables,"[1] and +they were required to pay levies just as Negro women. From this time +forth enactments generally included Indians along with Negroes, but of +course the laws placed on the statute books did not always bear close +relation to what was actually enforced, and in general the Indian was +destined to be a vanishing rather than a growing problem. Very early in +the eighteenth century, in connection with the wars between the English +and the Spanish in Florida, hundreds of Indians were shipped to the West +Indies and some to New England. Massachusetts in 1712 prohibited +such importation, as the Indians were "malicious, surly, and very +ungovernable," and she was followed to similar effect by Pennsylvania in +1712, by New Hampshire in 1714, and by Connecticut and Rhode Island in +1715. + +[Footnote 1: Hurd, commenting on an act of 1649 declaring all imported +male servants to be tithables, speaks as follows (230): "_Tithables_ +were persons assessed for a poll-tax, otherwise called the 'county +levies.' At first, only free white persons were tithable. The law of +1645 provided for a tax on property and tithable persons. By 1648 +property was released and taxes levied only on the tithables, at +a specified poll-tax. Therefore by classing servants or slaves as +tithables, the law attributes to them legal personality, or a membership +in the social state inconsistent with the condition of a chattel or +property."] + +If the Indian was destined to be a vanishing factor, the mulatto and the +free Negro most certainly were not. In spite of all the laws to prevent +it, the intermixture of the races increased, and manumission somehow +also increased. Sometimes a master in his will provided that several of +his slaves should be given their freedom. Occasionally a slave became +free by reason of what was regarded as an act of service to the +commonwealth, as in the case of one Will, slave belonging to Robert +Ruffin, of the county of Surry in Virginia, who in 1710 divulged a +conspiracy.[1] There is, moreover, on record a case of an indentured +Negro servant, John Geaween, who by his unusual thrift in the matter of +some hogs which he raised on the share system with his master, was able +as early as 1641 to purchase his own son from another master, to the +perfect satisfaction of all concerned.[2] Of special importance for +some years were those persons who were descendants of Negro fathers and +indentured white mothers, and who at first were of course legally free. +By 1691 the problem had become acute in Virginia. In this year "for +prevention of that abominable mixture and spurious issue, which +hereafter may increase in this dominion, as well by Negroes, mulattoes +and Indians intermarrying with English or other white women, as by their +unlawful accompanying with one another," it was enacted that "for the +time to come whatsoever English or other white man or woman being free +shall intermarry with a Negro, mulatto, or Indian man or woman, bond +or free, shall within three months after such marriage be banished +and removed from this dominion forever, and that the justices of each +respective county within this dominion make it their particular care +that this act be put in effectual execution."[3] A white woman who +became the mother of a child by a Negro or mulatto was to be fined £15 +sterling, in default of payment was to be sold for five years, while the +child was to be bound in servitude to the church wardens until thirty +years of age. It was further provided that if any Negro or mulatto was +set free, he was to be transported from the country within six months +of his manumission (which enactment is typical of those that it was +difficult to enforce and that after a while were only irregularly +observed). In 1705 it was enacted that no "Negro, mulatto, or Indian +shall from and after the publication of this act bear any office +ecclesiastical, civil or military, or be in any place of public trust or +power, within this her majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia"; and +to clear any doubt that might arise as to who should be accounted a +mulatto, it was provided that "the child of an Indian, and the child, +grandchild, or great-grandchild of a Negro shall be deemed, accounted, +held, and taken to be a mulatto." It will be observed that while the act +of 1670 said that "none but freeholders and housekeepers" could vote, +this act of 1705 did not specifically legislate against voting by a +mulatto or a free Negro, and that some such privilege was exercised for +a while appears from the definite provision in 1723 that "no free Negro, +mulatto, or Indian, whatsoever, shall hereafter have any vote at the +election of burgesses, or any other election whatsoever." In the same +year it was provided that free Negroes and mulattoes might be employed +as drummers or trumpeters in servile labor, but that they were not to +bear arms; and all free Negroes above sixteen years of age were declared +tithable. In 1769, however, all free Negro and mulatto women were +exempted from levies as tithables, such levies having proved to be +burdensome and "derogatory to the rights of freeborn subjects." + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, III, 537.] + +[Footnote 2: _Virginia Magazine of History_, X, 281.] + +[Footnote 3: The penalty was so ineffective that in 1705 it was changed +simply to imprisonment for six months "without bail or mainprise."] + +More than other colonies Maryland seems to have been troubled about the +intermixture of the races; certainly no other phase of slavery here +received so much attention. This was due to the unusual emphasis on +white servitude in the colony. In 1663 it was enacted that any freeborn +woman intermarrying with a slave should serve the master of the slave +during the life of her husband and that any children resulting from +the union were also to be slaves. This act was evidently intended to +frighten the indentured woman from such a marriage. It had a very +different effect. Many masters, in order to prolong the indenture of +their white female servants, encouraged them to marry Negro slaves. +Accordingly a new law in 1681 threw the responsibility not on the +indentured woman but on the master or mistress; in case a marriage took +place between a white woman-servant and a slave, the woman was to be +free at once, any possible issue was to be free, and the minister +performing the ceremony and the master or mistress were to be fined ten +thousand pounds of tobacco. This did not finally dispose of the problem, +however, and in 1715, in response to a slightly different situation, it +was enacted that a white woman who became the mother of a child by a +free Negro father should become a servant for seven years, the father +also a servant for seven years, and the child a servant until thirty-one +years of age. Any white man who begot a Negro woman with child, whether +a free woman or a slave, was to undergo the same penalty as a white +woman--a provision that in course of time was notoriously disregarded. +In 1717 the problem was still unsettled, and in this year it was enacted +that Negroes or mulattoes of either sex intermarrying with white people +were to be slaves for life, except mulattoes born of white women, who +were to serve for seven years, and the white person so intermarrying +also for seven years. It is needless to say that with all these changing +and contradictory provisions many servants and Negroes did not even +know what the law was. In 1728, however, free mulatto women having +illegitimate children by Negroes and other slaves, and free Negro +women having illegitimate children by white men, and their issue, were +subjected to the same penalties as in the former act were provided +against white women. Thus vainly did the colony of Maryland struggle +with the problem of race intermixture. Generally throughout the South +the rule in the matter of the child of the Negro father and the +indentured white mother was that the child should be bound in servitude +for thirty or thirty-one years. + +In the North as well as in the South the intermingling of the blood of +the races was discountenanced. In Pennsylvania as early as 1677 a white +servant was indicted for cohabiting with a Negro. In 1698 the Chester +County court laid it down as a principle that the mingling of the races +was not to be allowed. In 1722 a woman was punished for promoting a +secret marriage between a white woman and a Negro; a little later the +Assembly received from the inhabitants of the province a petition +inveighing against cohabiting; and in 1725-6 a law was passed positively +forbidding the mixture of the races.[1] In Massachusetts as early as +1705 and 1708 restraining acts to prevent a "spurious and mixt issue" +ordered the sale of offending Negroes and mulattoes out of the colony's +jurisdiction, and punished Christians who intermarried with them by a +fine of £50. After the Revolutionary War such marriages were declared +void and the penalty of £50 was still exacted, and not until 1843 was +this act repealed. Thus was the color-line, with its social and legal +distinctions, extended beyond the conditions of servitude and slavery, +and thus early was an important phase of the ultimate Negro Problem +foreshadowed. + +[Footnote 1: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 29-30.] + +Generally then, in the South, in the colonial period, the free Negro +could not vote, could not hold civil office, could not give testimony in +cases involving white men, and could be employed only for fatigue +duty in the militia. He could not purchase white servants, could not +intermarry with white people, and had to be very circumspect in his +relations with slaves. No deprivation of privilege, however, relieved +him of the obligation to pay taxes. Such advantages as he possessed were +mainly economic. The money gained from his labor was his own; he might +become skilled at a trade; he might buy land; he might buy slaves;[1] he +might even buy his wife and child if, as most frequently happened, +they were slaves; and he might have one gun with which to protect his +home.[2] Once in a long while he might even find some opportunity +for education, as when the church became the legal warden of Negro +apprentices. Frequently he found a place in such a trade as that of +the barber or in other personal service, and such work accounted very +largely for the fact that he was generally permitted to remain in +communities where technically he had no right to be. In the North his +situation was little better than in the South, and along economic lines +even harder. Everywhere his position was a difficult one. He was most +frequently regarded as idle and shiftless, and as a breeder of mischief; +but if he showed unusual thrift he might even be forced to leave his +home and go elsewhere. Liberty, the boon of every citizen, the free +Negro did not possess. For all the finer things of life--the things that +make life worth living--the lot that was his was only less hard than +that of the slave. + +[Footnote 1: Russell: _The Free Negro in Virginia_, 32-33, cites from +the court records of Northampton County, 1651-1654 and 1655-1658, the +noteworthy case of a free negro, Anthony Johnson, who had come to +Virginia not later than 1622 and who by 1650 owned a large tract of land +on the Eastern Shore. To him belonged a Negro, John Casor. After several +years of labor Casor demanded his freedom on the ground that from the +first he had been an indentured servant and not a slave. When the case +came up in court, however, not only did Johnson win the verdict that +Casor was his slave, but he also won his suit against Robert Parker, a +white man, who he asserted had illegally detained Casor.] + +[Footnote 2: Hening: _Statutes_, IV, 131.] + + +3. _First Effort for Social Betterment_ + +If now we turn aside from laws and statutes and consider the ordinary +life and social intercourse of the Negro, we shall find more than one +contradiction, for in the colonial era codes affecting slaves and free +Negroes had to grope their way to uniformity. Especially is it necessary +to distinguish between the earlier and the later years of the period, +for as early as 1760 the liberalism of the Revolutionary era began to be +felt. If we consider what was strictly the colonial epoch, we may find +it necessary to make a division about the year 1705. Before this date +the status of the Negro was complicated by the incidents of the system +of servitude; after it, however, in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and +Massachusetts alike, special discrimination against him on account of +race was given formal recognition. + +By 1715 there were in Virginia 23,000 Negroes, and in all the colonies +58,850, or 14 per cent of the total population.[1] By 1756, however, +the Negroes in Virginia numbered 120,156 and the white people but +173,316.[2] Thirty-eight of the forty-nine counties had more Negro than +white tithables, and eleven of the counties had a Negro population +varying from one-fourth to one-half more than the white. A great many of +the Negroes had only recently been imported from Africa, and they were +especially baffling to their masters of course when they conversed in +their native tongues. At first only men were brought, but soon women +came also, and the treatment accorded these people varied all the way +from occasional indulgence to the utmost cruelty. The hours of work +regularly extended from sunrise to sunset, though corn-husking and +rice-beating were sometimes continued after dark, and overseers were +almost invariably ruthless, often having a share in the crops. Those who +were house-servants would go about only partially clad, and the slave +might be marked or branded like one of the lower animals; he was not +thought to have a soul, and the law sought to deprive him of all human +attributes. Holiday amusement consisted largely of the dances that the +Negroes had brought with them, these being accompanied by the beating of +drums and the blowing of horns; and funeral ceremonies featured African +mummeries. For those who were criminal offenders simple execution was +not always considered severe enough; the right hand might first be +amputated, the criminal then hanged and his head cut off, and his body +quartered and the parts suspended in public places. Sometimes the +hanging was in chains, and several instances of burning are on record. +A master was regularly reimbursed by the government for a slave legally +executed, and in 1714 there was a complaint in South Carolina that +the treasury had become almost exhausted by such reimbursements. In +Massachusetts hanging was the worst legal penalty, but the obsolete +common-law punishment was revived in 1755 to burn alive a slave-woman +who had killed her master in Cambridge.[3] + +[Footnote 1: Blake: _History of Slavery and the Slave-Trade_, 378.] + +[Footnote 2: Ballagh: _Slavery in Virginia_, 12.] + +[Footnote 3: Edward Eggleston: "Social Conditions in the Colonies," in +_Century Magazine_, October, 1884, p. 863.] + +The relations between the free Negro and the slave might well have given +cause for concern. Above what was after all only an artificial barrier +spoke the call of race and frequently of kindred. Sometimes at a later +date jealousy arose when a master employed a free Negro to work with +his slaves, the one receiving pay and the others laboring without +compensation. In general, however, the two groups worked like brothers, +each giving the other the benefit of any temporary advantage that it +possessed. Sometimes the free Negro could serve by reason of the greater +freedom of movement that he had, and if no one would employ him, or if, +as frequently happened, he was browbeaten and cheated out of the reward +of his labor, the slave might somehow see that he got something to eat. +In a state of society in which the relation of master and slave was the +rule, there was of course little place for either the free Negro or the +poor white man. When the pressure became too great the white man moved +away; the Negro, finding himself everywhere buffeted, in the colonial +era at least had little choice but to work out his salvation at home as +well as he could. More and more character told, and if a man had made +himself known for his industry and usefulness, a legislative act might +even be passed permitting him to remain in the face of a hostile law. +Even before 1700 there were in Virginia families in which both parents +were free colored persons and in which every effort was made to bring up +the children in honesty and morality. When some prosperous Negroes found +themselves able to do so, they occasionally purchased Negroes, who might +be their own children or brothers, in order to give them that protection +without which on account of recent manumission they might be required to +leave the colony in which they were born. Thus, whatever the motive, the +tie that bound the free Negro and the slave was a strong one; and in +spite of the fact that Negroes who owned slaves were generally known +as hard masters, as soon as any men of the race began to be really +prominent their best endeavor was devoted to the advancement of their +people. It was not until immediately after the Revolutionary War, +however, that leaders of vision and statesmanship began to be developed. + +It was only the materialism of the eighteenth century that accounted for +the amazing development of the system of Negro slavery, and only this +that defeated the benevolence of Oglethorpe's scheme for the founding +of Georgia. As yet there was no united protest--no general movement for +freedom; and as Von Holst said long afterwards, "If the agitation had +been wholly left to the churches, it would have been long before men +could have rightly spoken of 'a slavery question.'" The Puritans, +however, were not wholly unmindful of the evil, and the Quakers were +untiring in their opposition, though it was Roger Williams who in 1637 +made the first protest that appears in the colonies.[1] Both John Eliot +and Cotton Mather were somewhat generally concerned about the harsh +treatment of the Negro and the neglect of his spiritual welfare. +Somewhat more to the point was Richard Baxter, the eminent English +nonconformist, who was a contemporary of both of these men. "Remember," +said he, in speaking of Negroes and other slaves, "that they are of as +good a kind as you; that is, they are reasonable creatures as well as +you, and born to as much natural liberty. If their sin have enslaved +them to you, yet Nature made them your equals." On the subject of +man-stealing he is even stronger: "To go as pirates and catch up poor +Negroes or people of another land, that never forfeited life or liberty, +and to make them slaves, and sell them, is one of the worst kinds of +thievery in the world." Such statements, however, were not more than the +voice of individual opinion. The principles of the Quakers carried them +far beyond the Puritans, and their history shows what might have been +accomplished if other denominations had been as sincere and as unselfish +as the Society of Friends. The Germantown protest of 1688 has already +been remarked. In 1693 George Keith, in speaking of fugitives, quoted +with telling effect the text, "Thou shalt not deliver unto his master +the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee" (Deut. 23.15). +In 1696 the Yearly Meeting in Pennsylvania first took definite action +in giving as its advice "that Friends be careful not to encourage the +bringing in of any more Negroes; and that such that have Negroes, be +careful of them, bring them to meetings, have meetings with them in +their families, and restrain them from loose and lewd living as much as +in them lies, and from rambling abroad on First-days or other times."[2] +As early as 1713 the Quakers had in mind a scheme for freeing the +Negroes and returning them to Africa, and by 1715 their efforts +against importation had seriously impaired the market for slaves +in Philadelphia. Within a century after the Germantown protest the +abolition of slavery among the Quakers was practically accomplished. + +[Footnote 1: For this and the references immediately following note +Locke: _Anti-Slavery in America_, 11-45.] + +[Footnote 2: _Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the +Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends against Slavery and the +Slave-Trade_, 8.] + +In the very early period there seems to have been little objection to +giving a free Negro not only religious but also secular instruction; +indeed he might be entitled to this, as in Virginia, where in 1691 the +church became the agency through which the laws of Negro apprenticeship +were carried out; thus in 1727 it was ordered that David James, a free +Negro boy, be bound to Mr. James Isdel, who was to "teach him to read +the Bible distinctly, also the trade of a gunsmith" and "carry him to +the clerk's office and take indenture to that purpose."[1] In general +the English church did a good deal to provide for the religious +instruction of the free Negro; "the reports made in 1724 to the English +bishop by the Virginia parish ministers are evidence that the few free +Negroes in the parishes were permitted to be baptized, and were received +into the church when they had been taught the catechism."[2] Among +Negroes, moreover, as well as others in the colonies the Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was active. As early as 1705, +in Goose Creek Parish in South Carolina, among a population largely +recently imported from Africa, a missionary had among his communicants +twenty blacks who well understood the English tongue.[3] The most +effective work of the Society, however, was in New York, where as early +as 1704 a school was opened by Elias Neau, a Frenchman who after several +years of imprisonment because of his Protestant faith had come to New +York to try his fortune as a trader. In 1703 he had called the attention +of the Society to the Negroes who were "without God in the world, and of +whose souls there was no manner of care taken," and had suggested the +appointment of a catechist. He himself was prevailed upon to take up the +work and he accordingly resigned his position as an elder in the French +church and conformed to the Church of England. He worked with success +for a number of years, but in 1712 was embarrassed by the charge that +his school fomented the insurrection that was planned in that year. He +finally showed, however, that only one of his students was in any way +connected with the uprising. + +[Footnote 1: Russell: _The Free Negro in Virginia_, 138-9.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 138.] + +[Footnote 3: C.E. Pierre, in _Journal of Negro History_, October, 1916, +p. 350.] + +From slave advertisements of the eighteenth century[1] we may gain many +sidelights not only on the education of Negroes in the colonial era, +but on their environment and suffering as well. One slave "can write a +pretty good hand; plays on the fife extremely well." Another "can both +read and write and is a good fiddler." Still others speak "Dutch and +good English," "good English and High Dutch," or "Swede and English +well." Charles Thomas of Delaware bore the following remarkable +characterization: "Very black, has white teeth ... has had his left leg +broke ... speaks both French and English, and is a very great rogue." +One man who came from the West Indies "was born in Dominica and speaks +French, but very little English; he is a very ill-natured fellow and has +been much cut in his back by often whipping." A Negro named Simon who in +1740 ran away in Pennsylvania "could bleed and draw teeth pretending to +be a great doctor." Worst of all the incidents of slavery, however, was +the lack of regard for home ties, and this situation of course obtained +in the North as well as the South. In the early part of the eighteenth +century marriages in New York were by mutual consent only, without the +blessing of the church, and burial was in a common field without any +Christian office. In Massachusetts in 1710 Rev. Samuel Phillips drew up +a marriage formulary especially designed for slaves and concluding as +follows: "For you must both of you bear in mind that you remain still, +as really and truly as ever, your master's property, and therefore +it will be justly expected, both by God and man, that you behave +and conduct yourselves as obedient and faithful servants."[2] In +Massachusetts, however, as in New York, marriage was most often by +common consent simply, without the office of ministers. + +[Footnote 1: See documents, "Eighteenth Century Slave Advertisements," +_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1916, 163-216.] + +[Footnote 2: Quoted from Williams: Centennial Oration, "The American +Negro from 1776 to 1876," 10.] + +As yet there was no racial consciousness, no church, no business +organization, and the chief coöperative effort was in insurrection. +Until the great chain of slavery was thrown off, little independent +effort could be put forth. Even in the state of servitude or slavery, +however, the social spirit of the race yearned to assert itself, and +such an event as a funeral was attractive primarily because of the +social features that it developed. As early as 1693 there is record of +the formation of a distinct society by Negroes. In one of his manuscript +diaries, preserved in the library of the Massachusetts Historical +Society,[1] Cotton Mather in October of this year wrote as follows: +"Besides the other praying and pious meetings which I have been +continually serving in our neighborhood, a little after this period +a company of poor Negroes, of their own accord, addressed me, for my +countenance to a design which they had, of erecting such a meeting for +the welfare of their miserable nation, that were servants among us. I +allowed their design and went one evening and prayed and preached (on +Ps. 68.31) with them; and gave them the following orders, which I insert +duly for the curiosity of the occasion." The Rules to which Mather here +refers are noteworthy as containing not one suggestion of anti-slavery +sentiment, and as portraying the altogether abject situation of the +Negro at the time he wrote; nevertheless the text used was an inspiring +one, and in any case the document must have historical importance as +the earliest thing that has come down to us in the nature of the +constitution or by-laws for a distinctively Negro organization. It is +herewith given entire: + + Rules for the Society of Negroes. 1693. + + We the Miserable Children of Adam, and of Noah, thankfully Admiring + and Accepting the Free-Grace of GOD, that Offers to Save us from our + Miseries, by the Lord Jesus Christ, freely Resolve, with His Help, + to become the Servants of that Glorious LORD. + + And that we may be Assisted in the Service of our Heavenly Master, + we now join together in a SOCIETY, wherein the following RULES are + to be observed. + + I. It shall be our Endeavor, to Meet in the _Evening_ after the + _Sabbath_; and Pray together by Turns, one to Begin, and another to + Conclude the Meeting; And between the two _Prayers_, a _Psalm_ shall + be sung, and a _Sermon_ Repeated. + + II. Our coming to the Meeting, shall never be without the _Leave_ of + such as have Power over us: And we will be Careful, that our Meeting + may Begin and Conclude between the Hours of _Seven_ and _Nine_; and + that we may not be _unseasonably Absent_ from the Families whereto + we pertain. + + III. As we will, with the help of God, at all Times avoid all + _Wicked Company_, so we will Receive none into our Meeting, but + such as have sensibly _Reformed_ their lives from all manner of + Wickedness. And, therefore, None shall be Admitted, without the + Knowledge and Consent of the _Minister_ of God in this place; unto + whom we will also carry every Person, that seeks for _Admission_ + among us; to be by Him Examined, Instructed and Exhorted. + + IV. We will, as often as may be, Obtain some Wise and Good Man, of + the English in the Neighborhood, and especially the Officers of the + Church, to look in upon us, and by their Presence and Counsel, do + what they think fitting for us. + + V. If any of our Number fall into the Sin of _Drunkenness_, or + _Swearing_, or _Cursing_, or _Lying_, or _Stealing_, or notorious + _Disobedience_ or _Unfaithfulness_ unto their Masters, we will + Admonish him of his Miscarriage, and Forbid his coming to the + Meeting, for at least _one Fortnight_; And except he then come with + great Signs and Hopes of his _Repentance_, we will utterly Exclude + him, with Blotting his _Name_ out of our list. + + VI. If any of our Society Defile himself with _Fornication_, we will + give him our _Admonition_; and so, debar him from the Meeting, at + least half a Year: Nor shall he Return to it, ever any more, without + Exemplary Testimonies of his becoming a _New Creature_. + + VII. We will, as we have Opportunity, set ourselves to do all the + Good we can, to the other _Negro-Servants_ in the Town; And if any + of them should, at unfit Hours, be _Abroad_, much more, if any of + them should _Run away_ from their Masters, we will afford them + _no Shelter_: But we will do what in us lies, that they may be + discovered, and punished. And if any of _us_ are found Faulty in + this matter, they shall be no longer of _us_. + + VIII. None of our Society shall be _Absent_ from our Meeting, + without giving a Reason of the Absence; and if it be found, that any + have pretended unto their _Owners_, that they came unto the Meeting, + when they were otherwise and elsewhere Employed, we will faithfully + _Inform_ their Owners, and also do what we can to Reclaim such + Person from all such Evil Courses for the Future: + + IX. It shall be expected from every one in the Society, that he + learn the Catechism; And therefore, it shall be one of our usual + Exercises, for one of us, to ask the _Questions_, and for all the + rest in their Order, to say the _Answers_ in the Catechism; Either, + The _New English_ Catechism, or the _Assemblies_ Catechism, or the + Catechism in the _Negro Christianised_. + +[Footnote 1: See _Rules for the Society of Negroes_, 1693, by Cotton +Mather, reprinted, New York, 1888, by George H. Moore.] + + +4. Early Insurrections + +The Negroes who came to America directly from Africa in the eighteenth +century were strikingly different from those whom generations of +servitude later made comparatively docile. They were wild and turbulent +in disposition and were likely at any moment to take revenge for the +great wrong that had been inflicted upon them. The planters in the South +knew this and lived in constant fear of uprisings. When the situation +became too threatening, they placed prohibitive duties on importations, +and they also sought to keep their slaves in subjection by barbarous and +cruel modes of punishment, both crucifixion and burning being legalized +in some early codes. On sea as well as on land Negroes frequently rose +upon those who held them in bondage, and sometimes they actually +won their freedom. More and more, however, in any study of Negro +insurrections it becomes difficult to distinguish between a clearly +organized revolt and what might be regarded as simply a personal crime, +so that those uprisings considered in the following discussion can only +be construed as the more representative of the many attempts for freedom +made by Negro slaves in the colonial era. + +In 1687 there was in Virginia a conspiracy among the Negroes in the +Northern Neck that was detected just in time to prevent slaughter, and +in Surry County in 1710 there was a similar plot, betrayed by one of the +conspirators. In 1711, in South Carolina, several Negroes ran away from +their masters and "kept out, armed, robbing and plundering houses and +plantations, and putting the inhabitants of the province in great +fear and terror";[1] and Governor Gibbes more than once wrote to the +legislature about amending the Negro Act, as the one already in +force did "not reach up to some of the crimes" that were daily being +committed. For one Sebastian, "a Spanish Negro," alive or dead, a reward +of £50 was offered, and he was at length brought in by the Indians and +taken in triumph to Charleston. In 1712 in New York occurred an outbreak +that occasioned greater excitement than any uprising that had preceded +it in the colonies. Early in the morning of April 7 some slaves of the +Carmantee and Pappa tribes who had suffered ill-usage, set on fire the +house of Peter van Tilburgh, and, armed with guns and knives, killed and +wounded several persons who came to extinguish the flames. They fled, +however, when the Governor ordered the cannon to be fired to alarm the +town, and they got away to the woods as well as they could, but +not before they had killed several more of the citizens. Some shot +themselves in the woods and others were captured. Altogether eight or +ten white persons were killed, and, aside from those Negroes who had +committed suicide, eighteen or more were executed, several others being +transported. Of those executed one was hanged alive in chains, some were +burned at the stake, and one was left to die a lingering death before +the gaze of the town. + +[Footnote 1: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 63.] + +In May, 1720, some Negroes in South Carolina were fairly well organized +and killed a man named Benjamin Cattle, one white woman, and a little +Negro boy. They were pursued and twenty-three taken and six convicted. +Three of the latter were executed, the other three escaping. In October, +1722, the Negroes near the mouth of the Rappahannock in Virginia +undertook to kill the white people while the latter were assembled in +church, but were discovered and put to flight. On this occasion, as on +most others, Sunday was the day chosen for the outbreak, the Negroes +then being best able to get together. In April, 1723, it was thought +that some fires in Boston had been started by Negroes, and the selectmen +recommended that if more than two Negroes were found "lurking together" +on the streets they should be put in the house of correction. In 1728 +there was a well organized attempt in Savannah, then a place of three +thousand white people and two thousand seven hundred Negroes. The plan +to kill all the white people failed because of disagreement as to the +exact method; but the body of Negroes had to be, fired on more than +once before it dispersed. In 1730 there was in Williamsburg, Va., an +insurrection that grew out of a report that Colonel Spotswood had orders +from the king to free all baptized persons on his arrival; men from all +the surrounding counties had to be called in before it could be put +down. + +The first open rebellion in South Carolina in which Negroes were +"actually armed and embodied"[1] took place in 1730. The plan was for +each Negro to kill his master in the dead of night, then for all to +assemble supposedly for a dancing-bout, rush upon the heart of the city, +take possession of the arms, and kill any white man they saw. The plot +was discovered and the leaders executed. In this same colony three +formidable insurrections broke out within the one year 1739--one in St. +Paul's Parish, one in St. John's, and one in Charleston. To some extent +these seem to have been fomented by the Spaniards in the South, and in +one of them six houses were burned and as many as twenty-five white +people killed. The Negroes were pursued and fourteen killed. Within two +days "twenty more were killed, and forty were taken, some of whom +were shot, some hanged, and some gibbeted alive."[2] This "examplary +punishment," as Governor Gibbes called it, was by no means effective, +for in the very next year, 1740, there broke out what might be +considered the most formidable insurrection in the South in the whole +colonial period. A number of Negroes, having assembled at Stono, first +surprised, and killed two young men in a warehouse, from which they then +took guns and ammunition.[3] They then elected as captain one of their +own number named Cato, whom they agreed to follow, and they marched +towards the southwest, with drums beating and colors flying, like a +disciplined company. They entered the home of a man named Godfrey, and +having murdered him and his wife and children, they took all the arms he +had, set fire to the house, and proceeded towards Jonesboro. On their +way they plundered and burned every house to which they came, killing +every white person they found and compelling the Negroes to join them. +Governor Bull, who happened to be returning to Charleston from the +southward, met them, and observing them armed, spread the alarm, which +soon reached the Presbyterian Church at Wilton, where a number of +planters was assembled. The women were left in the church trembling with +fear, while the militia formed and marched in quest of the Negroes, who +by this time had become formidable from the number that had joined them. +They had marched twelve miles and spread desolation through all the +plantations on their way. They had then halted in an open field and too +soon had begun to sing and drink and dance by way of triumph. During +these rejoicings the militia discovered them and stationed themselves +in different places around them to prevent their escape. One party then +advanced into the open field and attacked the Negroes. Some were +killed and the others were forced to the woods. Many ran back to the +plantations, hoping thus to avoid suspicion, but most of them were taken +and tried. Such as had been forced to join the uprising against their +will were pardoned, but all of the chosen leaders and the first +insurgents were put to death. All Carolina, we are told, was struck with +terror and consternation by this insurrection, in which more than twenty +white persons were killed. It was followed immediately by the famous and +severe Negro Act of 1740, which among other provisions imposed a duty of +£100 on Africans and £150 on colonial Negroes. This remained technically +in force until 1822, and yet as soon as security and confidence were +restored, there was a relaxation in the execution of the provisions +of the act and the Negroes little by little regained confidence in +themselves and again began to plan and act in concert. + +[Footnote 1: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 68.] + +[Footnote 2: Coffin.] + +[Footnote 3: The following account follows mainly Holland, quoting +Hewitt.] + +About the time of Cato's insurrection there were also several uprisings +at sea. In 1731, on a ship returning to Rhode Island from Guinea with a +cargo of slaves, the Negroes rose and killed three of the crew, all the +members of which died soon afterwards with the exception of the captain +and his boy. The next year Captain John Major of Portsmouth, N.H., was +murdered with all his crew, his schooner and cargo being seized by the +slaves. In 1735 the captives on the _Dolphin_ of London, while still on +the coast of Africa, overpowered the crew, broke into the powder room, +and finally in the course of their effort for freedom blew up both +themselves and the crew. + +A most remarkable design--as an insurrection perhaps not as formidable +as that of Cato, but in some ways the most important single event in the +history of the Negro in the colonial period--was the plot in the city +of New York in 1741. New York was at the time a thriving town of +twelve thousand inhabitants, and the calamity that now befell it was +unfortunate in every way. It was not only a Negro insurrection, though +the Negro finally suffered most bitterly. It was also a strange compound +of the effects of whiskey and gambling, of the designs of abandoned +white people, and of prejudice against the Catholics. + +Prominent in the remarkable drama were John Hughson, a shoemaker and +alehouse keeper; Sarah Hughson, his wife; John Romme, also a shoemaker +and alehouse keeper; Margaret Kerry, alias Salinburgh, commonly known +as Peggy; John Ury, a priest; and a number of Negroes, chief among whom +were Cæsar, Prince, Cuffee, and Quack.[1] Prominent among those who +helped to work out the plot were Mary Burton, a white servant of +Hughson's, sixteen years of age; Arthur Price, a young white man who +at the time of the proceedings happened to be in prison on a charge of +stealing; a young seaman named Wilson; and two white women, Mrs. Earle +and Mrs. Hogg, the latter of whom assisted in the store kept by her +husband, Robert Hogg. Hughson's house on the outskirts of the town was a +resort for Negroes, and Hughson himself aided and abetted the Negro men +in any crime that they might commit. Romme was of similar quality. Peggy +was a prostitute, and it was Cæsar who paid for her board with the +Hughsons. In the previous summer she had found lodging with these +people, a little later she had removed to Romme's, and just before +Christmas she had come back to Hughson's, and a few weeks thereafter she +became a mother. At both the public houses the Negroes would engage in +drinking and gambling; and importance also attaches to an organization +of theirs known as the Geneva Society, which had angered some of the +white citizens by its imitation of the rites and forms of freemasonry. + +[Footnote 1: The sole authority on the plot is "A Journal of the +Proceedings in the Detection of the Conspiracy formed by Some White +People, in Conjunction with Negro and other Slaves, for Burning the City +of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants (by Judge Daniel +Horsemanden). New York, 1744."] + +Events really began on the night of Saturday, February 28, 1741, with +a robbery in the house of Hogg, the merchant, from which were taken +various pieces of linen and other goods, several silver coins, chiefly +Spanish, and medals, to the value of about £60. On the day before, in +the course of a simple purchase by Wilson, Mrs. Hogg had revealed to the +young seaman her treasure. He soon spoke of the same to Cæsar, Prince, +and Cuffee, with whom he was acquainted; he gave them the plan of the +house, and they in turn spoke of the matter to Hughson. Wilson, however, +when later told of the robbery by Mrs. Hogg, at once turned suspicion +upon the Negroes, especially Cæsar; and Mary Burton testified that she +saw some of the speckled linen in question in Peggy's room after Cæsar +had gone thither. + +On Wednesday, March 18, a fire broke out on the roof of His Majesty's +House at Fort George. One week later, on March 25, there was a fire at +the home of Captain Warren in the southwest end of the city, and the +circumstances pointed to incendiary origin. One week later, on April +1, there was a fire in the storehouse of a man named Van Zant; on the +following Saturday evening there was another fire, and while the people +were returning from this there was still another; and on the next day, +Sunday, there was another alarm, and by this time the whole town had +been worked up to the highest pitch of excitement. As yet there was +nothing to point to any connection between the stealing and the fires. +On the day of the last one, however, Mrs. Earle happened to overhear +remarks by three Negroes that caused suspicion to light upon them; Mary +Burton was insisting that stolen goods had been brought by Prince and +Cæsar to the house of her master; and although a search of the home of +Hughson failed to produce a great deal, arrests were made right and +left. The case was finally taken to the Supreme Court, and because of +the white persons implicated, the summary methods ordinarily used in +dealing with Negroes were waived for the time being. + +Peggy at first withstood all questioning, denying any knowledge of the +events that had taken place. One day in prison, however, she remarked +to Arthur Price that she was afraid the Negroes would tell but that she +would not forswear herself unless they brought her into the matter. "How +forswear?" asked Price. "There are fourteen sworn," she said. "What, +is it about Mr. Hogg's goods?" he asked. "No," she replied, "about the +fire." "What, Peggy," asked Price, "were you going to set the town on +fire?" "No," she replied, "but since I knew of it they made me swear." +She also remarked that she had faith in Prince, Cuff, and Cæsar. All +the while she used the vilest possible language, and at last, thinking +suddenly that she had revealed too much, she turned upon Price and with +an oath warned him that he had better keep his counsel. That afternoon +she said further to him that she could not eat because Mary had brought +her into the case. + +A little later Peggy, much afraid, voluntarily confessed that early in +May she was at the home of John Romme, where in the course of December +the Negroes had had several meetings; among other things they had +conspired to burn the fort first of all, then the city, then to get all +the goods they could and kill anybody who had money. One evening just +about Christmas, she said, Romme and his wife and ten or eleven Negroes +had been together in a room. Romme had talked about how rich some people +were, gradually working on the feelings of the Negroes and promising +them that if they did not succeed in their designs he would take them +to a strange country and set them free, meanwhile giving them the +impression that he bore a charmed life. A little later, it appeared, +Cæsar gave to Hughson £12; Hughson was then absent for three days, +and when he came again he brought with him seven or eight guns, some +pistols, and some swords. + +As a result of these and other disclosures it was seen that not only +Hughson and Romme but also Ury, who was not so much a priest as an +adventurer, had instigated the plots of the Negroes; and Quack testified +that Hughson was the first contriver of the plot to burn the houses of +the town and kill the people, though he himself, he confessed, did fire +the fort with a lighted stick. The punishment was terrible. Quack and +Cuffee, the first to be executed, were burned at the stake on May +30. All through the summer the trials and the executions continued, +harassing New York and indeed the whole country. Altogether twenty white +persons were arrested; four--Hughson, his wife, Peggy, and Ury--were +executed, and some of their acquaintances were forced to leave the +province. One hundred and fifty-four Negroes were arrested. Thirteen +were burned, eighteen were hanged, and seventy-one transported. + + * * * * * + +It is evident from these events and from the legislation of the era +that, except for the earnest work of such a sect as the Quakers, there +was little genuine effort for the improvement of the social condition +of the Negro people in the colonies. They were not even regarded as +potential citizens, and both in and out of the system of slavery were +subjected to the harshest regulations. Towards amicable relations with +the other racial elements that were coming to build up a new country +only the slightest measure of progress was made. Instead, insurrection +after insurrection revealed the sharpest antagonism, and any outbreak +promptly called forth the severest and frequently the most cruel +punishment. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA + + +1. _Sentiment in England and America_ + +The materialism of the eighteenth century, with all of its evils, at +length produced a liberalism of thought that was to shake to their very +foundations old systems of life in both Europe and America. The progress +of the cause of the Negro in this period is to be explained by the +general diffusion of ideas that made for the rights of man everywhere. +Cowper wrote his humanitarian poems; in close association with the +romanticism of the day the missionary movement in religion began to +gather force; and the same impulse which in England began the agitation +for a free press and for parliamentary reform, and which in France +accounted for the French Revolution, in America led to the revolt from +Great Britain. No patriot could come under the influence of any one +of these movements without having his heart and his sense of justice +stirred to some degree in behalf of the slave. At the same time it must +be remembered that the contest of the Americans was primarily for the +definite legal rights of Englishmen rather than for the more abstract +rights of mankind which formed the platform of the French Revolution; +hence arose the great inconsistency in the position of men who were +engaged in a stern struggle for liberty at the same time that they +themselves were holding human beings in bondage. + +In England the new era was formally signalized by an epoch-making +decision. In November, 1769, Charles Stewart, once a merchant in Norfolk +and later receiver general of the customs of North America, took to +England his Negro slave, James Somerset, who, being sick, was turned +adrift by his master. Later Somerset recovered and Stewart seized him, +intending to have him borne out of the country and sold in Jamaica. +Somerset objected to this and in so doing raised the important legal +question, Did a slave by being brought to England become free? The case +received an extraordinary amount of attention, for everybody realized +that the decision would be far-reaching in its consequences. After it +was argued at three different sittings, Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of +England, in 1772 handed down from the Court of King's Bench the judgment +that as soon as ever any slave set his foot upon the soil of England he +became free. + +This decision may be taken as fairly representative of the general +advance that the cause of the Negro was making in England at the time. +Early in the century sentiment against the slave-trade had begun to +develop, many pamphlets on the evils of slavery were circulated, and as +early as 1776 a motion for the abolition of the trade was made in the +House of Commons. John Wesley preached against the system, Adam Smith +showed its ultimate expensiveness, and Burke declared that the slavery +endured by the Negroes in the English settlements was worse than that +ever suffered by any other people. Foremost in the work of protest were +Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, the one being the leader in +investigation and in the organization of the movement against slavery +while the other was the parliamentary champion of the cause. For +years, assisted by such debaters as Burke, Fox, and the younger Pitt, +Wilberforce worked until on March 25, 1807, the bill for the abolition +of the slave-trade received the royal assent, and still later until +slavery itself was abolished in the English dominions (1833). + +This high thought in England necessarily found some reflection in +America, where the logic of the position of the patriots frequently +forced them to take up the cause of the slave. As early as 1751 Benjamin +Franklin, in his _Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind_, +pointed out the evil effects of slavery upon population and the +production of wealth; and in 1761 James Otis, in his argument against +the Writs of Assistance, spoke so vigorously of the rights of black men +as to leave no doubt as to his own position. To Patrick Henry slavery +was a practice "totally repugnant to the first impressions of right and +wrong," and in 1777 he was interested in a plan for gradual emancipation +received from his friend, Robert Pleasants. Washington desired nothing +more than "to see some plan adopted by which slavery might be abolished +by law"; while Joel Barlow in his _Columbiad_ gave significant warning +to Columbia of the ills that she was heaping up for herself. + +Two of the expressions of sentiment of the day, by reason of their deep +yearning and philosophic calm, somehow stand apart from others. Thomas +Jefferson in his _Notes on Virginia_ wrote: "The whole commerce between +master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous +passions; the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading +submission on the other.... The man must be a prodigy who can retain his +manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances.... I tremble for my +country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice can not sleep +forever; that considering numbers, nature, and natural means only, a +revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is +among possible events; that it may become probable by supernatural +interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us +in such a contest."[1] Henry Laurens, that fine patriot whose business +sense was excelled only by his idealism, was harassed by the problem and +wrote to his son, Colonel John Laurens, as follows: "You know, my dear +son, I abhor slavery. I was born in a country where slavery had been +established by British kings and parliaments, as well as by the laws of +that country ages before my existence. I found the Christian religion +and slavery growing under the same authority and cultivation. I +nevertheless disliked it. In former days there was no combating the +prejudices of men supported by interest; the day I hope is approaching +when, from principles of gratitude as well as justice, every man will +strive to be foremost in showing his readiness to comply with the golden +rule. Not less than twenty thousand pounds sterling would all my Negroes +produce if sold at public auction to-morrow. I am not the man who +enslaved them; they are indebted to Englishmen for that favor; +nevertheless I am devising means for manumitting many of them, and for +cutting off the entail of slavery. Great powers oppose me--the laws and +customs of my country, my own and the avarice of my countrymen. What +will my children say if I deprive them of so much estate? These are +difficulties, but not insuperable. I will do as much as I can in my +time, and leave the rest to a better hand."[2] Stronger than all else, +however, were the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence: "We +hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; +that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; +that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." +Within the years to come these words were to be denied and assailed as +perhaps no others in the language; but in spite of all they were to +stand firm and justify the faith of 1776 before Jefferson himself and +others had become submerged in a gilded opportunism. + +[Footnote 1: "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, issued under the +auspices of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association," 20 vols., +Washington, 1903, II, 226-227.] + +[Footnote 2: "A South Carolina Protest against Slavery (being a letter +written from Henry Laurens, second president of the Continental +Congress, to his son, Colonel John Laurens; dated Charleston, S.C., +August 14th, 1776)." Reprinted by G.P. Putnam, New York, 1861.] + +It is not to be supposed that such sentiments were by any means general; +nevertheless these instances alone show that some men at least in +the colonies were willing to carry their principles to their logical +conclusion. Naturally opinion crystallized in formal resolutions or +enactments. Unfortunately most of these were in one way or another +rendered ineffectual after the war; nevertheless the main impulse that +they represented continued to live. In 1769 Virginia declared that the +discriminatory tax levied on free Negroes and mulattoes since 1668 was +"derogatory to the rights of freeborn subjects" and accordingly should +be repealed. In October, 1774, the First Continental Congress declared +in its Articles of Association that the united colonies would "neither +import nor purchase any slave imported after the first day of December +next" and that they would "wholly discontinue the trade." On April 16, +1776, the Congress further resolved that "no slaves be imported into any +of the thirteen colonies"; and the first draft of the Declaration of +Independence contained a strong passage censuring the King of England +for bringing slaves into the country and then inciting them to rise +against their masters. On April 14, 1775, the first abolition society in +the country was organized in Pennsylvania; in 1778 Virginia once more +passed an act prohibiting the slave-trade; and the Methodist Conference +in Baltimore in 1780 strongly expressed its disapproval of slavery. + + +2. _The Negro in the War_ + +As in all the greater wars in which the country has engaged, the +position of the Negro was generally improved by the American Revolution. +It was not by reason of any definite plan that this was so, for in +general the disposition of the government was to keep him out of the +conflict. Nevertheless between the hesitating policy of America and the +overtures of England the Negro made considerable advance. + +The American cause in truth presented a strange and embarrassing +dilemma, as we have remarked. In the war itself, moreover, began the +stern cleavage between the North and the South. At the moment the rift +was not clearly discerned, but afterwards it was to widen into a chasm. +Massachusetts bore more than her share of the struggle, and in the South +the combination of Tory sentiment and the aristocratic social system +made enlistment especially difficult. In this latter section, moreover, +there was always the lurking fear of an uprising of the slaves, and +before the end of the war came South Carolina and Georgia were very +nearly demoralized. In the course of the conflict South Carolina lost +not less than 25,000 slaves,[1] about one-fifth of all she had. Georgia +did not lose so many, but proportionally suffered even more. Some of the +Negroes went into the British army, some went away with the loyalists, +and some took advantage of the confusion and escaped to the Indians. +In Virginia, until they were stopped at least, some slaves entered the +Continental Army as free Negroes. + +[Footnote 1: Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in the +American Army of the Revolution, by G.H. Moore, New York, 1862, p. 15.] + +Three or four facts are outstanding. The formal policy of Congress and +of Washington and his officers was against the enlistment of Negroes and +especially of slaves; nevertheless, while things were still uncertain, +some Negroes entered the regular units. The inducements offered by the +English, moreover, forced a modification of the American policy in +actual operation; and before the war was over the colonists were so hard +pressed that in more ways than one they were willing to receive the +assistance of Negroes. Throughout the North Negroes served in the +regular units; but while in the South especially there was much thought +given to the training of slaves, in only one of all the colonies was +there a distinctively Negro military organization, and that one was +Rhode Island. In general it was understood that if a slave served in the +war he was to be given his freedom, and it is worthy of note that many +slaves served in the field instead of their masters. + +In Massachusetts on May 29, 1775, the Committee of Safety passed an act +against the enlistment of slaves as "inconsistent with the principles +that are to be supported." Another resolution of June 6 dealing with the +same matter was laid on the table. Washington took command of the forces +in and about Boston July 3, 1775, and on July 10 issued instructions +to the recruiting officers in Massachusetts against the enlisting of +Negroes. Toward the end of September there was a spirited debate in +Congress over a letter to go to Washington, the Southern delegates, led +by Rutledge of South Carolina, endeavoring to force instructions to the +commander-in-chief to discharge all slaves and free Negroes in the +army. A motion to this effect failed to win a majority; nevertheless, a +council of Washington and his generals on October 8 "agreed unanimously +to reject all slaves, and, by a great majority, to reject Negroes +altogether," and in his general orders of November 12 Washington acted +on this understanding. Meanwhile, however, Lord Dunmore issued his +proclamation declaring free those indentured servants and Negroes who +would join the English army, and in great numbers the slaves in Virginia +flocked to the British standard. Then on December 14--somewhat to the +amusement of both the Negroes and the English--the Virginia Convention +issued a proclamation offering pardon to those slaves who returned to +their duty within ten days. On December 30 Washington gave instructions +for the enlistment of free Negroes, promising later to lay the matter +before Congress; and a congressional committee on January 16, 1776, +reported that those free Negroes who had already served faithfully in +the army at Cambridge might reënlist but no others, the debate in this +connection having drawn very sharply the line between the North and the +South. Henceforth for all practical purposes the matter was left in the +hands of the individual colonies. Massachusetts on January 6, 1777, +passed a resolution drafting every seventh man to complete her quota +"without any exception, save the people called Quakers," and this was as +near as she came at any time in the war to the formal recognition of the +Negro. The Rhode Island Assembly in 1778 resolved to raise a regiment +of slaves, who were to be freed at enlistment, their owners in no case +being paid more than £120. In the Battle of Rhode Island August 29, +1778, the Negro regiment under Colonel Greene distinguished itself by +deeds of desperate valor, repelling three times the assaults of an +overwhelming force of Hessian troops. A little later, when Greene was +about to be murdered, some of these same soldiers had to be cut to +pieces before he could be secured. Maryland employed Negroes as soldiers +and sent them into regiments along with white men, and it is to be +remembered that at the time the Negro population of Maryland was +exceeded only by that of Virginia and South Carolina. For the far South +there was the famous Laurens plan for the raising of Negro regiments. + +In a letter to Washington of March 16, 1779, Henry Laurens suggested +the raising and training of three thousand Negroes in South Carolina. +Washington was rather conservative about the plan, having in mind the +ever-present fear of the arming of Negroes and wondering about the +effect on those slaves who were not given a chance for freedom. On June +30, 1779, however, Sir Henry Clinton issued a proclamation only less +far-reaching than Dunmore's, threatening Negroes if they joined the +"rebel" army and offering them security if they came within the British +lines. This was effective; assistance of any kind that the Continental +Army could now get was acceptable; and the plan for the raising of +several battalions of Negroes in the South was entrusted to Colonel John +Laurens, a member of Washington's staff. In his own way Colonel Laurens +was a man of parts quite as well as his father; he was thoroughly +devoted to the American cause and Washington said of him that his only +fault was a courage that bordered on rashness. He eagerly pursued his +favorite project; able-bodied slaves were to be paid for by Congress at +the rate of $1,000 each, and one who served to the end of the war was +to receive his freedom and $50 in addition. In South Carolina, however, +Laurens received little encouragement, and in 1780 he was called upon +to go to France on a patriotic mission. He had not forgotten the matter +when he returned in 1782; but by that time Cornwallis had surrendered +and the country had entered upon the critical period of adjustment to +the new conditions. Washington now wrote to Laurens: "I must confess +that I am not at all astonished at the failure of your plan. That spirit +of freedom which, at the commencement of this contest, would have gladly +sacrificed everything to the attainment of its object, has long since +subsided, and every selfish passion has taken its place. It is not the +public but private interest which influences the generality of mankind; +nor can the Americans any longer boast an exception. Under these +circumstances, it would rather have been surprising if you had +succeeded; nor will you, I fear, have better success in Georgia."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Sparks's _Washington_, VIII, 322-323.] + +From this brief survey we may at least see something of the anomalous +position occupied by the Negro in the American Revolution. Altogether +not less than three thousand, and probably more, members of the race +served in the Continental army. At the close of the conflict New York, +Rhode Island, and Virginia freed their slave soldiers. In general, +however, the system of slavery was not affected, and the English were +bound by the treaty of peace not to carry away any Negroes. As late as +1786, it is nevertheless interesting to note, a band of Negroes calling +themselves "The King of England's soldiers" harassed and alarmed the +people on both sides of the Savannah River. + +Slavery remained; but people could not forget the valor of the Negro +regiment in Rhode Island, or the courage of individual soldiers. They +could not forget that it was a Negro, Crispus Attucks, who had been the +patriot leader in the Boston Massacre, or the scene when he and one of +his companions, Jonas Caldwell, lay in Faneuil Hall. Those who were at +Bunker Hill could not fail to remember Peter Salem, who, when Major +Pitcairn of the British army was exulting in his expected triumph, +rushed forward, shot him in the breast, and killed him; or Samuel Poor, +whose officers testified that he performed so many brave deeds that "to +set forth particulars of his conduct would be tedious." These and many +more, some with very humble names, in a dark day worked for a better +country. They died in faith, not having received the promises, but +having seen them afar off. + +3. _The Northwest Territory and the Constitution_ + +The materialism and selfishness which rose in the course of the war to +oppose the liberal tendencies of the period, and which Washington felt +did so much to embarrass the government, became pronounced in the +debates on the Northwest Territory and the Constitution. At the outbreak +of the Revolutionary War the region west of Pennsylvania, east of the +Mississippi River, north of the Ohio River, and south of Canada, was +claimed by Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. This +territory afforded to these states a source of revenue not possessed by +the others for the payment of debts incurred in the war, and Maryland +and other seaboard states insisted that in order to equalize matters +these claimants should cede their rights to the general government. The +formal cessions were made and accepted in the years 1782-6. In April, +1784, after Virginia had made her cession, the most important, Congress +adopted a temporary form of government drawn up by Thomas Jefferson for +the territory south as well as north of the Ohio River. Jefferson's most +significant provision, however, was rejected. This declared that "after +the year 1800 there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude +in any of the said states other than in the punishment of crimes whereof +the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally +guilty." This early ordinance, although it did not go into effect, is +interesting as an attempt to exclude slavery from the great West that +was beginning to be opened up. On March 3, 1786, moreover, the Ohio +Company was formed in Boston by a group of New England business men for +the purpose of purchasing land in the West and promoting settlement; and +early in June, 1787, Dr. Manasseh Cutler, one of the chief promoters of +the company, appeared in New York, where the last Continental Congress +was sitting, for the concrete purpose of buying land. He doubtless +did much to hasten action by Congress, and on July 13 was passed "An +Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, +Northwest of the Ohio," the Southern states not having ceded the area +south of the river. It was declared that "There shall be neither slavery +nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in +punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall be duly convicted." To +this was added the stipulation (soon afterwards embodied in the Federal +Constitution) for the return of any person escaping into the territory +from whom labor or service was "lawfully claimed in any one of the +original states." In this shape the ordinance was adopted, even South +Carolina and Georgia concurring; and thus was paved the way for the +first fugitive slave law. + +Slavery, already looming up as a dominating issue, was the cause of +two of the three great compromises that entered into the making of the +Constitution of the United States (the third, which was the first made, +being the concession to the smaller states of equal representation in +the Senate). These were the first but not the last of the compromises +that were to mark the history of the subject; and, as some clear-headed +men of the time perceived, it would have been better and cheaper to +settle the question at once on the high plane of right rather than to +leave it indefinitely to the future. South Carolina, however, with able +representation, largely controlled the thought of the convention, and +she and Georgia made the most extreme demands, threatening not to accept +the Constitution if there was not compliance with them. An important +question was that of representation, the Southern states advocating +representation according to numbers, slave and free, while the Northern +states were in favor of the representation of free persons only. +Williamson of North Carolina advocated the counting of three-fifths of +the slaves, but this motion was at first defeated, and there was little +real progress until Gouverneur Morris suggested that representation be +according to the principle of wealth. Mason of Virginia pointed out +practical difficulties which caused the resolution to be made to apply +to direct taxation only, and in this form it began to be generally +acceptable. By this time, however, the deeper feelings of the delegates +on the subject of slavery had been stirred, and they began to speak +plainly. Davie of North Carolina declared that his state would never +enter the Union on any terms that did not provide for counting at least +three-fifths of the slaves and that "if the Eastern states meant to +exclude them altogether the business was at an end." It was finally +agreed to reckon three-fifths of the slaves in estimating taxes and to +make taxation the basis of representation. The whole discussion was +renewed, however, in connection with the question of importation. There +were more threats from the far South, and some of the men from New +England, prompted by commercial interest, even if they did not favor +the sentiments expressed, were at least disposed to give them passive +acquiescence. From Maryland and Virginia, however, came earnest protest. +Luther Martin declared unqualifiedly that to have a clause in the +Constitution permitting the importation of slaves was inconsistent +with the principles of the Revolution and dishonorable to the American +character, and George Mason could foresee only a future in which a just +Providence would punish such a national sin as slavery by national +calamities. Such utterances were not to dominate the convention, +however; it was a day of expediency, not of morality. A bargain was made +between the commercial interests of the North and the slave-holding +interests of the South, the granting to Congress of unrestricted power +to enact navigation laws being conceded in exchange for twenty years' +continuance of the slave-trade. The main agreements on the subject +of slavery were thus finally expressed in the Constitution: +"Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several +states which may be included within this Union, according to their +respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole +number of free persons, including those bound to servitude for a term +of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other +persons" (Art. I, Sec. 2); "The migration or importation of such persons +as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not +be prohibited by the congress prior to the year 1808; but a tax or duty +may be imposed, not exceeding ten dollars on each person" (Art. I, Sec. +9); "No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws +thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or +regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall +be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may +be due" (Art. IV, Sec. 2). With such provisions, though without the use +of the question-begging word _slaves_, the institution of human bondage +received formal recognition in the organic law of the new republic of +the United States. + +"Just what is the light in which we are to regard the slaves?" wondered +James Wilson in the course of the debate. "Are they admitted as +citizens?" he asked; "then why are they not admitted on an equality with +white citizens? Are they admitted as property? then why is not other +property admitted into the computation?" Such questions and others to +which they gave rise were to trouble more heads than his in the course +of the coming years, and all because a great nation did not have the +courage to do the right thing at the right time. + + +4. Early Steps toward Abolition + +In spite, however, of the power crystallized in the Constitution, the +moral movement that had set in against slavery still held its ground, +and it was destined never wholly to languish until slavery ceased +altogether to exist in the United States. Throughout the century the +Quakers continued their good work; in the generation before the war John +Woolman of New Jersey traveled in the Southern colonies preaching that +"the practice of continuing slavery is not right"; and Anthony Benezet +opened in Philadelphia a school for Negroes which he himself taught +without remuneration, and otherwise influenced Pennsylvania to begin the +work of emancipation. In general the Quakers conducted their campaign +along the lines on which they were most likely to succeed, attacking +the slave-trade first of all but more and more making an appeal to +the central government; and the first Abolition Society, organized in +Pennsylvania in 1775 and consisting mainly of Quakers, had for its +original object merely the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in +bondage.[1] The organization was forced to suspend its work in the +course of the war, but in 1784 it renewed its meetings, and men of other +denominations than the Quakers now joined in greater numbers. In 1787 +the society was formally reorganized as "The Pennsylvania Society +for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, the Relief of Free Negroes +unlawfully held in Bondage, and for Improving the Condition of the +African Race." Benjamin Franklin was elected president and there was +adopted a constitution which was more and more to serve as a model for +similar societies in the neighboring states. + +[Footnote 1: Locke: _Anti-Slavery in America_, 97.] + +Four years later, by 1791, there were in the country as many as +twelve abolition societies, and these represented all the states from +Massachusetts to Virginia, with the exception of New Jersey, where a +society was formed the following year. That of New York, formed in 1785 +with John Jay as president, took the name of the Manumission Society, +limiting its aims at first to promoting manumission and protecting those +Negroes who had already been set free. All of the societies had very +clear ideas as to their mission. The prevalence of kidnaping made them +emphasize "the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage," +and in general each one in addition to its executive committee had +committees for inspection, advice, and protection; for the guardianship +of children; for the superintending of education, and for employment. +While the societies were originally formed to attend to local matters, +their efforts naturally extended in course of time to national affairs, +and on December 8, 1791, nine of them prepared petitions to Congress for +the limitation of the slave-trade. These petitions were referred to a +special committee and nothing more was heard of them at the time. After +two years accordingly the organizations decided that a more vigorous +plan of action was necessary, and on January 1, 1794, delegates from +nine societies organized in Philadelphia the American Convention of +Abolition Societies. The object of the Convention was twofold, "to +increase the zeal and efficiency of the individual societies by +its advice and encouragement ... and to take upon itself the chief +responsibility in regard to national affairs." It prepared an address to +the country and presented to Congress a memorial against the fitting out +of vessels in the United States to engage in the slave-trade, and it had +the satisfaction of seeing Congress in the same year pass a bill to this +effect. + +Some of the organizations were very active and one as far South as that +in Maryland was at first very powerful. Always were they interested +in suits in courts of law. In 1797 the New York Society reported 90 +complaints, 36 persons freed, 21 cases still in suit, and 19 under +consideration. The Pennsylvania Society reported simply that it had +been instrumental in the liberation of "many hundreds" of persons. The +different branches, however, did not rest with mere liberation; they +endeavored generally to improve the condition of the Negroes in their +respective communities, each one being expected to report to the +Convention on the number of freedmen in its state and on their property, +employment, and conduct. From time to time also the Convention prepared +addresses to these people, and something of the spirit of its work and +also of the social condition of the Negro at the time may be seen from +the following address of 1796: + + To the Free Africans and Other Free People of Color in the United + States. + + The Convention of Deputies from the Abolition Societies in the + United States, assembled at Philadelphia, have undertaken to address + you upon subjects highly interesting to your prosperity. + + They wish to see you act worthily of the rank you have acquired as + freemen, and thereby to do credit to yourselves, and to justify the + friends and advocates of your color in the eyes of the world. + + As the result of our united reflections, we have concluded to call + your attention to the following articles of advice. We trust they + are dictated by the purest regard for your welfare, for we view you + as Friends and Brethren. + + _In the first place_, We earnestly recommend to you, a regular + attention to the important duty of public worship; by which means + you will evince gratitude to your Creator, and, at the same time, + promote knowledge, union, friendship, and proper conduct among + yourselves. + + _Secondly_, We advise such of you, as have not been taught reading, + writing, and the first principles of arithmetic, to acquire them + as early as possible. Carefully attend to the instruction of your + children in the same simple and useful branches of education. Cause + them, likewise, early and frequently to read the holy Scriptures; + these contain, amongst other great discoveries, the precious record + of the original equality of mankind, and of the obligations of + universal justice and benevolence, which are derived from the + relation of the human race to each other in a common Father. + + _Thirdly_, Teach your children useful trades, or to labor with their + hands in cultivating the earth. These employments are favorable to + health and virtue. In the choice of masters, who are to instruct + them in the above branches of business, prefer those who will work + with them; by this means they will acquire habits of industry, and + be better preserved from vice than if they worked alone, or under + the eye of persons less interested in their welfare. In forming + contracts, for yourselves or children, with masters, it may be + useful to consult such persons as are capable of giving you the best + advice, and who are known to be your friends, in order to prevent + advantages being taken of your ignorance of the laws and customs of + our country. + + _Fourthly_, Be diligent in your respective callings, and faithful in + all the relations you bear in society, whether as husbands, wives, + fathers, children or hired servants. Be just in all your dealings. + Be simple in your dress and furniture, and frugal in your family + expenses. Thus you will act like Christians as well as freemen, and, + by these means, you will provide for the distresses and wants of + sickness and old age. + + _Fifthly_, Refrain from the use of spirituous liquors; the + experience of many thousands of the citizens of the United States + has proved that these liquors are not necessary to lessen the + fatigue of labor, nor to obviate the effects of heat or cold; nor + can they, in any degree, add to the innocent pleasures of society. + + _Sixthly_, Avoid frolicking, and amusements which lead to expense + and idleness; they beget habits of dissipation and vice, and thus + expose you to deserved reproach amongst your white neighbors. + + _Seventhly_, We wish to impress upon your minds the moral and + religious necessity of having your marriages legally performed; also + to have exact registers preserved of all the births and deaths which + occur in your respective families. + + _Eighthly_, Endeavor to lay up as much as possible of your earnings + for the benefit of your children, in case you should die before they + are able to maintain themselves--your money will be safest and most + beneficial when laid out in lots, houses, or small farms. + + _Ninthly_, We recommend to you, at all times and upon all occasions, + to behave yourselves to all persons in a civil and respectful + manner, by which you may prevent contention and remove every just + occasion of complaint. We beseech you to reflect, that it is by your + good conduct alone that you can refute the objections which have + been made against you as rational and moral creatures, and remove + many of the difficulties which have occurred in the general + emancipation of such of your brethren as are yet in bondage. + + With hearts anxious for your welfare, we commend you to the guidance + and protection of that _Being_ who is able to keep you from all + evil, and who is the common Father and Friend of the whole family of + mankind. + + Theodore Foster, President. Philadelphia, January 6th, 1796. + Thomas P. Cope, Secretary. + +The general impulse for liberty which prompted the Revolution and the +early Abolition societies naturally found some reflection in formal +legislation. The declarations of the central government under the +Confederation were not very effective, and for more definite enactments +we have to turn to the individual states. The honor of being the first +actually to prohibit and abolish slavery really belongs to Vermont, +whose constitution, adopted in 1777, even before she had come into the +Union, declared very positively against the system. In 1782 the old +Virginia statute forbidding emancipation except for meritorious services +was repealed. The repeal was in force ten years, and in this time +manumissions were numerous. Maryland soon afterwards passed acts similar +to those in Virginia prohibiting the further introduction of slaves and +removing restraints on emancipation, and New York and New Jersey also +prohibited the further introduction of slaves from Africa or from other +states. In 1780, in spite of considerable opposition because of the +course of the war, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act forbidding +the further introduction of slaves and giving freedom to all persons +thereafter born in the state. Similar provisions were enacted in +Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784. Meanwhile Massachusetts was much +agitated, and beginning in 1766 there were before the courts several +cases in which Negroes sued for their freedom.[1] Their general argument +was that the royal charter declared that all persons residing in the +province were to be as free as the king's subjects in Great Britain, +that by Magna Carta no subject could be deprived of liberty except by +the judgment of his peers, and that any laws that may have been passed +in the province to mitigate or regulate the evil of slavery did not +authorize it. Sometimes the decisions were favorable, but at the +beginning of the Revolution Massachusetts still recognized the system +by the decision that no slave could be enlisted in the army. In 1777, +however, some slaves brought from Jamaica were ordered to be set at +liberty, and it was finally decided in 1783 that the declaration in the +Massachusetts Bill of Rights to the effect that "all men are born +free and equal" prohibited slavery. In this same year New Hampshire +incorporated in her constitution a prohibitive article. By the time the +convention for the framing of the Constitution of the United States +met in Philadelphia in 1787, two of the original thirteen states +(Massachusetts and New Hampshire) had positively prohibited slavery, and +in three others (Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) gradual +abolition was in progress. + +[Footnote 1: See Williams: _History of the Negro Race in America_, I, +228-236.] + +The next decade was largely one of the settlement of new territory, and +by its close the pendulum seemed to have swung decidedly backward. In +1799, however, after much effort and debating, New York at last declared +for gradual abolition, and New Jersey did likewise in 1804. In general, +gradual emancipation was the result of the work of people who were +humane but also conservative and who questioned the wisdom of thrusting +upon the social organism a large number of Negroes suddenly emancipated. +Sometimes, however, a gradual emancipation act was later followed by one +for immediate manumission, as in New York in 1817. At first those who +favored gradual emancipation were numerous in the South as well as in +the North, but in general after Gabriel's insurrection in 1800, though +some individuals were still outstanding, the South was quiescent. The +character of the acts that were really put in force can hardly be better +stated than has already been done by the specialist in the subject.[1] +We read: + +[Footnote 1: Locke, 124-126.] + + Gradual emancipation is defined as the extinction of slavery by + depriving it of its hereditary quality. In distinction from the + clauses in the constitutions of Vermont, Massachusetts, and New + Hampshire, which directly or indirectly affected the condition of + slavery as already existing, the gradual emancipation acts left this + condition unchanged and affected only the children born after + the passage of the act or after a fixed date. Most of these acts + followed that of Pennsylvania in providing that the children of a + slave mother should remain with her owner as servants until they + reached a certain age, of from twenty-one to twenty-eight years, as + stated in the various enactments. In Pennsylvania, however, they + were to be regarded as free. In Connecticut, on the other hand, they + were to be "held in servitude" until twenty-five years of age and + after that to be free. The most liberal policy was that of Rhode + Island, where the children were pronounced free but were to be + supported by the town and educated in reading, writing, and + arithmetic, morality and religion. The latter clauses, however, were + repealed the following year, leaving the children to be supported by + the owner of the mother until twenty-one years of age, and only if + he abandoned his claims to the mother to become a charge to the + town. In New York and New Jersey they were to remain as servants + until a certain age, but were regarded as free, and liberal + opportunities were given the master for the abandonment of his + claims, the children in such cases to be supported at the common + charge.... The manumission and emancipation acts were naturally + followed, as in the case of the constitutional provision in Vermont, + by the attempts of some of the slave-owners to dispose of their + property outside the State. Amendments to the laws were found + necessary, and the Abolition Societies found plenty of occasion for + their exertions in protecting free blacks from seizure and illegal + sale and in looking after the execution and amendment of the laws. + The process of gradual emancipation was also unsatisfactory on + account of the length of time it would require, and in Pennsylvania + and Connecticut attempts were made to obtain acts for immediate + emancipation. + + +5. _Beginning of Racial Consciousness_ + +Of supreme importance in this momentous period, more important perhaps +in its ultimate effect than even the work of the Abolition Societies, +was what the Negro was doing for himself. In the era of the Revolution +began that racial consciousness on which almost all later effort for +social betterment has been based. + +By 1700 the only coöperative effort on the part of the Negro was such as +that in the isolated society to which Cotton Mather gave rules, or in a +spasmodic insurrection, or a rather crude development of native African +worship. As yet there was no genuine basis of racial self-respect. In +one way or another, however, in the eighteenth century the idea of +association developed, and especially in Boston about the time of the +Revolution Negroes began definitely to work together; thus they assisted +individuals in test cases in the courts, and when James Swan in his +_Dissuasion from the Slave Trade_ made such a statement as that "no +country can be called free where there is one slave," it was "at the +earnest desire of the Negroes in Boston" that the revised edition of the +pamphlet was published. + +From the very beginning the Christian Church was the race's foremost +form of social organization. It was but natural that the first +distinctively Negro churches should belong to the democratic Baptist +denomination. There has been much discussion as to which was the very +first Negro Baptist church, and good claims have been put forth by the +Harrison Street Baptist Church of Petersburg, Va., and for a church +in Williamsburg, Va., organization in each case going back to 1776. +A student of the subject, however, has shown that there was a Negro +Baptist church at Silver Bluff, "on the South Carolina side of the +Savannah River, in Aiken County, just twelve miles from Augusta, Ga.," +founded not earlier than 1773, not later than 1775.[1] In any case +special interest attaches to the First Bryan Baptist Church, of +Savannah, founded in January, 1788. The origin of this body goes back to +George Liele, a Negro born in Virginia, who might justly lay claim to +being America's first foreign missionary. Converted by a Georgia Baptist +minister, he was licensed as a probationer and was known to preach soon +afterwards at a white quarterly meeting.[2] In 1783 he preached in the +vicinity of Savannah, and one of those who came to hear him was Andrew +Bryan, a slave of Jonathan Bryan. Liele then went to Jamaica and in 1784 +began to preach in Kingston, where with four brethren from America he +formed a church. At first he was subjected to persecution; nevertheless +by 1791 he had baptized over four hundred persons. Eight or nine months +after he left for Jamaica, Andrew Bryan began to preach, and at first he +was permitted to use a building at Yamacraw, in the suburbs of Savannah. +Of this, however, he was in course of time dispossessed, the place being +a rendezvous for those Negroes who had been taken away from their homes +by the British. Many of these men were taken before the magistrates +from time to time, and some were whipped and others imprisoned. +Bryan himself, having incurred the ire of the authorities, was twice +imprisoned and once publicly whipped, being so cut that he "bled +abundantly"; but he told his persecutors that he "would freely suffer +death for the cause of Jesus Christ," and after a while he was permitted +to go on with his work. For some time he used a barn, being assisted +by his brother Sampson; then for £50 he purchased his freedom, and +afterwards he began to use for worship a house that Sampson had been +permitted to erect. By 1791 his church had two hundred members, but over +a hundred more had been received as converted members though they +had not won their masters' permission to be baptized. An interesting +sidelight on these people is furnished by the statement that probably +fifty of them could read though only three could write. Years +afterwards, in 1832, when the church had grown to great numbers, a large +part of the congregation left the Bryan Church and formed what is now +the First African Baptist Church of Savannah. Both congregations, +however, remembered their early leader as one "clear in the grand +doctrines of the Gospel, truly pious, and the instrument of doing more +good among the poor slaves than all the learned doctors in America." + +[Footnote 1: Walter H. Brooks: _The Silver Bluff Church_.] + +[Footnote 2: See letters in Journal of Negro History, January, 1916, +69-97.] + +While Bryan was working in Savannah, in Richmond, Va., rose Lott Cary, a +man of massive and erect frame and of great personality. Born a slave in +1780, Cary worked for a number of years in a tobacco factory, leading a +wicked life. Converted in 1807, he made rapid advance in education and +he was licensed as a Baptist preacher. He purchased his own freedom +and that of his children (his first wife having died), organized a +missionary society, and then in 1821 himself went as a missionary to the +new colony of Liberia, in whose interest he worked heroically until his +death in 1828. + +More clearly defined than the origin of Negro Baptist churches are +the beginnings of African Methodism. Almost from the time of its +introduction in the country Methodism made converts among the Negroes +and in 1786 there were nearly two thousand Negroes in the regular +churches of the denomination, which, like the Baptist denomination, it +must be remembered, was before the Revolution largely overshadowed +in official circles by the Protestant Episcopal Church. The general +embarrassment of the Episcopal Church in America in connection with the +war, and the departure of many loyalist ministers, gave opportunity to +other denominations as well as to certain bodies of Negroes. The white +members of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, +however, determined to set apart its Negro membership and to segregate +it in the gallery. Then in 1787 came a day when the Negroes, choosing +not to be insulted, and led by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, left the +edifice, and with these two men as overseers on April 17 organized +the Free African Society. This was intended to be "without regard to +religious tenets," the members being banded together "to support one +another in sickness and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless +children." The society was in the strictest sense fraternal, there being +only eight charter members: Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Samuel Boston, +Joseph Johnson, Cato Freeman, Cæsar Cranchell, James Potter, and William +White. By 1790 the society had on deposit in the Bank of North America +£42 9s. id., and that it generally stood for racial enterprise may be +seen from the fact that in 1788 an organization in Newport known as +the Negro Union, in which Paul Cuffe was prominent, wrote proposing a +general exodus of the Negroes to Africa. Nothing came of the suggestion +at the time, but at least it shows that representative Negroes of the +day were beginning to think together about matters of general policy. + +In course of time the Free African Society of Philadelphia resolved into +an "African Church," and this became affiliated with the Protestant +Episcopal Church, whose bishop had exercised an interest in it. Out of +this organization developed St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, organized in +1791 and formally opened for service July 17, 1794. Allen was at first +selected for ordination, but he decided to remain a Methodist and Jones +was chosen in his stead and thus became the first Negro rector in the +United States. Meanwhile, however, in 1791, Allen himself had purchased +a lot at the corner of Sixth and Lombard Streets; he at once set about +arranging for the building that became Bethel Church; and in 1794 he +formally sold the lot to the church and the new house of worship was +dedicated by Bishop Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal Church. With +this general body Allen and his people for a number of years remained +affiliated, but difficulties arose and separate churches having come +into being in other places, a convention of Negro Methodists was at +length called to meet in Philadelphia April 9, 1816. To this came +sixteen delegates--Richard Allen, Jacob Tapsico, Clayton Durham, James +Champion, Thomas Webster, of Philadelphia; Daniel Coker, Richard +Williams, Henry Harden, Stephen Hill, Edward Williamson, Nicholas +Gailliard, of Baltimore: Jacob Marsh, Edward Jackson, William Andrew, +of Attleborough, Penn.; Peter Spencer, of Wilmington, Del., and Peter +Cuffe, of Salem, N.J.--and these were the men who founded the African +Methodist Episcopal Church. Coker, of whom we shall hear more in +connection with Liberia, was elected bishop, but resigned in favor of +Allen, who served until his death in 1831. + +In 1796 a congregation in New York consisting of James Varick and others +also withdrew from the main body of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and +in 1800 dedicated a house of worship. For a number of years it had the +oversight of the older organization, but after preliminary steps in +1820, on June 21, 1821, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church +was formally organized. To the first conference came 19 preachers +representing 6 churches and 1,426 members. Varick was elected district +chairman, but soon afterwards was made bishop. The polity of this church +from the first differed somewhat from that of the A.M.E. denomination in +that representation of the laity was a prominent feature and there was +no bar to the ordination of women. + +Of denominations other than the Baptist and the Methodist, the most +prominent in the earlier years was the Presbyterian, whose first Negro +ministers were John Gloucester and John Chavis. Gloucester owed his +training to the liberal tendencies that about 1800 were still strong in +eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, and in 1810 took charge of the African +Presbyterian Church which in 1807 had been established in Philadelphia. +He was distinguished by a rich musical voice and the general dignity +of his life, and he himself became the father of four Presbyterian +ministers. Chavis had a very unusual career. After passing "through +a regular course of academic studies" at Washington Academy, now +Washington and Lee University, in 1801 he was commissioned by the +General Assembly of the Presbyterians as a missionary to the Negroes. He +worked with increasing reputation until Nat Turner's insurrection caused +the North Carolina legislature in 1832 to pass an act silencing all +Negro preachers. Then in Wake County and elsewhere he conducted schools +for white boys until his death in 1838. In these early years distinction +also attaches to Lemuel Haynes, a Revolutionary patriot and the first +Negro preacher of the Congregational denomination. In 1785 he became the +pastor of a white congregation in Torrington, Conn., and in 1818 began +to serve another in Manchester, N.H. + +After the church the strongest organization among Negroes has +undoubtedly been that of secret societies commonly known as "lodges." +The benefit societies were not necessarily secret and call for separate +consideration. On March 6, 1775, an army lodge attached to one of the +regiments stationed under General Gage in or near Boston initiated +Prince Hall and fourteen other colored men into the mysteries of +Freemasonry.[1] These fifteen men on March 2, 1784, applied to the Grand +Lodge of England for a warrant. This was issued to "African Lodge, No. +459," with Prince Hall as master, September 29, 1784. Various delays and +misadventures befell the warrant, however, so that it was not actually +received before April 29, 1787. The lodge was then duly organized May 6. +From this beginning developed the idea of Masonry among the Negroes of +America. As early as 1792 Hall was formally styled Grand Master, and in +1797 he issued a license to thirteen Negroes to "assemble and work" as +a lodge in Philadelphia; and there was also at this time a lodge in +Providence. Thus developed in 1808 the "African Grand Lodge" of Boston, +afterwards known as "Prince Hall Lodge of Massachusetts"; the second +Grand Lodge, called the "First Independent African Grand Lodge of North +America in and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," organized in 1815; +and the "Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania." + +[Footnote 1: William H. Upton: Negro Masonry, Cambridge, 1899, 10.] + +Something of the interest of the Masons in their people, and the calm +judgment that characterized their procedure, may be seen from the words +of their leader, Prince Hall.[1] Speaking in 1797, and having in mind +the revolution in Hayti and recent indignities inflicted upon the race +in Boston, he said: + +[Footnote 1: "A Charge Delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, 1797, at +Menotomy. By the Right Worshipful Prince Hall." (Boston?) 1797.] + + When we hear of the bloody wars which are now in the world, and + thousands of our fellowmen slain; fathers and mothers bewailing the + loss of their sons; wives for the loss of their husbands; towns and + cities burnt and destroyed; what must be the heartfelt sorrow and + distress of these poor and unhappy people! Though we can not help + them, the distance being so great, yet we may sympathize with them + in their troubles, and mingle a tear of sorrow with them, and do as + we are exhorted to--weep with those that weep.... + + Now, my brethren, as we see and experience that all things here are + frail and changeable and nothing here to be depended upon: Let us + seek those things which are above, which are sure and steadfast, + and unchangeable, and at the same time let us pray to Almighty God, + while we remain in the tabernacle, that he would give us the grace + and patience and strength to bear up under all our troubles, which + at this day God knows we have our share. Patience I say, for were we + not possessed of a great measure of it you could not bear up under + the daily insults you meet with in the streets of Boston; much more + on public days of recreation, how are you shamefully abused, and + that at such a degree, that you may truly be said to carry your + lives in your hands; and the arrows of death are flying about your + heads; helpless old women have their clothes torn off their backs, + even to the exposing of their nakedness; and by whom are these + disgraceful and abusive actions committed? Not by the men born and + bred in Boston, for they are better bred; but by a mob or horde of + shameless, low-lived, envious, spiteful persons, some of them not + long since, servants in gentlemen's kitchens, scouring knives, + tending horses, and driving chaise. 'Twas said by a gentleman who + saw that filthy behavior in the Common, that in all the places he + had been in he never saw so cruel behavior in all his life, and that + a slave in the West Indies, on Sundays or holidays, enjoys himself + and friends without molestation. Not only this man, but many in + town who have seen their behavior to you, and that without any + provocations twenty or thirty cowards fall upon one man, have + wondered at the patience of the blacks; 'tis not for want of courage + in you, for they know that they dare not face you man for man, but + in a mob, which we despise, and had rather suffer wrong than do + wrong, to the disturbance of the community and the disgrace of our + reputation; for every good citizen does honor to the laws of the + State where he resides.... + + My brethren, let us not be cast down under these and many other + abuses we at present labor under: for the darkest is before the + break of day. My brethren, let us remember what a dark day it was + with our African brethren six years ago, in the French West Indies. + Nothing but the snap of the whip was heard from morning to evening; + hanging, breaking on the wheel, burning, and all manner of tortures + inflicted on those unhappy people, for nothing else but to gratify + their masters' pride, wantonness, and cruelty: but blessed be God, + the scene is changed; they now confess that God hath no respect of + persons, and therefore receive them as their friends, and treat them + as brothers. Thus doth Ethiopia begin to stretch forth her hand, + from a sink of slavery to freedom and equality. + +An African Society was organized in New York in 1808 and chartered +in 1810, and out of it grew in course of time three or four other +organizations. Generally close to the social aim of the church and +sometimes directly fathered by the secret societies were the benefit +organizations, which even in the days of slavery existed for aid in +sickness or at death; in fact, it was the hopelessness of the general +situation coupled with the yearning for care when helpless that largely +called these societies into being. Their origin has been explained +somewhat as follows: + +Although it was unlawful for Negroes to assemble without the presence +of a white man, and so unlawful to allow a congregation of slaves on +a plantation without the consent of the master, these organizations +existed and held these meetings on the "lots" of some of the law-makers +themselves. The general plan seems to have been to select some one who +could read and write and make him the secretary. The meeting-place +having been selected, the members would come by ones and twos, make +their payments to the secretary, and quietly withdraw. The book of the +secretary was often kept covered up on the bed. In many of the societies +each member was known by number and in paying simply announced his +number. The president of such a society was usually a privileged slave +who had the confidence of his or her master and could go and come at +will. Thus a form of communication could be kept up between all members. +In event of death of a member, provision was made for decent burial, +and all the members as far as possible obtained permits to attend the +funeral. Here and again their plan of getting together was brought into +play. In Richmond they would go to the church by ones and twos and there +sit as near together as convenient. At the close of the service a line +of march would be formed when sufficiently far from the church to make +it safe to do so. It is reported that the members were faithful to each +other and that every obligation was faithfully carried out. This was +the first form of insurance known to the Negro from which his family +received a benefit.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Hampton Conference Report, No. 8] + +All along of course a determining factor in the Negro's social progress +was the service that he was able to render to any community in which he +found himself as well as to his own people. Sometimes he was called upon +to do very hard work, sometimes very unpleasant or dangerous work; +but if he answered the call of duty and met an actual human need, his +service had to receive recognition. An example of such work was found in +his conduct in the course of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia +in 1793. Knowing that fever in general was not quite as severe in +its ravages upon Negroes as upon white people, the daily papers of +Philadelphia called upon the colored people in the town to come forward +and assist with the sick. The Negroes consented, and Absalom Jones and +William Gray were appointed to superintend the operations, though as +usual it was upon Richard Allen that much of the real responsibility +fell. In September the fever increased and upon the Negroes devolved +also the duty of removing corpses. In the course of their work they +encountered much opposition; thus Jones said that a white man threatened +to shoot him if he passed his house with a corpse. This man himself the +Negroes had to bury three days afterwards. When the epidemic was over, +under date January 23, 1794, Matthew Clarkson, the mayor, wrote the +following testimonial: "Having, during the prevalence of the late +malignant disorder, had almost daily opportunities of seeing the conduct +of Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, and the people employed by them to +bury the dead, I with cheerfulness give this testimony of my approbation +of their proceedings, as far as the same came under my notice. Their +diligence, attention, and decency of deportment, afforded me, at the +time, much satisfaction." After the lapse of years it is with something +of the pathos of martyrdom that we are impressed by the service of +these struggling people, who by their self-abnegation and patriotism +endeavored to win and deserve the privileges of American citizenship. + +All the while, in one way or another, the Negro was making advance in +education. As early as 1704 we have seen that Neau opened a school +in New York; there was Benezet's school in Philadelphia before the +Revolutionary War, and in 1798 one for Negroes was established in +Boston. In the first part of the century, we remember also, some Negroes +were apprenticed in Virginia under the oversight of the church. In 1764 +the editor of a paper in Williamsburg, Va., established a school for +Negroes, and we have seen that as many as one-sixth of the members of +Andrew Bryan's congregation in the far Southern city of Savannah could +read by 1790. Exceptional men, like Gloucester and Chavis, of course +availed themselves of such opportunities as came their way. All told, +by 1800 the Negro had received much more education than is commonly +supposed. + +Two persons--one in science and one in literature--because of their +unusual attainments attracted much attention. The first was Benjamin +Banneker of Maryland, and the second Phillis Wheatley of Boston. +Banneker in 1770 constructed the first clock striking the hours that was +made in America, and from 1792 to 1806 published an almanac adapted to +Maryland and the neighboring states. He was thoroughly scholarly in +mathematics and astronomy, and by his achievements won a reputation +for himself in Europe as well as in America. Phillis Wheatley, after a +romantic girlhood of transition from Africa to a favorable environment +in Boston, in 1773 published her _Poems on Various Subjects_, which +volume she followed with several interesting occasional poems.[1] For +the summer of this year she was the guest in England of the Countess of +Huntingdon, whose patronage she had won by an elegiac poem on George +Whitefield; in conversation even more than in verse-making she exhibited +her refined taste and accomplishment, and presents were showered upon +her, one of them being a copy of the magnificent 1770 Glasgow folio +edition of _Paradise Lost_, which was given by Brook Watson, Lord +Mayor of London, and which is now preserved in the library of Harvard +University. In the earlier years of the next century her poems +found their way into the common school readers. One of those in her +representative volume was addressed to Scipio Moorhead, a young Negro of +Boston who had shown some talent for painting. Thus even in a dark day +there were those who were trying to struggle upward to the light. + +[Footnote 1: For a full study see Chapter II of _The Negro in Literature +and Art_.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE NEW WEST, THE SOUTH, AND THE WEST INDIES + + +The twenty years of the administrations of the first three presidents of +the United States--or, we might say, the three decades between 1790 +and 1820--constitute what might be considered the "Dark Ages" of Negro +history; and yet, as with most "Dark Ages," at even a glance below the +surface these years will be found to be throbbing with life, and we have +already seen that in them the Negro was doing what he could on his own +account to move forward. After the high moral stand of the Revolution, +however, the period seems quiescent, and it was indeed a time of +definite reaction. This was attributable to three great events: the +opening of the Southwest with the consequent demand for slaves, the +Haytian revolution beginning in 1791, and Gabriel's insurrection in +1800. + +In no way was the reaction to be seen more clearly than in the decline +of the work of the American Convention of Delegates from the Abolition +Societies. After 1798 neither Connecticut nor Rhode Island sent +delegates; the Southern states all fell away by 1803; and while from New +England came the excuse that local conditions hardly made aggressive +effort any longer necessary, the lack of zeal in this section was also +due to some extent to a growing question as to the wisdom of interfering +with slavery in the South. In Virginia, that just a few years before +had been so active, a statute was now passed imposing a penalty of one +hundred dollars on any person who assisted a slave in asserting his +freedom, provided he failed to establish the claim; and another +provision enjoined that no member of an abolition society should serve +as a juror in a freedom suit. Even the Pennsylvania society showed signs +of faintheartedness, and in 1806 the Convention decided upon triennial +rather than annual meetings. It did not again become really vigorous +until after the War of 1812. + + +1. _The Cotton-Gin, the New Southwest, and the First Fugitive Slave Law_ + +Of incalculable significance in the history of the Negro in America +was the series of inventions in England by Arkwright, Hargreaves, and +Crompton in the years 1768-79. In the same period came the discovery +of the power of steam by James Watt of Glasgow and its application to +cotton manufacture, and improvements followed quickly in printing and +bleaching. There yet remained one final invention of importance for the +cultivation of cotton on a large scale. Eli Whitney, a graduate of Yale, +went to Georgia and was employed as a teacher by the widow of General +Greene on her plantation. Seeing the need of some machine for the more +rapid separating of cotton-seed from the fiber, he labored until in 1793 +he succeeded in making his cotton-gin of practical value. The tradition +is persistent, however, that the real credit of the invention belongs +to a Negro on the plantation. The cotton-gin created great excitement +throughout the South and began to be utilized everywhere. The +cultivation and exporting of the staple grew by leaps and bounds. In +1791 only thirty-eight bales of standard size were exported from the +United States; in 1816, however, the cotton sent out of the country was +worth $24,106,000 and was by far the most valuable article of export. +The current price was 28 cents a pound. Thus at the very time that the +Northern states were abolishing slavery, an industry that had slumbered +became supreme, and the fate of hundreds of thousands of Negroes was +sealed. + +Meanwhile the opening of the West went forward, and from Maine and +Massachusetts, Carolina and Georgia journeyed the pioneers to lay the +foundations of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and Alabama and Mississippi. +It was an eager, restless caravan that moved, and sometimes more than a +hundred persons in a score of wagons were to be seen going from a single +town in the East--"Baptists and Methodists and Democrats." The careers +of Boone and Sevier and those who went with them, and the story of their +fights with the Indians, are now a part of the romance of American +history. In 1790 a cluster of log huts on the Ohio River was named in +honor of the Society of the Cincinnati. In 1792 Kentucky was admitted to +the Union, the article on slavery in her constitution encouraging the +system and discouraging emancipation, and Tennessee also entered as a +slave state in 1796. + +Of tremendous import to the Negro were the questions relating to the +Mississippi Territory. After the Revolution Georgia laid claim to great +tracts of land now comprising the states of Alabama and Mississippi, +with the exception of the strip along the coast claimed by Spain +in connection with Florida. This territory became a rich field for +speculation, and its history in its entirety makes a complicated story. +A series of sales to what were known as the Yazoo Companies, especially +in that part of the present states whose northern boundary would be a +line drawn from the mouth of the Yazoo to the Chattahoochee, resulted in +conflicting claims, the last grant sale being made in 1795 by a corrupt +legislature at the price of a cent and a half an acre. James Jackson +now raised the cry of bribery and corruption, resigned from the United +States Senate, secured a seat in the state legislature, and on February +13, 1796, carried through a bill rescinding the action of the previous +year,[1] and the legislature burned the documents concerned with the +Yazoo sale in token of its complete repudiation of them. The purchasers +to whom the companies had sold lands now began to bombard Congress with +petitions and President Adams helped to arrive at a settlement by which +Georgia transferred the lands in question to the Federal Government, +which undertook to form of them the Mississippi Territory and to pay +any damages involved. In 1802 Georgia threw the whole burden upon the +central government by transferring to it _all_ of her land beyond her +present boundaries, though for this she exacted an article favorable +to slavery. All was now made into the Mississippi Territory, to which +Congress held out the promise that it would be admitted as a state as +soon as its population numbered 60,000; but Alabama was separated from +Mississippi in 1816. The old matter of claims was not finally disposed +of until an act of 1814 appropriated $5,000,000 for the purpose. In +the same year Andrew Jackson's decisive victories over the Creeks at +Talladega and Horseshoe Bend--of which more must be said--resulted in +the cession of a vast tract of the land of that unhappy nation and thus +finally opened for settlement three-fourths of the present state of +Alabama. + +[Footnote 1: Phillips in _The South in the Building of the Nation_, II, +154.] + +It was in line with the advance that slavery was making in new territory +that there was passed the first Fugitive Slave Act (1793). This grew out +of the discussion incident to the seizure in 1791 at Washington, Penn., +of a Negro named John, who was taken to Virginia, and the correspondence +between the Governor of Pennsylvania and the Governor of Virginia with +reference to the case. The important third section of the act read as +follows: + + _And be it also enacted_, That when a person held to labor in any of + the United States, or in either of the territories on the northwest + or south of the river Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape + into any other of the said states or territory, the person to whom + such labor or service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby + empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labor, and to take + him or her before any judge of the circuit or district courts of the + United States, residing or being within the state, or before any + magistrate of a county, city or town corporate, wherein such seizure + or arrest shall be made, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such + judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit taken + before and certified by a magistrate of any such state or territory, + that the person so seized or arrested, doth, under the laws of the + state or territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor + to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such + judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, + his agent or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for + removing the said fugitive from labor, to the state or territory + from which he or she fled. + +It will be observed that by the terms of this enactment a master had +the right to recover a fugitive slave by proving his ownership before a +magistrate without a jury or any other of the ordinary forms of law. A +human being was thus placed at the disposal of the lowest of courts and +subjected to such procedure as was not allowed even in petty property +suits. A great field for the bribery of magistrates was opened up, and +opportunity was given for committing to slavery Negro men about whose +freedom there should have been no question. + +By the close of the decade 1790-1800 the fear occasioned by the Haytian +revolution had led to a general movement against the importation of +Negroes, especially of those from the West Indies. Even Georgia in 1798 +prohibited the importation of all slaves, and this provision, although +very loosely enforced, was never repealed. In South Carolina, however, +to the utter chagrin and dismay of the other states, importation, +prohibited in 1787, was again legalized in 1803; and in the four years +immediately following 39,075 Negroes were brought to Charleston, most of +these going to the territories.[1] When in 1803 Ohio was carved out of +the Northwest Territory as a free state, an attempt was made to +claim the rest of the territory for slavery, but this failed. In the +congressional session of 1804-5 the matter of slavery in the newly +acquired territory of Louisiana was brought up, and slaves were allowed +to be imported if they had come to the United States before 1798, the +purpose of this provision being to guard against the consequences of +South Carolina's recent act, although such a clause never received rigid +enforcement. The mention of Louisiana, however, brings us concretely to +Toussaint L'Ouverture, the greatest Negro in the New World in the period +and one of the greatest of all time. + +[Footnote 1: DuBois: _Suppression of the Slave-Trade_, 90.] + + +_2. Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louisiana, and the Formal Closing of the +Slave-Trade_ + +When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, it was not long before its +general effects were felt in the West Indies. Of special importance was +Santo Domingo because of the commercial interests centered there. The +eastern end of the island was Spanish, but the western portion was +French, and in this latter part was a population of 600,000, of which +number 50,000 were French Creoles, 50,000 mulattoes, and 500,000 pure +Negroes. All political and social privileges were monopolized by the +Creoles, while the Negroes were agricultural laborers and slaves; and +between the two groups floated the restless element of the free people +of color. + +When the General Assembly in France decreed equality of rights to +all citizens, the mulattoes of Santo Domingo made a petition for the +enjoyment of the same political privileges as the white people--to the +unbounded consternation of the latter. They were rewarded with a +decree which was so ambiguously worded that it was open to different +interpretations and which simply heightened the animosity that for years +had been smoldering. A new petition to the Assembly in 1791 primarily +for an interpretation brought forth on May 15 the explicit decree that +the people of color were to have all the rights and privileges of +citizens, provided they had been born of free parents on both sides. The +white people were enraged by the decision, turned royalist, and trampled +the national cockade underfoot; and throughout the summer armed strife +and conflagration were the rule. To add to the confusion the black +slaves struck for freedom and on the night of August 23, 1791, drenched +the island in blood. In the face of these events the Conventional +Assembly rescinded its order, then announced that the original decree +must be obeyed, and it sent three commissioners with troops to Santo +Domingo, real authority being invested in Santhonax and Polverel. + +On June 20, 1793, at Cape François trouble was renewed by a quarrel +between a mulatto and a white officer in the marines. The seamen came +ashore and loaned their assistance to the white people, and the Negroes +now joined forces with the mulattoes. In the battle of two days that +followed the arsenal was taken and plundered, thousands were killed +in the streets, and more than half of the town was burned. The French +commissioners were the unhappy witnesses of the scene, but they were +practically helpless, having only about a thousand troops. Santhonax, +however, issued a proclamation offering freedom to all slaves who were +willing to range themselves under the banner of the Republic. This was +the first proclamation for the freeing of slaves in Santo Domingo, and +as a result of it many of the Negroes came in and were enfranchised. + +Soon after this proclamation Polverel left his colleague at the Cape and +went to Port au Prince, the capital of the West. Here things were quiet +and the cultivation of the crops was going forward as usual. The slaves +were soon unsettled, however, by the news of what was being done +elsewhere, and Polverel was convinced that emancipation could not be +delayed and that for the safety of the planters themselves it was +necessary to extend it to the whole island. In September (1793) he set +in circulation from Aux Cayes a proclamation to this effect, and at the +same time he exhorted all the planters in the vicinity who concurred in +his work to register their names. This almost all of them did, as they +were convinced of the need of measures for their personal safety; and on +February 4, 1794, the Conventional Assembly in Paris formally approved +all that had been done by decreeing the abolition of slavery in all the +colonies of France. + +All the while the Spanish and the English had been looking on with +interest and had even come to the French part of the island as if to aid +in the restoration of order. Among the former, at first in charge of +a little royalist band, was the Negro, Toussaint, later called +L'Ouverture. He was then a man in the prime of life, forty-eight years +old, and already his experience had given him the wisdom that was needed +to bring peace in Santo Domingo. In April, 1794, impressed by the decree +of the Assembly, he returned to the jurisdiction of France and took +service under the Republic. In 1796 he became a general of brigade; in +1797 general-in-chief, with the military command of the whole colony. + +He at once compelled the surrender of the English who had invaded his +country. With the aid of a commercial agreement with the United States, +he next starved out the garrison of his rival, the mulatto Rigaud, whom +he forced to consent to leave the country. He then imprisoned Roume, the +agent of the Directory, and assumed civil as well as military authority. +He also seized the Spanish part of the island, which had been ceded to +France some years before but had not been actually surrendered. He then, +in May, 1801, gave to Santo Domingo a constitution by which he not only +assumed power for life but gave to himself the right of naming his +successor; and all the while he was awakening the admiration of the +world by his bravery, his moderation, and his genuine instinct for +government. + +Across the ocean, however, a jealous man was watching with interest the +career of the "gilded African." None knew better than Napoleon that +it was because he did not trust France that Toussaint had sought the +friendship of the United States, and none read better than he the logic +of events. As Adams says, "Bonaparte's acts as well as his professions +showed that he was bent on crushing democratic ideas, and that he +regarded St. Domingo as an outpost of American republicanism, although +Toussaint had made a rule as arbitrary as that of Bonaparte himself.... +By a strange confusion of events, Toussaint L'Ouverture, because he was +a Negro, became the champion of republican principles, with which he +had nothing but the instinct of personal freedom in common. Toussaint's +government was less republican than that of Bonaparte; he was doing +by necessity in St. Domingo what Bonaparte was doing by choice in +France."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _History of the United States_, I, 391-392.] + +This was the man to whom the United States ultimately owes the purchase +of Louisiana. On October 1, 1801, Bonaparte gave orders to General Le +Clerc for a great expedition against Santo Domingo. In January, 1802, Le +Clerc appeared and war followed. In the course of this, Toussaint--who +was ordinarily so wise and who certainly knew that from Napoleon he had +most to fear--made the great mistake of his life and permitted himself +to be led into a conference on a French vessel. He was betrayed and +taken to France, where within the year he died of pneumonia in the +dungeon of Joux. Immediately there was a proclamation annulling the +decree of 1794 giving freedom to the slaves. Bonaparte, however, had not +estimated the force of Toussaint's work, and to assist the Negroes in +their struggle now came a stalwart ally, yellow fever. By the end of the +summer only one-seventh of Le Clerc's army remained, and he himself died +in November. At once Bonaparte planned a new expedition. While he was +arranging for the leadership of this, however, the European war broke +out again. Meanwhile the treaty for the retrocession of the territory +of Louisiana had not yet received the signature of the Spanish king, +because Godoy, the Spanish representative, would not permit the +signature to be affixed until all the conditions were fulfilled; and +toward the end of 1802 the civil officer at New Orleans closed the +Mississippi to the United States. Jefferson, at length moved by the plea +of the South, sent a special envoy, no less a man than James Monroe, to +France to negotiate the purchase; Bonaparte, disgusted by the failure +of his Egyptian expedition and his project for reaching India, and +especially by his failure in Santo Domingo, in need also of ready money, +listened to the offer; and the people of the United States--who within +the last few years have witnessed the spoliation of Hayti--have not yet +realized how much they owe to the courage of 500,000 Haytian Negroes who +refused to be slaves. + +The slavery question in the new territory was a critical one. It was +on account of it that the Federalists had opposed the acquisition; the +American Convention endeavored to secure a provision like that of the +Northwest Ordinance; and the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends in +Philadelphia in 1805 prayed "that effectual measures may be adopted +by Congress to prevent the introduction of slavery into any of the +territories of the United States." Nevertheless the whole territory +without regard to latitude was thrown open to the system March 2, 1805. + +In spite of this victory for slavery, however, the general force of the +events in Hayti was such as to make more certain the formal closing +of the slave-trade at the end of the twenty-year period for which the +Constitution had permitted it to run. The conscience of the North had +been profoundly stirred, and in the far South was the ever-present fear +of a reproduction of the events in Hayti. The agitation in England +moreover was at last about to bear fruit in the act of 1807 forbidding +the slave-trade. In America it seems from the first to have been an +understood thing, especially by the Southern representatives, that even +if such an act passed it would be only irregularly enforced, and the +debates were concerned rather with the disposal of illegally imported +Africans and with the punishment of those concerned in the importation +than with the proper limitation of the traffic by water.[1] On March 2, +1807, the act was passed forbidding the slave-trade after the close of +the year. In course of time it came very near to being a dead letter, +as may be seen from presidential messages, reports of cabinet officers, +letters of collectors of revenue, letters of district attorneys, reports +of committees of Congress, reports of naval commanders, statements +on the floor of Congress, the testimony of eye-witnesses, and the +complaints of home and foreign anti-slavery societies. Fernandina and +Galveston were only two of the most notorious ports for smuggling. A +regular chain of posts was established from the head of St. Mary's River +to the upper country, and through the Indian nation, by means of which +the Negroes were transferred to every part of the country.[2] If dealers +wished to form a caravan they would give an Indian alarm, so that the +woods might be less frequented, and if pursued in Georgia they would +escape into Florida. One small schooner contained one hundred and thirty +souls. "They were almost packed into a small space, between a floor laid +over the water-casks and the deck--not near three feet--insufficient for +them to sit upright--and so close that chafing against each other their +bones pierced the skin and became galled and ulcerated by the motion +of the vessel." Many American vessels were engaged in the trade under +Spanish colors, and the traffic to Africa was pursued with uncommon +vigor at Havana, the crews of vessels being made up of men of all +nations, who were tempted by the high wages to be earned. Evidently +officials were negligent in the discharge of their duty, but even if +offenders were apprehended it did not necessarily follow that they +would receive effective punishment. President Madison in his message +of December 5, 1810, said, "It appears that American citizens are +instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in +violation of the laws of humanity, and in defiance of those of their own +country"; and on January 7, 1819, the Register of the Treasury made +to the House the amazing report that "it doth not appear, from an +examination of the records of this office, and particularly of the +accounts (to the date of their last settlement) of the collectors of +the customs, and of the several marshals of the United States, that any +forfeitures had been incurred under the said act." A supplementary and +compromising and ineffective act of 1818 sought to concentrate efforts +against smuggling by encouraging informers; and one of the following +year that authorized the President to "make such regulations and +arrangements as he may deem expedient for the safe keeping, support, and +removal beyond the limits of the United States" of recaptured Africans, +and that bore somewhat more fruit, was in large measure due to the +colonization movement and of importance in connection with the founding +of Liberia. + +[Footnote 1: See DuBois, 95, ff.] + +[Footnote 2: Niles's _Register_, XIV, 176 (May 2, 1818).] + +Thus, while the formal closing of the slave-trade might seem to be a +great step forward, the laxness with which the decree was enforced +places it definitely in the period of reaction. + + +3. _Gabriel's Insurrection and the Rise of the Negro Problem_ + +Gabriel's insurrection of 1800 was by no means the most formidable +revolt that the Southern states witnessed. In design it certainly did +not surpass the scope of the plot of Denmark Vesey twenty-two years +later, and in actual achievement it was insignificant when compared not +only with Nat Turner's insurrection but even with the uprisings sixty +years before. At the last moment in fact a great storm that came up made +the attempt to execute the plan a miserable failure. Nevertheless coming +as it did so soon after the revolution in Hayti, and giving evidence +of young and unselfish leadership, the plot was regarded as of +extraordinary significance. + +Gabriel himself[1] was an intelligent slave only twenty-four years old, +and his chief assistant was Jack Bowler, aged twenty-eight. Throughout +the summer of 1800 he matured his plan, holding meetings at which a +brother named Martin interpreted various texts from Scripture as bearing +on the situation of the Negroes. His insurrection was finally set for +the first day of September. It was well planned. The rendezvous was to +be a brook six miles from Richmond. Under cover of night the force of +1,100 was to march in three columns on the city, then a town of 8,000 +inhabitants, the right wing to seize the penitentiary building which had +just been converted into an arsenal, while the left took possession of +the powder-house. These two columns were to be armed with clubs, and +while they were doing their work the central force, armed with muskets, +knives, and pikes, was to begin the carnage, none being spared except +the French, whom it is significant that the Negroes favored. In Richmond +at the time there were not more than four or five hundred men with about +thirty muskets; but in the arsenal were several thousand guns, and the +powder-house was well stocked. Seizure of the mills was to guarantee the +insurrectionists a food supply; and meanwhile in the country districts +were the new harvests of corn, and flocks and herds were fat in the +fields. + +[Footnote 1: His full name was Gabriel Prosser.] + +On the day appointed for the uprising Virginia witnessed such a storm +as she had not seen in years. Bridges were carried away, and roads and +plantations completely submerged. Brook Swamp, the strategic point for +the Negroes, was inundated; and the country Negroes could not get +into the city, nor could those in the city get out to the place of +rendezvous. The force of more than a thousand dwindled to three hundred, +and these, almost paralyzed by fear and superstition, were dismissed. +Meanwhile a slave who did not wish to see his master killed divulged the +plot, and all Richmond was soon in arms. + +A troop of United States cavalry was ordered to the city and arrests +followed quickly. Three hundred dollars was offered by Governor Monroe +for the arrest of Gabriel, and as much more for Jack Bowler. Bowler +surrendered, but it took weeks to find Gabriel. Six men were convicted +and condemned to be executed on September 12, and five more on September +18. Gabriel was finally captured on September 24 at Norfolk on a vessel +that had come from Richmond; he was convicted on October 3 and executed +on October 7. He showed no disposition to dissemble as to his own plan; +at the same time he said not one word that incriminated anybody else. +After him twenty-four more men were executed; then it began to appear +that some "mistakes" had been made and the killing ceased. About the +time of this uprising some Negroes were also assembled for an outbreak +in Suffolk County; there were alarms in Petersburg and in the country +near Edenton, N.C.; and as far away as Charleston the excitement was +intense. + +There were at least three other Negro insurrections of importance in the +period 1790-1820. When news came of the uprising of the slaves in Santo +Domingo in 1791, the Negroes in Louisiana planned a similar effort.[1] +They might have succeeded better if they had not disagreed as to the +hour of the outbreak, when one of them informed the commandant. As a +punishment twenty-three of the slaves were hanged along the banks of the +river and their corpses left dangling for days; but three white men who +assisted them and who were really the most guilty of all, were simply +sent out of the colony. In Camden, S. C, on July 4, 1816, some other +Negroes risked all for independence.[2] On various pretexts men from the +country districts were invited to the town on the appointed night, and +different commands were assigned, all except that of commander-in-chief, +which position was to be given to him who first forced the gates of the +arsenal. Again the plot was divulged by "a favorite and confidential +slave," of whom we are told that the state legislature purchased the +freedom, settling upon him a pension for life. About six of the leaders +were executed. On or about May 1, 1819, there was a plot to destroy the +city of Augusta, Ga.[3] The insurrectionists were to assemble at Beach +Island, proceed to Augusta, set fire to the place, and then destroy the +inhabitants. Guards were posted, and a white man who did not answer when +hailed was shot and fatally wounded. A Negro named Coot was tried as +being at the head of the conspiracy and sentenced to be executed a few +days later. Other trials followed his. Not a muscle moved when the +verdict was pronounced upon him. + +[Footnote 1: Gayarré: _History of Louisiana_, III, 355.] + +[Footnote 2: Holland: _Refutation of Calumnies_.] + +[Footnote 3: Niles's _Register_, XVI, 213 (May 22, 1819).] + +The deeper meaning of such events as these could not escape the +discerning. More than one patriot had to wonder just whither the +country was drifting. Already it was evident that the ultimate problem +transcended the mere question of slavery, and many knew that human +beings could not always be confined to an artificial status. Throughout +the period the slave-trade seemed to flourish without any real check, +and it was even accentuated by the return to power of the old royalist +houses of Europe after the fall of Napoleon. Meanwhile it was observed +that slave labor was driving out of the South the white man of small +means, and antagonism between the men of the "up-country" and the +seaboard capitalists was brewing. The ordinary social life of the Negro +in the South left much to be desired, and conditions were not improved +by the rapid increase. As for slavery itself, no one could tell when or +where or how the system would end; all only knew that it was developing +apace: and meanwhile there was the sinister possibility of the alliance +of the Negro and the Indian. Sincere plans of gradual abolition were +advanced in the South as well as the North, but in the lower section +they seldom got more than a respectful hearing. In his "Dissertation on +Slavery, with a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of +Virginia," St. George Tucker, a professor of law in the University +of William and Mary, and one of the judges of the General Court of +Virginia, in 1796 advanced a plan by which he figured that after sixty +years there would be only one-third as many slaves as at first. At +this distance his proposal seems extremely conservative; at the time, +however, it was laid on the table by the Virginia House of Delegates, +and from the Senate the author received merely "a civil acknowledgment." + +Two men of the period--widely different in temper and tone, but +both earnest seekers after truth--looked forward to the future with +foreboding, one with the eye of the scientist, the other with the vision +of the seer. Hezekiah Niles had full sympathy with the groping and +striving of the South; but he insisted that slavery must ultimately be +abolished throughout the country, that the minds of the slaves should +be exalted, and that reasonable encouragement should be given free +Negroes.[1] Said he: "_We are ashamed of the thing we practice_;... +there is no attribute of heaven that takes part with us, and _we know +it_. And in the contest that must come and _will come_, there will be a +heap of sorrows such as the world has rarely seen."[2] + +[Footnote 1: _Register_, XVI, 177 (May 8, 1819).] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., XVI, 213 (May 22, 1819).] + +On the other hand rose Lorenzo Dow, the foremost itinerant preacher of +the time, the first Protestant who expounded the gospel in Alabama and +Mississippi, and a reformer who at the very moment that cotton was +beginning to be supreme, presumed to tell the South that slavery was +wrong.[1] Everywhere he arrested attention--with his long hair, his +harsh voice, and his wild gesticulation startling all conservative +hearers. But he was made in the mold of heroes. In his lifetime he +traveled not less than two hundred thousand miles, preaching to more +people than any other man of his time. Several times he went to Canada, +once to the West Indies, and three times to England, everywhere drawing +great crowds about him. In _A Cry from the Wilderness_ he more than +once clothed his thought in enigmatic garb, but the meaning was always +ultimately clear. At this distance, when slavery and the Civil War are +alike viewed in the perspective, the words of the oracle are almost +uncanny: "In the rest of the Southern states the influence of these +Foreigners will be known and felt in its time, and the seeds from the +HORY ALLIANCE and the DECAPIGANDI, who have a hand in those grades of +Generals, from the Inquisitor to the Vicar General and down...!!! The +STRUGGLE will be DREADFUL! the CUP will be BITTER! and when the agony is +over, those who survive may see better days! FAREWELL!" + +[Footnote 1: For full study see article "Lorenzo Dow," in _Methodist +Review_ and _Journal of Negro History_, July, 1916, the same being +included in _Africa and the War_, New York, 1918.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +INDIAN AND NEGRO + + +It is not the purpose of the present chapter to give a history of the +Seminole Wars, or even to trace fully the connection of the Negro with +these contests. We do hope to show at least, however, that the Negro was +more important than anything else as an immediate cause of controversy, +though the general pressure of the white man upon the Indian would +in time of course have made trouble in any case. Strange parallels +constantly present themselves, and incidentally it may be seen that the +policy of the Government in force in other and even later years with +reference to the Negro was at this time also very largely applied in the +case of the Indian. + + +1. _Creek, Seminole, and Negro to 1817: The War of 1812_ + +On August 7, 1786, the Continental Congress by a definite and +far-reaching ordinance sought to regulate for the future the whole +conduct of Indian affairs. Two great districts were formed, one +including the territory north of the Ohio and west of the Hudson, and +the other including that south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi; +and for anything pertaining to the Indian in each of these two great +tracts a superintendent was appointed. As affecting the Negro the +southern district was naturally of vastly more importance than the +northern. In the eastern portion of this, mainly in what are now +Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and eastern Alabama, were the Cherokees +and the great confederacy of the Creeks, while toward the west, in the +present Mississippi and western Alabama, were the Chickasaws and the +Choctaws. Of Muskhogean stock, and originally a part of the Creeks, were +the Seminoles ("runaways"), who about 1750, under the leadership of a +great chieftain, Secoffee, separated from the main confederacy, which +had its center in southwest Georgia just a little south of Columbus, and +overran the peninsula of Florida. In 1808 came another band under Micco +Hadjo to the present site of Tallahassee. The Mickasukie tribe was +already on the ground in the vicinity of this town, and at first its +members objected to the newcomers, who threatened to take their lands +from them; but at length all abode peaceably together under the general +name of Seminoles. About 1810 these people had twenty towns, the chief +ones being Mikasuki and Tallahassee. From the very first they had +received occasional additions from the Yemassee, who had been driven out +of South Carolina, and of fugitive Negroes. + +By the close of the eighteenth century all along the frontier the Indian +had begun to feel keenly the pressure of the white man, and in his +struggle with the invader he recognized in the oppressed Negro a natural +ally. Those Negroes who by any chance became free were welcomed by the +Indians, fugitives from bondage found refuge with them, and while +Indian chiefs commonly owned slaves, the variety of servitude was very +different from that under the white man. The Negroes were comparatively +free, and intermarriage was frequent; thus a mulatto woman who fled +from bondage married a chief and became the mother of a daughter who in +course of time became the wife of the famous Osceola. This very close +connection of the Negro with the family life of the Indian was the +determining factor in the resistance of the Seminoles to the demands of +the agents of the United States, and a reason, stronger even than his +love for his old hunting-ground, for his objection to removal to new +lands beyond the Mississippi. Very frequently the Indian could not give +up his Negroes without seeing his own wife and children led away into +bondage; and thus to native courage and pride was added the instinct of +a father for the preservation of his own. + +In the two wars between the Americans and the English it was but natural +that the Indian should side with the English, and it was in some measure +but a part of the game that he should receive little consideration at +the hands of the victor. In the politics played by the English and the +French, the English and the Spaniards, and finally between the Americans +and all Europeans, the Indian was ever the loser. In the very early +years of the Carolina colonies, some effort was made to enslave the +Indians; but such servants soon made their way to the Indian country, +and it was not long before they taught the Negroes to do likewise. This +constant escape of slaves, with its attendant difficulties, largely +accounted for the establishing of the free colony of Georgia between +South Carolina and the Spanish possession, Florida. It was soon evident, +however, that the problem had been aggravated rather than settled. When +Congress met in 1776 it received from Georgia a communication setting +forth the need of "preventing slaves from deserting their masters"; and +as soon as the Federal Government was organized in 1789 it received also +from Georgia an urgent request for protection from the Creeks, who were +charged with various ravages, and among other documents presented was +a list of one hundred and ten Negroes who were said to have left their +masters during the Revolution and to have found refuge among the Creeks. +Meanwhile by various treaties, written and unwritten, the Creeks were +being forced toward the western line of the state, and in any agreement +the outstanding stipulation was always for the return of fugitive +slaves. For a number of years the Creeks retreated without definitely +organized resistance. In the course of the War of 1812, however, moved +by the English and by a visit from Tecumseh, they suddenly rose, and on +August 30, 1813, under the leadership of Weathersford, they attacked +Fort Mims, a stockade thirty-five miles north of Mobile. The five +hundred and fifty-three men, women, and children in this place were +almost completely massacred. Only fifteen white persons escaped by +hiding in the woods, a number of Negroes being taken prisoner. This +occurrence spurred the whole Southwest to action. Volunteers were called +for, and the Tennessee legislature resolved to exterminate the whole +tribe. Andrew Jackson with Colonel Coffee administered decisive defeats +at Talladega and Tohopeka or Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River, and +the Creeks were forced to sue for peace. By the treaty of Fort Jackson +(August 9, 1814) the future president, now a major general in the +regular army and in command at Mobile, demanded that the unhappy nation +give up more than half of its land as indemnity for the cost of the war, +that it hold no communication with a Spanish garrison or town, that it +permit the necessary roads to be made or forts to be built in any part +of the territory, and that it surrender the prophets who had instigated +the war. This last demand was ridiculous, or only for moral effect, +for the so-called prophets had already been left dead on the field of +battle. The Creeks were quite broken, however, and Jackson passed on to +fame and destiny at the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. In April +of this year he was made commander-in-chief of the Southern Division.[1] +It soon developed that his chief task in this capacity was to reckon +with the Seminoles. + +[Footnote 1: In his official capacity Jackson issued two addresses which +have an important place in the history of the Negro soldier. From his +headquarters at Mobile, September 21, 1814, he issued an appeal "To the +Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana," offering them an honorable part +in the war, and this was later followed by a "Proclamation to the +Free People of Color" congratulating them on their achievement. Both +addresses are accessible in many books.] + +On the Appalachicola River the British had rebuilt an old fort, calling +it the British Post on the Appalachicola. Early in the summer of 1815 +the commander, Nicholls, had occasion to go to London, and he took with +him his troops, the chief Francis, and several Creeks, leaving in the +fort seven hundred and sixty-three barrels of cannon powder, twenty-five +hundred muskets, and numerous pistols and other weapons of war. The +Negroes from Georgia who had come to the vicinity, who numbered not less +than a thousand, and who had some well kept farms up and down the +banks of the river, now took charge of the fort and made it their +headquarters. They were joined by some Creeks, and the so-called Negro +Fort soon caused itself to be greatly feared by any white people +who happened to live near. Demands on the Spanish governor for its +suppression were followed by threats of the use of the soldiery of the +United States; and General Gaines, under orders in the section, wrote to +Jackson asking authority to build near the boundary another post that +might be used as the base for any movement that had as its aim to +overawe the Negroes. Jackson readily complied with the request, saying, +"I have no doubt that this fort has been established by some villains +for the purpose of murder, rapine, and plunder, and that it ought to be +blown up regardless of the ground it stands on. If you have come to the +same conclusion, destroy it, and restore the stolen Negroes and property +to their rightful owners." Gaines accordingly built Fort Scott not +far from where the Flint and the Chattahoochee join to form the +Appalachicola. It was necessary for Gaines to pass the Negro Fort in +bringing supplies to his own men; and on July 17, 1816, the boats of the +Americans were within range of the fort and opened fire. There was some +preliminary shooting, and then, since the walls were too stubborn to be +battered down by a light fire, "a ball made red-hot in the cook's +galley was put in the gun and sent screaming over the wall and into the +magazine. The roar, the shock, the scene that followed, may be imagined, +but not described. Seven hundred barrels of gunpowder tore the earth, +the fort, and all the wretched creatures in it to fragments. Two hundred +and seventy men, women, and children died on the spot. Of sixty-four +taken out alive, the greater number died soon after."[1] + +[Footnote 1: McMaster, IV, 431.] + +The Seminoles--in the West more and more identified with the +Creeks--were angered by their failure to recover the lands lost by the +treaty of Fort Jackson and also by the building of Fort Scott. One +settlement, Fowltown, fifteen miles east of Fort Scott, was especially +excited and in the fall of 1817 sent a warning to the Americans "not +to cross or cut a stick of timber on the east side of the Flint." The +warning was regarded as a challenge; Fowltown was taken on a morning in +November, and the Seminole Wars had begun. + + +2. _First Seminole War and the Treaties of Indian Spring and Fort +Moultrie_ + +In the course of the First Seminole War (1817-18) Jackson ruthlessly +laid waste the towns of the Indians; he also took Pensacola, and he +awakened international difficulties by his rather summary execution of +two British subjects, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who were traders to the +Indians and sustained generally pleasant relations with them. For his +conduct, especially in this last instance, he was severely criticized in +Congress, but it is significant of his rising popularity that no formal +vote of censure could pass against him. On the cession of Florida to the +United States he was appointed territorial governor; but he served for a +brief term only. As early as 1822 he was nominated for the presidency +by the legislature of Tennessee, and in 1823 he was sent to the United +States Senate. + +Of special importance in the history of the Creeks about this time was +the treaty of Indian Spring, of January 8, 1821, an iniquitous agreement +in the signing of which bribery and firewater were more than usually +present. By this the Creeks ceded to the United States, for the benefit +of Georgia, five million acres of their most valuable land. In cash they +were to receive $200,000, in payments extending over fourteen years. The +United States Government moreover was to hold $250,000 as a fund from +which the citizens of Georgia were to be reimbursed for any "claims" +(for runaway slaves of course) that the citizens of the state had +against the Creeks prior to the year 1802.[1] In the actual execution of +this agreement a slave was frequently estimated at two or three times +his real value, and the Creeks were expected to pay whether the fugitive +was with them or not. All possible claims, however, amounted to +$101,000. This left $149,000 of the money in the hands of the +Government. This sum was not turned over to the Indians, as one might +have expected, but retained until 1834, when the Georgia citizens +interested petitioned for a division. The request was referred to the +Commission on Indian Affairs, and the chairman, Gilmer of Georgia, was +in favor of dividing the money among the petitioners as compensation for +"the offspring which the slaves would have borne had they remained in +bondage." This suggestion was rejected at the time, but afterwards the +division was made nevertheless; and history records few more flagrant +violations of all principles of honor and justice. + +[Footnote 1: See J.R. Giddings: _The Exiles of Florida_, 63-66; also +speech in House of Representatives February 9, 1841.] + +The First Seminole War, while in some ways disastrous to the Indians, +was in fact not much more than the preliminary skirmish of a conflict +that was not to cease until 1842. In general the Indians, mindful of the +ravages of the War of 1812, did not fully commit themselves and bided +their time. They were in fact so much under cover that they led the +Americans to underestimate their real numbers. When the cession of +Florida was formally completed, however (July 17, 1821), they were found +to be on the very best spots of land in the territory. On May 20, 1822, +Colonel Gad Humphreys was appointed agent to them, William P. Duval as +governor of the territory being ex-officio superintendent of Indian +affairs. Altogether the Indians at this time, according to the official +count, numbered 1,594 men, 1,357 women, and 993 children, a total of +3,944, with 150 Negro men and 650 Negro women and children.[1] In the +interest of these people Humphreys labored faithfully for eight years, +and not a little of the comparative quiet in his period of service is to +be credited to his own sympathy, good sense, and patience. + +[Footnote 1: Sprague, 19.] + +In the spring of 1823 the Indians were surprised by the suggestion of a +treaty that would definitely limit their boundaries and outline their +future relations with the white man. The representative chiefs had +no desire for a conference, were exceedingly reluctant to meet the +commissioners, and finally came to the meeting prompted only by the hope +that such terms might be arrived at as would permanently guarantee them +in the peaceable possession of their homes. Over the very strong protest +of some of them a treaty was signed at Fort Moultrie, on the coast five +miles below St. Augustine, September 18, 1823, William P. Duval, James +Gadsden, and Bernard Segui being the representatives of the United +States. By this treaty we learn that the Indians, in view of the fact +that they have "thrown themselves on, and have promised to continue +under, the protection of the United States, and of no other nation, +power, or sovereignty; and in consideration of the promises and +stipulations hereinafter made, do cede and relinquish all claim or title +which they have to the whole territory of Florida, with the exception of +such district of country as shall herein be allotted to them." They are +to have restricted boundaries, the extreme point of which is nowhere to +be nearer than fifteen miles to the Gulf of Mexico. The United States +promises to distribute, as soon as the Indians are settled on their new +land, under the direction of their agent, "implements of husbandry, and +stock of cattle and hogs to the amount of six thousand dollars, and an +annual sum of five thousand dollars a year for twenty successive years"; +and "to restrain and prevent all white persons from hunting, settling, +or otherwise intruding" upon the land set apart for the Indians, though +any American citizen, lawfully authorized, is to pass and repass +within the said district and navigate the waters thereof "without any +hindrance, toll or exactions from said tribes." For facilitating removal +and as compensation for any losses or inconvenience sustained, the +United States is to furnish rations of corn, meat, and salt for twelve +months, with a special appropriation of $4,500 for those who have made +improvements, and $2,000 more for the facilitating of transportation. +The agent, sub-agent, and interpreter are to reside within the Indian +boundary "to watch over the interests of said tribes"; and the United +States further undertake "as an evidence of their humane policy +towards said tribes" to allow $1,000 a year for twenty years for the +establishment of a school and $1,000 a year for the same period for the +support of a gun- and blacksmith. Of supreme importance is Article 7: +"The chiefs and warriors aforesaid, for themselves and tribes, stipulate +to be active and vigilant in the preventing the retreating to, or +passing through, the district of country assigned them, of any +absconding slaves, or fugitives from justice; and further agree to use +all necessary exertions to apprehend and deliver the same to the agent, +who shall receive orders to compensate them agreeably to the trouble and +expense incurred." We have dwelt at length upon the provisions of this +treaty because it contained all the seeds of future trouble between the +white man and the Indian. Six prominent chiefs--Nea Mathla, John Blunt, +Tuski Hajo, Mulatto King, Emathlochee, and Econchattimico--refused +absolutely to sign, and their marks were not won until each was given +a special reservation of from two to four square miles outside the +Seminole boundaries. Old Nea Mathla in fact never did accept the treaty +in good faith, and when the time came for the execution of the agreement +he summoned his warriors to resistance. Governor Duval broke in upon his +war council, deposed the war leaders, and elevated those who favored +peaceful removal. The Seminoles now retired to their new lands, but Nea +Mathla was driven into practical exile. He retired to the Creeks, by +whom he was raised to the dignity of a chief. It was soon realized by +the Seminoles that they had been restricted to some pine woods by no +means as fertile as their old lands, nor were matters made better by one +or two seasons of drought. To allay their discontent twenty square miles +more, to the north, was given them, but to offset this new cession their +rations were immediately reduced. + + +3. _From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to the Treaty of Payne's Landing_ + +Now succeeded ten years of trespassing, of insult, and of increasing +enmity. Kidnapers constantly lurked near the Indian possessions, and +instances of injury unredressed increased the bitterness and rancor. +Under date May 20, 1825, Humphreys[1] wrote to the Indian Bureau that +the white settlers were already thronging to the vicinity of the Indian +reservation and were likely to become troublesome. As to some recent +disturbances, writing from St. Augustine February 9, 1825, he said: +"From all I can learn here there is little doubt that the disturbances +near Tallahassee, which have of late occasioned so much clamor, were +brought about by a course of unjustifiable conduct on the part of +the whites, similar to that which it appears to be the object of the +territorial legislature to legalize. In fact, it is stated that one +Indian had been so severely whipped by the head of the family which was +destroyed in these disturbances, as to cause his death; if such be the +fact, the subsequent act of the Indians, however lamentable, must be +considered as one of retaliation, and I can not but think it is to +be deplored that they were afterwards 'hunted' with so unrelenting a +revenge." The word _hunted_ was used advisedly by Humphreys, for, as +we shall see later, when war was renewed one of the common means of +fighting employed by the American officers was the use of bloodhounds. +Sometimes guns were taken from the Indians so that they had nothing with +which to pursue the chase. On one occasion, when some Indians were being +marched to headquarters, a woman far advanced in pregnancy was forced +onward with such precipitancy as to produce a premature delivery, which +almost terminated her life. More far-reaching than anything else, +however, was the constant denial of the rights of the Indian in court +in cases involving white men. As Humphreys said, the great disadvantage +under which the Seminoles labored as witnesses "destroyed everything +like equality of rights." Some of the Negroes that they had, had been +born among them, and some others had been purchased from white men +and duly paid for. No receipts were given, however, and efforts were +frequently made to recapture the Negroes by force. The Indian, conscious +of his rights, protested earnestly against such attempts and naturally +determined to resist all efforts to wrest from him his rightfully +acquired property. + +[Footnote 1: The correspondence is readily accessible in Sprague, +30-37.] + +By 1827, however, the territorial legislature had begun to memorialize +Congress and to ask for the complete removal of the Indians. Meanwhile +the Negro question was becoming more prominent, and orders from the +Department of War, increasingly peremptory, were made on Humphreys for +the return of definite Negroes. For Duval and Humphreys, however, who +had actually to execute the commissions, the task was not always so +easy. Under date March 20, 1827, the former wrote to the latter: "Many +of the slaves belonging to the whites are now in the possession of the +white people; these slaves can not be obtained for their Indian owners +without a lawsuit, and I see no reason why the Indians shall be +compelled to surrender all slaves claimed by our citizens when this +surrender is not mutual." Meanwhile the annuity began to be withheld +from the Indians in order to force them to return Negroes, and a +friendly chief, Hicks, constantly waited upon Humphreys only to find the +agent little more powerful than himself. Thus matters continued through +1829 and 1830. In violation of all legal procedure, the Indians were +constantly _required to relinquish beforehand property in their +possession to settle a question of claim_. On March 21, 1830, Humphreys +was informed that he was no longer agent for the Indians. He had been +honestly devoted to the interest of these people, but his efforts were +not in harmony with the policy of the new administration. + +Just what that policy was may be seen from Jackson's special message +on Indian affairs of February 22, 1831. The Senate had asked for +information as to the conduct of the Government in connection with the +act of March 30, 1802, "to regulate trade and intercourse with the +Indian tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers." The Nullification +controversy was in everybody's mind, and already friction had arisen +between the new President and the abolitionists. In spite of Jackson's +attitude toward South Carolina, his message in the present instance was +a careful defense of the whole theory of state rights. Nothing in the +conduct of the Federal Government toward the Indian tribes, he insisted, +had ever been intended to attack or even to call in question the rights +of a sovereign state. In one way the Southern states had seemed to be an +exception. "As early as 1784 the settlements within the limits of North +Carolina were advanced farther to the west than the authority of the +state to enforce an obedience of its laws." After the Revolution the +tribes desolated the frontiers. "Under these circumstances the first +treaties, in 1785 and 1790, with the Cherokees, were concluded by the +Government of the United States." Nothing of all this, said Jackson, had +in any way affected the relation of any Indians to the state in which +they happened to reside, and he concluded as follows: "Toward this race +of people I entertain the kindest feelings, and am not sensible that the +views which I have taken of their true interests are less favorable to +them than those which oppose their emigration to the West. Years since I +stated to them my belief that if the States chose to extend their laws +over them it would not be in the power of the Federal Government to +prevent it. My opinion remains the same, and I can see no alternative +for them but that of their removal to the West or a quiet submission to +the state laws. If they prefer to remove, the United States agree to +defray their expenses, to supply them the means of transportation and a +year's support after they reach their new homes--a provision too liberal +and kind to bear the stamp of injustice. Either course promises them +peace and happiness, whilst an obstinate perseverance in the effort to +maintain their possessions independent of the state authority can not +fail to render their condition still more helpless and miserable. Such +an effort ought, therefore, to be discountenanced by all who sincerely +sympathize in the fortunes of this peculiar people, and especially by +the political bodies of the Union, as calculated to disturb the harmony +of the two Governments and to endanger the safety of the many blessings +which they enable us to enjoy." + +The policy thus formally enunciated was already in practical operation. +In the closing days of the administration of John Quincy Adams a +delegation came to Washington to present to the administration the +grievances of the Cherokee nation. The formal reception of the +delegation fell to the lot of Eaton, the new Secretary of War. The +Cherokees asserted that not only did they have no rights in the Georgia +courts in cases involving white men, but that they had been notified by +Georgia that all laws, usages, and agreements in force in the Indian +country would be null and void after June 1, 1830; and naturally they +wanted the interposition of the Federal Government. Eaton replied at +great length, reminding the Cherokees that they had taken sides with +England in the War of 1812, that they were now on American soil only by +sufferance, and that the central government could not violate the rights +of the state of Georgia; and he strongly advised immediate removal to +the West. The Cherokees, quite broken, acted in accord with this advice; +and so in 1832 did the Creeks, to whom Jackson had sent a special talk +urging removal as the only basis of Federal protection. + +To the Seminoles as early as 1827 overtures for removal had been made; +but before the treaty of Fort Moultrie had really become effective they +had been intruded upon and they in turn had become more slow about +returning runaway slaves. From some of the clauses in the treaty of +Fort Moultrie, as some of the chiefs were quick to point out, the +understanding was that the same was to be in force for twenty years; and +they felt that any slowness on their part about the return of Negroes +was fully nullified by the efforts of the professional Negro stealers +with whom they had to deal. + +Early in 1832, however, Colonel James Gadsden of Florida was directed +by Lewis Cass, the Secretary of War, to enter into negotiation for the +removal of the Indians of Florida. There was great opposition to a +conference, but the Indians were finally brought together at Payne's +Landing on the Ocklawaha River just seventeen miles from Fort King. +Here on May 9, 1832, was wrested from them a treaty which is of supreme +importance in the history of the Seminoles. The full text was as +follows: + + +TREATY OF PAYNE'S LANDING, + +MAY 9, 1832 + + Whereas, a treaty between the United States and the Seminole nation + of Indians was made and concluded at Payne's Landing, on the + Ocklawaha River, on the 9th of May, one thousand eight hundred and + thirty-two, by James Gadsden, commissioner on the part of the United + States, and the chiefs and headmen of said Seminole nation of + Indians, on the part of said nation; which treaty is in the words + following, to wit: + + The Seminole Indians, regarding with just respect the solicitude + manifested by the President of the United States for the improvement + of their condition, by recommending a removal to the country more + suitable to their habits and wants than the one they at present + occupy in the territory of Florida, are willing that their + confidential chiefs, Jumper, Fuch-a-lus-to-had-jo, Charley Emathla, + Coi-had-jo, Holati-Emathla, Ya-ha-had-jo, Sam Jones, accompanied + by their agent, Major John Phagan, and their faithful interpreter, + Abraham, should be sent, at the expense of the United States, as + early as convenient, to examine the country assigned to the Creeks, + west of the Mississippi River, and should they be satisfied with the + character of the country, and of the favorable disposition of the + Creeks to re-unite with the Seminoles as one people; the articles of + the compact and agreement herein stipulated, at Payne's Landing, + on the Ocklawaha River, this ninth day of May, one thousand eight + hundred and thirty-two, between James Gadsden, for and in behalf of + the government of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs and + headmen, for and in behalf of the Seminole Indians, shall be binding + on the respective parties. + + Article I. The Seminole Indians relinquish to the United States + all claim to the land they at present occupy in the territory of + Florida, and agree to emigrate to the country assigned to the + Creeks, west of the Mississippi River, it being understood that an + additional extent of country, proportioned to their numbers, will + be added to the Creek territory, and that the Seminoles will be + received as a constituent part of the Creek nation, and be + re-admitted to all the privileges as a member of the same. + + Article II. For and in consideration of the relinquishment of claim + in the first article of this agreement, and in full compensation for + all the improvements which may have been made on the lands thereby + ceded, the United States stipulate to pay to the Seminole Indians + fifteen thousand four hundred ($15,400) dollars, to be divided + among the chiefs and warriors of the several towns, in a ratio + proportioned to their population, the respective proportions of each + to be paid on their arrival in the country they consent to remove + to; it being understood that their faithful interpreters, Abraham + and Cudjo, shall receive two hundred dollars each, of the above sum, + in full remuneration of the improvements to be abandoned on the + lands now cultivated by them. + + Article III. The United States agree to distribute, as they arrive + at their new homes in the Creek territory, west of the Mississippi + River, a blanket and a homespun frock to each of the warriors, women + and children, of the Seminole tribe of Indians. + + Article IV. The United States agree to extend the annuity for the + support of a blacksmith, provided for in the sixth article of the + treaty at Camp Moultrie, for ten (10) years beyond the period + therein stipulated, and in addition to the other annuities secured + under that treaty, the United States agree to pay the sum of three + thousand ($3,000) dollars a year for fifteen (15) years, commencing + after the removal of the whole tribe; these sums to be added to the + Creek annuities, and the whole amount to be so divided that the + chiefs and warriors of the Seminole Indians may receive their + equitable proportion of the same, as members of the Creek + confederation. + + Article V. The United States will take the cattle belonging to the + Seminoles, at the valuation of some discreet person, to be appointed + by the President, and the same shall be paid for in money to the + respective owners, after their arrival at their new homes; or other + cattle, such as may be desired, will be furnished them; notice being + given through their agent, of their wishes upon this subject, before + their removal, that time may be afforded to supply the demand. + + Article VI. The Seminoles being anxious to be relieved from the + repeated vexatious demands for slaves, and other property, alleged + to have been stolen and destroyed by them, so that they may remove + unembarrassed to their new homes, the United States stipulate to + have the same property (properly) investigated, and to liquidate + such as may be satisfactorily established, provided the amount does + not exceed seven thousand ($7,000) dollars. + + Article VII. The Seminole Indians will remove within three (3) years + after the ratification of this agreement, and the expenses of their + removal shall be defrayed by the United States, and such subsistence + shall also be furnished them, for a term not exceeding twelve (12) + months after their arrival at their new residence, as in the opinion + of the President their numbers and circumstances may require; the + emigration to commence as early as practicable in the year eighteen + hundred and thirty-three (1833), and with those Indians at present + occupying the Big Swamp, and other parts of the country beyond the + limits, as defined in the second article of the treaty concluded at + Camp Moultrie Creek, so that the whole of that proportion of + the Seminoles may be removed within the year aforesaid, and the + remainder of the tribe, in about equal proportions, during the + subsequent years of eighteen hundred and thirty-four and five (1834 + and 1835). + + In testimony whereof, the commissioner, James Gadsden, and the + undersigned chiefs and head-men of the Seminole Indians, have + hereunto subscribed their names and affixed their seals. + + Done at camp, at Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha River, in the + territory of Florida, on this ninth day of May, one thousand eight + hundred and thirty-two, and of the independence of the United States + of America, the fifty-sixth. + + (Signed) James Gadsden. L.S. + Holati Emathlar, his X mark. + Jumper, his X mark. + Cudjo, Interpreter, his X mark. + Erastus Rodgers. + B. Joscan. + Holati Emathlar, his X mark. + Jumper, his X mark. + Fuch-ta-lus-ta-Hadjo, his X mark. + Charley Emathla, his X mark. + Coi Hadjo, his X mark. + Ar-pi-uck-i, or Sam + Jones, his X mark. + Ya-ha-Hadjo, his X mark. + Mico-Noha, his X mark. + Tokose Emathla, or + John Hicks, his X mark. + Cat-sha-Tustenuggee, his X mark. + Holat-a-Micco, his X mark. + Hitch-it-i-Micco, his X mark. + E-na-hah, his X mark. + Ya-ha-Emathla-Chopco, his X mark. + Moki-his-she-lar-ni, his X mark. + + Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jackson, President of the + United States of America, having seen and considered said treaty, + do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as expressed + by their resolution of the eighth day of April, one thousand eight + hundred and thirty-four, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and + every clause and article thereof. + + In witness whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to + be hereunto affixed, having signed the same with my hand. Done at + the city of Washington, this twelfth day of April, in the year of + our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and of the + independence of the United States of America, the fifty-eighth. + + (Signed) ANDREW JACKSON. By the President, + LOUIS MCLANE, Secretary of State. + +It will be seen that by the terms of this document seven chiefs were to +go and examine the country assigned to the Creeks, and that they were to +be accompanied by Major John Phagan, the successor of Humphreys, and the +Negro interpreter Abraham. The character of Phagan may be seen from the +facts that he was soon in debt to different ones of the Indians and to +Abraham, and that he was found to be short in his accounts. While the +Indian chiefs were in the West, three United States commissioners +conferred with them as to the suitability of the country for a future +home, and at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, March 28, 1833, they were beguiled +into signing an additional treaty in which occurred the following +sentence: "And the undersigned Seminole chiefs, delegated as aforesaid, +on behalf of their nation, hereby declare themselves well satisfied with +the location provided for them by the commissioners, and agree that +their nation shall commence the removal to their new home as soon as the +government will make arrangements for their emigration, satisfactory to +the Seminole nation." They of course had no authority to act on their +own initiative, and when all returned in April, 1833, and Phagan +explained what had happened, the Seminoles expressed themselves in no +uncertain terms. The chiefs who had gone West denied strenuously that +they had signed away any rights to land, but they were nevertheless +upbraided as the agents of deception. Some of the old chiefs, of whom +Micanopy was the highest authority, resolved to resist the efforts to +dispossess them; and John Hicks, who seems to have been substituted for +Sam Jones on the commission, was killed because he argued too strongly +for migration. Meanwhile the treaty of Payne's Landing was ratified by +the Senate of the United States and proclaimed as in force by President +Jackson April 12, 1834, and in connection with it the supplementary +treaty of Fort Gibson was also ratified. The Seminoles, however, were +not showing any haste about removing, and ninety of the white citizens +of Alachua County sent a protest to the President alleging that the +Indians were not returning their fugitive slaves. Jackson was made +angry, and without even waiting for the formal ratification of the +treaties, he sent the document to the Secretary of War, with an +endorsement on the back directing him "to inquire into the alleged +facts, and if found to be true, to direct the Seminoles to prepare to +remove West and join the Creeks." General Wiley Thompson was appointed +to succeed Phagan as agent, and General Duncan L. Clinch was placed in +command of the troops whose services it was thought might be needed. It +was at this juncture that Osceola stepped forward as the leading spirit +of his people. + + +4. _Osceola and the Second Seminole War_ + +Osceola (Asseola, or As-se-he-ho-lar, sometimes called Powell because +after his father's death his mother married a white man of that name[1]) +was not more than thirty years of age. He was slender, of only +average height, and slightly round-shouldered; but he was also well +proportioned, muscular, and capable of enduring great fatigue. He had +light, deep, restless eyes, and a shrill voice, and he was a great +admirer of order and technique. He excelled in athletic contests and in +his earlier years had taken delight in engaging in military practice +with the white men. As he was neither by descent nor formal election a +chief, he was not expected to have a voice in important deliberations; +but he was a natural leader and he did more than any other man to +organize the Seminoles to resistance. It is hardly too much to say +that to his single influence was due a contest that ultimately cost +$10,000,000 and the loss of thousands of lives. Never did a patriot +fight more valiantly for his own, and it stands to the eternal disgrace +of the American arms that he was captured under a flag of truce. + +[Footnote 1: Hodge's _Handbook of American Indians_, II, 159.] + +It is well to pause for a moment and reflect upon some of the deeper +motives that entered into the impending contest. A distinguished +congressman,[1] speaking in the House of Representatives a few years +later, touched eloquently upon some of the events of these troublous +years. Let us remember that this was the time of the formation of +anti-slavery societies, of pronounced activity on the part of the +abolitionists, and recall also that Nat Turner's insurrection was still +fresh in the public mind. Giddings stated clearly the issue as it +appeared to the people of the North when he said, "I hold that if the +slaves of Georgia or any other state leave their masters, the Federal +Government has no constitutional authority to employ our army or navy +for their recapture, or to apply the national treasure to repurchase +them." There could be no question of the fact that the war was very +largely one over fugitive slaves. Under date October 28, 1834, General +Thompson wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: "There are many +very likely Negroes in this nation [the Seminole]. Some of the whites in +the adjacent settlements manifest a restless desire to obtain them, and +I have no doubt that Indian raised Negroes are now in the possession +of the whites." In a letter dated January 20, 1834, Governor Duval had +already said to the same official: "The slaves belonging to the Indians +have a controlling influence over the minds of their masters, and are +entirely opposed to any change of residence." Six days later he wrote: +"The slaves belonging to the Indians must be made to fear for themselves +before they will cease to influence the minds of their masters.... The +first step towards the emigration of these Indians must be the breaking +up of the runaway slaves and the outlaw Indians." And the New Orleans +_Courier_ of July 27, 1839, revealed all the fears of the period when it +said, "Every day's delay in subduing the Seminoles increases the danger +of a rising among the serviles." + +[Footnote 1: Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio. His exhaustive speech on the +Florida War was made February 9, 1841.] + +All the while injustice and injury to the Indians continued. +Econchattimico, well known as one of those chiefs to whom special +reservations had been given by the treaty of Fort Moultrie, was the +owner of twenty slaves valued at $15,000. Observing Negro stealers +hovering around his estate, he armed himself and his men. The kidnapers +then furthered their designs by circulating the report that the Indians +were arming themselves for union with the main body of Seminoles for the +general purpose of massacring the white people. Face to face with +this charge Econchattimico gave up his arms and threw himself on the +protection of the government; and his Negroes were at once taken and +sold into bondage. + +A similar case was that of John Walker, an Appalachicola chief, who +wrote to Thompson under date July 28, 1835: "I am induced to write you +in consequence of the depredations making and attempted to be made upon +my property, by a company of Negro stealers, some of whom are from +Columbus, Ga., and have connected themselves with Brown and Douglass.... +I should like your advice how I am to act. I dislike to make or to have +any difficulty with the white people. But if they trespass upon my +premises and my rights, I must defend myself the best way I can. If they +do make this attempt, and I have no doubt they will, they must bear the +consequences. _But is there no civil law to protect me_? Are the free +Negroes and the Negroes belonging to this town to be stolen away +publicly, and in the face of law and justice, carried off and sold to +fill the pockets of these worse than land pirates? Douglass and his +company hired a man who has two large trained dogs for the purpose to +come down and take Billy. He is from Mobile and follows for a livelihood +catching runaway Negroes." + +Such were the motives, fears and incidents in the years immediately +after the treaty of Payne's Landing. Beginning at the close of 1834 and +continuing through April, 1835, Thompson had a series of conferences +with the Seminole chiefs. At these meetings Micanopy, influenced by +Osceola and other young Seminoles, took a more definite stand than he +might otherwise have assumed. Especially did he insist with reference +to the treaty that he understood that the chiefs who went West were to +_examine_ the country, and for his part he knew that when they returned +they would report unfavorably. Thompson then, becoming angry, delivered +an ultimatum to the effect that if the treaty was not observed the +annuity from the great father in Washington would cease. To this, +Osceola, stepping forward, replied that he and his warriors did not care +if they never received another dollar from the great father, and drawing +his knife, he plunged it in the table and said, "The only treaty I will +execute is with this." Henceforward there was deadly enmity between the +young Seminole and Thompson. More and more Osceola made his personality +felt, constantly asserting to the men of his nation that whoever +recommended emigration was an enemy of the Seminoles, and he finally +arrived at an understanding with many of them that the treaty would be +resisted with their very lives. Thompson, however, on April 23, 1835, +had a sort of secret conference with sixteen of the chiefs who seemed +favorably disposed toward migration, and he persuaded them to sign a +document "freely and fully" assenting to the treaties of Payne's Landing +and Fort Gibson. The next day there was a formal meeting at which the +agent, backed up by Clinch and his soldiers, upbraided the Indians in a +very harsh manner. His words were met by groans, angry gesticulations, +and only half-muffled imprecations. Clinch endeavored to appeal to the +Indians and to advise them that resistance was both unwise and useless. +Thompson, however, with his usual lack of tact, rushed onward in his +course, and learning that five chiefs were unalterably opposed to the +treaty, he arbitrarily struck their names off the roll of chiefs, an +action the highhandedness of which was not lost on the Seminoles. +Immediately after the conference moreover he forbade the sale of +any more arms and powder to the Indians. To the friendly chiefs the +understanding had been given that the nation might have until January +1, 1836, to make preparation for removal, by which time all were to +assemble at Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, for emigration. + +About the first of June Osceola was one day on a quiet errand of trading +at Fort King. With him was his wife, the daughter of a mulatto slave +woman who had run away years before and married an Indian chief. By +Southern law this woman followed the condition of her mother, and +when the mother's former owner appeared on the scene and claimed the +daughter, Thompson, who desired to teach Occeola a lesson, readily +agreed that she should be remanded into captivity.[1] Osceola was highly +enraged, and this time it was his turn to upbraid the agent. Thompson +now had him overpowered and put in irons, in which situation he remained +for the better part of two days. In this period of captivity his soul +plotted revenge and at length he too planned a "_ruse de guerre_." +Feigning assent to the treaty he told Thompson that if he was released +not only would he sign himself but he would also bring his people to +sign. The agent was completely deceived by Osceola's tactics. "True to +his professions," wrote Thompson on June 3, "he this day appeared with +seventy-nine of his people, men, women, and children, including some who +had joined him since his conversion, and redeemed his promise. He told +me many of his friends were out hunting, whom he could and would bring +over on their return. I have now no doubt of his sincerity, and as +little, that the greatest difficulty is surmounted." + +[Footnote 1: This highly important incident, which was really the spark +that started the war, is absolutely ignored even by such well informed +writers as Drake and Sprague. Drake simply gives the impression that +the quarrel between Osceola and Thompson was over the old matter of +emigration, saying (413), "Remonstrance soon grew into altercation, +which ended in a _ruse de guerre_, by which Osceola was made prisoner by +the agent, and put in irons, in which situation he was kept one night +and part of two days." The story is told by McMaster, however. Also note +M.M. Cohen as quoted in _Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine_, Vol. II, p. +419 (July, 1837).] + +Osceola now rapidly urged forward preparations for war, which, however, +he did not wish actually started until after the crops were gathered. +By the fall he was ready, and one day in October when he and some other +warriors met Charley Emathla, who had upon him the gold and silver that +he had received from the sale of his cattle preparatory to migration, +they killed this chief, and Osceola threw the money in every direction, +saying that no one was to touch it, as it was the price of the red man's +blood. The true drift of events became even more apparent to Thompson +and Clinch in November, when five chiefs friendly to migration with five +hundred of their people suddenly appeared at Fort Brooke to ask for +protection. When in December Thompson sent final word to the Seminoles +that they must bring in their horses and cattle, the Indians did not +come on the appointed day; on the contrary they sent their women and +children to the interior and girded themselves for battle. To Osceola +late in the month a runner brought word that some troops under the +command of Major Dade were to leave Fort Brooke on the 25th and on the +night of the 27th were to be attacked by some Seminoles in the Wahoo +Swamp. Osceola himself, with some of his men, was meanwhile lying in the +woods near Fort King, waiting for an opportunity to kill Thompson. On +the afternoon of the 28th the agent dined not far from the fort at the +home of the sutler, a man named Rogers, and after dinner he walked +with Lieutenant Smith to the crest of a neighboring hill. Here he was +surprised by the Indians, and both he and Smith fell pierced by numerous +bullets. The Indians then pressed on to the home of the sutler and +killed Rogers, his two clerks, and a little boy. On the same day the +command of Major Dade, including seven officers and one hundred and ten +men, was almost completely annihilated, only three men escaping. Dade +and his horse were killed at the first onset. These two attacks began +the actual fighting of the Second Seminole War. That the Negroes were +working shoulder to shoulder with the Indians in these encounters may +be seen from the report of Captain Belton,[1] who said, "Lieut. Keays, +third artillery, had both arms broken from the first shot; was unable +to act, and was tomahawked the latter part of the second attack, by a +Negro"; and further: "A Negro named Harry controls the Pea Band of about +a hundred warriors, forty miles southeast of us, who have done most +of the mischief, and keep this post constantly observed." Osceola now +joined forces with those Indians who had attacked Dade, and in the +early morning of the last day of the year occurred the Battle of +Ouithlecoochee, a desperate encounter in which both Osceola and Clinch +gave good accounts of themselves. Clinch had two hundred regulars and +five or six hundred volunteers. The latter fled early in the contest and +looked on from a distance; and Clinch had to work desperately to keep +from duplicating the experience of Dade. Osceola himself was conspicuous +in a red belt and three long feathers, but although twice wounded he +seemed to bear a charmed life. He posted himself behind a tree, from +which station he constantly sallied forth to kill or wound an enemy with +almost infallible aim. + +[Footnote 1: Accessible in Drake, 416-418.] + +After these early encounters the fighting became more and more bitter +and the contest more prolonged. Early in the war the disbursing agent +reported that there were only three thousand Indians, including Negroes, +to be considered; but this was clearly an understatement. Within the +next year and a half the Indians were hard pressed, and before the end +of this period the notorious Thomas S. Jessup had appeared on the scene +as commanding major general. This man seems to have determined never to +use honorable means of warfare if some ignoble instrument could serve +his purpose. In a letter sent to Colonel Harvey from Tampa Bay under +date May 25, 1837, he said: "If you see Powell (Osceola), tell him I +shall send out and take all the Negroes who belong to the white people. +And he must not allow the Indian Negroes to mix with them. Tell him I +am sending to Cuba for bloodhounds to trail them; and I intend to hang +every one of them who does not come in." And it might be remarked that +for his bloodhounds Jessup spent--or said he spent--as much as $5,000, a +fact which thoroughly aroused Giddings and other persons from the North, +who by no means cared to see such an investment of public funds. By +order No. 160, dated August 3, 1837, Jessup invited his soldiers to +plunder and rapine, saying, "All Indian property captured from this date +will belong to the corps or detachment making it." From St. Augustine, +under date October 20, 1837, in a "confidential" communication he said +to one of his lieutenants: "Should Powell and his warriors come within +the fort, seize him and the whole party. It is important that he, Wild +Cat, John Cowagee, and Tustenuggee, be secured. Hold them until you have +my orders in relation to them."[1] Two days later he was able to write +to the Secretary of War that Osceola was actually taken. Said he: "That +chief came into the vicinity of Fort Peyton on the 20th, and sent a +messenger to General Hernandez, desiring to see and converse with him. +The sickly season being over, and there being no further necessity to +temporize, I sent a party of mounted men, and seized the entire body, +and now have them securely lodged in the fort." Osceola, Wild Cat, +and others thus captured were marched to St. Augustine; but Wild Cat +escaped. Osceola was ultimately taken to Fort Moultrie, in the harbor of +Charleston, where in January (1838) he died. + +[Footnote 1: This correspondence, and much more bearing on the point, +may be found in House Document 327 of the Second Session of the +Twenty-fifth Congress.] + +Important in this general connection was the fate of the deputation that +the influential John Ross, chief of the Cherokees, was persuaded to +send from his nation to induce the Seminoles to think more favorably of +migration. Micanopy, twelve other chieftains, and a number of warriors +accompanied the Cherokee deputation to the headquarters of the United +States Army at Fort Mellon, where they were to discuss the matter. These +warriors also Jessup seized, and Ross wrote to the Secretary of War +a dignified but bitter letter protesting against this "unprecedented +violation of that sacred rule which has ever been recognized by every +nation, civilized and uncivilized, of treating with all due respect +those who had ever presented themselves under a flag of truce before the +enemy, for the purpose of proposing the termination of warfare." He had +indeed been most basely used as the agent of deception. + +This chapter, we trust, has shown something of the real nature of the +points at issue in the Seminole Wars. In the course of these contests +the rights of Indian and Negro alike were ruthlessly disregarded. There +was redress for neither before the courts, and at the end in dealing +with them every honorable principle of men and nations was violated. It +is interesting that the three representatives of colored peoples who +in the course of the nineteenth century it was most difficult to +capture--Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Negro, Osceola, the Indian, and +Aguinaldo, the Filipino--were all taken through treachery; and on two of +the three occasions this treachery was practiced by responsible officers +of the United States Army. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EARLY APPROACH TO THE NEGRO PROBLEM + + +1. The Ultimate Problem and the Missouri Compromise + +In a previous chapter[1] we have already indicated the rise of the Negro +Problem in the last decade of the eighteenth and the first two decades +of the nineteenth century. And what was the Negro Problem? It was +certainly not merely a question of slavery; in the last analysis this +institution was hardly more than an incident. Slavery has ceased to +exist, but even to-day the Problem is with us. The question was rather +what was to be the final place in the American body politic of the +Negro population that was so rapidly increasing in the country. In the +answering of this question supreme importance attached to the Negro +himself; but the problem soon transcended the race. Ultimately it was +the destiny of the United States rather than of the Negro that was to be +considered, and all the ideals on which the country was based came to +the testing. If one studied those ideals he soon realized that they were +based on Teutonic or at least English foundations. By 1820, however, the +young American republic was already beginning to be the hope of all +of the oppressed people of Europe, and Greeks and Italians as well as +Germans and Swedes were turning their faces toward the Promised Land. +The whole background of Latin culture was different from the Teutonic, +and yet the people of Southern as well as of Northern Europe somehow +became a part of the life of the United States. In this life was it also +possible for the children of Africa to have a permanent and an honorable +place? With their special tradition and gifts, with their shortcomings, +above all with their distinctive color, could they, too, become genuine +American citizens? Some said No, but in taking this position they denied +not only the ideals on which the country was founded but also the +possibilities of human nature itself. In any case the answer to the +first question at once suggested another, What shall we do with the +Negro? About this there was very great difference of opinion, it not +always being supposed that the Negro himself had anything whatever to +say about the matter. Some said send the Negro away, get rid of him by +any means whatsoever; others said if he must stay, keep him in slavery; +still others said not to keep him permanently in slavery, but emancipate +him only gradually; and already there were beginning to be persons who +felt that the Negro should be emancipated everywhere immediately, and +that after this great event had taken place he and the nation together +should work out his salvation on the broadest possible plane. + +[Footnote 1: IV, Section 3.] + +Into the agitation was suddenly thrust the application of Missouri for +entrance into the Union as a slave state. The struggle that followed +for two years was primarily a political one, but in the course of the +discussion the evils of slavery were fully considered. Meanwhile, in +1819, Alabama and Maine also applied for admission. Alabama was allowed +to enter without much discussion, as she made equal the number of slave +and free states. Maine, however, brought forth more talk. The Southern +congressmen would have been perfectly willing to admit this as a free +state if Missouri had been admitted as a slave state; but the North felt +that this would have been to concede altogether too much, as Missouri +from the first gave promise of being unusually important. At length, +largely through the influence of Henry Clay, there was adopted a +compromise whose main provisions were (1) that Maine was to be admitted +as a free state; (2) that in Missouri there was to be no prohibition of +slavery; but (3) that slavery was to be prohibited in any other states +that might be formed out of the Louisiana Purchase north of the line of +36° 30'. + +By this agreement the strife was allayed for some years; but it is now +evident that the Missouri Compromise was only a postponement of the +ultimate contest and that the social questions involved were hardly +touched. Certainly the significance of the first clear drawing of the +line between the sections was not lost upon thoughtful men. Jefferson +wrote from Monticello in 1820: "This momentous question, like a +fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered +it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the +moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.... I can +say, with conscious truth, that there is not a man on earth who would +sacrifice more than I would to relieve us from this heavy reproach, in +any _practicable_ way. The cession of that kind of property, for so it +is misnamed, is a bagatelle that would not cost me a second thought, +if, in that way, a general emancipation and _expatriation_ could be +effected; and, gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it might +be."[1] For the time being, however, the South was concerned mainly +about immediate dangers; nor was this section placed more at ease by +Denmark Vesey's attempted insurrection in 1822.[2] A representative +South Carolinian,[3] writing after this event, said, "We regard our +Negroes as the _Jacobins_ of the country, against whom we should always +be upon our guard, and who, although we fear no permanent effects from +any insurrectionary movements on their part, should be watched with an +eye of steady and unremitted observation." Meanwhile from a ratio of +43.72 to 56.28 in 1790 the total Negro population in South Carolina had +by 1820 come to outnumber the white 52.77 to 47.23, and the tendency +was increasingly in favor of the Negro. The South, the whole country in +fact, was more and more being forced to consider not only slavery but +the ultimate reaches of the problem. + +[Footnote 1: _Writings_, XV, 249.] + +[Footnote 2: See Chapter VII, Section 1.] + +[Footnote 3: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 61.] + +Whatever one might think of the conclusion--and in this case the speaker +was pleading for colonization--no statement of the problem as it +impressed men about 1820 or 1830 was clearer than that of Rev. Dr. Nott, +President of Union College, at Albany in 1829.[1] The question, said he, +was by no means local. Slavery was once legalized in New England; and +New England built slave-ships and manned these with New England seamen. +In 1820 the slave population in the country amounted to 1,500,000. The +number doubled every twenty years, and it was easy to see how it would +progress from 1,500,000 to 3,000,000; to 6,000,000; to 12,000,000; to +24,000,000. "Twenty-four millions of slaves! What a drawback from our +strength; what a tax on our resources; what a hindrance to our growth; +what a stain on our character; and what an impediment to the fulfillment +of our destiny! Could our worst enemies or the worst enemies of +republics, wish us a severer judgment?" How could one know that wakeful +and sagacious enemies without would not discover the vulnerable point +and use it for the country's overthrow? Or was there not danger that +among a people goaded from age to age there might at length arise some +second Toussaint L'Ouverture, who, reckless of consequences, would array +a force and cause a movement throughout the zone of bondage, leaving +behind him plantations waste and mansions desolate? Who could believe +that such a tremendous physical force would remain forever spell-bound +and quiescent? After all, however, slavery was doomed; public opinion +had already pronounced upon it, and the moral energy of the nation would +sooner or later effect its overthrow. "But," continued Nott, "the solemn +question here arises--in what condition will this momentous change place +us? The freed men of other countries have long since disappeared, having +been amalgamated in the general mass. Here there can be no amalgamation. +Our manumitted bondmen have remained already to the third and fourth, as +they will to the thousandth generation--a distinct, a degraded, and a +wretched race." After this sweeping statement, which has certainly not +been justified by time, Nott proceeded to argue the expediency of his +organization. Gerrit Smith, who later drifted away from colonization, +said frankly on the same occasion that the ultimate solution was either +amalgamation or colonization, and that of the two courses he preferred +to choose the latter. Others felt as he did. We shall now accordingly +proceed to consider at somewhat greater length the two solutions that +about 1820 had the clearest advocates--Colonization and Slavery. + +[Footnote 1: See "African Colonization. Proceedings of the Formation of +the New York State Colonization Society." Albany, 1829.] + + +2. _Colonization_ + +Early in 1773, Rev. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, called on his friend, +Rev. Ezra Stiles, afterwards President of Yale College, and suggested +the possibility of educating Negro students, perhaps two at first, who +would later go as missionaries to Africa. Stiles thought that for the +plan to be worth while there should be a colony on the coast of Africa, +that at least thirty or forty persons should go, and that the enterprise +should not be private but should have the formal backing of a society +organized for the purpose. In harmony with the original plan two young +Negro men sailed from New York for Africa, November 12, 1774; but the +Revolutionary War followed and nothing more was done at the time. In +1784, however, and again in 1787, Hopkins tried to induce different +merchants to fit out a vessel to convey a few emigrants, and in the +latter year he talked with a young man from the West Indies, Dr. William +Thornton, who expressed a willingness to take charge of the company. +The enterprise failed for lack of funds, though Thornton kept up his +interest and afterwards became a member of the first Board of Managers +of the American Colonization Society. Hopkins in 1791 spoke before the +Connecticut Emancipation Society, which he wished to see incorporated as +a colonization society, and in a sermon before the Providence society in +1793 he reverted to his favorite theme. Meanwhile, as a result of the +efforts of Wilberforce, Clarkson, and Granville Sharp in England, in +May, 1787, some four hundred Negroes and sixty white persons were landed +at Sierra Leone. Some of the Negroes in England had gained their freedom +in consequence of Lord Mansfield's decision in 1772, others had been +discharged from the British Army after the American Revolution, and all +were leading in England a more or less precarious existence. The sixty +white persons sent along were abandoned women, and why Sierra Leone +should have had this weight placed upon it at the start history has not +yet told. It is not surprising to learn that "disease and disorder were +rife, and by 1791 a mere handful survived."[1] As early as in his _Notes +on Virginia_, privately printed in 1781, Thomas Jefferson had suggested +a colony for Negroes, perhaps in the new territory of Ohio. The +suggestion was not acted upon, but it is evident that by 1800 several +persons had thought of the possibility of removing the Negroes in the +South to some other place either within or without the country. + +[Footnote 1: McPherson, 15. (See bibliography on Liberia.)] + +Gabriel's insurrection in 1800 again forced the idea concretely forward. +Virginia was visibly disturbed by this outbreak, and _in secret +session_, on December 21, the House of Delegates passed the following +resolution: "That the Governor[1] be requested to correspond with the +President of the United States,[2] on the subject of purchasing land +without the limits of this state, whither persons obnoxious to the laws, +or dangerous to the peace of society may be removed." The real purpose +of this resolution was to get rid of those Negroes who had had some part +in the insurrection and had not been executed; but not in 1800, or in +1802 or 1804, was the General Assembly thus able to banish those whom +it was afraid to hang. Monroe, however, acted in accordance with his +instructions, and Jefferson replied to him under date November 24, 1801. +He was not now favorable to deportation to some place within the United +States, and thought that the West Indies, probably Santo Domingo, might +be better. There was little real danger that the exiles would stimulate +vindictive or predatory descents on the American coasts, and in any case +such a possibility was "overweighed by the humanity of the measures +proposed." "Africa would offer a last and undoubted resort," thought +Jefferson, "if all others more desirable should fail."[3] Six months +later, on July 13, 1802, the President wrote about the matter to Rufus +King, then minister in London. The course of events in the West Indies, +he said, had given an impulse to the minds of Negroes in the United +States; there was a disposition to insurgency, and it now seemed that if +there was to be colonization, Africa was by all means the best place. An +African company might also engage in commercial operations, and if there +was coöperation with Sierra Leone, there was the possibility of "one +strong, rather than two weak colonies." Would King accordingly enter +into conference with the English officials with reference to disposing +of any Negroes who might be sent? "It is material to observe," remarked +Jefferson, "that they are not felons, or common malefactors, but persons +guilty of what the safety of society, under actual circumstances, +obliges us to treat as a crime, but which their feelings may represent +in a far different shape. They are such as will be a valuable +acquisition to the settlement already existing there, and well +calculated to coöperate in the plan of civilization."[4] King +accordingly opened correspondence with Thornton and Wedderbourne, the +secretaries of the company having charge of Sierra Leone, but was +informed that the colony was in a languishing condition and that funds +were likely to fail, and that in no event would they be willing to +receive more people from the United States, as these were the very ones +who had already made most trouble in the settlement.[5] On January 22, +1805, the General Assembly of Virginia passed a resolution that embodied +a request to the United States Government to set aside a portion of +territory in the new Louisiana Purchase "to be appropriated to +the residence of such people of color as have been, or shall be, +emancipated, or may hereafter become dangerous to the public safety." +Nothing came of this. By the close then of Jefferson's second +administration the Northwest, the Southwest, the West Indies, and Sierra +Leone had all been thought of as possible fields for colonization, but +from the consideration nothing visible had resulted. + +[Footnote 1: Monroe.] + +[Footnote 2: Jefferson.] + +[Footnote 3: _Writings_, X, 297.] + +[Footnote 4: _Writings_, X, 327-328.] + +[Footnote 5: _Ibid_., XIII, 11.] + +Now followed the period of Southern expansion and of increasing +materialism, and before long came the War of 1812. By 1811 a note of +doubt had crept into Jefferson's dealing with the subject. Said he: +"Nothing is more to be wished than that the United States would +themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of +Africa ... But for this the national mind is not yet prepared. It may +perhaps be doubted whether many of these people would voluntarily +consent to such an exchange of situation, and very certain that few of +those advanced to a certain age in habits of slavery, would be capable +of self-government. This should not, however, discourage the experiment, +nor the early trial of it; and the proposition should be made with all +the prudent cautions and attentions requisite to reconcile it to the +interests, the safety, and the prejudices of all parties."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _Writings_, XIII, 11.] + +From an entirely different source, however, and prompted not by +expediency but the purest altruism, came an impulse that finally told in +the founding of Liberia. The heart of a young man reached out across +the sea. Samuel J. Mills, an undergraduate of Williams College, in 1808 +formed among his fellow-students a missionary society whose work later +told in the formation of the American Bible Society and the Board of +Foreign Missions. Mills continued his theological studies at Andover and +then at Princeton; and while at the latter place he established a school +for Negroes at Parsippany, thirty miles away. He also interested in +his work and hopes Rev. Robert Finley, of Basking Ridge, N.J., who +"succeeded in assembling at Princeton the first meeting ever called to +consider the project of sending Negro colonists to Africa,"[1] and who +in a letter to John P. Mumford, of New York, under date February 14, +1815, expressed his interest by saying, "We should send to Africa a +population partly civilized and christianized for its benefit; and our +blacks themselves would be put in a better condition." + +[Footnote 1: McPherson, 18.] + +In this same year, 1815, the country was startled by the unselfish +enterprise of a Negro who had long thought of the unfortunate situation +of his people in America and who himself shouldered the obligation to +do something definite in their behalf. Paul Cuffe had been born in May, +1759, on one of the Elizabeth Islands near New Bedford, Mass., the son +of a father who was once a slave from Africa and of an Indian mother.[1] +Interested in navigation, he made voyages to Russia, England, Africa, +the West Indies, and the South; and in time he commanded his own vessel, +became generally respected, and by his wisdom rose to a fair degree of +opulence. For twenty years he had thought especially about Africa, +and in 1815 he took to Sierra Leone a total of nine families and +thirty-eight persons at an expense to himself of nearly $4000. The +people that he brought were well received at Sierra Leone, and Cuffe +himself had greater and more far-reaching plans when he died September +7, 1817. He left an estate valued at $20,000. + +[Footnote 1: First Annual Report of American Colonization Society.] + +Dr. Finley's meeting at Princeton was not very well attended and hence +not a great success. Nevertheless he felt sufficiently encouraged to go +to Washington in December, 1816, to use his effort for the formation of +a national colonization society. It happened that in February of this +same year, 1816, General Charles Fenton Mercer, member of the House of +Delegates, came upon the secret journals of the legislature for the +period 1801-5 and saw the correspondence between Monroe and Jefferson. +Interested in the colonization project, on December 14 (Monroe +then being President-elect) he presented in the House of Delegates +resolutions embodying the previous enactments; and these passed 132 to +14. Finley was generally helped by the effort of Mercer, and on December +21, 1816, there was held in Washington a meeting of public men +and interested citizens, Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House of +Representatives, presiding. A constitution was adopted at an adjourned +meeting on December 28; and on January 1, 1817, were formally chosen +the officers of "The American Society for Colonizing the Free People +of Color of the United States." At this last meeting Henry Clay, again +presiding, spoke in glowing terms of the possibilities of the movement; +Elias B. Caldwell, a brother-in-law of Finley, made the leading +argument; and John Randolph, of Roanoke, Va., and Robert Wright, of +Maryland, spoke of the advantages to accrue from the removal of the free +Negroes from the country (which remarks were very soon to awaken +much discussion and criticism, especially on the part of the Negroes +themselves). It is interesting to note that Mercer had no part at all in +the meeting of January 1, not even being present; he did not feel that +any but Southern men should be enrolled in the organization. However, +Bushrod Washington, the president, was a Southern man; twelve of the +seventeen vice-presidents were Southern men, among them being Andrew +Jackson and William Crawford; and all of the twelve managers were +slaveholders. + +Membership in the American Colonization Society originally consisted, +first, of such as sincerely desired to afford the free Negroes an asylum +from oppression and who hoped through them to extend to Africa the +blessings of civilization and Christianity; second, of such as sought to +enhance the value of their own slaves by removing the free Negroes; and +third, of such as desired to be relieved of any responsibility whatever +for free Negroes. The movement was widely advertised as "an effort +for the benefit of the blacks in which all parts of the country could +unite," it being understood that it was "not to have the abolition of +slavery for its immediate object," nor was it to "aim directly at the +instruction of the great body of the blacks." Such points as the last +were to prove in course of time hardly less than a direct challenge to +the different abolitionist organizations in the North, and more and more +the Society was denounced as a movement on the part of slaveholders for +perpetuating their institutions by doing away with the free people of +color. It is not to be supposed, however, that the South, with its usual +religious fervor, did not put much genuine feeling into the colonization +scheme. One man in Georgia named Tubman freed his slaves, thirty in all, +and placed them in charge of the Society with a gift of $10,000; Thomas +Hunt, a young Virginian, afterwards a chaplain in the Union Army, sent +to Liberia the slaves he had inherited, paying the entire cost of the +journey; and others acted in a similar spirit of benevolence. It was +but natural, however, for the public to be somewhat uncertain as to the +tendencies of the organization when the utterances of representative +men were sometimes directly contradictory. On January 20, 1827, for +instance, Henry Clay, then Secretary of State, speaking in the hall of +the House of Representatives at the annual meeting of the Society, said: +"Of all classes of our population, the most vicious is that of the free +colored. It is the inevitable result of their moral, political, and +civil degradation. Contaminated themselves, they extend their vices to +all around them, to the slaves and to the whites." Just a moment later +he said: "Every emigrant to Africa is a missionary carrying with him +credentials in the holy cause of civilization, religion, and free +institutions." How persons contaminated and vicious could be +missionaries of civilization and religion was something possible only in +the logic of Henry Clay. In the course of the next month Robert Y. Hayne +gave a Southern criticism in two addresses on a memorial presented in +the United States Senate by the Colonization Society.[1] The first +of these speeches was a clever one characterized by much wit and +good-humored raillery; the second was a sober arraignment. Hayne +emphasized the tremendous cost involved and the physical impossibility +of the whole undertaking, estimating that at least sixty thousand +persons a year would have to be transported to accomplish anything like +the desired result. At the close of his brilliant attack, still making +a veiled plea for the continuance of slavery, he nevertheless rose to +genuine statesmanship in dealing with the problem of the Negro, saying, +"While this process is going on the colored classes are gradually +diffusing themselves throughout the country and are making steady +advances in intelligence and refinement, and if half the zeal were +displayed in bettering their condition that is now wasted in the vain +and fruitless effort of sending them abroad, their intellectual and +moral improvement would be steady and rapid." William Lloyd Garrison was +untiring and merciless in flaying the inconsistencies and selfishness of +the colonization organization. In an editorial in the _Liberator_, July +9, 1831, he charged the Society, first, with persecution in compelling +free people to emigrate against their will and in discouraging their +education at home; second, with falsehood in saying that the Negroes +were natives of Africa when they were no more so than white Americans +were natives of Great Britain; third, with cowardice in asserting that +the continuance of the Negro population in the country involved dangers; +and finally, with infidelity in denying that the Gospel has full power +to reach the hatred in the hearts of men. In _Thoughts on African +Colonisation_ (1832) he developed exhaustively ten points as follows: +That the American Colonization Society was pledged not to oppose the +system of slavery, that it apologized for slavery and slaveholders, that +it recognized slaves as property, that by deporting Negroes it increased +the value of slaves, that it was the enemy of immediate abolition, that +it was nourished by fear and selfishness, that it aimed at the utter +expulsion of the blacks, that it was the disparager of free Negroes, +that it denied the possibility of elevating the black people of the +country, and that it deceived and misled the nation. Other criticisms +were numerous. A broadside, "The Shields of American Slavery" ("Broad +enough to hide the wrongs of two millions of stolen men") placed side by +side conflicting utterances of members of the Society; and in August, +1830, Kendall, fourth auditor, in his report to the Secretary of the +Navy, wondered why the resources of the government should be used "to +colonize recaptured Africans, to build homes for them, to furnish them +with farming utensils, to pay instructors to teach them, to purchase +ships for their convenience, to build forts for their protection, to +supply them with arms and munitions of war, to enlist troops to guard +them, and to employ the army and navy in their defense."[2] Criticism of +the American Colonization Society was prompted by a variety of motives; +but the organization made itself vulnerable at many points. The movement +attracted extraordinary attention, but has had practically no effect +whatever on the position of the Negro in the United States. Its work +in connection with the founding of Liberia, however, is of the highest +importance, and must later receive detailed attention. + +[Footnote 1: See Jervey: _Robert Y. Hayne and His Times_, 207-8.] + +[Footnote 2: Cited by McPherson, 22.] + + +3. _Slavery_ + +We have seen that from the beginning there were liberal-minded men in +the South who opposed the system of slavery, and if we actually take +note of all the utterances of different men and of the proposals for +doing away with the system, we shall find that about the turn of the +century there was in this section considerable anti-slavery sentiment. +Between 1800 and 1820, however, the opening of new lands in the +Southwest, the increasing emphasis on cotton, and the rapidly growing +Negro population, gave force to the argument of expediency; and the +Missouri Compromise drew sharply the lines of the contest. The South now +came to regard slavery as its peculiar heritage; public men were forced +to defend the institution; and in general the best thought of the +section began to be obsessed and dominated by the Negro, just as it is +to-day in large measure. In taking this position the South deliberately +committed intellectual suicide. In such matters as freedom of speech and +literary achievement, and in genuine statesmanship if not for the time +being in political influence, this part of the country declined, and +before long the difference between it and New England was appalling. +Calhoun and Hayne were strong; but between 1820 and 1860 the South had +no names to compare with Longfellow and Emerson in literature, or with +Morse and Hoe in invention. The foremost college professor, Dew, of +William and Mary, and even the outstanding divines, Furman, the Baptist, +of South Carolina, in the twenties, and Palmer, the Presbyterian of New +Orleans, in the fifties, are all now remembered mainly because they +defended their section in keeping the Negro in bonds. William and Mary +College, and even the University of Virginia, as compared with Harvard +and Yale, became provincial institutions; and instead of the Washington +or Jefferson of an earlier day now began to be nourished such a leader +as "Bob" Toombs, who for all of his fire and eloquence was a demagogue. +In making its choice the South could not and did not blame the Negro +per se, for it was freely recognized that upon slave labor rested such +economic stability as the section possessed. The tragedy was simply that +thousands of intelligent Americans deliberately turned their faces to +the past, and preferred to read the novels of Walter Scott and live in +the Middle Ages rather than study the French Revolution and live in the +nineteenth century. One hundred years after we find that the chains are +still forged, that thought is not yet free. Thus the Negro Problem began +to be, and still is, very largely the problem of the white man of the +South. The era of capitalism had not yet dawned, and still far in the +future was the day when the poor white man and the Negro were slowly to +realize that their interests were largely identical. + +The argument with which the South came to support its position and to +defend slavery need not here detain us at length. It was formally stated +by Dew and others[1] and it was to be heard on every hand. One could +hardly go to church, to say nothing of going to a public meeting, +without hearing echoes of it. In general it was maintained that slavery +had made for the civilization of the world in that it had mitigated +the evils of war, had made labor profitable, had changed the nature of +savages, and elevated woman. The slave-trade was of course horrible and +unjust, but the great advantages of the system more than outweighed a +few attendant evils. Emancipation and deportation were alike impossible. +Even if practicable, they would not be expedient measures, for they +meant the loss to Virginia of one-third of her property. As for +morality, it was not to be expected that the Negro should have the +sensibilities of the white man. Moreover the system had the advantage of +cultivating a republican spirit among the white people. In short, said +Dew, the slaves, in both the economic and the moral point of view, were +"entirely unfit for a state of freedom among the whites." Holland, +already cited, in 1822 maintained five points, as follows: 1. That the +United States are one for national purposes, but separate for their +internal regulation and government; 2. That the people of the North and +East "always exhibited an unfriendly feeling on subjects affecting the +interests of the South and West"; 3. That the institution of slavery +was not an institution of the South's voluntary choosing; 4. That the +Southern sections of the Union, both before and after the Declaration +of Independence, "had uniformly exhibited a disposition to restrict +the extension of the evil--and had always manifested as cordial a +disposition to ameliorate it as those of the North and East"; and 5. +That the actual state and condition of the slave population "reflected +no disgrace whatever on the character of the country--as the slaves were +infinitely better provided for than the laboring poor of other countries +of the world, and were generally happier than millions of white people +in the world." Such arguments the clergy supported and endeavored to +reconcile with Christian precept. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman, president +of the Baptist Convention of South Carolina,[2] after much inquiry and +reasoning, arrived at the conclusion that "the holding of slaves is +justifiable by the doctrine and example contained in Holy Writ; and is, +therefore, consistent with Christian uprightness both in sentiment and +conduct." Said he further: "The Christian golden rule, of doing +to others as we would they should do to us, has been urged as an +unanswerable argument against holding slaves. But surely this rule +is never to be urged against that order of things which the Divine +government has established; nor do our desires become a standard to us, +under this rule, unless they have a due regard to justice, propriety, +and the general good.... A father may very naturally desire that his son +should be obedient to his orders: Is he therefore to obey the orders of +his son? A man might be pleased to be exonerated from his debts by the +generosity of his creditors; or that his rich neighbor should equally +divide his property with him; and in certain circumstances might desire +these to be done: Would the mere existence of this desire oblige him +to exonerate his debtors, and to make such division of his property?" +Calhoun in 1837 formally accepted slavery, saying that the South should +no longer apologize for it; and the whole argument from the standpoint +of expediency received eloquent expression in the Senate of the United +States from no less a man than Henry Clay, who more and more appears in +the perspective as a pro-Southern advocate. Said he: "I am no friend of +slavery. But I prefer the liberty of my own country to that of any other +people; and the liberty of my own race to that of any other race. +The liberty of the descendants of Africa in the United States is +incompatible with the safety and liberty of the European descendants. +Their slavery forms an exception--an exception resulting from a +stern and inexorable necessity--to the general liberty in the United +States."[3] After the lapse of years the pro-slavery argument is pitiful +in its numerous fallacies. It was in line with much of the discussion of +the day that questioned whether the Negro was actually a human being, +and but serves to show to what extremes economic interest will sometimes +drive men otherwise of high intelligence and honor. + +[Footnote 1: _The Pro-Slavery Argument_ (as maintained by the most +distinguished writers of the Southern states). Charleston, 1852.] + +[Footnote 2: "Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the Views of the +Baptists relative to the Coloured Population in the United States, in +a Communication to the Governor of South Carolina." Second edition, +Charleston, 1833 (letter bears original date, December 24, 1822).] + +[Footnote 3: Address "On Abolition," February 7, 1839.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE NEGRO REPLY, I: REVOLT + + +We have already seen that on several occasions in colonial times the +Negroes in bondage made a bid for freedom, many men risking their all +and losing their lives in consequence. In general these early attempts +failed completely to realize their aim, organization being feeble and +the leadership untrained and exerting only an emotional hold over +adherents. In Charleston, S.C., in 1822, however, there was planned an +insurrection about whose scope there could be no question. The leader, +Denmark Vesey, is interesting as an intellectual insurrectionist just as +the more famous Nat Turner is typical of the more fervent sort. It is +the purpose of the present chapter to study the attempts for freedom +made by these two men, and also those of two daring groups of captives +who revolted at sea. + + +1. _Denmark Vesey's Insurrection_ + +Denmark Vesey is first seen as one of the three hundred and ninety +slaves on the ship of Captain Vesey, who commanded a vessel trading +between St. Thomas and Cape François (Santo Domingo), and who was +engaged in supplying the French of the latter place with slaves. At the +time, the boy was fourteen years old, and of unusual personal beauty, +alertness, and magnetism. He was shown considerable favoritism, and +was called Télémaque (afterwards corrupted to _Telmak_, and then to +_Denmark_). On his arrival at Cape François, Denmark was sold with +others of the slaves to a planter who owned a considerable estate. On +his next trip, however, Captain Vesey learned that the boy was to be +returned to him as unsound and subject to epileptic fits. The laws of +the place permitted the return of a slave in such a case, and while it +has been thought that Denmark's fits may have been feigned in order that +he might have some change of estate, there was quite enough proof in the +matter to impress the king's physician. Captain Vesey never had reason +to regret having to take the boy back. They made several voyages +together, and Denmark served until 1800 as his faithful personal +attendant. In this year the young man, now thirty-three years of age and +living in Charleston, won $1,500 in an East Bay Street lottery, $600 of +which he devoted immediately to the purchase of his freedom. The sum was +much less than he was really worth, but Captain Vesey liked him and had +no reason to drive a hard bargain with him. + +In the early years of his full manhood accordingly Denmark Vesey found +himself a free man in his own right and possessed of the means for a +little real start in life. He improved his time and proceeded to win +greater standing and recognition by regular and industrious work at his +trade, that of a carpenter. Over the slaves he came to have unbounded +influence. Among them, in accordance with the standards of the day, he +had several wives and children (none of whom could he call his own), and +he understood perfectly the fervor and faith and superstition of the +Negroes with whom he had to deal. To his remarkable personal magnetism +moreover he added just the strong passion and the domineering temper +that were needed to make his conquest complete. + +Thus for twenty years he worked on. He already knew French as well +as English, but he now studied and reflected upon as wide a range of +subjects as possible. It was not expected at the time that there would +be religious classes or congregations of Negroes apart from the white +people; but the law was not strictly observed, and for a number of +years a Negro congregation had a church in Hampstead in the suburbs +of Charleston. At the meetings here and elsewhere Vesey found his +opportunity, and he drew interesting parallels between the experiences +of the Jews and the Negroes. He would rebuke a companion on the street +for bowing to a white person; and if such a man replied, "We are +slaves," he would say, "You deserve to be." If the man then asked +what he could do to better his condition, he would say, "Go and buy a +spelling-book and read the fable of Hercules and the wagoner."[1] At the +same time if he happened to engage in conversation with white people in +the presence of Negroes, he would often take occasion to introduce some +striking remark on slavery. He regularly held up to emulation the work +of the Negroes of Santo Domingo; and either he or one of his chief +lieutenants clandestinely sent a letter to the President of Santo +Domingo to ask if the people there would help the Negroes of Charleston +if the latter made an effort to free themselves.[2] About 1820 moreover, +when he heard of the African Colonization scheme and the opportunity +came to him to go, he put this by, waiting for something better. This +was the period of the Missouri Compromise. Reports of the agitation and +of the debates in Congress were eagerly scanned by those Negroes in +Charleston who could read; rumor exaggerated them; and some of the more +credulous of the slaves came to believe that the efforts of Northern +friends had actually emancipated them and that they were being illegally +held in bondage. Nor was the situation improved when the city marshal, +John J. Lafar, on January 15, 1821, reminded those ministers or other +persons who kept night and Sunday schools for Negroes that the law +forbade the education of such persons and would have to be enforced. +Meanwhile Vesey was very patient. After a few months, however, he ceased +to work at his trade in order that all the more he might devote +himself to the mission of his life. This was, as he conceived it, an +insurrection that would do nothing less than totally annihilate the +white population of Charleston. + +[Footnote 1: Official Report, 19.] + +[Footnote 2: Official Report, 96-97, and Higginson, 232-3.] + +In the prosecution of such a plan the greatest secrecy and faithfulness +were of course necessary, and Vesey waited until about Christmas, 1821, +to begin active recruiting. He first sounded Ned and Rolla Bennett, +slaves of Governor Thomas Bennett, and then Peter Poyas and Jack +Purcell. After Christmas he spoke to Gullah Jack and Monday Gell; +and Lot Forrester and Frank Ferguson became his chief agents for the +plantations outside of Charleston.[1] In the whole matter of the choice +of his chief assistants he showed remarkable judgment of character. His +penetration was almost uncanny. "Rolla was plausible, and possessed +uncommon self-possession; bold and ardent, he was not to be deterred +from his purpose by danger. Ned's appearance indicated that he was a man +of firm nerves and desperate courage. Peter was intrepid and resolute, +true to his engagements, and cautious in observing secrecy when it was +necessary; he was not to be daunted or impeded by difficulties, and +though confident of success, was careful in providing against any +obstacles or casualties which might arise, and intent upon discovering +every means which might be in their power if thought of beforehand. +Gullah Jack was regarded as a sorcerer, and as such feared by the +natives of Africa, who believe in witchcraft. He was not only considered +invulnerable, but that he could make others so by his charms; and that +he could and certainly would provide all his followers with arms.... +His influence amongst the Africans was inconceivable. Monday was firm, +resolute, discreet, and intelligent."[2] He was also daring and active, +a harness-maker in the prime of life, and he could read and write with +facility; but he was also the only man of prominence in the conspiracy +whose courage failed him in court and who turned traitor. To these names +must be added that of Batteau Bennett, who was only eighteen years old +and who brought to the plan all the ardor and devotion of youth. In +general Vesey sought to bring into the plan those Negroes, such as +stevedores and mechanics, who worked away from home and who had some +free time. He would not use men who were known to become intoxicated, +and one talkative man named George he excluded from his meetings. Nor +did he use women, not because he did not trust them, but because in case +of mishap he wanted the children to be properly cared for. "Take care," +said Peter Poyas, in speaking about the plan to one of the recruits, +"and don't mention it to those waiting men who receive presents of old +coats, etc., from their masters, or they'll betray us; I will speak to +them." + +[Footnote 1: Official Report, 20. Note that Higginson, who was so +untiring in his research, strangely confuses Jack Purcell and Gullah +Jack (p. 230). The men were quite distinct, as appears throughout the +report and from the list of those executed. The name of Gullah Jack's +owner was Pritchard.] + +[Footnote 2: Official Report, 24. Note that this remarkable +characterization was given by the judges, Kennedy and Parker, who +afterwards condemned the men to death.] + +With his lieutenants Vesey finally brought into the plan the Negroes for +seventy or eighty miles around Charleston. The second Monday in July, +1822, or Sunday, July 14, was the time originally set for the attack. +July was chosen because in midsummer many of the white people were +away at different resorts; and Sunday received favorable consideration +because on that day the slaves from the outlying plantations were +frequently permitted to come to the city. Lists of the recruits were +kept. Peter Poyas is said to have gathered as many as six hundred names, +chiefly from that part of Charleston known as South Bay in which he +lived; and it is a mark of his care and discretion that of all of those +afterwards arrested and tried, not one belonged to his company. Monday +Gell, who joined late and was very prudent, had forty-two names. All +such lists, however, were in course of time destroyed. "During the +period that these enlistments were carrying on, Vesey held frequent +meetings of the conspirators at his house; and as arms were necessary to +their success, each night a hat was handed round, and collections made, +for the purpose of purchasing them, and also to defray other necessary +expenses. A Negro who was a blacksmith and had been accustomed to make +edged tools, was employed to make pike-heads and bayonets with sockets, +to be fixed at the ends of long poles and used as pikes. Of these +pike-heads and bayonets, one hundred were said to have been made at an +early day, and by the 16th June as many as two or three hundred, and +between three and four hundred daggers."[1] A bundle containing some of +the poles, neatly trimmed and smoothed off, and nine or ten feet long, +was afterwards found concealed on a farm on Charleston Neck, where +several of the meetings were held, having been carried there to have the +pike-heads and bayonets fixed in place. Governor Bennett stated that the +number of poles thus found was thirteen, but so wary were the Negroes +that he and other prominent men underestimated the means of attack. It +was thought that the Negroes in Charleston might use their masters' +arms, while those from the country were to bring hoes, hatchets, and +axes. For their main supply of arms, however, Vesey and Peter Poyas +depended upon the magazines and storehouses in the city. They planned to +seize the Arsenal in Meeting Street opposite St. Michael's Church; it +was the key to the city, held the arms of the state, and had for some +time been neglected. Poyas at a given signal at midnight was to move +upon this point, killing the sentinel. Two large gun and powder stores +were by arrangement to be at the disposal of the insurrectionists; and +other leaders, coming from six different directions, were to seize +strategic points and thus aid the central work of Poyas. Meanwhile a +body of horse was to keep the streets clear. "Eat only dry food," said +Gullah Jack as the day approached, "parched corn and ground nuts, and +when you join us as we pass put this crab claw in your mouth and you +can't be wounded." + +[Footnote 1: Official Report, 31-32.] + +On May 25[1] a slave of Colonel Prioleau, while on an errand at the +wharf, was accosted by another slave, William Paul, who remarked: "I +have often seen a flag with the number 76, but never one with the number +96 upon it before." As this man showed no knowledge of what was going +on, Paul spoke to him further and quite frankly about the plot. The +slave afterwards spoke to a free man about what he had heard; this man +advised him to tell his master about it; and so he did on Prioleau's +return on May 30. Prioleau immediately informed the Intendant, or Mayor, +and by five o'clock in the afternoon both the slave and Paul were being +examined. Paul was placed in confinement, but not before his testimony +had implicated Peter Poyas and Mingo Harth, a man who had been appointed +to lead one of the companies of horse. Harth and Poyas were cool and +collected, however, they ridiculed the whole idea, and the wardens, +completely deceived, discharged them. In general at this time the +authorities were careful and endeavored not to act hastily. About June +8, however, Paul, greatly excited and fearing execution, confessed that +the plan was very extensive and said that it was led by an individual +who bore a charmed life. Ned Bennett, hearing that his name had been +mentioned, voluntarily went before the Intendant and asked to be +examined, thus again completely baffling the officials. All the while, +in the face of the greatest danger, Vesey continued to hold his +meetings. By Friday, June 14, however, another informant had spoken +to his master, and all too fully were Peter Poyas's fears about +"waiting-men" justified. This man said that the original plan had been +changed, for the night of Sunday, June 16, was now the time set for +the insurrection, and otherwise he was able to give all essential +information.[2] On Saturday night, June 15, Jesse Blackwood, an aid sent +into the country to prepare the slaves to enter the following day, while +he penetrated two lines of guards, was at the third line halted and sent +back into the city. Vesey now realized in a moment that all his plans +were disclosed, and immediately he destroyed any papers that might prove +to be incriminating. "On Sunday, June 16, at ten o'clock at night, +Captain Cattle's Corps of Hussars, Captain Miller's Light Infantry, +Captain Martindale's Neck Rangers, the Charleston Riflemen and the City +Guard were ordered to rendezvous for guard, the whole organized as a +detachment under command of Colonel R.Y. Hayne."[3] It was his work on +this occasion that gave Hayne that appeal to the public which was later +to help him to pass on to the governorship and then to the United States +Senate. On the fateful night twenty or thirty men from the outlying +districts who had not been able to get word of the progress of events, +came to the city in a small boat, but Vesey sent word to them to go back +as quickly as possible. + +[Footnote 1: Higginson, 215.] + +[Footnote 2: For reasons of policy the names of these informers were +withheld from publication, but they were well known, of course, to +the Negroes of Charleston. The published documents said of the chief +informer, "It would be a libel on the liberality and gratitude of this +community to suppose that this man can be overlooked among those who are +to be rewarded for their fidelity and principle." The author has been +informed that his reward for betraying his people was to be officially +and legally declared "a white man."] + +[Footnote 3: Jervey: _Robert Y. Hayne and His Times_, 131-2.] + +Two courts were formed for the trial of the conspirators. The first, +after a long session of five weeks, was dissolved July 20; a second was +convened, but after three days closed its investigation and adjourned +August 8.[1] All the while the public mind was greatly excited. The +first court, which speedily condemned thirty-four men to death, was +severely criticized. The New York _Daily Advertiser_ termed the +execution "a bloody sacrifice"; but Charleston replied with the reminder +of the Negroes who had been burned in New York in 1741.[2] Some of the +Negroes blamed the leaders for the trouble into which they had been +brought, but Vesey himself made no confession. He was by no means alone. +"Do not open your lips," said Poyas; "die silent as you shall see me +do." Something of the solicitude of owners for their slaves may be +seen from the request of Governor Bennett himself in behalf of Batteau +Bennett. He asked for a special review of the case of this young man, +who was among those condemned to death, "with a view to the mitigation +of his punishment." The court did review the case, but it did not change +its sentence. Throughout the proceedings the white people of Charleston +were impressed by the character of those who had taken part in the +insurrection; "many of them possessed the highest confidence of their +owners, and not one was of bad character."[3] + +[Footnote 1: Bennett letter.] + +[Footnote 2: See _City Gazette_, August 14, 1822, cited by Jervey.] + +[Footnote 3: Official Report, 44.] + +As a result of this effort for freedom one hundred and thirty-one +Negroes were arrested; thirty-five were executed and forty-three +banished.[1] Of those executed, Denmark Vesey, Peter Poyas, Ned Bennett, +Rolla Bennett, Batteau Bennett, and Jesse Blackwood were hanged July 2; +Gullah Jack and one more on July 12; twenty-two were hanged on a huge +gallows Friday, July 26; four more were hanged July 30, and one on +August 9. Of those banished, twelve had been sentenced for execution, +but were afterwards given banishment instead; twenty-one were to be +transported by their masters beyond the limits of the United States; +one, a free man, required to leave the state, satisfied the court by +offering to leave the United States, while nine others who were not +definitely sentenced were strongly recommended to their owners for +banishment. The others of the one hundred and thirty-one were acquitted. +The authorities at length felt that they had executed enough to teach +the Negroes a lesson, and the hanging ceased; but within the next +year or two Governor Bennett and others gave to the world most gloomy +reflections upon the whole proceeding and upon the grave problem at +their door. Thus closed the insurrection that for the ambitiousness of +its plan, the care with which it was matured, and the faithfulness of +the leaders to one another, was never equalled by a similar attempt for +freedom in the United States. + +[Footnote 1: The figure is sometimes given as 37, but the lists total +43.] + + +_2. Nat Turner's Insurrection_ + +About noon on Sunday, August 21, 1831, on the plantation of Joseph +Travis at Cross Keys, in Southampton County, in Southeastern Virginia, +were gathered four Negroes, Henry Porter, Hark Travis, Nelson Williams, +and Sam Francis, evidently preparing for a barbecue. They were soon +joined by a gigantic and athletic Negro named Will Francis, and by +another named Jack Reese. Two hours later came a short, strong-looking +man who had a face of great resolution and at whom one would not +have needed to glance a second time to know that he was to be the +master-spirit of the company. Seeing Will and his companion he raised a +question as to their being present, to which Will replied that life was +worth no more to him than the others and that liberty was as dear to +him. This answer satisfied the latest comer, and Nat Turner now went +into conference with his most trusted friends. One can only imagine the +purpose, the eagerness, and the firmness on those dark faces throughout +that long summer afternoon and evening. When at last in the night the +low whispering ceased, the doom of nearly three-score white persons--and +it might be added, of twice as many Negroes--was sealed. + +Cross Keys was seventy miles from Norfolk, just about as far from +Richmond, twenty-five miles from the Dismal Swamp, fifteen miles from +Murfreesboro in North Carolina, and also fifteen miles from Jerusalem, +the county seat of Southampton County. The community was settled +primarily by white people of modest means. Joseph Travis, the owner of +Nat Turner, had recently married the widow of one Putnam Moore. + +Nat Turner, who originally belonged to one Benjamin Turner, was born +October 2, 1800. He was mentally precocious and had marks on his head +and breast which were interpreted by the Negroes who knew him as marking +him for some high calling. In his mature years he also had on his right +arm a knot which was the result of a blow which he had received. He +experimented in paper, gunpowder, and pottery, and it is recorded of him +that he was never known to swear an oath, to drink a drop of spirits, +or to commit a theft. Instead he cultivated fasting and prayer and the +reading of the Bible. + +More and more Nat gave himself up to a life of the spirit and to +communion with the voices that he said he heard. He once ran away for +a month, but felt commanded by the spirit to return. About 1825 a +consciousness of his great mission came to him, and daily he labored +to make himself more worthy. As he worked in the field he saw drops +of blood on the corn, and he also saw white spirits and black spirits +contending in the skies. While he thus so largely lived in a religious +or mystical world and was immersed, he was not a professional Baptist +preacher. On May 12, 1828, he was left no longer in doubt. A great voice +said unto him that the Serpent was loosed, that Christ had laid down the +yoke, that he, Nat, was to take it up again, and that the time was fast +approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first. +An eclipse of the sun in February, 1831, was interpreted as the sign for +him to go forward. Yet he waited a little longer, until he had made sure +of his most important associates. It is worthy of note that when he +began his work, while he wanted the killing to be as effective and +widespread as possible, he commanded that no outrage be committed, and +he was obeyed. + +When on the Sunday in August Nat and his companions finished their +conference, they went to find Austin, a brother-spirit; and then all +went to the cider-press and drank except Nat. It was understood that he +as the leader was to spill the first blood, and that he was to begin +with his own master, Joseph Travis. Going to the house, Hark placed +a ladder against the chimney. On this Nat ascended; then he went +downstairs, unbarred the doors, and removed the guns from their places. +He and Will together entered Travis's chamber, and the first blow was +given to the master of the house. The hatchet glanced off and Travis +called to his wife; but this was with his last breath, for Will at once +despatched him with his ax. The wife and the three children of the house +were also killed immediately. Then followed a drill of the company, +after which all went to the home of Salathiel Francis six hundred yards +away. Sam and Will knocked, and Francis asked who was there. Sam replied +that he had a letter, for him. The man came to the door, where he was +seized and killed by repeated blows over the head. He was the only white +person in the house. In silence all passed on to the home of Mrs. +Reese, who was killed while asleep in bed. Her son awoke, but was also +immediately killed. A mile away the insurrectionists came to the home of +Mrs. Turner, which they reached about sunrise on Monday morning. Henry, +Austin, and Sam went to the still, where they found and killed the +overseer, Peebles, Austin shooting him. Then all went to the house. The +family saw them coming and shut the door--to no avail, however, as Will +with one stroke of his ax opened it and entered to find Mrs. Turner and +Mrs. Newsome in the middle of the room almost frightened to death. Will +killed Mrs. Turner with one blow of his ax, and after Nat had struck +Mrs. Newsome over the head with his sword, Will turned and killed her +also. By this time the company amounted to fifteen. Nine went mounted to +the home of Mrs. Whitehead and six others went along a byway to the home +of Henry Bryant. As they neared the first house Richard Whitehead, the +son of the family, was standing in the cotton-patch near the fence. +Will killed him with his ax immediately. In the house he killed Mrs. +Whitehead, almost severing her head from her body with one blow. +Margaret, a daughter, tried to conceal herself and ran, but was killed +by Turner with a fence-rail. The men in this first company were now +joined by those in the second, the six who had gone to the Bryant home, +who informed them that they had done the work assigned, which was to +kill Henry Bryant himself, his wife and child, and his wife's mother. By +this time the killing had become fast and furious. The company divided +again; some would go ahead, and Nat would come up to find work already +accomplished. Generally fifteen or twenty of the best mounted were put +in front to strike terror and prevent escape, and Nat himself frequently +did not get to the houses where killing was done. More and more the +Negroes, now about forty in number, were getting drunken and noisy. +The alarm was given, and by nine or ten o'clock on Monday morning one +Captain Harris and his family had escaped. Prominent among the events of +the morning, however, was the killing at the home of Mrs. Waller of ten +children who were gathering for school.[1] + +[Footnote 1: In "Horrid Massacre," or, to use the more formal title, +"Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical Scene which was +Witnessed in Southampton County (Virginia) on Monday the 22d of August +Last," the list below of the victims of Nat Turner's insurrection +is given. It must be said about this work, however, that it is not +altogether impeccable; it seems to have been prepared very hastily after +the event, its spelling of names is often arbitrary, and instead of the +fifty-five victims noted it appears that at least fifty-seven white +persons were killed: + + Joseph Travis, wife and three children 5 + Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, Hartwell Peebles, and Sarah Newsum 3 + Mrs. Piety Reese and son, William 2 + Trajan Doyal 1 + Henry Briant, wife and child, and wife's mother 4 + Mrs. Catherine Whitehead, her son Richard, four daughters + and a grandchild 7 + Salathael Francis 1 + Nathaniel Francis's overseer and two children 3 + John T. Barrow and George Vaughan 2 + Mrs. Levi Waller and ten children 11 + Mr. William Williams, wife and two boys 4 + Mrs. Caswell Worrell and child 2 + Mrs. Rebacca Vaughan, Ann Eliza Vaughan, and son Arthur 3 + Mrs. Jacob Williams and three children and Edwin Drewry 5 + __ + 55 ] + +As the men neared the home of James Parker, it was suggested that +they call there; but Turner objected, as this man had already gone to +Jerusalem and he himself wished to reach the county seat as soon as +possible. However, he and some of the men remained at the gate while +others went to the house half a mile away. This exploit proved to be the +turning-point of the events of the day. Uneasy at the delay of those who +went to the house, Turner went thither also. On his return he was met by +a company of white men who had fired on those Negroes left at the gate +and dispersed them. On discovering these men, Turner ordered his own men +to halt and form, as now they were beginning to be alarmed. The white +men, eighteen in number, approached and fired, but were forced to +retreat. Reënforcements for them from Jerusalem were already at hand, +however, and now the great pursuit of the Negro insurrectionists began. + +Hark's horse was shot under him and five or six of the men were wounded. +Turner's force was largely dispersed, but on Monday night he stopped at +the home of Major Ridley, and his company again increased to forty. He +tried to sleep a little, but a sentinel gave the alarm; all were soon up +and the number was again reduced to twenty. Final resistance was offered +at the home of Dr. Blunt, but here still more of the men were put to +flight and were never again seen by Turner. + +A little later, however, the leader found two of his men named Jacob and +Nat. These he sent with word to Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam to meet him +at the place where on Sunday they had taken dinner together. With what +thoughts Nat Turner returned alone to this place on Tuesday evening can +only be imagined. Throughout the night he remained, but no one joined +him and he presumed that his followers had all either been taken or had +deserted him. Nor did any one come on Wednesday, or on Thursday. On +Thursday night, having supplied himself with provisions from the Travis +home, he scratched a hole under a pile of fence-rails, and here he +remained for six weeks, leaving only at night to get water. All +the while of course he had no means of learning of the fate of his +companions or of anything else. Meanwhile not only the vicinity but +the whole South was being wrought up to an hysterical state of mind. A +reward of $500 for the capture of the man was offered by the Governor, +and other rewards were also offered. On September 30 a false account of +his capture appeared in the newspapers; on October 7 another; on October +8 still another. By this time Turner had begun to move about a little at +night, not speaking to any human being and returning always to his hole +before daybreak. Early on October 15 a dog smelt his provisions and led +thither two Negroes. Nat appealed to these men for protection, but they +at once began to run and excitedly spread the news. Turner fled in +another direction and for ten days more hid among the wheat-stacks on +the Francis plantation. All the while not less than five hundred men +were on the watch for him, and they found the stick that he had notched +from day to day. Once he thought of surrendering, and walked within two +miles of Jerusalem. Three times he tried to get away, and failed. On +October 25 he was discovered by Francis, who discharged at him a load of +buckshot, twelve of which passed through his hat, and he was at large +for five days more. On October 30 Benjamin Phipps, a member of the +patrol, passing a clearing in the woods noticed a motion among the +boughs. He paused, and gradually he saw Nat's head emerging from a hole +beneath. The fugitive now gave up as he knew that the woods were full of +men. He was taken to the nearest house, and the crowd was so great and +the excitement so intense that it was with difficulty that he was taken +to Jerusalem. For more than two months, from August 25 to October 30, he +had eluded his pursuers, remaining all the while in the vicinity of his +insurrection. + +While Nat Turner was in prison, Thomas C. Gray, his counsel, received +from him what are known as his "Confessions." This pamphlet is now +almost inaccessible,[1] but it was in great demand at the time it +was printed and it is now the chief source for information about the +progress of the insurrection. Turner was tried November 5 and sentenced +to be hanged six days later. Asked in court by Gray if he still believed +in the providential nature of his mission, he asked, "Was not Christ +crucified?" Of his execution itself we read: "Nat Turner was executed +according to sentence, on Friday, the 11th of November, 1831, at +Jerusalem, between the hours of 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. He exhibited the +utmost composure throughout the whole ceremony; and, although assured +that he might, if he thought proper, address the immense crowd assembled +on the occasion, declined availing himself of the privilege; and, being +asked if he had any further confessions to make, replied that he had +nothing more than he had communicated; and told the sheriff in a firm +voice that he was ready. Not a limb or muscle was observed to move. His +body, after death, was given over to the surgeons for dissection." + +[Footnote 1: The only copy that the author has seen is that in the +library of Harvard University.] + +Of fifty-three Negroes arraigned in connection with the insurrection +"seventeen were executed and twelve transported. The rest were +discharged, except ... four free Negroes sent on to the Superior Court. +Three of the four were executed." [1] Such figures as these, however, +give no conception of the number of those who lost their lives in +connection with the insurrection. In general, if slaves were convicted +by legal process and executed or transported, or if they escaped before +trial, they were paid for by the commonwealth; if killed, they were not +paid for, and a man like Phipps might naturally desire to protect his +prisoner in order to get his reward. In spite of this, the Negroes were +slaughtered without trial and sometimes under circumstances of the +greatest barbarity. One man proudly boasted that he had killed between +ten and fifteen. A party went from Richmond with the intention of +killing every Negro in Southampton County. Approaching the cabin of a +free Negro they asked, "Is this Southampton County?" "Yes, sir," came +the reply, "you have just crossed the line by yonder tree." They shot +him dead and rode on. In general the period was one of terror, with +voluntary patrols, frequently drunk, going in all directions. These men +tortured, burned, or maimed the Negroes practically at will. Said one +old woman [2] of them: "The patrols were low drunken whites, and in +Nat's time, if they heard any of the colored folks prayin' or singin' a +hymn, they would fall upon 'em and abuse 'em, and sometimes kill 'em.... +The brightest and best was killed in Nat's time. The whites always +suspect such ones. They killed a great many at a place called Duplon. +They killed Antonio, a slave of Mr. J. Stanley, whom they shot; then +they pointed their guns at him and told him to confess about +the insurrection. He told 'em he didn't know anything about any +insurrection. They shot several balls through him, quartered him, and +put his head on a pole at the fork of the road leading to the court.... +It was there but a short time. He had no trial. They never do. In Nat's +time, the patrols would tie up the free colored people, flog 'em, and +try to make 'em lie against one another, and often killed them before +anybody could interfere. Mr. James Cole, High Sheriff, said if any of +the patrols came on his plantation, he would lose his life in defense of +his people. One day he heard a patroller boasting how many Negroes +he had killed. Mr. Cole said, 'If you don't pack up, as quick as God +Almighty will let you, and get out of this town, and never be seen in +it again, I'll put you where dogs won't bark at you.' He went off, and +wasn't seen in them parts again." + +[Footnote 1: Drewry, 101.] + +[Footnote 2: Charity Bowery, who gave testimony to L.M. Child, quoted by +Higginson.] + +The immediate panic created by the Nat Turner insurrection in Virginia +and the other states of the South it would be impossible to exaggerate. +When the news of what was happening at Cross Keys spread, two companies, +on horse and foot, came from Murfreesboro as quickly as possible. On +the Wednesday after the memorable Sunday night there came from Fortress +Monroe three companies and a piece of artillery. These commands were +reënforced from various sources until not less than eight hundred men +were in arms. Many of the Negroes fled to the Dismal Swamp, and the +wildest rumors were afloat. One was that Wilmington had been burned, and +in Raleigh and Fayetteville the wildest excitement prevailed. In the +latter place scores of white women and children fled to the swamps, +coming out two days afterwards muddy, chilled, and half-starved. Slaves +were imprisoned wholesale. In Wilmington four men were shot without +trial and their heads placed on poles at the four corners of the town. +In Macon, Ga., a report was circulated that an armed band of Negroes was +only five miles away, and within an hour the women and children were +assembled in the largest building in the town, with a military force in +front for protection. + +The effects on legislation were immediate. Throughout the South the +slave codes became more harsh; and while it was clear that the uprising +had been one of slaves rather than of free Negroes, as usual special +disabilities fell upon the free people of color. Delaware, that only +recently had limited the franchise to white men, now forbade the use of +firearms by free Negroes and would not suffer any more to come within +the state. Tennessee also forbade such immigration, while Maryland +passed a law to the effect that all free Negroes must leave the state +and be colonized in Africa--a monstrous piece of legislation that it was +impossible to put into effect and that showed once for all the futility +of attempts at forcible emigration as a solution of the problem. In +general, however, the insurrection assisted the colonization scheme and +also made more certain the carrying out of the policy of the Jackson +administration to remove the Indians of the South to the West. It also +focussed the attention of the nation upon the status of the Negro, +crystallized opinion in the North, and thus helped with the formation of +anti-slavery organizations. By it for the time being the Negro lost; in +the long run he gained. + + +3. _The "Amistad" and "Creole" Cases_ + +On June 28, 1839, a schooner, the _Amistad_, sailed from Havana bound +for Guanaja in the vicinity of Puerto Principe. She was under the +command of her owner, Don Ramon Ferrer, was laden with merchandise, and +had on board fifty-three Negroes, forty-nine of whom supposedly belonged +to a Spaniard, Don Jose Ruiz, the other four belonging to Don Pedro +Montes. During the night of June 30 the slaves, under the lead of one +of their number named Cinque, rose upon the crew, killed the captain, a +slave of his, and two sailors, and while they permitted most of the crew +to escape, they took into close custody the two owners, Ruiz and Montes. +Montes, who had some knowledge of nautical affairs, was ordered to steer +the vessel back to Africa. So he did by day, when the Negroes would +watch him, but at night he tried to make his way to some land nearer at +hand. Other vessels passed from time to time, and from these the Negroes +bought provisions, but Montes and Ruiz were so closely watched that they +could not make known their plight. At length, on August 26, the schooner +reached Long Island Sound, where it was detained by the American +brig-of-war _Washington_, in command of Captain Gedney, who secured the +Negroes and took them to New London, Conn. It took a year and a half to +dispose of the issue thus raised. The case attracted the greatest amount +of attention, led to international complications, and was not really +disposed of until a former President had exhaustively argued the case +for the Negroes before the Supreme Court of the United States. + +In a letter of September 6, 1839, to John Forsyth, the American +Secretary of State, Calderon, the Spanish minister, formally made four +demands: 1. That the _Amistad_ be immediately delivered up to her owner, +together with every article on board at the time of her capture; 2. That +it be declared that no tribunal in the United States had the right to +institute proceedings against, or to impose penalties upon, the subjects +of Spain, for crimes committed on board a Spanish vessel, and in the +waters of Spanish territory; 3. That the Negroes be conveyed to Havana +or otherwise placed at the disposal of the representatives of Spain; and +4. That if, in consequence of the intervention of the authorities in +Connecticut, there should be any delay in the desired delivery of the +vessel and the slaves, the owners both of the latter and of the former +be indemnified for the injury that might accrue to them. In support of +his demands Calderon invoked "the law of nations, the stipulations +of existing treaties, and those good feelings so necessary in the +maintenance of the friendly relations that subsist between the two +countries, and are so interesting to both." Forsyth asked for any papers +bearing on the question, and Calderon replied that he had none except +"the declaration on oath of Montes and Ruiz." + +Meanwhile the abolitionists were insisting that protection had _not_ +been afforded the African strangers cast on American soil and that in +no case did the executive arm of the Government have any authority to +interfere with the regular administration of justice. "These Africans," +it was said, "are detained in jail, under process of the United States +courts, in a free state, after it has been decided by the District +Judge, on sufficient proof, that they are recently from Africa, were +never the lawful slaves of Ruiz and Montes," and "when it is clear as +noonday that there is no law or treaty stipulation that requires the +further detention of these Africans or their delivery to Spain or its +subjects." + +Writing on October 24 to the Spanish representative with reference to +the arrest of Ruiz and Montes, Forsyth informed him that the two Spanish +subjects had been arrested on process issuing from the superior court of +the city of New York upon affidavits of certain men, natives of Africa, +"for the purpose of securing their appearance before the proper +tribunal, to answer for wrongs alleged to have been inflicted by them +upon the persons of said Africans," that, consequently, the occurrence +constituted simply a "case of resort by individuals against others +to the judicial courts of the country, which are equally open to all +without distinction," and that the agency of the Government to obtain +the release of Messrs. Ruiz and Montes could not be afforded in the +manner requested. Further pressure was brought to bear by the Spanish +representative, however, and there was cited the case of Abraham +Wendell, captain of the brig _Franklin_, who was prosecuted at first by +Spanish officials for maltreatment of his mate, but with reference to +whom documents were afterwards sent from Havana to America. Much more +correspondence followed, and Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, Attorney +General of the United States, at length muddled everything by the +following opinion: "These Negroes deny that they are slaves; if they +should be delivered to the claimants, no opportunity may be afforded for +the assertion of their right to freedom. For these reasons, it seems to +me that a delivery to the Spanish minister is the only safe course for +this Government to pursue." The fallacy of all this was shown in a +letter dated November 18, 1839, from B.F. Butler, United States District +Attorney in New York, to Aaron Vail, acting Secretary of State. Said +Butler: "It does not appear to me that any question has yet arisen under +the treaty with Spain; because, although it is an admitted principle, +that neither the courts of this state, nor those of the United States, +can take jurisdiction of criminal offenses committed by foreigners +within the territory of a foreign state, yet it is equally settled in +this country, that our courts will take cognizance of _civil_ actions +between foreigners transiently within our jurisdiction, founded upon +contracts or other transactions made or had in a foreign state." +Southern influence was strong, however, and a few weeks afterwards an +order was given from the Department of State to have a vessel anchor +off New Haven, Conn., January 10, 1840, to receive the Negroes from +the United States marshal and take them to Cuba; and on January 7 the +President, Van Buren, issued the necessary warrant. + +The rights of humanity, however, were not to be handled in this summary +fashion. The executive order was stayed, and the case went further +on its progress to the highest tribunal in the land. Meanwhile the +anti-slavery people were teaching the Africans the rudiments of English +in order that they might be better able to tell their own story. From +the first a committee had been appointed to look out for their interests +and while they were awaiting the final decision in their case they +cultivated a garden of fifteen acres. + +The appearance of John Quincy Adams in behalf of these Negroes before +the Supreme Court of the United States February 24 and March 1, 1841, is +in every way one of the most beautiful acts in American history. In the +fullness of years, with his own administration as President twelve years +behind him, the "Old Man Eloquent" came once more to the tribunal that +he knew so well to make a last plea for the needy and oppressed. To the +task he brought all his talents--his profound knowledge of law, his +unrivaled experience, and his impressive personality; and his argument +covers 135 octavo pages. He gave an extended analysis of the demand of +the Spanish minister, who asked the President to do what he simply had +no constitutional right to do. "The President," said Adams, "has no +power to arrest either citizens or foreigners. But even that power is +almost insignificant compared with that of sending men beyond seas to +deliver them up to a foreign government." The Secretary of State had +"degraded the country, in the face of the whole civilized world, not +only by allowing these demands to remain unanswered, but by proceeding, +throughout the whole transaction, as if the Executive were earnestly +desirous to comply with every one of the demands." The Spanish minister +had naturally insisted in his demands because he had not been properly +met at first. The slave-trade was illegal by international agreement, +and the only thing to do under the circumstances was to release the +Negroes. Adams closed his plea with a magnificent review of his career +and of the labors of the distinguished jurists he had known in the court +for nearly forty years, and be it recorded wherever the name of Justice +is spoken, he won his case. + +Lewis Tappan now accompanied the Africans on a tour through the states +to raise money for their passage home. The first meeting was in Boston. +Several members of the company interested the audience by their readings +from the New Testament or by their descriptions of their own country +and of the horrors of the voyage. Cinque gave the impression of great +dignity and of extraordinary ability; and Kali, a boy only eleven years +of age, also attracted unusual attention. Near the close of 1841, +accompanied by five missionaries and teachers, the Africans set sail +from New York, to make their way first to Sierra Leone and then to their +own homes as well as they could. + +While this whole incident of the _Amistad_ was still engaging the +interest of the public, there occurred another that also occasioned +international friction and even more prolonged debate between the +slavery and anti-slavery forces. On October 25, 1841, the brig _Creole_, +Captain Ensor, of Richmond, Va., sailed from Richmond and on October 27 +from Hampton Roads, with a cargo of tobacco and one hundred and thirty +slaves bound for New Orleans. On the vessel also, aside from the crew, +were the captain's wife and child, and three or four passengers, who +were chiefly in charge of the slaves, one man, John R. Hewell, being +directly in charge of those belonging to an owner named McCargo. About +9.30 on the night of Sunday, November 7, while out at sea, nineteen of +the slaves rose, cowed the others, wounded the captain, and generally +took command of the vessel. Madison Washington began the uprising by an +attack on Gifford, the first mate, and Ben Blacksmith, one of the most +aggressive of his assistants, killed Hewell. The insurgents seized the +arms of the vessel, permitted no conversation between members of the +crew except in their hearing, demanded and obtained the manifests of +slaves, and threatened that if they were not taken to Abaco or some +other British port they would throw the officers and crew overboard. The +_Creole_ reached Nassau, New Providence, on Tuesday, November 9, and the +arrival of the vessel at once occasioned intense excitement. Gifford +went ashore and reported the matter, and the American consul, John F. +Bacon, contended to the English authorities that the slaves on board the +brig were as much a part of the cargo as the tobacco and entitled to +the same protection from loss to the owners. The governor, Sir Francis +Cockburn, however, was uncertain whether to interfere in the business at +all. He liberated those slaves who were not concerned in the uprising, +spoke of all of the slaves as "passengers," and guaranteed to the +nineteen who were shown by an investigation to have been connected with +the uprising all the rights of prisoners called before an English court. +He told them further that the British Government would be communicated +with before their case was finally passed upon, that if they wished +copies of the informations these would be furnished them, and that they +were privileged to have witnesses examined in refutation of the charges +against them. From time to time Negroes who were natives of the island +crowded about the brig in small boats and intimidated the American crew, +but when on the morning of November 12 the Attorney General questioned +them as to their intentions they replied with transparent good humor +that they intended no violence and had assembled only for the purpose +of conveying to shore such of the persons on the _Creole_ as might be +permitted to leave and might need their assistance. The Attorney General +required, however, that they throw overboard a dozen stout cudgels that +they had. Here the whole case really rested. Daniel Webster as Secretary +of State aroused the anti-slavery element by making a strong demand +for the return of the slaves, basing his argument on the sacredness of +vessels flying the American flag; but the English authorities at Nassau +never returned any of them. On March 21, 1842, Joshua R. Giddings, +untiring defender of the rights of the Negro, offered in the House of +Representatives resolutions to the effect that slavery could exist only +by positive law of the different states; that the states had delegated +no control over slavery to the Federal Government, which alone had +jurisdiction on the high seas, and that, therefore, slaves on the high +seas became free and the coastwise trade was unconstitutional. The +House, strongly pro-Southern, replied with a vote of censure and +Giddings resigned, but he was immediately reëlected by his Ohio +constituency. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE NEGRO REPLY, II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION + + +It is not the purpose of the present chapter primarily to consider +social progress on the part of the Negro. A little later we shall +endeavor to treat this interesting subject for the period between the +Missouri Compromise and the Civil War. Just now we are concerned with +the attitude of the Negro himself toward the problem that seemed to +present itself to America and for which such different solutions were +proposed. So far as slavery was concerned, we have seen that the remedy +suggested by Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner was insurrection. It is only +to state an historical fact, however, to say that the great heart of the +Negro people in the South did not believe in violence, but rather hoped +and prayed for a better day to come by some other means. But what was +the attitude of those people, progressive citizens and thinking leaders, +who were not satisfied with the condition of the race and who had to +take a stand on the issues that confronted them? If we study the matter +from this point of view, we shall find an amount of ferment and unrest +and honest difference of opinion that is sometimes overlooked or +completely forgotten in the questions of a later day. + + +1. _Walker's "Appeal_" + +The most widely discussed book written by a Negro in the period was one +that appeared in Boston in 1829. David Walker, the author, had been born +in North Carolina in 1785, of a free mother and a slave father, and he +was therefore free.[1] He received a fair education, traveled widely +over the United States, and by 1827 was living in Boston as the +proprietor of a second-hand clothing store on Brattle Street. He felt +very strongly on the subject of slavery and actually seems to have +contemplated leading an insurrection. In 1828 he addressed various +audiences of Negroes in Boston and elsewhere, and in 1829 he published +his _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_. The book was remarkably successful. +Appearing in September, by March of the following year it had reached +its third edition; and in each successive edition the language was more +bold and vigorous. Walker's projected insurrection did not take place, +and he himself died in 1830. While there was no real proof of the fact, +among the Negro people there was a strong belief that he met with foul +play. + +[Footnote 1: Adams: _Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery_, 93.] + +Article I Walker headed "Our Wretchedness in Consequence of Slavery." A +trip over the United States had convinced him that the Negroes of the +country were "the most degraded, wretched and abject set of beings that +ever lived since the world began." He quoted a South Carolina paper as +saying, "The Turks are the most barbarous people in the world--they +treat the Greeks more like brutes than human beings"; and then from the +same paper cited an advertisement of the sale of eight Negro men and +four women. "Are we men?" he exclaimed. "I ask you, O! my brothers, are +we men?... Have we any other master but Jesus Christ alone? Is He not +their master as well as ours? What right, then, have we to obey and call +any man master but Himself? How we could be so submissive to a gang of +men, whom we can not tell whether they are as good as ourselves, or not, +I never could conceive." "The whites," he asserted, "have always been an +unjust, jealous, unmerciful, avaricious and bloodthirsty set of beings, +always seeking after power and authority." As heathen the white people +had been cruel enough, but as Christians they were ten times more so. As +heathen "they were not quite so audacious as to go and take vessel loads +of men, women and children, and in cold blood, through devilishness, +throw them into the sea, and murder them in all kind of ways. But being +Christians, enlightened and sensible, they are completely prepared +for such hellish cruelties." Next was considered "Our Wretchedness in +Consequence of Ignorance." In general the writer maintained that his +people as a whole did not have intelligence enough to realize their own +degradation; even if boys studied books they did not master their texts, +nor did their information go sufficiently far to enable them actually to +meet the problems of life. If one would but go to the South or West, +he would see there a son take his mother, who bore almost the pains of +death to give him birth, and by the command of a tyrant, strip her as +naked as she came into the world and apply the cowhide to her until she +fell a victim to death in the road. He would see a husband take his dear +wife, not unfrequently in a pregnant state and perhaps far advanced, and +beat her for an unmerciful wretch, until her infant fell a lifeless lump +at her feet. Moreover, "there have been, and are this day, in Boston, +New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, colored men who are in league +with tyrants and who receive a great portion of their daily bread of +the moneys which they acquire from the blood and tears of their more +miserable brethren, whom they scandalously deliver into the hands of our +natural enemies." In Article III Walker considered "Our Wretchedness in +Consequence of the Preachers of the Religion of Jesus Christ." Here was +a fertile field, which was only partially developed. Walker evidently +did not have at hand the utterances of Furman and others to serve as a +definite point of attack. He did point out, however, the general failure +of Christian ministers to live up to the teachings of Christ. "Even here +in Boston," we are informed, "pride and prejudice have got to such a +pitch, that in the very houses erected to the Lord they have built +little places for the reception of colored people, where they must sit +during meeting, or keep away from the house of God." Hypocrisy could +hardly go further than that of preachers who could not see the evils +at their door but could "send out missionaries to convert the heathen, +notwithstanding." Article IV was headed "Our Wretchedness in Consequence +of the Colonizing Plan." This was a bitter arraignment, especially +directed against Henry Clay. "I appeal and ask every citizen of these +United States," said Walker, "and of the world, both white and black, +who has any knowledge of Mr. Clay's public labors for these states--I +want you candidly to answer the Lord, who sees the secrets of your +hearts, Do you believe that Mr. Henry Clay, late Secretary of State, and +now in Kentucky, is a friend to the blacks further than his personal +interest extends?... Does he care a pinch of snuff about Africa--whether +it remains a land of pagans and of blood, or of Christians, so long as +he gets enough of her sons and daughters to dig up gold and silver for +him?... Was he not made by the Creator to sit in the shade, and make the +blacks work without remuneration for their services, to support him +and his family? I have been for some time taking notice of this man's +speeches and public writings, but never to my knowledge have I seen +anything in his writings which insisted on the emancipation of slavery, +which has almost ruined his country." Walker then paid his compliments +to Elias B. Caldwell and John Randolph, the former of whom had said, +"The more you improve the condition of these people, the more you +cultivate their minds, the more miserable you make them in their present +state." "Here," the work continues, "is a demonstrative proof of a plan +got up, by a gang of slaveholders, to select the free people of color +from among the slaves, that our more miserable brethren may be the +better secured in ignorance and wretchedness, to work their farms and +dig their mines, and thus go on enriching the Christians with their +blood and groans. What our brethren could have been thinking about, who +have left their native land and gone away to Africa, I am unable to +say.... The Americans may say or do as they please, but they have to +raise us from the condition of brutes to that of respectable men, and to +make a national acknowledgment to us for the wrongs they have inflicted +on us.... You may doubt it, if you please. I know that thousands will +doubt--they think they have us so well secured in wretchedness, to them +and their children, that it is impossible for such things to occur. So +did the antediluvians doubt Noah, until the day in which the flood came +and swept them away. So did the Sodomites doubt, until Lot had got out +of the city, and God rained down fire and brimstone from heaven upon +them and burnt them up. So did the king of Egypt doubt the very +existence of God, saying, 'Who is the Lord, that I should let Israel +go?' ... So did the Romans doubt.... But they got dreadfully deceived." + +This document created the greatest consternation in the South. The Mayor +of Savannah wrote to Mayor Otis of Boston, demanding that Walker be +punished. Otis, in a widely published letter, replied expressing his +disapproval of the pamphlet, but saying that the author had done nothing +that made him "amenable" to the laws. In Virginia the legislature +considered passing an "extraordinary bill," not only forbidding the +circulation of such seditious publications but forbidding the education +of free Negroes. The bill passed the House of Delegates, but failed in +the Senate. The _Appeal_ even found its way to Louisiana, where there +were already rumors of an insurrection, and immediately a law was passed +expelling all free Negroes who had come to the state since 1825. + + +_2. The Convention Movement_ + +As may be inferred from Walker's attitude, the representative men of the +race were almost a unit in their opposition to colonization. They were +not always opposed to colonization itself, for some looked favorably +upon settlement in Canada, and a few hundred made their way to the West +Indies. They did object, however, to the plan offered by the American +Colonization Society, which more and more impressed them as a device on +the part of slaveholders to get free Negroes out of the country in order +that slave labor might be more valuable. Richard Allen, bishop of the +African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the foremost Negro of the +period, said: "We were stolen from our mother country and brought here. +We have tilled the ground and made fortunes for thousands, and still +they are not weary of our services. _But they who stay to till the +ground must be slaves_. Is there not land enough in America, or 'corn +enough in Egypt'? Why should they send us into a far country to die? See +the thousands of foreigners emigrating to America every year: and if +there be ground sufficient for them to cultivate, and bread for them to +eat, why would they wish to send the _first tillers_ of the land away? +Africans have made fortunes for thousands, who are yet unwilling to +part with their services; but the free must be sent away, and those who +remain must be slaves. I have no doubt that there are many good men who +do not see as I do, and who are sending us to Liberia; but they have not +duly considered the subject--they are not men of color. This land +which we have watered with our tears and our blood is now our _mother +country_, and we are well satisfied to stay where wisdom abounds and the +gospel is free."[1] This point of view received popular expression in +a song which bore the cumbersome title, "The Colored Man's Opinion of +Colonization," and which was sung to the tune of "Home, Sweet Home." The +first stanza was as follows: + +[Footnote 1: _Freedom's Journal_, November 2, 1827, quoted by Walker.] + + Great God, if the humble and weak are as dear + To thy love as the proud, to thy children give ear! + Our brethren would drive us in deserts to roam; + Forgive them, O Father, and keep us at home. + Home, sweet home! + We have no other; this, this is our home.[1] + +[Footnote 1: _Anti-Slavery Picknick_, 105-107.] + +To this sentiment formal expression was given in the measures adopted at +various Negro meetings in the North. In 1817 the greatest excitement +was occasioned by a report that through the efforts of the newly-formed +Colonization Society all free Negroes were forcibly to be deported from +the country. Resolutions of protest were adopted, and these were widely +circulated.[1] Of special importance was the meeting in Philadelphia in +January, presided over by James Forten. Of this the full report is as +follows: + +[Footnote 1: They are fully recorded in _Garrison's Thoughts on African +Colonization_.] + +At a numerous meeting of the people of color, convened at Bethel Church, +to take into consideration the propriety of remonstrating against the +contemplated measure that is to exile us from the land of our nativity, +James Forten was called to the chair, and Russell Parrott appointed +secretary. The intent of the meeting having been stated by the chairman, +the following resolutions were adopted without one dissenting voice: + + WHEREAS, Our ancestors (not of choice) were the first successful + cultivators of the wilds of America, we their descendants feel + ourselves entitled to participate in the blessings of her luxuriant + soil, which their blood and sweat manured; and that any measure or + system of measures, having a tendency to banish us from her bosom, + would not only be cruel, but in direct violation of those principles + which have been the boast of this republic, + + _Resolved_, That we view with deep abhorrence the unmerited stigma + attempted to be cast upon the reputation of the free people of + color, by the promoters of this measure, "that they are a + dangerous and useless part of the community," when in the state of + disfranchisement in which they live, in the hour of danger they + ceased to remember their wrongs, and rallied around the standard of + their country. + + _Resolved_, That we never will separate ourselves voluntarily from + the slave population of this country; they are our brethren by the + ties of consanguinity, of suffering, and of wrong; and we feel that + there is more virtue in suffering privations with them, than fancied + advantages for a season. + + _Resolved_, That without arts, without science, without a proper + knowledge of government to cast upon the savage wilds of Africa the + free people of color, seems to us the circuitous route through which + they must return to perpetual bondage. + + _Resolved_, That having the strongest confidence in the justice of + God, and philanthropy of the free states, we cheerfully submit our + destinies to the guidance of Him who suffers not a sparrow to fall + without his special providence. + + _Resolved_, That a committee of eleven persons be appointed to open + a correspondence with the honorable Joseph Hopkinson, member + of Congress from this city, and likewise to inform him of the + sentiments of this meeting, and that the following named persons + constitute the committee, and that they have power to call a general + meeting, when they, in their judgment, may deem it proper: Rev. + Absalom Jones, Rev. Richard Allen, James Forten, Robert Douglass, + Francis Perkins, Rev. John Gloucester, Robert Gorden, James Johnson, + Quamoney Clarkson, John Summersett, Randall Shepherd. + + JAMES FORTEN, Chairman. + + RUSSELL PARROTT, Secretary. + +In 1827, in New York, was begun the publication of _Freedom's Journal_, +the first Negro newspaper in the United States. The editors were John +B. Russwurm and Samuel E. Cornish. Russwurm was a recent graduate of +Bowdoin College and was later to become better known as the governor of +Maryland in Africa. By 1830 feeling was acute throughout the country, +especially in Ohio and Kentucky, and on the part of Negro men +had developed the conviction that the time had come for national +organization and protest. + +In the spring of 1830 Hezekiah Grice of Baltimore, who had become +personally acquainted with the work of Lundy and Garrison, sent a letter +to prominent Negroes in the free states bringing in question the general +policy of emigration.[1] received no immediate response, but in August +he received from Richard Allen an urgent request to come at once to +Philadelphia. Arriving there he found in session a meeting discussing +the wisdom of emigration to Canada, and Allen "showed him a printed +circular signed by Peter Williams, rector of St. Philip's Church, +New York, Peter Vogelsang and Thomas L. Jennings of the same place, +approving the plan of convention."[2] The Philadelphians now issued a +call for a convention of the Negroes of the United States to be held in +their city September 15, 1830. + +[Footnote 1: John W. Cromwell: _The Early Negro Convention Movement_.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 5.] + +This September meeting was held in Bethel A.M.E. Church. Bishop Richard +Allen was chosen president, Dr. Belfast Burton of Philadelphia and +Austin Steward of Rochester vice-presidents, Junius C. Morell of +Pennsylvania secretary, and Robert Cowley of Maryland assistant +secretary. There were accredited delegates from seven states. While this +meeting might really be considered the first national convention of +Negroes in the United States (aside of course from the gathering of +denominational bodies), it seems to have been regarded merely as +preliminary to a still more formal assembling, for the minutes of the +next year were printed as the "Minutes and Proceedings of the First +Annual Convention of the People of Color, held by adjournments in the +city of Philadelphia, from the sixth to the eleventh of June, inclusive, +1831. Philadelphia, 1831." The meetings of this convention were held in +the Wesleyan Church on Lombard Street. Richard Allen had died earlier in +the year and Grice was not present; not long afterwards he emigrated +to Hayti, where he became prominent as a contractor. Rev. James W.C. +Pennington of New York, however, now for the first time appeared on the +larger horizon of race affairs; and John Bowers of Philadelphia served +as president, Abraham D. Shadd of Delaware and William Duncan of +Virginia as vice-presidents, William Whipper of Philadelphia as +secretary, and Thomas L. Jennings of New York as assistant secretary. +Delegates from five states were present. The gathering was not large, +but it brought together some able men; moreover, the meeting had some +distinguished visitors, among them Benjamin Lundy, William Lloyd +Garrison, Rev. S.S. Jocelyn of New Haven, and Arthur Tappan of New York. + +The very first motion of the convention resolved "That a committee be +appointed to institute an inquiry into the condition of the free people +of color throughout the United States, and report their views upon the +subject at a subsequent meeting." As a result of its work this committee +recommended that the work of organizations interested in settlement in +Canada be continued; that the free people of color be annually called to +assemble by delegation; and it submitted "the necessity of deliberate +reflection on the dissolute, intemperate, and ignorant condition of a +large portion of the colored population of the United States." "And, +lastly, your Committee view with unfeigned regret, and respectfully +submit to the wisdom of this Convention, the operations and +misrepresentations of the American Colonization Society in these United +States.... We feel sorrowful to see such an immense and wanton waste +of lives and property, not doubting the benevolent feelings of some +individuals engaged in that cause. But we can not for a moment doubt +but that the cause of many of our unconstitutional, unchristian, and +unheard-of sufferings emanate from that unhallowed source; and we would +call on Christians of every denomination firmly to resist it." The +report was unanimously received and adopted. + +Jocelyn, Tappan, and Garrison addressed the convention with reference to +a proposed industrial college in New Haven, toward the $20,000 expense +of which one individual (Tappan himself) had subscribed $1000 with the +understanding that the remaining $19,000 be raised within a year; and +the convention approved the project, _provided_ the Negroes had a +majority of at least one on the board of trustees. An illuminating +address to the public called attention to the progress of emancipation +abroad, to the fact that it was American persecution that led to the +calling of the convention, and that it was this also that first induced +some members of the race to seek an asylum in Canada, where already +there were two hundred log houses, and five hundred acres under +cultivation. + +In 1832 eight states were represented by a total of thirty delegates. By +this time we learn that a total of eight hundred acres had been secured +in Canada, that two thousand Negroes had gone thither, but that +considerable hostility had been manifested on the part of the Canadians. +Hesitant, the convention appointed an agent to investigate the +situation. It expressed itself as strongly opposed to any national aid +to the American Colonization Society and urged the abolition of slavery +in the District of Columbia--all of which activity, it is well to +remember, was a year before the American Anti-Slavery Society was +organized. + +In 1833 there were fifty-eight delegates, and Abraham Shadd, now of +Washington, was chosen president. The convention again gave prominence +to the questions of Canada and colonization, and expressed itself with +reference to the new law in Connecticut prohibiting Negroes from other +states from attending schools within the state. The 1834 meeting was +held in New York. Prudence Crandall[1] was commended for her stand in +behalf of the race, and July 4 was set apart as a day for prayer and +addresses on the condition of the Negro throughout the country. By +this time we hear much of societies for temperance and moral reform, +especially of the so-called Phoenix Societies "for improvement in +general culture--literature, mechanic arts, and morals." Of these +organizations Rev. Christopher Rush, of the A.M.E. Zion Church, was +general president, and among the directors were Rev. Peter Williams, +Boston Crummell, the father of Alexander Crummell, and Rev. William Paul +Quinn, afterwards a well-known bishop of the A.M.E. Church. The 1835 +and 1836 meetings were held in Philadelphia, and especially were the +students of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati commended for their zeal in +the cause of abolition. A committee was appointed to look into the +dissatisfaction of some emigrants to Liberia and generally to review the +work of the Colonization Society. + +[Footnote 1: See Chapter X, Section 3.] + +In the decade 1837-1847 Frederick Douglass was outstanding as a leader, +and other men who were now prominent were Dr. James McCune Smith, Rev. +James W.C. Pennington, Alexander Crummell, William C. Nell, and Martin +R. Delany. These are important names in the history of the period. These +were the men who bore the brunt of the contest in the furious days of +Texas annexation and the Compromise of 1850. About 1853 and 1854 there +was renewed interest in the idea of an industrial college; steps were +taken for the registry of Negro mechanics and artisans who were in +search of employment, and of the names of persons who were willing to +give them work; and there was also a committee on historical records and +statistics that was not only to compile studies in Negro biography but +also to reply to any assaults of note.[1] + +[Footnote 1: We can not too much emphasize the fact that the leaders +of this period were by no means impractical theorists but men who were +scientifically approaching the social problem of their people. They not +only anticipated such ideas as those of industrial education and of the +National Urban League of the present day, but they also endeavored to +lay firmly the foundations of racial self-respect.] + +Immediately after the last of the conventions just mentioned, those who +were interested in emigration and had not been able to get a hearing +in the regular convention issued a call for a National Emigration +Convention of Colored Men to take place in Cleveland, Ohio, August +24-26, 1854. The preliminary announcement said: "No person will be +admitted to a seat in the Convention who would introduce the subject +of emigration to the Eastern Hemisphere--either to Asia, Africa, or +Europe--as our object and determination are to consider our claims +to the West Indies, Central and South America, and the Canadas. This +restriction has no reference to personal preference, or individual +enterprise, but to the great question of national claims to come before +the Convention."[1] Douglass pronounced the call "uncalled for, unwise, +unfortunate and premature," and his position led him into a wordy +discussion in the press with James M. Whitfield, of Buffalo, prominent +at the time as a writer. Delany explained the call as follows: "It was +a mere policy on the part of the authors of these documents, to confine +their scheme to America (including the West Indies), whilst they +were the leading advocates of the regeneration of Africa, lest they +compromised themselves and their people to the avowed enemies of their +race."[2] At the secret sessions, he informs us, Africa was the topic of +greatest interest. In order to account for this position it is important +to take note of the changes that had taken place between 1817 and 1854. +When James Forten and others in Philadelphia in 1817 protested +against the American Colonization Society as the plan of a "gang of +slaveholders" to drive free people from their homes, they had abundant +ground for the feeling. By 1839, however, not only had the personnel +of the organization changed, but, largely through the influence of +Garrison, the purpose and aim had also changed, and not Virginia and +Maryland, but New York and Pennsylvania were now dominant in influence. +Colonization had at first been regarded as a possible solution of the +race problem; money was now given, however, "rather as an aid to the +establishment of a model Negro republic in Africa, whose effort would +be to discourage the slave-trade, and encourage energy and thrift among +those free Negroes from the United States who chose to emigrate, and +to give native Africans a demonstration of the advantages of +civilization."[3] In view of the changed conditions, Delany and others +who disagreed with Douglass felt that for the good of the race in the +United States the whole matter of emigration might receive further +consideration; at the same time, remembering old discussions, they +did not wish to be put in the light of betrayers of their people. The +Pittsburgh _Daily Morning Post_ of October 18, 1854, sneered at the new +plan as follows: "If Dr. Delany drafted this report it certainly does +him much credit for learning and ability; and can not fail to establish +for him a reputation for vigor and brilliancy of imagination never yet +surpassed. It is a vast conception of impossible birth. The Committee +seem to have entirely overlooked the strength of the 'powers on earth' +that would oppose the Africanization of more than half the Western +Hemisphere. We have no motive in noticing this gorgeous dream of 'the +Committee' except to show its fallacy--its impracticability, in fact, +its absurdity. No sensible man, whatever his color, should be for a +moment deceived by such impracticable theories." However, in spite of +all opposition, the Emigration Convention met. Upon Delany fell the real +brunt of the work of the organization. In 1855 Bishop James Theodore +Holly was commissioned to Faustin Soulouque, Emperor of Hayti; and he +received in his visit of a month much official attention with some +inducement to emigrate. Delany himself planned to go to Africa as the +head of a "Niger Valley Exploring Party." Of the misrepresentation and +difficulties that he encountered he himself has best told. He did get to +Africa, however, and he had some interesting and satisfactory interviews +with representative chiefs. The Civil War put an end to his project, he +himself accepting a major's commission from President Lincoln. Through +the influence of Holly about two thousand persons went to Hayti, but not +more than a third of these remained. A plan fostered by Whitfield for a +colony in Central America came to naught when this leading spirit died +in San Francisco on his way thither.[4] + +[Footnote 1: Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party, by +M.R. Delany, Chief Commissioner to Africa, New York, 1861.] + +[Footnote 2: Delany, 8.] + +[Footnote 3: Fox: _The American Colonisation Society_, 177; also note +pp. 12, 120-2.] + +[Footnote 4: For the progress of all the plans offered to the convention +note important letter written by Holly and given by Cromwell, 20-21.] + + +3. _Sojourner Truth and Woman Suffrage_ + +With its challenge to the moral consciousness it was but natural that +anti-slavery should soon become allied with temperance, woman suffrage, +and other reform movements that were beginning to appeal to the heart +of America. Especially were representative women quick to see that the +arguments used for their cause were very largely identical with those +used for the Negro. When the woman suffrage movement was launched at +Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1848, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and +their co-workers issued a Declaration of Sentiments which like +many similar documents copied the phrasing of the Declaration of +Independence. This said in part: "The history of mankind is a history +of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man towards woman, +having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over +her.... He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to +the elective franchise.... He has made her, if married, in the eye of +the law civilly dead.... He has denied her the facilities for obtaining +a thorough education, all colleges being closed to her." It mattered +not at the time that male suffrage was by no means universal, or that +amelioration of the condition of woman had already begun; the movement +stated its case clearly and strongly in order that it might fully be +brought to the attention of the American people. In 1850 the first +formal National Woman's Rights Convention assembled in Worcester, Mass. +To this meeting came a young Quaker woman who was already listed in the +cause of temperance. In fact, wherever she went Susan B. Anthony entered +into "causes." She possessed great virtues and abilities, and at the +same time was capable of very great devotion. "She not only sympathized +with the Negro; when an opportunity offered she drank tea with him, to +her own 'unspeakable satisfaction.'"[1] Lucy Stone, an Oberlin graduate, +was representative of those who came into the agitation by the +anti-slavery path. Beginning in 1848 to speak as an agent of the +Anti-Slavery Society, almost from the first she began to introduce the +matter of woman's rights in her speeches. + +[Footnote 1: Ida M. Tarbell: "The American Woman: Her First Declaration +of Independence," _American Magazine_, February, 1910.] + +To the second National Woman's Suffrage Convention, held in Akron, Ohio, +in 1852, and presided over by Mrs. Frances D. Gage, came Sojourner +Truth. + +The "Libyan Sibyl" was then in the fullness of her powers. She had been +born of slave parents about 1798 in Ulster County, New York. In her +later years she remembered vividly the cold, damp cellar-room in which +slept the slaves of the family to which she belonged, and where she was +taught by her mother to repeat the Lord's Prayer and to trust in God. +When in the course of gradual emancipation she became legally free in +1827, her master refused to comply with the law and kept her in bondage. +She left, but was pursued and found. Rather than have her go back, a +friend paid for her services for the rest of the year. Then came an +evening when, searching for one of her children who had been stolen and +sold, she found herself a homeless wanderer. A Quaker family gave her +lodging for the night. Subsequently she went to New York City, joined +a Methodist church, and worked hard to improve her condition. Later, +having decided to leave New York for a lecture tour through the East, +she made a small bundle of her belongings and informed a friend that +her name was no longer _Isabella_ but _Sojourner_. She went on her +way, speaking to people wherever she found them assembled and being +entertained in many aristocratic homes. She was entirely untaught in the +schools, but was witty, original, and always suggestive. By her tact and +her gift of song she kept down ridicule, and by her fervor and faith she +won many friends for the anti-slavery cause. As to her name she said: +"And the Lord gave me _Sojourner_ because I was to travel up an' down +the land showin' the people their sins an' bein' a sign unto them. +Afterwards I told the Lord I wanted another name, 'cause everybody else +had two names, an' the Lord gave me _Truth_, because I was to declare +the truth to the people." + +On the second day of the convention in Akron, in a corner, crouched +against the wall, sat this woman of care, her elbows resting on her +knees, and her chin resting upon her broad, hard palms.[1] In the +intermission she was employed in selling "The Life of Sojourner Truth." +From time to time came to the presiding officer the request, "Don't let +her speak; it will ruin us. Every newspaper in the land will have +our cause mixed with abolition and niggers, and we shall be utterly +denounced." Gradually, however, the meeting waxed warm. Baptist, +Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Universalist preachers had +come to hear and discuss the resolutions presented. One argued the +superiority of the male intellect, another the sin of Eve, and the +women, most of whom did not "speak in meeting," were becoming filled +with dismay. Then slowly from her seat in the corner rose Sojourner +Truth, who till now had scarcely lifted her head. Slowly and solemnly +to the front she moved, laid her old bonnet at her feet, and turned +her great, speaking eyes upon the chair. Mrs. Gage, quite equal to the +occasion, stepped forward and announced "Sojourner Truth," and begged +the audience to be silent a few minutes. "The tumult subsided at once, +and every eye was fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly +six feet high, head erect, and eye piercing the upper air, like one in a +dream." At her first word there was a profound hush. She spoke in deep +tones, which, though not loud, reached every ear in the house, and even +the throng at the doors and windows. To one man who had ridiculed the +general helplessness of woman, her needing to be assisted into carriages +and to be given the best place everywhere, she said, "Nobody eber helped +me into carriages, or ober mud puddles, or gibs me any best place"; and +raising herself to her full height, with a voice pitched like rolling +thunder, she asked, "And a'n't I a woman? Look at me. Look at my arm." +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 man could head me--and a'n't I a woman? I could work as much and +eat as much as a man, when I could get it, and bear de lash as well--and +a'n't I a woman? I have borne five chilern and seen 'em mos' all sold +off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but +Jesus heard--and a'n't I a woman?... Dey talks 'bout dis ting in de +head--what dis dey call it?" "Intellect," said some one near. "Dat's it, +honey. What's dat got to do with women's rights or niggers' rights? If +my cup won't hold but a pint and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't ye be +mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" And she pointed +her significant finger and sent a keen glance at the minister who had +made the argument. The cheering was long and loud. "Den dat little man +in black dar, he say women can't have as much rights as man, 'cause +Christ wa'n't a woman. But whar did Christ come from?" Rolling thunder +could not have stilled that crowd as did those deep, wonderful tones as +the woman stood there with her outstretched arms and her eyes of fire. +Raising her voice she repeated, "Whar did Christ come from? From God and +a woman. Man had nothing to do with Him." Turning to another objector, +she took up the defense of Eve. She was pointed and witty, solemn and +serious at will, and at almost every sentence awoke deafening applause; +and she ended by asserting, "If de fust woman God made was strong enough +to turn the world upside down, all alone, dese togedder,"--and she +glanced over the audience--"ought to be able to turn it back and get it +right side up again, and now dey is askin' to do it, de men better let +'em." + +[Footnote 1: Reminiscences of the president, Mrs. Frances D. Gage, cited +by Tarbell.] + +"Amid roars of applause," wrote Mrs. Gage, "she returned to her corner, +leaving more than one of us with streaming eyes and hearts beating with +gratitude." Thus, as so frequently happened, Sojourner Truth turned a +difficult situation into splendid victory. She not only made an eloquent +plea for the slave, but placing herself upon the broadest principles of +humanity, she saved the day for woman suffrage as well. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +LIBERIA + + +In a former chapter we have traced the early development of the American +Colonization Society, whose efforts culminated in the founding of the +colony of Liberia. The recent world war, with Africa as its prize, fixed +attention anew upon the little republic. This comparatively small tract +of land, just slightly more than one-three hundredth part of the surface +of Africa, is now of interest and strategic importance not only because +(if we except Abyssinia, which claims slightly different race origin, +and Hayti, which is now really under the government of the United +States) it represents the one distinctively Negro government in the +world, but also because it is the only tract of land on the great West +Coast of the continent that has survived, even through the war, the +aggression of great European powers. It is just at the bend of the +shoulder of Africa, and its history is as romantic as its situation is +unique. + +Liberia has frequently been referred to as an outstanding example of +the incapacity of the Negro for self-government. Such a judgment is not +necessarily correct. It is indeed an open question if, in view of the +nature of its beginning, the history of the country proves anything one +way or the other with reference to the capacity of the race. The early +settlers were frequently only recently out of bondage, but upon them +were thrust all the problems of maintenance and government, and they +brought with them, moreover, the false ideas of life and work that +obtained in the Old South. Sometimes they suffered from neglect, +sometimes from excessive solicitude; never were they really left alone. +In spite of all, however, more than a score of native tribes have been +subdued by only a few thousand civilized men, the republic has preserved +its integrity, and there has been handed down through the years a +tradition of constitutional government. + + + +1. _The Place and the People_ + +The resources of Liberia are as yet imperfectly known. There is no +question, however, about the fertility of the interior, or of its +capacity when properly developed. There are no rivers of the first rank, +but the longest streams are about three hundred miles in length, and at +convenient distances apart flow down to a coastline somewhat more than +three hundred miles long. Here in a tract of land only slightly larger +than our own state of Ohio are a civilized population between 30,000 and +100,000 in number, and a native population estimated at 2,000,000. Of +the civilized population the smaller figure, 30,000, is the more nearly +correct if we consider only those persons who are fully civilized, and +this number would be about evenly divided between Americo-Liberians and +natives. Especially in the towns along the coast, however, there are +many people who have received only some degree of civilization, and +most of the households in the larger towns have several native children +living in them. If all such elements are considered, the total might +approach 100,000. The natives in their different tribes fall into three +or four large divisions. In general they follow their native customs, +and the foremost tribes exhibit remarkable intelligence and skill in +industry. Outstanding are the dignified Mandingo, with a Mohammedan +tradition, and the Vai, distinguished for skill in the arts and with a +culture similar to that of the Mandingo. Also easily recognized are +the Kpwessi, skillful in weaving and ironwork; the Kru, intelligent, +sea-faring, and eager for learning; the Grebo, ambitious and aggressive, +and in language connection close to the Kru; the Bassa, with +characteristics somewhat similar to those of the Kru, but in general +not quite so ambitious; the Buzi, wild and highly tattooed; and the +cannibalistic Mano. By reason of numbers if nothing else, Liberia's +chief asset for the future consists in her native population. + + +2. _History_ + +(a) _Colonization and Settlement_ + +In pursuance of its plans for the founding of a permanent colony on the +coast of Africa, the American Colonization Society in November, 1817, +sent out two men, Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess, who were +authorized to find a suitable place for a settlement. Going by way +of England, these men were cordially received by the officers of the +African Institution and given letters to responsible persons in Sierra +Leone. Arriving at the latter place in March, 1818, they met John +Kizell, a native and a man of influence, who had received some training +in America and had returned to his people, built a house of worship, and +become a preacher. Kizell undertook to accompany them on their journey +down the coast and led the way to Sherbro Island, a place long in +disputed territory but since included within the limits of Sierra Leone. +Here the agents were hospitably received; they fixed upon the island as +a permanent site, and in May turned their faces homeward. Mills died on +the voyage in June and was buried at sea; but Burgess made a favorable +report, though the island was afterwards to prove by no means healthy. +The Society was impressed, but efforts might have languished at this +important stage if Monroe, now President, had not found it possible to +bring the resources of the United States Government to assist in +the project. Smuggling, with the accompanying evil of the sale of +"recaptured Africans," had by 1818 become a national disgrace, and on +March 3, 1819, a bill designed to do away with the practice became a +law. This said in part: "The President of the United States is hereby +authorized to make such regulations and arrangements as he may deem +expedient for the safe-keeping, support, and removal beyond the limits +of the United States, of all such Negroes, mulattoes, or persons of +color as may be so delivered and brought within their jurisdiction; and +to appoint a proper person or persons residing upon the coast of Africa +as agent or agents for receiving the Negroes, mulattoes, or persons of +color, delivered from on board vessels seized in the prosecution of the +slave-trade by commanders of the United States armed vessels." For the +carrying out of the purpose of this act $100,000 was appropriated, and +Monroe was disposed to construe as broadly as necessary the powers given +him under it. In his message of December 20, he informed Congress +that he had appointed Rev. Samuel Bacon, of the American Colonization +Society, with John Bankson as assistant, to charter a vessel and take +the first group of emigrants to Africa, the understanding being that +he was to go to the place fixed upon by Mills and Burgess. Thus the +National Government and the Colonization Society, while technically +separate, began to work in practical coöperation. The ship _Elizabeth_ +was made ready for the voyage; the Government informed the Society that +it would "receive on board such free blacks recommended by the Society +as might be required for the purpose of the agency"; $33,000 was placed +in the hands of Mr. Bacon; Rev. Samuel A. Crozer was appointed as the +Society's official representative; 88 emigrants were brought together +(33 men and 18 women, the rest being children); and on February 5, 1820, +convoyed by the war-sloop _Cyane_, the expedition set forth. + +An interesting record of the voyage--important for the sidelights it +gives--was left by Daniel Coker, the respected minister of a large +Methodist congregation in Baltimore who was persuaded to accompany the +expedition for the sake of the moral influence that he might be able to +exert.[1] There was much bad weather at the start, and it was the icy +sea that on February 4 made it impossible to get under way until the +next day. On board, moreover, there was much distrust of the agents in +charge, with much questioning of their motives; nor were matters made +better by a fight between one of the emigrants and the captain of the +vessel. It was a restless company, uncertain as to the future, and +dissatisfied and peevish from day to day. Kizell afterwards remarked +that "some would not be governed by white men, and some would not be +governed by black men, and some would not be governed by mulattoes; but +the truth was they did not want to be governed by anybody." On March 3, +however, the ship sighted the Cape Verde Islands and six days afterwards +was anchored at Sierra Leone; and Coker rejoiced that at last he had +seen Africa. Kizell, however, whom the agents had counted on seeing, +was found to be away at Sherbro; accordingly, six days after their +arrival[2] they too were making efforts to go on to Sherbro, for they +were allowed at anchor only fifteen days and time was passing rapidly. +Meanwhile Bankson went to find Kizell. Captain Sebor was at first +decidedly unwilling to go further; but his reluctance was at length +overcome; Bacon purchased for $3,000 a British schooner that had +formerly been engaged in the slave-trade; and on March 17 both ship and +schooner got under way for Sherbro. The next day they met Bankson, who +informed them that he had seen Kizell. This man, although he had not +heard from America since the departure of Mills and Burgess, had already +erected some temporary houses against the rainy season. He permitted the +newcomers to stay in his little town until land could be obtained; sent +them twelve fowls and a bushel of rice; but he also, with both dignity +and pathos, warned Bankson that if he and his companions came with +Christ in their hearts, it was well that they had come; if not, it would +have been better if they had stayed in America. + +[Footnote 1: "Journal of Daniel Coker, a descendant of Africa, from the +time of leaving New York, in the ship _Elizabeth_, Capt. Sebor, on a +voyage for Sherbro, in Africa. Baltimore, 1820."] + +[Footnote 2: March 15. The narrative, page 26, says February 15, but +this is obviously a typographical error.] + +Now followed much fruitless bargaining with the native chiefs, in all of +which Coker regretted that the slave-traders had so ruined the people +that it seemed impossible to make any progress in a "palaver" without +the offering of rum. Meanwhile a report was circulated through the +country that a number of Americans had come and turned Kizell out of his +own town and put some of his people in the hold of their ship. Disaster +followed disaster. The marsh, the bad water, and the malaria played +havoc with the colonists, and all three of the responsible agents died. +The few persons who remained alive made their way back to Sierra Leone. + +Thus the first expedition failed. One year later, in March, 1821, a new +company of twenty-one emigrants, in charge of J.B. Winn and Ephraim +Bacon, arrived at Freetown in the brig _Nautilus_. It had been the +understanding that in return for their passage the members of the first +expedition would clear the way for others; but when the agents of the +new company saw the plight of those who remained alive, they brought all +of the colonists together at Fourah Bay, and Bacon went farther down the +coast to seek a more favorable site. A few persons who did not wish to +go to Fourah Bay remained in Sierra Leone and became British subjects. +Bacon found a promising tract about two hundred and fifty miles down the +coast at Cape Montserado; but the natives were not especially eager to +sell, as they did not wish to break up the slave traffic. Meanwhile Winn +and several more of the colonists died; and Bacon now returned to the +United States. The second expedition had thus proved to be little more +successful than the first; but the future site of Monrovia had at least +been suggested. + +In November came Dr. Eli Ayres as agent of the Society, and in December +Captain Robert F. Stockton of the _Alligator_ with instructions to +coöperate. These two men explored the coast and on December 11 arrived +at Mesurado Bay. Through the jungle they made their way to a village and +engaged in a palaver with King Peter and five of his associates. The +negotiations were conducted in the presence of an excited crowd and with +imminent danger; but Stockton had great tact and at length, for the +equivalent of $300, he and Ayres purchased the mouth of the Mesurado +River, Cape Montserado, and the land for some distance in the interior. +There was also an understanding (for half a dozen gallons of rum and +some trade-cloth and tobacco) with King George, who "resided on the Cape +and claimed a sort of jurisdiction over the northern district of the +peninsula of Montserado, by virtue of which the settlers were permitted +to pass across the river and commence the laborious task of clearing +away the heavy forest which covered the site of their intended town."[1] +Then the agent returned to effect the removal of the colonists from +Fourah Bay, leaving a very small company as a sort of guard on +Perseverance (or Providence) Island at the mouth of the river. Some +of the colonists refused to leave, remained, and thus became British +subjects. For those who had remained on the island there was trouble at +once. A small vessel, the prize of an English cruiser, bound to Sierra +Leone with thirty liberated Africans, put into the roads for water, and +had the misfortune to part her cable and come ashore. "The natives claim +to a prescriptive right, which interest never fails to enforce to its +fullest extent, to seize and appropriate the wrecks and cargoes of +vessels stranded, under whatever circumstances, on their coast."[2] The +vessel in question drifted to the mainland one mile from the cape, a +small distance below George's town, and the natives proceeded to act in +accordance with tradition. They were fired on by the prize master and +forced to desist, and the captain appealed to the few colonists on the +island for assistance. They brought into play a brass field piece, and +two of the natives were killed and several more wounded. The English +officer, his crew, and the captured Africans escaped, though the small +vessel was lost; but the next day the Deys (the natives), feeling +outraged, made another attack, in the course of which some of them +and one of the colonists were killed. In the course of the operations +moreover, through the carelessness of some of the settlers themselves, +fire was communicated to the storehouse and $3000 worth of property +destroyed, though the powder and some of the provisions were saved. Thus +at the very beginning, by accident though it happened, the shadow of +England fell across the young colony, involving it in difficulties with +the natives. When then Ayres returned with the main crowd of settlers on +January 7, 1822--which arrival was the first real landing of settlers on +what is now Liberian soil--he found that the Deys wished to annul the +agreement previously made and to give back the articles paid. He himself +was seized in the course of a palaver, and he was able to arrive at no +better understanding than that the colonists might remain only until +they could make a new purchase elsewhere. Now appeared on the scene +Boatswain, a prominent chief from the interior who sometimes exercised +jurisdiction over the coast tribes and who, hearing that there was +trouble in the bay, had come hither, bringing with him a sufficient +following to enforce his decrees. Through this man shone something of +the high moral principle so often to be observed in responsible African +chiefs, and to him Ayres appealed. Hearing the story he decided in +favor of the colonists, saying to Peter, "Having sold your country and +accepted payment, you must take the consequences. Let the Americans +have their land immediately." To the agent he said, "I promise you +protection. If these people give you further disturbance, send for me; +and I swear, if they oblige me to come again to quiet them, I will do +it to purpose, by taking their heads from their shoulders, as I did old +king George's on my last visit to the coast to settle disputes." Thus on +the word of a native chief was the foundation of Liberia assured. + +[Footnote 1: Ashmun: _History of the American Colony in Liberia, from +1821 to 1823_, 8.] + +[Footnote 2: Ashmun, 9.] + +By the end of April all of the colonists who were willing to move had +been brought from Sierra Leone to their new home. It was now decided +to remove from the low and unhealthy island to the higher land of +Cape Montserado only a few hundred feet away; on April 28 there was a +ceremony of possession and the American flag was raised. The advantages +of the new position were obvious, to the natives as well as the +colonists, and the removal was attended with great excitement. By July +the island was completely abandoned. Meanwhile, however, things had not +been going well. The Deys had been rendered very hostile, and from them +there was constant danger of attack. The rainy season moreover had set +in, shelter was inadequate, supplies were low, and the fever continually +claimed its victims. Ayres at length became discouraged. He proposed +that the enterprise be abandoned and that the settlers return to Sierra +Leone, and on June 4 he did actually leave with a few of them. It was +at this juncture that Elijah Johnson, one of the most heroic of the +colonists, stepped forth to fame. + +The early life of the man is a blank. In 1789 he was taken to New +Jersey. He received some instruction and studied for the Methodist +ministry, took part in the War of 1812, and eagerly embraced the +opportunity to be among the first to come to the new colony. To the +suggestion that the enterprise be abandoned he replied, "Two years long +have I sought a home; here I have found it; here I remain." To him the +great heart of the colonists responded. Among the natives he was known +and respected as a valiant fighter. He lived until March 23, 1849. + +Closely associated with Johnson, his colleague in many an effort and +the pioneer in mission work, was the Baptist minister, Lott Cary, +from Richmond, Va., who also had become one of the first permanent +settlers.[1] He was a man of most unusual versatility and force of +character. He died November 8, 1828, as the result of a powder explosion +that occurred while he was acting in defense of the colony against the +Deys. + +[Footnote 1: See Chapter III, Section 5.] + +July (1822) was a hard month for the settlers. Not only were their +supplies almost exhausted, but they were on a rocky cape and the natives +would not permit any food to be brought to them. On August 8, however, +arrived Jehudi Ashmun, a young man from Vermont who had worked as a +teacher and as the editor of a religious publication for some years +before coming on this mission. He brought with him a company of +liberated Africans and emigrants to the number of fifty-five, and as he +did not intend to remain permanently he had yielded to the entreaty of +his wife and permitted her to accompany him on the voyage. He held no +formal commission from the American Colonization Society, but seeing the +situation he felt that it was his duty to do what he could to relieve +the distress; and he faced difficulties from the very first. On the day +after his arrival his own brig, the _Strong_, was in danger of being +lost; the vessel parted its cable, and on the following morning broke it +again and drifted until it was landlocked between Cape Montserado and +Cape Mount. A small anchor was found, however, and the brig was again +moored, but five miles from the settlement. The rainy season was now on +in full force; there was no proper place for the storing of provisions; +and even with the newcomers it soon developed that there were in the +colony only thirty-five men capable of bearing arms, so great had been +the number of deaths from the fever. Sometimes almost all of these +were sick; on September 10 only two were in condition for any kind of +service. Ashmun tried to make terms with the native chiefs, but their +malignity was only partially concealed. His wife languished before +his eyes and died September 15, just five weeks after her arrival. He +himself was incapacitated for several months, nor at the height of his +illness was he made better by the ministrations of a French charlatan. +He never really recovered from the great inroads made upon his strength +at this time. + +As a protection from sudden attack a clearing around the settlement was +made. Defenses had to be erected without tools, and so great was the +anxiety that throughout the months of September and October a nightly +watch of twenty men was kept. On Sunday, November 10, the report was +circulated that the Deys were crossing the Mesurado River, and at night +it became known that seven or eight hundred were on the peninsula only +half a mile to the west. The attack came at early dawn on the 11th and +the colonists might have been annihilated if they had not brought +a field-piece into play. When this was turned against the natives +advancing in compact array, it literally tore through masses of living +flesh until scores of men were killed. Even so the Deys might have won +the engagement if they had not stopped too soon to gather plunder. As +it was, they were forced to retreat. Of the settlers three men and one +woman were killed, two men and two women injured, and several children +taken captive, though these were afterwards returned. At this time +the colonists suffered greatly from the lack of any supplies for the +treatment of wounds. Only medicines for the fever were on hand, and in +the hot climate those whose flesh had been torn by bullets suffered +terribly. In this first encounter, as often in these early years, the +real burden of conflict fell upon Cary and Johnson. After the battle +these men found that they had on hand ammunition sufficient for only one +hour's defense. All were placed on a special allowance of provisions and +November 23 was observed as a day of prayer. A passing vessel furnished +additional supplies and happily delayed for some days the inevitable +attack. This came from two sides very early in the morning of December +2. There was a desperate battle. Three bullets passed through Ashmun's +clothes, one of the gunners was killed, and repeated attacks were +resisted only with the most dogged determination. An accident, or, as +the colonists regarded it, a miracle, saved them from destruction. A +guard, hearing a noise, discharged a large gun and several muskets. +The schooner _Prince Regent_ was passing, with Major Laing, Midshipman +Gordon, and eleven specially trained men on board. The officers, hearing +the sound of guns, came ashore to see what was the trouble. Major Laing +offered assistance if ground was given for the erection of a British +flag, and generally attempted to bring about an adjustment of +difficulties on the basis of submitting these to the governor of Sierra +Leone. To these propositions Elijah Johnson replied, "We want no +flagstaff put up here that it will cost more to get down than it will +to whip the natives." However, Gordon and the men under him were left +behind for the protection of the colony until further help could arrive. +Within one month he and seven of the eleven were dead. He himself had +found a ready place in the hearts of the settlers, and to him and his +men Liberia owes much. They came in a needy hour and gave their lives +for the cause of freedom. + +An American steamer passing in December, 1822, gave some temporary +relief. On March 31, 1823, the _Cyane_, with Capt. R.T. Spence in +charge, arrived from America with supplies. As many members of his crew +became ill after only a few days, Spence soon deemed it advisable to +leave. His chief clerk, however, Richard Seaton, heroically volunteered +to help with the work, remained behind, and died after only three +months. On May 24 came the _Oswego_ with sixty-one new colonists and +Dr. Ayres, who, already the Society's agent, now returned with the +additional authority of Government agent and surgeon. He made a survey +and attempted a new allotment of land, only to find that the colony was +soon in ferment, because some of those who possessed the best holdings +or who had already made the beginnings of homes, were now required to +give these up. There was so much rebellion that in December Ayres +again deemed it advisable to leave. The year 1823 was in fact chiefly +noteworthy for the misunderstandings that arose between the colonists +and Ashmun. This man had been placed in a most embarrassing situation by +the arrival of Dr. Ayres.[1] He not only found himself superseded in the +government, but had the additional misfortune to learn that his drafts +had been dishonored and that no provision had been made to remunerate +him for his past services or provide for his present needs. Finding his +services undervalued, and even the confidence of the Society withheld, +he was naturally indignant, though his attachment to the cause remained +steadfast. Seeing the authorized agent leaving the colony, and the +settlers themselves in a state of insubordination, with no formal +authority behind him he yet resolved to forget his own wrongs and to do +what he could to save from destruction that for which he had already +suffered so much. He was young and perhaps not always as tactful as he +might have been. On the other hand, the colonists had not yet learned +fully to appreciate the real greatness of the man with whom they were +dealing. As for the Society at home, not even so much can be said. The +real reason for the withholding of confidence from Ashmun was that many +of the members objected to his persistent attacks on the slave-trade. + +[Footnote 1: Stockwell, 73.] + +By the regulations that governed the colony at the time, each man who +received rations was required to contribute to the general welfare +two days of labor a week. Early in December twelve men cast off all +restraint, and on the 13th Ashmun published a notice in which he said: +"There are in the colony more than a dozen healthy persons who will +receive no more provisions out of the public store until they earn +them." On the 19th, in accordance with this notice, the provisions of +the recalcitrants were stopped. The next morning, however, the men went +to the storehouse, and while provisions were being issued, each seized +a portion and went to his home. Ashmun now issued a circular, reminding +the colonists of all of their struggles together and generally pointing +out to them how such a breach of discipline struck at the very heart of +the settlement. The colonists rallied to his support and the twelve men +returned to duty. The trouble, however, was not yet over. On March 19, +1824, Ashmun found it necessary to order a cut in provisions. He had +previously declared to the Board that in his opinion the evil was +"incurable by any of the remedies which fall within the existing +provisions"; and counter remonstrances had been sent by the colonists, +who charged him with oppression, neglect of duty, and the seizure of +public property. He now, seeing that his latest order was especially +unpopular, prepared new despatches, on March 22 reviewed the whole +course of his conduct in a strong and lengthy address, and by the last +of the month had left the colony. + +Meanwhile the Society, having learned that things were not going well +with the colony, had appointed its secretary, Rev. R.R. Gurley, to +investigate conditions. Gurley met Ashmun at the Cape Verde Islands and +urgently requested that he return to Monrovia.[1] This Ashmun was not +unwilling to do, as he desired the fullest possible investigation into +his conduct. Gurley was in Liberia from August 13 to August 22, 1824, +only; but from the time of his visit conditions improved. Ashmun was +fully vindicated and remained for four years more until his strength +was all but spent. There was adopted what was known as the Gurley +Constitution. According to this the agent in charge was to have supreme +charge and preside at all public meetings. He was to be assisted, +however, by eleven officers annually chosen, the most important of whom +he was to appoint on nomination by the colonists. Among these were +a vice-agent, two councilors, two justices of the peace, and two +constables. There was to be a guard of twelve privates, two corporals, +and one sergeant. + +[Footnote 1: This name, in honor of President Monroe, had recently been +adopted by the Society at the suggestion of Robert Goodloe Harper, of +Maryland, who also suggested the name _Liberia_ for the country. Harper +himself was afterwards honored by having the chief town in Maryland in +Africa named after him.] + +For a long time it was the custom of the American Colonization Society +to send out two main shipments of settlers a year, one in the spring +and one in the fall. On February 13, 1824, arrived a little more than +a hundred emigrants, mainly from Petersburg, Va. These people were +unusually intelligent and industrious and received a hearty welcome. +Within a month practically all of them were sick with the fever. On +this occasion, as on many others, Lott Cary served as physician, and so +successful was he that only three of the sufferers died. Another company +of unusual interest was that which arrived early in 1826. It brought +along a printer, a press with the necessary supplies, and books sent by +friends in Boston. Unfortunately the printer was soon disabled by the +fever. + +Sickness, however, and wars with the natives were not the only handicaps +that engaged the attention of the colony in these years. "At this period +the slave-trade was carried on extensively within sight of Monrovia. +Fifteen vessels were engaged in it at the same time, almost under the +guns of the settlement; and in July of this year a contract was existing +for eight hundred slaves to be furnished, in the short space of four +months, within eight miles of the cape. Four hundred of these were to be +purchased for two American traders."[1] Ashmun attacked the Spaniards +engaged in the traffic, and labored generally to break up slave +factories. On one occasion he received as many as one hundred and +sixteen slaves into the colony as freemen. He also adopted an attitude +of justice toward the native Krus. Of special importance was the attack +on Trade Town, a stronghold of French and Spanish traders about one +hundred miles below Monrovia. Here there were not less than three large +factories. On the day of the battle, April 10, there were three hundred +and fifty natives on shore under the direction of the traders, but the +colonists had the assistance of some American vessels, and a Liberian +officer, Captain Barbour, was of outstanding courage and ability. The +town was fired after eighty slaves had been surrendered. The flames +reached the ammunition of the enemy and over two hundred and fifty casks +of gunpowder exploded. By July, however, the traders had built a battery +at Trade Town and were prepared to give more trouble. All the same a +severe blow had been dealt to their work. + +[Footnote 1: Stockwell, 79.] + +In his report rendered at the close of 1825 Ashmun showed that the +settlers were living in neatness and comfort; two chapels had been +built, and the militia was well organized, equipped, and disciplined. +The need of some place for the temporary housing of immigrants having +more and more impressed itself upon the colony, before the end of 1826 +a "receptacle" capable of holding one hundred and fifty persons was +erected. Ashmun himself served on until 1828, by which time his strength +was completely spent. He sailed for America early in the summer and +succeeded in reaching New Haven, only to die after a few weeks. No man +had given more for the founding of Liberia. The principal street in +Monrovia is named after him. + +Aside from wars with the natives, the most noteworthy being the Dey-Gola +war of 1832, the most important feature of Liberian history in +the decade 1828-1838 was the development along the coast of other +settlements than Monrovia. These were largely the outgrowth of the +activity of local branch organizations of the American Colonization +Society, and they were originally supposed to have the oversight of the +central organization and of the colony of Monrovia. The circumstances +under which they were founded, however, gave them something of a feeling +of independence which did much to influence their history. Thus arose, +about seventy-five miles farther down the coast, under the auspices +especially of the New York and Pennsylvania societies, the Grand Bassa +settlements at the mouth of the St. John's River, the town Edina being +outstanding. Nearly a hundred miles farther south, at the mouth of +the Sino River, another colony developed as its most important town +Greenville; and as most of the settlers in this vicinity came from +Mississippi, their province became known as Mississippi in Africa. A +hundred miles farther, on Cape Palmas, just about twenty miles from the +Cavalla River marking the boundary of the French possessions, developed +the town of Harper in what became known as Maryland in Africa. This +colony was even more aloof than others from the parent settlement of +the American Colonization Society. When the first colonists arrived at +Monrovia in 1831, they were not very cordially received, there being +trouble about the allotment of land. They waited for some months for +reënforcements and then sailed down the coast to the vicinity of the +Cavalla River, where they secured land for their future home and where +their distance from the other colonists from America made it all the +more easy for them to cultivate their tradition of independence.[1] +These four ports are now popularly known as Monrovia, Grand Bassa, Sino, +and Cape Palmas; and to them for general prominence might now be added +Cape Mount, about fifty miles from Monrovia higher up the coast and just +a few miles from the Mano River, which now marks the boundary between +Sierra Leone and Liberia. In 1838, on a constitution drawn up by +Professor Greenleaf, of Harvard College, was organized the "Commonwealth +of Liberia," the government of which was vested in a Board of Directors +composed of delegates from the state societies, and which included all +the settlements except Maryland. This remote colony, whose seaport is +Cape Palmas, did not join with the others until 1857, ten years after +Liberia had become an independent republic. When a special company +of settlers arrived from Baltimore and formally occupied Cape Palmas +(1834), Dr. James Hall was governor and he served in this capacity +until 1836, when failing health forced him to return to America. He was +succeeded by John B. Russwurm, a young Negro who had come to Liberia +in 1829 for the purpose of superintending the system of education. The +country, however, was not yet ready for the kind of work he wanted +to do, and in course of time he went into politics. He served very +efficiently as Governor of Maryland from 1836 to 1851, especially +exerting himself to standardize the currency and to stabilize the +revenues. Five years after his death Maryland suffered greatly from an +attack by the Greboes, twenty-six colonists being killed. An appeal to +Monrovia for help led to the sending of a company of men and later to +the incorporation of the colony in the Republic. + +[Footnote 1: McPherson is especially valuable for his study of the +Maryland colony.] + +Of the events of the period special interest attaches to the murder of +I.F.C. Finley, Governor of Mississippi in Africa, to whose father, Rev. +Robert Finley, the organization of the American Colonization Society +had been very largely due. In September, 1838, Governor Finley left his +colony to go to Monrovia on business, and making a landing at Bassa +Cove, he was robbed and killed by the Krus. This unfortunate murder +led to a bitter conflict between the settlers in the vicinity and the +natives. This is sometimes known as the Fish War (from being waged +around Fishpoint) and did not really cease for a year. + +(b) The Commonwealth of Liberia + +The first governor of the newly formed Commonwealth was Thomas H. +Buchanan, a man of singular energy who represented the New York and +Pennsylvania societies and who had come in 1836 especially to take +charge of the Grand Bassa settlements. Becoming governor in 1838, he +found it necessary to proceed vigorously against the slave dealers at +Trade Town. He was also victorious in 1840 in a contest with the Gola +tribe led by Chief Gatumba. The Golas had defeated the Dey tribe so +severely that a mere remnant of the latter had taken refuge with the +colonists at Millsburg, a station a few miles up the St. Paul's River. +Thus, as happened more than once, a tribal war in time involved the very +existence of the new American colonies. Governor Buchanan's victory +greatly increased his prestige and made it possible for him to negotiate +more and more favorable treaties with the natives. A contest of +different sort was that with a Methodist missionary, John Seyes, who +held that all goods used by missionaries, including those sold to the +natives, should be admitted free of duty. The governor contended that +such privilege should be extended only to goods intended for the +personal use of missionaries; and the Colonization Society stood behind +him in this opinion. As early as 1840 moreover some shadow of future +events was cast by trouble made by English traders on the Mano River, +the Sierra Leone boundary. Buchanan sent an agent to England to +represent him in an inquiry into the matter; but in the midst of his +vigorous work he died in 1841. He was the last white man formally under +any auspices at the head of Liberian affairs. Happily his period of +service had given opportunity and training to an efficient helper, upon +whom now the burden fell and of whom it is hardly too much to say that +he is the foremost figure in Liberian history. + +Joseph Jenkin Roberts was a mulatto born in Virginia in 1809. At the +age of twenty, with his widowed mother and younger brothers, he went to +Liberia and engaged in trade. In course of time he proved to be a man of +unusual tact and graciousness of manner, moving with ease among people +of widely different rank. His abilities soon demanded recognition, and +he was at the head of the force that defeated Gatumba. As governor he +realized the need of cultivating more far-reaching diplomacy than the +Commonwealth had yet known. He had the coöperation of the Maryland +governor, Russwurm, in such a matter as that of uniform customs duties; +and he visited the United States, where he made a very good impression. +He soon understood that he had to reckon primarily with the English and +the French. England had indeed assumed an attitude of opposition to +the slave-trade; but her traders did not scruple to sell rum to slave +dealers, and especially were they interested in the palm oil of Liberia. +When the Commonwealth sought to impose customs duties, England took the +position that as Liberia was not an independent government, she had no +right to do so; and the English attitude had some show of strength +from the fact that the American Colonization Society, an outside +organization, had a veto power over whatever Liberia might do. When in +1845 the Liberian Government seized the _Little Ben_, an English trading +vessel whose captain acted in defiance of the revenue laws, the British +in turn seized the _John Seyes_, belonging to a Liberian named Benson, +and sold the vessel for £8000. Liberia appealed to the United States; +but the Oregon boundary question as well as slavery had given the +American Government problems enough at home; and the Secretary of State, +Edward Everett, finally replied to Lord Aberdeen (1845) that America +was not "presuming to settle differences arising between Liberian and +British subjects, the Liberians being responsible for their own acts." +The Colonization Society, powerless to act except through its own +government, in January, 1846, resolved that "the time had arrived when +it was expedient for the people of the Commonwealth of Liberia to take +into their own hands the whole work of self-government including the +management of all their foreign relations." Forced to act for herself +Liberia called a constitutional convention and on July 26, 1847, issued +a Declaration of Independence and adopted the Constitution of the +Liberian Republic. In October, Joseph Jenkin Roberts, Governor of the +Commonwealth, was elected the first President of the Republic. + +It may well be questioned if by 1847 Liberia had developed sufficiently +internally to be able to assume the duties and responsibilities of an +independent power. There were at the time not more than 4,500 civilized +people of American origin in the country; these were largely illiterate +and scattered along a coastline more than three hundred miles in length. +It is not to be supposed, however, that this consummation had been +attained without much yearning and heart-beat and high spiritual fervor. +There was something pathetic in the effort of this small company, most +of whose members had never seen Africa but for the sake of their race +had made their way back to the fatherland. The new seal of the Republic +bore the motto: THE LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US HERE. The flag, modeled +on that of the United States, had six red and five white stripes for +the eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence, and in the upper +corner next to the staff a lone white star in a field of blue. The +Declaration itself said in part: + + We, the people of the Republic of Liberia, were originally + inhabitants of the United States of North America. + + In some parts of that country we were debarred by law from all the + rights and privileges of men; in other parts public sentiment, more + powerful than law, frowned us down. + + We were everywhere shut out from all civil office. + + We were excluded from all participation in the government. + + We were taxed without our consent. + + We were compelled to contribute to the resources of a country which + gave us no protection. + + We were made a separate and distinct class, and against us every + avenue of improvement was effectually closed. Strangers from all + lands of a color different from ours were preferred before us. + + We uttered our complaints, but they were unattended to, or met only + by alleging the peculiar institution of the country. + + All hope of a favorable change in our country was thus wholly + extinguished in our bosom, and we looked with anxiety abroad for + some asylum from the deep degradation. + + The Western coast of Africa was the place selected by American + benevolence and philanthropy for our future home. Removed beyond + those influences which depressed us in our native land, it was + hoped we would be enabled to enjoy those rights and privileges, and + exercise and improve those faculties, which the God of nature had + given us in common with the rest of mankind. + +(c) _The Republic of Liberia_ + +With the adoption of its constitution the Republic of Liberia formally +asked to be considered in the family of nations; and since 1847 +the history of the country has naturally been very largely that of +international relations. In fact, preoccupation with the questions +raised by powerful neighbors has been at least one strong reason for the +comparatively slow internal development of the country. The Republic +was officially recognized by England in 1848, by France in 1852, but on +account of slavery not by the United States until 1862. Continuously +there has been an observance of the forms of order, and only one +president has been deposed. For a long time the presidential term was +two years in length; but by an act of 1907 it was lengthened to four +years. From time to time there have been two political parties, but not +always has such a division been emphasized. + +It is well to pause and note exactly what was the task set before the +little country. A company of American Negroes suddenly found themselves +placed on an unhealthy and uncultivated coast which was thenceforth to +be their home. If we compare them with the Pilgrim Fathers, we find that +as the Pilgrims had to subdue the Indians, so they had to hold their own +against a score of aggressive tribes. The Pilgrims had the advantage of +a thousand years of culture and experience in government; the Negroes, +only recently out of bondage, had been deprived of any opportunity for +improvement whatsoever. Not only, however, did they have to contend +against native tribes and labor to improve their own shortcomings; on +every hand they had to meet the designs of nations supposedly more +enlightened and Christian. On the coast Spanish traders defied +international law; on one side the English, and on the other the French, +from the beginning showed a tendency toward arrogance and encroachment. +To crown the difficulty, the American Government, under whose auspices +the colony had largely been founded, became more and more halfhearted +in its efforts for protection and at length abandoned the enterprise +altogether. It did not cease, however, to regard the colony as the +dumping-ground of its own troubles, and whenever a vessel with slaves +from the Congo was captured on the high seas, it did not hesitate to +take these people to the Liberian coast and leave them there, nearly +dead though they might be from exposure or cramping. It is well for +one to remember such facts as these before he is quick to belittle or +criticize. To the credit of the "Congo men" be it said that from the +first they labored to make themselves a quiet and industrious element in +the body politic. + +The early administrations of President Roberts (four terms, 1848-1855) +were mainly devoted to the quelling of the native tribes that continued +to give trouble and to the cultivating of friendly relations with +foreign powers. Soon after his inauguration Roberts made a visit to +England, the power from which there was most to fear; and on this +occasion as on several others England varied her arrogance with a rather +excessive friendliness toward the little republic. She presented to +Roberts the _Lark_, a ship with four guns, and sent the President home +on a war-vessel. Some years afteryards, when the _Lark_ was out of +repair, England sent instead a schooner, the _Quail_. Roberts made a +second visit to England in 1852 to adjust disputes with traders on the +western boundary. He also visited France, and Louis Napoleon, not to be +outdone by England, presented to him a vessel, the _Hirondelle_, and +also guns and uniforms for his soldiers. In general the administrations +of Roberts (we might better say his first series of administrations, for +he was later to be called again to office) made a period of constructive +statesmanship and solid development, and not a little of the respect +that the young republic won was due to the personal influence of its +first president. Roberts, however, happened to be very fair, and +generally successful though his administrations were, the desire on the +part of the people that the highest office in the country be held by a +black man seems to have been a determining factor in the choice of his +successor. There was an interesting campaign toward the close of his +last term. "There were about this time two political parties in the +country--the old Republicans and the 'True Liberians,' a party which had +been formed in opposition to Roberts's foreign policies. But during the +canvass the platform of this new party lost ground; the result was in +favor of the Republican candidate."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Karnga, 28.] + +Stephen Allen Benson (four terms, 1856-1863) was forced to meet in one +way or another almost all of the difficulties that have since played a +part in the life of the Liberian people. He had come to the country in +1822 at the age of six and had developed into a practical and efficient +merchant. To his high office he brought the same principles of sobriety +and good sense that had characterized him in business. On February 28, +1857, the independent colony of Maryland formally became a part of the +republic. This action followed immediately upon the struggle with the +Greboes in the vicinity of Cape Palmas in which assistance was rendered +by the Liberians under Ex-President Roberts. In 1858 an incident that +threatened complications with France but that was soon happily closed +arose from the fact that a French vessel which sought to carry away some +Kru laborers to the West Indies was attacked by these men when they had +reason to fear that they might be sold into slavery and not have to work +simply along the coast, as they at first supposed. The ship was seized +and all but one of the crew, the physician, were killed. Trouble +meanwhile continued with British smugglers in the West, and to this +whole matter we shall have to give further and special attention. In +1858 and a year or two thereafter the numerous arrivals from America, +especially of Congo men captured on the high seas, were such as to +present a serious social problem. Flagrant violation by the South of the +laws against the slave-trade led to the seizure by the United States +Government of many Africans. Hundreds of these people were detained at a +time at such a port as Key West. The Government then adopted the policy +of ordering commanders who seized slave-ships at sea to land the +Africans directly upon the coast of Liberia without first bringing them +to America, and appropriated $250,000 for the removal and care of those +at Key West. The suffering of many of these people is one of the most +tragic stories in the history of slavery. To Liberia came at one time +619, at another 867, and within two months as many as 4000. There was +very naturally consternation on the part of the people at this sudden +immigration, especially as many of the Africans arrived cramped or +paralyzed or otherwise ill from the conditions under which they had been +forced to travel. President Benson stated the problem to the American +Government; the United States sent some money to Liberia, the people of +the Republic helped in every way they could, and the whole situation was +finally adjusted without any permanently bad effects, though it is well +for students to remember just what Liberia had to face at this time. +Important toward the close of Benson's terms was the completion of the +building of the Liberia College, of which Joseph Jenkin Roberts became +the first president. + +The administrations of Daniel Bashiel Warner (two terms, 1864-1867) and +the earlier one of James Spriggs Payne (1868-1869) were comparatively +uneventful. Both of these men were Republicans, but Warner represented +something of the shifting of political parties at the time. At first +a Republican, he went over to the Whig party devoted to the policy of +preserving Liberia from white invasion. Moved to distrust of English +merchants, who delighted in defrauding the little republic, he +established an important Ports-of-Entry Law in 1865, which it is hardly +necessary to say was very unpopular with the foreigners. Commerce was +restricted to six ports and a circle six miles in diameter around each +port. On account of the Civil War and the hopes that emancipation held +out to the Negroes in the United States, immigration from America ceased +rapidly; but a company of 346 came from Barbadoes at this time. The +Liberian Government assisted these people with $4000, set apart for each +man an allotment of twenty-five rather than the customary ten acres; the +Colonization Society appropriated $10,000, and after a pleasant voyage +of thirty-three days they arrived without the loss of a single life. In +the company was a little boy, Arthur Barclay, who was later to be known +as the President of the Republic. At the semi-centennial of the American +Colonization Society held in Washington in January, 1867, it was shown +that the Society and its auxiliaries had been directly responsible for +the sending of more than 12,000 persons to Africa. Of these 4541 +had been born free, 344 had purchased their freedom, 5957 had been +emancipated to go to Africa, and 1227 had been settled by the Maryland +Society. In addition, 5722 captured Africans had been sent to Liberia. +The need of adequate study of the interior having more and more +impressed itself, Benjamin Anderson, an adventurous explorer, assisted +with funds by a citizen of New York, in 1869 studied the country for two +hundred miles from the coast. He found the land constantly rising, and +made his way to Musardu, the chief city of the western Mandingoes. He +summed up his work in his _Narrative of a Journey to Musardo_ and made +another journey of exploration in 1874. + +Edward James Roye (1870-October 26, 1871), a Whig whose party was formed +out of the elements of the old True Liberian party, attracts attention +by reason of a notorious British loan to which further reference must +be made. Of the whole amount of £100,000 sums were wasted or +misappropriated until it has been estimated that the country really +reaped the benefit of little more than a quarter of the whole amount. +President Roye added to other difficulties by his seizure of a bank +building belonging to an Industrial Society of the St. Paul's River +settlements, and by attempting by proclamation to lengthen his term +of office. Twice a constitutional amendment for lengthening the +presidential term from two years to four had been considered and voted +down. Roye contested the last vote, insisted that his term ran to +January, 1874, and issued a proclamation forbidding the coming biennial +election. He was deposed, his house sacked, some of his cabinet officers +tried before a court of impeachment,[1] and he himself was drowned as he +was pursued while attempting to escape to a British ship in the harbor. +A committee of three was appointed to govern the country until a new +election could be held; and in this hour of storm and stress the people +turned once more to the guidance of their old leader, Joseph J. Roberts +(two terms, 1872-1875). His efforts were mainly devoted to restoring +order and confidence, though there was a new war with the Greboes to be +waged.[2] He was succeeded by another trusted leader, James S. Payne +(1876-1877), whose second administration was as devoid as the first of +striking incident. In fact, the whole generation succeeding the loan +of 1871 was a period of depression. The country not only suffered +financially, but faith in it was shaken both at home and abroad. Coffee +grown in Liberia fell as that produced at Brazil grew in favor, the +farmer witnessing a drop in value from 24 to 4 cents a pound. Farms were +abandoned, immigration from the United States ceased, and the country +entered upon a period of stagnation from which it has not yet fully +recovered. + +[Footnote 1: But not Hilary R.W. Johnson, the efficient Secretary of +State, later President.] + +[Footnote 2: President Roberts died February 21, 1876, barely two months +after giving up office. He was caught in the rain while attending a +funeral, took a severe chill, and was not able to recover.] + +Within just a few years after 1871, however, conditions in the United +States led to an interesting revival of the whole idea of colonization, +and to noteworthy effort on the part of the Negroes themselves to better +their condition. The withdrawal of Federal troops from the South, +and all the evils of the aftermath of reconstruction, led to such a +terrorizing of the Negroes and such a denial of civil rights that there +set in the movement that culminated in the great exodus from the South +in 1879. The movement extended all the way from North Carolina to +Louisiana and Arkansas. Insofar as it led to migration to Kansas and +other states in the West, it belongs to American history. However, there +was also interest in going to Africa. Applications by the thousands +poured in upon the American Colonization Society, and one organization +in Arkansas sent hundreds of its members to seek the help of the New +York State Colonization Society. In all such endeavor Negro Baptists +and Methodists joined hands, and especially prominent was Bishop H.M. +Turner, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1877 there was +organized in South Carolina the Liberian Exodus and Joint Stock Company; +in North Carolina there was the Freedmen's Emigration Aid Society; and +there were similar organizations in other states. The South Carolina +organization had the threefold purpose of emigration, missionary +activity, and commercial enterprise, and to these ends it purchased a +vessel, the _Azor_, at a cost of $7000. The white people of Charleston +unfortunately embarrassed the enterprise in every possible way, among +other things insisting when the _Azor_ was ready to sail that it was not +seaworthy and needed a new copper bottom (to cost $2000). The vessel at +length made one or two trips, however, on one voyage carrying as many as +274 emigrants. It was then stolen and sold in Liverpool, and one gets an +interesting sidelight on Southern conditions in the period when he knows +that even the United States Circuit Court in South Carolina refused to +entertain the suit brought by the Negroes. + +In the administration of Anthony W. Gardiner (three terms, 1878-1883) +difficulties with England and Germany reached a crisis. Territory in +the northwest was seized; the British made a formal show of force at +Monrovia; and the looting of a German vessel along the Kru Coast and +personal indignities inflicted by the natives upon the shipwrecked +Germans, led to the bombardment of Nana Kru by a German warship and the +presentation at Monrovia of a claim for damages, payment of which was +forced by the threat of the bombardment of the capital. To the Liberian +people the outlook was seldom darker than in this period of calamities. +President Gardiner, very ill, resigned office in January of his last +year of service, being succeeded by the vice-president, Alfred F. +Russell. More and more was pressure brought to bear upon Liberian +officials for the granting of monopolies and concessions, especially to +Englishmen; and in his message of 1883 President Russell said, "Recent +events admonish us as to the serious responsibility of claims held +against us by foreigners, and we cannot tell what complications may +arise." In the midst of all this, however, Russell did not forget the +natives and the need of guarding them against liquor and exploitation. + +Hilary Richard Wright Johnson (four terms, 1884-1891), the next +president, was a son of the distinguished Elijah Johnson and the first +man born in Liberia who had risen to the highest place in the republic. +Whigs and Republicans united in his election. Much of his time had +necessarily to be given to complications arising from the loan of 1871; +but the western boundary was adjusted (with great loss) with Great +Britain at the Mano River, though new difficulties arose with the +French, who were pressing their claim to territory as far as the Cavalla +River. In the course of the last term of President Johnson there was an +interesting grant (by act approved January 21, 1890) to F.F. Whittekin, +of Pennsylvania, of the right to "construct, maintain, and operate a +system of railroads, telegraph and telephone lines." Whittekin bought up +in England stock to the value of half a million dollars, but died on the +way to Liberia to fulfil his contract. His nephew, F.F. Whittekin, asked +for an extension of time, which was granted, but after a while the whole +project languished.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Liberia_, Bulletin No. 5, November, 1894.] + +Joseph James Cheeseman (1892-November 15, 1896) was a Whig. He conducted +what was known as the third Grebo War and labored especially for a sound +currency. He was a man of unusual ability and his devotion to his task +undoubtedly contributed toward his death in office near the middle +of his third term. As up to this time there had been no internal +improvement and little agricultural or industrial development in the +country, O.F. Cook, the agent of the New York State Colonization +Society, in 1894 signified to the legislature a desire to establish +a station where experiments could be made as to the best means of +introducing, receiving, and propagating beasts of burden, commercial +plants, etc. His request was approved and one thousand acres of land +granted for the purpose by act of January 20, 1894. Results, however, +were neither permanent nor far-reaching. In fact, by the close of the +century immigration had practically ceased and the activities of the +American Colonization Society had also ceased, many of the state +organizations having gone out of existence. In 1893 Julius C. Stevens, +of Goldsboro, N.C., went to Liberia and served for a nominal salary as +agent of the American Colonization Society, becoming also a teacher in +the Liberia College and in time Commissioner of Education, in connection +with which post he edited his _Liberian School Reader_; but he died in +1903.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Interest in Liberia by no means completely died. +Contributions for education were sometimes made by the representative +organizations, and individual students came to America from time +to time. When, however, the important commission representing the +Government came to America in 1908, the public was slightly startled as +having heard from something half-forgotten.] + +William D. Coleman as vice-president finished the incomplete term of +President Cheeseman (to the end of 1897) and later was elected for +two terms in his own right. In the course of his last administration, +however, his interior policy became very unpopular, as he was thought to +be harsh in his dealing with the natives, and he resigned in December, +1900. As there was at the time no vice-president, he was succeeded +by the Secretary of State, Garretson W. Gibson, a man of scholarly +attainments, who was afterwards elected for a whole term (1902-1903). +The feature of this term was the discussion that arose over the proposal +to grant a concession to an English concern known as the West African +Gold Concessions, Ltd. This offered to the legislators a bonus of £1500, +and for this bribe it asked for the sole right to prospect for and +obtain gold, precious stones, and all other minerals over more than half +of Liberia. Specifically it asked for the right to acquire freehold +land and to take up leases for eighty years, in blocks of from ten to +a thousand acres; to import all mining machinery and all other things +necessary free of duty; to establish banks in connection with the mining +enterprises, these to have the power to issue notes; to construct +telegraphs and telephones; to organize auxiliary syndicates; and to +establish its own police. It would seem that English impudence could +hardly go further, though time was to prove that there were still other +things to be borne. The proposal was indignantly rejected. + +Arthur Barclay (1904-1911) had already served in three cabinet positions +before coming to the presidency; he had also been a professor in the +Liberia College and for some years had been known as the leader of the +bar in Monrovia. It was near the close of his second term that the +president's term of office was lengthened from two to four years, and +he was the first incumbent to serve for the longer period. In his first +inaugural address President Barclay emphasized the need of developing +the resources of the hinterland and of attaching the native tribes to +the interests of the state. In his foreign policy he was generally +enlightened and broad-minded, but he had to deal with the arrogance of +England. In 1906 a new British loan was negotiated. This also was for +£100,000, more than two-thirds of which amount was to be turned over to +the Liberian Development Company, an English scheme for the development +of the interior. The Company was to work in coöperation with the +Liberian Government, and as security for the loan British officials were +to have charge of the customs revenue, the chief inspector acting as +financial adviser to the Republic. It afterwards developed that the +Company never had any resources except those it had raised on the credit +of the Republic, and the country was forced to realize that it had been +cheated a second time. Meanwhile the English officials who, on various +pretexts of reform, had taken charge of the barracks and the customs +in Monrovia, were carrying things with a high hand. The Liberian force +appeared with English insignia on the uniforms, and in various other +ways the commander sought to overawe the populace. At the climax of the +difficulties, on February 13, 1909, a British warship _happened_ to +appear in the waters of Monrovia, and a calamity was averted only by the +skillful diplomacy of the Liberians. Already, however, in 1908, Liberia +had sent a special commission to ask the aid of the United States. +This consisted of Garretson W. Gibson, former president; J.J. Dossen, +vice-president at the time, and Charles B. Dunbar. The commission was +received by President Roosevelt and by Secretary Taft just before the +latter was nominated for the presidency. On May 8, 1909, a return +commission consisting of Roland P. Falkner, George Sale, and Emmett J. +Scott, arrived in Monrovia. The work of this commission must receive +further and special attention. + +President Barclay was succeeded by Daniel Edward Howard (two long +terms, 1912-1919), who at his inauguration began the policy of giving +prominence to the native chiefs. The feature of President Howard's +administrations was of course Liberia's connection with the Great War +in Europe. War against Germany having been declared, on the morning +of April 10, 1918, a submarine came to Monrovia and demanded that the +French wireless station be torn down. The request being refused, the +town was bombarded. The excitement of the day was such as has never been +duplicated in the history of Liberia. In one house two young girls were +instantly killed and an elderly woman and a little boy fatally wounded; +but except in this one home the actual damage was comparatively slight, +though there might have been more if a passing British steamer had not +put the submarine to flight. Suffering of another and more far-reaching +sort was that due to the economic situation. The comparative scarcity of +food in the world and the profiteering of foreign merchants in Liberia +by the summer of 1919 brought about a condition that threatened +starvation; nor was the situation better early in 1920, when butter +retailed at $1.25 a pound, sugar at 72 cents a pound, and oil at $1.00 a +gallon. + +President Howard was succeeded by Charles Dunbar Burgess King, who as +president-elect had visited Europe and America, and who was inaugurated +January 5, 1920. His address on this occasion was a comprehensive +presentation of the needs of Liberia, especially along the lines of +agriculture and education. He made a plea also for an enlightened native +policy. Said he: "We cannot afford to destroy the native institutions of +the country. Our true mission lies not in the building here in Africa +of a Negro state based solely on Western ideas, but rather a Negro +nationality indigenous to the soil, having its foundation rooted in the +institutions of Africa and purified by Western thought and development." + + +3. _International Relations_ + +Our study of the history of Liberia has suggested two or three matters +that call for special attention. Of prime importance is the country's +connection with world politics. Any consideration of Liberia's +international relations falls into three divisions: first, that of +titles to land; second, that of foreign loans; and third, that of +so-called internal reform. + +In the very early years of the colony the raids of slave-traders gave +some excuse for the first aggression on the part of a European power. +"Driven from the Pongo Regions northwest of Sierra Leone, Pedro Blanco +settled in the Gallinhas territory northwest of the Liberian frontier, +and established elaborate headquarters for his mammoth slave-trading +operations in West Africa, with slave-trading sub-stations at Cape +Mount, St. Paul River, Bassa, and at other points of the Liberian coast, +employing numerous police, watchers, spies, and servants. To obtain +jurisdiction the colony of Liberia began to purchase from the lords of +the soil as early as 1824 the lands of the St. Paul Basin and the Grain +Coast from the Mafa River on the west to the Grand Sesters River on the +east; so that by 1845, twenty-four years after the establishment of the +colony, Liberia with the aid of Great Britain had destroyed throughout +these regions the baneful traffic in slaves and the slave barracoons, +and had driven the slave-trading leaders from the Liberian coast."[1] +The trade continued to flourish, however, in the Gallinhas territory, +and in course of time, as we have seen, the colony had also to reckon +with British merchants in this section, the Declaration of Independence +in 1847 being very largely a result of the defiance of Liberian +revenue-laws by Englishmen. While President Roberts was in England +not long after his inauguration, Lord Ashley, moved by motives of +philanthropy, undertook to raise £2000 with which he (Roberts) might +purchase the Gallinhas territory; and by 1856 Roberts had secured the +title and deeds to all of this territory from the Mafa River to Sherbro +Island. The whole transaction was thoroughly honorable, Roberts informed +England of his acquisition, and his right to the territory was not then +called in question. Trouble, however, developed out of the attitude of +John M. Harris, a British merchant, and in 1862, while President Benson +was in England, he was officially informed that the right of Liberia was +recognized _only_ to the land "east of Turner's Peninsula to the River +San Pedro." Harris now worked up a native war against the Vais; the +Liberians defended themselves; and in the end the British Government +demanded £8878.9.3 as damages for losses sustained by Harris, and +arbitrarily extended its territory from Sherbro Island to Cape Mount. In +the course of the discussion claims mounted up to £18,000. Great Britain +promised to submit this boundary question to the arbitration of the +United States, but when the time arrived at the meeting of one of the +commissions in Sierra Leone she firmly declined to do so. After this, +whenever she was ready to take more land she made a plausible pretext +and was ready to back up her demands with force. On March 20, 1882, four +British men-of-war came to Monrovia and Sir A.E. Havelock, Governor of +Sierra Leone, came ashore; and President Gardiner was forced to submit +to an agreement by which, in exchange for £4750 and the abandonment of +all further claims, the Liberian Government gave up all right to +the Gallinhas territory from Sherbro Island to the Mafa River. This +agreement was repudiated by the Liberian Senate, but when Havelock was +so informed he replied, "Her Majesty's Government can not in any case +recognize any rights on the part of Liberia to any portions of the +territories in dispute." Liberia now issued a protest to other great +powers; but this was without avail, even the United States counseling +acquiescence, though through the offices of America the agreement was +slightly modified and the boundary fixed at the Mano River. Trouble next +arose on the east. In 1846 the Maryland Colonization Society purchased +the lands of the Ivory Coast east of Cape Palmas as far as the San Pedro +River. These lands were formally transferred to Liberia in 1857, and +remained in the undisputed possession of the Republic for forty years. +France now, not to be outdone by England, on the pretext of title deeds +obtained by French naval commanders who visited the coast in 1890, in +1891 put forth a claim not only to the Ivory Coast, but to land as far +away as Grand Bassa and Cape Mount. The next year, under threat of +force, she compelled Liberia to accept a treaty which, for 25,000 francs +and the relinquishment of all other claims, permitted her to take all +the territory east of the Cavalla River. In 1904 Great Britain asked +permission to advance her troops into Liberian territory to suppress a +native war threatening her interests. She occupied at this time what +is known as the Kaure-Lahun section, which is very fertile and of easy +access to the Sierra Leone railway. This land she never gave up; instead +she offered Liberia £6000 or some poorer land for it. France after 1892 +made no endeavor to delimit her boundary, and, roused by the action +of Great Britain, she made great advances in the hinterland, claiming +tracts of Maryland and Sino; and now France and England each threatened +to take more land if the other was not stopped. President Barclay +visited both countries; but by a treaty of 1907 his commission was +forced to permit France to occupy all the territory seized by force; and +as soon as this agreement was reached France began to move on to other +land in the basin of the St. Paul's and St. John's rivers. This is all +then simply one more story of the oppression of the weak by the strong. +For eighty years England has not ceased to intermeddle in Liberian +affairs, cajoling or browbeating as at the moment seemed advisable; and +France has been only less bad. Certainly no country on earth now has +better reason than Liberia to know that "they should get who have the +power, and they should keep who can." + +[Footnote 1: Ellis in _Journal of Race Development_, January, 1911.] + +The international loans and the attempts at reform must be considered +together. In 1871, at the rate of 7 per cent, there was authorized a +British loan of £100,000. _For their services_ the British negotiators +retained £30,000, and £20,000 more was deducted as the interest for +three years. President Roye ordered Mr. Chinery, a British subject and +the Liberian consul general in London, to supply the Liberian Secretary +of Treasury with goods and merchandise to the value of £10,000; and +other sums were misappropriated until the country itself actually +received the benefit of not more than £27,000, if so much. This whole +unfortunate matter was an embarrassment to Liberia for years; but in +1899 the Republic assumed responsibility for £80,000, the interest being +made a first charge on the customs revenue. In 1906, not yet having +learned the lesson of "Cavete Graecos dona ferentes," and moved by the +representations of Sir Harry H. Johnston, the country negotiated a +new loan of £100,000. £30,000 of this amount was to satisfy pressing +obligations; but the greater portion was to be turned over to the +Liberian Development Company, a great scheme by which the Government +and the company were to work hand in hand for the development of the +country. As security for the loan, British officials were to have charge +of the customs revenue, the chief inspector acting as financial adviser +to the Republic. When the Company had made a road of fifteen miles +in one district and made one or two other slight improvements, it +represented to the Liberian Government that its funds were exhausted. +When President Barclay asked for an accounting the managing director +expressed surprise that such a demand should be made upon him. The +Liberian people were chagrined, and at length they realized that they +had been cheated a second time, with all the bitter experiences of the +past to guide them. Meanwhile the English representatives in the country +were demanding that the judiciary be reformed, that the frontier force +be under British officers, and that Inspector Lamont as financial +adviser have a seat in the Liberian cabinet and a veto power over all +expenditures; and the independence of the country was threatened if +these demands were not complied with. Meanwhile also the construction +of barracks went forward under Major Cadell, a British officer, and the +organization of the frontier force was begun. Not less than a third of +this force was brought from Sierra Leone, and the whole Cadell fitted +out with suits and caps stamped with the emblems of His Britannic +Majesty's service. He also persuaded the Monrovia city government to let +him act without compensation as chief of police, and he likewise became +street commissioner, tax collector, and city treasurer. The Liberian +people naturally objected to the usurping of all these prerogatives, but +Cadell refused to resign and presented a large bill for his services. He +also threatened violence to the President if his demands were not met +within twenty-four hours. Then it was that the British warship, the +_Mutiny_, suddenly appeared at Monrovia (February 12, 1909). Happily +the Liberians rose to the emergency. They requested that any British +soldiers at the barracks be withdrawn in order that they might be free +to deal with the insurrectionary movement said to be there on the +part of Liberian soldiers; and thus tactfully they brought about the +withdrawal of Major Cadell. + +By this time, however, the Liberian commission to the United States +had done its work, and just three months after Cadell's retirement the +return American commission came. After studying the situation it made +the following recommendations: That the United States extend its aid to +Liberia in the prompt settlement of pending boundary disputes; that +the United States enable Liberia to refund its debt by assuming as a +guarantee for the payment of obligations under such arrangement the +control and collection of the Liberian customs; that the United States +lend its assistance to the Liberian Government in the reform of its +internal finances; that the United States lend its aid to Liberia in +organizing and drilling an adequate constabulary or frontier police +force; that the United States establish and maintain a research +station at Liberia; and that the United States reopen the question of +establishing a coaling-station in Liberia. Under the fourth of these +recommendations Major (now Colonel) Charles Young went to Liberia, +where from time to time since he has rendered most efficient service. +Arrangements were also made for a new loan, one of $1,700,000, which was +to be floated by banking institutions in the United States, Germany, +France, and England; and in 1912 an American General Receiver of Customs +and Financial Adviser to the Republic of Liberia (with an assistant +from each of the other three countries mentioned) opened his office +in Monrovia. It will be observed that a complicated and expensive +receivership was imposed on the Liberian people when an arrangement +much more simple would have served. The loan of $1,700,000 soon proving +inadequate for any large development of the country, negotiations were +begun in 1918 for a new loan, one of $5,000,000. Among the things +proposed were improvements on the harbor of Monrovia, some good roads +through the country, a hospital, and the broadening of the work of +education. About the loan two facts were outstanding: first, any money +to be spent would be spent wholly under American and not under Liberian +auspices; and, second, to the Liberians acceptance of the terms +suggested meant practically a surrender of their sovereignty, as +American appointees were to be in most of the important positions in the +country, at the same time that upon themselves would fall the ultimate +burden of the interest of the loan. By the spring of 1920 (in Liberia, +the commencement of the rainy season) it was interesting to note that +although the necessary measures of approval had not yet been passed by +the Liberian Congress, perhaps as many as fifteen American officials had +come out to the country to begin work in education, engineering, and +sanitation. Just a little later in the year President King called an +extra session of the legislature to consider amendments. While it was in +session a cablegram from the United States was received saying that no +amendments to the plan would be accepted and that it must be accepted as +submitted, "or the friendly interest which has heretofore existed would +become lessened." The Liberians were not frightened, however, and stood +firm. Meanwhile a new presidential election took place in the United +States; there was to be a radical change in the government; and the +Liberians were disposed to try further to see if some changes could not +be made in the proposed arrangements. Most watchfully from month to +month, let it be remembered, England and France were waiting; and in +any case it could easily be seen that as the Republic approached its +centennial it was face to face with political problems of the very first +magnitude.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Early in 1921 President King headed a new commission to the +United States to take up the whole matter of Liberia with the incoming +Republican administration.] + + +4. _Economic and Social Conditions_ + +From what has been said, it is evident that there is still much to be +done in Liberia along economic lines. There has been some beginning +in coöperative effort; thus the Bassa Trading Association is an +organization for mutual betterment of perhaps as many as fifty +responsible merchants and farmers. The country has as yet (1921), +however, no railroads, no street cars, no public schools, and no genuine +newspapers; nor are there any manufacturing or other enterprises for +the employment of young men on a large scale. The most promising youth +accordingly look too largely to an outlet in politics; some come to +America to be educated and not always do they return. A few become +clerks in the stores, and a very few assistants in the customs offices. +There is some excellent agriculture in the interior, but as yet no means +of getting produce to market on a large scale. In 1919 the total customs +revenue at Monrovia, the largest port, amounted to $196,913.21. For the +whole country the figure has recently been just about half a million +dollars a year. Much of this amount goes to the maintenance of the +frontier force. Within the last few years also the annual income for +the city of Monrovia--for the payment of the mayor, the police, and all +other city officers--has averaged $6000. + +In any consideration of social conditions the first question of all of +course is that of the character of the people themselves. Unfortunately +Liberia was begun with faulty ideals of life and work. The early +settlers, frequently only recently out of bondage, too often felt that +in a state of freedom they did not have to work, and accordingly they +imitated the habits of the old master class of the South. The real +burden of life then fell upon the native. There is still considerable +feeling between the native and the Americo-Liberian; but more and more +the wisest men of the country realize that the good of one is the good +of all, and they are endeavoring to make the native chiefs work for the +common welfare. From time to time the people of Liberia have given to +visitors an impression of arrogance, and perhaps no one thing had led to +more unfriendly criticism of this country than this. The fact is that +the Liberians, knowing that their country has various shortcomings +according to Western standards, are quick to assume the defensive, and +one method of protecting themselves is by erecting a barrier of dignity +and reserve. One has only to go beyond this, however, to find the real +heartbeat of the people. The comparative isolation of the Republic +moreover, and the general stress of living conditions have together +given to the everyday life an undue seriousness of tone, with a rather +excessive emphasis on the church, on politics, and on secret societies. +In such an atmosphere boys and girls too soon became mature, and for +them especially one might wish to see a little more wholesome outdoor +amusement. In school or college catalogues one still sees much of +jurisprudence and moral philosophy, but little of physics or biology. +Interestingly enough, this whole system of education and life has not +been without some elements of very genuine culture. Literature has been +mainly in the diction of Shakespeare and Milton; but Shakespeare and +Milton, though not of the twentieth century, are still good models, +and because the officials have had to compose many state documents and +deliver many formal addresses, there has been developed in the country +a tradition of good English speech. A service in any one of the +representative churches is dignified and impressive. + +The churches and schools of Liberia have been most largely in the hands +of the Methodists and the Episcopalians, though the Baptists, the +Presbyterians, and the Lutherans are well represented. The Lutherans +have penetrated to a point in the interior beyond that attained by any +other denomination. The Episcopalians have excelled others, even the +Methodists, by having more constant and efficient oversight of their +work. The Episcopalians have in Liberia a little more than 40 schools, +nearly half of these being boarding-schools, with a total attendance +of 2000. The Methodists have slightly more than 30 schools, with 2500 +pupils. The Lutherans in their five mission stations have 20 American +workers and 300 pupils. While it seems from these figures that the +number of those reached is small in proportion to the outlay, it must be +remembered that a mission school becomes a center from which influence +radiates in all directions. + +While the enterprise of the denominational institutions can not be +doubted, it may well be asked if, in so largely relieving the people +of the burden of the education of their children, they are not unduly +cultivating a spirit of dependence rather than of self-help. Something +of this point of view was emphasized by the Secretary of Public +Instruction, Mr. Walter F. Walker, in an address, "Liberia and Her +Educational Problems," delivered in Chicago in 1916. Said he of the day +schools maintained by the churches: "These day schools did invaluable +service in the days of the Colony and Commonwealth, and, indeed, in the +early days of the Republic; but to their continuation must undoubtedly +be ascribed the tardy recognition of the government and people of the +fact that no agency for the education of the masses is as effective as +the public school.... There is not one public school building owned by +the government or by any city or township." + +It might further be said that just now in Liberia there is no +institution that is primarily doing college work. Two schools in +Monrovia, however, call for special remark. The College of West Africa, +formerly Monrovia Seminary, was founded by the Methodist Church in 1839. +The institution does elementary and lower high school work, though some +years ago it placed a little more emphasis on college work than it has +been able to do within recent years. It was of this college that the +late Bishop A.P. Camphor served so ably as president for twelve years. +Within recent years it has recognized the importance of industrial work +and has had in all departments an average annual enrollment of 300. Not +quite so prominent within the last few years, but with more tradition +and theoretically at the head of the educational system of the Republic +is the Liberia College. In 1848 Simon Greenleaf of Boston, received from +John Payne, a missionary at Cape Palmas, a request for his assistance in +building a theological school. Out of this suggestion grew the Board +of Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia incorporated in +Massachusetts in March, 1850. The next year the Liberia legislature +incorporated the Liberia College, it being understood that the +institution would emphasize academic as well as theological subjects. In +1857 Ex-President J.J. Roberts was elected president; he superintended +the erection of a large building; and in 1862 the college was opened +for work. Since then it has had a very uneven existence, sometimes +enrolling, aside from its preparatory department, twenty or thirty +college students, then again having no college students at all. Within +the last few years, as the old building was completely out of repair, +the school has had to seek temporary quarters. It is too vital to the +country to be allowed to languish, however, and it is to be hoped that +it may soon be well started upon a new career of usefulness. In the +course of its history the Liberia College has had connected with it some +very distinguished men. Famous as teacher and lecturer, and president +from 1881 to 1885, was Edward Wilmot Blyden, generally regarded as the +foremost scholar that Western Africa has given to the world. Closely +associated with him in the early years, and well known in America as in +Africa, was Alexander Crummell, who brought to his teaching the richness +of English university training. A trustee for a number of years was +Samuel David Ferguson, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who served +with great dignity and resource as missionary bishop of the country +from 1884 until his death in 1916. A new president of the college, Rev. +Nathaniel H.B. Cassell, was elected in 1918, and it is expected that +under his efficient direction the school will go forward to still +greater years of service. + +Important in connection with the study of the social conditions in +Liberia is that of health and living conditions. One who lives in +America and knows that Africa is a land of unbounded riches can hardly +understand the extent to which the West Coast has been exploited, or +the suffering that is there just now. The distress is most acute in the +English colonies, and as Liberia is so close to Sierra Leone and the +Gold Coast, much of the same situation prevails there. In Monrovia the +only bank is the branch of the Bank of British West Africa. In the +branches of this great institution all along the coast, as a result of +the war, gold disappeared, silver became very scarce, and the common +form of currency became paper notes, issued in denominations as low as +one and two shillings. These the natives have refused to accept. They go +even further: rather than bring their produce to the towns and receive +paper for it they will not come at all. In Monrovia an effort was made +to introduce the British West African paper currency, and while this +failed, more and more the merchants insisted on being paid in silver, +nor in an ordinary purchase would silver be given in change on an +English ten-shilling note. Prices accordingly became exorbitant; +children were not properly nourished and the infant mortality grew to +astonishing proportions. Nor were conditions made better by the lack of +sanitation and by the prevalence of disease. Happily relief for these +conditions--for some of them at least--seems to be in sight, and it is +expected that before very long a hospital will be erected in Monrovia. + +One or two reflections suggest themselves. It has been said that the +circumstances under which Liberia was founded led to a despising of +industrial effort. The country is now quite awake, however, to the +advantages of industrial and agricultural enterprise. A matter of +supreme importance is that of the relation of the Americo-Liberian to +the native; this will work itself out, for the native is the country's +chief asset for the future. In general the Republic needs a few visible +evidences of twentieth century standards of progress; two or three high +schools and hospitals built on the American plan would work wonders. +Finally let it not be forgotten that upon the American Negro rests the +obligation to do whatever he can to help to develop the country. If he +will but firmly clasp hands with his brother across the sea, a new day +will dawn for American Negro and Liberian alike. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NEGRO A NATIONAL ISSUE + + +1. _Current Tendencies_ + +It is evident from what has been said already that the idea of the Negro +current about 1830 in the United States was not very exalted. It was +seriously questioned if he was really a human being, and doctors of +divinity learnedly expounded the "Cursed be Canaan" passage as applying +to him. A prominent physician of Mobile[1] gave it as his opinion that +"the brain of the Negro, when compared with the Caucasian, is smaller by +a tenth ... and the intellect is wanting in the same proportion," and +finally asserted that Negroes could not live in the North because "a +cold climate so freezes their brains as to make them insane." About +mulattoes, like many others, he stretched his imagination marvelously. +They were incapable of undergoing fatigue; the women were very delicate +and subject to all sorts of diseases, and they did not beget children +as readily as either black women or white women. In fact, said Nott, +between the ages of twenty-five and forty mulattoes died ten times as +fast as either white or black people; between forty and fifty-five fifty +times as fast, and between fifty-five and seventy one hundred times as +fast. + +[Footnote 1: See "Two Lectures on the Natural History of the Caucasian +and Negro Races. By Josiah C. Nott, M.D., Mobile, 1844."] + +To such opinions was now added one of the greatest misfortunes that have +befallen the Negro race in its entire history in America--burlesque on +the stage. When in 1696 Thomas Southerne adapted _Oroonoko_ from the +novel of Mrs. Aphra Behn and presented in London the story of the +African prince who was stolen from his native Angola, no one saw any +reason why the Negro should not be a subject for serious treatment on +the stage, and the play was a great success, lasting for decades. In +1768, however, was presented at Drury Lane a comic opera, _The Padlock_, +and a very prominent character was Mungo, the slave of a West Indian +planter, who got drunk in the second act and was profane throughout the +performance. In the course of the evening Mungo entertained the audience +with such lines as the following: + + Dear heart, what a terrible life I am led! + A dog has a better, that's sheltered and fed. + Night and day 'tis the same; + My pain is deir game: + Me wish to de Lord me was dead! + Whate'er's to be done, + Poor black must run. + Mungo here, Mungo dere, + Mungo everywhere: + Above and below, + Sirrah, come; sirrah, go; + Do so, and do so, + Oh! oh! + Me wish to de Lord me was dead! + +The depreciation of the race that Mungo started continued, and when in +1781 _Robinson Crusoe_ was given as a pantomime at Drury Lane, Friday +was represented as a Negro. The exact origins of Negro minstrelsy +are not altogether clear; there have been many claimants, and it is +interesting to note in passing that there was an "African Company" +playing in New York in the early twenties, though this was probably +nothing more than a small group of amateurs. Whatever may have been +the beginning, it was Thomas D. Rice who brought the form to genuine +popularity. In Louisville in the summer of 1828, looking from one of the +back windows of a theater, he was attracted by an old and decrepit slave +who did odd jobs about a livery stable. The slave's master was named +Crow and he called himself Jim Crow. His right shoulder was drawn up +high and his left leg was stiff at the knee, but he took his deformity +lightly, singing as he worked. He had one favorite tune to which he +had fitted words of his own, and at the end of each verse he made a +ludicrous step which in time came to be known as "rocking the heel." His +refrain consisted of the words: + + Wheel about, turn about, + Do jis so, + An' ebery time I wheel about + I jump Jim Crow. + +Rice, who was a clever and versatile performer, caught the air, made up +like the Negro, and in the course of the next season introduced Jim Crow +and his step to the stage, and so successful was he in his performance +that on his first night in the part he was encored twenty times.[1] Rice +had many imitators among the white comedians of the country, some of +whom indeed claimed priority in opening up the new field, and along with +their burlesque these men actually touched upon the possibilities of +plaintive Negro melodies, which they of course capitalized. In New York +late in 1842 four men--"Dan" Emmett, Frank Brower, "Billy" Whitlock, and +"Dick" Pelham--practiced together with fiddle and banjo, "bones" +and tambourine, and thus was born the first company, the "Virginia +Minstrels," which made its formal debut in New York February 17, 1843. +Its members produced in connection with their work all sorts of popular +songs, one of Emmett's being "Dixie," which, introduced by Mrs. John +Wood in a burlesque in New Orleans at the outbreak of the Civil War, +leaped into popularity and became the war-song of the Confederacy. +Companies multipled apace. "Christy's Minstrels" claimed priority to the +company already mentioned, but did not actually enter upon its New York +career until 1846. "Bryant's Minstrels" and Buckley's "New Orleans +Serenaders" were only two others of the most popular aggregations +featuring and burlesquing the Negro. In a social history of the Negro in +America, however, it is important to observe in passing that already, +even in burlesque, the Negro element was beginning to enthrall the +popular mind. About the same time as minstrelsy also developed the habit +of belittling the race by making the name of some prominent and worthy +Negro a term of contempt; thus "cuffy" (corrupted from Paul Cuffe) now +came into widespread use. + +[Footnote 1: See Laurence Hutton: "The Negro on the Stage," in _Harper's +Magazine_, 79:137 (June, 1889), referring to article by Edmon S. Conner +in _New York Times_, June 5, 1881.] + +This was not all. It was now that the sinister crime of lynching raised +its head in defiance of all law. At first used as a form of punishment +for outlaws and gamblers, it soon came to be applied especially to +Negroes. One was burned alive near Greenville, S.C., in 1825; in May, +1835, two were burned near Mobile for the murder of two children; and +for the years between 1823 and 1860 not less than fifty-six cases of the +lynching of Negroes have been ascertained, though no one will ever know +how many lost their lives without leaving any record. Certainly more men +were executed illegally than legally; thus of forty-six recorded murders +by Negroes of owners or overseers between 1850 and 1860 twenty resulted +in legal execution and twenty-six in lynching. Violent crimes against +white women were not relatively any more numerous than now; but those +that occurred or were attempted received swift punishment; thus of +seventeen cases of rape in the ten years last mentioned Negroes were +legally executed in five and lynched in twelve.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See Hart: _Slavery and Abolition_, 11 and 117, citing +Cutler: _Lynch Law_, 98-100 and 126-128.] + +Extraordinary attention was attracted by the burning in St. Louis in +1835 of a man named McIntosh, who had killed an officer who was trying +to arrest him.[1] This event came in the midst of a period of great +agitation, and it was for denouncing this lynching that Elijah P. +Lovejoy had his printing-office destroyed in St. Louis and was forced +to remove to Alton, Ill., where his press was three times destroyed and +where he finally met death at the hands of a mob while trying to protect +his property November 7, 1837. Judge Lawless defended the lynching and +even William Ellery Channing took a compromising view. Abraham Lincoln, +however, then a very young man, in an address on "The Perpetuation of +Our Political Institutions" at Springfield, January 27, 1837, said: +"Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the everyday news of the +times. They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana; +they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former nor the +burning suns of the latter; they are not the creatures of climate, +neither are they confined to the slaveholding or the nonslaveholding +states.... Turn to that horror-striking scene at St. Louis. A single +victim only was sacrificed there. This story is very short, and is +perhaps the most highly tragic of anything that has ever been witnessed +in real life. A mulatto man by the name of McIntosh was seized in the +street, dragged to the suburbs of the city, chained to a tree, and +actually burned to death; and all within a single hour from the time he +had been a free man attending to his own business and at peace with +the world.... Such are the effects of mob law, and such are the scenes +becoming more and more frequent in this land so lately famed for love of +law and order, and the stories of which have even now grown too familiar +to attract anything more than an idle remark." + +[Footnote 1: Cutler: _Lynch Law_, 109, citing Niles's _Register_, June +4, 1836.] + +All the while flagrant crimes were committed against Negro women and +girls, and free men in the border states were constantly being +dragged into slavery by kidnapers. Two typical cases will serve for +illustration. George Jones, a respectable man of New York, was in 1836 +arrested on Broadway on the pretext that he had committed assault and +battery. He refused to go with his captors, for he knew that he had +done nothing to warrant such a charge; but he finally yielded on the +assurance of his employer that everything possible would be done for +him. He was placed in the Bridewell and a few minutes afterwards taken +before a magistrate, to whose satisfaction he was proved to be a slave. +Thus, in less than two hours after his arrest he was hurried away by the +kidnapers, whose word had been accepted as sufficient evidence, and he +had not been permitted to secure a single friendly witness. Solomon +Northrup, who afterwards wrote an account of his experiences, was a +free man who lived in Saratoga and made his living by working about the +hotels, where in the evenings he often played the violin at parties. One +day two men, supposedly managers of a traveling circus company, met him +and offered him good pay if he would go with them as a violinist to +Washington. He consented, and some mornings afterwards awoke to find +himself in a slave pen in the capital. How he got there was ever a +mystery to him, but evidently he had been drugged. He was taken South +and sold to a hard master, with whom he remained twelve years before +he was able to effect his release.[1] In the South any free Negro who +entertained a runaway might himself become a slave; thus in South +Carolina in 1827 a free woman with her three children suffered this +penalty because she gave succor to two homeless and fugitive children +six and nine years old. + +[Footnote 1: McDougall: Fugitive Slaves, 36-37.] + +Day by day, moreover, from the capital of the nation went on the +internal slave-trade. "When by one means and another a dealer had +gathered twenty or more likely young Negro men and girls, he would bring +them forth from their cells; would huddle the women and young children +into a cart or wagon; would handcuff the men in pairs, the right hand of +one to the left hand of another; make the handcuffs fast to a long chain +which passed between each pair of slaves, and would start his procession +southward."[1] It is not strange that several of the unfortunate people +committed suicide. One distracted mother, about to be separated from her +loved ones, dumbfounded the nation by hurling herself from the window +of a prison in the capital on the Sabbath day and dying in the street +below. + +[Footnote 1: McMaster, V, 219-220.] + +Meanwhile even in the free states the disabilities of the Negro +continued. In general he was denied the elective franchise, the right of +petition, the right to enter public conveyances or places of amusement, +and he was driven into a status of contempt by being shut out from the +army and the militia. He had to face all sorts of impediments in getting +education or in pursuing honest industry; he had nothing whatever to +do with the administration of justice; and generally he was subject to +insult and outrage. + +One might have supposed that on all this proscription and denial of the +ordinary rights of human beings the Christian Church would have taken a +positive stand. Unfortunately, as so often happens, it was on the side +of property and vested interest rather than on that of the oppressed. We +have already seen that Southern divines held slaves and countenanced +the system; and by 1840 James G. Birney had abundant material for his +indictment, "The American Churches the Bulwarks of American Slavery." +He showed among other things that while in 1780 the Methodist Episcopal +Church had opposed slavery and in 1784 had given a slaveholder one month +to repent or withdraw from its conferences, by 1836 it had so drifted +away from its original position as to disclaim "any right, wish, or +intention to interfere in the civil and political relation between +master and slave, as it existed in the slaveholding states of the +union." Meanwhile in the churches of the North there was the most +insulting discrimination; in the Baptist Church in Hartford the pews for +Negroes were boarded up in front, and in Stonington, Conn., the floor +was cut out of a Negro's pew by order of the church authorities. In +Boston, in a church that did not welcome and that made little provision +for Negroes, a consecrated deacon invited into his own pew some Negro +people, whereupon he lost the right to hold a pew in his church. He +decided that there should be some place where there might be more +freedom of thought and genuine Christianity, he brought others into the +plan, and the effort that he put forth resulted in what has since become +the Tremont Temple Baptist Church. + +Into all this proscription, burlesque, and crime, and denial of the +fundamental principles of Christianity, suddenly came the program of the +Abolitionists; and it spoke with tongues of fire, and had all the vigor +and force of a crusade. + + +2. _The Challenge of the Abolitionists_ + +The great difference between the early abolition societies which +resulted in the American Convention and the later anti-slavery movement +of which Garrison was the representative figure was the difference +between a humanitarian impulse tempered by expediency and one that had +all the power of a direct challenge. Before 1831 "in the South the +societies were more numerous, the members no less earnest, and the +hatred of slavery no less bitter,... yet the conciliation and persuasion +so noticeable in the earlier period in twenty years accomplished +practically nothing either in legislation or in the education of public +sentiment; while gradual changes in economic conditions at the South +caused the question to grow more difficult."[1] Moreover, "the evidence +of open-mindedness can not stand against the many instances of absolute +refusal to permit argument against slavery. In the Colonial Congress, +in the Confederation, in the Constitutional Convention, in the state +ratifying conventions, in the early Congresses, there were many vehement +denunciations of anything which seemed to have an anti-slavery tendency, +and wholesale suspicion of the North at all times when the subject was +opened."[2] One can not forget the effort of James G. Birney, or that +Benjamin Lundy's work was most largely done in what we should now call +the South, or that between 1815 and 1828 at least four journals which +avowed the extinction of slavery as one, if not the chief one, of +their objects were published in the Southern states.[3] Only gradual +emancipation, however, found any real support in the South; and, as +compared with the work of Garrison, even that of Lundy appears in the +distance with something of the mildness of "sweetness and light." Even +before the rise of Garrison, Robert James Turnbull of South Carolina, +under the name of "Brutus," wrote a virulent attack on anti-slavery; and +Representative Drayton of the same state, speaking in Congress in 1828, +said, "Much as we love our country, we would rather see our cities in +flames, our plains drenched in blood--rather endure all the calamities +of civil war, than parley for an instant upon the right of any power, +than our own to interfere with the regulation of our slaves."[4] More +and more this was to be the real sentiment of the South, and in the +face of this kind of eloquence and passion mere academic discussion was +powerless. + +[Footnote 1: Adams: _The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery, 1808-1831_, +250-251.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 110.] + +[Footnote 3: William Birney: _James G. Birney and His Times_, 85-86.] + +[Footnote 4: Register of Debates, _4,975_, cited by Adams, 112-3.] + +The _Liberator_ was begun January 1, 1831. The next year Garrison was +the leading spirit in the formation of the New England Anti-Slavery +Society; and in December, 1833, in Philadelphia, the American +Anti-Slavery Society was organized. In large measure these organizations +were an outgrowth of the great liberal and humanitarian spirit that by +1830 had become manifest in both Europe and America. Hugo and Mazzini, +Byron and Macaulay had all now appeared upon the scene, and romanticism +was regnant. James Montgomery and William Faber wrote their hymns, +and Reginald Heber went as a missionary bishop to India. Forty years +afterwards the French Revolution was bearing fruit. France herself had a +new revolution in 1830, and in this same year the kingdom of Belgium was +born. In England there was the remarkable reign of William IV, which +within the short space of seven years summed up in legislation reforms +that had been agitated for decades. In 1832 came the great Reform Bill, +in 1833 the abolition of slavery in English dominions, and in 1834 a +revision of factory legislation and the poor law. Charles Dickens and +Elizabeth Barrett Browning began to be heard, and in 1834 came to +America George Thompson, a powerful and refined speaker who had had much +to do with the English agitation against slavery. The young republic +of the United States, lusty and self-confident, was seething with new +thought. In New England the humanitarian movement that so largely began +with the Unitarianism of Channing "ran through its later phase in +transcendentalism, and spent its last strength in the anti-slavery +agitation and the enthusiasms of the Civil War."[1] The movement was +contemporary with the preaching of many novel gospels in religion, in +sociology, in science, education, and medicine. New sects were formed, +like the Universalists, the Spiritualists, the Second Adventists, +the Mormons, and the Shakers, some of which believed in trances and +miracles, others in the quick coming of Christ, and still others in the +reorganization of society; and the pseudo-sciences, like mesmerism and +phrenology, had numerous followers. The ferment has long since subsided, +and much that was then seething has since gone off in vapor; but when +all that was spurious has been rejected, we find that the +general impulse was but a new baptism of the old Puritan spirit. +Transcendentalism appealed to the private consciousness as the sole +standard of truth and right. With kindred movements it served to quicken +the ethical sense of a nation that was fast becoming materialistic and +to nerve it for the conflict that sooner or later had to come. + +[Footnote 1: Henry A. Beers: _Initial Studies in American Letters_, +95-98 passim.] + +In his salutatory editorial Garrison said with reference to his +position: "In Park Street Church, on the Fourth of July, 1829, in +an address on slavery, I unreflectingly assented to the popular but +pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition. I seize this opportunity to +make a full and unequivocal recantation, and thus publicly to ask pardon +of my God, of my country, and of my brethren, the poor slaves, for +having uttered a sentiment so full of timidity, injustice, and +absurdity.... I am aware that many object to the severity of my +language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as +truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish +to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose +house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately +rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to +gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; +but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present! I am in +earnest. I will not equivocate--I will not excuse--I will not retreat a +single inch--AND I WILL BE HEARD." With something of the egotism +that comes of courage in a holy cause, he said: "On this question my +influence, humble as it is, is felt at this moment to a considerable +extent, and shall be felt in coming years--not perniciously, but +beneficially--not as a curse, but as a blessing; and POSTERITY WILL BEAR +TESTIMONY THAT I WAS RIGHT." + +All the while, in speaking to the Negro people themselves, Garrison +endeavored to beckon them to the highest possible ground of personal and +racial self-respect. Especially did he advise them to seek the virtues +of education and coöperation. Said he to them:[1] "Support each +other.... When I say 'support each other,' I mean, sell to each other, +and buy of each other, in preference to the whites. This is a duty: the +whites do not trade with you; why should you give them your patronage? +If one of your number opens a little shop, do not pass it by to give +your money to a white shopkeeper. If any has a trade, employ him as +often as possible. If any is a good teacher, send your children to him, +and be proud that he is one of your color.... Maintain your rights, in +all cases, and at whatever expense.... Wherever you are allowed to vote, +see that your names are put on the lists of voters, and go to the polls. +If you are not strong enough to choose a man of your own color, give +your votes to those who are friendly to your cause; but, if possible, +elect intelligent and respectable colored men. I do not despair of +seeing the time when our State and National Assemblies will contain a +fair proportion of colored representatives--especially if the proposed +college at New Haven goes into successful operation. Will you despair +now so many champions are coming to your help, and the trump of jubilee +is sounding long and loud; when is heard a voice from the East, a voice +from the West, a voice from the North, a voice from the South, crying, +_Liberty and Equality now, Liberty and Equality forever_! Will you +despair, seeing Truth, and Justice, and Mercy, and God, and Christ, and +the Holy Ghost, are on your side? Oh, no--never, never despair of the +complete attainment of your rights!" + +[Footnote 1: "An Address delivered before the Free People of Color in +Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, during the month of June, +1831, by Wm. Lloyd Garrison. Boston, 1831," pp. 14-18.] + +To second such sentiments rose a remarkable group of men and women, +among them Elijah P. Lovejoy, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, John +Greenleaf Whittier, Lydia Maria Child, Samuel J. May, William Jay, +Charles Sumner, Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John +Brown. Phillips, the "Plumed Knight" of the cause, closed his law +office because he was not willing to swear that he would support the +Constitution; he relinquished the franchise because he did not wish to +have any responsibility for a government that countenanced slavery; and +he lost sympathy with the Christian Church because of its compromising +attitude. Garrison himself termed the Constitution "a covenant with +death and an agreement with hell." Lydia Maria Child in 1833 published +an _Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans_, +and wrote or edited numerous other books for the cause, while the +anti-slavery poems of Whittier are now a part of the main stream of +American literature. The Abolitionists repelled many conservative men by +their refusal to countenance any laws that recognized slavery; but they +gained force when Congress denied them the right of petition and when +President Jackson refused them the use of the mails. + +There could be no question as to the directness of their attack. They +held up the slaveholder to scorn. They gave thousands of examples of the +inhumanity of the system of slavery, publishing scores and even hundreds +of tracts and pamphlets. They called the attention of America to the +slave who for running away was for five days buried in the ground up +to his chin with his arms tied behind him; to women who were whipped +because they did not breed fast enough or would not yield to the lust of +planters or overseers; to men who were tied to be whipped and then left +bleeding, or who were branded with hot irons, or forced to wear iron +yokes and clogs and bells; to the Presbyterian preacher in Georgia who +tortured a slave until he died; to a woman in New Jersey who was "bound +to a log, and scored with a knife, in a shocking manner, across her +back, and the gashes stuffed with salt, after which she was tied to +a post in a cellar, where, after suffering three days, death kindly +terminated her misery"; and finally to the fact that even when slaves +were dead they were not left in peace, as the South Carolina Medical +College in Charleston advertised that the bodies were used for +dissection.[1] In the face of such an indictment the South appeared more +injured and innocent than ever, and said that evils had been greatly +exaggerated. Perhaps in some instances they were; but the South and +everybody also knew that no pen could nearly do justice to some of the +things that were possible under the iniquitous and abominable system of +American slavery. + +[Footnote 1: See "American Slavery as it is: Testimony of a Thousand +Witnesses. By Theodore Dwight Weld. Published by the American +Anti-Slavery Society, New York, 1839"; but the account of the New Jersey +woman is from "A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery in the United States, +by Jesse Torrey, Ballston Spa, Penn., 1917," p. 67.] + +The Abolitionists, however, did not stop with a mere attack on +slavery. Not satisfied with the mere enumeration of examples of Negro +achievement, they made even higher claims in behalf of the people now +oppressed. Said Alexander H. Everett:[1] "We are sometimes told that all +these efforts will be unavailing--that the African is a degraded member +of the human family--that a man with a dark skin and curled hair is +necessarily, as such, incapable of improvement and civilization, and +condemned by the vice of his physical conformation to vegetate forever +in a state of hopeless barbarism. I reject with contempt and indignation +this miserable heresy. In replying to it the friends of truth and +humanity have not hitherto done justice to the argument. In order to +prove that the blacks were capable of intellectual efforts, they have +painfully collected a few specimens of what some of them have done in +this way, even in the degraded condition which they occupy at present +in Christendom. This is not the way to treat the subject. Go back to an +earlier period in the history of our race. See what the blacks were and +what they did three thousand years ago, in the period of their +greatness and glory, when they occupied the forefront in the march of +civilization--when they constituted in fact the whole civilized world of +their time. Trace this very civilization, of which we are so proud, to +its origin, and see where you will find it. We received it from our +European ancestors: they had it from the Greeks and Romans, and the +Jews. But, sir, where did the Greeks and the Romans and the Jews get it? +They derived it from Ethiopia and Egypt--in one word, from Africa.[2] +... The ruins of the Egyptian temples laugh to scorn the architectural +monuments of any other part of the world. They will be what they are +now, the delight and admiration of travelers from all quarters, when the +grass is growing on the sites of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, the present +pride of Rome and London.... It seems, therefore, that for this very +civilization of which we are so proud, and which is the only ground of +our present claim of superiority, we are indebted to the ancestors +of these very blacks, whom we are pleased to consider as naturally +incapable of civilization." + +[Footnote 1: See "The Anti-Slavery Picknick: a collection of Speeches, +Poems, Dialogues, and Songs, intended for use in schools and +anti-slavery meetings. By John A. Collins, Boston, 1842," 10-12.] + +[Footnote 2: It is worthy of note that this argument, which was long +thought to be fallacious, is more and more coming to be substantiated by +the researches of scholars, and that not only as affecting Northern +but also Negro Africa. Note Lady Lugard (Flora L. Shaw): _A Tropical +Dependency_, London, 1906, pp. 16-18.] + +In adherence to their convictions the Abolitionists were now to give +a demonstration of faith in humanity such as has never been surpassed +except by Jesus Christ himself. They believed in the Negro even before +the Negro had learned to believe in himself. Acting on their doctrine of +equal rights, they traveled with their Negro friends, "sat upon the same +platforms with them, ate with them, and one enthusiastic abolitionist +white couple adopted a Negro child."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Hart: _Slavery and Abolition_, 245-6.] + +Garrison appealed to posterity. He has most certainly been justified by +time. Compared with his high stand for the right, the opportunism of +such a man as Clay shrivels into nothingness. Within recent years a +distinguished American scholar,[1] writing of the principles for which +he and his co-workers stood, has said: "The race question transcends any +academic inquiry as to what ought to have been done in 1866. It affects +the North as well as the South; it touches the daily life of all of +our citizens, individually, politically, humanly. It molds the child's +conception of democracy. It tests the faith of the adult. It is by no +means an American problem only. What is going on in our states, North +and South, is only a local phase of a world-problem.... Now, Whittier's +opinions upon that world-problem are unmistakable. He believed, quite +literally, that all men are brothers; that oppression of one man or +one race degrades the whole human family; and that there should be the +fullest equality of opportunity. That a mere difference in color should +close the door of civil, industrial, and political hope upon any +individual was a hateful thing to the Quaker poet. The whole body of +his verse is a protest against the assertion of race pride, against the +emphasis upon racial differences. To Whittier there was no such thing +as a 'white man's civilization.' The only distinction was between +civilization and barbarism. He had faith in education, in equality +before the law, in freedom of opportunity, and in the ultimate triumph +of brotherhood. + + 'They are rising,-- + All are rising, + The black and white together.' + +This faith is at once too sentimental and too dogmatic to suit those +persons who have exalted economic efficiency into a fetish and who +have talked loudly at times--though rather less loudly since the +Russo-Japanese War--about the white man's task of governing the backward +races. _But whatever progress has been made by the American Negro since +the Civil War, in self-respect, in moral and intellectual development, +and--for that matter--in economic efficiency, has been due to fidelity +to those principles which Whittier and other like-minded men and women +long ago enunciated_.[2] The immense tasks which still remain, alike for +'higher' as for 'lower' races, can be worked out by following Whittier's +program, if they can be worked out at all." + +[Footnote 1: Bliss Perry: "Whittier for To-Day," _Atlantic Monthly_, +Vol. 100, 851-859 (December, 1907).] + +[Footnote 2: The italics are our own.] + + +3. The Contest + +Even before the Abolitionists became aggressive a test law had been +passed, the discussion of which did much to prepare for their coming. +Immediately after the Denmark Vesey insurrection the South Carolina +legislature voted that the moment that a vessel entered a port in the +state with a free Negro or person of color on board he should be seized, +even if he was the cook, the steward, or a mariner, or if he was a +citizen of another state or country.[1] The sheriff was to board the +vessel, take the Negro to jail and detain him there until the vessel was +actually ready to leave. The master of the ship was then to pay for the +detention of the Negro and take him away, or pay a fine of $1,000 and +see the Negro sold as a slave. Within a short time after this enactment +was passed, as many as forty-one vessels were deprived of one or more +hands, from one British trading vessel almost the entire crew being +taken. The captains appealed to the judge of the United States District +Court, who with alacrity turned the matter over to the state courts. Now +followed much legal proceeding, with an appeal to higher authorities, in +the course of which both Canning and Adams were forced to consider the +question, and it was generally recognized that the act violated both the +treaty with Great Britain and the power of Congress to regulate trade. +To all of this South Carolina replied that as a sovereign state she had +the right to interdict the entry of foreigners, that in fact she had +been a sovereign state at the time of her entrance into the Union and +that she never had surrendered the right to exclude free Negroes. +Finally she asserted that if a dissolution of the Union must be the +alternative she was quite prepared to abide by the result. Unusual +excitement arose soon afterwards when four free Negroes on a British +ship were seized by the sheriff and dragged from the deck. The captain +had to go to heavy expense to have these men released, and on reaching +Liverpool he appealed to the Board of Trade. The British minister now +sent a more vigorous protest, Adams referred the same to Wirt, the +Attorney General, and Wirt was forced to declare South Carolina's act +unconstitutional and void. His opinion with a copy of the British +protest Adams sent to the Governor of the state, who immediately +transmitted the same to the legislature. Each branch of the legislature +passed resolutions which the other would not accept, but neither voted +to repeal the law. In fact, it remained technically in force until the +Civil War. In 1844 Massachusetts sent Samuel Hoar as a commissioner to +Charleston to make a test case of a Negro who had been deprived of his +rights. Hoar cited Article II, Section 2, of the National Constitution +("The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and +immunities of citizens in the several states"), intending ultimately to +bring a case before the United States Supreme Court. When he appeared, +however, the South Carolina legislature voted that "this agent comes +here not as a citizen of the United States, but as an emissary of a +foreign Government hostile to our domestic institutions and with the +sole purpose of subverting our internal police." Hoar was at length +notified that his life was in danger and he was forced to leave the +state. Meanwhile Southern sentiment against the American Colonization +Society had crystallized, and the excitement raised by David Walker's +_Appeal_ was exceeded only by that occasioned by Nat Turner's +insurrection. + +[Footnote 1: Note McMaster, V, 200-204.] + +When, then, the Abolitionists began their campaign the country was +already ripe for a struggle, and in the North as well as the South there +was plenty of sentiment unfavorable to the Negro. In July, 1831, when an +attempt was made to start a manual training school for Negro youth in +New Haven, the citizens at a public meeting declared that "the founding +of colleges for educating colored people is an unwarrantable and +dangerous interference with the internal concerns of other states, and +ought to be discouraged"; and they ultimately forced the project to be +abandoned. At Canterbury in the same state Prudence Crandall, a young +Quaker woman twenty-nine years of age, was brought face to face with the +problem when she admitted a Negro girl, Sarah Harris, to her school.[1] +When she was boycotted she announced that she would receive Negro girls +only if no others would attend, and she advertised accordingly in the +Liberator. She was subjected to various indignities and efforts were +made to arrest her pupils as vagrants. As she was still undaunted, her +opponents, on May 24, 1833, procured a special act of the legislature +forbidding, under severe penalties, the instruction of any Negro from +outside the state without the consent of the town authorities. Under +this act Miss Crandall was arrested and imprisoned, being confined to a +cell which had just been vacated by a murderer. The Abolitionists came +to her defense, but she was convicted, and though the higher courts +quashed the proceedings on technicalities, the village shopkeepers +refused to sell her food, manure was thrown into her well, her house +was pelted with rotten eggs and at last demolished, and even the +meeting-house in the town was closed to her. The attempt to continue the +school was then abandoned. In 1834 an academy was built by subscription +in Canaan, N.H.; it was granted a charter by the legislature, and the +proprietors determined to admit all applicants having "suitable moral +and intellectual recommendations, without other distinctions." The +town-meeting "viewed with abhorrence" the attempt to establish the +school, but when it was opened twenty-eight white and fourteen Negro +scholars attended. The town-meeting then ordered that the academy be +forcibly removed and appointed a committee to execute the mandate. +Accordingly on August 10 three hundred men with two hundred oxen +assembled, took the edifice from its place, dragged it for some distance +and left it a ruin. From 1834 to 1836, in fact, throughout the country, +from east to west, swept a wave of violence. Not less than twenty-five +attempts were made to break up anti-slavery meetings. In New York in +October, 1833, there was a riot in Clinton Hall, and from July 7 to 11 +of the next year a succession of riots led to the sacking of the house +of Lewis Tappan and the destruction of other houses and churches. When +George Thompson arrived from England in September, 1834, his meetings +were constantly disturbed, and Garrison himself was mobbed in Boston in +1835, being dragged through the streets with a rope around his body. + +[Footnote 1: Note especially "Connecticut's Canterbury Tale; its +Heroine, Prudence Crandall, and its Moral for To-Day, by John C. +Kimball," Hartford (1886).] + +In general the Abolitionists were charged by the South with promoting +both insurrection and the amalgamation of the races. There was no clear +proof of these charges; nevertheless, May said, "If we do not emancipate +our slaves by our own moral energy, they will emancipate themselves and +that by a process too horrible to contemplate";[1] and Channing said, +"Allowing that amalgamation is to be anticipated, then, I maintain, we +have no right to resist it. Then it is not unnatural."[2] While the +South grew hysterical at the thought, it was, as Hart remarks, a fair +inquiry, which the Abolitionists did not hesitate to put--Who was +responsible for the only amalgamation that had so far taken place? After +a few years there was a cleavage among the Abolitionists. Some of the +more practical men, like Birney, Gerrit Smith, and the Tappans, who +believed in fighting through governmental machinery, in 1838 broke away +from the others and prepared to take a part in Federal politics. This +was the beginning of the Liberty party, which nominated Birney for the +presidency in 1840 and again in 1844. In 1848 it became merged in the +Free Soil party and ultimately in the Republican party. + +[Footnote 1: Hart, 221, citing _Liberator_, V, 59.] + +[Footnote 2: Hart, 216, citing Channing, _Works_, V. 57.] + +With the forties came division in the Church--a sort of prelude to the +great events that were to thunder through the country within the next +two decades. Could the Church really countenance slavery? Could a bishop +hold a slave? These were to become burning questions. In 1844-5 the +Baptists of the North and East refused to approve the sending out of +missionaries who owned slaves, and the Southern Baptist Convention +resulted. In 1844, when James O. Andrew came into the possession of +slaves by his marriage to a widow who had these as a legacy from her +former husband, the Northern Methodists refused to grant that one of +their bishops might hold a slave, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, +South, was formally organized in Louisville the following year. The +Presbyterians and the Episcopalians, more aristocratic in tone, did not +divide. + +The great events of the annexation of Texas, with the Mexican War that +resulted, the Compromise of 1850, with the Fugitive Slave Law, the +Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854, and the Dred Scott decision of 1857 +were all regarded in the North as successive steps in the campaign of +slavery, though now in the perspective they appear as vain efforts to +beat back a resistless tide. In the Mexican War it was freely urged by +the Mexicans that, should the American line break, their host would soon +find itself among the rich cities of the South, where perhaps it could +not only exact money, but free two million slaves as well, call to its +assistance the Indians, and even draw aid from the Abolitionists in the +North.[1] Nothing of all this was to be. Out of the academic shades +of Harvard, however, at last came a tongue of flame. In "The Present +Crisis" James Russell Lowell produced lines whose tremendous beat was +like a stern call of the whole country to duty: + +[Footnote 1: Justin H. Smith: _The War with Mexico_, I, 107.] + + Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, + In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; + Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, + Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, + And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light. + + * * * * * + + Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust, + Ere her cause bring fame and profit and 'tis prosperous to be just; + Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, + Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified, + And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied. + + * * * * * + + New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth; + They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth; + Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must Pilgrims be, + Launch our _Mayflower_, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea, + Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's blood-rusted key. + +As "The Present Crisis" came after the Mexican War, so after the new +Fugitive Slave Law appeared _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ (1852). "When despairing +Hungarian fugitives make their way, against all the search-warrants and +authorities of their lawful governments, to America, press and political +cabinet ring with applause and welcome. When despairing African +fugitives do the same thing--it is--what _is_ it?" asked Harriet Beecher +Stowe; and in her remarkable book she proceeded to show the injustice of +the national position. _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ has frequently been termed +a piece of propaganda that gave an overdrawn picture of Southern +conditions. The author, however, had abundant proof for her incidents, +and she was quite aware of the fact that the problem of the Negro, North +as well as South, transcended the question of slavery. Said St. Clair +to Ophelia: "If we emancipate, are you willing to educate? How many +families of your town would take in a Negro man or woman, teach them, +bear with them, and seek to make them Christians? How many merchants +would take Adolph, if I wanted to make him a clerk; or mechanics, if I +wanted to teach him a trade? If I wanted to put Jane and Rosa to school, +how many schools are there in the Northern states that would take them +in?... We are in a bad position. We are the more _obvious_ oppressors of +the Negro; but the unchristian prejudice of the North is an oppressor +almost equally severe." + +Meanwhile the thrilling work of the Underground Railroad was answered +by a practical reopening of the slave-trade. From 1820 to 1840, as the +result of the repressive measure of 1819, the traffic had declined; +between 1850 and 1860, however, it was greatly revived, and Southern +conventions resolved that all laws, state or Federal, prohibiting the +slave-trade, should be repealed. The traffic became more and more open +and defiant until, as Stephen A. Douglas computed, as many as 15,000 +slaves were brought into the country in 1859. It was not until the +Lincoln government in 1862 hanged the first trader who ever suffered +the extreme penalty of the law, and made with Great Britain a treaty +embodying the principle of international right of search, that the +trade was effectually checked. By the end of the war it was entirely +suppressed, though as late as 1866 a squadron of ships patrolled the +slave coast. + +The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, repealing the Missouri Compromise and +providing for "squatter sovereignty" in the territories in question, +outraged the North and led immediately to the forming of the Republican +party. It was not long before public sentiment began to make itself +felt, and the first demonstration took place in Boston. Anthony Burns +was a slave who escaped from Virginia and made his way to Boston, where +he was at work in the winter of 1853-4. He was discovered by a United +States marshal who presented a writ for his arrest just at the time +of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in May, 1854. Public feeling +became greatly aroused. Wendell Phillips and Theodore Parker delivered +strong addresses at a meeting in Faneuil Hall while an unsuccessful +attempt to rescue Burns from the Court House was made under the +leadership of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who with others of the +attacking party was wounded. It was finally decided in court that Burns +must be returned to his master. The law was obeyed; but Boston had been +made very angry, and generally her feeling had counted for something in +the history of the country. The people draped their houses in mourning, +hissed the procession that took Burns to his ship and at the wharf a +riot was averted only by a minister's call to prayer. This incident did +more to crystallize Northern sentiment against slavery than any other +except the exploit of John Brown, and this was the last time that a +fugitive slave was taken out of Boston. Burns himself was afterwards +bought by popular subscription, and ultimately became a Baptist minister +in Canada. + +In 1834 Dr. Emerson, an army officer stationed in Missouri, removed to +Illinois, taking with him his slave, Dred Scott. Two years later, again +accompanied by Scott, he went to Minnesota. In Illinois slavery was +prohibited by state law and Minnesota was a free territory. In 1838 +Emerson returned with Scott to Missouri. After a while the slave raised +the important question: Had not his residence outside of a slave state +made him a free man? Beaten by his master in 1848, with the aid of +anti-slavery lawyers Scott brought a suit against him for assault and +battery, the circuit court of St. Louis rendering a decision in his +favor. Emerson appealed and in 1852 the Supreme Court of the state +reversed the decision of the lower court. Not long after this Emerson +sold Scott to a citizen of New York named Sandford. Scott now brought +suit against Sandford, on the ground that they were citizens of +different states. The case finally reached the Supreme Court of the +United States, which in 1857 handed down the decision that Scott was not +a citizen of Missouri and had no standing in the Federal courts, that +a slave was only a piece of property, and that a master might take his +property with impunity to any place within the jurisdiction of the +United States. The ownership of Scott and his family soon passed to a +Massachusetts family by whom they were liberated; but the important +decision that the case had called forth aroused the most intense +excitement throughout the country, and somehow out of it all people +remembered more than anything else the amazing declaration of Chief +Justice Taney that "the Negroes were so far inferior that they had +no rights which the white man was bound to respect." The extra-legal +character and the general fallacy of his position were exposed by +Justice Curtis in a masterly dissenting opinion. + +No one incident of the period showed more clearly the tension under +which the country was laboring than the assault on Charles Sumner by +Preston S. Brooks, a congressional representative from South Carolina. +As a result of this regrettable occurrence splendid canes with such +inscriptions as "Hit him again" and "Use knock-down arguments" were sent +to Brooks from different parts of the South and he was triumphantly +reëlected by his constituency, while on the other hand resolutions +denouncing him were passed all over the North, in Canada, and even in +Europe. More than ever the South was thrown on the defensive, and in +impassioned speeches Robert Toombs now glorified his state and his +section. Speaking at Emory College in 1853 he had already made an +extended apology for slavery;[1] speaking in the Georgia legislature on +the eve of secession he contended that the South had been driven to bay +by the Abolitionists and must now "expand or perish." A writer in the +_Southern Literary Messenger_,[2] in an article "The Black Race in North +America," made the astonishing statement that "the slavery of the black +race on this continent is the price America has paid for her liberty, +civil and religious, and, humanly speaking, these blessings would +have been unattainable without their aid." Benjamin M. Palmer, a +distinguished minister of New Orleans, in a widely quoted sermon in 1860 +spoke of the peculiar trust that had been given to the South--to be the +guardians of the slaves, the conservers of the world's industry, and the +defenders of the cause of religion.[3] "The blooms upon Southern fields +gathered by black hands have fed the spindles and looms of Manchester +and Birmingham not less than of Lawrence and Lowell. Strike now a blow +at this system of labor and the world itself totters at the stroke. +Shall we permit that blow to fall? Do we not owe it to civilized man to +stand in the breach and stay the uplifted arm?... This trust we will +discharge in the face of the worst possible peril. Though war be the +aggregation of all evils, yet, should the madness of the hour appeal to +the arbitration of the sword, we will not shrink even from the baptism +of fire.... The position of the South is at this moment sublime. If +she has grace given her to know her hour, she will save herself, the +country, and the world." + +[Footnote 1: See "An Oration delivered before the Few and Phi Gamma +Societies of Emory College: Slavery in the United States; its +consistency with republican institutions, and its effects upon the slave +and society. Augusta, Ga., 1853."] + +[Footnote 2: November, 1855.] + +[Footnote 3: "The Rights of the South defended in the Pulpits, by B.M. +Palmer, D.D., and W.T. Leacock, D.D., Mobile, 1860."] + +All of this was very earnest and very eloquent, but also very mistaken, +and the general fallacy of the South's position was shown by no less a +man than he who afterwards became vice-president of the Confederacy. +Speaking in the Georgia legislature in opposition to the motion for +secession, Stephens said that the South had no reason to feel aggrieved, +for all along she had received more than her share of the nation's +privileges, and had almost always won in the main that which was +demanded. She had had sixty years of presidents to the North's +twenty-four; two-thirds of the clerkships and other appointments +although the white population in the section was only one-third that +of the country; fourteen attorneys general to the North's five; +and eighteen Supreme Court judges to the North's eleven, although +four-fifths of the business of the court originated in the free states. +"This," said Stephens in an astonishing declaration, "we have required +so as to guard against any interpretation of the Constitution +unfavorable to us." + +Still another voice from the South, in a slightly different key, +attacked the tendencies in the section. _The Impending Crisis_ (1857), +by Hinton Rowan Helper, of North Carolina, was surpassed in sensational +interest by no other book of the period except _Uncle Tom's Cabin_. The +author did not place himself upon the broadest principles of humanity +and statesmanship; he had no concern for the Negro, and the great +planters of the South were to him simply the "whelps" and "curs" of +slavery. He spoke merely as the voice of the non-slaveholding white men +in the South. He set forth such unpleasant truths as that the personal +and real property, including slaves, of Virginia, North Carolina, +Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, taken all together, +was less than the real and personal estate in the single state of New +York; that representation in Southern legislatures was unfair; that in +Congress a Southern planter was twice as powerful as a Northern man; +that slavery was to blame for the migration from the South to the West; +and that in short the system was in every way harmful to the man of +limited means. All of this was decidedly unpleasant to the ears of the +property owners of the South; Helper's book was proscribed, and the +author himself found it more advisable to live in New York than in his +native state. _The Impending Crisis_ was eagerly read, however, and it +succeeded as a book because it attempted to attack with some degree of +honesty a great economic problem. + +The time for speeches and books, however, was over, and the time for +action had come. For years the slave had chanted, "I've been listenin' +all the night long"; and his prayer had reached the throne. On October +16, 1859, John Brown made his raid on Harper's Ferry and took his place +with the immortals. In the long and bitter contest on American slavery +the Abolitionists had won. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOCIAL PROGRESS, 1820-1860[1] + + +[Footnote 1: This chapter follows closely upon Chapter III, Section 5, +and is largely complementary to Chapter VIII.] + +So far in our study we have seen the Negro as the object of interest +on the part of the American people. Some were disposed to give him a +helping hand, some to keep him in bondage, and some thought that it +might be possible to dispose of any problem by sending him out of the +country. In all this period of agitation and ferment, aside from the +efforts of friends in his behalf, just what was the Negro doing to work +out his own salvation? If for the time being we can look primarily at +constructive effort rather than disabilities, just what do we find that +on his own account he was doing to rise to the full stature of manhood? + +Naturally in the answer to such a question we shall have to be concerned +with those people who had already attained unto nominal freedom. We +shall indeed find many examples of industrious slaves who, working in +agreement with their owners, managed sometimes to purchase themselves +and even to secure ownership of their families. Such cases, while +considerable in the aggregate, were after all exceptional, and for the +ordinary slave on the plantation the outlook was hopeless enough. +In 1860 the free persons formed just one-ninth of the total Negro +population in the country, there being 487,970 of them to 3,953,760 +slaves. It is a commonplace to remark the progress that the race has +made since emancipation. A study of the facts, however, will show that +with all their disadvantages less than half a million people had before +1860 not only made such progress as amasses a surprising total, but that +they had already entered every large field of endeavor in which the race +is engaged to-day. + +When in course of time the status of the Negro in the American body +politic became a live issue, the possibility and the danger of an +_imperium in imperio_ were perceived; and Rev. James W.C. Pennington, +undoubtedly a leader, said in his lectures in London and Glasgow: "The +colored population of the United States have no destiny separate from +that of the nation in which they form an integral part. Our destiny is +bound up with that of America. Her ship is ours; her pilot is ours; her +storms are ours; her calms are ours. If she breaks upon any rock, we +break with her. If we, born in America, can not live upon the same soil +upon terms of equality with the descendants of Scotchmen, Englishmen, +Irishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Hungarians, Greeks, and Poles, then the +fundamental theory of America fails and falls to the ground."[1] While +everybody was practically agreed upon this fundamental matter of the +relation of the race to the Federal Government, more and more there +developed two lines of thought, equally honest, as to the means by which +the race itself was to attain unto the highest things that American +civilization had to offer. The leader of one school of thought was +Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. When +this man and his friends found that in white churches they were not +treated with courtesy, they said, We shall have our own church; we shall +have our own bishop; we shall build up our own enterprises in any line +whatsoever; and even to-day the church that Allen founded remains as +the greatest single effort of the race in organization. The foremost +representative of the opposing line of thought was undoubtedly Frederick +Douglass, who in a speech in Rochester in 1848 said: "I am well aware of +the anti-Christian prejudices which have excluded many colored persons +from white churches, and the consequent necessity for erecting their own +places of worship. This evil I would charge upon its originators, and +not the colored people. But such a necessity does not now exist to the +extent of former years. There are societies where color is not regarded +as a test of membership, and such places I deem more appropriate for +colored persons than exclusive or isolated organizations." There is much +more difference between these two positions than can be accounted for by +the mere lapse of forty years between the height of the work of Allen +and that of Douglass. Allen certainly did not sanction segregation under +the law, and no man worked harder than he to relieve his people from +proscription. Douglass moreover, who did not formally approve of +organizations that represented any such distinction as that of race, +again and again presided over gatherings of Negro men. In the last +analysis, however, it was Allen who was foremost in laying the basis +of distinctively Negro enterprise, and Douglass who felt that the real +solution of any difficulty was for the race to lose itself as quickly as +possible in the general body politic. + +[Footnote 1: Nell: _Colored Patriots of the American Revolution_, 356.] + +We have seen that the Church was from the first the race's foremost form +of social organization, and that sometimes in very close touch with +it developed the early lodges of such a body as the Masons. By 1800 +emancipation was well under way; then began emigration from the South +to the central West; emigration brought into being the Underground +Railroad; and finally all forces worked together for the development of +Negro business, the press, conventions, and other forms of activity. It +was natural that states so close to the border as Pennsylvania and Ohio +should be important in this early development. + +The Church continued the growth that it had begun several decades +before. The A.M.E. denomination advanced rapidly from 7 churches and 400 +members in 1816 to 286 churches and 73,000 members by the close of the +Civil War. Naturally such a distinctively Negro organization could +make little progress in the South before the war, but there were small +congregations in Charleston and New Orleans, and William Paul Quinn +blazed a path in the West, going from Pittsburgh to St. Louis. + +In 1847 the Prince Hall Lodge of the Masons in Massachusetts, the First +Independent African Grand Lodge in Pennsylvania, and the Hiram Grand +Lodge of Pennsylvania formed a National Grand Lodge, and from one or +another of these all other Grand Lodges among Negroes have descended. In +1842 the members of the Philomathean Institute of New York and of the +Philadelphia Library Company and Debating Society applied for admission +to the International Order of Odd Fellows. They were refused on account +of their race. Thereupon Peter Ogden, a Negro, who had already joined +the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows of England, secured a charter for +the first Negro American lodge, Philomathean, No. 646, of New York, +which was set up March 1, 1843. It was followed within the next two +years by lodges in New York, Philadelphia, Albany, and Poughkeepsie. The +Knights of Pythias were not organized until 1864 in Washington; but the +Grand Order of Galilean Fishermen started on its career in Baltimore in +1856. + +The benefit societies developed apace. At first they were small and +confined to a group of persons well known to each other, thus being +genuinely fraternal. Simple in form, they imposed an initiation fee of +hardly less than $2.50 or more than $5.00, a monthly fee of about 50 +cents, and gave sick dues ranging from $1.50 to $5.00 a month, with +guarantee of payment of one's funeral expenses and subsequent help to +the widow. By 1838 there were in Philadelphia alone 100 such groups with +7,448 members. As bringing together spirits supposedly congenial, these +organizations largely took the place of clubs, and the meetings were +relished accordingly. Some drifted into secret societies, and after the +Civil War some that had not cultivated the idea of insurance were forced +to add this feature to their work. + +In the sphere of civil rights the Negroes, in spite of circumstances, +were making progress, and that by their own efforts as well as those +of their friends the Abolitionists. Their papers helped decidedly. The +_Journal of Freedom_ (commonly known as _Freedom's Journal_), begun +March 30, 1827, ran for three years. It had numerous successors, but +no one of outstanding strength before the _North Star_ (later known as +_Frederick Douglass' Paper_) began publication in 1847, continuing +until the Civil War. Largely through the effort of Paul Cuffe for the +franchise, New Bedford, Mass., was generally prominent in all that made +for racial prosperity. Here even by 1850 the Negro voters held the +balance of power and accordingly exerted a potent influence on Election +day.[1] Under date March 6, 1840, there was brought up for repeal so +much of the Massachusetts Statutes as forbade intermarriage between +white persons and Negroes, mulattoes, or Indians, as "contrary to the +principles of Christianity and republicanism." The committee said that +it did not recommend a repeal in the expectation that the number of +connections, legal or illegal, between the races would be thereupon +increased; but its object rather was that wherever such connections were +found the usual civil liabilities and obligations should not fail to +attach to the contracting parties. The enactment was repealed. In the +same state, by January, 1843, an act forbidding discrimination +on railroads was passed. This grew out of separate petitions or +remonstrances from Francis Jackson and Joseph Nunn, each man being +supported by friends, and the petitioners based their request "not on +the supposition that the colored man is not as well treated as his white +fellow-citizen, but on the broad principle that the constitution allows +no distinction in public privileges among the different classes of +citizens in this commonwealth."[2] In New York City an interesting +case arose over the question of public conveyances. When about 1852 +horse-cars began to supersede omnibuses on the streets, the Negro was +excluded from the use of them, and he continued to be excluded until +1855, when a decision of Judge Rockwell gave him the right to enter +them. The decision was ignored and the Negro continued to be excluded as +before. One Sunday in May, however, Rev. James W.C. Pennington, after +service, reminded his hearers of Judge Rockwell's decision, urged them +to stand up for their rights, and especially to inform any friends who +might visit the city during the coming anniversary week that Negroes +were no longer excluded from the street cars. He himself then boarded a +car on Sixth Avenue, refused to leave when requested to do so, and was +forcibly ejected. He brought suit against the company and won his case; +and thus the Negro made further advance toward full citizenship in New +York.[3] + +[Footnote 1: Nell, III.] + +[Footnote 2: Senate document 63 of 1842.] + +[Footnote 3: McMaster, VIII, 74.] + +Thus was the Negro developing in religious organization, in his benefit +societies, and toward his rights as a citizen. When we look at the +economic life upon which so much depended, we find that rather amazing +progress had been made. Doors were so often closed to the Negro, +competing white artisans were so often openly hostile, and he himself +labored under so many disadvantages generally that it has often been +thought that his economic advance before 1860 was negligible; but +nothing could be farther from the truth. It must not be forgotten that +for decades the South had depended upon Negro men for whatever was to +be done in all ordinary trades; some brick-masons, carpenters, and +shoemakers had served a long apprenticeship and were thoroughly +accomplished; and when some of the more enterprising of these men +removed to the North or West they took their training with them. Very +few persons became paupers. Certainly many were destitute, especially +those who had most recently made their way from slavery; and in general +the colored people cared for their own poor. In 1852, of 3500 Negroes in +Cincinnati, 200 were holders of property who paid taxes on their real +estate.[1] In 1855 the Negro per capita ownership of property compared +most favorably with that of the white people. Altogether the Negroes +owned $800,000 worth of property in the city and $5,000,000 worth in the +state. In the city there were among other workers three bank tellers, +a landscape artist who had visited Rome to complete his education, and +nine daguerreotypists, one of whom was the best in the entire West.[2] +Of 1696 Negroes at work in Philadelphia in 1856, some of the more +important occupations numbered workers as follows: tailors, dressmakers, +and shirtmakers, 615; barbers, 248; shoemakers, 66; brickmakers, 53; +carpenters, 49; milliners, 45; tanners, 24; cake-bakers, pastry-cooks, +or confectioners, 22; blacksmiths, 22. There were also 15 musicians or +music-teachers, 6 physicians, and 16 school-teachers.[3] The foremost +and the most wealthy man of business of the race in the country about +1850 was Stephen Smith, of the firm of Smith and Whipper, of Columbia, +Pa.[4] He and his partner were lumber merchants. Smith was a man of wide +interests. He invested his capital judiciously, engaging in real estate +and spending much of his time in Philadelphia, where he owned more than +fifty brick houses, while Whipper, a relative, attended to the business +of the firm. Together these men gave employment to a large number of +persons. Of similar quality was Samuel T. Wilcox, of Cincinnati, the +owner of a large grocery business who also engaged in real estate. Henry +Boyd, of Cincinnati, was the proprietor of a bedstead manufactory that +filled numerous orders from the South and West and that sometimes +employed as many as twenty-five men, half of whom were white. Sometimes +through an humble occupation a Negro rose to competence; thus one of the +eighteen hucksters in Cincinnati became the owner of $20,000 worth of +property. Here and there several caterers and tailors became known as +having the best places in their line of business in their respective +towns. John Julius, of Pittsburgh, was the proprietor of a brilliant +place known as Concert Hall. When President-elect William Henry Harrison +in 1840 visited the city it was here that his chief reception was held. +Cordovell became widely known as the name of the leading tailor and +originator of fashions in New Orleans. After several years of success in +business this merchant removed to France, where he enjoyed the fortune +that he had accumulated. + +[Footnote 1: Clarke: _Condition of the Free Colored People of the United +States_.] + +[Footnote 2: Nell, 285.] + +[Footnote 3: Bacon: _Statistics_, 13.] + +[Footnote 4: Delany.] + +Cordovell was representative of the advance of the people of mixed blood +in the South. The general status of these people was better in Louisiana +than anywhere else in the country, North or South; at the same time +their situation was such as to call for special consideration. In +Louisiana the "F.M.C." (Free Man of Color) formed a distinct and +anomalous class in society.[1] As a free man he had certain rights, and +sometimes his property holdings were very large.[2] In fact, in New +Orleans a few years before the Civil War not less than one-fifth of the +taxable property was in the hands of free people of color. At the same +time the lot of these people was one of endless humiliation. Among some +of them irregular household establishments were regularly maintained by +white men, and there were held the "quadroon balls" which in course of +time gave the city a distinct notoriety. Above the people of this group, +however, was a genuine aristocracy of free people of color who had a +long tradition of freedom, being descended from the early colonists, +and whose family life was most exemplary. In general they lived to +themselves. In fact, it was difficult for them to do otherwise. They +were often compelled to have papers filled out by white guardians, and +they were not allowed to be visited by slaves or to have companionship +with them, even when attending church or walking along the roads. +Sometimes free colored men owned their women and children in order that +the latter might escape the invidious law against Negroes recently +emancipated; or the situation was sometimes turned around, as in +Norfolk, Va., where several women owned their husbands. When the name +of a free man of color had to appear on any formal document--a deed of +conveyance, a marriage-license, a certificate of birth or death, or +even in a newspaper report--the initials F.M.C. had to be appended. In +Louisiana these people petitioned in vain for the suffrage, and at the +outbreak of the Civil War organized and splendidly equipped for the +Confederacy two battalions of five hundred men. For these they chose +two distinguished white commanders, and the governor accepted their +services, only to have to inform them later that the Confederacy +objected to the enrolling of Negro soldiers. In Charleston thirty-seven +men in a remarkable petition also formally offered their services to the +Confederacy.[3] What most readily found illustration in New Orleans or +Charleston was also true to some extent of other centers of free people +of color such as Mobile and Baltimore. In general the F.M.C.'s +were industrious and they almost monopolized one or two avenues of +employment; but as a group they had not yet learned to place themselves +upon the broad basis of racial aspiration. + +[Footnote 1: See "The F.M.C.'s of Louisiana," by P.F. de Gournay, +_Lippincott's Magazine_, April, 1894; and "Black Masters," by Calvin +Dill Wilson, _North American Review_, November, 1905.] + +[Footnote 2: See Stone: "The Negro in the South," in _The South in the +Building of the Nation_, X, 180.] + +[Footnote 3: Note broadside (Charleston, 1861) accessible in Special +Library of Boston Public Library as Document No. 9 in 20th Cab. 3. 7.] + +Whatever may have been the situation of special groups, however, it can +readily be seen that there were at least some Negroes in the country--a +good many in the aggregate--who by 1860 were maintaining a high standard +in their ordinary social life. It must not be forgotten that we are +dealing with a period when the general standard of American culture was +by no means what it is to-day. "Four-fifths of the people of the United +States of 1860 lived in the country, and it is perhaps fair to say that +half of these dwelt in log houses of one or two rooms. Comforts such +as most of us enjoy daily were as good as unknown.... For the workaday +world shirtsleeves, heavy brogan boots and shoes, and rough wool hats +were the rule."[1] In Philadelphia, a fairly representative city, +there were at this time a considerable number of Negroes of means or +professional standing. These people were regularly hospitable; they +visited frequently; and they entertained in well furnished parlors with +music and refreshments. In a day when many of their people had not +yet learned to get beyond showiness in dress, they were temperate and +self-restrained, they lived within their incomes, and they retired at a +seasonable hour.[2] + +[Footnote 1: W.E. Dodd: _Expansion and Conflict_, Volume 3 of "Riverside +History of the United States," Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915, p. +208.] + +[Footnote 2: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 140.] + +In spite moreover of all the laws and disadvantages that they had to +meet the Negroes also made general advance in education. In the South +efforts were of course sporadic, but Negroes received some teaching +through private or clandestine sources.[1] More than one slave learned +the alphabet while entertaining the son of his master. In Charleston +for a long time before the Civil War free Negroes could attend schools +especially designed for their benefit and kept by white people or other +Negroes. The course of study not infrequently embraced such subjects as +physiology, physics, and plane geometry. After John Brown's raid the +order went forth that no longer should any colored person teach Negroes. +This resulted in a white person's being brought to sit in the classroom, +though at the outbreak of the war schools were closed altogether. In the +North, in spite of all proscription, conditions were somewhat better. As +early as 1850 there were in the public schools in New York 3,393 Negro +children, these sustaining about the same proportion to the Negro +population that white children sustained to the total white population. +Two institutions for the higher education of the Negro were established +before the Civil War, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (1854) and +Wilberforce University in Ohio (1856). Oberlin moreover was founded in +1833. In 1835 Professor Asa Mahan, of Lane Seminary, was offered the +presidency. As he was an Abolitionist he said that he would accept only +if Negroes were admitted on equal terms with other students. After a +warm session of the trustees the vote was in his favor. Though, before +this, individual Negroes had found their way into Northern institutions, +it was here at Oberlin that they first received a real welcome. By the +outbreak of the war nearly one-third of the students were of the Negro +race, and one of the graduates, John M. Langston, was soon to be +generally prominent in the affairs of the country. + +[Footnote 1: For interesting examples see C.G. Woodson: _The Education +of the Negro prior to 1861_.] + +It has been maintained that in their emphasis on education and on the +highest culture possible for the Negro the Abolitionists were mere +visionaries who had no practical knowledge whatever of the race's real +needs. This was neither true nor just. It was absolutely necessary first +of all to establish the Negro's right to enter any field occupied by any +other man, and time has vindicated this position. Even in 1850, however, +the needs of the majority of the Negro people for advance in their +economic life were not overlooked either by the Abolitionists or the +Negroes themselves. Said Martin V. Delany: "Our elevation must be the +result of _self-efforts_, and work of our _own hands_. No other human +power can accomplish it.... Let our young men and young women prepare +themselves for usefulness and business; that the men may enter into +merchandise, trading, and other things of importance; the young women +may become teachers of various kinds, and otherwise fill places of +usefulness. Parents must turn their attention more to the education of +their children. We mean, to educate them for useful practical business +purposes. Educate them for the store and counting-house--to do everyday +practical business. Consult the children's propensities, and direct +their education according to their inclinations. It may be that there +is too great a desire on the part of parents to give their children a +professional education, before the body of the people are ready for it. +A people must be a business people and have more to depend upon than +mere help in people's houses and hotels, before they are either able to +support or capable of properly appreciating the services of professional +men among them. This has been one of our great mistakes--we have gone +in advance of ourselves. We have commenced at the superstructure of the +building, instead of the foundation--at the top instead of the bottom. +We should first be mechanics and common tradesmen, and professions as a +matter of course would grow out of the wealth made thereby."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of +the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered_, +Philadelphia, 1852, P. 45.] + +In professional life the Negro had by 1860 made a noteworthy beginning. +Already he had been forced to give attention to the law, though as yet +little by way of actual practice had been done. In this field Robert +Morris, Jr., of Boston, was probably foremost. William C. Nell, of +Rochester and Boston, at the time prominent in newspaper work and +politics, is now best remembered for his study of the Negro in the early +wars of the country. About the middle of the century Samuel Ringgold +Ward, author of the _Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro_, and one of the +most eloquent men of the time, was for several years pastor of a white +Congregational church in Courtlandville, N.Y.; and Henry Highland +Garnett was the pastor of a white congregation in Troy, and well known +as a public-spirited citizen as well. Upon James W.C. Pennington the +degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred by Heidelberg, and generally +this man had a reputation in England and on the continent of Europe as +well as in America. About the same time Bishops Daniel A. Payne and +William Paul Quinn were adding to the dignity of the African Methodist +Episcopal Church. + +Special interest attaches to the Negro physician. Even in colonial +times, though there was much emphasis on the control of diseases by +roots or charms, there was at least a beginning in work genuinely +scientific. As early as 1792 a Negro named Cæsar had gained such +distinction by his knowledge of curative herbs that the Assembly of +South Carolina purchased his freedom and gave him an annuity. In the +earlier years of the last century James Derham, of New Orleans, became +the first regularly recognized Negro physician of whom there is +a complete record. Born in Philadelphia in 1762, as a boy he was +transferred to a physician for whom he learned to perform minor duties. +Afterwards he was sold to a physician in New Orleans who used him as +an assistant. Two or three years later he won his freedom, he became +familiar with French and Spanish as well as English, and he soon +commanded general respect by his learning and skill. About the middle +of the century, in New York, James McCune Smith, a graduate of the +University of Glasgow, was prominent. He was the author of several +scientific papers, a man of wide interests, and universally held in high +esteem. "The first real impetus to bring Negroes in considerable numbers +into the professional world came from the American Colonization Society, +which in the early years flourished in the South as well as the North +... and undertook to prepare professional leaders of their race for the +Liberian colony. 'To execute this scheme, leaders of the colonization +movement endeavored to educate Negroes in mechanic arts, agriculture, +science, and Biblical literature. Especially bright or promising youths +were to be given special training as catechists, teachers, preachers, +and physicians. Not much was said about what they were doing, but now +and then appeared notices of Negroes who had been prepared privately in +the South or publicly in the North for service in Liberia. Dr. William +Taylor and Dr. Fleet were thus educated in the District of Columbia. In +the same way John V. De Grasse, of New York, and Thomas J. White, of +Brooklyn, were allowed to complete the medical course at Bowdoin +in 1849. In 1854 Dr. De Grasse was admitted as a member of the +Massachusetts Medical Society.'"[1] Martin V. Delany, more than once +referred to in these pages, after being refused admission at a number of +institutions, was admitted to the medical school at Harvard. He became +distinguished for his work in a cholera epidemic in Pittsburgh in 1854. +It was of course not until after the Civil War that medical departments +were established in connection with some of the new higher institutions +of learning for Negro students. + +[Footnote 1: Kelly Miller: "The Background of the Negro Physician," +_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1916, quoting in part Woodson: _The +Education of the Negro prior to 1861_.] + +Before 1860 a situation that arose more than once took from Negroes the +real credit for inventions. If a slave made an invention he was not +permitted to take out a patent, for no slave could make a contract. At +the same time the slave's master could not take out a patent for him, +for the Government would not recognize the slave as having the legal +right to make the assignment to his master. It is certain that Negroes, +who did most of the mechanical work in the South before the Civil War, +made more than one suggestion for the improvement of machinery. We have +already referred to the strong claim put forth by a member of the race +for the real credit of the cotton-gin. The honor of being the first +Negro to be granted a patent belongs to Henry Blair, of Maryland, who in +1834 received official protection for a corn harvester. + +Throughout the century there were numerous attempts at poetical +composition, and several booklets were published. Perhaps the most +promising was George Horton's _The Hope of Liberty_, which appeared in +1829. Unfortunately, Horton could not get the encouragement that he +needed and in course of time settled down to the life of a janitor at +the University of North Carolina.[1] Six years before the war Frances +Ellen Watkins (later Mrs. Harper) struck the popular note by readings +from her _Miscellaneous Poems_, which ran through several editions. +About the same time William Wells Brown was prominent, though he also +worked for several years after the war. He was a man of decided talent +and had traveled considerably. He wrote several books dealing with Negro +history and biography; and he also treated racial subjects in a novel, +_Clotel_, and in a drama, _The Escape_. The latter suffers from an +excess of moralizing, but several times it flashes out with the quality +of genuine drama, especially when it deals with the jealousy of a +mistress for a favorite slave and the escape of the latter with her +husband. In 1841 the first Negro magazine began to appear, this being +issued by the A.M.E. Church. There were numerous autobiographies, that +of Frederick Douglass, first appearing in 1845, running through edition +after edition. On the stage there was the astonishing success of Ira +Aldridge, a tragedian who in his earlier years went to Europe, where he +had the advantage of association with Edmund Kean. About 1857 he was +commonly regarded as one of the two or three greatest actors in the +world. He became a member of several of the continental academies of +arts and science, and received many decorations of crosses and medals, +the Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia being among +those who honored him. In the great field of music there was much +excellent work both in composition and in the performance on different +instruments. Among the free people of color in Louisiana there were +several distinguished musicians, some of whom removed to Europe for the +sake of greater freedom.[2] The highest individual achievement was that +of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, of Philadelphia. This singer was of the +very first rank. Her voice was of remarkable sweetness and had a compass +of twenty-seven notes. She sang before many distinguished audiences in +both Europe and America and was frequently compared with Jenny Lind, +then at the height of her fame. + +[Footnote 1: See "George Moses Horton: Slave Poet," by Stephen B. Weeks, +_Southern Workman_, October, 1914.] + +[Footnote 2: See Washington: _The Story of the Negro_, II, 276-7.] + +It is thus evident that honorable achievement on the part of Negroes +and general advance in social welfare by no means began with the +Emancipation Proclamation. In 1860 eight-ninths of the members of the +race were still slaves, but in the face of every possible handicap the +one-ninth that was free had entered practically every great field of +human endeavor. Many were respected citizens in their communities, and a +few had even laid the foundations of wealth. While there was as yet +no book of unquestioned genius or scholarship, there was considerable +intellectual activity, and only time and a little more freedom from +economic pressure were needed for the production of works of the first +order of merit. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION + + +At the outbreak of the Civil War two great questions affecting the Negro +overshadowed all others--his freedom and his employment as a soldier. +The North as a whole had no special enthusiasm about the Negro and +responded only to Lincoln's call to the duty of saving the Union. Among +both officers and men moreover there was great prejudice against the use +of the Negro as a soldier, the feeling being that he was disqualified +by slavery and ignorance. Privates objected to meeting black men on the +same footing as themselves and also felt that the arming of slaves to +fight for their former masters would increase the bitterness of the +conflict. If many men in the North felt thus, the South was furious at +the thought of the Negro as a possible opponent in arms. + +The human problem, however, was not long in presenting itself and +forcing attention. As soon as the Northern soldiers appeared in the +South, thousands of Negroes--men, women, and children--flocked to their +camps, feeling only that they were going to their friends. In May, 1861, +while in command at Fortress Monroe, Major-General Benjamin F. Butler +came into national prominence by his policy of putting to work the men +who came within his lines and justifying their retention on the ground +that, being of service to the enemy for purposes of war, they were like +guns, powder, etc., "contraband of war," and could not be reclaimed. On +August 30th of this same year Major-General John C. Fremont, in command +in Missouri, placed the state under martial law and declared the slaves +there emancipated. The administration was embarrassed, Fremont's order +was annulled, and he was relieved of his command. On May 9, 1862, +Major-General David Hunter, in charge of the Department of the South +(South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) issued his famous order freeing +the slaves in his department, and thus brought to general attention the +matter of the employment of Negro soldiers in the Union armies. The +Confederate government outlawed Hunter, Lincoln annulled his order, +and the grace of the nation was again saved; but in the meantime a new +situation had arisen. While Brigadier-General John W. Phelps was taking +part in the expedition against New Orleans, a large sugar-planter near +the city, disgusted with Federal interference with affairs on his +plantation, drove all his slaves away, telling them to go to their +friends, the Yankees. The Negroes came to Phelps in great numbers, and +for the sake of discipline he attempted to organize them into troops. +Accordingly he, too, was outlawed by the Confederates, and his act was +disavowed by the Union, that was not ready to take this step. + +Meanwhile President Lincoln was debating the Emancipation Proclamation. +Pressure from radical anti-slavery sources was constantly being brought +to bear upon him, and Horace Greeley in his famous editorial, "The +Prayer of Twenty Millions," was only one of those who criticized what +seemed to be his lack of strength in handling the situation. After +McClellan's unsuccessful campaign against Richmond, however, he felt +that the freedom of the slaves was a military and moral necessity for +its effects upon both the North and the South; and Lee's defeat at +Antietam, September 17, 1862, furnished the opportunity for which he +had been waiting. Accordingly on September 22nd he issued a preliminary +declaration giving notice that on January 1, 1865, he would free all +slaves in the states still in rebellion, and asserting as before that +the object of the war was the preservation of the Union. + +The Proclamation as finally issued January 1st is one of the most +important public documents in the history of the United States, ranking +only below the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution itself. +It full text is as follows: + + 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 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 date 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, + Plaquemine, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, + Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, 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 Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, + York, Princess Anne, 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 testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name, 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 the eighty-seventh. + + By the President, + ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + + WILLIAM H. SEWARD, + Secretary of State. + +It will be observed that the Proclamation was merely a war measure +resting on the constitutional power of the President. Its effects on the +legal status of the slaves gave rise to much discussion; and it is to +be noted that it did not apply to what is now West Virginia, to seven +counties in Virginia, and to thirteen parishes in Louisiana, which +districts had already come under Federal jurisdiction. All questions +raised by the measure, however, were finally settled by the Thirteenth +Amendment to the Constitution, and as a matter of fact freedom actually +followed the progress of the Union arms from 1863 to 1865. + +Meanwhile from the very beginning of the war Negroes were used by the +Confederates in making redoubts and in doing other rough work, and even +before the Emancipation Proclamation there were many Northern officers +who said that definite enlistment was advisable. They felt that such a +course would help to destroy slavery and that as the Negroes had so much +at stake they should have some share in the overthrow of the rebellion. +They said also that the men would be proud to wear the national uniform. +Individuals moreover as officers' servants saw much of fighting and won +confidence in their ability; and as the war advanced and more and more +men were killed the conviction grew that a Negro could stop a bullet as +well as a white man and that in any case the use of Negroes for fatigue +work would release numbers of other men for the actual fighting. + +At last--after a great many men had been killed and the Emancipation +Proclamation had changed the status of the Negro--enlistment was decided +on. The policy was that Negroes might be non-commissioned men while +white men who had seen service would be field and line officers. In +general it was expected that only those who had kindly feeling toward +the Negro would be used as officers, but in the pressure of military +routine this distinction was not always observed. Opinion for the race +gained force after the Draft Riot in New York (July, 1863), when Negroes +in the city were persecuted by the opponents of conscription. Soon a +distinct bureau was established in Washington for the recording of +all matters pertaining to Negro troops, a board was organized for the +examination of candidates, and recruiting stations were set up in +Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee. The Confederates were indignant at +the thought of having to meet black men on equal footing, and refused +to exchange Negro soldiers for white men. How such action was met by +Stanton, Secretary of War, may be seen from the fact that when he +learned that three Negro prisoners had been placed in close confinement, +he ordered three South Carolina men to be treated likewise, and the +Confederate leaders to be informed of his policy. + +The economic advantage of enlistment was apparent. It gave work to +187,000 men who had been cast adrift by the war and who had found no +place of independent labor. It gave them food, clothing, wages, and +protection, but most of all the feeling of self-respect that comes from +profitable employment. To the men themselves the year of jubilee had +come. At one great step they had crossed the gulf that separates +chattels from men and they now had a chance to vindicate their manhood. +A common poster of the day represented a Negro soldier bearing the +flag, the shackles of a slave being broken, a young Negro boy reading +a newspaper, and several children going into a public school. Over +all were the words: "All Slaves were made Freemen by Abraham Lincoln, +President of the United States, January 1st, 1863. Come, then, +able-bodied Colored Men, to the nearest United States Camp, and fight +for the Stars and Stripes." + +To the credit of the men be it said that in their new position they +acted with dignity and sobriety. When they picketed lines through which +Southern citizens passed, they acted with courtesy at the same time that +they did their duty. They captured Southern men without insulting them, +and by their own self-respect won the respect of others. Meanwhile their +brothers in the South went about the day's work, caring for the widow +and the orphan; and a nation that still lynches the Negro has to +remember that in all these troublous years deeds of violence against +white women and girls were absolutely unknown. + +Throughout the country the behavior of the black men under fire was +watched with the most intense interest. More and more in the baptism of +blood they justified the faith for which their friends had fought for +years. At Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, Fort Pillow, and Petersburg their +courage was most distinguished. Said the New York _Times_ of the battle +at Port Hudson (1863): "General Dwight, at least, must have had the idea +not only that they (the Negro troops) were men, but something more than +men, from the terrific test to which he put their valor.... Their colors +are torn to pieces by shot, and literally bespattered by blood and +brains." This was the occasion on which Color-Sergeant Anselmas +Planciancois said before a shell blew off his head, "Colonel, I will +bring back these colors to you on honor, or report to God the reason +why." On June 6 the Negroes again distinguished themselves and +won friends by their bravery at Milliken's Bend. The Fifty-fourth +Massachusetts, commanded by Robert Gould Shaw, was conspicuous in the +attempt to take Fort Wagner, on Morris Island near Charleston, July 18, +1863. The regiment had marched two days and two nights through swamps +and drenching rains in order to be in time for the assault. In the +engagement nearly all the officers of the regiment were killed, among +them Colonel Shaw. The picturesque deed was that of Sergeant William H. +Carney, who seized the regiment's colors from the hands of a falling +comrade, planted the flag on the works, and said when borne bleeding and +mangled from the field, "Boys, the old flag never touched the ground." +Fort Pillow, a position on the Mississippi, about fifty miles above +Memphis, was garrisoned by 557 men, 262 of whom were Negroes, when +it was attacked April 13, 1864. The fort was finally taken by the +Confederates, but the feature of the engagement was the stubborn +resistance offered by the Union troops in the face of great odds. In the +Mississippi Valley, and in the Department of the South, the Negro had +now done excellent work as a soldier. In the spring of 1864 he made his +appearance in the Army of the Potomac. In July there was around Richmond +and Petersburg considerable skirmishing between the Federal and the +Confederate forces. Burnside, commanding a corps composed partly of +Negroes, dug under a Confederate fort a trench a hundred and fifty yards +long. This was filled with explosives, and on July 30 the match was +applied and the famous crater formed. Just before the explosion the +Negroes had figured in a gallant charge on the Confederates. The plan +was to follow the eruption by a still more formidable assault, in which +Burnside wanted to give his Negro troops the lead. A dispute about this +and a settlement by lot resulted in the awarding of precedence to a New +Hampshire regiment. Said General Grant later of the whole unfortunate +episode: "General Burnside wanted to put his colored division in front; +I believe if he had done so it would have been a success." After the men +of a Negro regiment had charged and taken a battery at Decatur, Ala., in +October, 1864, and shown exceptional gallantry under fire, they received +an ovation from their white comrades "who by thousands sprang upon the +parapets and cheered the regiment as it reëntered the lines."[1] + +[Footnote 1: General Thomas J. Morgan: "The Negroes in the Civil War," +in the _Baptist Home Mission Monthly_, quoted in _Liberia_, Bulletin 12, +February, 1898. General Morgan in October, 1863, became a major in the +Fourteenth United States Colored Infantry. He organized the regiment and +became its colonel. He also organized the Forty-second and Forty-fourth +regiments of colored infantry.] + +When all was over there was in the North a spontaneous recognition of +the right of such men to honorable and generous treatment at the hands +of the nation, and in Congress there was the feeling that if the South +could come back to the Union with its autonomy unimpaired, certainly +the Negro soldier should have the rights of citizenship. Before the war +closed, however, there was held in Syracuse, N.Y., a convention of Negro +men that threw interesting light on the problems and the feeling of +the period.[1] At this gathering John Mercer Langston was temporary +chairman, Frederick Douglass, president, and Henry Highland Garnett, of +Washington; James W.C. Pennington, of New York; George L. Ruffin, of +Boston, and Ebenezer D. Bassett, of Philadelphia, were among the more +prominent delegates. There was at the meeting a fear that some of the +things that seemed to have been gained by the war might not actually be +realized; and as Congress had not yet altered the Constitution so as to +abolish slavery, grave question was raised by a recent speech in which +no less a man than Seward, Secretary of State, had said: "When the +insurgents shall have abandoned their armies and laid down their arms, +the war will instantly cease; and all the war measures then existing, +including those which affect slavery, will cease also." The convention +thanked the President and the Thirty-Seventh Congress for revoking a +prohibitory law in regard to the carrying of mails by Negroes, for +abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, for recognizing Hayti +and Liberia, and for the military order retaliating for the unmilitary +treatment accorded Negro soldiers by the Confederate officers; and +especially it thanked Senator Sumner "for his noble efforts to cleanse +the statute-books of the nation from every stain of inequality against +colored men," and General Butler for the stand he had taken early in the +war. At the same time it resolved to send a petition to Congress to +ask that the rights of the country's Negro patriots in the field be +respected, and that the Government cease to set an example to those in +arms against it by making invidious distinctions, based upon color, as +to pay, labor, and promotion. It begged especially to be saved from +supposed friends: "When the _Anti-Slavery Standard_, representing the +American Anti-Slavery Society, denies that the society asks for the +enfranchisement of colored men, and the _Liberator_ apologizes for +excluding the colored men of Louisiana from the ballot-box, they injure +us more vitally than all the ribald jests of the whole pro-slavery +press." Finally the convention insisted that any such things as the +right to own real estate, to testify in courts of law, and to sue and +be sued, were mere privileges so long as general political liberty +was withheld, and asked frankly not only for the formal and complete +abolition of slavery in the United States, but also for the elective +franchise in all the states then in the Union and in all that might come +into the Union thereafter. On the whole this representative gathering +showed a very clear conception of the problems facing the Negro and the +country in 1864. Its reference to well-known anti-slavery publications +shows not only the increasing race consciousness that came through this +as through all other wars in which the country has engaged, but also the +great drift toward conservatism that had taken place in the North within +thirty years. + +[Footnote 1: See Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men, +held in the city of Syracuse, N.Y., October 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1864, with +the Bill of Wrongs and Rights, and the Address to the American People. +Boston, 1864.] + +Whatever might be the questions of the moment, however, about the +supreme blessing of freedom there could at last be no doubt. It had been +long delayed and had finally come merely as an incident to the war; +nevertheless a whole race of people had passed from death unto life. +Then, as before and since, they found a parallel for their experiences +in the story of the Jews in the Old Testament. They, too, had sojourned +in Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. What they could not then see, or only +dimly realize, was that they needed faith--faith in God and faith in +themselves--for the forty years in the wilderness. They did not yet +fully know that He who guided the children of Israel and drove out +before them the Amorite and the Hittite, would bring them also to the +Promised Land. + + * * * * * + +To those who led the Negro in these wonderful years--to Robert Gould +Shaw, the young colonel of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, who +died leading his men at Fort Wagner; to Norwood Penrose Hallowell, +lieutenant-colonel of the Fifty-Fourth and then colonel of the +Fifty-Fifth; to his brother, Edward N. Hallowell, who succeeded Shaw +when he fell; and to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who commanded the first +regiment of freed slaves--no ordinary eulogy can apply. Their names are +written in letters of flame and their deeds live after them. On the Shaw +Monument in Boston are written these words: + + The White Officers + + Taking Life and Honor in their Hands--Cast their lot with Men of a + Despised Race Unproved in War--and Risked Death as Inciters of a + Servile Insurrection if Taken Prisoners, Besides Encountering all + the Common Perils of Camp, March, and Battle. + + The Black Rank and File + + Volunteered when Disaster Clouded the Union Cause--Served without + Pay for Eighteen Months till Given that of White Troops--Faced + Threatened Enslavement if Captured--Were Brave in Action--Patient + under Dangerous and Heavy Labors and Cheerful amid Hardships and + Privations. + + Together + + They Gave to the Nation Undying Proof that Americans of African + Descent Possess the Pride, Courage, and Devotion of the Patriot + Soldier--One Hundred and Eighty Thousand Such Americans Enlisted + under the Union Flag in MDCCCLXIII-MDCCCLXV. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE ERA OF ENFRANCHISEMENT + + +1. _The Problem_ + + +At the close of the Civil War the United States found itself face to +face with one of the gravest social problems of modern times. More and +more it became apparent that it was not only the technical question of +the restoration of the states to the Union that had to be considered, +but the whole adjustment for the future of the lives of three and a half +million Negroes and five and a half million white people in the South. +In its final analysis the question was one of race, and to add to the +difficulties of this problem it is to be regretted that there should +have been actually upon the scene politicians and speculators who sought +to capitalize for their own gain the public distress. + +The South was thoroughly demoralized, and the women who had borne the +burden of the war at home were especially bitter. Slave property to the +amount of two billions of dollars had been swept away; several of the +chief cities had suffered bombardment; the railroads had largely run +down; and the confiscation of property was such as to lead to the +indemnification of thousands of claimants afterwards. The Negro was not +yet settled in new places of abode, and his death rate was appalling. +Throughout the first winter after the war the whole South was on the +verge of starvation. + +Here undoubtedly was a difficult situation--one calling for the highest +quality of statesmanship, and of sportsmanship on the part of the +vanquished. Many Negroes, freed from the tradition of two hundred and +fifty years of slavery, took a holiday; some resolved not to work any +more as long as they lived, and some even appropriated to their own use +the produce of their neighbors. If they remained on the old plantations, +they feared that they might still be considered slaves; on the other +hand, if they took to the high road, they might be considered vagrants. +If one returned from a Federal camp to claim his wife and children, +he might be driven away. "Freedom cried out," and undoubtedly some +individuals did foolish things; but serious crime was noticeably absent. +On the whole the race bore the blessing of emancipation with remarkable +good sense and temper. Returning soldiers paraded, there were some +meetings and processions, sometimes a little regalia--and even a little +noise; then everybody went home. Unfortunately even so much the white +South regarded as insolence. + +The example of how the South _might_ have met the situation was afforded +by no less a man than Robert E. Lee, about whose unselfishness and +standard of conduct as a gentleman there could be no question. One day +in Richmond a Negro from the street, intent on asserting his rights, +entered a representative church, pushed his way to the communion altar +and knelt. The congregation paused, and all fully realized the factors +that entered into the situation. Then General Lee rose and knelt beside +the Negro; the congregation did likewise, and the tension was over. +Furthermore, every one went home spiritually uplifted. + +Could the handling of this incident have been multipled a thousand +times--could men have realized that mere accidents are fleeting but +that principles are eternal--both races would have been spared years +of agony, and our Southland would be a far different place to-day. The +Negro was at the heart of the problem, but to that problem the South +undoubtedly held the key. Of course the cry of "social equality" might +have been raised; _anything_ might have been said to keep the right +thing from being done. In this instance, as in many others, the final +question was not what somebody else did, but how one himself could act +most nobly. + +Unfortunately Lee's method of approach was not to prevail. Passion and +prejudice and demagoguery were to have their day, and conservative and +broadly patriotic men were to be made to follow leaders whom they could +not possibly approve. Sixty years afterwards we still suffer from the +KuKlux solution of the problem. + + +2. _Meeting the Problem_ + +The story of reconstruction has been many times told, and it is not +our intention to tell that story again. We must content ourselves by +touching upon some of the salient points in the discussion. + +Even before the close of the war the National Government had undertaken +to handle officially the thousands of Negroes who had crowded to the +Federal lines and not less than a million of whom were in the spring of +1865 dependent upon the National Government for support. The Bureau of +Refugee Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, created in connection with the +War Department by an act of March 3, 1865, was to remain in existence +throughout the war and for one year thereafter. Its powers were enlarged +July 16, 1866, and its chief work did not end until January 1, 1869, its +educational work continuing for a year and a half longer. The Freedmen's +Bureau was to have "the supervision and management of all abandoned +lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and +freedmen." Of special importance was the provision in the creating act +that gave the freedmen to understand that each male refugee was to be +given forty acres with the guarantee of possession for three years. +Throughout the existence of the Bureau its chief commissioner was +General O.O. Howard. While the principal officers were undoubtedly men +of noble purpose, many of the minor officials were just as undoubtedly +corrupt and self-seeking. In the winter of 1865-6 one-third of its aid +was given to the white people of the South. For Negro pupils the Bureau +established altogether 4,239 schools, and these had 9,307 teachers and +247,333 students. Its real achievement has been thus ably summed up: +"The greatest success of the Freedmen's Bureau lay in the planting of +the free school among Negroes, and the idea of free elementary education +among all classes in the South.... For some fifteen million dollars, +beside the sum spent before 1865, and the dole of benevolent societies, +this bureau set going a system of free labor, established a beginning of +peasant proprietorship, secured the recognition of black freedmen before +courts of law, and founded the free common school in the South. On the +other hand, it failed to begin the establishment of good will between +ex-masters and freedmen, to guard its work wholly from paternalistic +methods, which discouraged self-reliance, and to carry out to any +considerable extent its implied promises to furnish the freedmen with +land."[1] To this tale of its shortcomings must be added also the +management of the Freedmen's Bank, which "was morally and practically +part of the Freedmen's Bureau, although it had no legal connection with +it." This institution made a really remarkable start in the development +of thrift among the Negroes, and its failure, involving the loss of the +first savings of hundreds of ex-slaves, was as disastrous in its moral +as in its immediate financial consequences. + +[Footnote 1: DuBois: _The Souls of Black Folk_, 32-37.] + +When the Freedmen's Bureau came to an end, it turned its educational +interests and some money over to the religious and benevolent societies +which had coöperated with it, especially to the American Missionary +Association. This society had been organized before the Civil War on +an interdenominational and strong anti-slavery basis; but with the +withdrawal of general interest the body passed in 1881 into the hands of +the Congregational Church. Other prominent agencies were the American +Baptist Home Mission Society (also the American Baptist Publication +Society), the Freedmen's Aid Society (representing the Northern +Methodists), and the Presbyterian Board of Missions. Actual work was +begun by the American Missionary Association. In 1861 Lewis Tappan, +treasurer of the organization, wrote to General Butler to ask just +what aid could be given. The result of the correspondence was that on +September 3 of this year Rev. L.C. Lockwood reached Hampton and on +September 17 opened the first day school among the freedmen. This school +was taught by Mrs. Mary S. Peake, a woman of the race who had had the +advantage of a free mother, and whose devotion to the work was such that +she soon died. However, she had helped to lay the foundations of Hampton +Institute. Soon there was a school at Norfolk, there were two at Newport +News, and by January schools at Hilton Head and Beaufort, S.C. Then came +the Emancipation Proclamation, throwing wide open the door of the great +need. Rev. John Eaton, army chaplain from Ohio, afterwards United States +Commissioner of Education, was placed in charge of the instruction of +the Negroes, and in one way or another by the close of the war probably +as many as one million in the South had learned to read and write. The +83 missionaries and teachers of the Association in 1863 increased to 250 +in 1864. At the first day session of the school in Norfolk after the +Proclamation there were 350 scholars, with 300 others in the evening. +On the third day there were 550 in the day school and 500 others in the +evening. The school had to be divided, a part going to another church; +the assistants increased in number, and soon the day attendance was +1,200. For such schools the houses on abandoned plantations were used, +and even public buildings were called into commission. Afterwards arose +the higher institutions, Atlanta, Berea, Fisk, Talladega, Straight, with +numerous secondary schools. Similarly the Baptists founded the colleges +which, with some changes of name, have become Virginia Union, Hartshorn, +Shaw, Benedict, Morehouse, Spelman, Jackson, and Bishop, with numerous +affiliated institutions. The Methodists began to operate Clark (in South +Atlanta), Claflin, Rust, Wiley, and others; and the Presbyterians, +having already founded Lincoln in 1854, now founded Biddle and several +seminaries for young women; while the United Presbyterians founded +Knoxville. In course of time the distinctively Negro denominations--the +A.M.E., the A.M.E.Z., and the C.M.E. (which last represented a +withdrawal from the Southern Methodists in 1870)--also helped in +the work, and thus, in addition to Wilberforce in Ohio, arose such +institutions as Morris Brown University, Livingstone College, and Lane +College. In 1867, moreover, the Federal Government crowned its work for +the education of the Negro by the establishment at Washington of Howard +University. + +As these institutions have grown they have naturally developed some +differences or special emphasis. Hampton and Atlanta University are +now independent; and Berea has had a peculiar history, legislation in +Kentucky in 1903 restricting the privileges of the institution to white +students. Hampton, in the hands of General Armstrong, placed emphasis on +the idea of industrial and practical education which has since become +world-famous. In 1871 the Fisk Jubilee Singers began their memorable +progress through America and Europe, meeting at first with scorn and +sneers, but before long touching the heart of the world with their +strange music. Their later success was as remarkable as their mission +was unique. Meanwhile Spelman Seminary, in the record of her graduates +who have gone as missionaries to Africa, has also developed a glorious +tradition. + +To those heroic men and women who represented this idea of education at +its best, too much credit can not be given. Cravath at Fisk, Ware at +Atlanta, Armstrong at Hampton, Graves at Morehouse, Tupper at Shaw, and +Packard and Giles at Spelman, are names that should ever be recalled +with thanksgiving. These people had no enviable task. They were +ostracized and persecuted, and some of their co-workers even killed. It +is true that their idea of education founded on the New England college +was not very elastic; but their theory was that the young men and women +whom they taught, before they were Negroes, were human beings. They had +the key to the eternal verities, and time will more and more justify +their position. + +To the Freedmen's Bureau the South objected because of the political +activity of some of its officials. To the schools founded by missionary +endeavor it objected primarily on the score of social equality. To both +the provisional Southern governments of 1865 replied with the so-called +Black Codes. The theory of these remarkable ordinances--most harsh in +Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana--was that even if the Negro +was nominally free he was by no means able to take care of himself and +needed the tutelage and oversight of the white man. Hence developed what +was to be known as a system of "apprenticeship." South Carolina in her +act of December 21, 1865, said, "A child, over the age of two years, +born of a colored parent, may be bound by the father if he be living in +the district, or in case of his death or absence from the district, by +the mother, as an apprentice to any respectable white or colored person +who is competent to make a contract; a male until he shall attain the +age of twenty-one years, and a female until she shall attain the age of +eighteen.... Males of the age of twelve years, and females of the age +of ten years, shall sign the indenture of apprenticeship, and be bound +thereby.... The master shall receive to his own use the profits of the +labor of his apprentice." To this Mississippi added: "If any apprentice +shall leave the employment of his or her master or mistress, said master +or mistress may pursue and recapture said apprentice, and bring him or +her before any justice of peace of the county, whose duty it shall be to +remand said apprentice to the service of his or her master or mistress; +and in the event of a refusal on the part of said apprentice so to +return, then said justice shall commit said apprentice to the jail of +said county," etc., etc. In general by such legislation the Negro was +given the right to sue and be sued, to testify in court concerning +Negroes, and to have marriage and the responsibility for children +recognized. On the other hand, he could not serve on juries, could +not serve in the militia, and could not vote or hold office. He was +virtually forbidden to assemble, and his freedom of movement was +restricted. Within recent years the Black Codes have been more than once +defended as an honest effort to meet a difficult situation, but the old +slavery attitude peered through them and gave the impression that those +who framed them did not yet know that the old order had passed away. + +Meanwhile the South was in a state of panic, and the provisional +governor of Mississippi asked of President Johnson permission to +organize the local militia. The request was granted and the patrols +immediately began to show their hostility to Northern people and the +freedmen. In the spring of 1866 there was a serious race riot in +Memphis. On July 30, while some Negroes were marching to a political +convention in New Orleans, they became engaged in brawls with the +white spectators. Shots were exchanged; the police, assisted by the +spectators, undertook to arrest the Negroes; the Negroes took refuge in +the convention hall; and their pursuers stormed the building and shot +down without mercy the Negroes and their white supporters. Altogether +not less than forty were killed and not less than one hundred wounded; +but not more than a dozen men were killed on the side of the police and +the white citizens. General Sheridan, who was in command at New Orleans, +characterized the affair as "an absolute massacre ... a murder which +the mayor and police of the city perpetrated without the shadow of a +necessity." + +In the face of such events and tendencies, and influenced to some extent +by a careful and illuminating but much criticized report of Carl Schurz, +Congress, led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens, proceeded to pass +legislation designed to protect the freedmen and to guarantee to +the country the fruits of the war. The Thirteenth Amendment to the +Constitution formally abolishing slavery was passed December 18, 1865. +In the following March Congress passed over the President's veto the +first Civil Rights Bill, guaranteeing to the freedmen all the ordinary +rights of citizenship, and it was about the same time that it enlarged +the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau. The Fourteenth Amendment (July +28, 1868) denied to the states the power to abridge the privileges or +immunities of citizens of the United States; and the Fifteenth Amendment +(March 30, 1870) sought to protect the Negro by giving to him the right +of suffrage instead of military protection. In 1875 was passed the +second Civil Rights act, designed to give Negroes equality of treatment +in theaters, railway cars, hotels, etc.; but this the Supreme Court +declared unconstitutional in 1883. + +As a result of this legislation the Negro was placed in positions of +responsibility; within the next few years the race sent two senators +and thirteen representatives to Congress, and in some of the state +legislatures, as in South Carolina, Negroes were decidedly in the +majority. The attainments of some of these men were undoubtedly +remarkable; the two United States senators, Hiram R. Revels and Blanche +K. Bruce, both from Mississippi, were of unquestioned intelligence and +ability, and Robert B. Elliott, one of the representatives from South +Carolina, attracted unusual attention by his speech in reply to +Alexander Stephens on the constitutionality of the Civil Rights bill. At +the same time among the Negro legislators there was also considerable +ignorance, and there set in an era of extravagance and corruption from +which the "carpet-baggers" and the "scalawags" rather than the Negroes +themselves reaped the benefit. Accordingly within recent years it has +become more and more the fashion to lament the ills of the period, and +no representative American historian can now write of reconstruction +without a tone of apology. A few points, however, are to be observed. +In the first place the ignorance was by no means so vast as has been +supposed. Within the four years from 1861 to 1865, thanks to the army +schools and missionary agencies, not less than half a million Negroes in +the South had learned to read and write. Furthermore, the suffrage was +not immediately given to the emancipated Negroes; this was the +last rather than the first step in reconstruction. The provisional +legislatures formed at the close of the war were composed of white men +only; but the experiment failed because of the short-sighted laws that +were enacted. If the fruit of the Civil War was not to be lost, if all +the sacrifice was not to prove in vain, it became necessary for Congress +to see that the overthrow of slavery was final and complete. By the +Fourteenth Amendment the Negro was invested with the ordinary rights and +dignity of a citizen of the United States. He was not enfranchised, but +he could no longer be made the victim of state laws designed merely to +keep him in servile subjection. If the Southern states had accepted +this amendment, they might undoubtedly have reëntered the Union without +further conditions. They refused to do so; they refused to help the +National Government in any way whatsoever in its effort to guarantee +to the Negro the rights of manhood. Achilles sulked in his tent, and +whenever he sulks the world moves on--without him. The alternative +finally presented to Congress, if it was not to make an absolute +surrender, was either to hold the South indefinitely under military +subjection or to place the ballot in the hands of the Negro. The former +course was impossible; the latter was chosen, and the Union was really +restored--was really saved--by the force of the ballot in the hands of +black men. + +It has been held that the Negro was primarily to blame for the +corruption of the day. Here again it is well to recall the tendencies of +the period. The decade succeeding the war was throughout the country +one of unparalleled political corruption. The Tweed ring, the Crédit +Mobilier, and the "salary grab" were only some of the more outstanding +signs of the times. In the South the Negroes were not the real leaders +in corruption; they simply followed the men who they supposed were their +friends. Surely in the face of such facts as these it is not just to fix +upon a people groping to the light the peculiar odium of the corruption +that followed in the wake of the war. + +And we shall have to leave it to those better informed than we to say to +just what extent city and state politics in the South have been cleaned +up since the Negro ceased to be a factor. Many of the constitutions +framed by the reconstruction governments were really excellent models, +and the fact that they were overthrown seems to indicate that some other +spoilsmen were abroad. Take North Carolina, for example. In this state +in 1868 the reconstruction government by its new constitution introduced +the township system so favorably known in the North and West. When in +1875 the South regained control, with all the corruption it found as +excellent a form of republican state government as was to be found in +any state in the Union. "Every provision which any state enjoyed for the +protection of public society from its bad members and bad impulses was +either provided or easily procurable under the Constitution of the +state."[1] Yet within a year, in order to annul the power of their +opponents in every county in the state, the new party so amended +the Constitution as to take away from every county the power of +self-government and centralize everything in the legislature. Now was +realized an extent of power over elections and election returns so +great that no party could wholly clear itself of the idea of corrupt +intentions. + +[Footnote 1: George W. Cable: _The Southern Struggle for Pure +Government_: An Address. Boston, 1890, included in _The Negro Question_, +New York, 1890.] + +At the heart of the whole question of course was race. As a matter of +fact much work of genuine statesmanship was accomplished or attempted by +the reconstruction governments. For one thing the idea of common school +education for all people was now for the first time fully impressed upon +the South. The Charleston _News and Courier_ of July 11, 1876, formally +granted that in the administration of Governor Chamberlain of South +Carolina the abuse of the pardoning power had been corrected; the +character of the officers appointed by the Executive had improved; the +floating indebtedness of the state had been provided for in such a way +that the rejection of fraudulent claims was assured and that valid +claims were scaled one-half; the tax laws had been so amended as to +secure substantial equality in the assessment of property; taxes had +been reduced to eleven mills on the dollar; the contingent fund of +the executive department had been reduced at a saving in two years of +$101,200; legislative expenses had also been reduced so as to save +in two years $350,000; legislative contingent expenses had also been +handled so as to save $355,000; and the public printing reduced from +$300,000 to $50,000 a year. There were, undoubtedly, at first, many +corrupt officials, white and black. Before they were through, however, +after only a few years of experimenting, the reconstruction governments +began to show signs of being quite able to handle the situation; and it +seems to have been primarily the fear on the part of the white South +_that they might not fail_ that prompted the determination to regain +power at whatever cost. Just how this was done we are now to see. + + +3. _Reaction: The KuKlux Klan_ + +Even before the Civil War a secret organization, the Knights of the +Golden Circle, had been formed to advance Southern interests. After the +war there were various organizations--Men of Justice, Home Guards, Pale +Faces, White Brotherhood, White Boys, Council of Safety, etc., and, with +headquarters at New Orleans, the thoroughly organized Knights of the +White Camelia. All of these had for their general aim the restoration +of power to the white men of the South, which aim they endeavored to +accomplish by regulating the conduct of the Negroes and their leaders +in the Republican organization, the Union League, especially by playing +upon the fears and superstitions of the Negroes. In general, especially +in the Southeast, everything else was surpassed or superseded by the +KuKlux Klan, which originated in Tennessee in the fall of 1865 as an +association of young men for amusement, but which soon developed into a +union for the purpose of whipping, banishing, terrorizing, and murdering +Negroes and Northern white men who encouraged them in the exercise of +their political rights. No Republican, no member of the Union League, +and no G.A.R. man could become a member. The costume of the Klan +was especially designed to strike terror in the uneducated Negroes. +Loose-flowing sleeves, hoods in which were apertures for the eyes, nose, +and mouth trimmed with red material, horns made of cotton-stuff standing +out on the front and sides, high cardboard hats covered with white +cloth decorated with stars or pictures of animals, long tongues of red +flannel, were all used as occasion demanded. The KuKlux Klan finally +extended over the whole South and greatly increased its operations on +the cessation of martial law in 1870. As it worked generally at night, +with its members in disguise, it was difficult for a grand jury to get +evidence on which to frame a bill, and almost impossible to get a jury +that would return a verdict for the state. Repeated measures against +the order were of little effect until an act of 1870 extended the +jurisdiction of the United States courts to all KuKlux cases. Even then +for some time the organization continued active. + +Naturally there were serious clashes before government was restored to +the white South, especially as the KuKlux Klan grew bolder. At Colfax, +Grant Parish, Louisiana, in April, 1873, there was a pitched battle in +which several white men and more than fifty Negroes were killed; and +violence increased as the "red shirt" campaign of 1876 approached. + +In connection with the events of this fateful year, and with reference +to South Carolina, where the Negro seemed most solidly in power, we +recall one episode, that of the Hamburg Massacre. We desire to give this +as fully as possible in all its incidents, because we know of nothing +that better illustrates the temper of the times, and because a most +important matter is regularly ignored or minimized by historians.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Fleming, in his latest and most mature account of +reconstruction, _The Sequel of Appomattox_, has not one word to say +about the matter. Dunning, in _Reconstruction Political and Economic_ +(306), speaks as follows: "July 6, 1876, an armed collision between +whites and blacks at Hamburg, Aiken County, resulted in the usual +slaughter of the blacks. Whether the original cause of the trouble +was the insolence and threats of a Negro militia company, or the +aggressiveness and violence of some young white men, was much discussed +throughout the state, and, indeed, the country at large. Chamberlain +took frankly and strongly the ground that the whites were at fault." +Such a statement we believe simply does not do justice to the facts. +The account given herewith is based upon the report of the matter in a +letter published in a Washington paper and submitted in connection with +the debate in the United States House of Representatives, July 15th and +18th, 1876, on the Massacre of Six Colored Citizens at Hamburg, S.C., +July 4, 1876; and on "An Address to the People of the United States, +adopted at a Conference of Colored Citizens, held at Columbia, S.C., +July 20th and 21st, 1876" (Republican Printing Co., Columbia, S.C., +1876). The Address, a document most important for the Negro's side of +the story, was signed by no less than sixty representative men, among +them R.B. Elliott, R.H. Gleaves, F.L. Cardozo, D.A. Straker, T. McC. +Stewart, and H.N. Bouey.] + +In South Carolina an act providing for the enrollment of the male +citizens of the state, who were by the terms of the said act made +subject to the performance of militia duty, was passed by the General +Assembly and approved by the Governor March 16, 1869. By virtue of this +act Negro citizens were regularly enrolled as a part of the National +Guard of the State of South Carolina, and as the white men, with very +few exceptions, failed or refused to become a part of the said force, +the active militia was composed almost wholly of Negro men. The County +of Edgefield, of which Hamburg was a part, was one of the military +districts of the state under the apportionment of the Adjutant-General, +one regiment being allotted to the district. One company of this +regiment was in Hamburg. In 1876 it had recently been reorganized with +Doc Adams as captain, Lewis Cartledge as first lieutenant, and A.T. +Attaway as second lieutenant. The ranks were recruited to the requisite +number of men, to whom arms and equipment were duly issued. + +On Tuesday, July 4, the militia company assembled for drill and while +thus engaged paraded through one of the least frequented streets of the +town. This street was unusually wide, but while marching four abreast +the men were interrupted by a horse and buggy driven _into their ranks_ +by Thomas Butler and Henry Getzen, white men who resided about two +miles from the town. At the time of this interference the company was +occupying a space covering a width of not more than eight feet, so that +on either side there was abundant room for vehicles. At the interruption +Captain Adams commanded a halt and, stepping to the head of his column, +said, "Mr. Getzen, I did not think that you would treat me this way; I +would not so act towards you." To this Getzen replied with curses, +and after a few more remarks on either side, Adams, in order to avoid +further trouble, commanded his men to break ranks and permit the buggy +to pass through. The company was then marched to the drill rooms and +dismissed. + +On Wednesday, July 5, Robert J. Butler, father of Thomas Butler and +father-in-law of Getzen, appeared before P.R. Rivers, colored trial +justice, and made complaint that the militia company had on the previous +day obstructed one of the public streets of Hamburg and prevented his +son and son-in-law from passing through. Rivers accordingly issued a +summons for the officers to appear the next day, July 6. When Adams and +his two lieutenants appeared on Thursday, they found present Robert J. +Butler and several other white men heavily armed with revolvers. On the +calling of the case it was announced that the defendants were present +and that Henry Sparnick, a member of the circuit bar of the county, had +been retained to represent them. Butler angrily protested against such +representation and demanded that the hearing be postponed until he +could procure counsel from the city of Augusta; whereupon Adams and his +lieutenants, after consultation with their attorney, who informed them +that there were no legal grounds on which the case could be decided +against them, waived their constitutional right to be represented by +counsel and consented to go to trial. On this basis the case was opened +and proceeded with for some time, when on account of some disturbance +its progress was arrested, and it was adjourned for further hearing on +the following Saturday, July 8, at four o'clock in the afternoon. + +On Saturday, between two and three o'clock, General M.C. Butler, of +Edgefield, formerly an officer in the Confederate army, arrived in +Hamburg, and he was followed by mounted men in squads of ten or fifteen +until the number was more than two hundred, the last to arrive being +Colonel A.P. Butler at the head of threescore men. Immediately after his +arrival General Butler sent for Attorney Sparnick, who was charged with +the request to Rivers and the officers of the militia company to confer +with him at once. There was more passing of messengers back and forth, +and it was at length deemed best for the men to confer with Butler. To +this two of the officers objected on the ground that the whole plan was +nothing more than a plot for their assassination. They sent to ask if +General Butler would meet them without the presence of his armed force. +He replied Yes, but before arrangements could be made for the interview +another messenger came to say that the hour for the trial had arrived, +that General Butler was at the court, and that he requested the presence +of the trial justice, Rivers. Rivers proceeded to court alone and found +Butler there waiting for him. He was about to proceed with the case when +Butler asked for more time, which request was granted. He went away and +never returned to the court. Instead he went to the council chamber, +being surrounded now by greater and greater numbers of armed men, and he +sent a committee to the officers asking that they come to the council +chamber to see him. The men again declined for the same reason as +before. Butler now sent an ultimatum demanding that the officers +apologize for what took place on July 4 and that they surrender to him +their arms, threatening that if the surrender was not made at once he +would take their guns and officers by force. Adams and his men now awoke +to a full sense of their danger, and they asked Rivers, who was not only +trial justice but also Major General of the division of the militia to +which they belonged, if he demanded their arms of them. Rivers replied +that he did not. Thereupon the officers refused the request of Butler on +the ground that he had no legal right to demand their arms or to receive +them if surrendered. At this point Butler let it be known that he +demanded the surrender of the arms within half an hour and that if he +did not receive them he would "lay the d---- town in ashes." Asked in an +interview whether, if his terms were complied with, he would guarantee +protection to the people of the town he answered that he did not know +and that that would depend altogether upon how they behaved themselves. + +Butler now went with a companion to Augusta, returning in about thirty +minutes. A committee called upon him as soon as he got back. He had only +to say that he demanded the arms immediately. Asked if he would accept +the boxing up of the arms and the sending of them to the Governor, he +said, "D---- the Governor. I am not here to consult him, but am here as +Colonel Butler, and this won't stop until after November." Asked again +if he would guarantee general protection if the arms were surrendered, +he said, "I guarantee nothing." + +All the while scores of mounted men were about the streets. Such members +of the militia company as were in town and their friends to the number +of thirty-eight repaired to their armory--a large brick building +about two hundred yards from the river--and barricaded themselves for +protection. Firing upon the armory was begun by the mounted men, and +after half an hour there were occasional shots from within. After a +while the men in the building heard an order to bring cannon from +Augusta, and they began to leave the building from the rear, concealing +themselves as well as they could in a cornfield. The cannon was brought +and discharged three or four times, those firing it not knowing that the +building had been evacuated. When they realized their mistake they made +a general search through lots and yards for the members of the company +and finally captured twenty-seven of them, after two had been killed. +The men, none of whom now had arms, were marched to a place near the +railroad station, where the sergeant of the company was ordered to call +the roll. Allan T. Attaway, whose name was first, was called out +and shot in cold blood. Twelve men fired upon him and he was killed +instantly. The men whose names were second, third, and fourth on the +list were called out and treated likewise. The fifth man made a dash for +liberty and escaped with a slight wound in the leg. All the others were +then required to hold up their right hands and swear that they would +never bear arms against the white people or give in court any testimony +whatsoever regarding the occurrence. They were then marched off two by +two and dispersed, but stray shots were fired after them as they went +away. In another portion of the town the chief of police, James Cook, +was taken from his home and brutally murdered. A marshal of the town was +shot through the body and mortally wounded. One of the men killed was +found with his tongue cut out. The members of Butler's party finally +entered the homes of most of the prominent Negroes in the town, smashed +the furniture, tore books to pieces, and cut pictures from their frames, +all amid the most heartrending distress on the part of the women and +children. That night the town was desolate, for all who could do so fled +to Aiken or Columbia. + +Upon all of which our only comment is that while such a process might +seem for a time to give the white man power, it makes no progress +whatever toward the ultimate solution of the problem. + + +4. _Counter-Reaction: The Negro Exodus_ + +The Negro Exodus of 1879 was partially considered in connection with our +study of Liberia; but a few facts are in place here. + +After the withdrawal of Federal troops conditions in the South were +changed so much that, especially in South Carolina, Mississippi, +Louisiana, and Texas, the state of affairs was no longer tolerable. +Between 1866 and 1879 more than three thousand Negroes were summarily +killed.[1] The race began to feel that a new slavery in the horrible +form of peonage was approaching, and that the disposition of the men in +power was to reduce the laborer to the minimum of advantages as a free +man and to none at all as a citizen. The fear, which soon developed into +a panic, rose especially in consequence of the work of political mobs +in 1874 and 1875, and it soon developed organization. About this the +outstanding fact was that the political leaders of the last few years +were regularly distrusted and ignored, the movement being secret in its +origin and committed either to the plantation laborers themselves or +their direct representatives. In North Carolina circulars about Nebraska +were distributed. In Tennessee Benjamin ("Pap") Singleton began about +1869 to induce Negroes to go to Kansas, and he really founded two +colonies with a total of 7432 Negroes from his state, paying of his own +money over $600 for circulars. In Louisiana alone 70,000 names were +taken of those who wished to better their condition by removal; and by +1878 98,000 persons in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas were +ready to go elsewhere. A convention to consider the whole matter of +migration was held in Nashville in 1879. At this the politician managed +to put in an appearance and there was much wordy discussion. At the same +time much of the difference of opinion was honest; the meeting was +on the whole constructive; and it expressed itself as favorable to +"reasonable migration." Already, however, thousands of Negroes were +leaving their homes in the South and going in greatest numbers to +Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana. Within twenty months Kansas alone +received in this way an addition to her population of 40,000 persons. +Many of these people arrived at their destination practically penniless +and without prospect of immediate employment; but help was afforded by +relief agencies in the North, and they themselves showed remarkable +sturdiness in adapting themselves to the new conditions. + +[Footnote 1: Emmett J. Scott: Negro Migration during the War (in +Preliminary Economic Studies of the War--Carnegie Endowment for +International Peace: Division of Economics and History). Oxford +University Press, American Branch, New York, 1920.] + +Many of the stories that the Negroes told were pathetic.[1] Sometimes +boats would not take them on, and they suffered from long exposure on +the river banks. Sometimes, while they were thus waiting, agents of +their own people employed by the planters tried to induce them to +remain. Frequently they were clubbed or whipped. Said one: "I saw nine +put in one pile, that had been killed, and the colored people had to +bury them; eight others were found killed in the woods.... It is done +this way: they arrest them for breach of contract and carry them to +jail. Their money is taken from them by the jailer and it is not +returned when they are let go." Said another: "If a colored man stays +away from the polls and does not vote, they spot him and make him vote. +If he votes their way, they treat him no better in business. They hire +the colored people to vote, and then take their pay away. I know a +man to whom they gave a cow and a calf for voting their ticket. After +election they came and told him that if he kept the cow he must pay for +it; and they took the cow and calf away." Another: "One man shook his +fist in my face and said, 'D---- you, sir, you are my property.' He said +that I owed him. He could not show it and then said, 'You sha'n't go +anyhow.' All we want is a living chance." Another: "There is a general +talk among the whites and colored people that Jeff Davis will run for +president of the Southern states, and the colored people are afraid they +will be made slaves again. They are already trying to prevent them from +going from one plantation to another without a pass." Another: "The +deputy sheriff came and took away from me a pair of mules. He had a +constable and twenty-five men with guns to back him." Another: "Last +year, after settling with my landlord, my share was four bales of +cotton. I shipped it to Richardson and May, 38 and 40 Perdido Street, +New Orleans, through W.E. Ringo & Co., merchants, at Mound Landing, +Miss. I lived four miles back of this landing. I received from Ringo a +ticket showing that my cotton was sold at nine and three-eighths cents, +but I could never get a settlement. He kept putting me off by saying +that the bill of lading had not come. Those bales averaged over four +hundred pounds. I did not owe him over twenty-five dollars. A man may +work there from Monday morning to Saturday night, and be as economical +as he pleases, and he will come out in debt. I am a close man, and I +work hard. I want to be honest in getting through the world. I came away +and left a crop of corn and cotton growing up. I left it because I did +not want to work twelve months for nothing. I have been trying it for +fifteen years, thinking every year that it would get better, and it gets +worse." Said still another: "I learned about Kansas from the newspapers +that I got hold of. They were Southern papers. I got a map, and found +out where Kansas was; and I got a History of the United States, and read +about it." + +[Footnote 1: See _Negro Exodus_ (Report of Colonel Frank H. Fletcher).] + +Query: Was it genuine statesmanship that permitted these people to feel +that they must leave the South? + + * * * * * + +5. _A Postscript on the War and Reconstruction_ + +Of all of the stories of these epoch-making years we have chosen one--an +idyl of a woman with an alabaster box, of one who had a clear conception +of the human problem presented and who gave her life in the endeavor to +meet it. + +In the fall of 1862 a young woman who was destined to be a great +missionary entered the Seminary at Rockford, Illinois. There was little +to distinguish her from the other students except that she was very +plainly dressed and seemed forced to spend most of her spare time at +work. Yes, there was one other difference. She was older than most of +the girls--already thirty, and rich in experience. When not yet fifteen +she had taught a country school in Pennsylvania. At twenty she was +considered capable of managing an unusually turbulent crowd of boys and +girls. When she was twenty-seven her father died, leaving upon her very +largely the care of her mother. At twenty-eight she already looked back +upon fourteen years as a teacher, upon some work for Christ incidentally +accomplished, but also upon a fading youth of wasted hopes and +unfulfilled desires. + +Then came a great decision--not the first, not the last, but one of the +most important that marked her long career. Her education was by no +means complete, and, at whatever cost, she would go to school. That she +had no money, that her clothes were shabby, that her mother needed her, +made no difference; now or never she would realize her ambition. She +would do anything, however menial, if it was honest and would give her +food while she continued her studies. For one long day she walked the +streets of Belvidere looking for a home. Could any one use a young woman +who wanted to work for her board? Always the same reply. Nightfall +brought her to a farmhouse in the suburbs of the town. She timidly +knocked on the door. "No, we do not need any one," said the woman who +greeted her, "but wait until I see my husband." The man of the house +was very unwilling, but decided to give shelter for the night. The +next morning he thought differently about the matter, and a few days +afterwards the young woman entered school. The work was hard; fires +had to be made, breakfasts on cold mornings had to be prepared, and +sometimes the washing was heavy. Naturally the time for lessons was +frequently cut short or extended far into the night. But the woman of +the house was kind, and her daughter a helpful fellow-student. + +The next summer came another season at school-teaching, and then the +term at Rockford. 1862! a great year that in American history, one more +famous for the defeat of the Union arms than for their success. But in +September came Antietam, and the heart of the North took courage. Then +with the new year came the Emancipation Proclamation. + +The girls at Rockford, like the people everywhere, were interested +in the tremendous events that were shaking the nation. A new note of +seriousness crept into their work. Embroidery was laid aside; instead, +socks were knit and bandages prepared. On the night of January 1 a +jubilee meeting was held in the town. + +To Joanna P. Moore, however, the news of freedom brought a strange +undertone of sadness. She could not help thinking of the spiritual and +intellectual condition of the millions now emancipated. Strange that she +should be possessed by this problem! She had thought of work in China, +or India, or even in Africa--but of this, never! + +In February a man who had been on Island No. 10 came to the Seminary and +told the girls of the distress of the women and children there. Cabins +and tents were everywhere. As many as three families, with eight or +ten children each, cooked their food in the same pot on the same fire. +Sometimes the women were peevish or quarrelsome; always the children +were dirty. "What can a man do to help such a suffering mass of +humanity?" asked the speaker. "Nothing. A woman is needed; nobody else +will do." For the student listening so intently the cheery schoolrooms +with their sweet associations faded; the vision of foreign missions also +vanished; and in their stead stood only a pitiful black woman with a +baby in her arms. + +She reached Island No. 10 in November. The outlook was dismal enough. +The Sunday school at Belvidere had pledged four dollars a month toward +her support, and this was all the money in sight, though the Government +provided transportation and soldiers' rations. That was in 1863, sixty +years ago; but every year since then, until 1916, in summer and winter, +in sunshine and rain, in the home and the church, with teaching and +praying, feeding and clothing, nursing and hoping and loving, Joanna P. +Moore in one way or another ministered to the Negro people of the South. + +In April, 1864, her whole colony was removed to Helena, Arkansas. The +Home Farm was three miles from Helena. Here was gathered a great crowd +of women and children and helpless old men, all under the guard of a +company of soldiers in a fort nearby. Thither went the missionary alone, +except for her faith in God. She made an arbor with some rude seats, +nailed a blackboard to a tree, divided the people into four groups, +and began to teach school. In the twilight every evening a great crowd +gathered around her cabin for prayers. A verse of the Bible was read and +explained, petitions were offered, one of the sorrow-songs was chanted, +and then the service was over. + +Some Quaker workers were her friends in Helena, and in 1868 she went to +Lauderdale, Mississippi, to help the Friends in an orphan asylum. Six +weeks after her arrival the superintendent's daughter died, and the +parents left to take their child back to their Indiana home to rest. The +lone woman was left in charge of the asylum. Cholera broke out. Eleven +children died within one week. Still she stood by her post. Often, she +said, those who were well and happy when they retired, ere daylight came +were in the grave, for they were buried the same hour they died. Night +after night she prayed to God in the dark, and at length the fury of the +plague was abated. + +From time to time the failing health of her mother called her home, and +from 1870 to 1873 she once more taught school near Belvidere. The first +winter the school was in the country. "You can never have a Sunday +school in the winter," they told her. But she did; in spite of the snow, +the house was crowded every Sunday, whole families coming in sleighs. +Even at that the real work of the teacher was with the Negroes of the +South. In her prayers and public addresses they were always with her, +and in 1873 friends in Chicago made it possible for her to return to the +work of her choice. In 1877 the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society +honored itself by giving to her its first commission. + +Nine years she spent in the vicinity of New Orleans. Near Leland +University she found a small, one-room house. After buying a bed, a +table, two chairs, and a few cooking utensils, she began housekeeping. +Often she started out at six in the morning, not to return until +dark. Most frequently she read the Bible to those who could not read. +Sometimes she gave cheer to mothers busy over the washtub. Sometimes +she would teach the children to read or to sew. Often she would write +letters for those who had been separated from friends or kindred in the +dark days. She wrote hundreds and hundreds of such letters; and once in +a while, a very long while, came a response. + +Most pitiful of all the objects she found in New Orleans were the old +women worn out with years of slavery. They were usually rag-pickers who +ate at night the scraps for which they had begged during the day. There +was in the city an Old Ladies' Home; but this was not for Negroes. +A house was secured and the women taken in, Joanna Moore and her +associates moving into the second story. Sometimes, very often, there +was real need; but sometimes, too, provisions came when it was not known +who sent them; money or boxes came from Northern friends who had never +seen the workers; and the little Negro children in the Sunday schools in +the city gave their pennies. + +In 1878 the laborer in the Southwest started on a journey of +exploration. In Atlanta Dr. Robert at Atlanta Baptist Seminary (now +Morehouse College) gave her cheer; so did President Ware at Atlanta +University. At Benedict in Columbia she saw Dr. Goodspeed, President +Tupper at Shaw in Raleigh, and Dr. Corey in Richmond. In May she +appeared at the Baptist anniversaries, with fifteen years of missionary +achievement already behind her. + +But each year brought its own sorrows and disappointments. She wanted +the Society to establish a training school for women; but to this +objection was raised. In Louisiana also it was not without danger that a +white woman attended a Negro association in 1877; and there were always +sneers and jeers. At length, however, a training school for mothers was +opened in Baton Rouge. All went well for two years; and then a notice +with skull and crossbones was placed on the gate. The woman who had +worked through the cholera still stood firm; but the students had gone. +Sick at heart and worn out with waiting, she at last left Baton Rouge +and the state in which so many of her best years had been spent. + +"Bible Band" work was started in 1884, and _Hope_ in 1885. The little +paper, beginning with a circulation of five hundred, has now reached a +monthly issue of twenty thousand copies, and daily it brings its +lesson of cheer to thousands of mothers and children in the South. In +connection with it all has developed the Fireside School, than which few +agencies have been more potent in the salvation and uplift of the humble +Negro home. + +What wisdom was gathered from the passing of fourscore years! On almost +every page of her tracts, her letters, her account of her life, one +finds quotations of proverbial pith: + +The love of God gave me courage for myself and the rest of mankind; +therefore I concluded to invest in human souls. They surely are worth +more than anything else in the world. + +Beloved friends, be hopeful, be courageous. God can not use discouraged +people. + +The good news spread, not by telling what we were going to do but by +praising God for what had been done. + +So much singing in all our churches leaves too little time for the Bible +lesson. Do not misunderstand me. I do love music that impresses the +meaning of words. But no one climbs to heaven on musical scales. + +I thoroughly believe that the only way to succeed with any vocation is +to make it a part of your very self and weave it into your every thought +and prayer. + +You must love before you can comfort and help. + +There is no place too lowly or dark for our feet to enter, and no place +so high and bright but it needs the touch of the light that we carry +from the Cross. + +How shall we measure such a life? Who can weigh love and hope and +service, and the joy of answered prayer? "An annual report of what?" she +once asked the secretary of her organization. "Report of tears shed, +prayers offered, smiles scattered, lessons taught, steps taken, cheering +words, warning words--tender, patient words for the little ones, stern +but loving tones for the wayward--songs of hope and songs of sorrow, +wounded hearts healed, light and love poured into dark sad homes? Oh, +Miss Burdette, you might as well ask me to gather up the raindrops of +last year or the petals that fall from the flowers that bloomed. It is +true that I can send you a little stagnant water from the cistern, and a +few dried flowers; but if you want to know the freshness, the sweetness, +the glory, the grandeur, of our God-given work, then you must come +and keep step with us from early morn to night for three hundred and +sixty-five days in the year." + +Until the very last she was on the roll of the active workers of the +Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society. In the fall of 1915 she +decided that she must once more see the schools in the South that meant +so much to her. In December she came again to her beloved Spelman. While +in Atlanta she met with an accident that still further weakened her. +After a few weeks, however, she went on to Jacksonville, and then to +Selma. There she passed. + + * * * * * + +When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels +with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.... Then shall +the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, +and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a +stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we +thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer +and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it +unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW SOUTH + + +1. _Political Life: Disfranchisement_ + +By 1876 the reconstruction governments had all but passed. A few days +after his inauguration in 1877 President Hayes sent to Louisiana a +commission to investigate the claims of rival governments there. The +decision was in favor of the Democrats. On April 9 the President ordered +the removal of Federal troops from public buildings in the South; and +in Columbia, S.C., within a few days the Democratic administration of +Governor Wade Hampton was formally recognized. The new governments at +once set about the abrogation of the election laws that had protected +the Negro in the exercise of suffrage, and, having by 1877 obtained +a majority in the national House of Representatives, the Democrats +resorted to the practice of attaching their repeal measures to +appropriation bills in the hope of compelling the President to sign +them. Men who had been prominently connected with the Confederacy were +being returned to Congress in increasing numbers, but in general the +Democrats were not able to carry their measures over the President's +veto. From the Supreme Court, however, they received practical +assistance, for while this body did not formally grant that the states +had full powers over elections, it nevertheless nullified many of the +most objectionable sections of the laws. Before the close of the decade, +by intimidation, the theft, suppression or exchange of the ballot boxes, +the removal of the polls to unknown places, false certifications, and +illegal arrests on the day before an election, the Negro vote had been +rendered ineffectual in every state of the South. + +When Cleveland was elected in 1884 the Negroes of the South naturally +felt that the darkest hour of their political fortunes had come. It had, +for among many other things this election said that after twenty years +of discussion and tumult the Negro question was to be relegated to the +rear, and that the country was now to give main attention to other +problems. For the Negro the new era was signalized by one of the most +effective speeches ever delivered in this or any other country, all +the more forceful because the orator was a man of unusual nobility of +spirit. In 1886 Henry W. Grady, of Georgia, addressed the New England +Club in New York on "The New South." He spoke to practical men and he +knew his ground. He asked his hearers to bring their "full faith in +American fairness and frankness" to judgment upon what he had to say. +He pictured in brilliant language the Confederate soldier, "ragged, +half-starved, heavy-hearted, who wended his way homeward to find his +house in ruins and his farm devastated." He also spoke kindly of the +Negro: "Whenever he struck a blow for his own liberty he fought in open +battle, and when at last he raised his black and humble hands that the +shackles might be struck off, those hands were innocent of wrong against +his helpless charges." But Grady also implied that the Negro had +received too much attention and sympathy from the North. Said he: "To +liberty and enfranchisement is as far as law can carry the Negro. +The rest must be left to conscience and common sense." Hence on this +occasion and others he asked that the South be left alone in the +handling of her grave problem. The North, a little tired of the Negro +question, a little uncertain also as to the wisdom of the reconstruction +policy that it had forced on the South, and if concerned with this +section at all, interested primarily in such investments as it had +there, assented to this request; and in general the South now felt that +it might order its political life in its own way. + +As yet, however, the Negro was not technically disfranchised, and at any +moment a sudden turn of events might call him into prominence. Formal +legislation really followed the rise of the Populist party, which +about 1890 in many places in the South waged an even contest with the +Democrats. It was evident that in such a struggle the Negro might still +hold the balance of power, and within the next few years a fusion of the +Republicans and the Populists in North Carolina sent a Negro, George H. +White, to Congress. This event finally served only to strengthen the +movement for disfranchisement which had already begun. In 1890 the +constitution of Mississippi was so amended as to exclude from the +suffrage any person who had not paid his poll-tax or who was unable to +read any section of the constitution, or understand it when read to +him, or to give a reasonable interpretation of it. The effect of the +administration of this provision was that in 1890 only 8615 Negroes out +of 147,000 of voting age became registered. South Carolina amended her +constitution with similar effect in 1895. In this state the population +was almost three-fifths Negro and two-fifths white. The franchise of +the Negro was already in practical abeyance; but the problem now was +to devise a means for the perpetuity of a government of white men. +Education was not popular as a test, for by it many white illiterates +would be disfranchised and in any case it would only postpone the race +issue. For some years the dominant party had been engaged in factional +controversies, with the populist wing led by Benjamin R. Tillman +prevailing over the conservatives. It was understood, however, that each +side would be given half of the membership of the convention, which +would exclude all Negro and Republican representation, and that the +constitution would go into effect without being submitted to the people. +Said the most important provision: "Any person who shall apply for +registration after January 1, 1898, if otherwise qualified, shall be +registered; provided that he can both read and write any section of this +constitution submitted to him by the registration officer or can show +that he owns and has paid all taxes collectible during the previous +year on property in this state assessed at three hundred dollars or +more"--clauses which it is hardly necessary to say the registrars +regularly interpreted in favor of white men and against the Negro. In +1898 Louisiana passed an amendment inventing the so-called "grandfather +clause." This excused from the operation of her disfranchising act all +descendants of men who had voted before the Civil War, thus admitting +to the suffrage all white men who were illiterate and without property. +North Carolina in 1900, Virginia and Alabama in 1901, Georgia in 1907, +and Oklahoma in 1910 in one way or another practically disfranchised the +Negro, care being taken in every instance to avoid any definite clash +with the Fifteenth Amendment. In Maryland there have been several +attempts to disfranchise the Negro by constitutional amendments, one in +1905, another in 1909, and still another in 1911, but all have failed. +About the intention of its disfranchising legislation the South, as +represented by more than one spokesman, was very frank. Unfortunately +the new order called forth a group of leaders--represented by Tillman +in South Carolina, Hoke Smith in Georgia, and James K. Vardaman in +Mississippi--who made a direct appeal to prejudice and thus capitalized +the racial feeling that already had been brought to too high tension. + +Naturally all such legislation as that suggested had ultimately to be +brought before the highest tribunal in the country. The test came +over the following section from the Oklahoma law: "No person shall be +registered as an elector of this state or be allowed to vote in any +election herein unless he shall be able to read and write any section +of the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma; but no person who was on +January 1, 1866, or at any time prior thereto, entitled to vote under +any form of government, or who at any time resided in some foreign +nation, and no lineal descendant of such person shall be denied the +right to register and vote because of his inability to so read and +write sections of such Constitution." This enactment the Supreme Court +declared unconstitutional in 1915. The decision exerted no great and +immediate effect on political conditions in the South; nevertheless as +the official recognition by the nation of the fact that the Negro +was not accorded his full political rights, it was destined to have +far-reaching effect on the whole political fabric of the section. + +When the era of disfranchisement began it was in large measure expected +by the South that with the practical elimination of the Negro from +politics this section would become wider in its outlook and divide on +national issues. Such has not proved to be the case. Except for the +noteworthy deflection of Tennessee in the presidential election of 1920, +and Republican gains in some counties in other states, this section +remains just as "solid" as it was forty years ago, largely of course +because the Negro, through education and the acquisition of property, is +becoming more and more a potential factor in politics. Meanwhile it is +to be observed that the Negro is not wholly without a vote, even in the +South, and sometimes his power is used with telling effect, as in the +city of Atlanta in the spring of 1919, when he decided in the negative +the question of a bond issue. In the North moreover--especially in +Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York--he +has on more than one occasion proved the deciding factor in political +affairs. Even when not voting, however, he involuntarily wields +tremendous influence on the destinies of the nation, for even though men +may be disfranchised, all are nevertheless counted in the allotment of +congressmen to Southern states. This anomalous situation means that in +actual practice the vote of one white man in the South is four or six +or even eight times as strong as that of a man in the North;[1] and it +directly accounted for the victory of President Wilson and the Democrats +over the Republicans led by Charles E. Hughes in 1916. For remedying +it by the enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment bills have been +frequently presented in Congress, but on these no action has been taken. + +[Footnote 1: In 1914 Kansas and Mississippi each elected eight members +of the House of Representatives, but Kansas cast 483,683 votes for +her members, while Mississippi cast only 37,185 for hers, less than +one-twelfth as many.] + + +2. _Economic Life: Peonage_ + +Within fifteen years after the close of the war it was clear that the +Emancipation Proclamation was a blessing to the poor white man of the +South as well as to the Negro. The break-up of the great plantation +system was ultimately to prove good for all men whose slender means had +given them little chance before the war. At the same time came also the +development of cotton-mills throughout the South, in which as early as +1880 not less than 16,000 white people were employed. With the decay of +the old system the average acreage of holdings in the South Atlantic +states decreased from 352.8 in 1860 to 108.4 in 1900. It was still +not easy for an independent Negro to own land on his own account; +nevertheless by as early a year as 1874 the Negro farmers had acquired +338,769 acres. After the war the planters first tried the wage system +for the Negroes. This was not satisfactory--from the planter's +standpoint because the Negro had not yet developed stability as a +laborer; from the Negro's standpoint because while the planter might +advance rations, he frequently postponed the payment of wages and +sometimes did not pay at all. Then land came to be rented; but +frequently the rental was from 80 to 100 pounds of lint cotton an acre +for land that produced only 200 to 400 pounds. In course of time +the share system came to be most widely used. Under this the tenant +frequently took his whole family into the cotton-field, and when the +crop was gathered and he and the landlord rode together to the nearest +town to sell it, he received one-third, one-half, or two-thirds of the +money according as he had or had not furnished his own food, implements, +and horses or mules. This system might have proved successful if he had +not had to pay exorbitant prices for his rations. As it was, if +the landlord did not directly furnish foodstuffs he might have an +understanding with the keeper of the country store, who frequently +charged for a commodity twice what it was worth in the open market. At +the close of the summer there was regularly a huge bill waiting for the +Negro at the store; this had to be disposed of first, _and he always +came out just a few dollars behind_. However, the landlord did not mind +such a small matter and in the joy of the harvest might even advance a +few dollars; but the understanding was always that the tenant was to +remain on the land the next year. Thus were the chains of peonage forged +about him. + +At the same time there developed a still more vicious system. +Immediately after the war legislation enacted in the South made severe +provision with reference to vagrancy. Negroes were arrested on the +slightest pretexts and their labor as that of convicts leased to +landowners or other business men. When, a few years later, Negroes, +dissatisfied with the returns from their labor on the farms, began a +movement to the cities, there arose a tendency to make the vagrancy +legislation still more harsh, so that at last a man could not stop work +without technically committing a crime. Thus in all its hideousness +developed the convict lease system. + +This institution and the accompanying chain-gang were at variance with +all the humanitarian impulses of the nineteenth century. Sometimes +prisoners were worked in remote parts of a state altogether away from +the oversight of responsible officials; if they stayed in a prison the +department for women was frequently in plain view and hearing of +the male convicts, and the number of cubic feet in a cell was only +one-fourth of what a scientific test would have required. Sometimes +there was no place for the dressing of the dead except in the presence +of the living. The system was worst when the lessee was given the entire +charge of the custody and discipline of the convicts, and even of their +medical or surgical care. Of real attention there frequently was none, +and reports had numerous blank spaces to indicate deaths from unknown +causes. The sturdiest man could hardly survive such conditions for more +than ten years. In Alabama in 1880 only three of the convicts had been +in confinement for eight years, and only one for nine. In Texas, from +1875 to 1880, the total number of prisoners discharged was 1651, while +the number of deaths and escapes for the same period totalled 1608. In +North Carolina the mortality was eight times as great as in Sing Sing. + +At last the conscience of the nation began to be heard, and after 1883 +there were remedial measures. However, the care of the prisoner still +left much to be desired; and as the Negro is greatly in the majority +among prisoners in the South, and as he is still sometimes arrested +illegally or on flimsy pretexts, the whole matter of judicial and penal +procedure becomes one of the first points of consideration in any final +settlement of the Negro Problem.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Within recent years it has been thought that the convict +lease system and peonage had practically passed in the South. That this +was by no means the case was shown by the astonishing revelations from +Jasper County, Georgia, early in 1921, it being demonstrated in court +that a white farmer, John S. Williams, who had "bought out" Negroes from +the prisons of Atlanta and Macon, had not only held these people in +peonage, but had been directly responsible for the killing of not less +than eleven of them. + +However, as the present work passes through the press, word comes of the +remarkable efforts of Governor Hugh M. Dorsey for a more enlightened +public conscience in his state. In addition to special endeavor for +justice in the Williams case, he has issued a booklet citing with detail +one hundred and thirty-five cases in which Negroes have suffered grave +wrong. He divides his cases into four divisions: (1) The Negro lynched, +(2) The Negro held in peonage, (3) The Negro driven out by organized +lawlessness, and (4) The Negro subject to individual acts of cruelty. +"In some counties," he says, "the Negro is being driven out as though he +were a wild beast. In others he is being held as a slave. In others no +Negroes remain.... In only two of the 135 cases cited is crime against +white women involved." + +For the more recent history of peonage see pp. 306, 329, 344, 360-363.] + + +3. _Social Life: Proscription, Lynching_ + +Meanwhile proscription went forward. Separate and inferior traveling +accommodations, meager provision for the education of Negro children, +inadequate street, lighting and water facilities in most cities and +towns, and the general lack of protection of life and property, made +living increasingly harder for a struggling people. For the Negro of +aspiration or culture every day became a long train of indignities and +insults. On street cars he was crowded into a few seats, generally in +the rear; he entered a railway station by a side door; in a theater he +might occupy only a side, or more commonly the extreme rear, of the +second balcony; a house of ill fame might flourish next to his own +little home; and from public libraries he was shut out altogether, +except where a little branch was sometimes provided. Every opportunity +for such self-improvement as a city might be expected to afford him was +either denied him, or given on such terms as his self-respect forced him +to refuse. + +Meanwhile--and worst of all--he failed to get justice in the courts. +Formally called before the bar he knew beforehand that the case was +probably already decided against him. A white boy might insult and pick +a quarrel with his son, but if the case reached the court room the white +boy would be freed and the Negro boy fined $25 or sent to jail for three +months. Some trivial incident involving no moral responsibility whatever +on the Negro's part might yet cost him his life. + +Lynching grew apace. Generally this was said to be for the protection +of white womanhood; but statistics certainly did not give rape the +prominence that it held in the popular mind. Any cause of controversy, +however slight, that forced a Negro to defend himself against a white +man might result in a lynching, and possibly in a burning. In the period +of 1871-73 the number of Negroes lynched in the South is said to have +been not more than 11 a year. Between 1885 and 1915, however, the number +of persons lynched in the country amounted to 3500, the great majority +being Negroes in the South. For the year 1892 alone the figure was 235. + +One fact was outstanding: astonishing progress was being made by the +Negro people, but in the face of increasing education and culture on +their part, there was no diminution of race feeling. Most Southerners +preferred still to deal with a Negro of the old type rather than with +one who was neatly dressed, simple and unaffected in manner, and +ambitious to have a good home. In any case, however, it was clear that +since the white man held the power, upon him rested primarily the +responsibility of any adjustment. Old schemes for deportation or +colonization in a separate state having proved ineffective or +chimerical, it was necessary to find a new platform on which both races +could stand. The Negro was still the outstanding factor in agriculture +and industry; in large numbers he had to live, and will live, in Georgia +and South Carolina, Mississippi and Texas; and there should have been +some plane on which he could reside in the South not only serviceably +but with justice to his self-respect. The wealth of the New South, it is +to be remembered, was won not only by the labor of black hands but also +that of little white boys and girls. As laborers and citizens, real or +potential, both of these groups deserved the most earnest solicitude of +the state, for it is not upon the riches of the few but the happiness of +the many that a nation's greatness depends. Moreover no state can build +permanently or surely by denying to a half or a third of those governed +any voice whatever in the government. If the Negro was ignorant, he was +also economically defenseless; and it is neither just nor wise to deny +to any man, however humble, any real power for his legal protection. If +these principles hold--and we think they are in line with enlightened +conceptions of society--the prosperity of the New South was by no means +as genuine as it appeared to be, and the disfranchisement of the Negro, +morally and politically, was nothing less than a crime. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"THE VALE OF TEARS," 1890-1910 + + +1. _Current Opinion and Tendencies_ + +In the two decades that we are now to consider we find the working +out of all the large forces mentioned in our last chapter. After a +generation of striving the white South was once more thoroughly in +control, and the new program well under way. Predictions for both a +broader outlook for the section as a whole and greater care for the +Negro's moral and intellectual advancement were destined not to be +fulfilled; and the period became one of bitter social and economic +antagonism. + +All of this was primarily due to the one great fallacy on which the +prosperity of the New South was built, and that was that the labor of +the Negro existed only for the good of the white man. To this one source +may be traced most of the ills borne by both white man and Negro during +the period. If the Negro's labor was to be exploited, it was necessary +that he be without the protection of political power and that he be +denied justice in court. If he was to be reduced to a peon, certainly +socially he must be given a peon's place. Accordingly there developed +everywhere--in schools, in places of public accommodation, in the +facilities of city life--the idea of inferior service for Negroes; +and an unenlightened prison system flourished in all its hideousness. +Furthermore, as a result of the vicious economic system, arose the +sinister form of the Negro criminal. Here again the South begged the +question, representative writers lamenting the passing of the dear dead +days of slavery, and pointing cynically to the effects of freedom on the +Negro. They failed to remember in the case of the Negro criminal that +from childhood to manhood--in education, in economic chance, in legal +power--they had by their own system deprived a human being of every +privilege that was due him, ruining him body and soul; and then they +stood aghast at the thing their hands had made. More than that, they +blamed the race itself for the character that now sometimes appeared, +and called upon thrifty, aspiring Negroes to find the criminal and give +him up to the law. Thrifty, aspiring Negroes wondered what was the +business of the police. + +It was this pitiful failure to get down to fundamentals that +characterized the period and that made life all the more hard for those +Negroes who strove to advance. Every effort was made to brutalize a man, +and then he was blamed for not being a St. Bernard. Fortunately before +the period was over there arose not only clear-thinking men of the race +but also a few white men who realized that such a social order could not +last forever. + +Early in the nineties, however, the pendulum had swung fully backward, +and the years from 1890 to 1895 were in some ways the darkest that the +race has experienced since emancipation. When in 1892 Cleveland was +elected for a second term and the Democrats were once more in power, it +seemed to the Southern rural Negro that the conditions of slavery had +all but come again. More and more the South formulated its creed; it +glorified the old aristocracy that had flourished and departed, and +definitely it began to ask the North if it had not been right after all. +It followed of course that if the Old South had the real key to the +problem, the proper place of the Negro was that of a slave. + +Within two or three years there were so many important articles on the +Negro in prominent magazines and these were by such representative men +that taken together they formed a symposium. In December, 1891, James +Bryce wrote in the _North American Review_, pointing out that the +situation in the South was a standing breach of the Constitution, that +it suspended the growth of political parties and accustomed the section +to fraudulent evasions, and he emphasized education as a possible +remedy; he had quite made up his mind that the Negro had little or no +place in politics. In January, 1892, a distinguished classical scholar, +Basil L. Gildersleeve, turned aside from linguistics to write in the +_Atlantic_ "The Creed of the Old South," which article he afterwards +published as a special brochure, saying that it had been more widely +read than anything else he had ever written. In April, Thomas Nelson +Page in the _North American_ contended that in spite of the $5,000,000 +spent on the education of the Negro in Virginia between 1870 and 1890 +the race had retrograded or not greatly improved, and in fact that the +Negro "did not possess the qualities to raise himself above slavery." +Later in the same year he published _The Old South_. In the same month +Frederick L. Hoffman, writing in the _Arena_, contended that in view of +its mortality statistics the Negro race would soon die out.[1] Also in +April, 1892, Henry Watterson wrote of the Negro in the _Chautauquan_, +recalling the facts that the era of political turmoil had been succeeded +by one of reaction and violence, and that by one of exhaustion and +peace; but with all his insight he ventured no constructive suggestion, +thinking it best for everybody "simply to be quiet for a time." Early in +1893 John C. Wycliffe, a prominent lawyer of New Orleans, writing in +the _Forum_, voiced the desires of many in asking for a repeal of the +Fifteenth Amendment; and in October, Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, writing +in the same periodical of a recent and notorious lynching, said, "It +was horrible to torture the guilty wretch; the burning was an act of +insanity. But had the dismembered form of his victim been the dishonored +body of my baby, I might also have gone into an insanity that might have +ended never." Again and again was there the lament that the Negroes of +forty years after were both morally and intellectually inferior to +their antebellum ancestors; and if college professors and lawyers and +ministers of the Gospel wrote in this fashion one could not wonder that +the politician made capital of choice propaganda. + +[Footnote 1: In 1896 this paper entered into an elaborate study, _Race +Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro_, a publication of the +American Economic Association. In this Hoffman contended at length that +the race was not only not holding its own in population, but that it was +also astonishingly criminal and was steadily losing economically. His +work was critically studied and its fallacies exposed in the _Nation_, +April 1, 1897.] + +In this chorus of dispraise truth struggled for a hearing, but then as +now traveled more slowly than error. In the _North American_ for July, +1892, Frederick Douglass wrote vigorously of "Lynch Law in the South." +In the same month George W. Cable answered affirmatively and with +emphasis the question, "Does the Negro pay for his education?" He showed +that in Georgia in 1889-90 the colored schools did not really cost the +white citizens a cent, and that in the other Southern states the Negro +was also contributing his full share to the maintenance of the schools. +In June of the same year William T. Harris, Commissioner of Education, +wrote in truly statesmanlike fashion in the _Atlantic_ of "The Education +of the Negro." Said he: "With the colored people all educated in schools +and become a reading people interested in the daily newspaper; with all +forms of industrial training accessible to them, and the opportunity so +improved that every form of mechanical and manufacturing skill has its +quota of colored working men and women; with a colored ministry educated +in a Christian theology interpreted in a missionary spirit, and finding +its auxiliaries in modern science and modern literature; with these +educational essentials the Negro problem for the South will be solved +without recourse to violent measures of any kind, whether migration, +or disfranchisement, or ostracism." In December, 1893, Walter H. Page, +writing in the _Forum_ of lynching under the title, "The Last Hold of +the Southern Bully," said that "the great danger is not in the first +violation of law, nor in the crime itself, but in the danger that +Southern public sentiment under the stress of this phase of the race +problem will lose the true perspective of civilization"; and L.E. +Bleckley, Chief Justice of Georgia, spoke in similar vein. On the whole, +however, the country, while occasionally indignant at some atrocity, had +quite decided not to touch the Negro question for a while; and when in +the spring of 1892 some representative Negroes protested without avail +to President Harrison against the work of mobs, the _Review of Reviews_ +but voiced the drift of current opinion when it said: "As for the +colored men themselves, their wisest course would be to cultivate the +best possible relations with the most upright and intelligent of their +white neighbors, and for some time to come to forget all about politics +and to strive mightily for industrial and educational progress."[1] + +[Footnote 1: June, 1892, p. 526.] + +It is not strange that under the circumstances we have now to record +such discrimination, crime, and mob violence as can hardly be paralleled +in the whole of American history. The Negro was already down; he was now +to be trampled upon. When in the spring of 1892 some members of the race +in the lowlands of Mississippi lost all they had by the floods and the +Federal Government was disposed to send relief, the state government +protested against such action on the ground that it would keep the +Negroes from accepting the terms offered by the white planters. In +Louisiana in 1895 a Negro presiding elder reported to the _Southwestern +Christian Advocate_ that he had lost a membership of a hundred souls, +the people being compelled to leave their crops and move away within ten +days. + +In 1891 the jail at Omaha was entered and a Negro taken out and hanged +to a lamp-post. On February 27, 1892, at Jackson, La., where there was +a pound party for the minister at the Negro Baptist church, a crowd of +white men gathered, shooting revolvers and halting the Negroes as they +passed. Most of the people were allowed to go on, but after a while the +sport became furious and two men were fatally shot. About the same time, +and in the same state, at Rayville, a Negro girl of fifteen was taken +from a jail by a mob and hanged to a tree. In Texarkana, Ark., a Negro +who had outraged a farmer's wife was captured and burned alive, the +injured woman herself being compelled to light the fire. Just a few days +later, in March, a constable in Memphis in attempting to arrest a Negro +was killed. Numerous arrests followed, and at night a mob went to the +jail, gained easy access, and, having seized three well-known Negroes +who were thought to have been leaders in the killing, lynched them, the +whole proceeding being such a flagrant violation of law that it has not +yet been forgotten by the older Negro citizens of this important city. +On February 1, 1893, at Paris, Texas, after one of the most brutal +crimes occurred one of the most horrible lynchings on record. Henry +Smith, the Negro, who seems to have harbored a resentment against a +policeman of the town because of ill-treatment that he had received, +seized the officer's three-year-old child, outraged her, and then tore +her body to pieces. He was tortured by the child's father, her uncles, +and her fifteen-year-old brother, his eyes being put out with hot irons +before he was burned. His stepson, who had refused to tell where he +could be found, was hanged and his body riddled with bullets. Thus the +lynchings went on, the victims sometimes being guilty of the gravest +crimes, but often also perfectly innocent people. In February, 1893, the +average was very nearly one a day. At the same time injuries inflicted +on the Negro were commonly disregarded altogether. Thus at Dickson, +Tenn., a young white man lost forty dollars. A fortune-teller told him +that the money had been taken by a woman and gave a description that +seemed to fit a young colored woman who had worked in the home of a +relative. Half a dozen men then went to the home of the young woman and +outraged her, her mother, and also another woman who was in the house. +At the very close of 1894, in Brooks County, Ga., after a Negro named +Pike had killed a white man with whom he had a quarrel, seven Negroes +were lynched after the real murderer had escaped. Any relative or other +Negro who, questioned, refused to tell of the whereabouts of Pike, +whether he knew of the same or not, was shot in his tracks, one man +being shot before he had chance to say anything at all. Meanwhile the +White Caps or "Regulators" took charge of the neighboring counties, +terrifying the Negroes everywhere; and in the trials that resulted the +state courts broke down altogether, one judge in despair giving up the +holding of court as useless. + +Meanwhile discrimination of all sorts went forward. On May 29, 1895, +moved by the situation at the Orange Park Academy, the state of Florida +approved "An Act to Prohibit White and Colored Youth from being Taught +in the same Schools." Said one section: "It shall be a penal offense +for any individual body of inhabitants, corporation, or association to +conduct within this State any school of any grade, public, private, or +parochial, wherein white persons and Negroes shall be instructed or +boarded within the same building, or taught in the same class or at the +same time by the same teacher." Religious organizations were not to be +left behind in such action; and when before the meeting of the Baptist +Young People's Union in Baltimore a letter was sent to the secretary of +the organization and the editor of the _Baptist Union_, in behalf of the +Negroes, who the year before had not been well treated at Toronto, he +sent back an evasive answer, saying that the policy of his society was +to encourage local unions to affiliate with their own churches. + +More grave than anything else was the formal denial of the Negro's +political rights. As we have seen, South Carolina in 1895 followed +Mississippi in the disfranchising program and within the next fifteen +years most of the other Southern states did likewise. With the Negro +thus deprived of any genuine political voice, all sorts of social and +economic injustice found greater license. + +2. _Industrial Education: Booker T. Washington_ + +Such were the tendencies of life in the South as affecting the Negro +thirty years after emancipation. In September, 1895, a rising educator +of the race attracted national attention by a remarkable speech that +he made at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta. Said Booker T. +Washington: "To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition +in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of cultivating +friendly relations with the Southern white man who is their next door +neighbor, I would say, 'Cast down your bucket where you are'--cast it +down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by +whom we are surrounded.... To those of the white race who look to the +incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the +prosperity of the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to +my own race, 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' Cast it down among +8,000,000 Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you +have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of +your fire-sides.... In all things that are purely social we can be as +separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to +mutual progress." + +The message that Dr. Washington thus enunciated he had already given in +substance the previous spring in an address at Fisk University, and even +before then his work at Tuskegee Institute had attracted attention.[1] +The Atlanta Exposition simply gave him the great occasion that he +needed; and he was now to proclaim the new word throughout the length +and breadth of the land. Among the hundreds of addresses that he +afterwards delivered, especially important were those at Harvard +University in 1896, at the Chicago Peace Jubilee in 1898, and before the +National Education Association in St. Louis in 1904. Again and again in +these speeches one comes upon such striking sentences as the following: +"Freedom can never be given. It must be purchased."[2] "The race, like +the individual, that makes itself indispensable, has solved most of its +problems."[3] "As a race there are two things we must learn to do--one +is to put brains into the common occupations of life, and the other is +to dignify common labor."[4] "Ignorant and inexperienced, it is not +strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the +top instead of at the bottom; that a seat in Congress or the State +Legislature was worth more than real estate or industrial skill."[5] +"The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth +infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera +house."[6] "One of the most vital questions that touch our American life +is how to bring the strong, wealthy, and learned into helpful contact +with the poorest, most ignorant, and humblest, and at the same time +make the one appreciate the vitalizing, strengthening influence of the +other."[7] "There is no defense or security for any of us except in the +highest intelligence and development of all."[8] + +[Footnote 1: See article by Albert Shaw, "Negro Progress on the Tuskegee +Plan," in _Review of Reviews_, April, 1894.] + +[Footnote 2,3: Speech before N.E.A., in St. Louis, June 30, 1904.] + +[Footnote 4: Speech at Fisk University, 1805.] + +[Footnote 5,6,8: Speech at Atlanta Exposition, September 18, 1895.] + +[Footnote 7: Speech at Harvard University, June 24, 1896.] + +The time was ripe for a new leader. Frederick Douglass had died in +February, 1895. In his later years he had more than once lost hold on +the heart of his people, as when he opposed the Negro Exodus or seemed +not fully in sympathy with the religious convictions of those who looked +to him. At his passing, however, the race remembered only his early +service and his old magnificence, and to a striving people his death +seemed to make still darker the gathering gloom. Coming when he did, +Booker T. Washington was thoroughly in line with the materialism of his +age; he answered both an economic and an educational crisis. He also +satisfied the South of the new day by what he had to say about social +equality. + +The story of his work reads like a romance, and he himself has told it +better than any one else ever can. He did not claim the credit for +the original idea of industrial education; that he gave to General +Armstrong, and it was at Hampton that he himself had been nurtured. What +was needed, however, was for some one to take the Hampton idea down to +the cotton belt, interpret the lesson for the men and women digging in +the ground, and generally to put the race in line with the country's +industrial development. This was what Booker T. Washington undertook to +do. + +He reached Tuskegee early in June, 1881. July 4 was the date set for the +opening of the school in the little shanty and church which had been +secured for its accommodation. On the morning of this day thirty +students reported for admission. The greater number were school-teachers +and some were nearly forty years of age. Just about three months +after the opening of the school there was offered for sale an old and +abandoned plantation a mile from Tuskegee on which the mansion had been +burned. All told the place seemed to be just the location needed to +make the work effective and permanent. The price asked was five hundred +dollars, the owner requiring the immediate payment of two hundred and +fifty dollars, the remaining two hundred and fifty to be paid within a +year. In his difficulty Mr. Washington wrote to General J.F.B. Marshall, +treasurer of Hampton Institute, placing the matter before him and asking +for the loan of two hundred and fifty dollars. General Marshall replied +that he had no authority to lend money belonging to Hampton Institute, +but that he would gladly advance the amount needed from his personal +funds. Toward the paying of this sum the assisting teacher, Olivia A. +Davidson (afterwards Mrs. Washington), helped heroically. Her first +effort was made by holding festivals and suppers, but she also canvassed +the families in the town of Tuskegee, and the white people as well as +the Negroes helped her. "It was often pathetic," said the principal, "to +note the gifts of the older colored people, many of whom had spent their +best days in slavery. Sometimes they would give five cents, sometimes +twenty-five cents. Sometimes the contribution was a quilt, or a quantity +of sugarcane. I recall one old colored woman, who was about seventy +years of age, who came to see me when we were raising money to pay for +the farm. She hobbled into the room where I was, leaning on a cane. She +was clad in rags, but they were clean. She said, 'Mr. Washington, God +knows I spent de bes' days of my life in slavery. God knows I's ignorant +an' poor; but I knows what you an' Miss Davidson is tryin' to do. I +knows you is tryin' to make better men an' better women for de colored +race. I ain't got no money, but I wants you to take dese six eggs, +what I's been savin' up, an' I wants you to put dese six eggs into de +eddication of dese boys an' gals.' Since the work at Tuskegee started," +added the speaker, "it has been my privilege to receive many gifts for +the benefit of the institution, but never any, I think, that touched me +as deeply as this one." + +It was early in the history of the school that Mr. Washington conceived +the idea of extension work. The Tuskegee Conferences began in February, +1892. To the first meeting came five hundred men, mainly farmers, and +many woman. Outstanding was the discussion of the actual terms on which +most of the men were living from year to year. A mortgage was given on +the cotton crop before it was planted, and to the mortgage was attached +a note which waived all right to exemptions under the constitution and +laws of the state of Alabama or of any other state to which the tenant +might move. Said one: "The mortgage ties you tighter than any rope and a +waive note is a consuming fire." Said another: "The waive note is good +for twenty years and when you sign one you must either pay out or die +out." Another: "When you sign a waive note you just cross your hands +behind you and go to the merchant and say, 'Here, tie me and take +all I've got.'" All agreed that the people mortgaged more than was +necessary, to buy sewing machines (which sometimes were not used), +expensive clocks, great family Bibles, or other things easily dispensed +with. Said one man: "My people want all they can get on credit, not +thinking of the day of settlement. We must learn to bore with a small +augur first. The black man totes a heavy bundle, and when he puts it +down there is a plow, a hoe, and ignorance." + +It was to people such as these that Booker T. Washington brought hope, +and serving them he passed on to fame. Within a few years schools on the +plan of Tuskegee began to spring up all over the South, at Denmark, at +Snow Hill, at Utica, and elsewhere. In 1900 the National Negro Business +League began its sessions, giving great impetus to the establishment of +banks, stores, and industrial enterprises throughout the country, and +especially in the South. Much of this progress would certainly have been +realized if the Business League had never been organized; but every one +granted that in all the development the genius of the leader at +Tuskegee was the chief force. About his greatness and his very definite +contribution there could be no question. + +3. _Individual Achievement: The Spanish-American War_ + +It happened that just at the time that Booker T. Washington was +advancing to great distinction, three or four other individuals were +reflecting special credit on the race. One of these was a young scholar, +W.E. Burghardt DuBois, who after a college career at Fisk continued +his studies at Harvard and Berlin and finally took the Ph.D. degree +at Harvard in 1895. There had been sound scholars in the race before +DuBois, but generally these had rested on attainment in the languages or +mathematics, and most frequently they had expressed themselves in rather +philosophical disquisition. Here, however, was a thorough student of +economics, and one who was able to attack the problems of his people and +meet opponents on the basis of modern science. He was destined to do +great good, and the race was proud of him. + +In 1896 also an authentic young poet who had wrestled with poverty and +doubt at last gained a hearing. After completing the course at a high +school in Dayton, Paul Laurence Dunbar ran an elevator for four dollars +a week, and then he peddled from door to door two little volumes of +verse that had been privately printed. William Dean Howells at length +gave him a helping hand, and Dodd, Mead & Co. published _Lyrics of Lowly +Life_. Dunbar wrote both in classic English and in the dialect that +voiced the humor and the pathos of the life of those for whom he spoke. +What was not at the time especially observed was that in numerous poems +he suggested the discontent with the age in which he lived and thus +struck what later years were to prove an important keynote. After he had +waited and struggled so long, his success was so great that it became a +vogue, and imitators sprang up everywhere. He touched the heart of his +people and the race loved him. + +By 1896 also word began to come of a Negro American painter, Henry O. +Tanner, who was winning laurels in Paris. At the same time a beautiful +singer, Mme. Sissieretta Jones, on the concert stage was giving new +proof of the possibilities of the Negro as an artist in song. In the +previous decade Mme. Marie Selika, a cultured vocalist of the first +rank, had delighted audiences in both America and Europe, and in 1887 +had appeared Flora Batson, a ballad singer whose work at its best was of +the sort that sends an audience into the wildest enthusiasm. In 1894, +moreover, Harry T. Burleigh, competing against sixty candidates, became +baritone soloist at St. Georges's Episcopal Church, New York, and just a +few years later he was to be employed also at Temple Emanu-El, the Fifth +Avenue Jewish synagogue. From abroad also came word of a brilliant +musician, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who by his "Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast" +in 1898 leaped into the rank of the foremost living English composers. +On the more popular stage appeared light musical comedy, intermediate +between the old Negro minstrelsy and a genuine Negro drama, the +representative companies becoming within the next few years those of +Cole and Johnson, and Williams and Walker. + +Especially outstanding in the course of the decade, however, was the +work of the Negro soldier in the Spanish-American War. There were at +the time four regiments of colored regulars in the Army of the United +States, the Twenty-fourth Infantry, the Twenty-fifth Infantry, the +Ninth Cavalry, and the Tenth Cavalry. When the war broke out President +McKinley sent to Congress a message recommending the enlistment of more +regiments of Negroes. Congress failed to act; nevertheless colored +troops enlisted in the volunteer service in Massachusetts, Indiana, +Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The +Eighth Illinois was officered throughout by Negroes, J.R. Marshall +commanding; and Major Charles E. Young, a West Point graduate, was in +charge of the Ohio battalion. The very first regiment ordered to the +front when the war broke out was the Twenty-fourth Infantry; and Negro +troops were conspicuous in the fighting around Santiago. They figured in +a brilliant charge at Las Quasimas on June 24, and in an attack on July +1 upon a garrison at El Caney (a position of importance for securing +possession of a line of hills along the San Juan River, a mile and a +half from Santiago) the First Volunteer Cavalry (Colonel Roosevelt's +"Rough Riders") was practically saved from annihilation by the gallant +work of the men of the Tenth Cavalry. Fully as patriotic, though in +another way, was a deed of the Twenty-fourth Infantry. Learning that +General Miles desired a regiment for the cleaning of a yellow +fever hospital and the nursing of some victims of the disease, the +Twenty-fourth volunteered its services and by one day's work so cleared +away the rubbish and cleaned the camp that the number of cases was +greatly reduced. Said the _Review of Reviews_ in editorial comment:[1] +"One of the most gratifying incidents of the Spanish War has been the +enthusiasm that the colored regiments of the regular army have +aroused throughout the whole country. Their fighting at Santiago was +magnificent. The Negro soldiers showed excellent discipline, the highest +qualities of personal bravery, very superior physical endurance, +unfailing good temper, and the most generous disposition toward all +comrades in arms, whether white or black. Roosevelt's Rough Riders have +come back singing the praises of the colored troops. There is not a +dissenting voice in the chorus of praise.... Men who can fight for their +country as did these colored troops ought to have their full share of +gratitude and honor." + +[Footnote 1: October, 1898, p. 387.] + + +4. _Mob Violence; Election Troubles; The Atlanta Massacre_ + +After two or three years of comparative quiet--but only _comparative_ +quiet--mob violence burst forth about the turn of the century with +redoubled intensity. In a large way this was simply a result of the +campaigns for disfranchisement that in some of the Southern states were +just now getting under way; but charges of assault and questions of +labor also played a part. In some places people who were innocent of any +charge whatever were attacked, and so many were killed that sometimes +it seemed that the law had broken down altogether. Not the least +interesting development of these troublous years was that in some cases +as never before Negroes began to fight with their backs to the wall, and +thus at the very close of the century--at the end of a bitter decade and +the beginning of one still more bitter--a new factor entered into the +problem, one that was destined more and more to demand consideration. + +On one Sunday toward the close of October, 1898, the country recorded +two race wars, one lynching, two murders, one of which was expected to +lead to a lynching, with a total of ten Negroes killed and four wounded +and four white men killed and seven wounded. The most serious outbreak +was in the state of Mississippi, and it is worthy of note that in not +one single case was there any question of rape. + +November was made red by election troubles in both North and South +Carolina. In the latter state, at Phoenix, in Greenwood County, on +November 8 and for some days thereafter, the Tolberts, a well-known +family of white Republicans, were attacked by mobs and barely escaped +alive. R.R. Tolbert was a candidate for Congress and also chairman of +the Republican state committee. John R. Tolbert, his father, collector +of the port of Charleston, had come home to vote and was at one of the +polling-places in the county. Thomas Tolbert at Phoenix was taking the +affidavits of the Negroes who were not permitted to vote for his brother +in order that later there might be ground on which to contest the +election. While thus engaged he was attacked by Etheridge, the +Democratic manager of another precinct. The Negroes came to Tolbert's +defense, and in the fight that followed Etheridge was killed and Tolbert +wounded. John Tolbert, coming up, was filled with buckshot, and a +younger member of the family was also hurt. The Negroes were at length +overpowered and the Tolberts forced to flee. All told it appears that +two white men and about twelve Negroes lost their lives in connection +with the trouble, six of the latter being lynched on account of the +death of Etheridge. + +In North Carolina in 1894 the Republicans by combining with the +Populists had secured control of the state legislature. In 1896 the +Democrats were again outvoted, Governor Russell being elected by a +plurality of 9000. A considerable number of local offices was in the +hands of Negroes, who had the backing of the Governor, the legislature, +and the Supreme Court as well. Before the November elections in 1898 the +Democrats in Wilmington announced their determination to prevent Negroes +from holding office in the city. Especially had they been made angry by +an editorial in a local Negro paper, the _Record_, in which, under date +August 18, the editor, Alex. L. Manly, starting with a reference to a +speaker from Georgia, who at the Agricultural Society meeting at Tybee +had advocated lynching as an extreme measure, said that she "lost sight +of the basic principle of the religion of Christ in her plea for one +class of people as against another," and continued: "The papers are +filled with reports of rapes of white women, and the subsequent lynching +of the alleged rapists. The editors pour forth volleys of aspersions +against all Negroes because of the few who may be guilty. If the papers +and speakers of the other race would condemn the commission of crime +because it is crime and not try to make it appear that the Negroes +were the only criminals, they would find their strongest allies in the +intelligent Negroes themselves, and together the whites and blacks would +root the evil out of both races.... Our experience among poor white +people in the country teaches us that the women of that race are not any +more particular in the matter of clandestine meetings with colored men +than are the white men with colored women. Meetings of this kind go on +for some time until the woman's infatuation or the man's boldness brings +attention to them and the man is lynched for rape." In reply to this +the speaker quoted in a signed statement said: "When the Negro Manly +attributed the crime of rape to intimacy between Negro men and white +women of the South, the slanderer should be made to fear a lyncher's +rope rather than occupy a place in New York newspapers"--a method of +argument that was unfortunately all too common in the South. As election +day approached the Democrats sought generally to intimidate the Negroes, +the streets and roads being patrolled by men wearing red shirts. +Election day, however, passed without any disturbance; but on the next +day there was a mass meeting of white citizens, at which there were +adopted resolutions to employ white labor instead of Negro, to banish +the editor of the _Record_, and to send away from the city the +printing-press in the office of that paper; and a committee of +twenty-five was appointed to see that these resolutions were carried +into effect within twenty-four hours. In the course of the terrible +day that followed the printing office was destroyed, several white +Republicans were driven from the city, and nine Negroes were killed at +once, though no one could say with accuracy just how many more lost +their lives or were seriously wounded before the trouble was over. + +Charles W. Chesnutt, in _The Marrow of Tradition_, has given a faithful +portrayal of these disgraceful events, the Wellington of the story being +Wilmington. Perhaps the best commentary on those who thus sought power +was afforded by their apologist, a Presbyterian minister and editor, +A.J. McKelway, who on this occasion and others wrote articles in the +_Independent_ and the _Outlook_ justifying the proceedings. Said he: "It +is difficult to speak of the Red Shirts without a smile. They victimized +the Negroes with a huge practical joke.... A dozen men would meet at a +crossroad, on horseback, clad in red shirts or calico, flannel or silk, +according to the taste of the owner and the enthusiasm of his womankind. +They would gallop through the country, and the Negro would quietly make +up his mind that his interest in political affairs was not a large one, +anyhow. It would be wise not to vote, and wiser not to register to +prevent being dragooned into voting on election day." It thus appears +that the forcible seizure of the political rights of people, the killing +and wounding of many, and the compelling of scores to leave their homes +amount in the end to not more than a "practical joke." + +One part of the new program was the most intense opposition to Federal +Negro appointees anywhere in the South. On the morning of February 22, +1898, Frazer B. Baker, the colored postmaster at Lake City, S.C., awoke +to find his house in flames. Attempting to escape, he and his baby boy +were shot and killed and their bodies consumed in the burning house. +His wife and the other children were wounded but escaped. The +Postmaster-General was quite disposed to see that justice was done in +this case; but the men charged with the crime gave the most trivial +alibis, and on Saturday, April 22, 1899, the jury in the United States +Circuit Court at Charleston reported its failure to agree on a verdict. +Three years later the whole problem was presented strongly to President +Roosevelt. When Mrs. Minne Cox, who was serving efficiently as +postmistress at Indianola, Miss., was forced to resign because of +threats, he closed the office; and when there was protest against +the appointment of Dr. William D. Crum as collector of the port of +Charleston, he said, "I do not intend to appoint any unfit man to +office. So far as I legitimately can, I shall always endeavor to pay +regard to the wishes and feelings of the people of each locality; but I +can not consent to take the position that the door of hope--the door of +opportunity--is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely +upon the grounds of race or color. Such an attitude would, according to +my convictions, be fundamentally wrong." These memorable words, coming +in a day of compromise and expediency in high places, greatly cheered +the heart of the race. Just the year before, the importance of the +incident of Booker T. Washington's taking lunch with President Roosevelt +was rather unnecessarily magnified by the South into all sorts of +discussion of social equality. + +On Tuesday, January 24, 1899, a fire in the center of the town of +Palmetto, Ga., destroyed a hotel, two stores, and a storehouse, on which +property there was little insurance. The next Saturday there was another +fire and this destroyed a considerable part of the town. For some weeks +there was no clue as to the origin of these fires; but about the middle +of March something overheard by a white citizen led to the implicating +of nine Negroes. These men were arrested and confined for the night of +March 15 in a warehouse to await trial the next morning, a dummy guard +of six men being placed before the door. About midnight a mob came, +pushed open the door, and fired two volleys at the Negroes, killing four +immediately and fatally wounding four more. The circumstances of this +atrocious crime oppressed the Negro people of the state as few things +had done since the Civil War. That it did no good was evident, for in +its underlying psychology it was closely associated with a double crime +that was now to be committed. In April, Sam Hose, a Negro who had +brooded on the happenings at Palmetto, not many miles from the scene +killed a farmer, Alfred Cranford, who had been a leader of the mob, and +outraged his wife. For two weeks he was hunted like an animal, the white +people of the state meanwhile being almost unnerved and the Negroes +sickened by the pursuit. At last, however, he was found, and on Sunday, +April 23, at Newnan, Ga., he was burned, his execution being accompanied +by unspeakable mutilation; and on the same day Lige Strickland, a Negro +preacher whom Hose had accused of complicity in his crime, was hanged +near Palmetto. The nation stood aghast, for the recent events in Georgia +had shaken the very foundations of American civilization. Said the +_Charleston News and Courier_: "The chains which bound the citizen, Sam +Hose, to the stake at Newnan mean more for us and for his race than the +chains or bonds of slavery, which they supplanted. The flames that lit +the scene of his torture shed their baleful light throughout every +corner of our land, and exposed a state of things, actual and potential, +among us that should rouse the dullest mind to a sharp sense of our true +condition, and of our unchanged and unchangeable relations to the whole +race whom the tortured wretch represented." + +Violence breeds violence, and two or three outstanding events are yet to +be recorded. On August 23, 1899, at Darien, Ga., hundreds of Negroes, +who for days had been aroused by rumors of a threatened lynching, +assembled at the ringing of the bell of a church opposite the jail and +by their presence prevented the removal of a prisoner. They were later +tried for insurrection and twenty-one sent to the convict farms for a +year. The general circumstances of the uprising excited great interest +throughout the country. In May, 1900, in Augusta, Ga., an unfortunate +street car incident resulted in the death of the aggressor, a young +white man named Whitney, and in the lynching of the colored man, Wilson, +who killed him. In this instance the victim was tortured and mutilated, +parts of his body and of the rope by which he was hanged being passed +around as souvenirs. A Negro organization at length recovered the body, +and so great was the excitement at the funeral that the coffin was not +allowed to be opened. Two months later, in New Orleans, there was a most +extraordinary occurrence, the same being important because the leading +figure was very frankly regarded by the Negroes as a hero and his fight +in his own defense a sign that the men of the race would not always be +shot down without some effort to protect themselves. + +One night in July, an hour before midnight, two Negroes Robert Charles +and Leonard Pierce, who had recently come into the city from Mississippi +and whose movements had interested the police, were found by three +officers on the front steps of a house in Dryades Street. Being +questioned they replied that they had been in the town two or three days +and had secured work. In the course of the questioning the larger of +the Negroes, Charles, rose to his feet; he was seized by one of the +officers, Mora, who began to use his billet; and in the struggle that +resulted Charles escaped and Mora was wounded in each hand and the hip. +Charles now took refuge in a small house on Fourth Street, and when he +was surrounded, with deadly aim he shot and instantly killed the first +two officers who appeared.[1] The other men advancing, retreated and +waited until daylight for reënforcement, and Charles himself withdrew to +other quarters, and for some days his whereabouts were unknown. With the +new day, however, the city was wild with excitement and thousands of men +joined in the search, the newspapers all the while stirring the crowd +to greater fury. Mobs rushed up and down the streets assaulting Negroes +wherever they could be found, no effort to check them being made by the +police. On the second night a crowd of nearly a thousand was addressed +at the Lee Monument by a man from Kenner, a town a few miles above the +city. Said he: "Gentlemen, I am from Kenner, and I have come down here +to-night to assist you in teaching the blacks a lesson. I have killed a +Negro before and in revenge of the wrong wrought upon you and yours I am +willing to kill again. The only way you can teach these niggers a lesson +and put them in their place is to go out and lynch a few of them as +an object lesson. String up a few of them. That is the only thing to +do--kill them, string them up, lynch them. I will lead you. On to the +parish prison and lynch Pierce." The mob now rushed to the prison, +stores and pawnshops being plundered on the way. Within the next few +hours a Negro was taken from a street car on Canal Street, killed, and +his body thrown into the gutter. An old man of seventy going to work in +the morning was fatally shot. On Rousseau Street the mob fired into a +little cabin; the inmates were asleep and an old woman was killed in +bed. Another old woman who looked out from her home was beaten into +insensibility. A man sitting at his door was shot, beaten, and left for +dead. Such were the scenes that were enacted almost hourly from Monday +until Friday evening. One night the excellent school building given by +Thomy Lafon, a member of the race and a philanthropist, was burned. + +[Footnote 1: From this time forth the wildest rumors were afloat and +the number of men that Charles had killed was greatly exaggerated. Some +reports said scores or even hundreds, and it is quite possible that any +figures given herewith are an understatement.] + +About three o'clock on Friday afternoon Charles was found to be in +a two-story house at the corner of Saratoga and Clio Streets. Two +officers, Porteus and Lally, entered a lower room. The first fell dead +at the first shot, and the second was mortally wounded by the next. A +third, Bloomfield, waiting with gun in hand, was wounded at the first +shot and killed at the second. The crowd retreated, but bullets rained +upon the house, Charles all the while keeping watch in every direction +from four different windows. Every now and then he thrust his rifle +through one of the shattered windowpanes and fired, working with +incredible rapidity. He succeeded in killing two more of his assailants +and wounding two. At last he realized that the house was on fire, and +knowing that the end had come he rushed forth upon his foes, fired one +shot more and fell dead. He had killed eight men and mortally wounded +two or three more. His body was mutilated. In his room there was +afterwards found a copy of a religious publication, and it was known +that he had resented disfranchisement in Louisiana and had distributed +pamphlets to further a colonization scheme. No incriminating evidence, +however, was found. + +In the same memorable year, 1900, on the night of Wednesday, August +15, there were serious riots in the city of New York. On the preceding +Sunday a policeman named Thorpe in attempting to arrest a colored woman +was stabbed by a Negro, Arthur Harris, so fatally that he died on +Monday. On Wednesday evening Negroes were dragged from the street cars +and beaten, and by midnight there were thousands of rioters between +25th and 35th Streets. On the next night the trouble was resumed. These +events were followed almost immediately by riots in Akron, Ohio. On the +last Sunday in October, 1901, while some Negroes were holding their +usual fall camp-meeting in a grove in Washington Parish, Louisiana, they +were attacked, and a number of people, not less than ten and perhaps +several more, were killed; and hundreds of men, women, and children felt +forced to move away from the vicinity. In the first week of March, 1904, +there was in Mississippi a lynching that exceeded even others of +the period in its horror and that became notorious for its use of a +corkscrew. A white planter of Doddsville was murdered, and a Negro, +Luther Holbert, was charged with the crime. Holbert fled, and his +innocent wife went with him. Further report we read in the Democratic +_Evening Post_ of Vicksburg as follows: "When the two Negroes were +captured, they were tied to trees, and while the funeral pyres were +being prepared they were forced to suffer the most fiendish tortures. +The blacks were forced to hold out their hands while one finger at a +time was chopped off. The fingers were distributed as souvenirs. The +ears of the murderers were cut off. Holbert was beaten severely, his +skull was fractured, and one of his eyes, knocked out with a stick, hung +by a shred from the socket.... The most excruciating form of punishment +consisted in the use of a large corkscrew in the hands of some of the +mob. This instrument was bored into the flesh of the man and the woman, +in the arms, legs, and body, and then pulled out, the spirals tearing +out big pieces of raw, quivering flesh every time it was withdrawn." +In the summer of this same year Georgia was once more the scene of a +horrible lynching, two Negroes, Paul Reed and Will Cato--because of the +murder of the Hodges family six miles from the town on July 20--being +burned at the stake at Statesville under unusually depressing +circumstances. In August, 1908, there were in Springfield, Illinois, +race riots of such a serious nature that a force of six thousand +soldiers was required to quell them. These riots were significant +not only because of the attitude of Northern laborers toward Negro +competition, but also because of the indiscriminate killing of Negroes +by people in the North, this indicating a genuine nationalization of the +Negro Problem. The real climax of violence within the period, however, +was the Atlanta Massacre of Saturday, September 22, 1906. + +Throughout the summer the heated campaign of Hoke Smith for +the governorship capitalized the gathering sentiment for the +disfranchisement of the Negro in the state and at length raised the race +issue to such a high pitch that it leaped into flame. The feeling was +intensified by the report of assaults and attempted assaults by Negroes, +particularly as these were detailed and magnified or even invented by an +evening paper, the _Atlanta News_, against which the Fulton County Grand +Jury afterwards brought in an indictment as largely responsible for the +riot, and which was forced to suspend publication when the business men +of the city withdrew their support. Just how much foundation there was +to the rumors may be seen from the following report of the investigator: +"Three, charged to white men, attracted comparatively little attention +in the newspapers, although one, the offense of a man named Turnadge, +was shocking in its details. Of twelve such charges against Negroes in +the six months preceding the riot, two were cases of rape, horrible in +their details, three were aggravated attempts at rape, three may have +been attempts, three were pure cases of fright on the part of white +women, and in one the white woman, first asserting that a Negro had +assaulted her, finally confessed attempted suicide."[1] On Friday, +September 21, while a Negro was on trial, the father of the girl +concerned asked the recorder for permission to deal with the Negro with +his own hand, and an outbreak was barely averted in the open court. +On Saturday evening, however, some elements in the city and from +neighboring towns, heated by liquor and newspaper extras, became openly +riotous and until midnight defied all law and authority. Negroes +were assaulted wherever they appeared, for the most part being found +unsuspecting, as in the case of those who happened to be going home from +work and were on street cars passing through the heart of the city. +In one barber shop two workers were beaten to death and their bodies +mangled. A lame bootblack, innocent and industrious, was dragged from +his work and kicked and beaten to death. Another young Negro was stabbed +with jack-knives. Altogether very nearly a score of persons lost their +lives and two or three times as many were injured. After some time +Governor Terrell mobilized the militia, but the crowd did not take this +move seriously, and the real feeling of the Mayor, who turned on the +hose of the fire department, was shown by his statement that just so +long as the Negroes committed certain crimes just so long would they be +unceremoniously dealt with. Sunday dawned upon a city of astounded white +people and outraged and sullen Negroes. Throughout Monday and Tuesday +the tension continued, the Negroes endeavoring to defend themselves as +well as they could. On Monday night the union of some citizens with +policemen who were advancing in a suburb in which most of the homes were +those of Negroes, resulted in the death of James Heard, an officer, and +in the wounding of some of those who accompanied him. More Negroes were +also killed, and a white woman to whose front porch two men were chased +died of fright at seeing them shot to death. It was the disposition, +however, on the part of the Negroes to make armed resistance that really +put an end to the massacre. Now followed a procedure that is best +described in the words of the prominent apologist for such outbreaks. +Said A.J. McKelway: "Tuesday every house in the town (i.e., the suburb +referred to above) was entered by the soldiers, and some two hundred +and fifty Negroes temporarily held, while the search was proceeding and +inquiries being made. They were all disarmed, and those with concealed +weapons, or under suspicion of having been in the party firing on the +police, were sent to jail."[2] It is thus evident that in this case, as +in many others, the Negroes who had suffered most, not the white men who +killed a score of them, were disarmed, and that for the time being their +terrified women and children were left defenseless. McKelway also says +in this general connection: "Any Southern man would protect an innocent +Negro who appealed to him for help, with his own life if necessary." +This sounds like chivalry, but it is really the survival of the old +slavery attitude that begs the whole question. The Negro does not feel +that he should ask any other man to protect him. He has quite made up +his mind that he will defend his own home himself. He stands as a man +before the bar, and the one thing he wants to know is if the law and the +courts of America are able to give him justice--simple justice, nothing +more. + +[Footnote 1: R.S. Baker: _Following the Colour Line_, 3.] + +[Footnote 2: _Outlook_, November 3, 1906, p. 561.] + + +5. _The Question of Labor_ + +From time to time, in connection with cases of violence, we have +referred to the matter of labor. Riots such as we have described are +primarily social in character, the call of race invariably being the +final appeal. The economic motive has accompanied this, however, and +has been found to be of increasing importance. Says DuBois: "The fatal +campaign in Georgia which culminated in the Atlanta Massacre was +an attempt, fathered by conscienceless politicians, to arouse the +prejudices of the rank and file of white laborers and farmers against +the growing competition of black men, so that black men by law could be +forced back to subserviency and serfdom."[1] The question was indeed +constantly recurrent, but even by the end of the period policies had +not yet been definitely decided upon, and for the time being there were +frequent armed clashes between the Negro and the white laborer. Both +capital and common sense were making it clear, however, that the +Negro was undoubtedly a labor asset and would have to be given place +accordingly. + +[Footnote 1: _The Negro in the South_, 115.] + +In March, 1895, there were bloody riots in New Orleans, these growing +out of the fact that white laborers who were beginning to be organized +objected to the employment Of Negro workers by the shipowners for the +unloading of vessels. When the trouble was at its height volley after +volley was poured upon the Negroes, and in turn two white men were +killed and several wounded. The commercial bodies of the city met, +blamed the Governor and the Mayor for the series of outbreaks, and +demanded that the outrages cease. Said they: "Forbearance has ceased to +be a virtue. We can no longer treat with men who, with arms in their +hands, are shooting down an inoffensive people because they will not +think and act with them. For these reasons we say to these people that, +cost what it may, we are determined that the commerce of this city must +and shall be protected; that every man who desires to perform honest +labor must and shall be permitted to do so regardless of race, color, or +previous condition." About August I of this same year, 1895, there were +sharp conflicts between the white and the black miners at Birmingham, +a number being killed on both sides before military authority could +intervene. Three years later, moreover, the invasion of the North by +Negro labor had begun, and about November 17, 1898, there was serious +trouble in the mines at Pana and Virden, Illinois. In the same month +the convention of railroad brotherhoods in Norfolk expressed strong +hostility to Negro labor, Grand Master Frank P. Sargent of the +Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen saying that one of the chief purposes +of the meeting of the brotherhoods was "to begin a campaign in advocacy +of white supremacy in the railway service." This November, it will be +recalled, was the fateful month of the election riots in North and South +Carolina. _The People_, the Socialist-Labor publication, commenting upon +a Negro indignation meeting at Cooper Union and upon the problem in +general, said that the Negro was essentially a wage-slave, that it was +the capitalism of the North and not humanity that in the first place had +demanded the freedom of the slave, that in the new day capital demanded +the subjugation of the working class--Negro or otherwise; and it blamed +the Negroes for not seeing the real issues at stake. It continued with +emphasis: "It is not the _Negro_ that was massacred in the Carolinas; +it was Carolina _workingmen_, Carolina _wage-slaves_ who happened to +be colored men. Not as Negroes must the race rise;... it is as +_workingmen_, as a branch of the _working class_, that the Negro must +denounce the Carolina felonies. Only by touching that chord can he +denounce to a purpose, because only then does he place himself upon that +elevation that will enable him to perceive the source of the specific +wrong complained of now." This point of view was destined more and more +to stimulate those interested in the problem, whether they accepted +it in its entirety or not. Another opinion, very different and also +important, was that given in 1899 by the editor of _Dixie_, a magazine +published in Atlanta and devoted to Southern industrial interests. Said +he: "The manufacturing center of the United States will one day be +located in the South; and this will come about, strange as it may seem, +for the reason that the Negro is a fixture here.... Organized labor, +as it exists to-day, is a menace to industry. The Negro stands as +a permanent and positive barrier against labor organization in the +South.... So the Negro, all unwittingly, is playing an important part in +the drama of Southern industrial development. His good nature defies the +Socialist." At the time this opinion seemed plausible, and yet the very +next two decades were to raise the question if it was not founded on +fallacious assumptions. + +The real climax of labor trouble as of mob violence within the period +came in Georgia and in Atlanta, a city that now assumed outstanding +importance as a battleground of the problems of the New South. In April, +1909, it happened that ten white workers on the Georgia Railroad who had +been placed on the "extra list" were replaced by Negroes at lower wages. +Against this there was violent protest all along the route. A little +more than a month later the white Firemen's Union started a strike that +was intended to be the beginning of an effort to drive all Negro firemen +from Southern roads, and it was soon apparent that the real contest was +one occasioned by the progress in the South of organized labor on the +one hand and the progress of the Negro in efficiency on the other. The +essential motives that entered into the struggle were in fact the same +as those that characterized the trouble in New Orleans in 1895. Said +E.A. Ball, second vice-president of the Firemen's Union, in an address +to the public: "It will be up to you to determine whether the white +firemen now employed on the Georgia Railroad shall be accorded rights +and privileges over the Negro, or whether he shall be placed on the same +equality with the Negro. Also, it will be for you to determine whether +or not white firemen, supporting families in and around Atlanta on a pay +of $1.75 a day, shall be compelled to vacate their positions in Atlanta +joint terminals for Negroes, who are willing to do the same work for +$1.25." Some papers, like the Augusta _Herald_, said that it was a +mistaken policy to give preference to Negroes when white men would +ultimately have to be put in charge of trains and engines; but others, +like the Baltimore _News_, said, "If the Negro can be driven from one +skilled employment, he can be driven from another; but a country that +tries to do it is flying in the face of every economic law, and must +feel the evil effects of its policy if it could be carried out." At any +rate feeling ran very high; for a whole week about June I there were +very few trains between Atlanta and Augusta, and there were some acts of +violence; but in the face of the capital at stake and the fundamental +issues involved it was simply impossible for the railroad to give way. +The matter was at length referred to a board of arbitration which +decided that the Georgia Railroad was still to employ Negroes whenever +they were found qualified and that they were to receive the same wages +as white workers. Some thought that this decision would ultimately tell +against the Negro, but such was not the immediate effect at least, and +to all intents and purposes the white firemen had lost in the strike. +The whole matter was in fact fundamentally one of the most pathetic that +we have had to record. Humble white workers, desirous of improving the +economic condition of themselves and their families, instead of assuming +a statesmanlike and truly patriotic attitude toward their problem, +turned aside into the wilderness of racial hatred and were lost. + +This review naturally prompts reflection as to the whole function of the +Negro laborer in the South. In the first place, what is he worth, and +especially what is he worth in honest Southern opinion? It was said +after the Civil War that he would not work except under compulsion; just +how had he come to be regarded in the industry of the New South? In 1894 +a number of large employers were asked about this point. 50 per cent +said that in skilled labor they considered the Negro inferior to the +white worker, 46 per cent said that he was fairly equal, and 4 per cent +said that, all things considered, he was superior. As to common labor 54 +per cent said that he was equal, 29 per cent superior, and 17 per cent +inferior to the white worker. At the time it appeared that wages +paid Negroes averaged 80 per cent of those paid white men. A similar +investigation by the Chattanooga _Tradesman_ in 1902 brought forth five +hundred replies. These were summarized as follows: "We find the Negro +more useful and skilled in the cotton-seed oil-mills, the lumber-mills, +the foundries, brick kilns, mines, and blast-furnaces. He is superior +to white labor and possibly superior to any other labor in these +establishments, but not in the capacity of skillful and ingenious +artisans." In this opinion, it is to be remembered, the Negro was +subjected to a severe test in which nothing whatever was given to him, +and at least it appears that in many lines of labor he is not less than +indispensable to the progress of the South. The question then arises: +Just what is the relation that he is finally to sustain to other +workingmen? It would seem that white worker and black worker would long +ago have realized their identity of interest and have come together. The +unions, however, have been slow to admit Negroes and give them the same +footing and backing as white men. Under the circumstances accordingly +there remained nothing else for the Negro to do except to work wherever +his services were desired and on the best terms that he was able to +obtain. + + +6. _Defamation: Brownsville_ + +Crime demands justification, and it is not surprising that after such +violence as that which we have described, and after several states had +passed disfranchising acts, there appeared in the first years of the new +century several publications especially defamatory of the race. Some +books unfortunately descended to a coarseness in vilification such as +had not been reached since the Civil War. From a Bible House in St. +Louis in 1902 came _The Negro a Beast, or In the Image of God_, a book +that was destined to have an enormous circulation among the white people +of the poorer class in the South, and that of course promoted the +mob spirit.[1] Contemporary and of the same general tenor were R.W. +Shufeldt's _The Negro_ and W.B. Smith's _The Color Line_, while a member +of the race itself, William Hannibal Thomas, published a book, _The +American Negro_, that was without either faith or ideal and as a +denunciation of the Negro in America unparalleled in its vindictiveness +and exaggeration.[2] + +[Footnote 1: Its fundamental assumptions were ably refuted by Edward +Atkinson in the _North American Review_, August, 1905.] + +[Footnote 2: It was reviewed in the _Dial_, April 16, 1901, by W.E.B. +DuBois, who said in part: "Mr. Thomas's book is a sinister symptom--a +growth and development under American conditions of life which +illustrates peculiarly the anomalous position of black men, and the +terrific stress under which they struggle. And the struggle and the +fight of human beings against hard conditions of life always tends +to develop the criminal or the hypocrite, the cynic or the radical. +Wherever among a hard-pressed people these types begin to appear, it +is a visible sign of a burden that is threatening to overtax their +strength, and the foreshadowing of the age of revolt."] + +In January, 1904, the new governor of Mississippi, J.K. Vardaman, in his +inaugural address went to the extreme of voicing the opinion of those +who were now contending that the education of the Negro was only +complicating the problem and intensifying its dangerous features. Said +he of the Negro people: "As a race, they are deteriorating morally every +day. Time has demonstrated that they are more criminal as freemen than +as slaves; that they are increasing in criminality with frightful +rapidity, being one-third more criminal in 1890 than in 1880." A +few weeks later Bishop Brown of Arkansas in a widely quoted address +contended that the Southern Negro was going backward both morally and +intellectually and could never be expected to take a helpful part in the +Government; and he also justified lynching. In the same year one of the +more advanced thinkers of the South, Edgar Gardner Murphy, in _Problems +of the Present South_ was not yet quite willing to receive the Negro on +the basis of citizenship; and Thomas Nelson Page, who had belittled the +Negro in such a collection of stories as _In Ole Virginia_ and in such a +novel as _Red Rock_[1] formally stated his theories in _The Negro: The +Southerner's Problem_. The worst, however--if there could be a worst in +such an array--was yet to appear. In 1905 Thomas Dixon added to a series +of high-keyed novels _The Clansman_, a glorification of the KuKlux Klan +that gave a malignant portrayal of the Negro and that was of such a +quality as to arouse the most intense prejudice and hatred. Within a +few months the work was put on the stage and again and again it threw +audiences into the wildest excitement. The production was to some +extent held to blame for the Atlanta Massacre. In several cities it was +proscribed. In Philadelphia on October 23, 1906, after the Negro +people had made an unavailing protest, three thousand of them made a +demonstration before the Walnut Street theater where the performance +was given, while the conduct of some within the playhouse almost +precipitated a riot; and in this city the play was suppressed the next +day. Throughout the South, however, and sometimes elsewhere it continued +to do its deadly work, and it was later to furnish the basis of "The +Birth of a Nation," an elaborate motion picture of the same general +tendency. + +[Footnote 1: For a general treatment of the matter of the Negro as dealt +with in American Literature, especially fiction, note "The Negro in +American Fiction," in the _Dial_, May 11, 1916, a paper included in +_The Negro in Literature and Art_. The thesis there is that imaginative +treatment of the Negro is still governed by outworn antebellum types, +or that in the search for burlesque some types of young and uncultured +Negroes of the present day are deliberately overdrawn, but that there is +not an honest or a serious facing of the characters and the situations +in the life of the Negro people in the United States to-day. Since the +paper first appeared it has received much further point; witness the +stories by E.K. Means and Octavius Roy Cohen.] + +Still another line of attack was now to attempt to deprive the Negro of +any credit for initiative or for any independent achievement whatsoever. +In May, 1903, Alfred H. Stone contributed to the _Atlantic_ a paper, +"The Mulatto in the Negro Problem," which contended at the same time +that whatever meritorious work the race had accomplished was due to the +infusion of white blood and that it was the mulatto that was constantly +poisoning the mind of the Negro with "radical teachings and destructive +doctrines." These points found frequent iteration throughout the period, +and years afterwards, in 1917, the first found formal statement in the +_American Journal of Sociology_ in an article by Edward Byron Reuter, +"The Superiority of the Mulatto," which the next year was elaborated +into a volume, _The Mulatto in the United States_. To argue the +superiority of the mulatto of course is simply to argue once more the +inferiority of the Negro to the white man. + +All of this dispraise together presented a formidable case and one from +which the race suffered immeasurably; nor was it entirely offset in the +same years by the appearance even of DuBois's remarkable book, _The +Souls of Black Folk_, or by the several uplift publications of Booker T. +Washington. In passing we wish to refer to three points: (1) The effect +of education on the Negro; (2) the matter of the Negro criminal (and of +mortality), and (3) the quality and function of the mulatto. + +Education could certainly not be blamed for the difficulties of the +problem in the new day until it had been properly tried. In no one of +the Southern states within the period did the Negro child receive a fair +chance. He was frequently subjected to inferior teaching, dilapidated +accommodations, and short terms. In the representative city of Atlanta +in 1903 the white school population numbered 14,465 and the colored +8,118. The Negroes, however, while numbering 35 per cent of the whole, +received but 12 per cent of the school funds. The average white teacher +received $745 a year, and the Negro teacher $450. In the great reduction +of the percentage of illiteracy in the race from 70 in 1880 to 30.4 +in 1910 the missionary colleges--those of the American Missionary +Association, the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and the +Freedmen's Aid Society--played a much larger part than they are +ordinarily given credit for; and it is a very, very rare occurrence that +a graduate of one of the institutions sustained by these agencies, +or even one who has attended them for any length of time, has to be +summoned before the courts. Their influence has most decidedly been on +the side of law and order. Undoubtedly some of those who have gone forth +from these schools have not been very practical, and some have not +gained a very firm sense of relative values in life--it would be a +miracle if all had; but as a group the young people who have attended +the colleges have most abundantly justified the expenditures made in +their behalf, expenditures for which their respective states were not +responsible but of which they reaped the benefit. From one standpoint, +however, the so-called higher education did most undoubtedly complicate +the problem. Those critics of the race who felt that the only function +of Negroes in life was that of hewers of wood and drawers of water quite +fully realized that Negroes who had been to college did not care to work +longer as field laborers. Some were to prove scientific students of +agriculture, but as a group they were out of the class of peons. In this +they were just like white people and all other people. No one who has +once seen the light chooses to live always on the plane of the "man with +the hoe." Nor need it be thought that these students are unduly crowding +into professional pursuits. While, for instance, the number of Negro +physicians and dentists has greatly increased within recent years, the +number would still have to be four or five times as great to sustain +to the total Negro population the same proportion as that borne by +the whole number of white physicians and dentists to the total white +population. + +The subjects of the criminality and the mortality of the race are in +their ultimate reaches closely related, both being mainly due, as we +have suggested, to the conditions under which Negroes have been forced +to live. In the country districts, until 1900 at least, there was little +provision for improvements in methods of cooking or in sanitation, while +in cities the effects of inferior housing, poor and unlighted streets, +and of the segregation of vice in Negro neighborhoods could not be +otherwise than obvious. Thus it happened in such a year as 1898 that in +Baltimore the Negro death rate was somewhat more and in Nashville just +a little less than twice that of the white people. Legal procedure, +moreover, emphasized a vicious circle; living conditions sent the +Negroes to the courts in increasing numbers, and the courts sent them +still farther down in the scale. There were undoubtedly some Negro +thieves, some Negro murderers, and some Negroes who were incontinent; +no race has yet appeared on the face of the earth that did not contain +members having such propensities, and all such people should be dealt +with justly by law. Our present contention is that throughout the period +of which we are now speaking the dominant social system was not only +such as to accentuate criminal elements but also such as even sought +to discourage aspiring men. A few illustrations, drawn from widely +different phases of life, must suffice. In the spring of 1903, and again +in 1904, Jackson W. Giles, of Montgomery County, Alabama, contended +before the Supreme Court of the United States that he and other Negroes +in his county were wrongfully excluded from the franchise by the new +Alabama constitution. Twice was his case thrown out on technicalities, +the first time it was said because he was petitioning for the right to +vote under a constitution whose validity he denied, and the second time +because the Federal right that he claimed had not been passed on in the +state court from whose decision he appealed. Thus the supreme tribunal +in the United States evaded at the time any formal judgment as to the +real validity of the new suffrage provisions. In 1903, moreover, in +Alabama, Negroes charged with petty offenses and sometimes with no +offense at all were still sent to convict farms or turned over to +contractors. They were sometimes compelled to work as peons for a length +of time; and they were flogged, starved, hunted with bloodhounds, and +sold from one contractor to another in direct violation of law. One +Joseph Patterson borrowed $1 on a Saturday, promising to pay the +amount on the following Tuesday morning. He did not get to town at the +appointed time, and he was arrested and carried before a justice of the +peace, who found him guilty of obtaining money under false pretenses. No +time whatever was given to the Negro to get witnesses or a lawyer, or to +get money with which to pay his fine and the costs of court. He was sold +for $25 to a man named Hardy, who worked him for a year and then sold +him for $40 to another man named Pace. Patterson tried to escape, but +was recaptured and given a sentence of six months more. He was then +required to serve for an additional year to pay a doctor's bill. When +the case at last attracted attention, it appeared that for $1 borrowed +in 1903 he was not finally to be released before 1906. Another case of +interest and importance was set in New York. In the spring of 1909 +a pullman porter was arrested on the charge of stealing a card-case +containing $20. The next day he was discharged as innocent. He then +entered against his accuser a suit for $10,000 damages. The jury awarded +him $2,500, which amount the court reduced to $300, Justice P.H. Dugro +saying that a Negro when falsely imprisoned did not suffer the same +amount of injury that a white man would suffer--an opinion which the New +York _Age_ very naturally characterized as "one of the basest and most +offensive ever handed down by a New York judge." + +In the history of the question of the mulatto two facts are outstanding. +One is that before the Civil War, as was very natural under the +circumstances, mulattoes became free much faster than pure Negroes; +thus the census of 1850 showed that 581 of every 1000 free Negroes +were mulattoes and only 83 of every 1000 slaves. Since the Civil War, +moreover, the mulatto element has rapidly increased, advancing from 11.2 +per cent of the Negro population in 1850 to 20.9 per cent in 1910, or +from 126 to 264 per 1000. On the whole question of the function of this +mixed element the elaborate study, that of Reuter, is immediately thrown +out of court by its lack of accuracy. The fundamental facts on which +it rests its case are not always true, and if premises are false +conclusions are worthless. No work on the Negro that calls Toussaint +L'Ouverture and Sojourner Truth mulattoes and that will not give the +race credit for several well-known pure Negroes of the present day, +can long command the attention of scholars. This whole argument on the +mulatto goes back to the fallacy of degrading human beings by slavery +for two hundred years and then arguing that they have not the capacity +or the inclination to rise. In a country predominantly white the +quadroon has frequently been given some advantage that his black friend +did not have, from the time that one was a house-servant and the other a +field-hand; but no scientific test has ever demonstrated that the black +boy is intellectually inferior to the fair one. In America, however, it +is the fashion to place upon the Negro any blame or deficiency and +to claim for the white race any merit that an individual may show. +Furthermore--and this is a point not often remarked in discussions of +the problem--the element of genius that distinguishes the Negro artist +of mixed blood is most frequently one characteristically Negro rather +than Anglo-Saxon. Much has been made of the fact that within the society +of the race itself there have been lines of cleavage, a comparatively +few people, very fair in color, sometimes drawing off to themselves. +This is a fact, and it is simply one more heritage from slavery, most +tenacious in some conservative cities along the coast. Even there, +however, old lines are vanishing and the fusion of different groups +within the race rapidly going forward. Undoubtedly there has been some +snobbery, as there always is, and a few quadroons and octoroons have +crossed the color line and been lost to the race; but these cases are +after all comparatively few in number, and the younger generation is +more and more emphasizing the ideals of racial solidarity. In the future +there may continue to be lines of cleavage in society within the race, +but the standards governing these will primarily be character and merit. +On the whole, then, the mulatto has placed himself squarely on the side +of the difficulties, aspirations, and achievements of the Negro people +and it is simply an accident and not inherent quality that accounts for +the fact that he has been so prominent in the leadership of the race. + +The final refutation of defamation, however, is to be found in the +actual achievement of members of the race themselves. The progress in +spite of handicaps continued to be amazing. Said the New York _Sun_ +early in 1907 (copied by the _Times_) of "Negroes Who Have Made Good": +"Junius C. Groves of Kansas produces 75,000 bushels of potatoes every +year, the world's record. Alfred Smith received the blue ribbon at the +World's Fair and first prize in England for his Oklahoma-raised cotton. +Some of the thirty-five patented devices of Granville T. Woods, the +electrician, form part of the systems of the New York elevated railways +and the Bell Telephone Company. W. Sidney Pittman drew the design of +the Collis P. Huntington memorial building, the largest and finest at +Tuskegee. Daniel H. Williams, M.D., of Chicago, was the first surgeon to +sew up and heal a wounded human heart. Mary Church Terrell addressed in +three languages at Berlin recently the International Association for the +Advancement of Women. Edward H. Morris won his suit between Cook County +and the city of Chicago, and has a law practice worth $20,000 a year." + +In one department of effort, that of sport, the Negro was especially +prominent. In pugilism, a diversion that has always been noteworthy for +its popular appeal, Peter Jackson was well known as a contemporary of +John L. Sullivan. George Dixon was, with the exception of one year, +either bantamweight or featherweight champion for the whole of the +period from 1890 to 1900; and Joe Gans was lightweight champion from +1902 to 1908. Joe Walcott was welterweight champion from 1901 to 1904, +and was succeeded by Dixie Kid, who held his place from 1904 to 1908. In +1908, to the chagrin of thousands and with a victory that occasioned +a score of racial conflicts throughout the South and West and that +resulted in several deaths, Jack Johnson became the heavyweight champion +of America, a position that he was destined to hold for seven years. In +professional baseball the Negro was proscribed, though occasionally +a member of the race played on teams of the second group. Of +semi-professional teams the American Giants and the Leland Giants of +Chicago, and the Lincoln Giants of New York, were popular favorites, +and frequently numbered on their rolls players of the first order of +ability. In intercollegiate baseball W.C. Matthews of Harvard was +outstanding for several years about 1904. In intercollegiate football +Lewis at Harvard in the earlier nineties and Bullock at Dartmouth a +decade later were unusually prominent, while Marshall of Minnesota in +1905 became an All-American end. Pollard of Brown, a half-back, in 1916, +and Robeson of Rutgers, an end, in 1918, also won All-American honors. +About the turn of the century Major Taylor was a champion bicycle rider, +and John B. Taylor of Pennsylvania was an intercollegiate champion in +track athletics. Similarly fifteen years later Binga Dismond of Howard +and Chicago, Sol Butler of Dubuque, and Howard P. Drew of Southern +California were destined to win national and even international honors +in track work. Drew broke numerous records as a runner and Butler was +the winner in the broad jump at the Inter-Allied Games in the Pershing +Stadium in Paris. In 1920 E. Gourdin of Harvard came prominently forward +as one of the best track athletes that institution had ever had. + +In the face, then, of the Negro's unquestionable physical ability and +prowess the supreme criticism that he was called on to face within the +period was all the more hard to bear. In all nations and in all ages +courage under fire as a soldier has been regarded as the sterling test +of manhood, and by this standard we have seen that in war the Negro had +more than vindicated himself. His very honor as a soldier was now to be +attacked. + +In August, 1906, Companies B, C, and D of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, +United States Infantry, were stationed at Fort Brown, Brownsville, +Texas, where they were forced to exercise very great self-restraint in +the face of daily insults from the citizens. On the night of the 13th +occurred a riot in which one citizen of the town was killed, another +wounded, and the chief of police injured. The people of the town +accused the soldiers of causing the riot and demanded their removal. +Brigadier-General E.A. Garlington, Inspector General, was sent to find +the guilty men, and, failing in his mission, he recommended dishonorable +discharge for the regiment. On this recommendation President Roosevelt +on November 9 dismissed "without honor" the entire battalion, +disqualifying its members for service thereafter in either the military +or the civil employ of the United States. When Congress met in December +Senator J.B. Foraker of Ohio placed himself at the head of the critics +of the President's action, and in a ringing speech said of the +discharged men that "they asked no favors because they were Negroes, but +only justice because they were men." On January 22 the Senate authorized +a general investigation of the whole matter, a special message from +the President on the 14th having revoked the civil disability of the +discharged soldiers. The case was finally disposed of by a congressional +act approved March 3, 1909, which appointed a court of inquiry before +which any discharged man who wished to reënlist had the burden of +establishing his innocence--a procedure which clearly violated the +fundamental principle in law that a man is to be accounted innocent +until he is proved guilty. + +In connection with the dishonored soldier of Brownsville, and indeed +with reference to the Negro throughout the period, we recall Edwin +Markham's poem, "Dreyfus,"[1] written for a far different occasion but +with fundamental principles of justice that are eternal: + +[Footnote 1: It is here quoted with the permission of the author and +in the form in which it originally appeared in _McClure's Magazine_, +September, 1899.] + + I + + A man stood stained; France was one Alp of hate, + Pressing upon him with the whole world's weight; + In all the circle of the ancient sun + There was no voice to speak for him--not one; + In all the world of men there was no sound + But of a sword flung broken to the ground. + + Hell laughed its little hour; and then behold + How one by one the guarded gates unfold! + Swiftly a sword by Unseen Forces hurled, + And now a man rising against the world! + + II + + Oh, import deep as life is, deep as time! + There is a Something sacred and sublime + Moving behind the worlds, beyond our ken, + Weighing the stars, weighing the deeds of men. + + Take heart, O soul of sorrow, and be strong! + There is one greater than the whole world's wrong. + Be hushed before the high Benignant Power + That moves wool-shod through sepulcher and tower! + No truth so low but He will give it crown; + No wrong so high but He will hurl it down. + O men that forge the fetter, it is vain; + There is a Still Hand stronger than your chain. + 'Tis no avail to bargain, sneer, and nod, + And shrug the shoulder for reply to God. + + +7. The Dawn of a To-morrow + +The bitter period that we have been considering was not wholly without +its bright features, and with the new century new voices began to be +articulate. In May, 1900, there was in Montgomery a conference in +which Southern men undertook as never before to make a study of their +problems. That some who came had yet no real conception of the task and +its difficulties may be seen from the suggestion of one man that the +Negroes be deported to the West or to the islands of the sea. Several +men advocated the repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment. The position +outstanding for its statesmanship was that of ex-Governor William A. +McCorkle of West Virginia, who asserted that the right of franchise was +the vital and underlying principle of the life of the people of the +United States and must not be violated, that the remedy for present +conditions was an "honest and inflexible educational and property basis, +administered fairly for black and white," and finally that the Negro +Problem was not a local problem but one to be settled by the hearty +coöperation of all of the people of the United States. + +Meanwhile the Southern Educational Congress continued its sittings from +year to year, and about 1901 there developed new and great interest in +education, the Southern Education Board acting in close coöperation with +the General Education Board, the medium of the philanthropy of John D. +Rockefeller, and frequently also with the Peabody and Slater funds.[1] +In 1907 came the announcement of the Jeanes Fund, established by Anna T. +Jeanes, a Quaker of Philadelphia, for the education of the Negro in the +rural districts of the South; and in 1911 that of the Phelps-Stokes +Fund, established by Caroline Phelps-Stokes with emphasis on the +education of the Negro in Africa and America. More and more these +agencies were to work in harmony and coöperation with the officials in +the different states concerned. In 1900 J.L.M. Curry, a Southern man of +great breadth of culture, was still in charge of the Peabody and Slater +funds, but he was soon to pass from the scene and in the work now to +be done were prominent Robert C. Ogden, Hollis B. Frissell, Wallace +Buttrick, George Foster Peabody, and James H. Dillard. + +[Footnote 1: In 1867 George Peabody, an American merchant and patriot, +established the Peabody Educational Fund for the purpose of promoting +"intellectual, moral, and industrial education in the most destitute +portion of the Southern states." The John F. Slater Fund was established +in 1882 especially for the encouragement of the industrial education of +Negroes.] + +Along with the mob violence, moreover, that disgraced the opening years +of the century was an increasing number of officers who were disposed +to do their duty even under trying circumstances. Less than two +months after his notorious inaugural Governor Vardaman of Mississippi +interested the reading public by ordering out a company of militia when +a lynching was practically announced to take place, and by boarding a +special train to the scene to save the Negro. In this same state +in 1909, when the legislature passed a law levying a tax for the +establishment of agricultural schools for white students, and levied +this on the property of white people and Negroes alike, though only the +white people were to have schools, a Jasper County Negro contested +the matter before the Chancery Court, which declared the law +unconstitutional, and he was further supported by the Supreme Court of +the state. Such a decision was inspiring, but it was not the rule, and +already the problems of another decade were being foreshadowed. Already +also under the stress of conditions in the South many Negroes were +seeking a haven in the North. By 1900 there were as many Negroes in +Pennsylvania as in Missouri, whereas twenty years before there had been +twice as many in the latter state. There were in Massachusetts more than +in Delaware, whereas twenty years before Delaware had had 50 per cent +more than Massachusetts. Within twenty years Virginia gained 312,000 +white people and only 29,000 Negroes, the latter having begun a steady +movement to New York. North Carolina gained 400,000 white people and +only 93,000 Negroes. South Carolina and Mississippi, however, were not +yet affected in large measure by the movement. + +The race indeed was beginning to be possessed by a new consciousness. +After 1895 Booker T. Washington was a very genuine leader. From the +first, however, there was a distinct group of Negro men who honestly +questioned the ultimate wisdom of the so-called Atlanta Compromise, +and who felt that in seeming to be willing temporarily to accept +proscription and to waive political rights Dr. Washington had given up +too much. Sometimes also there was something in his illustrations of the +effects of current methods of education that provoked reply. Those +who were of the opposition, however, were not at first united and +constructive, and in their utterances they sometimes offended by +harshness of tone. Dr. Washington himself said of the extremists in this +group that they frequently understood theories but not things; that in +college they gave little thought to preparing for any definite task in +the world, but started out with the idea of preparing themselves to +solve the race problem; and that many of them made a business of keeping +the troubles, wrongs, and hardships of the Negro race before the +public.[1] There was ample ground for this criticism. More and more, +however, the opposition gained force; the _Guardian_, a weekly paper +edited in Boston by Monroe Trotter, was particularly outspoken, and in +Boston the real climax came in 1903 in an endeavor to break up a meeting +at which Dr. Washington was to speak. Then, beginning in January, 1904, +the _Voice of the Negro_, a magazine published in Atlanta for three +years, definitely helped toward the cultivation of racial ideals. +Publication of the periodical became irregular after the Atlanta +Massacre, and it finally expired in 1907. Some of the articles dealt +with older and more philosophical themes, but there were also bright and +illuminating studies in education and other social topics, as well as a +strong stand on political issues. The _Colored American_, published in +Boston just a few years before the _Voice_ began to appear, also did +inspiring work. Various local or state organizations, moreover, from +time to time showed the virtue of coöperation; thus the Georgia Equal +Rights Convention, assembled in Macon in February, 1906, at the call of +William J. White, the veteran editor of the _Georgia Baptist_, brought +together representative men from all over the state and considered such +topics as the unequal division of school taxes, the deprivation of the +jury rights of Negroes, the peonage system, and the penal system. In +1905 twenty-nine men of the race launched what was known as the Niagara +Movement. The aims of this organization were freedom of speech and +criticism, an unlettered and unsubsidized press, manhood suffrage, the +abolition of all caste distinctions based simply on race and color, the +recognition of the principle of human brotherhood as a practical present +creed, the recognition of the highest and best training as the monopoly +of no class or race, a belief in the dignity of labor, and united effort +to realize these ideals under wise and courageous leadership. The time +was not yet quite propitious, and the Niagara Movement as such died +after three or four years. Its principles lived on, however, and it +greatly helped toward the formation of a stronger and more permanent +organization. + +[Footnote 1: See chapter "The Intellectuals," in _My Larger Education_.] + +In 1909 a number of people who were interested in the general effect +of the Negro Problem on democracy in America organized in New York the +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.[1] It was +felt that the situation had become so bad that the time had come for +a simple declaration of human rights. In 1910 Moorfield Storey, a +distinguished lawyer of Boston, became national president, and W.E. +Burghardt DuBois director of publicity and research, and editor of the +_Crisis_, which periodical began publication in November of this year. +The organization was successful from the first, and local branches were +formed all over the country, some years elapsing, however, before the +South was penetrated. Said the Director: "Of two things we Negroes have +dreamed for many years: An organization so effective and so powerful +that when discrimination and injustice touched one Negro, it would touch +12,000,000. We have not got this yet, but we have taken a great step +toward it. We have dreamed, too, of an organization that would work +ceaselessly to make Americans know that the so-called 'Negro problem' is +simply one phase of the vaster problem of democracy in America, and that +those who wish freedom and justice for their country must wish it for +every black citizen. This is the great and insistent message of the +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People." + +[Footnote 1: For detailed statement of origin see pamphlet, "How the +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Began," by +Mary White Ovington, published by the Association.] + +This organization is outstanding as an effort in coöperation between +the races for the improvement of the condition of the Negro. Of special +interest along the line of economic betterment has been the National +League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, now known as the National +Urban League, which also has numerous branches with headquarters in New +York and through whose offices thousands of Negroes have been placed +in honorable employment. The National Urban League was also formally +organized in 1910; it represented a merging of the different agencies +working in New York City in behalf of the social betterment of the Negro +population, especially of the National League for the Protection +of Colored Women and of the Committee for Improving the Industrial +Conditions among Negroes in New York, both of which agencies had been +organized in 1906. As we shall see, the work of the League was to be +greatly expanded within the next decade by the conditions brought about +by the war; and under the direction of the executive secretary, Eugene +Kinckle Jones, with the assistance of alert and patriotic officers, its +work was to prove one of genuinely national service. + +Interesting also was a new concern on the part of the young Southern +college man about the problems at his door. Within just a few years +after the close of the period now considered, Phelps-Stokes fellowships +for the study of problems relating to the Negro were founded at the +Universities of Virginia and Georgia; it was expected that similar +fellowships would be founded in other institutions; and there was +interest in the annual meetings of the Southern Sociological Congress +and the University Commission on Southern Race Questions. + +Thus from one direction and another at length broke upon a "vale of +tears" a new day of effort and of hope. For the real contest the forces +were gathering. The next decade was to be one of unending bitterness and +violence, but also one in which the Negro was to rise as never before to +the dignity of self-reliant and courageous manhood. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW AGE + + +1. _Character of the Period_ + +The decade 1910-1920, momentous in the history of the world, in the +history of the Negro race in America must finally be regarded as the +period of a great spiritual uprising against the proscription, the +defamation, and the violence of the preceding twenty years. As never +before the Negro began to realize that the ultimate burden of his +salvation rested upon himself, and he learned to respect and to depend +upon himself accordingly. + +The decade naturally divides into two parts, that before and that after +the beginning of the Great War in Europe. Even in the earlier years, +however, the tendencies that later were dominant were beginning to be +manifest. The greater part of the ten years was consumed by the two +administrations of President Woodrow Wilson; and not only did the +National Government in the course of these administrations discriminate +openly against persons of Negro descent in the Federal service and fail +to protect those who happened to live in the capital, but its policy +also gave encouragement to outrage in places technically said to be +beyond its jurisdiction. A great war was to give new occasion and +new opportunity for discrimination, defamatory propaganda was to be +circulated on a scale undreamed of before, and the close of the war was +to witness attempts for a new reign of terror in the South. Even beyond +the bounds of continental America the race was now to suffer by reason +of the national policy, and the little republic of Hayti to lift its +bleeding hands to the calm judgment of the world. + +Both a cause and a result of the struggle through which the race was now +to pass was its astonishing progress. The fiftieth anniversary of the +Emancipation Proclamation--January 1, 1913--called to mind as did +nothing else the proscription and the mistakes, but also the successes +and the hopes of the Negro people in America. Throughout the South +disfranchisement seemed almost complete; and yet, after many attempts, +the movement finally failed in Maryland in 1911 and in Arkansas in 1912. +In 1915, moreover, the disfranchising act of Oklahoma was declared +unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, and henceforth the +Negro could feel that the highest legal authority was no longer on the +side of those who sought to deprive him of all political voice. Eleven +years before, the Court had taken refuge in technicalities. The year +1911 was also marked by the appointment of the first Negro policeman in +New York, by the election of the first Negro legislator in Pennsylvania, +and by the appointment of a man of the race, William H. Lewis, as +Assistant Attorney General of the United States; and several civil +rights suits were won in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Banks, +insurance companies, and commercial and industrial enterprises were +constantly being capitalized; churches erected more and more stately +edifices; and fraternal organizations constantly increased in membership +and wealth. By 1913 the Odd Fellows numbered very nearly half a million +members and owned property worth two and a half million dollars; in +1920 the Dunbar Amusement Corporation of Philadelphia erected a theater +costing $400,000; and the foremost business woman of the race in the +decade, Mme. C.J. Walker, on the simple business of toilet articles and +hair preparations built up an enterprise of national scope and conducted +in accordance with the principles regularly governing great American +commercial organizations. Fifty years after emancipation, moreover, very +nearly one-fourth of all the Negroes in the Southern states were living +in homes that they themselves owned; thus 430,449 of 1,917,391 houses +occupied in these states were reported in 1910 as owned, and 314,340 +were free of all encumbrance. The percentage of illiteracy decreased +from 70 in 1880 to 30.4 in 1910, and movements were under way for the +still more rapid spread of elementary knowledge. Excellent high schools, +such as those in St. Louis, Washington, Kansas City (both cities of this +name), Louisville, Baltimore, and other cities and towns in the border +states and sometimes as far away as Texas, were setting a standard such +as was in accord with the best in the country; and in one year, 1917, +455 young people of the race received the degree of bachelor of arts, +while throughout the decade different ones received honors and took the +highest graduate degrees at the foremost institutions of learning in the +country. Early in the decade the General Education Board began actively +to assist in the work of the higher educational institutions, and an +outstanding gift was that of half a million dollars to Fisk University +in 1920. Meanwhile, through the National Urban League and hundreds of +local clubs and welfare organizations, social betterment went forward, +much impetus being given to the work by the National Association of +Colored Women's Clubs organized in 1896. + +Along with its progress, throughout the decade the race had to meet +increasing bitterness and opposition, and this was intensified by the +motion picture, "The Birth of a Nation," built on lines similar to those +of _The Clansman_. Negro men standing high on civil service lists were +sometimes set aside; in 1913 the white railway mail clerks of the +South began an open campaign against Negroes in the service in direct +violation of the rules; and a little later in the same year segregation +in the different departments became notorious. In 1911 the American Bar +Association raised the question of the color-line; and efforts for the +restriction of Negroes to certain neighborhoods in different prominent +cities sometimes resulted in violence, as in the dynamiting of the homes +of Negroes in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1911. When the Progressive party +was organized in 1912 the Negro was given to understand that his support +was not sought, and in 1911 a strike of firemen on the Queen and +Crescent Railroad was in its main outlines similar to the trouble on +the Georgia Railroad two years before. Meanwhile in the South the race +received only 18 per cent of the total expenditures for education, +although it constituted more than 30 per cent of the population. + +Worse than anything else, however, was the matter of lynching. In each +year the total number of victims of illegal execution continued to +number three- or fourscore; but no one could ever be sure that every +instance had been recorded. Between the opening of the decade and the +time of the entrance of the United States into the war, five cases were +attended by such unusual circumstances that the public could not soon +forget them. At Coatesville, Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia, on +August 12, 1911, a Negro laborer, Zach Walker, while drunk, fatally shot +a night watchman. He was pursued and attempted suicide. Wounded, he was +brought to town and placed in the hospital. From this place he was taken +chained to his cot, dragged for some miles, and then tortured and burned +to death in the presence of a great crowd of people, including many +women, and his bones and the links of the chain which bound him +distributed as souvenirs. At Monticello, Georgia, in January, 1915, when +a Negro family resisted an officer who was making an arrest, the father, +Dan Barbour, his young son, and his two daughters were all hanged to a +tree and their bodies riddled with bullets. Before the close of the year +there was serious trouble in the southwestern portion of the state, and +behind this lay all the evils of the system of peonage in the black +belt. Driven to desperation by the mistreatment accorded them in the +raising of cotton, the Negroes at last killed an overseer who had +whipped a Negro boy. A reign of terror was then instituted; churches, +society halls, and homes were burnt, and several individuals shot. On +December 30 there was a wholesale lynching of six Negroes in Early +County. Less than three weeks afterwards a sheriff who attempted to +arrest some more Negroes and who was accompanied by a mob was killed. +Then (January 20, 1916) five Negroes who had been taken from the jail in +Worth County were rushed in automobiles into Lee County adjoining, and +hanged and shot. On May 15, 1916, at Waco, Texas, Jesse Washington, a +sullen and overgrown boy of seventeen, who worked for a white farmer +named Fryar at the town of Robinson, six miles away, and who one week +before had criminally assaulted and killed Mrs. Fryar, after unspeakable +mutilation was burned in the heart of the town. A part of the torture +consisted in stabbing with knives and the cutting off of the boy's +fingers as he grabbed the chain by which he was bound. Finally, on +October 21, 1916, Anthony Crawford, a Negro farmer of Abbeville, South +Carolina, who owned four hundred and twenty-seven acres of the best +cotton land in his county and who was reported to be worth $20,000, was +lynched. He had come to town to the store of W.D. Barksdale to sell a +load of cotton-seed, and the two men had quarreled about the price, +although no blow was struck on either side. A little later, however, +Crawford was arrested by a local policeman and a crowd of idlers from +the public square rushed to give him a whipping for his "impudence." He +promptly knocked down the ringleader with a hammer. The mob then set +upon him, nearly killed him, and at length threw him into the jail. A +few hours later, fearing that the sheriff would secretly remove the +prisoner, it returned, dragged the wounded man forth, and then hanged +and shot him, after which proceedings warning was sent to his family to +leave the county by the middle of the next month. + +It will be observed that in these five noteworthy occurrences, in only +one case was there any question of criminal assault. On the other hand, +in one case two young women were included among the victims; another was +really a series of lynchings emphasizing the lot of some Negroes under +a vicious economic system; and the last simply grew out of the jealousy +and hatred aroused by a Negro of independent means who knew how to stand +up for his rights. + +Such was the progress, such also the violence that the Negro witnessed +during the decade. Along with his problems at home he now began to have +a new interest in those of his kin across the sea, and this feeling was +intensified by the world war. It raises questions of such far-reaching +importance, however, that it must receive separate and distinct +treatment. + + +2. _Migration; East St. Louis_ + +Very soon after the beginning of the Great War in Europe there began +what will ultimately be known as the most remarkable migratory movement +in the history of the Negro in America. Migration had indeed at no time +ceased since the great movement of 1879, but for the most part it had +been merely personal and not in response to any great emergency. The +sudden ceasing of the stream of immigration from Europe, however, +created an unprecedented demand for labor in the great industrial +centers of the North, and business men were not long in realizing +the possibilities of a source that had as yet been used in only the +slightest degree. Special agents undoubtedly worked in some measure; but +the outstanding feature of the new migration was that it was primarily a +mass movement and not one organized or encouraged by any special group +of leaders. Labor was needed in railroad construction, in the steel +mills, in the tobacco farms of Connecticut, and in the packing-houses, +foundries, and automobile plants. In 1915 the New England tobacco +growers hastily got together in New York two hundred girls; but these +proved to be unsatisfactory, and it was realized that the labor supply +would have to be more carefully supervised. In January, 1916, the +management of the Continental Tobacco Corporation definitely decided on +the policy of importing workers from the South, and within the next year +not less than three thousand Negroes came to Hartford, several hundred +being students from the schools and colleges who went North to work for +the summer. In the same summer came also train-loads of Negroes from +Jacksonville and other points to work for the Erie and Pennsylvania +Railroads. + +Those who left their homes in the South to find new ones in the North +thus worked first of all in response to a new economic demand. +Prominent in their thought to urge them on, however, were the generally +unsatisfactory conditions in the South from which they had so long +suffered and from which all too often there had seemed to be no escape. +As it was, they were sometimes greatly embarrassed in leaving. In +Jacksonville the city council passed an ordinance requiring that agents +who wished to recruit labor to be sent out of the state should pay +$1,000 for a license or suffer a fine of $600 and spend sixty days in +jail. Macon, Ga., raised the license fee to $25,000. In Savannah the +excitement was intense. When two trains did not move as it was expected +that they would, three hundred Negroes paid their own fares and went +North. Later, when the leaders of the movement could not be found, the +police arrested one hundred of the Negroes and sent them to the police +barracks, charging them with loitering. Similar scenes were enacted +elsewhere, the South being then as ever unwilling to be deprived of its +labor supply. Meanwhile wages for some men in such an industrial center +as Birmingham leaped to $9 and $10 a day. All told, hardly less than +three-fourths of a million Negroes went North within the four years +1915-1918. + +Naturally such a great shifting of population did not take place without +some inconvenience and hardship. Among the thousands who changed their +place of residence were many ignorant and improvident persons; but +sometimes it was the most skilled artisans and the most substantial +owners of homes in different communities who sold their property +and moved away. In the North they at once met congestion in housing +facilities. In Philadelphia and Pittsburgh this condition became so bad +as to demand immediate attention. In more than one place there were +outbreaks in which lives were lost. In East St. Louis, Ill., all of the +social problems raised by the movement were seen in their baldest guise. +The original population of this city had come for the most part from +Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It had long been an +important industrial center. It was also a very rough place, the scene +of prize-fights and cock-fights and a haven for escaped prisoners; and +there was very close connection between the saloons and politics. For +years the managers of the industrial plants had recruited their labor +supply from Ellis Island. When this failed they turned to the Negroes of +the South; and difficulties were aggravated by a series of strikes on +the part of the white workers. By the spring of 1917 not less than ten +thousand Negroes had recently arrived in the city, and the housing +situation was so acute that these people were more and more being forced +into the white localities. Sometimes Negroes who had recently arrived +wandered aimlessly about the streets, where they met the rougher +elements of the city; there were frequent fights and also much trouble +on the street cars. The Negroes interested themselves in politics and +even succeeded in placing in office several men of their choice. In +February, 1917, there was a strike of the white workers at the Aluminum +Ore Works. This was adjusted at the time, but the settlement was not +permanent, and meanwhile there were almost daily arrivals from the +South, and the East St. Louis _Journal_ was demanding: "Make East St. +Louis a Lily White Town." There were preliminary riots on May 27-30. On +the night of July I men in automobiles rode through the Negro section +and began firing promiscuously. The next day the massacre broke forth in +all its fury, and before it was over hundreds of thousands of dollars in +property had been destroyed, six thousand Negroes had been driven from +their homes, and about one hundred and fifty shot, burned, hanged, or +maimed for life. Officers of the law failed to do their duty, and the +testimony of victims as to the torture inflicted upon them was such as +to send a thrill of horror through the heart of the American people. +Later there was a congressional investigation, but from this nothing +very material resulted. In the last week of this same month, July, 1917, +there were also serious outbreaks in both Chester and Philadelphia, +Penn., the fundamental issues being the same as in East St. Louis. + +Meanwhile welfare organizations earnestly labored to adjust the Negro in +his new environment. In Chicago the different state clubs helped nobly. +Greater than any other one agency, however, was the National Urban +League, whose work now witnessed an unprecedented expansion. +Representative was the work of the Detroit branch, which was not content +merely with finding vacant positions, but approached manufacturers of +all kinds through distribution of literature and by personal visits, +and within twelve months was successful in placing not less than one +thousand Negroes in employment other than unskilled labor. It also +established a bureau of investigation and information regarding housing +conditions, and generally aimed at the proper moral and social care of +those who needed its service. The whole problem of the Negro was of such +commanding importance after the United States entered the war as to lead +to the creation of a special Division of Negro Economics in the office +of the Secretary of Labor, to the directorship of which Dr. George E. +Haynes was called. + +In January, 1918, a Conference of Migration was called in New York under +the auspices of the National Urban League, and this placed before the +American Federation of Labor resolutions asking that Negro labor be +considered on the same basis as white. The Federation had long been +debating the whole question of the Negro, and it had not seemed to be +able to arrive at a clearcut policy though its general attitude was +unfavorable. In 1919, however, it voted to take steps to recognize and +admit Negro unions. At last it seemed to realize the necessity of making +allies of Negro workers, and of course any such change of front on the +part of white workmen would menace some of the foundations of racial +strife in the South and indeed in the country at large. Just how +effective the new decision was to be in actual practice remained to be +seen, especially as the whole labor movement was thrown on the defensive +by the end of 1920. However, special interest attached to the events +in Bogalusa, La., in November, 1919. Here were the headquarters of the +Great Southern Lumber Company, whose sawmill in the place was said to be +the largest in the world. For some time it had made use of unorganized +Negro labor as against the white labor unions. The forces of labor, +however, began to organize the Negroes in the employ of the Company, +which held political as well as capitalistic control in the community. +The Company then began to have Negroes arrested on charges of vagrancy, +taking them before the city court and having them fined and turned over +to the Company to work out the fines under the guard of gunmen. In the +troubles that came to a head on November 22, three white men were shot +and killed, one of them being the district president of the American +Federation of Labor, who was helping to give protection to a colored +organizer. The full significance of this incident remained also to be +seen; but it is quite possible that in the final history of the Negro +problem the skirmish at Bogalusa will mark the beginning of the end of +the exploiting of Negro labor and the first recognition of the identity +of interest between white and black workmen in the South. + + +3. _The Great War_ + +Just on the eve of America's entrance into the war in Europe occurred +an incident that from the standpoint of the Negro at least must finally +appear simply as the prelude to the great contest to come. Once more, +at an unexpected moment, ten years after Brownsville, the loyalty +and heroism of the Negro soldier impressed the American people. The +expedition of the American forces into Mexico in 1916, with the +political events attending this, is a long story. The outstanding +incident, however, was that in which two troops of the Tenth Cavalry +engaged. About eighty men had been sent a long distance from the main +line of the American army, their errand being supposedly the pursuit of +a deserter. At or near the town of Carrizal the Americans seem to have +chosen to go through the town rather than around it, and the result was +a clash in which Captain Boyd, who commanded the detachment, and some +twenty of his men were killed, twenty-two others being captured by the +Mexicans. Under the circumstances the whole venture was rather imprudent +in the first place. As to the engagement itself, the Mexicans said that +the American troops made the attack, while the latter said that the +Mexicans themselves first opened fire. However this may have been, +all other phases of the Mexican problem seemed for the moment to be +forgotten at Washington in the demand for the release of the twenty-two +men who had been taken. There was no reason for holding them, and they +were brought up to El Paso within a few days and sent across the line. +Thus, though "some one had blundered," these Negro soldiers did their +duty; "theirs not to make reply; theirs but to do and die." So in the +face of odds they fought like heroes and twenty died beneath the Mexican +stars. + +When the United States entered the war in Europe in April, 1917, the +question of overwhelming importance to the Negro people was naturally +that of their relation to the great conflict in which their country +had become engaged. Their response to the draft call set a noteworthy +example of loyalty to all other elements in the country. At the very +outset the race faced a terrible dilemma: If there were to be special +training camps for officers, and if the National Government would make +no provision otherwise, did it wish to have a special camp for Negroes, +such as would give formal approval to a policy of segregation, or did it +wish to have no camp at all on such terms and thus lose the opportunity +to have any men of the race specially trained as officers? The camp was +secured--Camp Dodge, near Des Moines, Iowa; and throughout the summer +of 1917 the work of training went forward, the heart of a harassed and +burdened people responding more and more with pride to the work of their +men. On October 15, 625 became commissioned officers, and all told 1200 +received commissions. To the fighting forces of the United States the +race furnished altogether very nearly 400,000 men, of whom just a little +more than half actually saw service in Europe. + +Negro men served in all branches of the military establishment and also +as surveyors and draftsmen. For the handling of many of the questions +relating to them Emmett J. Scott was on October 1, 1917, appointed +Special Assistant to the Secretary of War. Mr. Scott had for a number +of years assisted Dr. Booker T. Washington as secretary at Tuskegee +Institute, and in 1909 he was one of the three members of the special +commission appointed by President Taft for the investigation of Liberian +affairs. Negro nurses were authorized by the War Department for service +in base hospitals at six army camps, and women served also as canteen +workers in France and in charge of hostess houses in the United States. +Sixty Negro men served as chaplains; 350 as Y.M.C.A. secretaries; and +others in special capacities. Service of exceptional value was rendered +by Negro women in industry, and very largely also they maintained and +promoted the food supply through agriculture at the same time that they +released men for service at the front. Meanwhile the race invested +millions of dollars in Liberty Bonds and War Savings stamps and +contributed generously to the Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., and other relief +agencies. In the summer of 1918 interest naturally centered upon +the actual performance of Negro soldiers in France and upon the +establishment of units of the Students' Army Training Corps in twenty +leading educational institutions. When these units were demobilized in +December, 1918, provision was made in a number of the schools for the +formation of units of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. + +The remarkable record made by the Negro in the previous wars of the +country was fully equaled by that in the Great War. Negro soldiers +fought with special distinction in the Argonne Forest, at +Château-Thierry, in Belleau Wood, in the St. Mihiel district, in the +Champagne sector, at Vosges and Metz, winning often very high praise +from their commanders. Entire regiments of Negro troops were cited for +exceptional valor and decorated with the Croix de Guerre--the 369th, the +371st, and the 372nd; while groups of officers and men of the 365th, the +366th, the 368th, the 370th, and the first battalion of the 367th were +also decorated. At the close of the war the highest Negro officers in +the army were Lieutenant Colonel Otis B. Duncan, commander of the third +battalion of the 370th, formerly the Eighth Illinois, and the highest +ranking Negro officer in the American Expeditionary Forces; Colonel +Charles Young (retired), on special duty at Camp Grant, Ill.; Colonel +Franklin A. Dennison, of the 370th Infantry, and Lieutenant Colonel +Benjamin O. Davis, of the Ninth Cavalry. The 370th was the first +American regiment stationed in the St. Mihiel sector; it was one of the +three that occupied a sector at Verdun when a penetration there would +have been disastrous to the Allied cause; and it went direct from the +training camp to the firing-line. Noteworthy also was the record of +the 369th infantry, formerly the Fifteenth Regiment, New York National +Guard. This organization was under shellfire for 191 days, and it held +one trench for 91 days without relief. It was the first unit of Allied +fighters to reach the Rhine, going down as an advance guard of the +French army of occupation. A prominent hero in this regiment was +Sergeant Henry Johnson, who returned with the Croix de Guerre with one +star and one palm. He is credited with routing a party of Germans at +Bois-Hanzey in the Argonne on May 5, 1918, with singularly heavy losses +to the enemy. Many other men acted with similar bravery. Hardly less +heroic was the service of the stevedore regiments, or the thousands of +men in the army who did not go to France but who did their duty as they +were commanded at home. General Vincenden said of the men of the 370th: +"Fired by a noble ardor, they go at times even beyond the objectives +given them by the higher command; they have always wished to be in the +front line"; and General Coybet said of the 371st and 372nd: "The most +powerful defenses, the most strongly organized machine gun nests, the +heaviest artillery barrages--nothing could stop them. These crack +regiments overcame every obstacle with a most complete contempt for +danger.... They have shown us the way to victory." + +In spite of his noble record--perhaps in some measure because of it--and +in the face of his loyal response to the call to duty, the Negro +unhappily became in the course of the war the victim of proscription and +propaganda probably without parallel in the history of the country. No +effort seems to have been spared to discredit him both as a man and as +a soldier. In both France and America the apparent object of the forces +working against him was the intention to prevent any feeling that the +war would make any change in the condition of the race at home. In the +South Negroes were sometimes forced into peonage and restrained in their +efforts to go North; and generally they had no representation on local +boards, the draft was frequently operated so as to be unfair to them, +and every man who registered found special provision for the indication +of his race in the corner of his card. Accordingly in many localities +Negroes contributed more than their quota, this being the result +of favoritism shown to white draftees. The first report of the +Provost-Marshal General showed that of every 100 Negroes called 36 were +certified for service, while of every 100 white men called only 25 were +certified. Of those summoned in Class I Negroes contributed 51.65 per +cent of their registrants as against 32.53 per cent of the white. In +France the work of defamation was manifest and flagrant. Slanders about +the Negro soldiers were deliberately circulated among the French people, +sometimes on very high authority, much of this propaganda growing out of +a jealous fear of any acquaintance whatsoever of the Negro men with the +French women. Especially insolent and sometimes brutal were the men +of the military police, who at times shot and killed on the slightest +provocation. Proprietors who sold to Negro soldiers were sometimes +boycotted, and offenses were magnified which in the case of white men +never saw publication. Negro officers were discriminated against in +hotel and traveling accommodations, while upon the ordinary men in +the service fell unduly any specially unpleasant duty such as that +of re-burying the dead. White women engaged in "Y" work, especially +Southern women, showed a disposition not to serve Negroes, though the +Red Cross and Salvation Army organizations were much better in this +respect; and finally the Negro soldier was not given any place in the +great victory parade in Paris. About the close of the war moreover a +great picture, or series of pictures, the "Pantheon de la Guerre," that +was on a mammoth scale and that attracted extraordinary attention, was +noteworthy as giving representation to all of the forces and divisions +of the Allied armies except the Negroes in the forces from the United +States.[1] Not unnaturally the Germans endeavored--though without +success--to capitalize the situation by circulating among the Negroes +insidious literature that sometimes made very strong points. All of +these things are to be considered by those people in the United States +who think that the Negro suffers unduly from a grievance. + +[Footnote 1: On the whole subject of the actual life of the Negro +soldier unusual interest attaches to the forthcoming and authoritative +"Sidelights on Negro Soldiers," by Charles H. Williams, who as a special +and official investigator had unequaled opportunity to study the Negro +in camp and on the battle-line both in the United States and in France.] + +While the Negro soldier abroad was thus facing unusual pressure in +addition to the ordinary hardships of war, at home occurred an incident +that was doubly depressing coming as it did just a few weeks after +the massacre at East St. Louis. In August, 1917, a battalion of the +Twenty-fourth Infantry, stationed at Houston, Texas, to assist in the +work of concentrating soldiers for the war in Europe, encountered the +ill-will of the town, and between the city police and the Negro military +police there was constant friction. At last when one of the Negroes had +been beaten, word was circulated among his comrades that he had been +shot, and a number of them set out for revenge. In the riot that +followed (August 23) two of the Negroes and seventeen white people of +the town were killed, the latter number including five policemen. As +a result of this encounter sixty-three members of the battalion were +court-martialed at Fort Sam Houston. Thirteen were hanged on December +11, 1917, five more were executed on September 13, 1918, fifty-one were +sentenced to life imprisonment and five to briefer terms; and the Negro +people of the country felt very keenly the fact that the condemned +men were hanged like common criminals rather than given the death of +soldiers. Thus for one reason or another the whole matter of the war and +the incidents connected therewith simply made the Negro question more +bitterly than ever the real disposition toward him of the government +under which he lived and which he had striven so long to serve. + + +4. _High Tension: Washington, Chicago, Elaine_ + +Such incidents abroad and such feeling at home as we have recorded not +only agitated the Negro people, but gave thousands of other citizens +concern, and when the armistice suddenly came on November 11, 1918, not +only in the South but in localities elsewhere in the country racial +feeling had been raised to the highest point. About the same time there +began to be spread abroad sinister rumors that the old KuKlux were +riding again; and within a few months parades at night in representative +cities in Alabama and Georgia left no doubt that the rumors were well +founded. The Negro people fully realized the significance of the new +movement, and they felt full well the pressure being brought to bear +upon them in view of the shortage of domestic servants in the South. +Still more did they sense the situation that would face their sons and +brothers when they returned from France. But they were not afraid; and +in all of the riots of the period the noteworthy fact stands out that +in some of the cities in which the situation was most tense--notably +Atlanta and Birmingham--no great race trouble was permitted to start. + +In general, however, the violence that had characterized the year 1917 +continued through 1918 and 1919. In the one state of Tennessee, within +less than a year and on separate occasions, three Negroes were burned at +the stake. On May 22, 1917, near Memphis, Ell T. Person, nearly fifty +years of age, was burned for the alleged assault and murder of a young +woman; and in this case the word "alleged" is used advisedly, for the +whole matter of the fixing of the blame for the crime and the fact that +the man was denied a legal trial left grave doubt as to the extent of +his guilt. On Sunday, December 2, 1917, at Dyersburg, immediately after +the adjournment of services in the churches of the town, Lation Scott, +guilty of criminal assault, was burned; his eyes were put out with +red-hot irons, a hot poker was rammed down his throat, and he was +mutilated in unmentionable ways. Two months later, on February 12, 1918, +at Estill Springs, Jim McIlheron, who had shot and killed two young +white men, was also burned at the stake. In Estill Springs it had for +some time been the sport of young white men in the community to throw +rocks at single Negroes and make them run. Late one afternoon McIlheron +went into a store to buy some candy. As he passed out, a remark was made +by one of three young men about his eating his candy. The rest of the +story is obvious. + +As horrible as these burnings were, it is certain that they did not +grind the iron into the Negro's soul any more surely than the three +stories that follow. Hampton Smith was known as one of the harshest +employers of Negro labor in Brooks County, Ga. As it was difficult for +him to get help otherwise, he would go into the courts and whenever a +Negro was convicted and was unable to pay his fine or was sentenced to +a term on the chain-gang, he would pay the fine and secure the man for +work on his plantation. He thus secured the services of Sidney Johnson, +fined thirty dollars for gambling. After Johnson had more than worked +out the thirty dollars he asked pay for the additional time he served. +Smith refused to give this and a quarrel resulted. A few mornings later, +when Johnson, sick, did not come to work, Smith found him in his cabin +and beat him. A few evenings later, while Smith was sitting in his home, +he was shot through a window and killed instantly, and his wife was +wounded. As a result of this occurrence the Negroes of both Brooks and +Lowndes counties were terrorized for the week May 17-24, 1918, and not +less than eleven of them lynched. Into the bodies of two men lynched +together not less than seven hundred bullets are said to have been +fired. Johnson himself had been shot dead when he was found; but his +body was mutilated, dragged through the streets of Valdosta, and burned. +Mary Turner, the wife of one of the victims, said that her husband had +been unjustly treated and that if she knew who had killed him she would +have warrants sworn out against them. For saying this she too was +lynched, although she was in an advanced state of pregnancy. Her ankles +were tied together and she was hung to a tree, head downward. Gasoline +and oil from the automobiles near were thrown on her clothing and a +match applied. While she was yet alive her abdomen was cut open with a +large knife and her unborn babe fell to the ground. It gave two feeble +cries and then its head was crushed by a member of the mob with his +heel. Hundreds of bullets were then fired into the woman's body. As +a result of these events not less than five hundred Negroes left the +immediate vicinity of Valdosta immediately, and hundreds of others +prepared to leave as soon as they could dispose of their land, and +this they proceeded to do in the face of the threat that any Negro who +attempted to leave would be regarded as implicated in the murder of +Smith and dealt with accordingly. At the end of this same year--on +December 20, 1918--four young Negroes--Major Clark, aged twenty; Andrew +Clark, aged fifteen; Maggie Howze, aged twenty, and Alma Howze, aged +sixteen--were taken from the little jail at Shubuta, Mississippi, and +lynched on a bridge near the town. They were accused of the murder of +E.L. Johnston, a white dentist, though all protested their innocence. +The situation that preceded the lynching was significant. Major Clark +was in love with Maggie Howze and planned to marry her. This thought +enraged Johnston, who was soon to become the father of a child by the +young woman, and who told Clark to leave her alone. As the two sisters +were about to be killed, Maggie screamed and fought, crying, "I ain't +guilty of killing the doctor and you oughtn't to kill me"; and to +silence her cries one member of the mob struck her in the mouth with +a monkey wrench, knocking her teeth out. On May 24, 1919, at Milan, +Telfair County, Georgia, two young white men, Jim Dowdy and Lewis Evans, +went drunk late at night to the Negro section of the town and to the +home of a widow who had two daughters. They were refused admittance and +then fired into the house. The girls, frightened, ran to another home. +They were pursued, and Berry Washington, a respectable Negro seventy-two +years of age, seized a shotgun, intending to give them protection; and +in the course of the shooting that followed Dowdy was killed. The next +night, Saturday the 25th, Washington was taken to the place where Dowdy +was killed and his body shot to pieces. + +It remained for the capital of the nation, however, largely to show the +real situation of the race in the aftermath of a great war conducted +by a Democratic administration. Heretofore the Federal Government had +declared itself powerless to act in the case of lawlessness in an +individual state; but it was now to have an opportunity to deal with +violence in Washington itself. On July 19, 1919, a series of lurid and +exaggerated stories in the daily papers of attempted assaults of Negroes +on white women resulted in an outbreak that was intended to terrorize +the popular Northwest section, in which lived a large proportion of +the Negroes in the District of Columbia. For three days the violence +continued intermittently, and as the constituted police authority did +practically nothing for the defense of the Negro citizens, the loss of +life might have been infinitely greater than it was if the colored men +of the city had not assumed their own defense. As it was they saved the +capital and earned the gratitude of the race and the nation. It appeared +that Negroes--educated, law-abiding Negroes--would not now run when +their lives and their homes were at stake, and before such determination +the mob retreated ingloriously. + +Just a week afterwards--before the country had really caught its breath +after the events in Washington--there burst into flame in Chicago a race +war of the greatest bitterness and fierceness. For a number of years the +Western metropolis had been known as that city offering to the Negro +the best industrial and political opportunity in the country. When the +migration caused by the war was at its height, tens of thousands of +Negroes from the South passed through the city going elsewhere, but +thousands also remained to work in the stockyards or other places. With +all of the coming and going, the Negroes in the city must at any time in +1918 or 1919 have numbered not less than 150,000; and banks, coöperative +societies, and race newspapers flourished. There were also abundant +social problems awakened by the saloons and gambling dens, and by the +seamy side of politics. Those who had been longest in the city, however, +rallied to the needs of the newcomers, and in their homes, their +churches, and their places of work endeavored to get them adjusted in +their environment. The housing situation, in spite of all such effort, +became more and more acute, and when some Negroes were forced beyond the +bounds of the old "black belt" there were attempts to dynamite their new +residences. Meanwhile hundreds of young men who had gone to France or to +cantonments--1850 from the district of one draft board at State and 35th +Streets--returned to find again a place in the life of Chicago; and +daily from Washington or from the South came the great waves of social +unrest. Said Arnold Hill, secretary of the Chicago branch of the +National Urban League: "Every time a lynching takes place in a community +down South you can depend on it that colored people from that community +will arrive in Chicago inside of two weeks; we have seen it happen so +often that whenever we read newspaper dispatches of a public hanging +or burning in a Texas or a Mississippi town, we get ready to extend +greetings to the people from the immediate vicinity of the lynching." +Before the armistice was signed the League was each month finding work +for 1700 or 1800 men and women; in the following April the number fell +to 500, but with the coming of summer it rapidly rose again. Unskilled +work was plentiful, and jobs in foundries and steel mills, in building +and construction work, and in light factories and packing-houses kept up +a steady demand for laborers. Meanwhile trouble was brewing, and on the +streets there were occasional encounters. + +Such was the situation when on a Sunday at the end of July a Negro boy +at a bathing beach near Twenty-sixth Street swam across an imaginary +segregation line. White boys threw rocks at him, knocked him off a raft, +and he was drowned. Colored people rushed to a policeman and asked him +to arrest the boys who threw the stones. He refused to do so, and as the +dead body of the Negro boy was being handled, more rocks were thrown +on both sides. The trouble thus engendered spread through the Negro +district on the South Side, and for a week it was impossible or +dangerous for people to go to work. Some employed at the stockyards +could not get to their work for some days further. At the end of three +days twenty Negroes were reported as dead, fourteen white men were dead, +scores of people were injured, and a number of houses of Negroes burned. + +In the face of this disaster the great soul of Chicago rose above its +materialism. There were many conferences between representative people; +out of all the effort grew the determination to work for a nobler city; +and the sincerity was such as to give one hope not only for Chicago but +also for a new and better America. + +The riots in Washington and Chicago were followed within a few weeks by +outbreaks in Knoxville and Omaha. In the latter place the fundamental +cause of the trouble was social and political corruption, and because he +strongly opposed the lynching of William Brown, the Negro, the mayor of +the city, Edward P. Smith, very nearly lost his life. As it was, the +county court house was burned, one man more was killed, and perhaps +as many as forty injured. More important even than this, however--and +indeed one of the two or three most far-reaching instances of racial +trouble in the history of the Negro in America--was the reign of terror +in and near Elaine, Phillips County, Arkansas, in the first week of +October, 1919. The causes of this were fundamental and reached the very +heart of the race problem and of the daily life of tens of thousands of +Negroes. + +Many Negro tenants in eastern Arkansas, as in other states, were still +living under a share system by which the owner furnished the land +and the Negro the labor, and by which at the end of the year the two +supposedly got equal parts of the crop. Meanwhile throughout the +year the tenant would get his food, clothing, and other supplies at +exorbitant prices from a "commissary" operated by the planter or his +agent; and in actual practice the landowner and the tenant did not go +together to a city to dispose of the crop when it was gathered, as was +sometimes done elsewhere, but the landowner alone sold the crop and +settled with the tenant whenever and however he pleased; nor at the time +of settlement was any itemized statement of supplies given, only the +total amount owed being stated. Obviously the planter could regularly +pad his accounts, keep the Negro in debt, and be assured of his labor +supply from year to year. + +In 1918 the price of cotton was constantly rising and at length reached +forty cents a pound. Even with the cheating to which the Negroes were +subjected, it became difficult to keep them in debt, and they became +more and more insistent in their demands for itemized statements. +Nevertheless some of those whose cotton was sold in October, 1918, did +not get any statement of any sort before July of the next year. + +Seeing no other way out of their difficulty, sixty-eight of the Negroes +got together and decided to hire a lawyer who would help them to get +statements of their accounts and settlement at the right figures. +Feeling that the life of any Negro lawyer who took such a case would be +endangered, they employed the firm of Bratton and Bratton, of Little +Rock. They made contracts with this firm to handle the sixty-eight cases +at fifty dollars each in cash and a percentage of the moneys collected +from the white planters. Some of the Negroes also planned to go before +the Federal Grand Jury and charge certain planters with peonage. They +had secret meetings from time to time in order to collect the money to +be paid in advance and to collect the evidence which would enable them +successfully to prosecute their cases. Some Negro cotton-pickers about +the same time organized a union; and at Elaine many Negroes who worked +in the sawmills and who desired to protect their wives and daughters +from insult, refused to allow them to pick cotton or to work for a white +man at any price. + +Such was the sentiment out of which developed the Progressive Farmers +and Household Union of America, which was an effort by legal means to +secure protection from unscrupulous landlords, but which did use the +form of a fraternal order with passwords and grips and insignia so as +the more forcefully to appeal to some of its members. About the first of +October the report was spread abroad in Phillips County that the Negroes +were plotting an insurrection and that they were rapidly preparing to +massacre the white people on a great scale. When the situation had +become tense, one Sunday John Clem, a white man from Helena, drunk, came +to Elaine and proceeded to terrorize the Negro population by gun play. +The colored people kept off the streets in order to avoid trouble and +telephoned the sheriff at Helena. This man failed to act. The next day +Clem was abroad again, but the Negroes still avoided trouble, thinking +that his acts were simply designed to start a race riot. On Tuesday +evening, October 1, however, W.D. Adkins, a special agent of the +Missouri Pacific Railroad, in company with Charles Pratt, a deputy +sheriff, was riding past a Negro church near Hoop Spur, a small +community just a few miles from Elaine. According to Pratt, persons in +the church fired without cause on the party, killing Adkins and wounding +himself. According to the Negroes, Adkins and Pratt fired into the +church, evidently to frighten the people there assembled. At any rate +word spread through the county that the massacre had started, and for +days there was murder and rioting, in the course of which not less +than five white men and twenty-five Negroes were killed, though some +estimates placed the number of fatalities a great deal higher. Negroes +were arrested and disarmed; some were shot on the highways; homes were +fired into; and at one time hundreds of men and women were in a stockade +under heavy guard and under the most unwholesome conditions, while +hundreds of white men, armed to the teeth, rushed to the vicinity from +neighboring cities and towns. Governor Charles H. Brough telegraphed to +Camp Pike for Federal troops, and five hundred were mobilized at once +"to repel the attack of the black army." Worse than any other feature +was the wanton slaying of the four Johnston brothers, whose father had +been a prominent Presbyterian minister and whose mother was formerly a +school-teacher. Dr. D.A.E. Johnston was a successful dentist and owned a +three-story building in Helena. Dr. Louis Johnston was a physician who +lived in Oklahoma and who had come home on a visit. A third brother had +served in France and been wounded and gassed at Château-Thierry. + +Altogether one thousand Negroes were arrested and one hundred and +twenty-two indicted. A special committee of seven gathered evidence and +is charged with having used electric connections on the witness chair +in order to frighten the Negroes. Twelve men were sentenced to death +(though up to the end of 1920 execution had been stayed), and fifty-four +to penitentiary terms. The trials lasted from five to ten minutes each. +No witnesses for the defense were called; no Negroes were on the juries; +no change of venue was given. Meanwhile lawyers at Helena were preparing +to reap further harvest from Negroes who would be indicted and against +whom there was no evidence, but who had saved money and Liberty Bonds. + +Governor Brough in a statement to the press blamed the _Crisis_ and the +Chicago _Defender_ for the trouble. He had served for a number of years +as a professor of economics before becoming governor and had even +identified himself with the forward-looking University Commission on +Southern Race Questions; and it is true that he postponed the executions +in order to allow appeals to be filed in behalf of the condemned men. +That he should thus attempt to shift the burden of blame and overlook +the facts when in a position of grave responsibility was a keen +disappointment to the lovers of progress. + +Reference to the monthly periodical and the weekly paper just mentioned, +however, brings us to still another matter--the feeling on the part of +the Negro that, in addition to the outrages visited on the race, the +Government was now, under the cloak of wartime legislation, formally to +attempt to curtail its freedom of speech. For some days the issue of +the _Crisis_ for May, 1919, was held up in the mail; a South Carolina +representative in Congress quoted by way of denunciation from the +editorial "Returning Soldiers" in the same number of the periodical; +and a little later in the year the Department of Justice devoted +twenty-seven pages of the report of the investigation against "Persons +Advising Anarchy, Sedition, and the Forcible Overthrow of the +Government" to a report on "Radicalism and Sedition among the Negroes +as Reflected in Their Publications." Among other periodicals and papers +mentioned were the _Messenger_ and the _Negro World_ of New York; and by +the _Messenger_ indeed, frankly radical in its attitude not only on the +race question but also on fundamental economic principles, even the +_Crisis_ was regarded as conservative in tone. There could be no doubt +that a great spiritual change had come over the Negro people of the +United States. At the very time that their sons and brothers were making +the supreme sacrifice in France they were witnessing such events as +those at East St. Louis or Houston, or reading of three burnings within +a year in Tennessee. A new determination closely akin to consecration +possessed them. Fully to understand the new spirit one would read not +only such publications as those that have been mentioned, but also those +issued in the heart of the South. "Good-by, Black Mammy," said the +_Southwestern Christian Advocate_, taking as its theme the story of four +Southern white men who acted as honorary pallbearers at an old Negro +woman's funeral, but who under no circumstances would thus have served +for a thrifty, intelligent, well-educated man of the race. Said the +Houston _Informer_, voicing the feeling of thousands, "The black man +fought to make the world safe for democracy; he now demands that America +be made and maintained safe for black Americans." With hypocrisy in +the practice of the Christian religion there ceased to be any patience +whatsoever, as was shown by the treatment accorded a Y.M.C.A. "Call on +behalf of the young men and boys of the two great sister Anglo-Saxon +nations." "Read! Read! Read!" said the _Challenge Magazine_, "then +when the mob comes, whether with torch or with gun, let us stand at +Armageddon and battle for the Lord." "Protect your home," said the +gentle _Christian Recorder_, "protect your wife and children, with your +life if necessary. If a man crosses your threshold after you and your +family, the law allows you to protect your home even if you have to kill +the intruder." Perhaps nothing, however, better summed up the new spirit +than the following sonnet by Claude McKay: + + If we must die, let it not be like hogs + Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, + While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, + Making their mock at our accursed lot. + If we must die, let it not be like hogs + So that our precious blood may not be shed + In vain; then even the monsters we defy + Shall be constrained to honor us, though dead! + Oh, kinsman! We must meet the common foe; + Though far outnumbered, let us still be brave, + And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow! + What though before us lies the open grave? + Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack + Pressed to the wall, dying, but--fighting back! + + +5. _The Widening Problem_ + +In view of the world war and the important part taken in it by French +colonial troops, especially those from Senegal, it is not surprising +that the heart of the Negro people in the United States broadened in a +new sympathy with the problems of their brothers the world over. Even +early in the decade that we are now considering, however, there was some +indication of this tendency, and the First Universal Races Congress in +London in 1911 attracted wide attention. In February, 1919, largely +through the personal effort of Dr. DuBois, a Pan-African Congress was +held in Paris, the chief aims of which were the hearing of statements +on the condition of Negroes throughout the world, the obtaining of +authoritative statements of policy toward the Negro race from the Great +Powers, the making of strong representations to the Peace Conference +then sitting in Paris in behalf of the Negroes throughout the world, and +the laying down of principles on which the future development of the +race must take place. Meanwhile the cession of the Virgin Islands had +fixed attention upon an interesting colored population at the very door +of the United States; and the American occupation of Hayti culminating +in the killing of many of the people in the course of President Wilson's +second administration gave a new feeling of kinship for the land of +Toussaint L'Ouverture. Among other things the evidence showed that on +June 12, 1918, under military pressure a new constitution was forced on +the Haytian people, one favoring the white man and the foreigner; +that by force and brutality innocent men and women, including native +preachers and members of their churches, had been taken, roped together, +and marched as slave-gangs to prison; and that in large numbers Haytians +had been taken from their homes and farms and made to work on new roads +for twenty cents a week, without being properly furnished with food--all +of this being done under the pretense of improving the social and +political condition of the country. The whole world now realized that +the Negro problem was no longer local in the United States or South +Africa, or the West Indies, but international in its scope and +possibilities. + +Very early in the course of the conflict in Europe it was pointed out +that Africa was the real prize of the war, and it is now simply a +commonplace to say that the bases of the struggle were economic. Nothing +did Germany regret more than the forcible seizure of her African +possessions. One can not fail to observe, moreover, a tendency of +discussion of problems resultant from the war to shift the consideration +from that of pure politics to that of racial relations, and early in the +conflict students of society the world over realized that it was nothing +less than suicide on the part of the white race. After the close of the +war many books dealing with the issues at stake were written, and in the +year 1920 alone several of these appeared in the United States. Of all +of these publications, because of their different points of view, four +might call for special consideration--_The Republic of Liberia_, by +R.C.F. Maugham; _The Rising Tide of Color_, by Lothrop Stoddard; +_Darkwater_, by W.E. Burghardt DuBois, and _Empire and Commerce in +Africa: A Study in Economic Imperialism_, by Leonard Woolf. The position +of each of these books is clear and all bear directly upon the central +theme. + +The _Republic of Liberia_ was written by one who some years ago was the +English consul at Monrovia and who afterwards was appointed to Dakar. +The supplementary preface also gives the information that the book was +really written two years before it appeared, publication being delayed +on account of the difficulties of printing at the time. Even up to 1918, +however, the account is incomplete, and the failure to touch upon recent +developments becomes serious; but it is of course impossible to record +the history of Liberia from 1847 to the present and reflect credit upon +England. There are some pages of value in the book, especially those in +which the author speaks of the labor situation in the little African +republic; but these are obviously intended primarily for consumption by +business men in London. "Liberians," we are informed, "tell you that, +whatever may be said to the contrary, the republic's most uncomfortable +neighbor has always been France." This is hardly true. France has +indeed on more than one occasion tried to equal her great rival in +aggrandizement, but she has never quite succeeded in so doing. As we +have already shown in connection with Liberia in the present work, from +the very first the shadow of Great Britain fell across the country. In +more recent years, by loans that were no more than clever plans for +thievery, by the forceful occupation of large tracts of land, and by +interference in the internal affairs of the country, England has again +and again proved herself the arch-enemy of the republic. The book so +recently written in the last analysis appears to be little more than the +basis of effort toward still further exploitation. + +The very merit of _The Rising Tide of Color_ depends on its bias, and it +is significant that the book closes with a quotation from Kipling's "The +Heritage." To Dr. Stoddard the most disquieting feature of the recent +situation was not the war but the peace. Says he, "The white world's +inability to frame a constructive settlement, the perpetuation of +intestine hatreds and the menace of fresh civil wars complicated by the +specter of social revolution, evoke the dread thought that the late +war may be merely the first stage in a cycle of ruin." As for the war +itself, "As colored men realized the significance of it all, they looked +into each other's eyes and there saw the light of undreamed-of hopes. +The white world was tearing itself to pieces. White solidarity was +riven and shattered. And--fear of white power and respect for white +civilization together dropped away like garments outworn. Through the +bazaars of Asia ran the sibilant whisper: 'The East will see the West +to bed.'" At last comes the inevitable conclusion pleading for a better +understanding between England and Germany and for everything else that +would make for racial solidarity. The pitiful thing about this book +is that it is so thoroughly representative of the thing for which it +pleads. It is the very essence of jingoism; civilization does not exist +in and of itself, it is "white"; and the conclusions are directly at +variance with the ideals that have been supposed to guide England +and America. Incidentally the work speaks of the Negro and negroid +population of Africa as "estimated at about 120,000,000." This low +estimate has proved a common pitfall for writers. If we remember that +Africa is three and a half times as large as the United States, and that +while there are no cities as large as New York and Chicago, there are +many centers of very dense population; if we omit entirely from the +consideration the Desert of Sahara and make due allowance for some +heavily wooded tracts in which live no people at all; and if we then +take some fairly well-known region like Nigeria or Sierra Leone as the +basis of estimate, we shall arrive at some such figure as 450,000,000. +In order to satisfy any other points that might possibly be made, let us +reduce this by as much as a third, and we shall still have 300,000,000, +which figure we feel justified in advancing as the lowest possible +estimate for the population of Africa; and yet most books tell us that +there are only 140,000,000 people on the whole continent. + +_Darkwater_ may be regarded as the reply to such a position as that +taken by Dr. Stoddard. If the white world conceives it to be its destiny +to exploit the darker races of mankind, then it simply remains for the +darker races to gird their loins for the contest. "What of the darker +world that watches? Most men belong to this world. With Negro and +Negroid, East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese they form two-thirds of the +population of the world. A belief in humanity is a belief in colored +men. If the uplift of mankind must be done by men, then the destinies of +this world will rest ultimately in the hands of darker nations. What, +then, is this dark world thinking? It is thinking that as wild and awful +as this shameful war was, it is nothing to compare with that fight for +freedom which black and brown and yellow men must and will make unless +their oppression and humiliation and insult at the hands of the White +World cease. The Dark World is going to submit to its present treatment +just as long as it must and not one moment longer." + +Both of these books are strong, and both are materialistic; and +materialism, it must be granted, is a very important factor in the world +just now. Somewhat different in outlook, however, is the book that +labors under an economic subject, _Empire and Commerce in Africa_. In +general the inquiry is concerned with the question, What do we desire +to attain, particularly economically, in Africa, and how far is it +attainable through policy? The discussion is mainly confined to the +three powers: England, France, and Germany; and special merit attaches +to the chapter on Abyssinia, probably the best brief account of this +country ever written. Mr. Woolf announces such fundamental principles as +that the land in Africa should be reserved for the natives; that there +should be systematic education of the natives with a view to training +them to take part in, and eventually control, the government of the +country; that there should be a gradual expatriation of all Europeans +and their capitalistic enterprises; that all revenue raised in Africa +should be applied to the development of the country and the education +and health of the inhabitants; that alcohol should be absolutely +prohibited; and that Africa should be completely neutralized, that is, +in no case should any military operations between European states be +allowed. The difficulties of the enforcement of such a program are of +course apparent to the author; but with other such volumes as this to +guide and mold opinion, the time may indeed come at no distant date when +Africa will cease to exist solely for exploitation and no longer be the +rebuke of Christendom. + +These four books then express fairly well the different opinions and +hopes with which Africa and the world problem that the continent raises +have recently been regarded. It remains simply to mention a conception +that after the close of the war found many adherents in the United +States and elsewhere, and whose operation was on a scale that forced +recognition. This was the idea of the Provisional Republic of Africa, +the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities +League of the World, the Black Star Line of steamships, and the Negro +Factories Corporation, all of which activities were centered in New +York, had as their organ the _Negro World_, and as their president and +leading spirit Marcus Garvey, who was originally from Jamaica. The +central thought that appealed to great crowds of people and won their +support was that of freedom for the race in every sense of the word. +Such freedom, it was declared, transcended the mere demand for the +enforcement of certain political and social rights and could finally be +realised only under a vast super-government guiding the destinies of the +race in Africa, the United States, the West Indies, and everywhere else +in the world. This was to control its people "just as the Pope and the +Catholic Church control its millions in every land." The related ideas +and activities were sometimes termed grandiose and they awakened +much opposition on the part of the old leaders, the clergy, while +conservative business stood aloof. At the same time the conception is +one that deserves to be considered on its merits. + +It is quite possible that if promoted on a scale vast enough such a +Negro super-government as that proposed could be realized. It is true +that England and France seem to-day to have a firm grip on the continent +of Africa, but the experience of Germany has shown that even the mailèd +fist may lose its strength overnight. With England beset with problems +in Ireland and the West Indies, in India and Egypt, it is easy for the +millions in equatorial Africa to be made to know that even this great +power is not invincible and in time might rest with Nineveh and Tyre. +There are things in Africa that will forever baffle all Europeans, and +no foreign governor will ever know all that is at the back of the black +man's mind. Even now, without the aid of modern science, information +travels in a few hours throughout the length and breadth of the +continent; and those that slept are beginning to be awake and restless. +Let this restlessness increase, let intelligence also increase, let the +natives be aided by their fever, and all the armies of Europe could be +lost in Africa and this ancient mother still rise bloody but unbowed. +The realization of the vision, however, would call for capital on a +scale as vast as that of a modern war or an international industrial +enterprise. At the very outset it would engage England in nothing less +than a death-grapple, especially as regards the shipping on the West +Coast. If ships can not go from Liverpool to Seccondee and Lagos, then +England herself is doomed. The possible contest appalls the imagination. +At the same time the exploiting that now goes on in the world can not go +on forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE NEGRO PROBLEM + + +It is probably clear from our study in the preceding pages that the +history of the Negro people in the United States falls into well defined +periods or epochs. First of all there was the colonial era, extending +from the time of the first coming of Negroes to the English colonies to +that of the Revolutionary War. This divides into two parts, with a line +coming at the year 1705. Before this date the exact status of the Negro +was more or less undefined; the system of servitude was only gradually +passing into the sterner one of slavery; and especially in the middle +colonies there was considerable intermixture of the races. By the year +1705, however, it had become generally established that the Negro was to +be regarded not as a person but as a thing; and the next seventy years +were a time of increasing numbers, but of no racial coherence or +spiritual outlook, only a spasmodic insurrection here and there +indicating the yearning for a better day. With the Revolution there came +a change, and the second period extends from this war to the Civil War. +This also divides into two parts, with a line at the year 1830. In the +years immediately succeeding the Revolution there was put forth +the first effective effort toward racial organization, this being +represented by the work of such men as Richard Allen and Prince Hall; +but, in spite of a new racial consciousness, the great mass of the Negro +people remained in much the same situation as before, the increase in +numbers incident to the invention of the cotton-gin only intensifying +the ultimate problem. About the year 1830, however, the very hatred and +ignominy that began to be visited upon the Negro indicated that at least +he was no longer a thing but a person. Lynching began to grow apace, +burlesque on the stage tended to depreciate and humiliate the race, +and the South became definitely united in its defense of the system of +slavery. On the other hand, the Abolitionists challenged the attitude +that was becoming popular; the Negroes themselves began to be prosperous +and to hold conventions; and Nat Turner's insurrection thrust baldly +before the American people the great moral and economic problem with +which they had to deal. With such divergent opinions, in spite of feeble +attempts at compromise, there could be no peace until the issue of +slavery at least was definitely settled. The third great period extends +from the Civil War to the opening of the Great War in Europe. Like the +others it also falls into two parts, the division coming at the year +1895. The thirty years from 1865 to 1895 may be regarded as an era +in which the race, now emancipated, was mainly under the guidance of +political ideals. Several men went to Congress and popular education +began to be emphasized; but the difficulties of Reconstruction and the +outrages of the KuKlux Klan were succeeded by an enveloping system of +peonage, and by 1890-1895 the pendulum had swung fully backward and in +the South disfranchisement had been arrived at as the concrete solution +of the political phase of the problem. The twenty years from 1895 to +1915 formed a period of unrest and violence, but also of solid economic +and social progress, the dominant influence being the work of Booker T. +Washington. With the world war the Negro people came face to face with +new and vast problems of economic adjustment and passed into an entirely +different period of their racial history in America. + +This is not all, however. The race is not to be regarded simply as +existent unto itself. The most casual glance at any such account as we +have given emphasizes the importance of the Negro in the general history +of the United States. Other races have come, sometimes with great gifts +or in great numbers, but it is upon this one that the country's history +has turned as on a pivot. It is true that it has been despised and +rejected, but more and more it seems destined to give new proof that the +stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. +In the colonial era it was the economic advantage of slavery over +servitude that caused it to displace this institution as a system of +labor. In the preliminary draft of the Declaration of Independence a +noteworthy passage arraigned the king of England for his insistence upon +the slave-trade, but this was later suppressed for reasons of policy. +The war itself revealed clearly the fallacy of the position of the +patriots, who fought for their rights as Englishmen but not for the +fundamental rights of man; and their attitude received formal expression +in the compromises that entered into the Constitution. The expansion of +the Southwest depended on the labor of the Negro, whose history became +inextricably bound up with that of the cotton-gin; and the question or +the excuse of fugitives was the real key to the Seminole Wars. The long +struggle culminating in the Civil War was simply to settle the status of +the Negro in the Republic; and the legislation after the war determined +for a generation the history not only of the South but very largely of +the nation as well. The later disfranchising acts have had overwhelming +importance, the unfair system of national representation controlling the +election of 1916 and thus the attitude of America in the world war. + +This is an astonishing phenomenon--this vast influence of a people +oppressed, proscribed, and scorned. The Negro is so dominant in American +history not only because he tests the real meaning of democracy, not +only because he challenges the conscience of the nation, but also +because he calls in question one's final attitude toward human nature +itself. As we have seen, it is not necessarily the worker, not even +the criminal, who makes the ultimate problem, but the simple Negro of +whatever quality. If this man did not have to work at all, and if his +race did not include a single criminal, in American opinion he would +still raise a question. It is accordingly from the social standpoint +that we must finally consider the problem. Before we can do this we need +to study the race as an actual living factor in American life; and even +before we do that it might be in order to observe the general importance +of the Negro to-day in any discussion of the racial problems of the +world. + + +1. _World Aspect_ + +Any consideration of the Negro Problem in its world aspect at the +present time must necessarily be very largely concerned with Africa as +the center of the Negro population. This in turn directs attention to +the great colonizing powers of Europe, and especially to Great Britain +as the chief of these; and the questions that result are of far-reaching +importance for the whole fabric of modern civilization. No one can +gainsay the tremendous contribution that England has made to the world; +every one must respect a nation that produced Wycliffe and Shakespeare +and Darwin, and that, standing for democratic principles, has so often +stayed the tide of absolutism and anarchy; and it is not without desert +that for three hundred years this country has held the moral leadership +of mankind. It may now not unreasonably be asked, however, if it has not +lost some of its old ideals, and if further insistence upon some of its +policies would not constitute a menace to all that the heart of humanity +holds dear. + +As a preliminary to our discussion let us remark two men by way of +contrast. A little more than seventy years ago a great traveler set +out upon the first of three long journeys through central and southern +Africa. He was a renowned explorer, and yet to him "the end of the +geographical feat was only the beginning of the enterprise." Said Henry +Drummond of him: "Wherever David Livingstone's footsteps are crossed in +Africa the fragrance of his memory seems to remain." On one occasion +a hunter was impaled on the horn of a rhinoceros, and a messenger ran +eight miles for the physician. Although he himself had been wounded for +life by a lion and his friends said that he should not ride at night +through a wood infested with beasts, Livingstone insisted on his +Christian duty to go, only to find that the man had died and to be +obliged to retrace his footsteps. Again and again his party would +have been destroyed if it had not been for his own unbounded tact and +courage, and after his death at Chitambo's village Susi and Chuma +journeyed for nine months and over eight hundred miles to take his body +to the coast. "We work for a glorious future," said he, "which we are +not destined to see--the golden age which has not been, but will yet be. +We are only morning-stars shining in the dark, but the glorious morn +will break, the good time coming yet. For this time we work; may God +accept our imperfect service." + +About the time that Livingstone was passing off the scene another strong +man, one of England's "empire builders," began his famous career. Going +first to South Africa as a young man in quest of health, Cecil Rhodes +soon made a huge fortune out of Kimberley diamonds and Transvaal gold, +and by 1890 had become the Prime Minister of Cape Colony. In the pursuit +of his aims he was absolutely unscrupulous. He refused to recognize any +rights of the Portuguese in Matabeleland and Mashonaland; he drove hard +bargains with the Germans and the French; he defied the Boers; and to +him the native Africans were simply so many tools for the heaping up of +gold. Nobody ever said of him that he left a "fragrant memory" behind +him; but thousands of bruised bodies and broken hearts bore witness to +his policy. According to the ideals of modern England, however, he was +a great man. What the Negro in the last analysis wonders is: Who was +right, Livingstone or Rhodes? And which is the world to choose, Christ +or Mammon? + +There are two fundamental assumptions upon which all so-called Western +civilization is based--that of racial and that of religious superiority. +Sight has been lost of the fact that there is really no such thing as a +superior race, that only individuals are superior one to another, and a +popular English poet has sung of "the white man's burden" and of "lesser +breeds without the law." These two assumptions have accounted for all of +the misunderstanding that has arisen between the West and the East, for +China and Japan, India and Egypt can not see by what divine right men +from the West suppose that they have the only correct ancestry or by +what conceit they presume to have the only true faith. Let them but be +accepted, however, let a nation be led by them as guiding-stars, and +England becomes justified in forcing her system upon India, she finds it +necessary to send missionaries to Japan, and the lion's paw pounces upon +the very islands of the sea. + +The whole world, however, is now rising as never before against any +semblance of selfishness on the part of great powers, and it is more +than ever clear that before there can be any genuine progress toward the +brotherhood of man, or toward comity among nations, one man will have +to give some consideration to the other man's point of view. One people +will have to respect another people's tradition. The Russo-Japanese War +gave men a new vision. The whole world gazed upon a new power in the +East--one that could be dealt with only upon equal terms. Meanwhile +there was unrest in India, and in Africa there were insurrections +of increasing bitterness and fierceness. Africa especially had been +misrepresented. The people were all said to be savages and cannibals, +almost hopelessly degraded. The traders and the politicians knew better. +They knew that there were tribes and tribes in Africa, that many of the +chiefs were upright and wise and proud of their tradition, and that the +land could not be seized any too quickly. Hence they made haste to get +into the game. + +It is increasingly evident also that the real leadership of the world is +a matter not of race, not even of professed religion, but of principle. +Within the last hundred years, as science has flourished and +colonization grown, we have been led astray by materialism. The worship +of the dollar has become a fetish, and the man or the nation that had +the money felt that it was ordained of God to rule the universe. Germany +was led astray by this belief, but it is England, not Germany, that has +most thoroughly mastered the _Art of Colonization_. Crown colonies are +to be operated in the interest of the owners. Jingoism is king. It +matters not that the people in India and Africa, in Hayti and the +Philippines, object to our benevolence; _we_ know what is good for them +and therefore they should be satisfied. + +In Jamaica to-day the poorer people can not get employment; and yet, +rather than accept the supply at hand, the powers of privilege import +"coolie" labor, a still cheaper supply. In Sierra Leone, where certainly +there has been time to see the working of the principle, native young +men crowd about the wharves and seize any chance to earn a penny, simply +because there is no work at hand to do--nothing that would genuinely +nourish independence and self-respect. + +It is not strange that the worship of industrialism, with its attendant +competition, finally brought about the most disastrous war in history +and such a breakdown of all principles of morality as made the whole +world stand aghast. Womanhood was no longer sacred; old ideas of ethics +vanished; Christ himself was crucified again--everything holy and lovely +was given to the grasping demon of Wealth. + +Suddenly men realized that England had lost the moral leadership of the +world. Lured by the ideals of Rhodes, the country that gave to mankind +_Magna Charta_ seemed now bent only on its own aggrandizement and +preservation. Germany's colonies were seized, and anything that +threatened the permanence of the dominant system, especially unrest on +the part of the native African, was throttled. Briton and Boer began +to feel an identity of interest, and especially was it made known that +American Negroes were not wanted. + +Just what the situation is to-day may be illustrated by the simple +matter of foreign missions, the policy of missionary organizations in +both England and America being dictated by the political policy of the +empire. The appointing of Negroes by the great American denominations +for service in Africa has practically ceased, for American Negroes are +not to be admitted to any portion of the continent except Liberia, +which, after all, is a very small part of the whole. For the time being +the little republic seems to receive countenance from the great powers +as a sort of safety-valve through which the aspiration of the Negro +people might spend itself; but it is evident that the present +understanding is purely artificial and can not last. Even the Roman +Empire declined, and Germany lost her hold in Africa overnight. Of +course it may be contended that the British Empire to-day is not +decadent but stronger than ever. At the same time there can be no doubt +that Englishman and Boer alike regard these teeming millions of prolific +black people always with concern and sometimes with dismay. Natives of +the Congo still bear the marks of mutilation, and men in South Africa +chafe under unjust land acts and constant indignities in their daily +life. + +Here rises the question for our own country. To the United States at +last has come that moral leadership--that obligation to do the right +thing--that opportunity to exhibit the highest honor in all affairs +foreign or domestic--that is the ultimate test of greatness. Is America +to view this great problem in Africa sympathetically and find some place +for the groping for freedom of millions of human beings, or is she to be +simply a pawn in the game of English colonization? Is she to abide by +the principles that guided her in 1776, or simply seize her share of +the booty? The Negro either at home or abroad is only one of many +moral problems with which she has to deal. At the close of the war +extravagance reigned, crime was rampant, and against any one of three or +four races there was insidious propaganda. To add to the difficulties, +the government was still so dominated by politics and officialdom that +it was almost always impossible to get things done at the time they +needed to be done. At the same time every patriot knows that America is +truly the hope of the world. Into her civilization and her glory have +entered not one but many races. All go forth against a common enemy; all +should share the duties and the privileges of citizenship. In such +a country the law can know no difference of race or class or creed, +provided all are devoted to the general welfare. Such is the obligation +resting upon the United States--such the challenge of social, economic, +and moral questions such as never before faced the children of men. That +she be worthy of her opportunity all would pray; to the fulfilment of +her destiny all should help. The eyes of the world are upon her; the +scepter of the ages is in her hand. + + +2. _The Negro in American Life_ + +If now we come to the Negro in the United States, it is hardly an +exaggeration to say that no other race in the American body politic, not +even the Anglo-Saxon, has been studied more critically than this one, +and treatment has varied all the way from the celebration of virtues +to the bitterest hostility and malignity. It is clearly fundamentally +necessary to pay some attention to racial characteristics and gifts. +In recent years there has been much discussion from the standpoint +of biology, and special emphasis has been placed on the emotional +temperament of the race. The Negro, however, submits that in the United +States he has not been chiefly responsible for such miscegenation as has +taken place; but he is not content to rest simply upon a _tu quoque_. +He calls attention to the fact that whereas it has been charged that +lynchings find their excuse in rape, it has been shown again and again +that this crime is the excuse for only one-fourth or one-fifth of +the cases of violence. If for the moment we suppose that there is +no question about guilt in a fourth or a fifth of the cases, the +overwhelming fraction that remains indicates that there are other +factors of the highest importance that have to be considered in any +ultimate adjustment of the situation. In every case accordingly the +Negro asks only for a fair trial in court--not too hurried; and he knows +that in many instances a calm study of the facts will reveal nothing +more than fright or hysteria on the part of a woman or even other +circumstances not more incriminating. + +Unfortunately the whole question of the Negro has been beclouded by +misrepresentation as has no other social question before the American +people, and the race asks simply first of all that the tissue of +depreciation raised by prejudice be done away with in order that it may +be judged and estimated for its quality. America can make no charges +against any element of her population while she denies the fundamental +right of citizenships--the protection of the individual person. Too +often mistakes are made, and no man is so humble or so low that he +should be deprived of his life without due process of law. The Negro +undoubtedly has faults. At the same time, in order that his gifts may +receive just consideration, the tradition of burlesque must for the time +being be forgotten. All stories about razors, chickens, and watermelons +must be relegated to the rear; and even the revered and beloved "black +mammy" must receive an affectionate but a long farewell. + +The fact is that the Negro has such a contagious brand of humor that +many people never realize that this plays only on the surface. The real +background of the race is one of tragedy. It is not in current jest but +in the wail of the old melodies that the soul of this people is found. +There is something elemental about the heart of the race, something that +finds its origin in the forest and in the falling of the stars. There is +something grim about it too, something that speaks of the lash, of the +child torn from its mother's bosom, of the dead body swinging at night +by the roadside. The race has suffered, and in its suffering lies its +destiny and its contribution to America; and hereby hangs a tale. + +If we study the real quality of the Negro we shall find that two things +are observable. One is that any distinction so far won by a member of +the race in America has been almost always in some one of the arts; and +the other is that any influence so far exerted by the Negro on American +civilization has been primarily in the field of æsthetics. The reason +is not far to seek, and is to be found in the artistic striving even of +untutored Negroes. The instinct for beauty insists upon an outlet, and +if one can find no better picture he will paste a circus poster or a +flaring advertisement on the wall. Very few homes have not at least a +geranium on the windowsill or a rosebush in the garden. If we look at +the matter conversely we shall find that those things which are most +picturesque make to the Negro the readiest appeal. Red is his favorite +color simply because it is the most pronounced of all colors. The +principle holds in the sphere of religion. In some of our communities +Negroes are known to "get happy" in church. It is, however, seldom a +sermon on the rule of faith or the plan of salvation that awakens such +ecstasy, but rather a vivid portrayal of the beauties of heaven, with +the walls of jasper, the feast of milk and honey, and the angels with +palms in their hands. The appeal is primarily sensuous, and it is hardly +too much to say that the Negro is thrilled not so much by the moral as +by the artistic and pictorial elements in religion. Every member of the +race is an incipient poet, and all are enthralled by music and oratory. + +Illustrations are abundant. We might refer to the oratory of Douglass, +to the poetry of Dunbar, to the picturesque style of DuBois, to the +mysticism of the paintings of Tanner, to the tragic sculpture of Meta +Warrick Fuller, and to a long line of singers and musicians. Even +Booker Washington, most practical of Americans, proves the point, the +distinguishing qualities of his speeches being anecdote and vivid +illustration. It is best, however, to consider members of the race who +were entirely untaught in the schools. On one occasion Harriet Tubman, +famous for her work in the Underground Railroad, was addressing an +audience and describing a great battle in the Civil War. "And then," +said she, "we saw the lightning, and that was the guns; and then we +heard the thunder, and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain +falling, and that was drops of blood falling; and when we came to git in +the craps, it was dead men that we reaped." Two decades after the war +John Jasper, of Richmond, Virginia, astonished the most intelligent +hearers by the power of his imagery. He preached not only that the "sun +do move," but also of "dry bones in the valley," the glories of the New +Jerusalem, and on many similar subjects that have been used by other +preachers, sometimes with hardly less effect, throughout the South. In +his own way Jasper was an artist. He was eminently imaginative; and it +is with this imaginative--this artistic--quality that America has yet to +reckon. + +The importance of the influence has begun to be recognized, and on the +principle that to him that hath shall be given, in increasing measure +the Negro is being blamed for the ills of American life, a ready excuse +being found in the perversion and debasement of Negro music. We have +seen discussions whose reasoning, condensed, was somewhat as follows: +The Negro element is daily becoming more potent in American society; +American society is daily becoming more immoral; therefore at the door +of the Negro may be laid the increase in divorce and all the other +evils of society. The most serious charge brought against the Negro +intellectually is that he has not yet developed the great creative or +organizing mind that points the way of civilization. He most certainly +has not, and in this he is not very unlike all the other people in +America. The whole country is still in only the earlier years of its +striving. While the United States has made great advance in applied +science, she has as yet produced no Shakespeare or Beethoven. If America +has not yet reached her height after three hundred years of striving, +she ought not to be impatient with the Negro after only sixty years +of opportunity. But all signs go to prove the assumption of limited +intellectual ability fundamentally false. Already some of the younger +men of the race have given the highest possible promise. + +If all of this, however, is granted, and if the Negro's exemplification +of the principle of self-help is also recognized, the question still +remains: Just what is the race worth as a constructive factor in +American civilization? Is it finally to be an agency for the upbuilding +of the nation, or simply one of the forces that retard? What is its real +promise in American life? + +In reply to this it might be worth while to consider first of all +the country's industrial life. The South, and very largely the whole +country, depends upon Negro men and women as the stable labor supply in +such occupations as farming, saw-milling, mining, cooking, and washing. +All of this is hard work, and necessary work. In 1910, of 3,178,554 +Negro men at work, 981,922 were listed as farm laborers and 798,509 as +farmers. That is to say, 56 per cent of the whole number were engaged in +raising farm products either on their own account or by way of assisting +somebody else, and the great staples of course were the cotton and corn +of the Southern states. If along with the farmers we take those engaged +in the occupations employing the next greatest numbers of men--those of +the building and hand trades, saw and planing mills, as well as those +of railway firemen and porters, draymen, teamsters, and coal mine +operatives--we shall find a total of 71.2 per cent engaged in such work +as represents the very foundation of American industry. Of the women at +work, 1,047,146, or 52 per cent, were either farm laborers or farmers, +and 28 per cent more were either cooks or washerwomen. In other words, a +total of exactly 80 per cent were engaged in some of the hardest and at +the same time some of the most vital labor in our home and industrial +life. The new emphasis on the Negro as an industrial factor in the +course of the recent war is well known. When immigration ceased, upon +his shoulders very largely fell the task of keeping the country and the +army alive. Since the war closed he has been on the defensive in the +North; but a country that wishes to consider all of the factors that +enter into its gravest social problem could never forget his valiant +service in 1918. Let any one ask, moreover, even the most prejudiced +observer, if he would like to see every Negro in the country out of it, +and he will then decide whether economically the Negro is a liability or +an asset. + +Again, consider the Negro soldier. In all our history there are no pages +more heroic, more pathetic, than those detailing the exploits of black +men. We remember the Negro, three thousand strong, fighting for the +liberties of America when his own race was still held in bondage. We +remember the deeds at Port Hudson, Fort Pillow, and Fort Wagner. We +remember Santiago and San Juan Hill, not only how Negro men went +gallantly to the charge, but how a black regiment faced pestilence that +the ranks of their white comrades might not be decimated. And then +Carrizal. Once more, at an unexpected moment, the heart of the nation +was thrilled by the troopers of the Tenth Cavalry. Once more, despite +Brownsville, the tradition of Fort Wagner was preserved and passed on. +And then came the greatest of all wars. Again was the Negro summoned to +the colors--summoned out of all proportion to his numbers. Others might +desert, but not he; others might be spies or strikers, but not he--not +he in the time of peril. In peace or war, in victory or danger, he has +always been loyal to the Stars and Stripes. + +Not only, however, does the Negro give promise by reason of his economic +worth; not only does he deserve the fullest rights of citizenship on +the basis of his work as a soldier; he brings nothing less than a great +spiritual contribution to civilization in America. His is a race of +enthusiasm, imagination, and spiritual fervor; and after all the doubt +and fear through which it has passed there still rests with it an +abiding faith in God. Around us everywhere are commercialism, politics, +graft--sordidness, selfishness, cynicism. We need hope and love, a new +birth of idealism, a new faith in the unseen. Already the work of some +members of the race has pointed the way to great things in the realm of +conscious art; but above even art soars the great world of the spirit. +This it is that America most sadly needs; this it is that her most +fiercely persecuted children bring to her. + +Obviously now if the Negro, if any race, is to make to America the +contribution of which it is capable, it must be free; and this raises +the whole question of relation to the rest of the body politic. One of +the interesting phenomena of society in America is that the more foreign +elements enter into the "melting pot" and advance in culture, the more +do they cling to their racial identity. Incorporation into American +life, instead of making the Greek or the Pole or the Irishman forget his +native country, makes him all the more jealous of its traditions. The +more a center of any one of these nationalities develops, the more +wealthy and cultured its members become, the more do we find them proud +of the source from which they sprang. The Irishman is now so much an +American that he controls whole wards in our large cities, and sometimes +the cities themselves. All the same he clings more tenaciously than ever +to the celebration of March 17. When an isolated Greek came years ago, +poor and friendless, nobody thought very much about him, and he +effaced himself as much as possible, taking advantage, however, of any +opportunity that offered for self-improvement or economic advance. When +thousands came and the newcomers could take inspiration from those of +their brothers who had preceded them and achieved success, nationality +asserted itself. Larger groups now talked about Venizelos and a greater +Greece; their chests expanded at the thought of Marathon and Plato; and +companies paraded amid applause as they went to fight in the Balkans. In +every case, with increasing intelligence and wealth, race pride asserted +itself. At the same time no one would think of denying to the Greek or +the Irishman or the Italian his full rights as an American citizen. + +It is a paradox indeed, this thing of a race's holding its identity +at the same time that it is supposed to lose this in the larger +civilization. Apply the principle to the Negro. Very soon after the +Civil War, when conditions were chaotic and ignorance was rampant, the +ideals constantly held before the race were those of white people. Some +leaders indeed measured success primarily by the extent to which they +became merged in the white man's life. At the time this was very +natural. A struggling people wished to show that it could be judged by +the standards of the highest civilization within sight, and it did so. +To-day the tide has changed. The race now numbers a few millionaires. In +almost every city there are beautiful homes owned by Negroes. Some men +have reached high attainment in scholarship, and the promise grows +greater and greater in art and science. Accordingly the Negro now loves +his own, cherishes his own, teaches his boys about black heroes, and +honors and glorifies his own black women. Schools and churches and all +sorts of coöperative enterprises testify to the new racial self-respect, +while a genuine Negro drama has begun to flourish. A whole people has +been reborn; a whole race has found its soul. + + +3. _Face to Face_ + +Even when all that has been said is granted, it is still sometimes +maintained that the Negro is the one race that can not and will not +be permitted to enter into the full promise of American life. Other +elements, it is said, even if difficult to assimilate, may gradually be +brought into the body politic, but the Negro is the one element that +may be tolerated but not assimilated, utilized but not welcomed to the +fullness of the country's glory. + +However, the Negro has no reason to be discouraged. If one will but +remember that after all slavery was but an incident and recall the +status of the Negro even in the free states ten years before the Civil +War, he will be able to see a steady line of progress forward. After the +great moral and economic awakening that gave the race its freedom, the +pendulum swung backward, and finally it reached its farthest point of +proscription, of lawlessness, and inhumanity. No obscuring of the vision +for the time being should blind us to the reading of the great movement +of history. + +To-day in the whole question of the Negro problem there are some matters +of pressing and general importance. One that is constantly thrust +forward is that of the Negro criminal. On this the answer is clear. If a +man--Negro or otherwise--is a criminal, he is an enemy of society, and +society demands that he be placed where he will do the least harm. If +execution is necessary, this should take place in private; and in no +case should the criminal be so handled as to corrupt the morals or +arouse the morbid sensibilities of the populace. At the same time simple +patriotism would demand that by uplifting home surroundings, good +schools, and wholesome recreation everything possible be done for Negro +children as for other children of the Republic, so that just as few of +them as possible may graduate into the criminal class. + +Another matter, closely akin to this, is that of the astonishing lust +for torture that more and more is actuating the American people. When in +1835 McIntosh was burned in St. Louis for the murder of an officer, the +American people stood aghast, and Abraham Lincoln, just coming into +local prominence, spoke as if the very foundations of the young republic +had been shaken. After the Civil War, however, horrible lynchings became +frequent; and within the last decade we have seen a Negro boy stabbed in +numberless places while on his way to the stake, we have seen the eyes +of a Negro man burned out with hot irons and pieces of his flesh cut +off, and a Negro woman--whose only offense was a word of protest against +the lynching of her husband--while in the state of advanced pregnancy +hanged head downwards, her clothing burned from her body, and herself so +disemboweled that her unborn babe fell to the ground. We submit that +any citizens who commit such deeds as these are deserving of the most +serious concern of their country; and when they bring their little +children to behold their acts--when baby fingers handle mutilated flesh +and baby eyes behold such pictures as we have suggested--a crime has +been committed against the very name of childhood. Most frequently it +will be found that the men who do these things have had only the most +meager educational advantages, and that generally--but not always--they +live in remote communities, away from centers of enlightenment, so that +their whole course of life is such as to cultivate provincialism. With +not the slightest touch of irony whatever we suggest that these men need +a crusade of education in books and in the fundamental obligations of +citizenship. At present their ignorance, their prejudice, and their lack +of moral sense constitute a national menace. + +It is full time to pause. We have already gone too far. The Negro +problem is only an index to the ills of society in America. In our haste +to get rich or to meet new conditions we are in danger of losing all of +our old standards of conduct, of training, and of morality. Our courts +need to summon a new respect for themselves. The average citizen knows +only this about them, that he wants to keep away from them. So far we +have not been assured of justice. The poor man has not stood an equal +chance with the rich, nor the black with the white. Money has been +freely used, even for the changing of laws if need be; and the +sentencing of a man of means generally means only that he will have a +new trial. The murders in any American city average each year fifteen or +twenty times as many as in an English or French city of the same size. +Our churches need a new baptism; they have lost the faith. The same +principle applies in our home-life, in education, in literature. The +family altar is almost extinct; learning is more easy than sound; and +in literature as in other forms of art any passing fad is able to gain +followers and pose as worthy achievement. All along the line we need +more uprightness--more strength. Even when a man has committed a crime, +he must receive justice in court. Within recent years we have heard too +much about "speedy trials," which are often nothing more than legalized +lynchings. If it has been decreed that a man is to wait for a trial one +week or one year, the mob has nothing to do with the matter, and, if +need be, all the soldiery of the United States must be called forth to +prevent the storming of a jail. Fortunately the last few years have +shown us several sheriffs who had this conception of their duty. + +In the last analysis this may mean that more responsibility and more +force will have to be lodged in the Federal Government. Within recent +years the dignity of the United States has been seriously impaired. +The time seems now to have come when the Government must make a new +assertion of its integrity and its authority. No power in the country +can be stronger than that of the United States of America. + +For the time being, then, this is what we need--a stern adherence to +law. If men will not be good, they must at least be made to behave. No +one will pretend, however, that an adjustment on such a basis is finally +satisfactory. Above the law of the state--above all law of man--is the +law of God. It was given at Sinai thousands of years ago. It received +new meaning at Calvary. To it we must all yet come. The way may be hard, +and in the strife of the present the time may seem far distant; but some +day the Messiah will reign and man to man the world over shall brothers +be "for a' that." + + + + +SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +Unless an adequate volume is to be devoted to the work, any bibliography +of the history of the Negro Problem in the United States must be +selective. No comprehensive work is in existence. Importance attaches to +_Select List of References on the Negro Question_, compiled under the +direction of A.P.C. Griffin, Library of Congress, Washington, 1903; _A +Select Bibliography of the Negro American_, edited by W.E.B. DuBois, +Atlanta, 1905, and _The Negro Problem: a Bibliography_, edited by Vera +Sieg, Free Library Commission, Madison, Wis., 1908; but all such lists +have to be supplemented for more recent years. Compilations on the +Abolition Movement, the early education of the Negro, and the literary +and artistic production of the race are to be found respectively in +Hart's _Slavery and Abolition_, Woodson's _The Education of the Negro +prior to 1861_, and Brawley's _The Negro in Literature and Art_, and the +_Journal of Negro History_ is constantly suggestive of good material. + +The bibliography that follows is confined to the main question. First of +all are given general references, and then follows a list of individual +authors and books. Finally, there are special lists on topics on which +the study in the present work is most intensive. In a few instances +books that are superficial in method or prejudiced in tone have been +mentioned as it has seemed necessary to try to consider all shades of +opinion even if the expression was not always adequate. On the other +hand, not every source mentioned in the footnotes is included, for +sometimes these references are merely incidental; and especially does +this apply in the case of lectures or magazine articles, some of which +were later included in books. Nor is there any reference to works of +fiction. These are frequently important, and books of unusual interest +are sometimes considered in the body of the work; but in such a study as +the present imaginative literature can be hardly more than a secondary +and a debatable source of information. + + + + +SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +I. General References + +(Mainly in Collections, Sets, or Series) + +Statutes at Large, being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia from +the first session of the Legislature, in the year 1619, by William +Waller Hening. Richmond, 1819-20. + +Laws of the State of North Carolina, compiled by Henry Potter, J.L. +Taylor, and Bart. Yancey. Raleigh, 1821. + +The Statutes at Large of South Carolina, edited by Thomas Cooper. +Columbia, 1837. + +The Pro-Slavery Argument (as maintained by the most distinguished +writers of the Southern states). Charleston, 1852. + +Files of such publications as Niles's _Weekly Register_, the _Genius +of Universal Emancipation_, the _Liberator_, and DeBow's _Commercial +Review_, in the period before the Civil War; and of the _Crisis_, +the _Journal of Negro History_, the _Negro Year-Book_, the _Virginia +Magazine of History_, the _Review of Reviews_, the _Literary Digest_, +the _Independent_, the _Outlook_, as well as representative newspapers +North and South and weekly Negro newspapers in later years. + +Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science +(some numbers important for the present work noted below). + +Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law edited by the Faculty of +Political Science of Columbia University (some numbers important for the +present work noted below). + +Atlanta University Studies of Negro Problems (for unusually important +numbers note DuBois, editor, below, also Bigham). + +Occasional Papers of the American Negro Academy (especially note +Cromwell in special list No. 1 below and Grimké in No. 3). + +Census Reports of the United States; also Publications of the Bureau of +Education. + +Annual Reports of the General Education Board, the John F. Slater Fund, +the Jeanes Fund; reports and pamphlets issued by American Missionary +Association, American Baptist Home Mission Society, Freedmen's Aid +Society, etc.; catalogues of representative educational institutions; +and a volume "From Servitude to Service" (the Old South lectures on +representative educational institutions for the Negro), Boston, 1905. + +Pamphlets and reports of National Association for the Advancement of +Colored People, the National Urban League, the Southern Sociological +Congress, the University Commission on Southern Race Questions, Hampton +Conference reports, 1897-1907, and Proceedings of the National Negro +Business League, annual since 1900. + +The American Nation: A History from Original Sources by Associated +Scholars, edited by Albert Bushnell Hart. 27 vols. Harper & Bros., New +York, 1907. (Volumes important for the present work specially noted +below.) + +The Chronicles of America. A Series of Historical Narratives edited +by Allen Johnson. 50 vols. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1918--. +(Volumes important for the present work specially noted below.) + +The South in the Building of the Nation. 12 vols. The Southern +Publication Society. Richmond, Va., 1909. + +Studies in Southern History and Politics. Columbia University Press, New +York, 1914. + +New International and Americana Encyclopedias (especially on such topics +as Africa, the Negro, and Negro Education). + + +II. INDIVIDUAL WORKS + +(Note pamphlets at end of list; also special lists under III below.) + +Adams, Alice Dana: The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery in +America (1808-1831), Radcliffe College Monograph No. 14. +Boston, 1908 (now handled by Harvard University Press). + +Adams, Henry: History of the United States from 1801 to 1817. 9 +vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1889-90. + +Alexander, William T.: History of the Colored Race in America. +Palmetto Publishing Co., New Orleans, 1887. + +Armistead, Wilson: A Tribute for the Negro, being a Vindication +of the Moral, Intellectual, and Religious Capabilities of the Colored +Portion of Mankind, with particular reference to the African +race, illustrated by numerous biographical sketches, facts, +anecdotes, etc., and many superior portraits and engravings. +Manchester, 1848. + +Baker, Ray Stannard: Following the Color Line. Doubleday, Page +& Co., New York, 1908. + +Ballagh, James Curtis: A History of Slavery in Virginia. Johns +Hopkins Studies, extra volume 24. Baltimore, 1902. + + White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia. Johns Hopkins Studies, + Thirteenth Series, Nos. 6 and 7. Baltimore, 1895. + +Bassett, John Spencer: Anti-Slavery Leaders of North Carolina. +Sixth Series, No. 6. Baltimore, 1898. + + Slavery and Servitude in the Colony of North Carolina. Johns Hopkins + Studies, Fourteenth Series, Nos. 4 and 5. Baltimore, 1896. + + Slavery in the State of North Carolina. Johns Hopkins Studies, XIV: + 179; XVII: 323. + +Bigham, John Alvin (editor): Select Discussions of Race Problems, +No. 20, of Atlanta University Publications. Atlanta, 1916. + +Birney, William: James G. Birney and His Times. D. Appleton & +Co., New York, 1890. + +Blake, W.O.: The History of Slavery and the Slave-Trade. Columbus, +O., 1861. + +Blyden, Edward W.: Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race. London, +1887. + +Bogart, Ernest Ludlow: The Economic History of the United States. +Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1918 edition. + +Bourne, Edward Gaylord: Spain in America, 1450-1580. Vol. 3 of +American Nation Series. + +Brackett, Jeffrey Richardson: The Negro in Maryland: A Study of +the Institution of Slavery. Johns Hopkins Studies, extra volume +6. Baltimore, 1889. + +Bradford, Sarah H.: Harriet, the Moses of Her People. New York, +1886. + +Brawley, Benjamin: A Short History of the American Negro. The +Macmillan Co., New York, 1913, revised 1919. + + History of Morehouse College. Atlanta, 1917. + + The Negro in Literature and Art. Duffield & Co., New York, 1918. + + Your Negro Neighbor (in Our National Problems series). The + Macmillan Co., New York, 1918. + + Africa and the War. Duffield & Co., New York, 1918. + + Women of Achievement (written for the Fireside Schools under + the auspices of the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission + Society). Chicago and New York, 1919. + +Brawley, Edward M.: The Negro Baptist Pulpit. American Baptist +Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1890. + +Bruce, Philip Alexander: Economic History of Virginia in the +Seventeenth Century. 2 vols. The Macmillan Co., New York, +1896. + +Cable, George Washington: The Negro Question. Charles Scribner's +Sons, New York, 1890. + +Calhoun, William Patrick: The Caucasian and the Negro in the +United States. R.L. Bryan Co., Columbia, S. C, 1902. + +Chamberlain, D.H.: Present Phases of Our So-Called Negro Problem +(open letter to the Rt. Hon. James Bryce of England), reprinted +from _News and Courier_, Charleston, of August 1, 1904. + +Cheyney, Edward Potts: European Background of American History. +Vol. I of American Nation Series. + +Child, Lydia Maria: An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans +Called Africans. Boston, 1833. + + The Oasis (edited). Boston, 1834. + +Clayton, V.V.: White and Black under the Old Regimé. Milwaukee, +1899. + +Clowes, W. Laird: Black America: A Study of the Ex-Slave and +His Late Master. Cassell & Co., London, 1891. + +Coffin, Joshua: An Account of Some of the Principal Slave Insurrections, +and others, which have occurred, or been attempted, in the +United States and elsewhere, during the last two centuries, +with various remarks. American Anti-Slavery Society, New +York, 1860. + +Collins, Winfield H.: The Domestic Slave Trade of the Southern +States. Broadway Publishing Co., New York, 1904. + +Coman, Katherine: The Industrial History of the United States. +The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918 edition. + + The Negro as a Peasant Farmer. American Statistical Association + Publications, 1904:39. + +Commons, John R.: Races and Immigrants in America. The Macmillan +Co., 1907. + +Coolidge, Archibald Cary: The United States as a World Power. +The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918. + +Cooper, Anna Julia: A Voice from the South, by a black woman +of the South. Xenia, O., 1892. + +Corey, Charles H.: A History of the Richmond Theological Seminary. +Richmond, 1895. + +Cornish, Samuel E., and Wright, T.S.: The Colonization Scheme +Considered in Its Rejection by the Colored People. Newark, +1840. + +Cromwell, John W.: The Negro in American History. The American +Negro Academy, Washington, 1914. + +Culp, Daniel W. (editor): Twentieth Century Negro Literature. +Nichols & Co., Toronto, 1902. + +Cutler, James E.: Lynch Law, an Investigation into the History of +Lynching in the United States. Longmans, Green & Co., New +York, 1905. + +Daniels, John: In Freedom's Birthplace: A Study of the Boston +Negroes. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, 1914. + +Dewey, Davis Rich: National Problems, 1885-1897. Vol. 24 in +American Nation Series. + +Dill, Augustus Granville. See DuBois, editor Atlanta University +Publications. + +Dodd, William E.: The Cotton Kingdom. Vol. 27 of Chronicles of +America. + + Expansion and Conflict. Vol. 3 of Riverside History of the United + States. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915. + +Dow, Lorenzo ("Cosmopolite, a Listener"): A Cry from the Wilderness! +A Voice from the East, A Reply from the West--Trouble in the +North, Exemplifying in the South. Intended as a timely and +solemn warning to the People of the United States. Printed +for the Purchaser and the Public. United States, 1830. + +DuBois, W.E. Burghardt: Suppression of the African Slave-Trade. +Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1896 (now handled by Harvard +University Press). + +DuBois, W.E. Burghardt: The Philadelphia Negro. University of +Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1899. + + The Souls of Black Folk. A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1903. + The Negro in the South (Booker T. Washington, co-author). + + George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907. + + John Brown (in American Crisis Biographies). George W. Jacobs + & Co., Philadelphia, 1909. + + The Negro (in Home University Library Series). Henry Holt & + Co., New York, 1915. + + Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil. Harcourt, Brace & + Co., New York, 1920. + + (Editor Atlanta University Publications). + + The Negro Church, No. 8. + + The Health and Physique of the Negro American, No. II. + + Economic Co-operation among Negro Americans, No. 12. + + The Negro American Family, No. 13. + + Efforts for Social Betterment among Negro Americans, No. 14. + The College-Bred Negro American, No. 15. (A.G. Dill, co-editor.) + + The Negro American Artisan, No. 17. (A.G. Dill, co-editor.) + + Morals and Manners among Negro Americans, No. 18. (A.G. + Dill, co-editor.) + +Dunbar, Alice Ruth Moore: Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence. The +Bookery Publishing Co., New York, 1914. + +Dunbar, Paul Laurence: Complete Poems. Dodd, Mead & Co., New +York, 1913. + +Dunning, William Archibald: Reconstruction, Political and Economic. +Vol. 22 of American Nation Series. + +Earnest, Joseph B., Jr.: The Religious Development of the Negro +in Virginia (Ph.D. thesis, Virginia). Charlottesville, 1914. + +Eckenrode, Hamilton James: The Political History of Virginia +during the Reconstruction. Johns Hopkins Studies. Twenty-second +Series, Nos. 6, 7, and 8. Baltimore, 1904. + +Ellis, George W.: Negro Culture in West Africa. The Neale Publishing +Co., New York, 1914. + +Ellwood, Charles A.: Sociology and Modern Social Problems. American +Book Co., New York, 1910. + +Elwang, William W.: The Negroes of Columbia, Mo. (A.M. thesis, +Missouri), 1904. + +Epstein, Abraham: The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh (in publications +of School of Economics of the University of Pittsburgh). +1918. + +Evans, Maurice S.: Black and White in the Southern States: A +Study of the Race Problem in the United States from a South +African Point of View. Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1915. + +Ferris, William Henry: The African Abroad. 2 vols. New Haven, +1913. + +Fleming, Walter L.: Documentary History of Reconstruction. 2 +vols. Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland, O., 1906. + + The Sequel of Appomattox. Vol. 32 of Chronicles of America. + +Fletcher, Frank H.: Negro Exodus. Report of agent appointed by +the St. Louis Commission to visit Kansas for the purpose of +obtaining information in regard to colored emigration. No +imprint. + +Furman, Richard: Exposition of the Views of the Baptists Relative +to the Colored Population in the United States, in a communication +to the Governor of South Carolina. Second edition, Charleston, +1833. (Letter bears original date December 24, 1822; Furman +was president of State Baptist Convention.) + +Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Garrison, Francis Jackson: William +Lloyd Garrison; Story of His Life Told by His Children. 4 +vols. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1894. + +Garrison, William Lloyd: Thoughts on African Colonization: or +An Impartial Exhibition of the Doctrines, Principles, and Purposes +of the American Colonization Society, together with the +Resolutions, Addresses, and Remonstrances of the Free People +of Color. Boston, 1832. + +Gayarré, Charles E.A.: History of Louisiana. 4 vols. New Orleans, +1885 edition. + +Grady, Henry W.: The New South and Other Addresses, with +biography, etc., by Edna H.L. Turpin. Maynard, Merrill & Co., +New York, 1904. + +Graham, Stephen: The Soul of John Brown. The Macmillan Co., +New York, 1920. + +Hallowell, Richard P.: Why the Negro was Enfranchised--Negro +Suffrage Justified. Boston, 1903. (Reprint of two letters in the +_Boston Herald_, March 11 and 26, 1903.) + +Hammond, Lily Hardy: In Black and White: An Interpretation of +Southern Life. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1914. + +Harris, Norman Dwight: Intervention and Colonization in Africa. +Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914. + +Hart, Albert Bushnell: National Ideals Historically Traced. Vol. +26 in American Nation Series. + + Slavery and Abolition. Vol. 16 in American Nation Series. + + The Southern South. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1910. + +Hartshorn, W.N., and Penniman, George W.: An Era of Progress +and Promise, 1863-1910. The Priscilla Publishing Co., Boston, +1910. + +Haworth, Paul Leland: America in Ferment. Bobbs-Merrill Co., +Indianapolis, 1915. + +Haynes, George E.: The Negro at Work in New York City Vol +49, No. 3, of Columbia Studies, 1912. + +Helper, Hinton Rowan: The Impending Crisis of the South: How +to Meet It. New York, 1857. + +Hickok, Charles T.: The Negro in Ohio, 1802-1870. (Western +Reserve thesis.) Cleveland, 1896. + +Higginson, Thomas Wentworth: Army Life in a Black Regiment +Boston, 1870. (Latest edition, Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1900.) + +Hoffman, Frederick L.: Race Traits and Tendencies of the American +Negro. American Economics Association Publications, XI, +Nos. 1-3, 1896. + +Hodge, Frederick W. (editor): Spanish Explorers in the Southern +United States, 1528-1543 (in Original Narratives of Early American +History), esp. The Narrative of Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca. +Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1907. + +Holland, Edwin C.: A Refutation of the Calumnies circulated +against the Southern and Western States, respecting the institution +and existence of slavery among them; to which is added a minute +and particular account of the actual condition and state of +their Negro Population, together with Historical Notices of +all the Insurrections that have taken place since the settlement +of the country. By a South Carolinian. Charleston, 1822. + +Horsemanden, Daniel (Judge): A Journal of the Proceedings in +the Detection of the Conspiracy Formed by Some White People, +in conjunction with Negro and Other Slaves, for Burning the +City of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants. +New York, 1744. + +Hosmer, James K.: The History of the Louisiana Purchase. D. +Appleton & Co., New York, 1902. + +Hurd, John C.: The Law of Freedom and Bondage. 2 vols. Boston, +1858-1862. + +Jay, William: Inquiry into the Character and Tendency of the American +Colonization and Anti-Slavery Societies. New York, 1835. + +Jefferson, Thomas: Writings, issued under the auspices of the +Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association. 20 vols. Washington, +1903. + +Jervey, Theodore D.: Robert Y. Hayne and His Times. The Macmillan +Co., New York, 1909. + +Johnson, Allen: Union and Democracy. Vol. 2 of Riverside History +of the United States. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915. + +Johnson, James W.: Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (published +anonymously). Sherman, French & Co., Boston, 1912. + + Fifty Years and Other Poems. The Cornhill Co., Boston, 1917. + + Hayti. Four articles reprinted from the _Nation_, New York, 1920. + +Johnston, Sir Harry Hamilton: The Negro in the New World. The +Macmillan Co., New York, 1910. + +Kelsey, Carl: The Negro Farmer (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania). +Jennings & Pye, Chicago, 1903. + +Kemble, Frances A.: Journal of Residence on a Georgia Plantation, +1838-1839. Harper & Bros., 1863. + +Kerlin, Robert T. (editor): The Voice of the Negro, 1919. E.P. +Dutton & Co., New York, 1920. + +Kimball, John C.: Connecticut's Canterbury Tale; Its Heroine Prudence +Crandall, and Its Moral for To-Day. Hartford, Conn. (1886). + +Krehbiel, Henry E.: Afro-American Folk-Songs. G. Schirmer, New +York and London, 1914. + +Lauber, Almon Wheeler: Indian Slavery in Colonial Times within +the Present Limits of the United States. Vol. 54, No. 3, of +Columbia University Studies, 1913. + +Livermore, George: An Historical Research Respecting the Opinions +of the Founders of the Republic on Negroes as Slaves, as +Citizens, and as Soldiers. Boston, 1863. + +Locke, Mary Stoughton: Anti-Slavery in America from the Introduction +of African Slaves to the Prohibition of the Slave-Trade, +1619-1808. Radcliffe College Monograph No. 11. Boston, 1901 +(now handled by Harvard University Press). + +Lonn, Ella: Reconstruction in Louisiana. G.P. Putnam's Sons, +New York, 1919. + +Lugard, Lady (Flora L. Shaw): A Tropical Dependency. James +Nisbet & Co., Ltd., London, 1906. + +Lynch, John R.: The Facts of Reconstruction: The Neale Publishing +Co., New York, 1913. + +McConnell, John Preston: Negroes and Their Treatment in Virginia +from 1865 to 1867 (Ph.D. thesis, Virginia, 1905). Printed by +B.D. Smith & Bros., Pulaski, Va., 1910. + +MacCorkle, William A.: Some Southern Questions. G.P. Putnam's +Sons, New York, 1908. + +McCormac, E.I.: White Servitude in Maryland. Johns Hopkins +Studies, XXII, 119. + +McDougall, Marion Gleason: Fugitive Slaves, 1619-1865. Fay +House (Radcliffe College) Monograph, No. 3. Boston, 1891 +(now handled by Harvard University Press). + +McLaughlin, Andrew Cunningham: The Confederation and the +Constitution, 1783-1789. Vol. 10 in American Nation Series. + +McMaster, John Bach: A History of the People of the United States, +from the Revolution to the Civil War. 8 vols. D. Appleton & +Co., New York, 1883-1913. + +Macy, Jesse: The Anti-Slavery Crusade. Vol. 28 in Chronicles of +America. + +Marsh, J.B.T.: The Story of the Jubilee Singers, with their songs. +Boston, 1880. + +Miller, Kelly: Race Adjustment. The Neale Publishing Co., New +York and Washington, 1908. + + Out of the House of Bondage. The Neale Publishing Co., New + York, 1914. + + Appeal to Conscience (in Our National Problems Series). The + Macmillan Co., New York, 1913. + +Moore, G.H.: Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in +the American Army of the Revolution. New York, 1862. + +Morgan, Thomas J.: Reminiscences of Service with Colored Troops +in the Army of the Cumberland, 1863-65. Providence, 1885. + +Moton, Robert Russa: Finding a Way Out: An Autobiography. +Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1920. + +Murphy, Edgar Gardner: The Basis of Ascendency. Longmans, +Green & Co., London, 1909. + +Murray, Freeman H.M.: Emancipation and the Freed in American +Sculpture. Published by the author, 1733 Seventh St., N.W., +Washington, 1916. + +Odum, Howard W.: Social and Mental Traits of the Negro. Columbia +University Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3. New York, 1910. + +Olmsted, Frederick Law: The Cotton Kingdom. 2 vols. New York, +1861. + + A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States. New York, 1856. + +Page, Thomas Nelson: The Old South. Charles Scribner's Sons, +New York, 1892. + + The Negro: the Southerner's Problem. Charles Scribner's Sons, + New York, 1904. + +Palmer, B.M. (with W.T. Leacock): The Rights of the South +Defended in the Pulpits. Mobile, 1860. + +Penniman, George W. See Hartshorn, W.N. + +Phillips, Ulrich B.: American Negro Slavery. D. Appleton & Co., +New York, 1918. + + Plantation and Frontier. Vols. I and II of Documentary History + of American Industrial Society. Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland, + 1910. + +Pike, G.D.: The Jubilee Singers and Their Campaign for $20,000. +Boston, 1873. + +Pike, J.S.: The Prostrate State: South Carolina under Negro Government. +New York, 1874. + +Pipkin, James Jefferson: The Negro in Revelation, in History, and +in Citizenship. N.D. Thompson Publishing Co., St. Louis, 1902. + +Platt, O.H.: Negro Governors. Papers of the New Haven Colony +Historical Society, Vol. 6. New Haven, 1900. + +Reese, David M.: A Brief Review of the First Annual Report of +the American Anti-Slavery Society. New York, 1834. + +Rhodes, James Ford: History of the United States from the Compromise +of 1850 (1850-1877 and 1877-1896). 8 vols. The Macmillan +Co., New York, 1893-1919. + +Roman, Charles Victor: American Civilization and the Negro. F.A. +Davis Co., Philadelphia, 1916. + +Russell, John H.: The Free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865. Johns +Hopkins Studies, Series XXXI, No. 3. Baltimore, 1913. + +Sandburg, Carl: The Chicago Race Riots, July, 1919. Harcourt, +Brace & Howe, New York, 1919. + +Schurz, Carl: Speeches, Correspondence, and Political Papers, selected +and edited by Frederic Bancroft. 6 vols. G.P. Putnam's Sons, +New York and London, 1913. + +Scott, Emmett J.: Negro Migration during the War (in Preliminary +Economic Studies of the War--Carnegie Endowment for International +Peace: Division of Economics and History). Oxford University +Press, American Branch. New York, 1920. + + Official History of the American Negro in the World War. Washington, + 1919. + +Seligman, Herbert J.: The Negro Faces America. Harper Bros., +New York, 1920. + +Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate: The Neighbor: the Natural History +of Human Contacts. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1904. + +Siebert, Wilbur H.: The Underground Railroad from Slavery to +Freedom. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1898. + +Sinclair, William A.: The Aftermath of Slavery. Small, Maynard +& Co., Boston, 1905. + +Smith, Justin H.: The War with Mexico. 2 vols. The Macmillan +Co., New York, 1919. + +Smith, Theodore Clarke: Parties and Slavery. Vol. 18 of American +Nation Series. + +Smith, T.W.: The Slave in Canada. Vol. 10 in Collections of the +Nova Scotia Historical Society. Halifax, N.S., 1889. + +Stephenson, Gilbert Thomas: Race Distinctions in American Law. +D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1910. + +Steward, T.G.: The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804. Thomas Y. +Crowell Co., New York, 1914. + +Stoddard, Lothrop: The Rising Tide of Color against White World-Supremacy, +with an Introduction by Madison Grant. Charles Scribner's Sons. +New York, 1920. + +Stone, Alfred H.: Studies in the American Race Problem. Doubleday, +Page & Co., New York, 1908. + +Storey, Moorfield: The Negro Question. An Address delivered +before the Wisconsin Bar Association. Boston, 1918. Problems +of To-Day. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1920. + +Thompson, Holland: The New South. Vol. 42 in Chronicles of +America. + +Tillinghast, Joseph Alexander: The Negro in Africa and America. +Publications of American Economics Association, Series 3 Vol 3, +No. 2. New York, 1902. + +Toombs, Robert: Speech on The Crisis, delivered before the Georgia +Legislature, Dec. 7, 1860. Washington, 1860. + +Tucker, St. George: A Dissertation on Slavery, with a Proposal for +the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of Virginia. Philadelphia, +1796. + +Turner, Frederick Jackson: The Rise of the New West. Vol. 14 +in American Nation Series. + +Turner, Edward Raymond: The Negro in Pennsylvania, 1639-1861 +(Justin Winsor Prize of American Historical Association, 1910). +Washington, 1911. + +Washington, Booker T.: The Future of the American Negro. Small, +Maynard & Co., Boston, 1899. + + The Story of My Life and Work. Nichols & Co., Naperville, Ill., + 1900. + + Up from Slavery: An Autobiography. Doubleday, Page & Co., + New York, 1901. + + Character Building. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1902. + + Working with the Hands. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, + 1904. + + Putting the Most into Life. Crowell & Co., New York, 1906. + + Frederick Douglass (in American Crisis Biographies). George W. + Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1906. + + The Negro in the South (with W.E.B. DuBois). George W. + Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907. + + The Negro in Business. Hertel, Jenkins & Co., Chicago, 1907. + + The Story of the Negro. 2 vols. Doubleday, Page & Co., New + York, 1909. + + My Larger Education. Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., + 1911. + + The Man Farthest Down (with Robert Emory Park). Doubleday, + Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1912. + +Weale, B.L. Putnam: The Conflict of Color. The Macmillan Co., +New York, 1910. + +Weatherford, W.D.: Present Forces in Negro Progress. Association +Press, New York, 1912. + +Weld, Theodore Dwight: American Slavery as It Is: Testimony +of a Thousand Witnesses. Published by the American Anti-Slavery +Society, New York, 1839. + +Wiener, Leo: Africa and the Discovery of America, Vol. I. Innes +& Sons, Philadelphia, 1920. + +Williams, George Washington: History of the Negro Race in America +from 1619 to 1880. 2 vols. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, +1883. + +Wise, John S.: The End of an Era. Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1899. +Woodson, Carter G.: The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861. +G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1915. + + A Century of Negro Migration. Association for the Study of + Negro Life and History, Washington, 1918. + +Woolf, Leonard: Empire and Commerce in Africa: A Study in +Economic Imperialism. London, 1920. The Macmillan Co., New +York. + +Wright, Richard R.: Negro Companions of the Spanish Explorers. +(Reprinted from the _American Anthropologist_, Vol. 4, April-June, +1902.) + +Wright, Richard R., Jr.: The Negro in Pennsylvania: A Study in +Economic History. (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania.) A.M.E. Book +Concern, Philadelphia. + +Wright, T.S. See Cornish, Samuel E. + +Zabriskie, Luther K.: The Virgin Islands of the United States of +America. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1918. + + * * * * * + +An Address to the People of the United States, adopted at a Conference +of Colored Citizens, held at Columbia, S.C., July 20 and +21, 1876. Republican Printing Co., Columbia, S.C., 1876. + +Paper (letter published in a Washington paper) submitted in connection +with the Debate in the United States House of Representatives, +July 15th and 18th, 1776, on the Massacre of Six Colored Citizens +at Hamburg, S.C., July 4, 1876. + +Proceedings of the National Conference of Colored Men of the +United States, held in the State Capitol at Nashville, Tenn., May +6, 7, 8, and 9, 1879. Washington, D.C., 1879. + +Story of the Riot. Persecution of Negroes by roughs and policemen +in the City of New York, August, 1900. Statement and Proofs +written and compiled by Frank Moss and issued by the Citizens' +Protective League. New York, 1900. + +The Voice of the Carpet Bagger. Reconstruction Review No. 1, published +by the Anti-Lynching Bureau. Chicago, 1901. + + +III. Special Lists + +1. On Chapter II, Section 3; Chapter III, Section 5; Chapter +VIII and Chapter XI, the general topic being the social +progress of the Negro before 1860. Titles are mainly in +the order of appearance of works. + +Mather, Cotton: Rules for the Society of Negroes, 1693. Reprinted +by George H. Moore, Lenox Library, New York, 1888. + + The Negro Christianized. An Essay to excite and assist that good + work, the instruction of Negro-servants in Christianity. Boston, + 1706. + +Allen, Richard. The Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. +Rev. Richard Allen, written by himself. Philadelphia, 1793. + +Hall, Prince. A Charge delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, +1797, at Menotomy, by the Right Worshipful Prince Hall. (Boston) +1797. + +To the Free Africans and Other Free People of Color in the United +States. (Broadside) Philadelphia, 1797. + +Walker, David: Appeal, in four articles, together with a Preamble +to the Colored Citizens of the World. Boston, 1829. + +Garrison, William Lloyd: An Address delivered before the Free +People of Color in Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, +during the month of June, 1831. Boston, 1831. + + Thoughts on African Colonization (see list above). + +Minutes and Proceedings of the First Annual Convention of the +People of Color, held by adjournments in the City of Philadelphia, +from the sixth to the eleventh of June, inclusive, 1831. +Philadelphia, 1831. + +College for Colored Youth. An Account of the New Haven City +Meeting and Resolutions with Recommendations of the College, +and Strictures upon the Doings of New Haven. New York, 1831. + +On the Condition of the Free People of Color in the United States. +New York, 1839. (_The Anti-Slavery Examiner_, No. 13.) + +Condition of the People of Color in the State of Ohio, with interesting +anecdotes. Boston, 1839. + +Armistead, Wilson: Memoir of Paul Cuffe. London, 1840. + +Wilson, Joseph: Sketches of the Higher Classes of Colored Society +in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1841. + +National Convention of Colored Men and Their Friends. Troy, +N.Y., 1847. + +Garnet, Henry Highland: The Past and Present Condition and the +Destiny of the Colored Race. Troy, 1848. + +Delany, Martin R.: The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny +of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered. +Philadelphia, 1852. + +Cincinnati Convention of Colored Freedmen of Ohio. Proceedings, +Jan. 14-19, 1852. Cincinnati, 1852. + +Proceedings of the Colored National Convention, held in Rochester, +July 6, 7, and 8, 1853. Rochester, 1853. + +Cleveland National Emigration Convention of Colored People. Proceedings, +Aug. 22-24, 1854. Pittsburg, 1854. + +Nell, William C.: The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, +with sketches of several Distinguished Colored Persons: to which +is added a brief survey of the Condition and Prospects of Colored +Americans, with an Introduction by Harriet Beecher Stowe. +Boston, 1855. + +Stevens, Charles E.: Anthony Burns, a History. Boston, 1856. + +Catto, William T.: A Semi-Centenary Discourse, delivered in the +First African Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, with a History +of the church from its first organization, including a brief notice +of Rev. John Gloucester, its first pastor. Philadelphia, 1857. + +Bacon, Benjamin C.: Statistics of the Colored People of Philadelphia. +Philadelphia, 1856. Second edition, with statistics of crime, +Philadelphia, 1857. + +Condition of the Free Colored People of the United States, by James +Freeman Clarke, in _Christian Examiner_, March, 1859, 246-265. +Reprinted as pamphlet by American Anti-Slavery Society, New +York, 1859. + +Brown, William Wells: Clotel, or The President's Daughter (a narrative +of slave life in the United States). London, 1853. + + The Escape; or A Leap for Freedom, a Drama in five acts. Boston, + 1858. + + The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements. + New York, 1863. + + The Rising Son; or The Antecedents and Advancement of the + Colored Race. Boston, 1874. + +To Thomas J. Gantt, Esq. (Broadside), Charleston, 1861. + +Douglass, William: Annals of St. Thomas's First African Church. +Philadelphia, 1862. + +Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men, held in the city +of Syracuse, N.Y., October 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1864, with the Bill of Wrongs +and Rights and the Address to the American People. Boston, 1864. + +The Budget, containing the Annual Reports of the General Officers of the +African M.E. Church of the United States of America, edited by Benjamin +W. Arnett. Xenia, O., 1881. Same for later years. + +Simms, James M.: The First Colored Baptist Church in North America. +Printed by J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1888. + +Upton, William H.: Negro Masonry, being a Critical Examination of +objections to the legitimacy of the Masonry existing among the Negroes +of America. Cambridge, 1899; second edition, 1902. + +Brooks, Charles H.: The Official History and Manual of the Grand United +Order of Odd Fellows in America. Philadelphia, 1902. + +Cromwell, John W.: The Early Convention Movement. Occasional Paper No. 9 +of American Negro Academy, Washington, D.C., 1904. + +Brooks, Walter H.: The Silver Bluff Church, Washington, 1910. + +Crawford, George W.: Prince Hall and His Followers. New Haven, 1915. + +Wright, Richard R., Jr. (Editor-in-Chief): Centennial Encyclopædia +of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A.M.E. Book Concern, +Philadelphia, 1916. + +Also note narratives or autobiographies of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner +Truth, Samuel Ringgold Ward, Solomon Northrup, Lunsford Lane, etc.; the +poems of Phillis Wheatley (first edition, London, 1773), and George M. +Horton; Williams's History for study of some more prominent characters; +Woodson's bibliography for the special subject of education; and +periodical literature, especially the articles remarked in Chapter XI in +connection with the free people of color in Louisiana. + + +2. On Chapter V (Indian and Negro) + +A standard work on the Second Seminole War is The Origin, Progress, and +Conclusion of the Florida War, by John T. Sprague, D. Appleton & Co., +New York, 1848; but also important as touching upon the topics of the +chapter are The Exiles of Florida, by Joshua R. Giddings, Columbus, +Ohio, 1858, and a speech by Giddings in the House of Representatives +February 9, 1841. Note also House Document No. 128 of the 1st session +of the 20th Congress, and Document 327 of the 2nd session of the 25th +Congress. The Aboriginal Races of North America, by Samuel G. Drake, +fifteenth edition, New York, 1880, is interesting and suggestive though +formless; and McMaster in different chapters gives careful brief +accounts of the general course of the Indian wars. + + +3. On Chapter VII (Insurrections) + +(For insurrections before that of Denmark Vesey note especially Coffin, +Holland, and Horsemanden above. On Gabriel's Insurrection see article by +Higginson (_Atlantic_, X. 337), afterwards included in Travellers and +Outlaws.) + +Denmark Vesey + +1. An Official Report of the Trials of Sundry Negroes, charged with an +attempt to raise an Insurrection in the State of South Carolina. By +Lionel H. Kennedy and Thomas Parker (members of the Charleston Bar and +the Presiding Magistrates of the Court). Charleston, 1822. + +2. An Account of the Late Intended Insurrection among a Portion of the +Black of this City. Published by the Authority of the Corporation of +Charleston. Charleston, 1822 (reprinted Boston, 1822, and again in +Boston and Charleston). + +The above accounts, now exceedingly rare, are the real sources of all +later study of Vesey's insurrection. The two accounts are sometimes +identical; thus the list of those executed or banished is the same. The +first has a good introduction. The second was written by James Hamilton, +Intendant of Charleston. + +3. Letter of Governor William Bennett, dated August 10, 1822. (This was +evidently a circular letter to the press. References are to Lundy's +_Genius of Universal Emancipation_, II, 42, Ninth month, 1822, and there +are reviews in the following issues, pages 81, 131, and 142. Higginson +notes letter as also in _Columbian Sentinel_, August 31, 1822; +_Connecticut Courant_, September 3, 1822; and _Worcester Spy_, September +18, 1822.) + +Three secondary accounts in later years are important: + +1. Article on Denmark Vesey by Higginson (_Atlantic_, VII. 728) included +in Travellers and Outlaws: Episodes in American History. Lee and +Shepard, Boston, 1889. + +2. Right on the Scaffold, or the Martyrs of 1822, by Archibald H. +Grimké. No. 7 of the Papers of the American Negro Academy, Washington. + +3. Book I, Chapter XII, "Denmark Vesey's Insurrection," in Robert Y. +Hayne and His Times, by Theodore D. Jervey, The Macmillan Co., New York, +1909. + +Various pamphlets were written immediately after the insurrection not so +much to give detailed accounts as to discuss the general problem of the +Negro and the reaction of the white citizens of Charleston to the event. +Of these we may note the following: + +1. Holland, Edwin C.: A Refutation of the Calumnies Circulated against +the Southern and Western States. (See main list above.) + +2. Achates (General Thomas Pinckney): Reflections Occasioned by the Late +Disturbances in Charleston. Charleston, 1822. + +3. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the Views of the Baptists +Relative to the Colored Population in the United States. (See main list +above.) + +4. Practical Considerations Founded on the Scriptures Relative to the +Slave Population of South Carolina. By a South Carolinian. Charleston, +1823. + +Nat Turner + +1. The Confessions of Nat Turner, Leader of the Late Insurrection in +Southampton, Va., as fully and voluntarily made to Thos. C. Gray, in the +prison where he was confined--and acknowledged by him to be such, when +read before the court at Southampton, convened at Jerusalem November 5, +1831, for his trial. (This is the main source. Thousands of copies of +the pamphlet are said to have been circulated, but it is now exceedingly +rare. Neither the Congressional Library nor the Boston Public has a +copy, and Cromwell notes that there is not even one in the State Library +in Richmond. The copy used by the author is in the library of Harvard +University.) + +2. Horrid Massacre. Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical +Scene which was witnessed in Southampton County (Virginia) on Monday the +22nd of August last. New York, 1831. (This gives a table of victims and +has the advantage of nearness to the event. This very nearness, however, +has given credence to much hearsay and accounted for several instances +of inaccuracy.) + +To the above may be added the periodicals of the day, such as the +Richmond _Enquirer_ and the _Liberator_; note _Genius of Universal +Emancipation_, September, 1831. Secondary accounts or studies would +include the following: + +1. Nat Turner's Insurrection, exhaustive article by Higginson +(_Atlantic_, VIII. 173) later included in Travellers and Outlaws. + +2. Drewry, William Sidney: Slave Insurrections in Virginia (1830-1865). +A Dissertation presented to the Board of University Studies of the Johns +Hopkins University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The Neale +Company, Washington, 1900. (Unfortunately marred by a partisan tone.) + +3. The Aftermath of Nat Turner's Insurrection, by John W. Cromwell, in +_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1920. + +_Amistad and Creole_ Cases + +1. Argument of John Quincy Adams before the Supreme Court of the United +States, in the case of the United States, Apellants, vs. Cinque, and +others, Africans, captured in the Schooner _Amistad_, by Lieut. Gedney, +delivered on the 24th of February and 1st of March, 1841. New York, +1841. + +2. Africans Taken in the _Amistad_. Document No. 185 of the 1st session +of the 26th Congress, containing the correspondence in relation to the +captured Africans. (Reprinted by Anti-Slavery Depository, New York, +1840.) + +3. Senate Document 51 of the 2nd session of the 27th Congress. + +4. On Chapter IX (Liberia) + +Much has been written about Liberia, but the books and pamphlets have +been very uneven in quality. Original sources include the reports of +the American Colonization Society to 1825; _The African Repository_, +a compendium issued sometimes monthly, sometimes quarterly, by the +American Colonization Society from 1825 to 1892, and succeeded by the +periodical known as _Liberia_; the reports of the different state +organizations; J. Ashmun's History of the American Colony in Liberia +from December, 1821 to 1823, compiled from the authentic records of the +colony, Washington, 1826; Ralph Randolph Gurley's Life of Jehudi Ashmun, +Washington, 1835, second edition, New York, 1839; Gurley's report +on Liberia (a United States state paper), Washington, 1850; and the +Memorial of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the American Colonization +Society, celebrated at Washington, January 15, 1867, with documents +concerning Liberia, Washington, 1867; to all of which might be added +Journal of Daniel Coker, a descendant of Africa, from the time of +leaving New York, in the ship _Elisabeth_, Capt. Sebor, on a voyage for +Sherbro, in Africa, Baltimore, 1820. J.H.B. Latrobe, a president of the +American Colonization Society, is prominent in the Memorial volume of +1867, and after this date are credited to him Liberia: its Origin, +Rise, Progress, and Results, an address delivered before the American +Colonization Society, January 20, 1880, Washington, 1880, and Maryland +in Liberia, Baltimore, 1885. An early and interesting compilation is +G.S. Stockwell's The Republic of Liberia: Its Geography, Climate, Soil, +and Productions, with a history of its early settlement, New York, 1868; +a good handbook is Frederick Starr's Liberia, Chicago, 1913; mention +might also be made of T. McCants Stewart's Liberia, New York, 1886; and +George W. Ellis's Negro Culture in West Africa, Neale Publishing Co., +New York, 1914, is outstanding in its special field. Two Johns Hopkins +theses have been written: John H.T. McPherson's History of Liberia +(Studies, IX, No. 10), 1891, and E.L. Fox's The American Colonization +Society 1817-1840 (Studies, XXXVII, 9-226), 1919; the first of these is +brief and clearcut and especially valuable for its study of the Maryland +colony. Magazine articles of unusual importance are George W. Ellis's +Dynamic Factors in the Liberian Situation and Emmett J. Scott's Is +Liberia Worth Saving? both in _Journal of Race Development_, January, +1911. Of English or continental works outstanding is the monumental but +not altogether unimpeachable Liberia, by Sir Harry H. Johnston, with an +appendix on the Flora of Liberia by Dr. Otto Stapf, 2 vols., Hutchinson +& Co., London, 1906; while with a strong English bias and incomplete and +unsatisfactory as a general treatise is R.C.F. Maughan's The Republic of +Liberia, London (1920?), Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Mention must +also be made of the following publications by residents of Liberia: The +Negro Republic on West Africa, by Abayomi Wilfrid Karnga, Monrovia, +1909; New National Fourth Reader, edited by Julius C. Stevens, Monrovia, +1903; Liberia and Her Educational Problems, by Walter F. Walker, an +address delivered before the Chicago Historical Society, October +23, 1916; and Catalogue of Liberia College for 1916, and Historical +Register, printed at the Riverdale Press, Brookline, Mass., 1919; while +Edward Wilmot Blyden's Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race is +representative of the best of the more philosophical dissertations. + +Abbeville, S.C. +Aberdeen, Lord +Abolition, Abolitionists +Abraham, Negro interpreter +Abyssinia +Adams, Doc +Adams, Henry +Adams, John +Adams, John Quincy +Africa +African Methodist Episcopal Church, and schools +African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and schools +_Age, The New York_ +Aguinaldo +Akron, Ohio +Alabama +Aldridge, Ira +Allen, Richard +Alton, Ill. +Ambrister, Robert +Amendments to Constitution of United States +American Anti-Slavery Society +American Baptist Home Mission Society +American Baptist Publication Society +American Bar Association +American Colonization Society +American Convention of Abolition Societies +American Federation of Labor +American Giants +American Missionary Association +Amistad Case +Anderson, Benjamin +Andrew, John O. +Andrew, William +Anthony, Susan B. +Anti-Slavery societies +_Appeal_, David Walker's +Arbuthnot, Alexander +Arkansas +Arkwright, Richard +Armstrong, Samuel C. +Asbury, Bishop +Ashley, Lord +Ashmun, Jehudi +Assiento Contract +Atlanta, Ga. +Atlanta Compromise +Atlanta Massacre +Atlanta University +Attaway, A.T. +Attucks, Crispus +Augusta, Ga. +Ayres, Eli + +Bacon, Ephraim +Bacon, John F. +Bacon, Samuel +Baker, F.B. +Balboa +Baltimore +Banbaras +Bankson, John +Banneker, Benjamin +Baptists, churches and schools +Baptist Young People s Union +Barbadoes +Barbour, Capt. +Barbour, Dan +Barclay, Arthur +Barlow, Joel +Bassa Trading Association +Bassa tribe +Bassett, Ebenezer +Batson, Flora +Baxter, Richard +Beecher, Henry Ward +Behn, Aphra +Belleau Wood +Benedict College +Benefit societies +Benezet, Anthony +Bennett, Batteau +Bennett, Gov., of South Carolina +Bennett, Ned +Bennett, Rolla +Benson, Stephen Allen +Berea College +Bethel Church, A.M.E., of Philadelphia +Birmingham, Ala. +Birney, James G. +"Birth of a Nation" +Bishop College +Black Codes +Black Star Line +Blacksmith, Ben +Blackwood, Jesse +Blair, Henry +Blanco, Pedro +Bleckley, L.E. +Blunt, John +Blyden, Edward Wilmot +Boatswain, African chief +Bogalusa, La. +Boston, Mass. +Boston Massacre +Boston, Samuel +Bouey, H.N. +Bourne, E.G. +Bowers, John +Bowler, Jack +Boyd, Henry +Brooks, Preston S. +Brooks County, Ga. +Brough, Charles H. +Brown, Bishop, of Arkansas +Brown, John +Brown, William +Brown, William Wells +Browning, Elizabeth Barrett +Brownsville, Texas +Bruce, Blanche K. +Bryan, Andrew +Bryce, James +Buchanan, Thomas H. +Bull, Gov., of South Carolina +Bullock, M.W. +Burgess, Ebenezer +Burleigh, Harry T. +Burning of Negroes +Burns, Anthony +Burnside, Gen. +Burton, Belfast +Burton, Mary +Business, Negro +Butler, B.F., District Attorney in New York +Butler, B.F., Gen. +Butler, M.C. +Butler, Sol +Buttrick, Wallace +Buzi tribe +Byron, Lord + +Cable, George W. +Cadell, Major +Cæsar, in New York +Calderon, Spanish minister +Caldwell, Elias B. +Calhoun, John C. +Calvert, George, Lord Baltimore +Camp Dodge +Camp Grant +Camphor, A.P. +Canaan, N.H., school at +Canada +Canning, George +Cape Palmas +Cardozo, F.L. +Carmantee tribe +Carney, William H. +Carranza, Andrés Dorantes de +Carrizal +Cartledge, Lewis +Cary, Lott +Cass, Lewis +Cassell, Nathaniel H.B. +Catholics +Cato, insurrectionist +Cato, Will +Chain-gang +_Challenge Magazine_ +Chamberlain, Gov., of South Carolina +Champion, James +Channing, William Ellery +Charles V +Charles, Robert +Charleston, S.C. +Château Thierry +Chavis, John +Cheeseman, Joseph James +Cherokees +Chesnutt, Charles W. +Chester, Penn. +Chicago riot +Chickasaws +Child, Lydia Maria +China +Choctaws, +Christianity +_Christian Recorder_ +Chuma +Cincinnati +Cinque, Joseph +Civil Rights +Civil War +Claflin University +_Clansman, The_ +Clark, Andrew +Clark, Major +Clark University +Clarkson, Matthew +Clarkson, Quamoney +Clarkson, Thomas +Clay, Henry +Cleveland, Grover +Cleveland, Ohio +Clinch, Duncan L. +Clinton, Sir Henry +Coatesville, Penn. +Cockburn, Sir Francis +Coker, Daniel +Cole and Johnson Company +Cole, James +Coleman, William D. +Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel +College graduates +College of West Africa +Colonization +Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, and schools +Compromise of 1850 +Congregationalists +Connecticut +Constitution of the United States +Continental Congress +Conventions +Convict Lease system. _See_ Peonage. +Cook, James +Cook, O.F. +Coot, insurrectionist +Cope, Thomas P. +Cordovell, of New Orleans +Corey, C.H. +"Corkscrew" lynching +Cornish, Samuel E. +Cotton-gin +Cowagee, John +Cowley, Robert +Cowper, William +Cox, Minnie +Coybet, Gen. +Cranchell, Cæsar +Crandall, Prudence +Cravath, E.M. +Crawford, Anthony +Crawford, William +Creeks +Creole Case +Criminal, Negro +_Crisis, The_ +Crompton, Samuel +Cross Keys, Va. +Crozer, Samuel A. +Crucifixion +Crum, William D. +Crummell, Alexander +Cuba +Cuffe, Paul +Cuffe, Peter +Cuffee, in New York +Curry, J.L.M. +Curtis, Justice +Cutler, Manasseh + +Dade, Major +Darien, Ga. +_Darkwater_ +Davis, Benjamin O. +Declaration of Independence +Declaration of Independence (Liberian) +_Defender, The_ +De Grasse, John V. +Delany, Martin R. +Delaware +Democrats +Denmark +Dennison, Franklin A. +Derham, James +Dew, T.R. +Deys, in Africa +Dickens, Charles +Dillard, James H. +Disfranchisement +Dismond, Binga +District of Columbia +Dixie Kid +Dixon, George +Dixon, Thomas +Dorsey, Hugh M. +Dossen, J.J. +Douglas, Stephen A. +Douglass, Frederick +Douglass, Robert +Dow, Lorenzo +Dowdy, Jim +Draft Riot in New York +Drake, Francis +Drayton, Congressman from South Carolina +Dred Scott Decision +Drew, Howard P. +"Dreyfus," poem by Edwin Markham +DuBois, W.E. Burghardt +Dugro, Justice P.H. +Dunbar, Charles B. +Dunbar, Paul L. +Dunbar Theater, in Philadelphia +Duncan, Otis B. +Duncan, William +Dunmore, Lord +Dunning, W.A. +Durham, Clayton +Duties on importation of slaves +Duval, William P. +Dwight, Gen. +Dyersburg, Tenn. + +Early County, Ga. +East St. Louis +Eaton, John, Comm. of Education +Eaton, John H., Secretary of War +Econchattimico +Education +Egypt +Elaine, Ark. +El Caney +Eliot, John +Elizabeth, Queen +Elliott, Robert B. +Emancipation +Emathla, Charley +Emathlochee +Emerson, Dr. +_Empire and Commerce in Africa_ +England (or Great Britain) +Episcopalians +Erie Railroad +Estevanico +Estill Springs, Tenn. +Etheridge, at Phoenix, S.C. +Ethiopians +Evans, Lewis +Everett, Alexander H. +Everett, Edward +Exodus, Negro. _See also_ Migration. + +Faber, F.W. +Factories, slave +Falkner, Roland P. +Federalists +Ferguson, Frank +Ferguson, Samuel D. +Fernandina, Fla. +Finley, I.F.C. +Finley, Robert +First African Baptist Church, in Savannah +First Bryan Baptist Church, in Savannah +Fish War +Fisk Jubilee Singers +Fisk University +Fleet, Dr. +Fleming, W.L. +Florida +F.M.C.'s +Foraker, J.B. +Forrester, Lot +Forsyth, John +Fort Brooke +Fort Gibson, Ark. +Fort Jackson, treaty of +Fort King +Fort Mims +Fort Moultrie (near St. Augustine), treaty of +Fort Moultrie (near Charleston) +Fort Pillow +Fort Sam Houston +Fort Wagner +Forten, James +Fortress Monroe +Foster, Theodore +Fowltown +France +Francis, Sam +Francis, Will +Franklin, Benjamin +Free African Society +Freedmen's Aid Society +Freedmen's Bank +Freedmen's Bureau +_Freedom's Journal_ +Freeman, Cato +Free Negroes +Free-Soil Party +Fremont, John C. +Friends, Society of. _See_ Quakers. +Frissell, Hollis B. +Fugitive Slave Laws +Fuller, Meta Warrick +Furman, Richard + +Gabriel, insurrectionist +Gadsden, James +Gage, Frances D. +Gailliard, Nicholas +Gaines, Gen. +Galilean Fishermen +Galveston +Gans, Joe +Gardiner, Anthony W. +Garlington, E.A. +Garnett, H.H. +Garrison, William Lloyd +Garvey, Marcus +Gatumba, Chief +Geaween, John +Gell, Monday +General Education Board +Georgia +_Georgia Baptist_ +Georgia Railroad labor trouble +Georgia, University of +Germans, Germany +Germantown protest +Gibbes, Gov., of South Carolina +Gibson, Garretson W. +Giddings, Joshua R. +Gildersleeve, Basil L. +Giles, Harriet E. +Giles, Jackson W. +Gilmer, Congressman, of Georgia +Gleaves, R.H. +Gloucester, John +Gola tribe +Gold Coast +Gonzales +Goodspeed, Dr., of Benedict College +Gorden, Robert +Gordon, Midshipman +Gourdin, E. +Gradual Emancipation +Grady, Henry W. +Graeff, Abraham Op den +Graeff, Dirck Op den +Grand Bassa +"Grandfather Clause," +Grant, U.S. +Graves, Samuel +Gray, Thomas C. +Gray, William +Great War +Grebo tribe +Greeley, Horace +Greene, Col. +Greenfield, Elizabeth Taylor +Greenleaf, Prof. +Greenville, in Liberia +Grice, Hezekiah +Groves, Junius C. +Grundy, Felix +_Guardian, The_ +Guerra, Christóbal de la +Guerra, LuÃs de la +Guinea Coast +Gullah Jack +Gurley, R.R. + +Hadjo, Micco +Hajo, Tuski +Hall, James +Hall, Prince +Hallowell, Edward N. +Hallowell, N.P. +Hamburg Massacre +Hampton Institute +Hampton, Wade +Harden, Henry +Hargreaves, James +Harper, in Liberia +Harper, F.E.W. +Harper's Ferry +Harris, Arthur +Harris, John M. +Harris, William T. +Harrison, Benjamin +Harrison, William Henry +Harrison St. Baptist Church, of Petersburg, Va. +Harry, Negro in Seminole Wars +Hart, A.B. +Hartford, Conn. +Harth, Mingo +Hartshorn Memorial College +Harvard University +Haussas +Havana +Havelock, A.E. +Hawkins, John +Hawkins, William +Hayes, R.B. +Haygood, Atticus G. +Hayne, Robert Y. +Haynes, George E. +Haynes, Lemuel +Hayti +Heber, Reginald +Helper, Hinton Rowan +Hendericks, Garret +Henry, Prince, of Portugal +Henry, Patrick +Hewell, John R. +Hicks, John +Higginson, Thomas Wentworth +Hill, Arnold +Hill, Stephen +Hoar, Samuel +Hodge, F.W. +Hoffman, Frederick L. +Hogg, Robert, and Mrs. Hogg +Holbert, Luther +Holland +Holland, Edwin C. +Holly, James Theodore +Homer +Hopkins, Samuel +Horsemanden, Judge +Horseshoe Bend +Horton, George M. +Hose, Sam +Houston, Texas +Howard, Daniel Edward +Howard, O.O. +Howard University +Howells, William Dean +Howze, Alma +Howze, Maggie +Hughes, Charles E. +Hughson, John +Hughson, Sarah +Hugo, Victor +Humphreys, Gad +Hunter, David + +Illinois +_Impending Crisis, The_ +Indenture. _See_ Servitude. +Indiana +Indians +Indian Spring, treaty of +_Informer_, The Houston +Insurrections +Intermarriage, Racial intermixture + +Jackson, Andrew +Jackson College +Jackson, Edward +Jackson, Francis +Jackson, James +Jackson, Peter +Jacksonville, Fla. +Jamaica +James, David +James, Duke of York +Jamestown +Japan +Jasper, John +Jay, John +Jay, William +Jeanes, Anna T. +Jeanes Fund +Jefferson, Thomas +Jennings, Thomas L. +Jessup, Thomas S. +"Jim Crow," origin of +Jocelyn, S.S. +John, in Fugitive Slave case +Johnson, Andrew +Johnson, Elijah +Johnson, Henry +Johnson, H.R.W. +Johnson, Jack +Johnson, James +Johnson, Joseph +Johnston brothers, of Arkansas +Johnston, E.L. +Johnston, Sir Harry H. +Jones, Abraham +Jones, Eugene K. +Jones, George +Jones, Sam +Jones, Sissieretta +Julius, John + +Kali, in Amistad case +Kansas +Kansas City, dynamiting of homes in +Kansas-Nebraska Bill +Kean, Edmund +Kentucky +Kerry, Margaret +King, C.D.B. +King, Mulatto +King, Rufus +Kizell, John +Knights of Pythias +Knights of the Golden Circle +Knoxville College +Knoxville riot +Kpwessi tribe +Kru tribe +KuKlux Klan + +Labor +Lafar, John J. +Laing, Major +Lake City, S.C. +Lane College +Lane Seminary +Langston, John Mercer +Las Quasimas +Laurens, Henry +Laurens, John +Law, John +Lawless, Judge +Le Clerc, Gen. +Lee, Robert E. +Lee County, Ga. +Leicester, Earl of +Leland Giants +Lewis, William H. +_Liberator, The_ +Liberia +Liberia College +Liberian Exodus and Joint Stock Company +Liberty Party +Liele, George +Lincoln, Abraham +Lincoln Giants +Lincoln University +Livingstone College +Livingstone, David +Lockwood, L.C. +London Company +Louisiana +Louis Napoleon +Lovejoy, Elijah P. +Lowell, James R. +Lugard, Lady +Lundy, Benjamin +Lutherans +Lynching + +Macaulay, T.B. +Macon, Ga. +Madagascar +Madison, James +Mahan, Asa +Maine +Malays +Maldonado, Alonzo del Castillo +Mandingoes +Manly, Alex. L. +Mano tribe +Mansfield, Lord +Marcos, Fray +Markham, Edwin +Marriage +_Marrow of Tradition, The_ +Marshall, J.F.B. +Marshall, J.R. +Marshall, of Univ. of Minnesota +Martin, Luther +Maryland +Mason, George +Masons, Negro +Massachusetts +Mather, Cotton +Matthews, W.C. +May, Samuel J. +Mazzini, G. +McCorkle, William A. +McIlheron, Jim +McIntosh, burned +McKay, Claude +McKelway, A.J. +Medicine, Negro in +Memphis, Tenn. +Mercer, Charles F. +_Messenger, The_ +Methodists, churches and schools. _See also_ African Methodist. +Mexican War +Metz +Micanopy +Mickasukie tribe +Migration. _See also_ Exodus. +Milan, Ga. +Milliken's Bend +Mills, Samuel J. +Minstrelsy +Miscegenation. _See_ Intermarriage, Racial intermixture. +Mississippi +Mississippi Company +Missouri +Missouri Compromise +Mobile +Mohammedans +Monroe, James +Monrovia +Montes, Pedro +Montgomery, Ala. +Montgomery, James +Monticello, Ga. +Montserado, Cape +Moore, Joanna P. +Moorhead, Scipio +Moors +Morehouse College +Morell, Junius C. +Morgan, Thomas J. +Morris Brown University +Morris, Edward H. +Morris, Gouverneur +Morris, Robert, Jr. +Mortality +Mott, Lucretia +Mulattoes +Mumford, John P. +"Mungo," in The Padlock +Murphy, Edgar G. + +Napoleon Bonaparte +Narvaez, Pamfilo de +Nashville, Tenn. +Nassau +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People +National Urban League +Navigation Ordinance +Nea Mathla +Neau, Elias +_Negro_, the word +Negro Union +_Negro World, The_ +Nell, William C. +New Bedford, Mass. +New England Anti-Slavery Society +New Hampshire +New Jersey +New Orleans +New Mexico +New York (city) +New York (state) +_News and Courier_, of Charleston, S.C. +Niagara Movement +Niles, Hezekiah +Niño, Pedro Alonso +Norfolk, Va. +North Carolina +Northrup, Solomon +_North Star_ +Northwest Territory +Nott, Josiah C. +Nott, Dr., of Union College +Nullification +Nunn, Joseph + +Oberlin College +Odd Fellows +Ogden, Peter +Ogden, Robert C. +Oglethorpe, James +Ohio +Oklahoma +Omaha +Orange Park Academy +Osceola +Otis, James +Otis, Mayor, of Boston +Ouithlecoochee, Battle of +Ovando + +Packard, Sophia B. +Page, Thomas Nelson +Page, Walter H. +Palmer, B.M. +Palmetto, Ga. +Pan-African Congress +Pappa tribe +Parker, Theodore +Parrott, Russell +Pastorius, Francis Daniel +Patterson, Joseph +Paul, William +Payne, Daniel A. +Payne, James Spriggs +Payne's Landing, treaty of +Peabody Educational Fund +Peabody, George Foster +Pembroke, Earl of +Pennington, James W.C. +Pennsylvania +Pennsylvania Railroad +Pensacola +Peonage +Perkins, Francis +Perry, Bliss +Person, Ell T. +Petersburg, Va. +Phagan, John +Phelps, John W. +Phelps-Stokes Fellowships +Philadelphia +Phillips, Wendell +Phipps, Benjamin +Phoenix societies +Pierce, Leonard +Pike, in Brooks County, Ga. +Pittman, W. Sydney +Pittsburgh, Penn. +Plançiancois, Anselmas +Pleasants, Robert +Pollard, F. +Poor, Samuel +Poor white man, as related to Negro +Population, Negro +Populist Party +Port Hudson +Porter, Henry +Portugal +Potter, James +Powell. See Osceola. +Poyas, Peter +Presbyterians +Price, Arthur +Prince +Princeton +Problem, Negro. See Table of Contents. +Progressive Party +Punishment. See also Lynching, Burning. +Purcell, Jack +Puritans + +Quack, in New York +Quakers +Queen and Crescent Railroad trouble +Quinn, William Paul + +Randolph, John +Reconstruction +Reed, Paul +Reese, Jack +_Republic of Liberia, The_ +Republican Party +Reuter, E.B. +Revels, Hiram R. +_Review of Reviews_, quoted +Revolutionary War +Revolution, French +Rhode Island +Rhodes, Cecil +Rice, Thomas D. +Richmond, Va. +Rigaud +_Rising Tide of Color, The_ +Rivers, P.R. +Robert, Joseph T. +Roberts, Joseph Jenkin +Robeson, P.L. +Rockefeller, John D. +Romanticism +Romme, John +Roosevelt, Theodore +Ross, John +Royal African Company +Roye, Edward James +Ruffin, George L. +Ruiz, José +Rush, Christopher +Russell, Alfred F. +Russwurm, John B. +Rust University +Rutledge, John + +St. Augustine, Fla. +St. Louis, Mo. +St. Mihiel +St. Philip's Church, in New York +St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia +Sale, George +Salem, Peter +Samba, insurrectionist +Sandford (in Dred Scott Case) +San Juan Hill +Santiago +Santo Domingo +Sargent, Frank P. +Savannah, Ga. +Schurz, Carl +Scott, Emmett J. +Scott, Lation +Scott, Walter +Seaton, Richard +Sebastian +Sebor, Capt +Secoffee +Secret societies +Segui, Bernard +Selika, Mme +Seminole Wars +Servitude +Seward, William H. +Seyes, John +Shadd, Abraham +Sharp, Granville +Shaw, Robert Gould +Shaw Monument +Shaw University +Shepherd, Randall +Sheridan, Philip +Shubuta, Miss. +Shufeldt, R.W. +Sierra Leone +Silver Bluff Church +Simon +Singleton, Benjamin +Sino, in Liberia +Slater Fund +Slavery. _See_ Table of Contents. +Slave Ships +Smith, Adam +Smith, Alfred +Smith, Edward P. +Smith, Gerrit +Smith, Hampton +Smith, Henry +Smith, Hoke +Smith, James McCune +Smith, Stephen +Smith, W.B. +Social Progress +Socialism +Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts +Soldier, Negro +Somerset, James +Soulouque, Faustin +_Souls of Black Folk, The_ +South Carolina +South Carolina Medical College +Southern Education Board +Southern Educational Congress +Southern Sociological Congress +Southerne, Thomas +_Southwestern Christian Advocate_ +Spain +Spaniards +Spanish-American War +Spanish Exploration +Spelman Seminary +Spence, R.T. +Spencer, Peter +Sport +Springfield, Ill. +Stanton, Elizabeth Cady +Statesville, Ga. +Stephens, Alexander +Stevens, Julius C. +Stevens, Thaddeus +Steward, Austin +Stewart, Charles +Stewart, T. McC. +Stiles, Ezra +Stoddard, Lothrop +Stone, Lucy +Stockton, Robert F. +Stone, Alfred H. +Storey, Moorfield +Stowe, Harriet Beecher +Straight University +Straker, D.A. +Students' Army Training Corps +Summersett, John +Sumner, Charles +Supreme Court +Susi + +Taft, W.H. +Talladega, Ala. +Talladega College +Tallahassee, Fla. +Taney, R.B. +Tanner, Henry O. +Tappan, Arthur +Tappan, Lewis +Tapsico, Jacob +Taney, Chief Justice +Taylor, John B. +Taylor, Major +Taylor, William +Tecumseh +Tennessee +Terrell, Mary Church +Terrell, J.M. +Texas +Thomas, Charles +Thomas, W.H. +Thompson, George +Thompson, Wiley +Thornton, William +_Thoughts on African Colonisation_ +Tillman, Benjamin R. +Tithables, defined +Tolbert, John R. +Tolbert, R.R. +Tolbert, Thomas +Toombs, Robert +Toussaint L'Ouverture +Travis, Hark +Travis, Joseph +Tremont Temple Baptist Church +Trotter, Monroe +Truth, Sojourner +Tubman, Harriet +Tucker, St. George +Tupper, Pres., of Shaw University +Turnbull, Robert James +Turner, H.M. +Turner, Mary +Turner, Nat, and his insurrection +Tuskegee Institute +Tustenuggee, 114 + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_ +Underground Railroad +Universal Negro Improvement Association +Universal Races Congress +University Commission on Southern Race Questions +Ury, John +Utrecht, Peace of + +Vaca, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de +Vail, Aaron +Vai tribe +Valdosta, Ga. +Valladolid, Juan de +Van Buren, Martin +Vardaman, James K. +Varick, James +Vermont +Vesey, Denmark, and his insurrection +Vincenden, Gen. +Virginia +Virginia Union University +Virginia, University of +Virgin Islands +Vogelsang, Peter +_Voice of the Negro, The_ +Vosges + +Waco, Texas +Walcott, Joe +Walker, John +Walker, Mme. C.J. +Walker, David +Walker, Walter F. +Walker, Zach +War of 1812 +Ward, Samuel Ringgold +Ware, Asa +Warner, Daniel Bashiel +Washington, Berry +Washington, Booker T. +Washington, Bushrod +Washington, George +Washington, Jesse +Washington, Madison +Washington, D.C. +Watson, Brook +Watt, James +Watterson, Henry +Weathersford +Webster, Daniel +Webster, Thomas +Wendell, Abraham +Wesley, John +West Virginia +Wheatley, Phillis +Whipper, of Pennsylvania +Whipper, William +White, George H. +White, Thomas J. +White, William +White, William J. +Whitfield, James M. +Whittekin, F.F. +Whitney, Eli +Whittier, John G. +Wiener, Leo +Wilberforce University +Wilberforce, William +Wilcox, Samuel T. +Wild Cat +Wiley University +Will +William and Mary College +Williams and Walker Company +Williams, Charles H. +Williams, Daniel H. +Williams, George W. +Williams, Nelson +Williams, Peter +Williams, Richard +Williamsburg, Va. +Williamson, Edward +Wilmington, N.C. +Wilson, James +Wilson, Woodrow +Winn, J.B. +Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society +Woman Suffrage +Woods, Granville T. +Woodson, Carter G. +Woolf, Leonard +Woolman, John +Wright, Robert +Wycliffe, John C. + +Yellow fever, in Philadelphia; +in Hayti +Yemassee +Y.M.C.A. +Young, Charles E. + +Zuñi Indians + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN NEGRO *** + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for +copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very +easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation +of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project +Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may +do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected +by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark +license, especially commercial redistribution. + +START: FULL LICENSE + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the +person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph +1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the +Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when +you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country other than the United States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work +on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: + + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and + most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no + restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it + under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this + eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the + United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where + you are located before using this eBook. + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format +other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain +Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +provided that: + +* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation." + +* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm + works. + +* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + +* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of +the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set +forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at +www.gutenberg.org + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, +Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up +to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website +and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without +widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular +state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. + +Most people start at our website which has the main PG search +facility: www.gutenberg.org + +This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + diff --git a/old/12101-0.zip b/old/12101-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..94ee3a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12101-0.zip diff --git a/old/12101-h.zip b/old/12101-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8a7637 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12101-h.zip diff --git a/old/12101-h/12101-h.htm b/old/12101-h/12101-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de9c73c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12101-h/12101-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,21001 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Social History of the American Negro</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + + table {border-color: silver; + border-width: 1px; + border-style: solid;} + + td {border-color: black; + border-style: solid; + border-width: 1px; + padding: 4px; + border-spacing: 4px; + text-align: left; + vertical-align: baseline;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + + h1,h2 {margin-top: 3em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center} + + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + + .toc { margin-left: 15%; font-size: 14pt; margin-bottom: 4em;} + + .poem {margin-left: 5%; + margin-bottom: 2em; + text-align: left;} + + div.poem p.stanza {margin: 1em 0em;} + div.poem p.i2 {margin: 0em 1em} + div.poem p.i4 {margin: 0em 2em} + div.poem p.i6 {margin: 0em 3em} + div.poem p.i8 {margin: 0em 4em} + div.poem p.i10 {margin: 0em 5em} + + </style> +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Social History of The American Negro, by Benjamin Brawley</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: A Social History of The American Negro<br /> +Being a History of the Negro Problem in the United States. Including A History And Study Of The Republic Of Liberia</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Benjamin Brawley</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 25, 2004 [eBook #12101]<br /> +[Most recently updated: August 22, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Suzanne Shell, Leonard D Johnson and PG Distributed Proofreaders</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN NEGRO ***</div> + + <h1>A SOCIAL HISTORY<br /> + OF THE<br /> + American Negro</h1> + + <h5>BEING</h5> + + <h3>A HISTORY OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM<br /> + IN THE UNITED STATES</h3> + + <h3>INCLUDING<br /> + A HISTORY AND STUDY OF THE<br /> + REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA</h3> + + <h3>by BENJAMIN BRAWLEY<br /> + 1921</h3> + + <h4>TO THE MEMORY OF</h4> + + <h3>NORWOOD PENROSE HALLOWELL</h3> + + <h4>PATRIOT<br /> + 1839-1914</h4> + <hr /> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i10"><i>These all died in faith, not having + received<br /> + the promises, but having seen them afar off</i>.</p> + </div> + + <p>Norwood Penrose Hallowell was born in Philadelphia April 13, + 1839. He inherited the tradition of the Quakers and grew to + manhood in a strong anti-slavery atmosphere. The home of his + father, Morris L. Hallowell—the "House called Beautiful," in + the phrase of Oliver Wendell Holmes—was a haven of rest and + refreshment for wounded soldiers of the Union Army, and hither + also, after the assault upon him in the Senate, Charles Sumner + had come for succor and peace. Three brothers in one way or + another served the cause of the Union, one of them, Edward N. + Hallowell, succeeding Robert Gould Shaw in the Command of the + Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. Norwood + Penrose Hallowell himself, a natural leader of men, was Harvard + class orator in 1861; twenty-five years later he was the + marshal of his class; and in 1896 he delivered the Memorial Day + address in Sanders Theater. Entering the Union Army with + promptness in April, 1861, he served first in the New England + Guards, then as First Lieutenant in the Twentieth + Massachusetts, won a Captain's commission in November, and + within the next year took part in numerous engagements, being + wounded at Glendale and even more severely at Antietam. On + April 17, 1863, he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the + Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, and on May 30 Colonel of the newly + organized Fifty-Fifth. Serving in the investment of Fort + Wagner, he was one of the first to enter the fort after its + evacuation. His wounds ultimately forced him to resign his + commission, and in November, 1863, he retired from the service. + He engaged in business in New York, but after a few years + removed to Boston, where he became eminent for his public + spirit. He was one of God's noblemen, and to the last he + preserved his faith in the Negro whom he had been among the + first to lead toward the full heritage of American citizenship. + He died April 11, 1914.</p> + + <div class="toc"> + <h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERI">CHAPTER I</a></h3> + + <h3>THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA</h3>1. <a href= + "#Origins">African Origins</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Exploration">The Negro in Spanish + Exploration</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#SlaveTrade">Development of the + Slave-Trade</a><br /> + 4. <a href="#Colonies">Planting of Slavery in the + Colonies</a><br /> + 5. <a href="#SlaveShip">The Wake of the + Slave-Ship</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERII">CHAPTER II</a></h3> + + <h3>THE NEGRO IN THE COLONIES</h3>1. <a href= + "#Servitude">Servitude and Slavery</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Indian">The Indian, the Mulatto, and the Free + Negro</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Betterment">First Effort toward Social + Betterment</a><br /> + 4. <a href="#Insurrections">Early Insurrections</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERIII">CHAPTER III</a></h3> + + <h3>THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA</h3>1. <a href= + "#Sentiment">Sentiment in England and America</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#War">The Negro in the War</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Constitution">The Northwest Territory and the + Constitution</a><br /> + 4. <a href="#Abolition">Early Steps toward + Abolition</a><br /> + 5. <a href="#Consciousness">Beginning of Racial + Consciousness</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERIV">CHAPTER IV</a></h3> + + <h3>THE NEW WEST, THE SOUTH, AND THE WEST INDIES</h3>1. + <a href="#CottonGin">The Cotton-Gin, the New Southwest, and + the First Fugitive Slave Law</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#SlaveTrade2">Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louisiana, + and the Formal Closing of the Slave-Trade</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Gabriel">Gabriel's Insurrection and the Rise + of the Negro Problem</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERV">CHAPTER V</a></h3> + + <h3>INDIAN AND NEGRO</h3>1. <a href="#creek">Creek, + Seminole, and Negro to 1817: The War of 1812</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Moultrie">First Seminole War and the Treaties + of Indian Spring and Fort Moultrie</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Landing">From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to + the Treaty of Payne's Landing</a><br /> + 4. <a href="#Osceola">Osceola and the Second Seminole + War</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERVI">CHAPTER VI</a></h3> + + <h3>EARLY APPROACH TO THE NEGRO PROBLEM</h3>1. <a href= + "#Compromise">The Ultimate Problem and the Missouri + Compromise</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Colonization2">Colonization</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Slavery2">Slavery</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERVII">CHAPTER VII</a></h3> + + <h3>THE NEGRO REPLY—I: REVOLT</h3>1. <a href= + "#Denmark">Denmark Vesey's Insurrection</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Nat">Nat Turner's Insurrection</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Cases">The <i>Amistad</i> and <i>Creole</i> + Cases</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERVIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></h3> + + <h3>THE NEGRO REPLY—II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION</h3>1. + <a href="#Walker">Walker's "Appeal"</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Movement">The Convention Movement</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Suffrage">Sojourner Truth and Woman + Suffrage</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERIX">CHAPTER IX</a></h3> + + <h3>LIBERIA</h3>1. <a href="#People">The Place and the + People</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#History">History</a><br /> + (a) <a href="#Settlement">Colonization and + Settlement</a><br /> + (b) <a href="#Liberia">The Commonwealth of + Liberia</a><br /> + (c) <a href="#Republic">The Republic of Liberia</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Relations">International Relations</a><br /> + 4. <a href="#Economic">Economic and Social + Conditions</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERX">CHAPTER X</a></h3> + + <h3>THE NEGRO A NATIONAL ISSUE</h3>1. <a href= + "#Tendencies">Current Tendencies</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Abolitionists">The Challenge of the + Abolitionists</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Contest">The Contest</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERXI">CHAPTER XI</a></h3> + + <h3>SOCIAL PROGRESS, 1820-1860</h3> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERXII">CHAPTER XII</a></h3> + + <h3>THE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION</h3> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERXIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></h3> + + <h3>THE ERA OF ENFRANCHISEMENT</h3>1. <a href= + "#Problem">The Problem</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Meeting">Meeting the Problem</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Klan">Reaction: The Ku-Klux Klan</a><br /> + 4. <a href="#Exodus">Counter-Reaction: The Negro + Exodus</a><br /> + 5. <a href="#Reconstruction">A Postscript on the War and + Reconstruction</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERXIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></h3> + + <h3>THE NEGRO IN THE NEW SOUTH</h3>1. <a href= + "#Disfranchisement">Political Life: + Disfranchisement</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Peonage">Economic Life: Peonage</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Lynching">Social Life: Proscription, + Lynching</a><br /> + <br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERXV">CHAPTER XV</a></h3> + + <h3>"THE VALE OF TEARS," 1890-1910</h3>1. <a href= + "#Opinion">Current Opinion and Tendencies</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Washington">Industrial Education: Booker T. + Washington</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#SpanishAmerican">Individual Achievement: The + Spanish-American War</a><br /> + 4. <a href="#Massacre">Mob Violence; Election Troubles; The + Atlanta Massacre</a><br /> + 5. <a href="#Labor">The Question of Labor</a><br /> + 6. <a href="#Brownsville">Defamation; Brownsville</a><br /> + 7. <a href="#Tomorrow">The Dawn of a To-morrow</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERXVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></h3> + + <h3>THE NEGRO IN THE NEW AGE</h3>1. <a href= + "#Period">Character of the Period</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#Louis">Migration; East St. Louis</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#GreatWar">The Great War</a><br /> + 4. <a href="#Elaine">High Tension: Washington, Chicago, + Elaine</a><br /> + 5. <a href="#Problem2">The Widening Problem</a><br /> + + <h3><a href="#CHAPTERXVII">CHAPTER XVII</a></h3> + + <h3>THE NEGRO PROBLEM</h3>1. <a href="#WorldAspect">World + Aspect</a><br /> + 2. <a href="#AmericanLife">The Negro in American + Life</a><br /> + 3. <a href="#Face">Face to Face</a> + </div> + + <h2>PREFACE</h2> + + <p>In the following pages an effort is made to give fresh + treatment to the history of the Negro people in the United + States, and to present this from a distinct point of view, the + social. It is now forty years since George W. Williams + completed his <i>History of the Negro Race in America</i>, and + while there have been many brilliant studies of periods or + episodes since that important work appeared, no one book has + again attempted to treat the subject comprehensively, and + meanwhile the race has passed through some of its most critical + years in America. The more outstanding political phases of the + subject, especially in the period before the Civil War, have + been frequently considered; and in any account of the Negro + people themselves the emphasis has almost always been upon + political and military features. Williams emphasizes this point + of view, and his study of legal aspects is not likely soon to + be superseded. A noteworthy point about the history of the + Negro, however, is that laws on the statute-books have not + necessarily been regarded, public opinion and sentiment almost + always insisting on being considered. It is necessary + accordingly to study the actual life of the Negro people in + itself and in connection with that of the nation, and something + like this the present work endeavors to do. It thus becomes not + only a Social History of the race, but also the first formal + effort toward a History of the Negro Problem in America.</p> + + <p>With this aim in mind, in view of the enormous amount of + material, we have found it necessary to confine ourselves + within very definite limits. A thorough study of all the + questions relating to the Negro in the United States would fill + volumes, for sooner or later it would touch upon all the great + problems of American life. No attempt is made to perform such a + task; rather is it intended to fix attention upon the race + itself as definitely as possible. Even with this limitation + there are some topics that might be treated at length, but that + have already been studied so thoroughly that no very great + modification is now likely to be made of the results obtained. + Such are many of the questions revolving around the general + subject of slavery. Wars are studied not so much to take note + of the achievement of Negro soldiers, vital as that is, as to + record the effect of these events on the life of the great body + of people. Both wars and slavery thus become not more than + incidents in the history of the ultimate problem.</p> + + <p>In view of what has been said, it is natural that the method + of treatment should vary with the different chapters. Sometimes + it is general, as when we touch upon the highways of American + history. Sometimes it is intensive, as in the consideration of + insurrections and early effort for social progress; and + Liberia, as a distinct and much criticized experiment in + government by American Negroes, receives very special + attention. For the first time also an effort is now made to + treat consecutively the life of the Negro people in America for + the last fifty years.</p> + + <p>This work is the result of studies on which I have been + engaged for a number of years and which have already seen some + light in <i>A Short History of the American Negro</i> and + <i>The Negro in Literature and Art</i>; and acquaintance with + the elementary facts contained in such books as these is in the + present work very largely taken for granted. I feel under a + special debt of gratitude to the New York State Colonization + Society, which, coöperating with the American Colonization + Society and the Board of Trustees of Donations for Education in + Liberia, in 1920 gave me opportunity for some study at first + hand of educational and social conditions on the West Coast of + Africa; and most of all do I remember the courtesy and + helpfulness of Dr. E.C. Sage and Dr. J.H. Dillard in this + connection. In general I have worked independently of Williams, + but any student of the subject must be grateful to that + pioneer, as well as to Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, who has made + contributions in so many ways. My obligations to such scholarly + dissertations as those by Turner and Russell are manifest, + while to Mary Stoughton Locke's <i>Anti-Slavery in + America</i>—a model monograph—I feel indebted more than to any + other thesis. Within the last few years, of course, the + <i>Crisis</i>, the <i>Journal of Negro History</i>, and the + <i>Negro Year-Book</i> have in their special fields become + indispensable, and to Dr. Carter G. Woodson and Professor M.N. + Work much credit is due for the faith which has prompted their + respective ventures. I take this occasion also to thank + Professor W.E. Dodd, of the University of Chicago, who from the + time of my entrance upon this field has generously placed at my + disposal his unrivaled knowledge of the history of the South; + and as always I must be grateful to my father, Rev. E.M. + Brawley, for that stimulation and criticism which all my life + have been most valuable to me. Finally, the work has been + dedicated to the memory of a distinguished soldier, who, in his + youth, in the nation's darkest hour, helped to lead a + struggling people to freedom and his country to victory. It is + now submitted to the consideration of all who are interested in + the nation's problems, and indeed in any effort that tries to + keep in mind the highest welfare of the country itself.</p> + + <p>BENJAMIN BRAWLEY. Cambridge, January 1, 1921.</p> + + <h1>SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE<br /> + AMERICAN NEGRO</h1> + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERI" + name="CHAPTERI">CHAPTER I</a></h2> + + <h3>THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA</h3> + + <h4>1. <i><a id="Origins" + name="Origins">African Origins</a></i></h4> + + <p>An outstanding characteristic of recent years has been an + increasing recognition of the cultural importance of Africa to + the world. From all that has been written three facts are + prominent: (1) That at some time early in the Middle Ages, + perhaps about the seventh century, there was a considerable + infiltration of Arabian culture into the tribes living below + the Sahara, something of which may to-day most easily be seen + among such people as the Haussas in the Soudan and the + Mandingoes along the West Coast; (2) That, whatever influences + came in from the outside, there developed in Africa an + independent culture which must not be underestimated; and (3) + That, perhaps vastly more than has been supposed, this African + culture had to do with early exploration and colonization in + America. The first of these three facts is very important, but + is now generally accepted and need not here detain us. For the + present purpose the second and third demand more attention.</p> + + <p>The development of native African art is a theme of + never-ending fascination for the ethnologist. Especially have + striking resemblances between Negro and Oceanian culture been + pointed out. In political organization as well as certain forms + of artistic endeavor the Negro people have achieved creditable + results, and especially have they been honored as the + originators of the iron technique.<a id="footnotetag1" + name="footnotetag1"></a><a href= + "#footnote1"><sup>1</sup></a> It has further been shown that + fetichism, which is especially well developed along the West + Coast and its hinterland, is at heart not very different + from the manitou beliefs of the American Indians; and it is + this connection that furnishes the key to some of the most + striking results of the researches of the latest and most + profound student of this and related problems.<a id= + "footnotetag2" + name="footnotetag2"></a><a href= + "#footnote2"><sup>2</sup></a></p> + + <p>From the Soudan radiated a culture that was destined to + affect Europe and in course of time to extend its influence + even beyond the Atlantic Ocean. It is important to remember + that throughout the early history of Europe and up to the close + of the fifteenth century the approach to the home of the Negro + was by land. The Soudan was thought to be the edge of the then + known world; Homer speaks of the Ethiopians as "the farthest + removed of men, and separated into two divisions." Later Greek + writers carry the description still further and speak of the + two divisions as Eastern and Western—the Eastern occupying the + countries eastward of the Nile, and the Western stretching from + the western shores of that river to the Atlantic Coast. "One of + these divisions," says Lady Lugard, "we have to acknowledge, + was perhaps itself the original source of the civilization + which has through Egypt permeated the Western world.... When + the history of Negroland comes to be written in detail, it may + be found that the kingdoms lying toward the eastern end of the + Soudan were the home of races who inspired, rather than of + races who received, the traditions of civilization associated + for us with the name of ancient Egypt."<a id="footnotetag3" + name="footnotetag3"></a><a href= + "#footnote3"><sup>3</sup></a></p> + + <p>If now we come to America, we find the Negro influence upon + the Indian to be so strong as to call in question all current + conceptions of American archæology and so early as to suggest + the coming of men from the Guinea Coast perhaps even before the + coming of Columbus.<a id="footnotetag4" + name="footnotetag4"></a><a href= + "#footnote4"><sup>4</sup></a> The first natives of Africa to + come were Mandingoes; many of the words used by the Indians + in their daily life appear to be not more than corruptions + or adaptations of words used by the tribes of Africa; and + the more we study the remains of those who lived in America + before 1492, and the far-reaching influence of African + products and habits, the more must we acknowledge the + strength of the position of the latest thesis. This whole + subject will doubtless receive much more attention from + scholars, but in any case it is evident that the demands of + Negro culture can no longer be lightly regarded or brushed + aside, and that as a scholarly contribution to the subject + Wiener's work is of the very highest importance.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Exploration" + name="Exploration"><i>The Negro in Spanish + Exploration</i></a></h4> + + <p>When we come to Columbus himself, the accuracy of whose + accounts has so recently been questioned, we find a Negro, + Pedro Alonso Niño, as the pilot of one of the famous three + vessels. In 1496 Niño sailed to Santo Domingo and he was also + with Columbus on his third voyage. With two men, Cristóbal de + la Guerra, who served as pilot, and LuÃs de la Guerra, a + Spanish merchant, in 1499 he planned what proved to be the + first successful commercial voyage to the New World.</p> + + <p>The revival of slavery at the close of the Middle Ages and + the beginning of the system of Negro slavery were due to the + commercial expansion of Portugal in the fifteenth century. The + very word <i>Negro</i> is the modern Spanish and Portuguese + form of the Latin <i>niger</i>. In 1441 Prince Henry sent out + one Gonzales, who captured three Moors on the African coast. + These men offered as ransom ten Negroes whom they had taken. + The Negroes were taken to Lisbon in 1442, and in 1444 Prince + Henry regularly began the European trade from the Guinea Coast. + For fifty years his country enjoyed a monopoly of the traffic. + By 1474 Negroes were numerous in Spain, and special interest + attaches to Juan de Valladolid, probably the first of many + Negroes who in time came to have influence and power over their + people under the authority of a greater state. He was addressed + as "judge of all the Negroes and mulattoes, free or slaves, + which are in the very loyal and noble city of Seville, and + throughout the whole archbishopric thereof." After 1500 there + are frequent references to Negroes, especially in the Spanish + West Indies. Instructions to Ovando, governor of Hispaniola, in + 1501, prohibited the passage to the Indies of Jews, Moors, or + recent converts, but authorized him to take over Negro slaves + who had been born in the power of Christians. These orders were + actually put in force the next year. Even the restricted + importation Ovando found inadvisable, and he very soon + requested that Negroes be not sent, as they ran away to the + Indians, with whom they soon made friends. Isabella accordingly + withdrew her permission, but after her death Ferdinand reverted + to the old plan and in 1505 sent to Ovando seventeen Negro + slaves for work in the copper-mines, where the severity of the + labor was rapidly destroying the Indians. In 1510 Ferdinand + directed that fifty Negroes be sent immediately, and that more + be sent later; and in April of this year over a hundred were + bought in the Lisbon market. This, says Bourne,<a id= + "footnotetag5" + name="footnotetag5"></a><a href= + "#footnote5"><sup>5</sup></a> was the real beginning of the + African slave-trade to America. Already, however, as early + as 1504, a considerable number of Negroes had been + introduced from Guinea because, as we are informed, "the + work of one Negro was worth more than that of four Indians." + In 1513 thirty Negroes assisted Balboa in building the first + ships made on the Pacific Coast of America. In 1517 Spain + formally entered upon the traffic, Charles V on his + accession to the throne granting "license for the + introduction of Negroes to the number of four hundred," and + thereafter importation to the West Indies became a thriving + industry. Those who came in these early years were sometimes + men of considerable intelligence, having been trained as + Mohammedans or Catholics. By 1518 Negroes were at work in + the sugar-mills in Hispaniola, where they seem to have + suffered from indulgence in drinks made from sugarcane. In + 1521 it was ordered that Negro slaves should not be employed + on errands as in general these tended to cultivate too close + acquaintance with the Indians. In 1522 there was a rebellion + on the sugar plantations in Hispaniola, primarily because + the services of certain Indians were discontinued. Twenty + Negroes from the Admiral's mill, uniting with twenty others + who spoke the same language, killed a number of Christians. + They fled and nine leagues away they killed another Spaniard + and sacked a house. One Negro, assisted by twelve Indian + slaves, also killed nine other Christians. After much + trouble the Negroes were apprehended and several of them + hanged. It was about 1526 that Negroes were first introduced + within the present limits of the United States, being + brought to a colony near what later became Jamestown, Va. + Here the Negroes were harshly treated and in course of time + they rose against their oppressors and fired their houses. + The settlement was broken up, and the Negroes and their + Spanish companions returned to Hispaniola, whence they had + come. In 1540, in Quivira, in Mexico, there was a Negro who + had taken holy orders; and in 1542 there were established at + Guamanga three brotherhoods of the True Cross of Spaniards, + one being for Indians and one for Negroes.</p> + + <p>The outstanding instance of a Negro's heading in exploration + is that of Estévanico (or Estévanillo, or Estévan, that + is, Stephen), one of the four survivors of the ill-fated + expedition of De Narvaez, who sailed from Spain, June 17, 1527. + Having returned to Spain after many years of service in the New + World, Pamfilo de Narvaez petitioned for a grant, and + accordingly the right to conquer and colonize the country + between the Rio de las Palmas, in eastern Mexico, and Florida + was accorded him.<a id="footnotetag6" + name="footnotetag6"></a><a href= + "#footnote6"><sup>6</sup></a> His force originally consisted + of six hundred soldiers and colonists. The whole conduct of + the expedition—incompetent in the extreme—furnished one of + the most appalling tragedies of early exploration in + America. The original number of men was reduced by half by + storms and hurricanes and desertions in Santo Domingo and + Cuba, and those who were left landed in April, 1528, near + the entrance to Tampa Bay, on the west coast of Florida. One + disaster followed another in the vicinity of Pensacola Bay + and the mouth of the Mississippi until at length only four + men survived. These were Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca; + Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, a captain of infantry; Alonzo + del Castillo Maldonado; and Estévanico, who had originally + come from the west coast of Morocco and who was a slave of + Dorantes. These men had most remarkable adventures in the + years between 1528 and 1536, and as a narrative of suffering + and privation Cabeza de Vaca's <i>Journal</i> has hardly an + equal in the annals of the continent. Both Dorantes and + Estévanico were captured, and indeed for a season or two + all four men were forced to sojourn among the Indians. They + treated the sick, and with such success did they work that + their fame spread far and wide among the tribes. Crowds + followed them from place to place, showering presents upon + them. With Alonzo de Castillo, Estévanico sojourned for a + while with the Yguazes, a very savage tribe that killed its + own male children and bought those of strangers. He at + length escaped from these people and spent several months + with the Avavares. He afterwards went with De Vaca to the + Maliacones, only a short distance from the Avavares, and + still later he accompanied Alonzo de Castillo in exploring + the country toward the Rio Grande. He was unexcelled as a + guide who could make his way through new territory. In 1539 + he went with Fray Marcos of Nice, the Father Provincial of + the Franciscan order in New Spain, as a guide to the Seven + Cities of Cibola, the villages of the ancestors of the + present Zuñi Indians in western New Mexico. Preceding Fray + Marcos by a few days and accompanied by natives who joined + him on the way, he reached Háwikuh, the southern-most of the + seven towns. Here he and all but three of his Indian + followers were killed.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="SlaveTrade" + name="SlaveTrade"><i>Development of the + Slave-Trade</i></a></h4> + + <p>Portugal and Spain having demonstrated that the slave-trade + was profitable, England also determined to engage in the + traffic; and as early as 1530 William Hawkins, a merchant of + Plymouth, visited the Guinea Coast and took away a few slaves. + England really entered the field, however, with the voyage in + 1562 of Captain John Hawkins, son of William, who in October of + this year also went to the coast of Guinea. He had a fleet of + three ships and one hundred men, and partly by the sword and + partly by other means he took three hundred or more Negroes, + whom he took to Santo Domingo and sold profitably.<a id= + "footnotetag7" + name="footnotetag7"></a><a href= + "#footnote7"><sup>7</sup></a> He was richly laden going + homeward and some of his stores were seized by Spanish + vessels. Hawkins made two other voyages, one in 1564, and + another, with Drake, in 1567. On his second voyage he had + four armed ships, the largest being the <i>Jesus</i>, a + vessel of seven hundred tons, and a force of one hundred and + seventy men. December and January (1564-5) he spent in + picking up freight, and by sickness and fights with the + Negroes he lost many of his men. Then at the end of January + he set out for the West Indies. He was becalmed for + twenty-one days, but he arrived at the Island of Dominica + March 9. He traded along the Spanish coasts and on his + return to England he touched at various points in the West + Indies and sailed along the coast of Florida. On his third + voyage he had five ships. He himself was again in command of + the <i>Jesus</i>, while Drake was in charge of the + <i>Judith</i>, a little vessel of fifty tons. He got + together between four and five hundred Negroes and again + went to Dominica. He had various adventures and at last was + thrown by a storm on the coast of Mexico. Here after three + days he was attacked by a Spanish fleet of twelve vessels, + and all of his ships were destroyed except the <i>Judith</i> + and another small vessel, the <i>Minion</i>, which was so + crowded that one hundred men risked the dangers on land + rather than go to sea with her. On this last voyage Hawkins + and Drake had among their companions the Earls of Pembroke + and Leicester, who were then, like other young Elizabethans, + seeking fame and fortune. It is noteworthy that in all that + he did Hawkins seems to have had no sense of cruelty or + wrong. He held religious services morning and evening, and + in the spirit of the later Cromwell he enjoined upon his men + to "serve God daily, love one another, preserve their + victuals, beware of fire, and keep good company." Queen + Elizabeth evidently regarded the opening of the slave-trade + as a worthy achievement, for after his second voyage she + made Hawkins a knight, giving him for a crest the device of + a Negro's head and bust with the arms securely bound.</p> + + <p>France joined in the traffic in 1624, and then Holland and + Denmark, and the rivalry soon became intense. England, with her + usual aggressiveness, assumed a commanding position, and, much + more than has commonly been supposed, the Navigation Ordinance + of 1651 and the two wars with the Dutch in the seventeenth + century had as their basis the struggle for supremacy in the + slave-trade. The English trade proper began with the granting + of rights to special companies, to one in 1618, to another in + 1631, and in 1662 to the "Company of Royal Adventurers," + rechartered in 1672 as the "Royal African Company," to which in + 1687 was given the exclusive right to trade between the Gold + Coast and the British colonies in America. James, Duke of York, + was interested in this last company, and it agreed to supply + the West Indies with three thousand slaves annually. In 1698, + on account of the incessant clamor of English merchants, the + trade was opened generally, and any vessel carrying the British + flag was by act of Parliament permitted to engage in it on + payment of a duty of 10 per cent on English goods exported to + Africa. New England immediately engaged in the traffic, and + vessels from Boston and Newport went forth to the Gold Coast + laden with hogsheads of rum. In course of time there developed + a three-cornered trade by which molasses was brought from the + West Indies to New England, made into rum to be taken to Africa + and exchanged for slaves, the slaves in turn being brought to + the West Indies or the Southern colonies.<a id="footnotetag8" + name="footnotetag8"></a><a href= + "#footnote8"><sup>8</sup></a> A slave purchased for one + hundred gallons of rum worth £10 brought from £20 to £50 + when offered for sale in America.<a id="footnotetag9" + name="footnotetag9"></a><a href= + "#footnote9"><sup>9</sup></a> Newport soon had twenty-two + still houses, and even these could not satisfy the demand. + England regarded the slave-trade as of such importance that + when in 1713 she accepted the Peace of Utrecht she insisted + on having awarded to her for thirty years the exclusive + right to transport slaves to the Spanish colonies in + America. When in the course of the eighteenth century the + trade became fully developed, scores of vessels went forth + each year to engage in it; but just how many slaves were + brought to the present United States and how many were taken + to the West Indies or South America, it is impossible to + say. In 1726 the three cities of London, Bristol, and + Liverpool alone had 171 ships engaged in the traffic, and + the profits were said to warrant a thousand more, though + such a number was probably never reached so far as England + alone was concerned.<a id="footnotetag10" + name="footnotetag10"></a><a href= + "#footnote10"><sup>10</sup></a></p> + + <h4>4. <a id="Colonies" + name="Colonies"><i>Planting of Slavery in the + Colonies</i></a></h4> + + <p>It is only for Virginia that we can state with definiteness + the year in which Negro slaves were first brought to an English + colony on the mainland. When legislation on the subject of + slavery first appears elsewhere, slaves are already present. + "About the last of August (1619)," says John Rolfe in John + Smith's <i>Generall Historie</i>, "came in a Dutch man of + warre, that sold us twenty Negars." These Negroes were sold + into servitude, and Virginia did not give statutory recognition + to slavery as a system until 1661, the importations being too + small to make the matter one of importance. In this year, + however, an act of assembly stated that Negroes were "incapable + of making satisfaction for the time lost in running away by + addition of time"; <a id="footnotetag11" + name="footnotetag11"></a><a href= + "#footnote11"><sup>11</sup></a> and thus slavery gained a + firm place in the oldest of the colonies.</p> + + <p>Negroes were first imported into Massachusetts from + Barbadoes a year or two before 1638, but in John Winthrop's + <i>Journal</i>, under date February 26 of this year, we have + positive evidence on the subject as follows: "Mr. Pierce in the + Salem ship, the <i>Desire</i>, returned from the West Indies + after seven months. He had been at Providence, and brought some + cotton, and tobacco, and Negroes, etc., from thence, and salt + from Tertugos. Dry fish and strong liquors are the only + commodities for those parts. He met there two men-of-war, sent + forth by the lords, etc., of Providence with letters of mart, + who had taken divers prizes from the Spaniard and many + Negroes." It was in 1641 that there was passed in Massachusetts + the first act on the subject of slavery, and this was the first + positive statement in any of the colonies with reference to the + matter. Said this act: "There shall never be any bond slavery, + villeinage, nor captivity among us, unless it be lawful + captives, taken in just wars, and such strangers as willingly + sell themselves or are sold to us, and these shall have all the + liberties and Christian usages which the law of God established + in Israel requires." This article clearly sanctioned slavery. + Of the three classes of persons referred to, the first was made + up of Indians, the second of white people under the system of + indenture, and the third of Negroes. In this whole matter, as + in many others, Massachusetts moved in advance of the other + colonies. The first definitely to legalize slavery, in course + of time she became also the foremost representative of + sentiment against the system. In 1646 one John Smith brought + home two Negroes from the Guinea Coast, where we are told he + "had been the means of killing near a hundred more." The + General Court, "conceiving themselves bound by the first + opportunity to bear witness against the heinous and crying sin + of man-stealing," ordered that the Negroes be sent at public + expense to their native country.<a id="footnotetag12" + name="footnotetag12"></a><a href= + "#footnote12"><sup>12</sup></a> In later cases, however, + Massachusetts did not find herself able to follow this + precedent. In general in these early years New England was + more concerned about Indians than about Negroes, as the + presence of the former in large numbers was a constant + menace, while Negro slavery had not yet assumed its most + serious aspects.</p> + + <p>In New York slavery began under the Dutch rule and continued + under the English. Before or about 1650 the Dutch West India + Company brought some Negroes to New Netherland. Most of these + continued to belong to the company, though after a period of + labor (under the common system of indenture) some of the more + trusty were permitted to have small farms, from the produce of + which they made return to the company. Their children, however, + continued to be slaves. In 1664 New Netherland became New York. + The next year, in the code of English laws that was drawn up, + it was enacted that "no Christian shall be kept in bond + slavery, villeinage, or captivity, except who shall be judged + thereunto by authority, or such as willingly have sold or shall + sell themselves." As at first there was some hesitancy about + making Negroes Christians, this act, like the one in + Massachusetts, by implication permitted slavery.</p> + + <p>It was in 1632 that the grant including what is now the + states of Maryland and Delaware was made to George Calvert, + first Lord Baltimore. Though slaves are mentioned earlier, it + was in 1663-4 that the Maryland Legislature passed its first + enactment on the subject of slavery. It was declared that "all + Negroes and other slaves within this province, and all Negroes + and other slaves to be hereinafter imported into this province, + shall serve during life; and all children born of any Negro or + other slave, shall be slaves as their fathers were, for the + term of their lives."</p> + + <p>In Delaware and New Jersey the real beginnings of slavery + are unusually hazy. The Dutch introduced the system in both of + these colonies. In the laws of New Jersey the word + <i>slaves</i> occurs as early as 1664, and acts for the + regulation of the conduct of those in bondage began with the + practical union of the colony with New York in 1702. The lot of + the slave was somewhat better here than in most of the + colonies. Although the system was in existence in Delaware + almost from the beginning of the colony, it did not receive + legal recognition until 1721, when there was passed an act + providing for the trial of slaves in a special court with two + justices and six freeholders.</p> + + <p>As early as 1639 there are incidental reference to Negroes + in Pennsylvania, and there are frequent references after this + date.<a id="footnotetag13" + name="footnotetag13"></a><a href= + "#footnote13"><sup>13</sup></a> In this colony there were + strong objections to the importing of Negroes in spite of + the demand for them. Penn in his charter to the Free Society + of Traders in 1682 enjoined upon the members of this company + that if they held black slaves these should be free at the + end of fourteen years, the Negroes then to become the + company's tenants.<a id="footnotetag14" + name="footnotetag14"></a><a href= + "#footnote14"><sup>14</sup></a> In 1688 there originated in + Germantown a protest against Negro slavery that was "the + first formal action ever taken against the barter in human + flesh within the boundaries of the United States." <a id= + "footnotetag15" + name="footnotetag15"></a><a href= + "#footnote15"><sup>15</sup></a> Here a small company of + Germans was assembled April 18, 1688, and there was drawn up + a document signed by Garret Hendericks, Franz Daniel + Pastorius, Dirck Op den Graeff, and Abraham Op den Graeff. + The protest was addressed to the monthly meeting of the + Quakers about to take place in Lower Dublin. The monthly + meeting on April 30 felt that it could not pretend to take + action on such an important matter and referred it to the + quarterly meeting in June. This in turn passed it on to the + yearly meeting, the highest tribunal of the Quakers. Here it + was laid on the table, and for the next few years nothing + resulted from it. About 1696, however, opposition to slavery + on the part of the Quakers began to be active. In the colony + at large before 1700 the lot of the Negro was regularly one + of servitude. Laws were made for servants, white or black, + and regulations and restrictions were largely identical. In + 1700, however, legislation began more definitely to fix the + status of the slave. In this year an act of the legislature + forbade the selling of Negroes out of the province without + their consent, but in other ways it denied the personality + of the slave. This act met further formal approval in 1705, + when special courts were ordained for the trial and + punishment of slaves, and when importation from Carolina was + forbidden on the ground that it made trouble with the + Indians nearer home. In 1700 a maximum duty of 20s. was + placed on each Negro imported, and in 1705 this was doubled, + there being already some competition with white labor. In + 1712 the Assembly sought to prevent importation altogether + by a duty of £20 a head. This act was repealed in England, + and a duty of £5 in 1715 was also repealed. In 1729, + however, the duty was fixed at £2, at which figure it + remained for a generation.</p> + + <p>It was almost by accident that slavery was officially + recognized in Connecticut in 1650. The code of laws compiled + for the colony in this year was especially harsh on the + Indians. It was enacted that certain of them who incurred the + displeasure of the colony might be made to serve the person + injured or "be shipped out and exchanged for Negroes." In 1680 + the governor of the colony informed the Board of Trade that "as + for blacks there came sometimes three or four in a year from + Barbadoes, and they are usually sold at the rate of £22 + apiece." These people were regarded rather as servants than as + slaves, and early legislation was mainly in the line of police + regulations designed to prevent their running away.</p> + + <p>In 1652 it was enacted in Rhode Island that all slaves + brought into the colony should be set free after ten years of + service. This law was not designed, as might be supposed, to + restrict slavery. It was really a step in the evolution of the + system, and the limit of ten years was by no means observed. + "The only legal recognition of the law was in the series of + acts beginning January 4, 1703, to control the wandering of + African slaves and servants, and another beginning in April, + 1708, in which the slave-trade was indirectly legalized by + being taxed."<a id="footnotetag16" + name="footnotetag16"></a><a href= + "#footnote16"><sup>16</sup></a> "In course of time Rhode + Island became the greatest slave-trader in the country, + becoming a sort of clearing-house for the other + colonies."<a id="footnotetag17" + name="footnotetag17"></a><a href= + "#footnote17"><sup>17</sup></a></p> + + <p>New Hampshire, profiting by the experience of the + neighboring colony of Massachusetts, deemed it best from the + beginning to discourage slavery. There were so few Negroes in + the colony as to form a quantity practically negligible. The + system was recognized, however, an act being passed in 1714 to + regulate the conduct of slaves, and another four years later to + regulate that of masters.</p> + + <p>In North Carolina, even more than in most of the colonies, + the system of Negro slavery was long controlled by custom + rather than by legal enactment. It was recognized by law in + 1715, however, and police regulations to govern the slaves were + enacted. In South Carolina the history of slavery is + particularly noteworthy. The natural resources of this colony + offered a ready home for the system, and the laws here + formulated were as explicit as any ever enacted. Slaves were + first imported from Barbadoes, and their status received + official confirmation in 1682. By 1720 the number had increased + to 12,000, the white people numbering only 9,000. By 1698 such + was the fear from the preponderance of the Negro population + that a special act was passed to encourage white immigration. + Legislation "for the better ordering of slaves" was passed in + 1690, and in 1712 the first regular slave law was enacted. Once + before 1713, the year of the Assiento Contract of the Peace of + Utrecht, and several times after this date, prohibitive duties + were placed on Negroes to guard against their too rapid + increase. By 1734, however, importation had again reached large + proportions; and in 1740, in consequence of recent + insurrectionary efforts, a prohibitive duty several times + larger than the previous one was placed upon Negroes brought + into the province.</p> + + <p>The colony of Georgia was chartered in 1732 and actually + founded the next year. Oglethorpe's idea was that the colony + should be a refuge for persecuted Christians and the debtor + classes of England. Slavery was forbidden on the ground that + Georgia was to defend the other English colonies from the + Spaniards on the South, and that it would not be able to do + this if like South Carolina it dissipated its energies in + guarding Negro slaves. For years the development of Georgia was + slow, and the prosperous condition of South Carolina constantly + suggested to the planters that "the one thing needful" for + their highest welfare was slavery. Again and again were + petitions addressed to the trustees, George Whitefield being + among those who most urgently advocated the innovation. + Moreover, Negroes from South Carolina were sometimes hired for + life, and purchases were openly made in Savannah. It was not + until 1749, however, that the trustees yielded to the request. + In 1755 the legislature passed an act that regulated the + conduct of the slaves, and in 1765 a more regular code was + adopted. Thus did slavery finally gain a foothold in what was + destined to become one of the most important of the Southern + states.</p> + + <p>For the first fifty or sixty years of the life of the + colonies the introduction of Negroes was slow; the system of + white servitude furnished most of the labor needed, and England + had not yet won supremacy in the slave-trade. It was in the + last quarter of the seventeenth century that importations began + to be large, and in the course of the eighteenth century the + numbers grew by leaps and bounds. In 1625, six years after the + first Negroes were brought to the colony, there were in + Virginia only 23 Negroes, 12 male, 11 female. <a id= + "footnotetag18" + name="footnotetag18"></a><a href= + "#footnote18"><sup>18</sup></a> In 1659 there were 300; but + in 1683 there were 3,000 and in 1708, 12,000. In 1680 + Governor Simon Bradstreet reported to England with reference + to Massachusetts that "no company of blacks or slaves" had + been brought into the province since its beginning, for the + space of fifty years, with the exception of a small vessel + that two years previously, after a twenty months' voyage to + Madagascar, had brought hither between forty and fifty + Negroes, mainly women and children, who were sold for £10, + £15, and £20 apiece; occasionally two or three Negroes were + brought from Barbadoes or other islands, and altogether + there were in Massachusetts at the time not more than 100 or + 120.</p> + + <p>The colonists were at first largely opposed to the + introduction of slavery, and numerous acts were passed + prohibiting it in Virginia, Massachusetts, and elsewhere; and + in Georgia, as we have seen, it had at first been expressly + forbidden. English business men, however, had no scruples about + the matter. About 1663 a British Committee on Foreign + Plantations declared that "black slaves are the most useful + appurtenances of a plantation," <a id="footnotetag19" + name="footnotetag19"></a><a href= + "#footnote19"><sup>19</sup></a> and twenty years later the + Lords Commissioners of Trade stated that "the colonists + could not possibly subsist" without an adequate supply of + slaves. Laws passed in the colonies were regularly + disallowed by the crown, and royal governors were warned + that the colonists would not be permitted to "discourage a + traffic so beneficial to the nation." Before 1772 Virginia + passed not less than thirty-three acts looking toward the + prohibition of the importation of slaves, but in every + instance the act was annulled by England. In the far South, + especially in South Carolina, we have seen that there were + increasingly heavy duties. In spite of all such efforts for + restriction, however, the system of Negro slavery, once well + started, developed apace.</p> + + <p>In two colonies not among the original thirteen but + important in the later history of the United States, Negroes + were present at a very early date, in the Spanish colony of + Florida from the very first, and in the French colony of + Louisiana as soon as New Orleans really began to grow. Negroes + accompanied the Spaniards in their voyages along the South + Atlantic coast early in the sixteenth century, and specially + trained Spanish slaves assisted in the founding of St. + Augustine in 1565. The ambitious schemes in France of the great + adventurer, John Law, and especially the design of the + Mississippi Company (chartered 1717) included an agreement for + the importation into Louisiana of six thousand white persons + and three thousand Negroes, the Company having secured among + other privileges the exclusive right to trade with the colony + for twenty-five years and the absolute ownership of all mines + in it. The sufferings of some of the white emigrants from + France—the kidnapping, the revenge, and the chicanery that + played so large a part—all make a story complete in itself. As + for the Negroes, it was definitely stipulated that these should + not come from another French colony without the consent of the + governor of that colony. The contract had only begun to be + carried out when Law's bubble burst. However, in June, 1721, + there were 600 Negroes in Louisiana; in 1745 the number had + increased to 2020. The stories connected with these people are + as tragic and wildly romantic as are most of the stories in the + history of Louisiana. In fact, this colony from the very first + owed not a little of its abandon and its fascination to the + mysticism that the Negroes themselves brought from Africa. In + the midst of much that is apocryphal one or two events or + episodes stand out with distinctness. In 1729, Perier, governor + at the time, testified with reference to a small company of + Negroes who had been sent against the Indians as follows: + "Fifteen Negroes in whose hands we had put weapons, performed + prodigies of valor. If the blacks did not cost so much, and if + their labors were not so necessary to the colony, it would be + better to turn them into soldiers, and to dismiss those we + have, who are so bad and so cowardly that they seem to have + been manufactured purposely for this colony<a id= + "footnotetag20" + name="footnotetag20"></a><a href= + "#footnote20"><sup>20</sup></a>." Not always, however, did + the Negroes fight against the Indians. In 1730 some + representatives of the powerful Banbaras had an + understanding with the Chickasaws by which the latter were + to help them in exterminating all the white people and in + setting up an independent republic<a id="footnotetag21" + name="footnotetag21"></a><a href= + "#footnote21"><sup>21</sup></a>. They were led by a strong + and desperate Negro named Samba. As a result of this effort + for freedom Samba and seven of his companions were broken on + the wheel and a woman was hanged. Already, however, there + had been given the suggestion of the possible alliance in + the future of the Indian and the Negro. From the very first + also, because of the freedom from restraint of all the + elements of population that entered into the life of the + colony, there was the beginning of that mixture of the races + which was later to tell so vitally on the social life of + Louisiana and whose effects are so readily apparent even + to-day.</p> + + <h4>5. <a id="SlaveShip" + name="SlaveShip"><i>The Wake of the Slave-Ship</i></a></h4> + + <p>Thus it was that Negroes came to America. Thus it was also, + we might say, that the Negro Problem came, though it was not + for decades, not until the budding years of American + nationality, that the ultimate reaches of the problem were + realized. Those who came were by no means all of exactly the + same race stock and language. Plantations frequently exhibited + a variety of customs, and sometimes traditional enemies became + brothers in servitude. The center of the colonial slave-trade + was the African coast for about two hundred miles east of the + great Niger River. From this comparatively small region came as + many slaves as from all the rest of Africa together. A number + of those who came were of entirely different race stock from + the Negroes; some were Moors, and a very few were Malays from + Madagascar.</p> + + <p>The actual procuring of the slaves was by no means as easy a + process as is sometimes supposed. In general the slave mart + brought out the most vicious passions of all who were in any + way connected with the traffic. The captain of a vessel had to + resort to various expedients to get his cargo. His commonest + method was to bring with him a variety of gay cloth, cheap + ornaments, and whiskey, which he would give in exchange for + slaves brought to him. His task was most simple when a + chieftain of one tribe brought to him several hundred prisoners + of war. Ordinarily, however, the work was more toilsome, and + kidnapping a favorite method, though individuals were sometimes + enticed on vessels. The work was always dangerous, for the + natives along the slave-coast soon became suspicious. After + they had seen some of their tribesmen taken away, they learned + not to go unarmed while a slave-vessel was on the coast, and + very often there were hand-to-hand encounters. It was not long + before it began to be impressed upon those interested in the + trade that it was not good business to place upon the captain + of a vessel the responsibility of getting together three or + four hundred slaves, and that it would be better if he could + find his cargo waiting for him when he came. Thus arose the + so-called factories, which were nothing more than warehouses. + Along the coast were placed small settlements of Europeans, + whose business it was to stimulate slave-hunting expeditions, + negotiate for slaves brought in, and see that they were kept + until the arrival of the ships. Practically every nation + engaged in the traffic planted factories of this kind along the + West Coast from Cape Verde to the equator; and thus it was that + this part of Africa began to be the most flagrantly exploited + region in the world; thus whiskey and all the other vices of + civilization began to come to a simple and home-loving + people.</p> + + <p>Once on board the slaves were put in chains two by two. When + the ship was ready to start, the hold of the vessel was crowded + with moody and unhappy wretches who most often were made to + crouch so that their knees touched their chins, but who also + were frequently made to lie on their sides "spoon-fashion." + Sometimes the space between floor and ceiling was still further + diminished by the water-barrels; on the top of these barrels + boards were placed, on the boards the slaves had to lie, and in + the little space that remained they had to subsist as well as + they could. There was generally only one entrance to the hold, + and provision for only the smallest amount of air through the + gratings on the sides. The clothing of a captive, if there was + any at all, consisted of only a rag about the loins. The food + was half-rotten rice, yams, beans, or soup, and sometimes bread + and meat; the cooking was not good, nor was any care taken to + see that all were fed. Water was always limited, a pint a day + being a generous allowance; frequently no more than a gill + could be had. The rule was to bring the slaves from the hold + twice a day for an airing, about eight o'clock in the morning + and four in the afternoon; but this plan was not always + followed. On deck they were made to dance by the lash, and they + were also forced to sing. Thus were born the sorrow-songs, the + last cry of those who saw their homeland vanish behind + them—forever.</p> + + <p>Sometimes there were stern fights on board. Sometimes food + was refused in order that death might be hastened. When + opportunity served, some leaped overboard in the hope of being + taken back to Africa. Throughout the night the hold resounded + with the moans of those who awoke from dreams of home to find + themselves in bonds. Women became hysterical, and both men and + women became insane. Fearful and contagious diseases broke out. + Smallpox was one of these. More common was ophthalmia, a + frightful inflammation of the eyes. A blind, and hence a + worthless, slave was thrown to the sharks. The putrid + atmosphere, the melancholy, and the sudden transition from heat + to cold greatly increased the mortality, and frequently when + morning came a dead and a living slave were found shackled + together. A captain always counted on losing one-fourth of his + cargo. Sometimes he lost a great deal more.</p> + + <p>Back on the shore a gray figure with strained gaze watched + the ship fade away—an old woman sadly typical of the great + African mother. With her vision she better than any one else + perceived the meaning of it all. The men with hard faces who + came to buy and sell might deceive others, but not her. In a + great vague way she felt that something wrong had attacked the + very heart of her people. She saw men wild with the whiskey of + the Christian nations commit crimes undreamed of before. She + did not like the coast towns; the girl who went thither came + not home again, and a young man was lost to all that Africa + held dear. In course of time she saw every native craft + despised, and instead of the fabric that her own fingers wove + her children yearned for the tinsel and the gewgaws of the + trader. She cursed this man, and she called upon all her + spirits to banish the evil. But when at last all was of no + avail—when the strongest youth or the dearest maiden had + gone—she went back to her hut and ate her heart out in the + darkness. She wept for her children and would not be comforted + because they were not. Then slowly to the untutored mind + somehow came the promise: "These are they which came out of + great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them + white in the blood of the Lamb.... They shall hunger no more, + neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, + nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne + shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of + waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote1" + name="footnote1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b> <a href= + "#footnotetag1">(return)</a><br/> + + Note article "Africa" in <i>New International + Encyclopedia</i>, referring especially to the studies of + Von Luschan.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote2" + name="footnote2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b> <a href= + "#footnotetag2">(return)</a><br/> + + Leo Wiener: <i>Africa and the Discovery of America</i>, + Vol. I, Innes & Sons, Philadelphia, 1920.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote3" + name="footnote3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b> <a href= + "#footnotetag3">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>A Tropical Dependency</i>, James Nisbet & Co., + Ltd., London, 1906, p. 17.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote4" + name="footnote4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b> <a href= + "#footnotetag4">(return)</a><br/> + + See Wiener, I, 178.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote5" + name="footnote5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b> <a href= + "#footnotetag5">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Spain in America</i>, Vol. 3 in American Nation + Series, p. 270.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote6" + name="footnote6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b> <a href= + "#footnotetag6">(return)</a><br/> + + Frederick W. Hodge, 3, in <i>Spanish Explorers in the + Southern United States</i>, 1528-1543, in "Original + Narratives of Early American History," Scribner's, New + York, 1907. Both the Narrative of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de + Vaca and the Narrative of the Expedition of Coronado, by + Pedro de Casteñada, are edited by Hodge, with illuminating + introductions.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote7" + name="footnote7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b> <a href= + "#footnotetag7">(return)</a><br/> + + Edward E. Hale in Justin Winsor's <i>Narrative and + Critical History of America</i>, III, 60.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote8" + name="footnote8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b> <a href= + "#footnotetag8">(return)</a><br/> + + Bogart: <i>Economic History</i>, 72.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote9" + name="footnote9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b> <a href= + "#footnotetag9">(return)</a><br/> + + Coman: <i>Industrial History</i>, 78.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote10" + name="footnote10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag10">(return)</a><br/> + + Ballagh: <i>Slavery in Virginia, 12</i>.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote11" + name="footnote11"></a><b>Footnote 11:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag11">(return)</a><br/> + + Hening: <i>Statutes</i>, II, <i>26</i>.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote12" + name="footnote12"></a><b>Footnote 12:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag12">(return)</a><br/> + + Coffin: <i>Slave Insurrections</i>, 8.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote13" + name="footnote13"></a><b>Footnote 13:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag13">(return)</a><br/> + + Turner: <i>The Negro in Pennsylvania</i>, 1.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote14" + name="footnote14"></a><b>Footnote 14:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag14">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Ibid</i>., 21.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote15" + name="footnote15"></a><b>Footnote 15:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag15">(return)</a><br/> + + Faust: <i>The German Element in the United States</i>, + Boston, 1909, I, 45.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote16" + name="footnote16"></a><b>Footnote 16:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag16">(return)</a><br/> + + William T. Alexander: History of the Colored Race in + America, New Orleans, 1887, p. 136.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote17" + name="footnote17"></a><b>Footnote 17:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag17">(return)</a><br/> + + DuBois: Suppression of the Slave-Trade, 34.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote18" + name="footnote18"></a><b>Footnote 18:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag18">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Virginia Magazine of History</i>, VII, 364.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote19" + name="footnote19"></a><b>Footnote 19:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag19">(return)</a><br/> + + Bogart: <i>Economic History</i>, 73.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote20" + name="footnote20"></a><b>Footnote 20:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag20">(return)</a><br/> + + Gayarré: <i>History of Louisiana</i>, I, 435.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote21" + name="footnote21"></a><b>Footnote 21:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag21">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Ibid</i>., I, 440.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERII" + name="CHAPTERII">CHAPTER II</a></h2> + + <h3>THE NEGRO IN THE COLONIES</h3> + + <p>The Negroes who were brought from Africa to America were + brought hither to work, and to work under compulsion; hence any + study of their social life in the colonial era must be + primarily a study of their life under the system of slavery, + and of the efforts of individuals to break away from the + same.</p> + + <h4>1. <a id="Servitude" + name="Servitude"><i>Servitude and Slavery</i></a></h4> + + <p>For the antecedents of Negro slavery in America one must go + back to the system of indentured labor known as servitude. This + has been defined as "a legalized status of Indian, white, and + Negro servants preceding slavery in most, if not all, of the + English mainland colonies."<a id="footnotetag22" + name="footnotetag22"></a><a href= + "#footnote22"><sup>22</sup></a> A study of servitude will + explain many of the acts with reference to Negroes, + especially those about intermarriage with white people. For + the origins of the system one must go back to social + conditions in England in the seventeenth century. While + villeinage had been formally abolished in England at the + middle of the fourteenth century, it still lingered in + remote places, and even if men were not technically villeins + they might be subjected to long periods of service. By the + middle of the fifteenth century the demand for wool had led + to the enclosure of many farms for sheep-raising, and + accordingly to distress on the part of many agricultural + laborers. Conditions were not improved early in the + sixteenth century, and they were in fact made more acute, + the abolition of the monasteries doing away with many of the + sources of relief. Men out of work were thrown upon the + highways and thus became a menace to society. In 1564 the + price of wheat was 19s. a quarter and wages were 7d. a day. + The situation steadily grew worse, and in 1610, while wages + were still the same, wheat was 35s. a quarter. Rents were + constantly rising, moreover, and many persons died from + starvation. In the course of the seventeenth century paupers + and dissolute persons more and more filled the jails and + workhouses.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile in the young colonies across the sea labor was + scarce, and it seemed to many an act of benevolence to bring + from England persons who could not possibly make a living at + home and give them some chance in the New World. From the very + first, children, and especially young people between the ages + of twelve and twenty, were the most desired. The London Company + undertook to meet half of the cost of the transportation and + maintenance of children sent out by parish authorities, the + understanding being that it would have the service of the same + until they were of age.<a id="footnotetag23" + name="footnotetag23"></a><a href= + "#footnote23"><sup>23</sup></a> The Company was to teach + each boy a trade and when his freedom year arrived was to + give to each one fifty acres, a cow, some seed corn, tools, + and firearms. He then became the Company's tenant, for seven + years more giving to it one-half of his produce, at the end + of which time he came into full possession of twenty-five + acres. After the Company collapsed individuals took up the + idea. Children under twelve years of age might be bound for + seven years, and persons over twenty-one for no more than + four; but the common term was five years.</p> + + <p>Under this system fell servants voluntary and involuntary. + Hundreds of people, too poor to pay for their transportation, + sold themselves for a number of years to pay for the transfer. + Some who were known as "freewillers" had some days in which to + dispose of themselves to the best advantage in America; if they + could not make satisfactory terms, they too were sold to pay + for the passage. More important from the standpoint of the + system itself, however, was the number of involuntary servants + brought hither. Political offenders, vagrants, and other + criminals were thus sent to the colonies, and many persons, + especially boys and girls, were kidnapped in the streets of + London and "spirited" away. Thus came Irishmen or Scotchmen who + had incurred the ire of the crown, Cavaliers or Roundheads + according as one party or the other was out of power, and + farmers who had engaged in Monmouth's rebellion; and in the + year 1680 alone it was estimated that not less than ten + thousand persons were "spirited" away from England. It is easy + to see how such a system became a highly profitable one for + shipmasters and those in connivance with them. Virginia + objected to the criminals, and in 1671 the House of Burgesses + passed a law against the importing of such persons, and the + same was approved by the governor. Seven years later, however, + it was set aside for the transportation of political + offenders.</p> + + <p>As having the status of an apprentice the servant could sue + in court and he was regularly allowed "freedom dues" at the + expiration of his term. He could not vote, however, could not + bear weapons, and of course could not hold office. In some + cases, especially where the system was voluntary, servants + sustained kindly relations with their masters, a few even + becoming secretaries or tutors. More commonly, however, the lot + of the indentured laborer was a hard one, his food often being + only coarse Indian meal, and water mixed with molasses. The + moral effect of the system was bad in the fate to which it + subjected woman and in the evils resulting from the sale of the + labor of children. In this whole connection, however, it is to + be remembered that the standards of the day were very different + from those of our own. The modern humanitarian impulse had not + yet moved the heart of England, and flogging was still common + for soldiers and sailors, criminals and children alike.</p> + + <p>The first Negroes brought to the colonies were technically + servants, and generally as Negro slavery advanced white + servitude declined. James II, in fact, did whatever he could to + hasten the end of servitude in order that slavery might become + more profitable. Economic forces were with him, for while a + slave varied in price from £10 to £50, the mere cost of + transporting a servant was from £6 to £10. "Servitude became + slavery when to such incidents as alienation, disfranchisement, + whipping, and limited marriage were added those of perpetual + service and a denial of civil, juridical, marital and property + rights as well as the denial of the possession of + children."<a id="footnotetag24" + name="footnotetag24"></a><a href= + "#footnote24"><sup>24</sup></a> Even after slavery was well + established, however, white men and women were frequently + retained as domestic servants, and the system of servitude + did not finally pass in all of its phases before the + beginning of the Revolutionary War.</p> + + <p>Negro slavery was thus distinctively an evolution. As the + first Negroes were taken by pirates, the rights of ownership + could not legally be given to those who purchased them; hence + slavery by custom preceded slavery by statute. Little by little + the colonies drifted into the sterner system. The transition + was marked by such an act as that in Rhode Island, which in + 1652 permitted a Negro to be bound for ten years. We have + already referred to the Act of Assembly in Virginia in 1661 to + the effect that Negroes were incapable of making satisfaction + for time lost in running away by addition of time. Even before + it had become generally enacted or understood in the colonies, + however, that a child born of slave parents should serve for + life, a new question had arisen, that of the issue of a free + person and a slave. This led Virginia in 1662 to lead the way + with an act declaring that the status of a child should be + determined by that of the mother,<a id="footnotetag25" + name="footnotetag25"></a><a href= + "#footnote25"><sup>25</sup></a> which act both gave to + slavery the sanction of law and made it hereditary. From + this time forth Virginia took a commanding lead in + legislation; and it is to be remembered that when we refer + to this province we by no means have reference to the + comparatively small state of to-day, but to the richest and + most populous of the colonies. This position Virginia + maintained until after the Revolutionary War, and not only + the present West Virginia but the great Northwest Territory + were included in her domain.</p> + + <p>The slave had none of the ordinary rights of citizenship; in + a criminal case he could be arrested, tried, and condemned with + but one witness against him, and he could be sentenced without + a jury. In Virginia in 1630 one Hugh Davis was ordered to be + "soundly whipped before an assembly of Negroes and others, for + abusing himself to the dishonor of God and the shame of + Christians, by defiling his body in lying with a Negro."<a id= + "footnotetag26" + name="footnotetag26"></a><a href= + "#footnote26"><sup>26</sup></a> Just ten years afterwards, + in 1640, one Robert Sweet was ordered "to do penance in + church, according to the laws of England, for getting a + Negro woman with child, and the woman to be whipped."<a id= + "footnotetag27" + name="footnotetag27"></a><a href= + "#footnote27"><sup>27</sup></a> Thus from the very beginning + the intermixture of the races was frowned upon and went on + all the same. By the time, moreover, that the important acts + of 1661 and 1662 had formally sanctioned slavery, doubt had + arisen in the minds of some Virginians as to whether one + Christian could legitimately hold another in bondage; and in + 1667 it was definitely stated that the conferring of baptism + did not alter the condition of a person as to his bondage or + freedom, so that masters, freed from this doubt, could now + "more carefully endeavor the propagation of Christianity." + In 1669 an "act about the casual killing of slaves" provided + that if any slave resisted his master and under the + extremity of punishment chanced to die, his death was not to + be considered a felony and the master was to be acquitted. + In 1670 it was made clear that none but freeholders and + housekeepers should vote in the election of burgesses, and + in the same year provision was taken against the possible + ownership of a white servant by a free Negro, who + nevertheless "was not debarred from buying any of his own + nation." In 1692 there was legislation "for the more speedy + prosecution of slaves committing capital crimes"; and this + was reënacted in 1705, when some provision was made for the + compensation of owners and when it was further declared that + Negro, mulatto, and Indian slaves within the dominion were + "real estate" and "incapable in law to be witnesses in any + cases whatsoever"; and in 1723 there was an elaborate and + detailed act "directing the trial of slaves committing + capital crimes, and for the more effectual punishing + conspiracies and insurrections of them, and for the better + government of Negroes, mulattoes, and Indians, bond or + free." This last act specifically stated that no slave + should be set free upon any pretense whatsoever "except for + some meritorious services, to be adjudged and allowed by the + governor and council." All this legislation was soon found + to be too drastic and too difficult to enforce, and + modification was inevitable. This came in 1732, when it was + made possible for a slave to be a witness when another slave + was on trial for a capital offense, and in 1744 this + provision was extended to civil cases as well. In 1748 there + was a general revision of all existing legislation, with + special provision against attempted insurrections.</p> + + <p>Thus did Virginia pave the way, and more and more slave + codes took on some degree of definiteness and uniformity. Very + important was the act of 1705, which provided that a slave + might be inventoried as real estate. As property henceforth + there was nothing to prevent his being separated from his + family. Before the law he was no longer a person but a + thing.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Indian" + name="Indian"><i>The Indian, the Mulatto, and the Free + Negro</i></a></h4> + + <p>All along, it is to be observed, the problem of the Negro + was complicated by that of the Indian. At first there was a + feeling that Indians were to be treated not as Negroes but as + on the same basis as Englishmen. An act in Virginia of 1661-2 + summed up this feeling in the provision that they were not to + be sold as servants for any longer time than English people of + the same age, and injuries done to them were to be duly + remedied by the laws of England. About the same time a Powhatan + Indian sold for life was ordered to be set free. An interesting + enactment of 1670 attempted to give the Indian an intermediate + status between that of the Englishman and the Negro slave, as + "servants not being Christians, imported into the colony by + shipping" (i.e., Negroes) were to be slaves for their lives, + but those that came by land were to serve "if boys or girls + until thirty years of age; if men or women, twelve years and no + longer." All such legislation, however, was radically changed + as a result of Nathaniel Bacon's rebellion of 1676, in which + the aid of the natives was invoked against the English + governor. Henceforth Indians taken in war became the slaves for + life of their captors. An elaborate act of 1682 summed up the + new status, and Indians sold by other Indians were to be + "adjudged, deemed, and taken to be slaves, to all intents and + purposes, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary + notwithstanding." Indian women were to be "tithables,"<a id= + "footnotetag28" + name="footnotetag28"></a><a href= + "#footnote28"><sup>28</sup></a> and they were required to + pay levies just as Negro women. From this time forth + enactments generally included Indians along with Negroes, + but of course the laws placed on the statute books did not + always bear close relation to what was actually enforced, + and in general the Indian was destined to be a vanishing + rather than a growing problem. Very early in the eighteenth + century, in connection with the wars between the English and + the Spanish in Florida, hundreds of Indians were shipped to + the West Indies and some to New England. Massachusetts in + 1712 prohibited such importation, as the Indians were + "malicious, surly, and very ungovernable," and she was + followed to similar effect by Pennsylvania in 1712, by New + Hampshire in 1714, and by Connecticut and Rhode Island in + 1715.</p> + + <p>If the Indian was destined to be a vanishing factor, the + mulatto and the free Negro most certainly were not. In spite of + all the laws to prevent it, the intermixture of the races + increased, and manumission somehow also increased. Sometimes a + master in his will provided that several of his slaves should + be given their freedom. Occasionally a slave became free by + reason of what was regarded as an act of service to the + commonwealth, as in the case of one Will, slave belonging to + Robert Ruffin, of the county of Surry in Virginia, who in 1710 + divulged a conspiracy.<a id="footnotetag29" + name="footnotetag29"></a><a href= + "#footnote29"><sup>29</sup></a> There is, moreover, on + record a case of an indentured Negro servant, John Geaween, + who by his unusual thrift in the matter of some hogs which + he raised on the share system with his master, was able as + early as 1641 to purchase his own son from another master, + to the perfect satisfaction of all concerned.<a id= + "footnotetag30" + name="footnotetag30"></a><a href= + "#footnote30"><sup>30</sup></a> Of special importance for + some years were those persons who were descendants of Negro + fathers and indentured white mothers, and who at first were + of course legally free. By 1691 the problem had become acute + in Virginia. In this year "for prevention of that abominable + mixture and spurious issue, which hereafter may increase in + this dominion, as well by Negroes, mulattoes and Indians + intermarrying with English or other white women, as by their + unlawful accompanying with one another," it was enacted that + "for the time to come whatsoever English or other white man + or woman being free shall intermarry with a Negro, mulatto, + or Indian man or woman, bond or free, shall within three + months after such marriage be banished and removed from this + dominion forever, and that the justices of each respective + county within this dominion make it their particular care + that this act be put in effectual execution."<a id= + "footnotetag31" + name="footnotetag31"></a><a href= + "#footnote31"><sup>31</sup></a> A white woman who became the + mother of a child by a Negro or mulatto was to be fined £15 + sterling, in default of payment was to be sold for five + years, while the child was to be bound in servitude to the + church wardens until thirty years of age. It was further + provided that if any Negro or mulatto was set free, he was + to be transported from the country within six months of his + manumission (which enactment is typical of those that it was + difficult to enforce and that after a while were only + irregularly observed). In 1705 it was enacted that no + "Negro, mulatto, or Indian shall from and after the + publication of this act bear any office ecclesiastical, + civil or military, or be in any place of public trust or + power, within this her majesty's colony and dominion of + Virginia"; and to clear any doubt that might arise as to who + should be accounted a mulatto, it was provided that "the + child of an Indian, and the child, grandchild, or + great-grandchild of a Negro shall be deemed, accounted, + held, and taken to be a mulatto." It will be observed that + while the act of 1670 said that "none but freeholders and + housekeepers" could vote, this act of 1705 did not + specifically legislate against voting by a mulatto or a free + Negro, and that some such privilege was exercised for a + while appears from the definite provision in 1723 that "no + free Negro, mulatto, or Indian, whatsoever, shall hereafter + have any vote at the election of burgesses, or any other + election whatsoever." In the same year it was provided that + free Negroes and mulattoes might be employed as drummers or + trumpeters in servile labor, but that they were not to bear + arms; and all free Negroes above sixteen years of age were + declared tithable. In 1769, however, all free Negro and + mulatto women were exempted from levies as tithables, such + levies having proved to be burdensome and "derogatory to the + rights of freeborn subjects."</p> + + <p>More than other colonies Maryland seems to have been + troubled about the intermixture of the races; certainly no + other phase of slavery here received so much attention. This + was due to the unusual emphasis on white servitude in the + colony. In 1663 it was enacted that any freeborn woman + intermarrying with a slave should serve the master of the slave + during the life of her husband and that any children resulting + from the union were also to be slaves. This act was evidently + intended to frighten the indentured woman from such a marriage. + It had a very different effect. Many masters, in order to + prolong the indenture of their white female servants, + encouraged them to marry Negro slaves. Accordingly a new law in + 1681 threw the responsibility not on the indentured woman but + on the master or mistress; in case a marriage took place + between a white woman-servant and a slave, the woman was to be + free at once, any possible issue was to be free, and the + minister performing the ceremony and the master or mistress + were to be fined ten thousand pounds of tobacco. This did not + finally dispose of the problem, however, and in 1715, in + response to a slightly different situation, it was enacted that + a white woman who became the mother of a child by a free Negro + father should become a servant for seven years, the father also + a servant for seven years, and the child a servant until + thirty-one years of age. Any white man who begot a Negro woman + with child, whether a free woman or a slave, was to undergo the + same penalty as a white woman—a provision that in course of + time was notoriously disregarded. In 1717 the problem was still + unsettled, and in this year it was enacted that Negroes or + mulattoes of either sex intermarrying with white people were to + be slaves for life, except mulattoes born of white women, who + were to serve for seven years, and the white person so + intermarrying also for seven years. It is needless to say that + with all these changing and contradictory provisions many + servants and Negroes did not even know what the law was. In + 1728, however, free mulatto women having illegitimate children + by Negroes and other slaves, and free Negro women having + illegitimate children by white men, and their issue, were + subjected to the same penalties as in the former act were + provided against white women. Thus vainly did the colony of + Maryland struggle with the problem of race intermixture. + Generally throughout the South the rule in the matter of the + child of the Negro father and the indentured white mother was + that the child should be bound in servitude for thirty or + thirty-one years.</p> + + <p>In the North as well as in the South the intermingling of + the blood of the races was discountenanced. In Pennsylvania as + early as 1677 a white servant was indicted for cohabiting with + a Negro. In 1698 the Chester County court laid it down as a + principle that the mingling of the races was not to be allowed. + In 1722 a woman was punished for promoting a secret marriage + between a white woman and a Negro; a little later the Assembly + received from the inhabitants of the province a petition + inveighing against cohabiting; and in 1725-6 a law was passed + positively forbidding the mixture of the races.<a id= + "footnotetag32" + name="footnotetag32"></a><a href= + "#footnote32"><sup>32</sup></a> In Massachusetts as early as + 1705 and 1708 restraining acts to prevent a "spurious and + mixt issue" ordered the sale of offending Negroes and + mulattoes out of the colony's jurisdiction, and punished + Christians who intermarried with them by a fine of £50. + After the Revolutionary War such marriages were declared + void and the penalty of £50 was still exacted, and not until + 1843 was this act repealed. Thus was the color-line, with + its social and legal distinctions, extended beyond the + conditions of servitude and slavery, and thus early was an + important phase of the ultimate Negro Problem + foreshadowed.</p> + + <p>Generally then, in the South, in the colonial period, the + free Negro could not vote, could not hold civil office, could + not give testimony in cases involving white men, and could be + employed only for fatigue duty in the militia. He could not + purchase white servants, could not intermarry with white + people, and had to be very circumspect in his relations with + slaves. No deprivation of privilege, however, relieved him of + the obligation to pay taxes. Such advantages as he possessed + were mainly economic. The money gained from his labor was his + own; he might become skilled at a trade; he might buy land; he + might buy slaves;<a id="footnotetag33" + name="footnotetag33"></a><a href= + "#footnote33"><sup>33</sup></a> he might even buy his wife + and child if, as most frequently happened, they were slaves; + and he might have one gun with which to protect his + home.<a id="footnotetag34" + name="footnotetag34"></a><a href= + "#footnote34"><sup>34</sup></a> Once in a long while he + might even find some opportunity for education, as when the + church became the legal warden of Negro apprentices. + Frequently he found a place in such a trade as that of the + barber or in other personal service, and such work accounted + very largely for the fact that he was generally permitted to + remain in communities where technically he had no right to + be. In the North his situation was little better than in the + South, and along economic lines even harder. Everywhere his + position was a difficult one. He was most frequently + regarded as idle and shiftless, and as a breeder of + mischief; but if he showed unusual thrift he might even be + forced to leave his home and go elsewhere. Liberty, the boon + of every citizen, the free Negro did not possess. For all + the finer things of life—the things that make life worth + living—the lot that was his was only less hard than that of + the slave.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Betterment" + name="Betterment"><i>First Effort for Social + Betterment</i></a></h4> + + <p>If now we turn aside from laws and statutes and consider the + ordinary life and social intercourse of the Negro, we shall + find more than one contradiction, for in the colonial era codes + affecting slaves and free Negroes had to grope their way to + uniformity. Especially is it necessary to distinguish between + the earlier and the later years of the period, for as early as + 1760 the liberalism of the Revolutionary era began to be felt. + If we consider what was strictly the colonial epoch, we may + find it necessary to make a division about the year 1705. + Before this date the status of the Negro was complicated by the + incidents of the system of servitude; after it, however, in + Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts alike, special + discrimination against him on account of race was given formal + recognition.</p> + + <p>By 1715 there were in Virginia 23,000 Negroes, and in all + the colonies 58,850, or 14 per cent of the total + population.<a id="footnotetag35" + name="footnotetag35"></a><a href= + "#footnote35"><sup>35</sup></a> By 1756, however, the + Negroes in Virginia numbered 120,156 and the white people + but 173,316.<a id="footnotetag36" + name="footnotetag36"></a><a href= + "#footnote36"><sup>36</sup></a> Thirty-eight of the + forty-nine counties had more Negro than white tithables, and + eleven of the counties had a Negro population varying from + one-fourth to one-half more than the white. A great many of + the Negroes had only recently been imported from Africa, and + they were especially baffling to their masters of course + when they conversed in their native tongues. At first only + men were brought, but soon women came also, and the + treatment accorded these people varied all the way from + occasional indulgence to the utmost cruelty. The hours of + work regularly extended from sunrise to sunset, though + corn-husking and rice-beating were sometimes continued after + dark, and overseers were almost invariably ruthless, often + having a share in the crops. Those who were house-servants + would go about only partially clad, and the slave might be + marked or branded like one of the lower animals; he was not + thought to have a soul, and the law sought to deprive him of + all human attributes. Holiday amusement consisted largely of + the dances that the Negroes had brought with them, these + being accompanied by the beating of drums and the blowing of + horns; and funeral ceremonies featured African mummeries. + For those who were criminal offenders simple execution was + not always considered severe enough; the right hand might + first be amputated, the criminal then hanged and his head + cut off, and his body quartered and the parts suspended in + public places. Sometimes the hanging was in chains, and + several instances of burning are on record. A master was + regularly reimbursed by the government for a slave legally + executed, and in 1714 there was a complaint in South + Carolina that the treasury had become almost exhausted by + such reimbursements. In Massachusetts hanging was the worst + legal penalty, but the obsolete common-law punishment was + revived in 1755 to burn alive a slave-woman who had killed + her master in Cambridge.<a id="footnotetag37" + name="footnotetag37"></a><a href= + "#footnote37"><sup>37</sup></a></p> + + <p>The relations between the free Negro and the slave might + well have given cause for concern. Above what was after all + only an artificial barrier spoke the call of race and + frequently of kindred. Sometimes at a later date jealousy arose + when a master employed a free Negro to work with his slaves, + the one receiving pay and the others laboring without + compensation. In general, however, the two groups worked like + brothers, each giving the other the benefit of any temporary + advantage that it possessed. Sometimes the free Negro could + serve by reason of the greater freedom of movement that he had, + and if no one would employ him, or if, as frequently happened, + he was browbeaten and cheated out of the reward of his labor, + the slave might somehow see that he got something to eat. In a + state of society in which the relation of master and slave was + the rule, there was of course little place for either the free + Negro or the poor white man. When the pressure became too great + the white man moved away; the Negro, finding himself everywhere + buffeted, in the colonial era at least had little choice but to + work out his salvation at home as well as he could. More and + more character told, and if a man had made himself known for + his industry and usefulness, a legislative act might even be + passed permitting him to remain in the face of a hostile law. + Even before 1700 there were in Virginia families in which both + parents were free colored persons and in which every effort was + made to bring up the children in honesty and morality. When + some prosperous Negroes found themselves able to do so, they + occasionally purchased Negroes, who might be their own children + or brothers, in order to give them that protection without + which on account of recent manumission they might be required + to leave the colony in which they were born. Thus, whatever the + motive, the tie that bound the free Negro and the slave was a + strong one; and in spite of the fact that Negroes who owned + slaves were generally known as hard masters, as soon as any men + of the race began to be really prominent their best endeavor + was devoted to the advancement of their people. It was not + until immediately after the Revolutionary War, however, that + leaders of vision and statesmanship began to be developed.</p> + + <p>It was only the materialism of the eighteenth century that + accounted for the amazing development of the system of Negro + slavery, and only this that defeated the benevolence of + Oglethorpe's scheme for the founding of Georgia. As yet there + was no united protest—no general movement for freedom; and as + Von Holst said long afterwards, "If the agitation had been + wholly left to the churches, it would have been long before men + could have rightly spoken of 'a slavery question.'" The + Puritans, however, were not wholly unmindful of the evil, and + the Quakers were untiring in their opposition, though it was + Roger Williams who in 1637 made the first protest that appears + in the colonies.<a id="footnotetag38" + name="footnotetag38"></a><a href= + "#footnote38"><sup>38</sup></a> Both John Eliot and Cotton + Mather were somewhat generally concerned about the harsh + treatment of the Negro and the neglect of his spiritual + welfare. Somewhat more to the point was Richard Baxter, the + eminent English nonconformist, who was a contemporary of + both of these men. "Remember," said he, in speaking of + Negroes and other slaves, "that they are of as good a kind + as you; that is, they are reasonable creatures as well as + you, and born to as much natural liberty. If their sin have + enslaved them to you, yet Nature made them your equals." On + the subject of man-stealing he is even stronger: "To go as + pirates and catch up poor Negroes or people of another land, + that never forfeited life or liberty, and to make them + slaves, and sell them, is one of the worst kinds of thievery + in the world." Such statements, however, were not more than + the voice of individual opinion. The principles of the + Quakers carried them far beyond the Puritans, and their + history shows what might have been accomplished if other + denominations had been as sincere and as unselfish as the + Society of Friends. The Germantown protest of 1688 has + already been remarked. In 1693 George Keith, in speaking of + fugitives, quoted with telling effect the text, "Thou shalt + not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped + from his master unto thee" (Deut. 23.15). In 1696 the Yearly + Meeting in Pennsylvania first took definite action in giving + as its advice "that Friends be careful not to encourage the + bringing in of any more Negroes; and that such that have + Negroes, be careful of them, bring them to meetings, have + meetings with them in their families, and restrain them from + loose and lewd living as much as in them lies, and from + rambling abroad on First-days or other times."<a id= + "footnotetag39" + name="footnotetag39"></a><a href= + "#footnote39"><sup>39</sup></a> As early as 1713 the Quakers + had in mind a scheme for freeing the Negroes and returning + them to Africa, and by 1715 their efforts against + importation had seriously impaired the market for slaves in + Philadelphia. Within a century after the Germantown protest + the abolition of slavery among the Quakers was practically + accomplished.</p> + + <p>In the very early period there seems to have been little + objection to giving a free Negro not only religious but also + secular instruction; indeed he might be entitled to this, as in + Virginia, where in 1691 the church became the agency through + which the laws of Negro apprenticeship were carried out; thus + in 1727 it was ordered that David James, a free Negro boy, be + bound to Mr. James Isdel, who was to "teach him to read the + Bible distinctly, also the trade of a gunsmith" and "carry him + to the clerk's office and take indenture to that + purpose."<a id="footnotetag40" + name="footnotetag40"></a><a href= + "#footnote40"><sup>40</sup></a> In general the English + church did a good deal to provide for the religious + instruction of the free Negro; "the reports made in 1724 to + the English bishop by the Virginia parish ministers are + evidence that the few free Negroes in the parishes were + permitted to be baptized, and were received into the church + when they had been taught the catechism."<a id= + "footnotetag41" + name="footnotetag41"></a><a href= + "#footnote41"><sup>41</sup></a> Among Negroes, moreover, as + well as others in the colonies the Society for the + Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was active. As + early as 1705, in Goose Creek Parish in South Carolina, + among a population largely recently imported from Africa, a + missionary had among his communicants twenty blacks who well + understood the English tongue.<a id="footnotetag42" + name="footnotetag42"></a><a href= + "#footnote42"><sup>42</sup></a> The most effective work of + the Society, however, was in New York, where as early as + 1704 a school was opened by Elias Neau, a Frenchman who + after several years of imprisonment because of his + Protestant faith had come to New York to try his fortune as + a trader. In 1703 he had called the attention of the Society + to the Negroes who were "without God in the world, and of + whose souls there was no manner of care taken," and had + suggested the appointment of a catechist. He himself was + prevailed upon to take up the work and he accordingly + resigned his position as an elder in the French church and + conformed to the Church of England. He worked with success + for a number of years, but in 1712 was embarrassed by the + charge that his school fomented the insurrection that was + planned in that year. He finally showed, however, that only + one of his students was in any way connected with the + uprising.</p> + + <p>From slave advertisements of the eighteenth century<a id= + "footnotetag43" + name="footnotetag43"></a><a href= + "#footnote43"><sup>43</sup></a> we may gain many sidelights + not only on the education of Negroes in the colonial era, + but on their environment and suffering as well. One slave + "can write a pretty good hand; plays on the fife extremely + well." Another "can both read and write and is a good + fiddler." Still others speak "Dutch and good English," "good + English and High Dutch," or "Swede and English well." + Charles Thomas of Delaware bore the following remarkable + characterization: "Very black, has white teeth ... has had + his left leg broke ... speaks both French and English, and + is a very great rogue." One man who came from the West + Indies "was born in Dominica and speaks French, but very + little English; he is a very ill-natured fellow and has been + much cut in his back by often whipping." A Negro named Simon + who in 1740 ran away in Pennsylvania "could bleed and draw + teeth pretending to be a great doctor." Worst of all the + incidents of slavery, however, was the lack of regard for + home ties, and this situation of course obtained in the + North as well as the South. In the early part of the + eighteenth century marriages in New York were by mutual + consent only, without the blessing of the church, and burial + was in a common field without any Christian office. In + Massachusetts in 1710 Rev. Samuel Phillips drew up a + marriage formulary especially designed for slaves and + concluding as follows: "For you must both of you bear in + mind that you remain still, as really and truly as ever, + your master's property, and therefore it will be justly + expected, both by God and man, that you behave and conduct + yourselves as obedient and faithful servants."<a id= + "footnotetag44" + name="footnotetag44"></a><a href= + "#footnote44"><sup>44</sup></a> In Massachusetts, however, + as in New York, marriage was most often by common consent + simply, without the office of ministers.</p> + + <p>As yet there was no racial consciousness, no church, no + business organization, and the chief coöperative effort was in + insurrection. Until the great chain of slavery was thrown off, + little independent effort could be put forth. Even in the state + of servitude or slavery, however, the social spirit of the race + yearned to assert itself, and such an event as a funeral was + attractive primarily because of the social features that it + developed. As early as 1693 there is record of the formation of + a distinct society by Negroes. In one of his manuscript + diaries, preserved in the library of the Massachusetts + Historical Society,<a id="footnotetag45" + name="footnotetag45"></a><a href= + "#footnote45"><sup>45</sup></a> Cotton Mather in October of + this year wrote as follows: "Besides the other praying and + pious meetings which I have been continually serving in our + neighborhood, a little after this period a company of poor + Negroes, of their own accord, addressed me, for my + countenance to a design which they had, of erecting such a + meeting for the welfare of their miserable nation, that were + servants among us. I allowed their design and went one + evening and prayed and preached (on Ps. 68.31) with them; + and gave them the following orders, which I insert duly for + the curiosity of the occasion." The Rules to which Mather + here refers are noteworthy as containing not one suggestion + of anti-slavery sentiment, and as portraying the altogether + abject situation of the Negro at the time he wrote; + nevertheless the text used was an inspiring one, and in any + case the document must have historical importance as the + earliest thing that has come down to us in the nature of the + constitution or by-laws for a distinctively Negro + organization. It is herewith given entire:</p> + + <p class="letter"> +Rules for the Society of Negroes. 1693.<br/> +    We the Miserable Children of Adam, and of Noah, + thankfully Admiring and Accepting the Free-Grace of GOD, + that Offers to Save us from our Miseries, by the Lord Jesus + Christ, freely Resolve, with His Help, to become the + Servants of that Glorious LORD.<br/> +    And that we may be Assisted in the Service of our + Heavenly Master, we now join together in a SOCIETY, wherein + the following RULES are to be observed.<br/> +    I. It shall be our Endeavor, to Meet in the + <i>Evening</i> after the <i>Sabbath</i>; and Pray together + by Turns, one to Begin, and another to Conclude the + Meeting; And between the two <i>Prayers</i>, a <i>Psalm</i> + shall be sung, and a <i>Sermon</i> Repeated.<br/> +    II. Our coming to the Meeting, shall never be without + the <i>Leave</i> of such as have Power over us: And we will + be Careful, that our Meeting may Begin and Conclude between + the Hours of <i>Seven</i> and <i>Nine</i>; and that we may + not be <i>unseasonably Absent</i> from the Families whereto + we pertain.<br/> +    III. As we will, with the help of God, at all Times + avoid all <i>Wicked Company</i>, so we will Receive none + into our Meeting, but such as have sensibly <i>Reformed</i> + their lives from all manner of Wickedness. And, therefore, + None shall be Admitted, without the Knowledge and Consent + of the <i>Minister</i> of God in this place; unto whom we + will also carry every Person, that seeks for + <i>Admission</i> among us; to be by Him Examined, + Instructed and Exhorted.<br/> +    IV. We will, as often as may be, Obtain some Wise and + Good Man, of the English in the Neighborhood, and + especially the Officers of the Church, to look in upon us, + and by their Presence and Counsel, do what they think + fitting for us.<br/> +    V. If any of our Number fall into the Sin of + <i>Drunkenness</i>, or <i>Swearing</i>, or <i>Cursing</i>, + or <i>Lying</i>, or <i>Stealing</i>, or notorious + <i>Disobedience</i> or <i>Unfaithfulness</i> unto their + Masters, we will Admonish him of his Miscarriage, and + Forbid his coming to the Meeting, for at least <i>one + Fortnight</i>; And except he then come with great Signs and + Hopes of his <i>Repentance</i>, we will utterly Exclude + him, with Blotting his <i>Name</i> out of our list.<br/> +    VI. If any of our Society Defile himself with + <i>Fornication</i>, we will give him our <i>Admonition</i>; + and so, debar him from the Meeting, at least half a Year: + Nor shall he Return to it, ever any more, without Exemplary + Testimonies of his becoming a <i>New Creature</i>.<br/> +    VII. We will, as we have Opportunity, set ourselves to + do all the Good we can, to the other <i>Negro-Servants</i> + in the Town; And if any of them should, at unfit Hours, be + <i>Abroad</i>, much more, if any of them should <i>Run + away</i> from their Masters, we will afford them <i>no + Shelter</i>: But we will do what in us lies, that they may + be discovered, and punished. And if any of <i>us</i> are + found Faulty in this matter, they shall be no longer of + <i>us</i>.<br/> +    VIII. None of our Society shall be <i>Absent</i> from + our Meeting, without giving a Reason of the Absence; and if + it be found, that any have pretended unto their + <i>Owners</i>, that they came unto the Meeting, when they + were otherwise and elsewhere Employed, we will faithfully + <i>Inform</i> their Owners, and also do what we can to + Reclaim such Person from all such Evil Courses for the + Future:<br/> +    IX. It shall be expected from every one in the Society, + that he learn the Catechism; And therefore, it shall be one + of our usual Exercises, for one of us, to ask the + <i>Questions</i>, and for all the rest in their Order, to + say the <i>Answers</i> in the Catechism; Either, The <i>New + English</i> Catechism, or the <i>Assemblies</i> Catechism, + or the Catechism in the <i>Negro Christianised</i>.</p> + + + <h4>4. <a id="Insurrections" + name="Insurrections"><i>Early Insurrections</i></a></h4> + + <p>The Negroes who came to America directly from Africa in the + eighteenth century were strikingly different from those whom + generations of servitude later made comparatively docile. They + were wild and turbulent in disposition and were likely at any + moment to take revenge for the great wrong that had been + inflicted upon them. The planters in the South knew this and + lived in constant fear of uprisings. When the situation became + too threatening, they placed prohibitive duties on + importations, and they also sought to keep their slaves in + subjection by barbarous and cruel modes of punishment, both + crucifixion and burning being legalized in some early codes. On + sea as well as on land Negroes frequently rose upon those who + held them in bondage, and sometimes they actually won their + freedom. More and more, however, in any study of Negro + insurrections it becomes difficult to distinguish between a + clearly organized revolt and what might be regarded as simply a + personal crime, so that those uprisings considered in the + following discussion can only be construed as the more + representative of the many attempts for freedom made by Negro + slaves in the colonial era.</p> + + <p>In 1687 there was in Virginia a conspiracy among the Negroes + in the Northern Neck that was detected just in time to prevent + slaughter, and in Surry County in 1710 there was a similar + plot, betrayed by one of the conspirators. In 1711, in South + Carolina, several Negroes ran away from their masters and "kept + out, armed, robbing and plundering houses and plantations, and + putting the inhabitants of the province in great fear and + terror";<a id="footnotetag46" + name="footnotetag46"></a><a href= + "#footnote46"><sup>46</sup></a> and Governor Gibbes more + than once wrote to the legislature about amending the Negro + Act, as the one already in force did "not reach up to some + of the crimes" that were daily being committed. For one + Sebastian, "a Spanish Negro," alive or dead, a reward of £50 + was offered, and he was at length brought in by the Indians + and taken in triumph to Charleston. In 1712 in New York + occurred an outbreak that occasioned greater excitement than + any uprising that had preceded it in the colonies. Early in + the morning of April 7 some slaves of the Carmantee and + Pappa tribes who had suffered ill-usage, set on fire the + house of Peter van Tilburgh, and, armed with guns and + knives, killed and wounded several persons who came to + extinguish the flames. They fled, however, when the Governor + ordered the cannon to be fired to alarm the town, and they + got away to the woods as well as they could, but not before + they had killed several more of the citizens. Some shot + themselves in the woods and others were captured. Altogether + eight or ten white persons were killed, and, aside from + those Negroes who had committed suicide, eighteen or more + were executed, several others being transported. Of those + executed one was hanged alive in chains, some were burned at + the stake, and one was left to die a lingering death before + the gaze of the town.</p> + + <p>In May, 1720, some Negroes in South Carolina were fairly + well organized and killed a man named Benjamin Cattle, one + white woman, and a little Negro boy. They were pursued and + twenty-three taken and six convicted. Three of the latter were + executed, the other three escaping. In October, 1722, the + Negroes near the mouth of the Rappahannock in Virginia + undertook to kill the white people while the latter were + assembled in church, but were discovered and put to flight. On + this occasion, as on most others, Sunday was the day chosen for + the outbreak, the Negroes then being best able to get together. + In April, 1723, it was thought that some fires in Boston had + been started by Negroes, and the selectmen recommended that if + more than two Negroes were found "lurking together" on the + streets they should be put in the house of correction. In 1728 + there was a well organized attempt in Savannah, then a place of + three thousand white people and two thousand seven hundred + Negroes. The plan to kill all the white people failed because + of disagreement as to the exact method; but the body of Negroes + had to be, fired on more than once before it dispersed. In 1730 + there was in Williamsburg, Va., an insurrection that grew out + of a report that Colonel Spotswood had orders from the king to + free all baptized persons on his arrival; men from all the + surrounding counties had to be called in before it could be put + down.</p> + + <p>The first open rebellion in South Carolina in which Negroes + were "actually armed and embodied"<a id="footnotetag47" + name="footnotetag47"></a><a href= + "#footnote47"><sup>47</sup></a> took place in 1730. The plan + was for each Negro to kill his master in the dead of night, + then for all to assemble supposedly for a dancing-bout, rush + upon the heart of the city, take possession of the arms, and + kill any white man they saw. The plot was discovered and the + leaders executed. In this same colony three formidable + insurrections broke out within the one year 1739—one in St. + Paul's Parish, one in St. John's, and one in Charleston. To + some extent these seem to have been fomented by the + Spaniards in the South, and in one of them six houses were + burned and as many as twenty-five white people killed. The + Negroes were pursued and fourteen killed. Within two days + "twenty more were killed, and forty were taken, some of whom + were shot, some hanged, and some gibbeted alive."<a id= + "footnotetag48" + name="footnotetag48"></a><a href= + "#footnote48"><sup>48</sup></a> This "examplary punishment," + as Governor Gibbes called it, was by no means effective, for + in the very next year, 1740, there broke out what might be + considered the most formidable insurrection in the South in + the whole colonial period. A number of Negroes, having + assembled at Stono, first surprised, and killed two young + men in a warehouse, from which they then took guns and + ammunition.<a id="footnotetag49" + name="footnotetag49"></a><a href= + "#footnote49"><sup>49</sup></a> They then elected as captain + one of their own number named Cato, whom they agreed to + follow, and they marched towards the southwest, with drums + beating and colors flying, like a disciplined company. They + entered the home of a man named Godfrey, and having murdered + him and his wife and children, they took all the arms he + had, set fire to the house, and proceeded towards Jonesboro. + On their way they plundered and burned every house to which + they came, killing every white person they found and + compelling the Negroes to join them. Governor Bull, who + happened to be returning to Charleston from the southward, + met them, and observing them armed, spread the alarm, which + soon reached the Presbyterian Church at Wilton, where a + number of planters was assembled. The women were left in the + church trembling with fear, while the militia formed and + marched in quest of the Negroes, who by this time had become + formidable from the number that had joined them. They had + marched twelve miles and spread desolation through all the + plantations on their way. They had then halted in an open + field and too soon had begun to sing and drink and dance by + way of triumph. During these rejoicings the militia + discovered them and stationed themselves in different places + around them to prevent their escape. One party then advanced + into the open field and attacked the Negroes. Some were + killed and the others were forced to the woods. Many ran + back to the plantations, hoping thus to avoid suspicion, but + most of them were taken and tried. Such as had been forced + to join the uprising against their will were pardoned, but + all of the chosen leaders and the first insurgents were put + to death. All Carolina, we are told, was struck with terror + and consternation by this insurrection, in which more than + twenty white persons were killed. It was followed + immediately by the famous and severe Negro Act of 1740, + which among other provisions imposed a duty of £100 on + Africans and £150 on colonial Negroes. This remained + technically in force until 1822, and yet as soon as security + and confidence were restored, there was a relaxation in the + execution of the provisions of the act and the Negroes + little by little regained confidence in themselves and again + began to plan and act in concert.</p> + + <p>About the time of Cato's insurrection there were also + several uprisings at sea. In 1731, on a ship returning to Rhode + Island from Guinea with a cargo of slaves, the Negroes rose and + killed three of the crew, all the members of which died soon + afterwards with the exception of the captain and his boy. The + next year Captain John Major of Portsmouth, N.H., was murdered + with all his crew, his schooner and cargo being seized by the + slaves. In 1735 the captives on the <i>Dolphin</i> of London, + while still on the coast of Africa, overpowered the crew, broke + into the powder room, and finally in the course of their effort + for freedom blew up both themselves and the crew.</p> + + <p>A most remarkable design—as an insurrection perhaps not as + formidable as that of Cato, but in some ways the most important + single event in the history of the Negro in the colonial + period—was the plot in the city of New York in 1741. New York + was at the time a thriving town of twelve thousand inhabitants, + and the calamity that now befell it was unfortunate in every + way. It was not only a Negro insurrection, though the Negro + finally suffered most bitterly. It was also a strange compound + of the effects of whiskey and gambling, of the designs of + abandoned white people, and of prejudice against the + Catholics.</p> + + <p>Prominent in the remarkable drama were John Hughson, a + shoemaker and alehouse keeper; Sarah Hughson, his wife; John + Romme, also a shoemaker and alehouse keeper; Margaret Kerry, + alias Salinburgh, commonly known as Peggy; John Ury, a priest; + and a number of Negroes, chief among whom were Cæsar, Prince, + Cuffee, and Quack.<a id="footnotetag50" + name="footnotetag50"></a><a href= + "#footnote50"><sup>50</sup></a> Prominent among those who + helped to work out the plot were Mary Burton, a white + servant of Hughson's, sixteen years of age; Arthur Price, a + young white man who at the time of the proceedings happened + to be in prison on a charge of stealing; a young seaman + named Wilson; and two white women, Mrs. Earle and Mrs. Hogg, + the latter of whom assisted in the store kept by her + husband, Robert Hogg. Hughson's house on the outskirts of + the town was a resort for Negroes, and Hughson himself aided + and abetted the Negro men in any crime that they might + commit. Romme was of similar quality. Peggy was a + prostitute, and it was Cæsar who paid for her board with the + Hughsons. In the previous summer she had found lodging with + these people, a little later she had removed to Romme's, and + just before Christmas she had come back to Hughson's, and a + few weeks thereafter she became a mother. At both the public + houses the Negroes would engage in drinking and gambling; + and importance also attaches to an organization of theirs + known as the Geneva Society, which had angered some of the + white citizens by its imitation of the rites and forms of + freemasonry.</p> + + <p>Events really began on the night of Saturday, February 28, + 1741, with a robbery in the house of Hogg, the merchant, from + which were taken various pieces of linen and other goods, + several silver coins, chiefly Spanish, and medals, to the value + of about £60. On the day before, in the course of a simple + purchase by Wilson, Mrs. Hogg had revealed to the young seaman + her treasure. He soon spoke of the same to Cæsar, Prince, and + Cuffee, with whom he was acquainted; he gave them the plan of + the house, and they in turn spoke of the matter to Hughson. + Wilson, however, when later told of the robbery by Mrs. Hogg, + at once turned suspicion upon the Negroes, especially Cæsar; + and Mary Burton testified that she saw some of the speckled + linen in question in Peggy's room after Cæsar had gone + thither.</p> + + <p>On Wednesday, March 18, a fire broke out on the roof of His + Majesty's House at Fort George. One week later, on March 25, + there was a fire at the home of Captain Warren in the southwest + end of the city, and the circumstances pointed to incendiary + origin. One week later, on April 1, there was a fire in the + storehouse of a man named Van Zant; on the following Saturday + evening there was another fire, and while the people were + returning from this there was still another; and on the next + day, Sunday, there was another alarm, and by this time the + whole town had been worked up to the highest pitch of + excitement. As yet there was nothing to point to any connection + between the stealing and the fires. On the day of the last one, + however, Mrs. Earle happened to overhear remarks by three + Negroes that caused suspicion to light upon them; Mary Burton + was insisting that stolen goods had been brought by Prince and + Cæsar to the house of her master; and although a search of the + home of Hughson failed to produce a great deal, arrests were + made right and left. The case was finally taken to the Supreme + Court, and because of the white persons implicated, the summary + methods ordinarily used in dealing with Negroes were waived for + the time being.</p> + + <p>Peggy at first withstood all questioning, denying any + knowledge of the events that had taken place. One day in + prison, however, she remarked to Arthur Price that she was + afraid the Negroes would tell but that she would not forswear + herself unless they brought her into the matter. "How + forswear?" asked Price. "There are fourteen sworn," she said. + "What, is it about Mr. Hogg's goods?" he asked. "No," she + replied, "about the fire." "What, Peggy," asked Price, "were + you going to set the town on fire?" "No," she replied, "but + since I knew of it they made me swear." She also remarked that + she had faith in Prince, Cuff, and Cæsar. All the while she + used the vilest possible language, and at last, thinking + suddenly that she had revealed too much, she turned upon Price + and with an oath warned him that he had better keep his + counsel. That afternoon she said further to him that she could + not eat because Mary had brought her into the case.</p> + + <p>A little later Peggy, much afraid, voluntarily confessed + that early in May she was at the home of John Romme, where in + the course of December the Negroes had had several meetings; + among other things they had conspired to burn the fort first of + all, then the city, then to get all the goods they could and + kill anybody who had money. One evening just about Christmas, + she said, Romme and his wife and ten or eleven Negroes had been + together in a room. Romme had talked about how rich some people + were, gradually working on the feelings of the Negroes and + promising them that if they did not succeed in their designs he + would take them to a strange country and set them free, + meanwhile giving them the impression that he bore a charmed + life. A little later, it appeared, Cæsar gave to Hughson £12; + Hughson was then absent for three days, and when he came again + he brought with him seven or eight guns, some pistols, and some + swords.</p> + + <p>As a result of these and other disclosures it was seen that + not only Hughson and Romme but also Ury, who was not so much a + priest as an adventurer, had instigated the plots of the + Negroes; and Quack testified that Hughson was the first + contriver of the plot to burn the houses of the town and kill + the people, though he himself, he confessed, did fire the fort + with a lighted stick. The punishment was terrible. Quack and + Cuffee, the first to be executed, were burned at the stake on + May 30. All through the summer the trials and the executions + continued, harassing New York and indeed the whole country. + Altogether twenty white persons were arrested; four—Hughson, + his wife, Peggy, and Ury—were executed, and some of their + acquaintances were forced to leave the province. One hundred + and fifty-four Negroes were arrested. Thirteen were burned, + eighteen were hanged, and seventy-one transported.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>It is evident from these events and from the legislation of + the era that, except for the earnest work of such a sect as the + Quakers, there was little genuine effort for the improvement of + the social condition of the Negro people in the colonies. They + were not even regarded as potential citizens, and both in and + out of the system of slavery were subjected to the harshest + regulations. Towards amicable relations with the other racial + elements that were coming to build up a new country only the + slightest measure of progress was made. Instead, insurrection + after insurrection revealed the sharpest antagonism, and any + outbreak promptly called forth the severest and frequently the + most cruel punishment.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote22" + name="footnote22"></a><b>Footnote 22:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag22">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>New International Encyclopædia</i>, Article + "Slavery."</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote23" + name="footnote23"></a><b>Footnote 23:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag23">(return)</a><br/> + + Coman: <i>Industrial History</i>, 42.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote24" + name="footnote24"></a><b>Footnote 24:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag24">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>New International Encyclopædia</i>, Article + "Slavery."</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote25" + name="footnote25"></a><b>Footnote 25:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag25">(return)</a><br/> + + Hening: <i>Statutes</i>, II, 170.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote26" + name="footnote26"></a><b>Footnote 26:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag26">(return)</a><br/> + + Hening: <i>Statutes</i>, I, 146.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote27" + name="footnote27"></a><b>Footnote 27:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag27">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Ibid</i>., I, 552.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote28" + name="footnote28"></a><b>Footnote 28:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag28">(return)</a><br/> + + Hurd, commenting on an act of 1649 declaring all + imported male servants to be tithables, speaks as follows + (230): "<i>Tithables</i> were persons assessed for a + poll-tax, otherwise called the 'county levies.' At first, + only free white persons were tithable. The law of 1645 + provided for a tax on property and tithable persons. By + 1648 property was released and taxes levied only on the + tithables, at a specified poll-tax. Therefore by classing + servants or slaves as tithables, the law attributes to them + legal personality, or a membership in the social state + inconsistent with the condition of a chattel or + property."</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote29" + name="footnote29"></a><b>Footnote 29:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag29">(return)</a><br/> + + Hening: <i>Statutes</i>, III, 537.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote30" + name="footnote30"></a><b>Footnote 30:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag30">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Virginia Magazine of History</i>, X, 281.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote31" + name="footnote31"></a><b>Footnote 31:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag31">(return)</a><br/> + + The penalty was so ineffective that in 1705 it was + changed simply to imprisonment for six months "without bail + or mainprise."</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote32" + name="footnote32"></a><b>Footnote 32:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag32">(return)</a><br/> + + Turner: <i>The Negro in Pennsylvania</i>, 29-30.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote33" + name="footnote33"></a><b>Footnote 33:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag33">(return)</a><br/> + + Russell: <i>The Free Negro in Virginia</i>, 32-33, cites + from the court records of Northampton County, 1651-1654 and + 1655-1658, the noteworthy case of a free negro, Anthony + Johnson, who had come to Virginia not later than 1622 and + who by 1650 owned a large tract of land on the Eastern + Shore. To him belonged a Negro, John Casor. After several + years of labor Casor demanded his freedom on the ground + that from the first he had been an indentured servant and + not a slave. When the case came up in court, however, not + only did Johnson win the verdict that Casor was his slave, + but he also won his suit against Robert Parker, a white + man, who he asserted had illegally detained Casor.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote34" + name="footnote34"></a><b>Footnote 34:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag34">(return)</a><br/> + + Hening: <i>Statutes</i>, IV, 131.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote35" + name="footnote35"></a><b>Footnote 35:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag35">(return)</a><br/> + + Blake: <i>History of Slavery and the Slave-Trade</i>, + 378.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote36" + name="footnote36"></a><b>Footnote 36:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag36">(return)</a><br/> + + Ballagh: <i>Slavery in Virginia</i>, 12.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote37" + name="footnote37"></a><b>Footnote 37:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag37">(return)</a><br/> + + Edward Eggleston: "Social Conditions in the Colonies," + in <i>Century Magazine</i>, October, 1884, p. 863.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote38" + name="footnote38"></a><b>Footnote 38:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag38">(return)</a><br/> + + For this and the references immediately following note + Locke: <i>Anti-Slavery in America</i>, 11-45.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote39" + name="footnote39"></a><b>Footnote 39:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag39">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the + Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends against + Slavery and the Slave-Trade</i>, 8.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote40" + name="footnote40"></a><b>Footnote 40:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag40">(return)</a><br/> + + Russell: <i>The Free Negro in Virginia</i>, 138-9.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote41" + name="footnote41"></a><b>Footnote 41:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag41">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Ibid</i>., 138.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote42" + name="footnote42"></a><b>Footnote 42:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag42">(return)</a><br/> + + C.E. Pierre, in <i>Journal of Negro History</i>, + October, 1916, p. 350.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote43" + name="footnote43"></a><b>Footnote 43:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag43">(return)</a><br/> + + See documents, "Eighteenth Century Slave + Advertisements," <i>Journal of Negro History</i>, April, + 1916, 163-216.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote44" + name="footnote44"></a><b>Footnote 44:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag44">(return)</a><br/> + + Quoted from Williams: Centennial Oration, "The American + Negro from 1776 to 1876," 10.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote45" + name="footnote45"></a><b>Footnote 45:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag45">(return)</a><br/> + + See <i>Rules for the Society of Negroes</i>, 1693, by + Cotton Mather, reprinted, New York, 1888, by George H. + Moore.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote46" + name="footnote46"></a><b>Footnote 46:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag46">(return)</a><br/> + + Holland: <i>A Refutation of Calumnies</i>, 63.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote47" + name="footnote47"></a><b>Footnote 47:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag47">(return)</a><br/> + + Holland: <i>A Refutation of Calumnies</i>, 68.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote48" + name="footnote48"></a><b>Footnote 48:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag48">(return)</a><br/> + + Coffin.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote49" + name="footnote49"></a><b>Footnote 49:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag49">(return)</a><br/> + + The following account follows mainly Holland, quoting + Hewitt.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote50" + name="footnote50"></a><b>Footnote 50:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag50">(return)</a><br/> + + The sole authority on the plot is "A Journal of the + Proceedings in the Detection of the Conspiracy formed by + Some White People, in Conjunction with Negro and other + Slaves, for Burning the City of New York in America, and + Murdering the Inhabitants (by Judge Daniel Horsemanden). + New York, 1744."</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERIII" + name="CHAPTERIII"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + + <h3>THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA</h3> + + <h4>1. <a id="Sentiment" + name="Sentiment"><i>Sentiment in England and + America</i></a></h4> + + <p>The materialism of the eighteenth century, with all of its + evils, at length produced a liberalism of thought that was to + shake to their very foundations old systems of life in both + Europe and America. The progress of the cause of the Negro in + this period is to be explained by the general diffusion of + ideas that made for the rights of man everywhere. Cowper wrote + his humanitarian poems; in close association with the + romanticism of the day the missionary movement in religion + began to gather force; and the same impulse which in England + began the agitation for a free press and for parliamentary + reform, and which in France accounted for the French + Revolution, in America led to the revolt from Great Britain. No + patriot could come under the influence of any one of these + movements without having his heart and his sense of justice + stirred to some degree in behalf of the slave. At the same time + it must be remembered that the contest of the Americans was + primarily for the definite legal rights of Englishmen rather + than for the more abstract rights of mankind which formed the + platform of the French Revolution; hence arose the great + inconsistency in the position of men who were engaged in a + stern struggle for liberty at the same time that they + themselves were holding human beings in bondage.</p> + + <p>In England the new era was formally signalized by an + epoch-making decision. In November, 1769, Charles Stewart, once + a merchant in Norfolk and later receiver general of the customs + of North America, took to England his Negro slave, James + Somerset, who, being sick, was turned adrift by his master. + Later Somerset recovered and Stewart seized him, intending to + have him borne out of the country and sold in Jamaica. Somerset + objected to this and in so doing raised the important legal + question, Did a slave by being brought to England become free? + The case received an extraordinary amount of attention, for + everybody realized that the decision would be far-reaching in + its consequences. After it was argued at three different + sittings, Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of England, in 1772 + handed down from the Court of King's Bench the judgment that as + soon as ever any slave set his foot upon the soil of England he + became free.</p> + + <p>This decision may be taken as fairly representative of the + general advance that the cause of the Negro was making in + England at the time. Early in the century sentiment against the + slave-trade had begun to develop, many pamphlets on the evils + of slavery were circulated, and as early as 1776 a motion for + the abolition of the trade was made in the House of Commons. + John Wesley preached against the system, Adam Smith showed its + ultimate expensiveness, and Burke declared that the slavery + endured by the Negroes in the English settlements was worse + than that ever suffered by any other people. Foremost in the + work of protest were Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, + the one being the leader in investigation and in the + organization of the movement against slavery while the other + was the parliamentary champion of the cause. For years, + assisted by such debaters as Burke, Fox, and the younger Pitt, + Wilberforce worked until on March 25, 1807, the bill for the + abolition of the slave-trade received the royal assent, and + still later until slavery itself was abolished in the English + dominions (1833).</p> + + <p>This high thought in England necessarily found some + reflection in America, where the logic of the position of the + patriots frequently forced them to take up the cause of the + slave. As early as 1751 Benjamin Franklin, in his + <i>Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind</i>, pointed + out the evil effects of slavery upon population and the + production of wealth; and in 1761 James Otis, in his argument + against the Writs of Assistance, spoke so vigorously of the + rights of black men as to leave no doubt as to his own + position. To Patrick Henry slavery was a practice "totally + repugnant to the first impressions of right and wrong," and in + 1777 he was interested in a plan for gradual emancipation + received from his friend, Robert Pleasants. Washington desired + nothing more than "to see some plan adopted by which slavery + might be abolished by law"; while Joel Barlow in his + <i>Columbiad</i> gave significant warning to Columbia of the + ills that she was heaping up for herself.</p> + + <p>Two of the expressions of sentiment of the day, by reason of + their deep yearning and philosophic calm, somehow stand apart + from others. Thomas Jefferson in his <i>Notes on Virginia</i> + wrote: "The whole commerce between master and slave is a + perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions; the most + unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submission + on the other.... The man must be a prodigy who can retain his + manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances.... I + tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that + his justice can not sleep forever; that considering numbers, + nature, and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of + fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events; + that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The + Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a + contest."<a id="footnotetag51" + name="footnotetag51"></a><a href= + "#footnote51"><sup>51</sup></a> Henry Laurens, that fine + patriot whose business sense was excelled only by his + idealism, was harassed by the problem and wrote to his son, + Colonel John Laurens, as follows: "You know, my dear son, I + abhor slavery. I was born in a country where slavery had + been established by British kings and parliaments, as well + as by the laws of that country ages before my existence. I + found the Christian religion and slavery growing under the + same authority and cultivation. I nevertheless disliked it. + In former days there was no combating the prejudices of men + supported by interest; the day I hope is approaching when, + from principles of gratitude as well as justice, every man + will strive to be foremost in showing his readiness to + comply with the golden rule. Not less than twenty thousand + pounds sterling would all my Negroes produce if sold at + public auction to-morrow. I am not the man who enslaved + them; they are indebted to Englishmen for that favor; + nevertheless I am devising means for manumitting many of + them, and for cutting off the entail of slavery. Great + powers oppose me—the laws and customs of my country, my own + and the avarice of my countrymen. What will my children say + if I deprive them of so much estate? These are difficulties, + but not insuperable. I will do as much as I can in my time, + and leave the rest to a better hand."<a id="footnotetag52" + name="footnotetag52"></a><a href= + "#footnote52"><sup>52</sup></a> Stronger than all else, + however, were the immortal words of the Declaration of + Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That + all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their + Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these + are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Within the + years to come these words were to be denied and assailed as + perhaps no others in the language; but in spite of all they + were to stand firm and justify the faith of 1776 before + Jefferson himself and others had become submerged in a + gilded opportunism.</p> + + <p>It is not to be supposed that such sentiments were by any + means general; nevertheless these instances alone show that + some men at least in the colonies were willing to carry their + principles to their logical conclusion. Naturally opinion + crystallized in formal resolutions or enactments. Unfortunately + most of these were in one way or another rendered ineffectual + after the war; nevertheless the main impulse that they + represented continued to live. In 1769 Virginia declared that + the discriminatory tax levied on free Negroes and mulattoes + since 1668 was "derogatory to the rights of freeborn subjects" + and accordingly should be repealed. In October, 1774, the First + Continental Congress declared in its Articles of Association + that the united colonies would "neither import nor purchase any + slave imported after the first day of December next" and that + they would "wholly discontinue the trade." On April 16, 1776, + the Congress further resolved that "no slaves be imported into + any of the thirteen colonies"; and the first draft of the + Declaration of Independence contained a strong passage + censuring the King of England for bringing slaves into the + country and then inciting them to rise against their masters. + On April 14, 1775, the first abolition society in the country + was organized in Pennsylvania; in 1778 Virginia once more + passed an act prohibiting the slave-trade; and the Methodist + Conference in Baltimore in 1780 strongly expressed its + disapproval of slavery.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="War" + name="War"><i>The Negro in the War</i></a></h4> + + <p>As in all the greater wars in which the country has engaged, + the position of the Negro was generally improved by the + American Revolution. It was not by reason of any definite plan + that this was so, for in general the disposition of the + government was to keep him out of the conflict. Nevertheless + between the hesitating policy of America and the overtures of + England the Negro made considerable advance.</p> + + <p>The American cause in truth presented a strange and + embarrassing dilemma, as we have remarked. In the war itself, + moreover, began the stern cleavage between the North and the + South. At the moment the rift was not clearly discerned, but + afterwards it was to widen into a chasm. Massachusetts bore + more than her share of the struggle, and in the South the + combination of Tory sentiment and the aristocratic social + system made enlistment especially difficult. In this latter + section, moreover, there was always the lurking fear of an + uprising of the slaves, and before the end of the war came + South Carolina and Georgia were very nearly demoralized. In the + course of the conflict South Carolina lost not less than 25,000 + slaves,<a id="footnotetag53" + name="footnotetag53"></a><a href= + "#footnote53"><sup>53</sup></a> about one-fifth of all she + had. Georgia did not lose so many, but proportionally + suffered even more. Some of the Negroes went into the + British army, some went away with the loyalists, and some + took advantage of the confusion and escaped to the Indians. + In Virginia, until they were stopped at least, some slaves + entered the Continental Army as free Negroes.</p> + + <p>Three or four facts are outstanding. The formal policy of + Congress and of Washington and his officers was against the + enlistment of Negroes and especially of slaves; nevertheless, + while things were still uncertain, some Negroes entered the + regular units. The inducements offered by the English, + moreover, forced a modification of the American policy in + actual operation; and before the war was over the colonists + were so hard pressed that in more ways than one they were + willing to receive the assistance of Negroes. Throughout the + North Negroes served in the regular units; but while in the + South especially there was much thought given to the training + of slaves, in only one of all the colonies was there a + distinctively Negro military organization, and that one was + Rhode Island. In general it was understood that if a slave + served in the war he was to be given his freedom, and it is + worthy of note that many slaves served in the field instead of + their masters.</p> + + <p>In Massachusetts on May 29, 1775, the Committee of Safety + passed an act against the enlistment of slaves as "inconsistent + with the principles that are to be supported." Another + resolution of June 6 dealing with the same matter was laid on + the table. Washington took command of the forces in and about + Boston July 3, 1775, and on July 10 issued instructions to the + recruiting officers in Massachusetts against the enlisting of + Negroes. Toward the end of September there was a spirited + debate in Congress over a letter to go to Washington, the + Southern delegates, led by Rutledge of South Carolina, + endeavoring to force instructions to the commander-in-chief to + discharge all slaves and free Negroes in the army. A motion to + this effect failed to win a majority; nevertheless, a council + of Washington and his generals on October 8 "agreed unanimously + to reject all slaves, and, by a great majority, to reject + Negroes altogether," and in his general orders of November 12 + Washington acted on this understanding. Meanwhile, however, + Lord Dunmore issued his proclamation declaring free those + indentured servants and Negroes who would join the English + army, and in great numbers the slaves in Virginia flocked to + the British standard. Then on December 14—somewhat to the + amusement of both the Negroes and the English—the Virginia + Convention issued a proclamation offering pardon to those + slaves who returned to their duty within ten days. On December + 30 Washington gave instructions for the enlistment of free + Negroes, promising later to lay the matter before Congress; and + a congressional committee on January 16, 1776, reported that + those free Negroes who had already served faithfully in the + army at Cambridge might reënlist but no others, the debate in + this connection having drawn very sharply the line between the + North and the South. Henceforth for all practical purposes the + matter was left in the hands of the individual colonies. + Massachusetts on January 6, 1777, passed a resolution drafting + every seventh man to complete her quota "without any exception, + save the people called Quakers," and this was as near as she + came at any time in the war to the formal recognition of the + Negro. The Rhode Island Assembly in 1778 resolved to raise a + regiment of slaves, who were to be freed at enlistment, their + owners in no case being paid more than £120. In the Battle of + Rhode Island August 29, 1778, the Negro regiment under Colonel + Greene distinguished itself by deeds of desperate valor, + repelling three times the assaults of an overwhelming force of + Hessian troops. A little later, when Greene was about to be + murdered, some of these same soldiers had to be cut to pieces + before he could be secured. Maryland employed Negroes as + soldiers and sent them into regiments along with white men, and + it is to be remembered that at the time the Negro population of + Maryland was exceeded only by that of Virginia and South + Carolina. For the far South there was the famous Laurens plan + for the raising of Negro regiments.</p> + + <p>In a letter to Washington of March 16, 1779, Henry Laurens + suggested the raising and training of three thousand Negroes in + South Carolina. Washington was rather conservative about the + plan, having in mind the ever-present fear of the arming of + Negroes and wondering about the effect on those slaves who were + not given a chance for freedom. On June 30, 1779, however, Sir + Henry Clinton issued a proclamation only less far-reaching than + Dunmore's, threatening Negroes if they joined the "rebel" army + and offering them security if they came within the British + lines. This was effective; assistance of any kind that the + Continental Army could now get was acceptable; and the plan for + the raising of several battalions of Negroes in the South was + entrusted to Colonel John Laurens, a member of Washington's + staff. In his own way Colonel Laurens was a man of parts quite + as well as his father; he was thoroughly devoted to the + American cause and Washington said of him that his only fault + was a courage that bordered on rashness. He eagerly pursued his + favorite project; able-bodied slaves were to be paid for by + Congress at the rate of $1,000 each, and one who served to the + end of the war was to receive his freedom and $50 in addition. + In South Carolina, however, Laurens received little + encouragement, and in 1780 he was called upon to go to France + on a patriotic mission. He had not forgotten the matter when he + returned in 1782; but by that time Cornwallis had surrendered + and the country had entered upon the critical period of + adjustment to the new conditions. Washington now wrote to + Laurens: "I must confess that I am not at all astonished at the + failure of your plan. That spirit of freedom which, at the + commencement of this contest, would have gladly sacrificed + everything to the attainment of its object, has long since + subsided, and every selfish passion has taken its place. It is + not the public but private interest which influences the + generality of mankind; nor can the Americans any longer boast + an exception. Under these circumstances, it would rather have + been surprising if you had succeeded; nor will you, I fear, + have better success in Georgia."<a id="footnotetag54" + name="footnotetag54"></a><a href= + "#footnote54"><sup>54</sup></a></p> + + <p>From this brief survey we may at least see something of the + anomalous position occupied by the Negro in the American + Revolution. Altogether not less than three thousand, and + probably more, members of the race served in the Continental + army. At the close of the conflict New York, Rhode Island, and + Virginia freed their slave soldiers. In general, however, the + system of slavery was not affected, and the English were bound + by the treaty of peace not to carry away any Negroes. As late + as 1786, it is nevertheless interesting to note, a band of + Negroes calling themselves "The King of England's soldiers" + harassed and alarmed the people on both sides of the Savannah + River.</p> + + <p>Slavery remained; but people could not forget the valor of + the Negro regiment in Rhode Island, or the courage of + individual soldiers. They could not forget that it was a Negro, + Crispus Attucks, who had been the patriot leader in the Boston + Massacre, or the scene when he and one of his companions, Jonas + Caldwell, lay in Faneuil Hall. Those who were at Bunker Hill + could not fail to remember Peter Salem, who, when Major + Pitcairn of the British army was exulting in his expected + triumph, rushed forward, shot him in the breast, and killed + him; or Samuel Poor, whose officers testified that he performed + so many brave deeds that "to set forth particulars of his + conduct would be tedious." These and many more, some with very + humble names, in a dark day worked for a better country. They + died in faith, not having received the promises, but having + seen them afar off.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Constitution" + name="Constitution"><i>The Northwest Territory and the + Constitution</i></a></h4> + + <p>The materialism and selfishness which rose in the course of + the war to oppose the liberal tendencies of the period, and + which Washington felt did so much to embarrass the government, + became pronounced in the debates on the Northwest Territory and + the Constitution. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War the + region west of Pennsylvania, east of the Mississippi River, + north of the Ohio River, and south of Canada, was claimed by + Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. This + territory afforded to these states a source of revenue not + possessed by the others for the payment of debts incurred in + the war, and Maryland and other seaboard states insisted that + in order to equalize matters these claimants should cede their + rights to the general government. The formal cessions were made + and accepted in the years 1782-6. In April, 1784, after + Virginia had made her cession, the most important, Congress + adopted a temporary form of government drawn up by Thomas + Jefferson for the territory south as well as north of the Ohio + River. Jefferson's most significant provision, however, was + rejected. This declared that "after the year 1800 there shall + be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said + states other than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party + shall have been duly convicted to have been personally guilty." + This early ordinance, although it did not go into effect, is + interesting as an attempt to exclude slavery from the great + West that was beginning to be opened up. On March 3, 1786, + moreover, the Ohio Company was formed in Boston by a group of + New England business men for the purpose of purchasing land in + the West and promoting settlement; and early in June, 1787, Dr. + Manasseh Cutler, one of the chief promoters of the company, + appeared in New York, where the last Continental Congress was + sitting, for the concrete purpose of buying land. He doubtless + did much to hasten action by Congress, and on July 13 was + passed "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the + United States, Northwest of the Ohio," the Southern states not + having ceded the area south of the river. It was declared that + "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in + the said territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, + whereof the parties shall be duly convicted." To this was added + the stipulation (soon afterwards embodied in the Federal + Constitution) for the return of any person escaping into the + territory from whom labor or service was "lawfully claimed in + any one of the original states." In this shape the ordinance + was adopted, even South Carolina and Georgia concurring; and + thus was paved the way for the first fugitive slave law.</p> + + <p>Slavery, already looming up as a dominating issue, was the + cause of two of the three great compromises that entered into + the making of the Constitution of the United States (the third, + which was the first made, being the concession to the smaller + states of equal representation in the Senate). These were the + first but not the last of the compromises that were to mark the + history of the subject; and, as some clear-headed men of the + time perceived, it would have been better and cheaper to settle + the question at once on the high plane of right rather than to + leave it indefinitely to the future. South Carolina, however, + with able representation, largely controlled the thought of the + convention, and she and Georgia made the most extreme demands, + threatening not to accept the Constitution if there was not + compliance with them. An important question was that of + representation, the Southern states advocating representation + according to numbers, slave and free, while the Northern states + were in favor of the representation of free persons only. + Williamson of North Carolina advocated the counting of + three-fifths of the slaves, but this motion was at first + defeated, and there was little real progress until Gouverneur + Morris suggested that representation be according to the + principle of wealth. Mason of Virginia pointed out practical + difficulties which caused the resolution to be made to apply to + direct taxation only, and in this form it began to be generally + acceptable. By this time, however, the deeper feelings of the + delegates on the subject of slavery had been stirred, and they + began to speak plainly. Davie of North Carolina declared that + his state would never enter the Union on any terms that did not + provide for counting at least three-fifths of the slaves and + that "if the Eastern states meant to exclude them altogether + the business was at an end." It was finally agreed to reckon + three-fifths of the slaves in estimating taxes and to make + taxation the basis of representation. The whole discussion was + renewed, however, in connection with the question of + importation. There were more threats from the far South, and + some of the men from New England, prompted by commercial + interest, even if they did not favor the sentiments expressed, + were at least disposed to give them passive acquiescence. From + Maryland and Virginia, however, came earnest protest. Luther + Martin declared unqualifiedly that to have a clause in the + Constitution permitting the importation of slaves was + inconsistent with the principles of the Revolution and + dishonorable to the American character, and George Mason could + foresee only a future in which a just Providence would punish + such a national sin as slavery by national calamities. Such + utterances were not to dominate the convention, however; it was + a day of expediency, not of morality. A bargain was made + between the commercial interests of the North and the + slave-holding interests of the South, the granting to Congress + of unrestricted power to enact navigation laws being conceded + in exchange for twenty years' continuance of the slave-trade. + The main agreements on the subject of slavery were thus finally + expressed in the Constitution: "Representatives and direct + taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may + be included within this Union, according to their respective + numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole + number of free persons, including those bound to servitude for + a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths + of all other persons" (Art. I, Sec. 2); "The migration or + importation of such persons as any of the states now existing + shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the + congress prior to the year 1808; but a tax or duty may be + imposed, not exceeding ten dollars on each person" (Art. I, + Sec. 9); "No person held to service or labor in one state, + under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in + consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged + from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim + of the party to whom such service or labor may be due" (Art. + IV, Sec. 2). With such provisions, though without the use of + the question-begging word <i>slaves</i>, the institution of + human bondage received formal recognition in the organic law of + the new republic of the United States.</p> + + <p>"Just what is the light in which we are to regard the + slaves?" wondered James Wilson in the course of the debate. + "Are they admitted as citizens?" he asked; "then why are they + not admitted on an equality with white citizens? Are they + admitted as property? then why is not other property admitted + into the computation?" Such questions and others to which they + gave rise were to trouble more heads than his in the course of + the coming years, and all because a great nation did not have + the courage to do the right thing at the right time.</p> + + <h4>4. <a id="Abolition" + name="Abolition"><i>Early Steps toward + Abolition</i></a></h4> + + <p>In spite, however, of the power crystallized in the + Constitution, the moral movement that had set in against + slavery still held its ground, and it was destined never wholly + to languish until slavery ceased altogether to exist in the + United States. Throughout the century the Quakers continued + their good work; in the generation before the war John Woolman + of New Jersey traveled in the Southern colonies preaching that + "the practice of continuing slavery is not right"; and Anthony + Benezet opened in Philadelphia a school for Negroes which he + himself taught without remuneration, and otherwise influenced + Pennsylvania to begin the work of emancipation. In general the + Quakers conducted their campaign along the lines on which they + were most likely to succeed, attacking the slave-trade first of + all but more and more making an appeal to the central + government; and the first Abolition Society, organized in + Pennsylvania in 1775 and consisting mainly of Quakers, had for + its original object merely the relief of free Negroes + unlawfully held in bondage.<a id="footnotetag55" + name="footnotetag55"></a><a href= + "#footnote55"><sup>55</sup></a> The organization was forced + to suspend its work in the course of the war, but in 1784 it + renewed its meetings, and men of other denominations than + the Quakers now joined in greater numbers. In 1787 the + society was formally reorganized as "The Pennsylvania + Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, the Relief + of Free Negroes unlawfully held in Bondage, and for + Improving the Condition of the African Race." Benjamin + Franklin was elected president and there was adopted a + constitution which was more and more to serve as a model for + similar societies in the neighboring states.</p> + + <p>Four years later, by 1791, there were in the country as many + as twelve abolition societies, and these represented all the + states from Massachusetts to Virginia, with the exception of + New Jersey, where a society was formed the following year. That + of New York, formed in 1785 with John Jay as president, took + the name of the Manumission Society, limiting its aims at first + to promoting manumission and protecting those Negroes who had + already been set free. All of the societies had very clear + ideas as to their mission. The prevalence of kidnaping made + them emphasize "the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in + bondage," and in general each one in addition to its executive + committee had committees for inspection, advice, and + protection; for the guardianship of children; for the + superintending of education, and for employment. While the + societies were originally formed to attend to local matters, + their efforts naturally extended in course of time to national + affairs, and on December 8, 1791, nine of them prepared + petitions to Congress for the limitation of the slave-trade. + These petitions were referred to a special committee and + nothing more was heard of them at the time. After two years + accordingly the organizations decided that a more vigorous plan + of action was necessary, and on January 1, 1794, delegates from + nine societies organized in Philadelphia the American + Convention of Abolition Societies. The object of the Convention + was twofold, "to increase the zeal and efficiency of the + individual societies by its advice and encouragement ... and to + take upon itself the chief responsibility in regard to national + affairs." It prepared an address to the country and presented + to Congress a memorial against the fitting out of vessels in + the United States to engage in the slave-trade, and it had the + satisfaction of seeing Congress in the same year pass a bill to + this effect.</p> + + <p>Some of the organizations were very active and one as far + South as that in Maryland was at first very powerful. Always + were they interested in suits in courts of law. In 1797 the New + York Society reported 90 complaints, 36 persons freed, 21 cases + still in suit, and 19 under consideration. The Pennsylvania + Society reported simply that it had been instrumental in the + liberation of "many hundreds" of persons. The different + branches, however, did not rest with mere liberation; they + endeavored generally to improve the condition of the Negroes in + their respective communities, each one being expected to report + to the Convention on the number of freedmen in its state and on + their property, employment, and conduct. From time to time also + the Convention prepared addresses to these people, and + something of the spirit of its work and also of the social + condition of the Negro at the time may be seen from the + following address of 1796:</p> + + <p class="letter"> + To the Free Africans and Other Free People of Color in + the United States.<br/> +    The Convention of Deputies from the Abolition Societies + in the United States, assembled at Philadelphia, have + undertaken to address you upon subjects highly interesting + to your prosperity.<br/> +    They wish to see you act worthily of the rank you have + acquired as freemen, and thereby to do credit to + yourselves, and to justify the friends and advocates of + your color in the eyes of the world.<br/> +    As the result of our united reflections, we have + concluded to call your attention to the following articles + of advice. We trust they are dictated by the purest regard + for your welfare, for we view you as Friends and + Brethren.<br/> +    <i>In the first place</i>, We earnestly recommend to + you, a regular attention to the important duty of public + worship; by which means you will evince gratitude to your + Creator, and, at the same time, promote knowledge, union, + friendship, and proper conduct among yourselves.<br/> +    <i>Secondly</i>, We advise such of you, as have not been + taught reading, writing, and the first principles of + arithmetic, to acquire them as early as possible. Carefully + attend to the instruction of your children in the same + simple and useful branches of education. Cause them, + likewise, early and frequently to read the holy Scriptures; + these contain, amongst other great discoveries, the + precious record of the original equality of mankind, and of + the obligations of universal justice and benevolence, which + are derived from the relation of the human race to each + other in a common Father.<br/> +    <i>Thirdly</i>, Teach your children useful trades, or to + labor with their hands in cultivating the earth. These + employments are favorable to health and virtue. In the + choice of masters, who are to instruct them in the above + branches of business, prefer those who will work with them; + by this means they will acquire habits of industry, and be + better preserved from vice than if they worked alone, or + under the eye of persons less interested in their welfare. + In forming contracts, for yourselves or children, with + masters, it may be useful to consult such persons as are + capable of giving you the best advice, and who are known to + be your friends, in order to prevent advantages being taken + of your ignorance of the laws and customs of our + country.<br/> +    <i>Fourthly</i>, Be diligent in your respective + callings, and faithful in all the relations you bear in + society, whether as husbands, wives, fathers, children or + hired servants. Be just in all your dealings. Be simple in + your dress and furniture, and frugal in your family + expenses. Thus you will act like Christians as well as + freemen, and, by these means, you will provide for the + distresses and wants of sickness and old age.<br/> +    <i>Fifthly</i>, Refrain from the use of spirituous + liquors; the experience of many thousands of the citizens + of the United States has proved that these liquors are not + necessary to lessen the fatigue of labor, nor to obviate + the effects of heat or cold; nor can they, in any degree, + add to the innocent pleasures of society.<br/> +    <i>Sixthly</i>, Avoid frolicking, and amusements which + lead to expense and idleness; they beget habits of + dissipation and vice, and thus expose you to deserved + reproach amongst your white neighbors.<br/> +    <i>Seventhly</i>, We wish to impress upon your minds the + moral and religious necessity of having your marriages + legally performed; also to have exact registers preserved + of all the births and deaths which occur in your respective + families.<br/> +    <i>Eighthly</i>, Endeavor to lay up as much as possible + of your earnings for the benefit of your children, in case + you should die before they are able to maintain + themselves—your money will be safest and most beneficial + when laid out in lots, houses, or small farms.<br/> +    <i>Ninthly</i>, We recommend to you, at all times and + upon all occasions, to behave yourselves to all persons in + a civil and respectful manner, by which you may prevent + contention and remove every just occasion of complaint. We + beseech you to reflect, that it is by your good conduct + alone that you can refute the objections which have been + made against you as rational and moral creatures, and + remove many of the difficulties which have occurred in the + general emancipation of such of your brethren as are yet in + bondage.<br/> +    With hearts anxious for your welfare, we commend you to + the guidance and protection of that <i>Being</i> who is + able to keep you from all evil, and who is the common + Father and Friend of the whole family of mankind.<br/> +    Theodore Foster, President. Philadelphia, January 6th, + 1796. Thomas P. Cope, Secretary.</p> + + + <p>The general impulse for liberty which prompted the + Revolution and the early Abolition societies naturally found + some reflection in formal legislation. The declarations of the + central government under the Confederation were not very + effective, and for more definite enactments we have to turn to + the individual states. The honor of being the first actually to + prohibit and abolish slavery really belongs to Vermont, whose + constitution, adopted in 1777, even before she had come into + the Union, declared very positively against the system. In 1782 + the old Virginia statute forbidding emancipation except for + meritorious services was repealed. The repeal was in force ten + years, and in this time manumissions were numerous. Maryland + soon afterwards passed acts similar to those in Virginia + prohibiting the further introduction of slaves and removing + restraints on emancipation, and New York and New Jersey also + prohibited the further introduction of slaves from Africa or + from other states. In 1780, in spite of considerable opposition + because of the course of the war, the Pennsylvania Assembly + passed an act forbidding the further introduction of slaves and + giving freedom to all persons thereafter born in the state. + Similar provisions were enacted in Connecticut and Rhode Island + in 1784. Meanwhile Massachusetts was much agitated, and + beginning in 1766 there were before the courts several cases in + which Negroes sued for their freedom.<a id="footnotetag56" + name="footnotetag56"></a><a href= + "#footnote56"><sup>56</sup></a> Their general argument was + that the royal charter declared that all persons residing in + the province were to be as free as the king's subjects in + Great Britain, that by Magna Carta no subject could be + deprived of liberty except by the judgment of his peers, and + that any laws that may have been passed in the province to + mitigate or regulate the evil of slavery did not authorize + it. Sometimes the decisions were favorable, but at the + beginning of the Revolution Massachusetts still recognized + the system by the decision that no slave could be enlisted + in the army. In 1777, however, some slaves brought from + Jamaica were ordered to be set at liberty, and it was + finally decided in 1783 that the declaration in the + Massachusetts Bill of Rights to the effect that "all men are + born free and equal" prohibited slavery. In this same year + New Hampshire incorporated in her constitution a prohibitive + article. By the time the convention for the framing of the + Constitution of the United States met in Philadelphia in + 1787, two of the original thirteen states (Massachusetts and + New Hampshire) had positively prohibited slavery, and in + three others (Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) + gradual abolition was in progress.</p> + + <p>The next decade was largely one of the settlement of new + territory, and by its close the pendulum seemed to have swung + decidedly backward. In 1799, however, after much effort and + debating, New York at last declared for gradual abolition, and + New Jersey did likewise in 1804. In general, gradual + emancipation was the result of the work of people who were + humane but also conservative and who questioned the wisdom of + thrusting upon the social organism a large number of Negroes + suddenly emancipated. Sometimes, however, a gradual + emancipation act was later followed by one for immediate + manumission, as in New York in 1817. At first those who favored + gradual emancipation were numerous in the South as well as in + the North, but in general after Gabriel's insurrection in 1800, + though some individuals were still outstanding, the South was + quiescent. The character of the acts that were really put in + force can hardly be better stated than has already been done by + the specialist in the subject.<a id="footnotetag57" + name="footnotetag57"></a><a href= + "#footnote57"><sup>57</sup></a> We read:</p> + + <p class="letter"> + Gradual emancipation is defined as the extinction of + slavery by depriving it of its hereditary quality. In + distinction from the clauses in the constitutions of + Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, which directly + or indirectly affected the condition of slavery as already + existing, the gradual emancipation acts left this condition + unchanged and affected only the children born after the + passage of the act or after a fixed date. Most of these + acts followed that of Pennsylvania in providing that the + children of a slave mother should remain with her owner as + servants until they reached a certain age, of from + twenty-one to twenty-eight years, as stated in the various + enactments. In Pennsylvania, however, they were to be + regarded as free. In Connecticut, on the other hand, they + were to be "held in servitude" until twenty-five years of + age and after that to be free. The most liberal policy was + that of Rhode Island, where the children were pronounced + free but were to be supported by the town and educated in + reading, writing, and arithmetic, morality and religion. + The latter clauses, however, were repealed the following + year, leaving the children to be supported by the owner of + the mother until twenty-one years of age, and only if he + abandoned his claims to the mother to become a charge to + the town. In New York and New Jersey they were to remain as + servants until a certain age, but were regarded as free, + and liberal opportunities were given the master for the + abandonment of his claims, the children in such cases to be + supported at the common charge.... The manumission and + emancipation acts were naturally followed, as in the case + of the constitutional provision in Vermont, by the attempts + of some of the slave-owners to dispose of their property + outside the State. Amendments to the laws were found + necessary, and the Abolition Societies found plenty of + occasion for their exertions in protecting free blacks from + seizure and illegal sale and in looking after the execution + and amendment of the laws. The process of gradual + emancipation was also unsatisfactory on account of the + length of time it would require, and in Pennsylvania and + Connecticut attempts were made to obtain acts for immediate + emancipation.</p> + + + <h4>5. <a id="Consciousness" + name="Consciousness"><i>Beginning of Racial + Consciousness</i></a></h4> + + <p>Of supreme importance in this momentous period, more + important perhaps in its ultimate effect than even the work of + the Abolition Societies, was what the Negro was doing for + himself. In the era of the Revolution began that racial + consciousness on which almost all later effort for social + betterment has been based.</p> + + <p>By 1700 the only coöperative effort on the part of the Negro + was such as that in the isolated society to which Cotton Mather + gave rules, or in a spasmodic insurrection, or a rather crude + development of native African worship. As yet there was no + genuine basis of racial self-respect. In one way or another, + however, in the eighteenth century the idea of association + developed, and especially in Boston about the time of the + Revolution Negroes began definitely to work together; thus they + assisted individuals in test cases in the courts, and when + James Swan in his <i>Dissuasion from the Slave Trade</i> made + such a statement as that "no country can be called free where + there is one slave," it was "at the earnest desire of the + Negroes in Boston" that the revised edition of the pamphlet was + published.</p> + + <p>From the very beginning the Christian Church was the race's + foremost form of social organization. It was but natural that + the first distinctively Negro churches should belong to the + democratic Baptist denomination. There has been much discussion + as to which was the very first Negro Baptist church, and good + claims have been put forth by the Harrison Street Baptist + Church of Petersburg, Va., and for a church in Williamsburg, + Va., organization in each case going back to 1776. A student of + the subject, however, has shown that there was a Negro Baptist + church at Silver Bluff, "on the South Carolina side of the + Savannah River, in Aiken County, just twelve miles from + Augusta, Ga.," founded not earlier than 1773, not later than + 1775.<a id="footnotetag58" + name="footnotetag58"></a><a href= + "#footnote58"><sup>58</sup></a> In any case special interest + attaches to the First Bryan Baptist Church, of Savannah, + founded in January, 1788. The origin of this body goes back + to George Liele, a Negro born in Virginia, who might justly + lay claim to being America's first foreign missionary. + Converted by a Georgia Baptist minister, he was licensed as + a probationer and was known to preach soon afterwards at a + white quarterly meeting.<a id="footnotetag59" + name="footnotetag59"></a><a href= + "#footnote59"><sup>59</sup></a> In 1783 he preached in the + vicinity of Savannah, and one of those who came to hear him + was Andrew Bryan, a slave of Jonathan Bryan. Liele then went + to Jamaica and in 1784 began to preach in Kingston, where + with four brethren from America he formed a church. At first + he was subjected to persecution; nevertheless by 1791 he had + baptized over four hundred persons. Eight or nine months + after he left for Jamaica, Andrew Bryan began to preach, and + at first he was permitted to use a building at Yamacraw, in + the suburbs of Savannah. Of this, however, he was in course + of time dispossessed, the place being a rendezvous for those + Negroes who had been taken away from their homes by the + British. Many of these men were taken before the magistrates + from time to time, and some were whipped and others + imprisoned. Bryan himself, having incurred the ire of the + authorities, was twice imprisoned and once publicly whipped, + being so cut that he "bled abundantly"; but he told his + persecutors that he "would freely suffer death for the cause + of Jesus Christ," and after a while he was permitted to go + on with his work. For some time he used a barn, being + assisted by his brother Sampson; then for £50 he purchased + his freedom, and afterwards he began to use for worship a + house that Sampson had been permitted to erect. By 1791 his + church had two hundred members, but over a hundred more had + been received as converted members though they had not won + their masters' permission to be baptized. An interesting + sidelight on these people is furnished by the statement that + probably fifty of them could read though only three could + write. Years afterwards, in 1832, when the church had grown + to great numbers, a large part of the congregation left the + Bryan Church and formed what is now the First African + Baptist Church of Savannah. Both congregations, however, + remembered their early leader as one "clear in the grand + doctrines of the Gospel, truly pious, and the instrument of + doing more good among the poor slaves than all the learned + doctors in America."</p> + + <p>While Bryan was working in Savannah, in Richmond, Va., rose + Lott Cary, a man of massive and erect frame and of great + personality. Born a slave in 1780, Cary worked for a number of + years in a tobacco factory, leading a wicked life. Converted in + 1807, he made rapid advance in education and he was licensed as + a Baptist preacher. He purchased his own freedom and that of + his children (his first wife having died), organized a + missionary society, and then in 1821 himself went as a + missionary to the new colony of Liberia, in whose interest he + worked heroically until his death in 1828.</p> + + <p>More clearly defined than the origin of Negro Baptist + churches are the beginnings of African Methodism. Almost from + the time of its introduction in the country Methodism made + converts among the Negroes and in 1786 there were nearly two + thousand Negroes in the regular churches of the denomination, + which, like the Baptist denomination, it must be remembered, + was before the Revolution largely overshadowed in official + circles by the Protestant Episcopal Church. The general + embarrassment of the Episcopal Church in America in connection + with the war, and the departure of many loyalist ministers, + gave opportunity to other denominations as well as to certain + bodies of Negroes. The white members of St. George's Methodist + Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, however, determined to set + apart its Negro membership and to segregate it in the gallery. + Then in 1787 came a day when the Negroes, choosing not to be + insulted, and led by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, left the + edifice, and with these two men as overseers on April 17 + organized the Free African Society. This was intended to be + "without regard to religious tenets," the members being banded + together "to support one another in sickness and for the + benefit of their widows and fatherless children." The society + was in the strictest sense fraternal, there being only eight + charter members: Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Samuel Boston, + Joseph Johnson, Cato Freeman, Cæsar Cranchell, James Potter, + and William White. By 1790 the society had on deposit in the + Bank of North America £42 9s. id., and that it generally stood + for racial enterprise may be seen from the fact that in 1788 an + organization in Newport known as the Negro Union, in which Paul + Cuffe was prominent, wrote proposing a general exodus of the + Negroes to Africa. Nothing came of the suggestion at the time, + but at least it shows that representative Negroes of the day + were beginning to think together about matters of general + policy.</p> + + <p>In course of time the Free African Society of Philadelphia + resolved into an "African Church," and this became affiliated + with the Protestant Episcopal Church, whose bishop had + exercised an interest in it. Out of this organization developed + St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, organized in 1791 and formally + opened for service July 17, 1794. Allen was at first selected + for ordination, but he decided to remain a Methodist and Jones + was chosen in his stead and thus became the first Negro rector + in the United States. Meanwhile, however, in 1791, Allen + himself had purchased a lot at the corner of Sixth and Lombard + Streets; he at once set about arranging for the building that + became Bethel Church; and in 1794 he formally sold the lot to + the church and the new house of worship was dedicated by Bishop + Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal Church. With this general + body Allen and his people for a number of years remained + affiliated, but difficulties arose and separate churches having + come into being in other places, a convention of Negro + Methodists was at length called to meet in Philadelphia April + 9, 1816. To this came sixteen delegates—Richard Allen, Jacob + Tapsico, Clayton Durham, James Champion, Thomas Webster, of + Philadelphia; Daniel Coker, Richard Williams, Henry Harden, + Stephen Hill, Edward Williamson, Nicholas Gailliard, of + Baltimore: Jacob Marsh, Edward Jackson, William Andrew, of + Attleborough, Penn.; Peter Spencer, of Wilmington, Del., and + Peter Cuffe, of Salem, N.J.—and these were the men who founded + the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Coker, of whom we shall + hear more in connection with Liberia, was elected bishop, but + resigned in favor of Allen, who served until his death in + 1831.</p> + + <p>In 1796 a congregation in New York consisting of James + Varick and others also withdrew from the main body of the + Methodist Episcopal Church, and in 1800 dedicated a house of + worship. For a number of years it had the oversight of the + older organization, but after preliminary steps in 1820, on + June 21, 1821, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was + formally organized. To the first conference came 19 preachers + representing 6 churches and 1,426 members. Varick was elected + district chairman, but soon afterwards was made bishop. The + polity of this church from the first differed somewhat from + that of the A.M.E. denomination in that representation of the + laity was a prominent feature and there was no bar to the + ordination of women.</p> + + <p>Of denominations other than the Baptist and the Methodist, + the most prominent in the earlier years was the Presbyterian, + whose first Negro ministers were John Gloucester and John + Chavis. Gloucester owed his training to the liberal tendencies + that about 1800 were still strong in eastern Tennessee and + Kentucky, and in 1810 took charge of the African Presbyterian + Church which in 1807 had been established in Philadelphia. He + was distinguished by a rich musical voice and the general + dignity of his life, and he himself became the father of four + Presbyterian ministers. Chavis had a very unusual career. After + passing "through a regular course of academic studies" at + Washington Academy, now Washington and Lee University, in 1801 + he was commissioned by the General Assembly of the + Presbyterians as a missionary to the Negroes. He worked with + increasing reputation until Nat Turner's insurrection caused + the North Carolina legislature in 1832 to pass an act silencing + all Negro preachers. Then in Wake County and elsewhere he + conducted schools for white boys until his death in 1838. In + these early years distinction also attaches to Lemuel Haynes, a + Revolutionary patriot and the first Negro preacher of the + Congregational denomination. In 1785 he became the pastor of a + white congregation in Torrington, Conn., and in 1818 began to + serve another in Manchester, N.H.</p> + + <p>After the church the strongest organization among Negroes + has undoubtedly been that of secret societies commonly known as + "lodges." The benefit societies were not necessarily secret and + call for separate consideration. On March 6, 1775, an army + lodge attached to one of the regiments stationed under General + Gage in or near Boston initiated Prince Hall and fourteen other + colored men into the mysteries of Freemasonry.<a id= + "footnotetag60" + name="footnotetag60"></a><a href= + "#footnote60"><sup>60</sup></a> These fifteen men on March + 2, 1784, applied to the Grand Lodge of England for a + warrant. This was issued to "African Lodge, No. 459," with + Prince Hall as master, September 29, 1784. Various delays + and misadventures befell the warrant, however, so that it + was not actually received before April 29, 1787. The lodge + was then duly organized May 6. From this beginning developed + the idea of Masonry among the Negroes of America. As early + as 1792 Hall was formally styled Grand Master, and in 1797 + he issued a license to thirteen Negroes to "assemble and + work" as a lodge in Philadelphia; and there was also at this + time a lodge in Providence. Thus developed in 1808 the + "African Grand Lodge" of Boston, afterwards known as "Prince + Hall Lodge of Massachusetts"; the second Grand Lodge, called + the "First Independent African Grand Lodge of North America + in and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," organized in + 1815; and the "Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania."</p> + + <p>Something of the interest of the Masons in their people, and + the calm judgment that characterized their procedure, may be + seen from the words of their leader, Prince Hall.<a id= + "footnotetag61" + name="footnotetag61"></a><a href= + "#footnote61"><sup>61</sup></a> Speaking in 1797, and having + in mind the revolution in Hayti and recent indignities + inflicted upon the race in Boston, he said:</p> + + <p class="letter"> + When we hear of the bloody wars which are now in the + world, and thousands of our fellowmen slain; fathers and + mothers bewailing the loss of their sons; wives for the + loss of their husbands; towns and cities burnt and + destroyed; what must be the heartfelt sorrow and distress + of these poor and unhappy people! Though we can not help + them, the distance being so great, yet we may sympathize + with them in their troubles, and mingle a tear of sorrow + with them, and do as we are exhorted to—weep with those + that weep....<br/> +    Now, my brethren, as we see and experience that all + things here are frail and changeable and nothing here to be + depended upon: Let us seek those things which are above, + which are sure and steadfast, and unchangeable, and at the + same time let us pray to Almighty God, while we remain in + the tabernacle, that he would give us the grace and + patience and strength to bear up under all our troubles, + which at this day God knows we have our share. Patience I + say, for were we not possessed of a great measure of it you + could not bear up under the daily insults you meet with in + the streets of Boston; much more on public days of + recreation, how are you shamefully abused, and that at such + a degree, that you may truly be said to carry your lives in + your hands; and the arrows of death are flying about your + heads; helpless old women have their clothes torn off their + backs, even to the exposing of their nakedness; and by whom + are these disgraceful and abusive actions committed? Not by + the men born and bred in Boston, for they are better bred; + but by a mob or horde of shameless, low-lived, envious, + spiteful persons, some of them not long since, servants in + gentlemen's kitchens, scouring knives, tending horses, and + driving chaise. 'Twas said by a gentleman who saw that + filthy behavior in the Common, that in all the places he + had been in he never saw so cruel behavior in all his life, + and that a slave in the West Indies, on Sundays or + holidays, enjoys himself and friends without molestation. + Not only this man, but many in town who have seen their + behavior to you, and that without any provocations twenty + or thirty cowards fall upon one man, have wondered at the + patience of the blacks; 'tis not for want of courage in + you, for they know that they dare not face you man for man, + but in a mob, which we despise, and had rather suffer wrong + than do wrong, to the disturbance of the community and the + disgrace of our reputation; for every good citizen does + honor to the laws of the State where he resides....<br/> +    My brethren, let us not be cast down under these and + many other abuses we at present labor under: for the + darkest is before the break of day. My brethren, let us + remember what a dark day it was with our African brethren + six years ago, in the French West Indies. Nothing but the + snap of the whip was heard from morning to evening; + hanging, breaking on the wheel, burning, and all manner of + tortures inflicted on those unhappy people, for nothing + else but to gratify their masters' pride, wantonness, and + cruelty: but blessed be God, the scene is changed; they now + confess that God hath no respect of persons, and therefore + receive them as their friends, and treat them as brothers. + Thus doth Ethiopia begin to stretch forth her hand, from a + sink of slavery to freedom and equality.</p> + + + <p>An African Society was organized in New York in 1808 and + chartered in 1810, and out of it grew in course of time three + or four other organizations. Generally close to the social aim + of the church and sometimes directly fathered by the secret + societies were the benefit organizations, which even in the + days of slavery existed for aid in sickness or at death; in + fact, it was the hopelessness of the general situation coupled + with the yearning for care when helpless that largely called + these societies into being. Their origin has been explained + somewhat as follows:</p> + + <p>Although it was unlawful for Negroes to assemble without the + presence of a white man, and so unlawful to allow a + congregation of slaves on a plantation without the consent of + the master, these organizations existed and held these meetings + on the "lots" of some of the law-makers themselves. The general + plan seems to have been to select some one who could read and + write and make him the secretary. The meeting-place having been + selected, the members would come by ones and twos, make their + payments to the secretary, and quietly withdraw. The book of + the secretary was often kept covered up on the bed. In many of + the societies each member was known by number and in paying + simply announced his number. The president of such a society + was usually a privileged slave who had the confidence of his or + her master and could go and come at will. Thus a form of + communication could be kept up between all members. In event of + death of a member, provision was made for decent burial, and + all the members as far as possible obtained permits to attend + the funeral. Here and again their plan of getting together was + brought into play. In Richmond they would go to the church by + ones and twos and there sit as near together as convenient. At + the close of the service a line of march would be formed when + sufficiently far from the church to make it safe to do so. It + is reported that the members were faithful to each other and + that every obligation was faithfully carried out. This was the + first form of insurance known to the Negro from which his + family received a benefit.<a id="footnotetag62" + name="footnotetag62"></a><a href= + "#footnote62"><sup>62</sup></a></p> + + <p>All along of course a determining factor in the Negro's + social progress was the service that he was able to render to + any community in which he found himself as well as to his own + people. Sometimes he was called upon to do very hard work, + sometimes very unpleasant or dangerous work; but if he answered + the call of duty and met an actual human need, his service had + to receive recognition. An example of such work was found in + his conduct in the course of the yellow fever epidemic in + Philadelphia in 1793. Knowing that fever in general was not + quite as severe in its ravages upon Negroes as upon white + people, the daily papers of Philadelphia called upon the + colored people in the town to come forward and assist with the + sick. The Negroes consented, and Absalom Jones and William Gray + were appointed to superintend the operations, though as usual + it was upon Richard Allen that much of the real responsibility + fell. In September the fever increased and upon the Negroes + devolved also the duty of removing corpses. In the course of + their work they encountered much opposition; thus Jones said + that a white man threatened to shoot him if he passed his house + with a corpse. This man himself the Negroes had to bury three + days afterwards. When the epidemic was over, under date January + 23, 1794, Matthew Clarkson, the mayor, wrote the following + testimonial: "Having, during the prevalence of the late + malignant disorder, had almost daily opportunities of seeing + the conduct of Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, and the people + employed by them to bury the dead, I with cheerfulness give + this testimony of my approbation of their proceedings, as far + as the same came under my notice. Their diligence, attention, + and decency of deportment, afforded me, at the time, much + satisfaction." After the lapse of years it is with something of + the pathos of martyrdom that we are impressed by the service of + these struggling people, who by their self-abnegation and + patriotism endeavored to win and deserve the privileges of + American citizenship.</p> + + <p>All the while, in one way or another, the Negro was making + advance in education. As early as 1704 we have seen that Neau + opened a school in New York; there was Benezet's school in + Philadelphia before the Revolutionary War, and in 1798 one for + Negroes was established in Boston. In the first part of the + century, we remember also, some Negroes were apprenticed in + Virginia under the oversight of the church. In 1764 the editor + of a paper in Williamsburg, Va., established a school for + Negroes, and we have seen that as many as one-sixth of the + members of Andrew Bryan's congregation in the far Southern city + of Savannah could read by 1790. Exceptional men, like + Gloucester and Chavis, of course availed themselves of such + opportunities as came their way. All told, by 1800 the Negro + had received much more education than is commonly supposed.</p> + + <p>Two persons—one in science and one in literature—because of + their unusual attainments attracted much attention. The first + was Benjamin Banneker of Maryland, and the second Phillis + Wheatley of Boston. Banneker in 1770 constructed the first + clock striking the hours that was made in America, and from + 1792 to 1806 published an almanac adapted to Maryland and the + neighboring states. He was thoroughly scholarly in mathematics + and astronomy, and by his achievements won a reputation for + himself in Europe as well as in America. Phillis Wheatley, + after a romantic girlhood of transition from Africa to a + favorable environment in Boston, in 1773 published her <i>Poems + on Various Subjects</i>, which volume she followed with several + interesting occasional poems.<a id="footnotetag63" + name="footnotetag63"></a><a href= + "#footnote63"><sup>63</sup></a> For the summer of this year + she was the guest in England of the Countess of Huntingdon, + whose patronage she had won by an elegiac poem on George + Whitefield; in conversation even more than in verse-making + she exhibited her refined taste and accomplishment, and + presents were showered upon her, one of them being a copy of + the magnificent 1770 Glasgow folio edition of <i>Paradise + Lost</i>, which was given by Brook Watson, Lord Mayor of + London, and which is now preserved in the library of Harvard + University. In the earlier years of the next century her + poems found their way into the common school readers. One of + those in her representative volume was addressed to Scipio + Moorhead, a young Negro of Boston who had shown some talent + for painting. Thus even in a dark day there were those who + were trying to struggle upward to the light.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote51" + name="footnote51"></a><b>Footnote 51:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag51">(return)</a><br/> + + "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, issued under the + auspices of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association," 20 + vols., Washington, 1903, II, 226-227.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote52" + name="footnote52"></a><b>Footnote 52:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag52">(return)</a><br/> + + "A South Carolina Protest against Slavery (being a + letter written from Henry Laurens, second president of the + Continental Congress, to his son, Colonel John Laurens; + dated Charleston, S.C., August 14th, 1776)." Reprinted by + G.P. Putnam, New York, 1861.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote53" + name="footnote53"></a><b>Footnote 53:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag53">(return)</a><br/> + + Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in the + American Army of the Revolution, by G.H. Moore, New York, + 1862, p. 15.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote54" + name="footnote54"></a><b>Footnote 54:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag54">(return)</a><br/> + + Sparks's <i>Washington</i>, VIII, 322-323.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote55" + name="footnote55"></a><b>Footnote 55:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag55">(return)</a><br/> + + Locke: <i>Anti-Slavery in America</i>, 97.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote56" + name="footnote56"></a><b>Footnote 56:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag56">(return)</a><br/> + + See Williams: <i>History of the Negro Race in + America</i>, I, 228-236.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote57" + name="footnote57"></a><b>Footnote 57:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag57">(return)</a><br/> + + Locke, 124-126.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote58" + name="footnote58"></a><b>Footnote 58:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag58">(return)</a><br/> + + Walter H. Brooks: <i>The Silver Bluff Church</i>.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote59" + name="footnote59"></a><b>Footnote 59:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag59">(return)</a><br/> + + See letters in Journal of Negro History, January, 1916, + 69-97.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote60" + name="footnote60"></a><b>Footnote 60:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag60">(return)</a><br/> + + William H. Upton: Negro Masonry, Cambridge, 1899, + 10.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote61" + name="footnote61"></a><b>Footnote 61:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag61">(return)</a><br/> + + "A Charge Delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, 1797, + at Menotomy. By the Right Worshipful Prince Hall." + (Boston?) 1797.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote62" + name="footnote62"></a><b>Footnote 62:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag62">(return)</a><br/> + + Hampton Conference Report, No. 8</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote63" + name="footnote63"></a><b>Footnote 63:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag63">(return)</a><br/> + + For a full study see Chapter II of <i>The Negro in + Literature and Art</i>.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERIV" + name="CHAPTERIV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + + <h3>THE NEW WEST, THE SOUTH, AND THE WEST INDIES</h3> + + <p>The twenty years of the administrations of the first three + presidents of the United States—or, we might say, the three + decades between 1790 and 1820—constitute what might be + considered the "Dark Ages" of Negro history; and yet, as with + most "Dark Ages," at even a glance below the surface these + years will be found to be throbbing with life, and we have + already seen that in them the Negro was doing what he could on + his own account to move forward. After the high moral stand of + the Revolution, however, the period seems quiescent, and it was + indeed a time of definite reaction. This was attributable to + three great events: the opening of the Southwest with the + consequent demand for slaves, the Haytian revolution beginning + in 1791, and Gabriel's insurrection in 1800.</p> + + <p>In no way was the reaction to be seen more clearly than in + the decline of the work of the American Convention of Delegates + from the Abolition Societies. After 1798 neither Connecticut + nor Rhode Island sent delegates; the Southern states all fell + away by 1803; and while from New England came the excuse that + local conditions hardly made aggressive effort any longer + necessary, the lack of zeal in this section was also due to + some extent to a growing question as to the wisdom of + interfering with slavery in the South. In Virginia, that just a + few years before had been so active, a statute was now passed + imposing a penalty of one hundred dollars on any person who + assisted a slave in asserting his freedom, provided he failed + to establish the claim; and another provision enjoined that no + member of an abolition society should serve as a juror in a + freedom suit. Even the Pennsylvania society showed signs of + faintheartedness, and in 1806 the Convention decided upon + triennial rather than annual meetings. It did not again become + really vigorous until after the War of 1812.</p> + + <h4>1. <a id="CottonGin" + name="CottonGin"><i>The Cotton-Gin, the New Southwest, and + the First Fugitive Slave Law</i></a></h4> + + <p>Of incalculable significance in the history of the Negro in + America was the series of inventions in England by Arkwright, + Hargreaves, and Crompton in the years 1768-79. In the same + period came the discovery of the power of steam by James Watt + of Glasgow and its application to cotton manufacture, and + improvements followed quickly in printing and bleaching. There + yet remained one final invention of importance for the + cultivation of cotton on a large scale. Eli Whitney, a graduate + of Yale, went to Georgia and was employed as a teacher by the + widow of General Greene on her plantation. Seeing the need of + some machine for the more rapid separating of cotton-seed from + the fiber, he labored until in 1793 he succeeded in making his + cotton-gin of practical value. The tradition is persistent, + however, that the real credit of the invention belongs to a + Negro on the plantation. The cotton-gin created great + excitement throughout the South and began to be utilized + everywhere. The cultivation and exporting of the staple grew by + leaps and bounds. In 1791 only thirty-eight bales of standard + size were exported from the United States; in 1816, however, + the cotton sent out of the country was worth $24,106,000 and + was by far the most valuable article of export. The current + price was 28 cents a pound. Thus at the very time that the + Northern states were abolishing slavery, an industry that had + slumbered became supreme, and the fate of hundreds of thousands + of Negroes was sealed.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile the opening of the West went forward, and from + Maine and Massachusetts, Carolina and Georgia journeyed the + pioneers to lay the foundations of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, + and Alabama and Mississippi. It was an eager, restless caravan + that moved, and sometimes more than a hundred persons in a + score of wagons were to be seen going from a single town in the + East—"Baptists and Methodists and Democrats." The careers of + Boone and Sevier and those who went with them, and the story of + their fights with the Indians, are now a part of the romance of + American history. In 1790 a cluster of log huts on the Ohio + River was named in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati. In + 1792 Kentucky was admitted to the Union, the article on slavery + in her constitution encouraging the system and discouraging + emancipation, and Tennessee also entered as a slave state in + 1796.</p> + + <p>Of tremendous import to the Negro were the questions + relating to the Mississippi Territory. After the Revolution + Georgia laid claim to great tracts of land now comprising the + states of Alabama and Mississippi, with the exception of the + strip along the coast claimed by Spain in connection with + Florida. This territory became a rich field for speculation, + and its history in its entirety makes a complicated story. A + series of sales to what were known as the Yazoo Companies, + especially in that part of the present states whose northern + boundary would be a line drawn from the mouth of the Yazoo to + the Chattahoochee, resulted in conflicting claims, the last + grant sale being made in 1795 by a corrupt legislature at the + price of a cent and a half an acre. James Jackson now raised + the cry of bribery and corruption, resigned from the United + States Senate, secured a seat in the state legislature, and on + February 13, 1796, carried through a bill rescinding the action + of the previous year,<a id="footnotetag64" + name="footnotetag64"></a><a href= + "#footnote64"><sup>64</sup></a> and the legislature burned + the documents concerned with the Yazoo sale in token of its + complete repudiation of them. The purchasers to whom the + companies had sold lands now began to bombard Congress with + petitions and President Adams helped to arrive at a + settlement by which Georgia transferred the lands in + question to the Federal Government, which undertook to form + of them the Mississippi Territory and to pay any damages + involved. In 1802 Georgia threw the whole burden upon the + central government by transferring to it <i>all</i> of her + land beyond her present boundaries, though for this she + exacted an article favorable to slavery. All was now made + into the Mississippi Territory, to which Congress held out + the promise that it would be admitted as a state as soon as + its population numbered 60,000; but Alabama was separated + from Mississippi in 1816. The old matter of claims was not + finally disposed of until an act of 1814 appropriated + $5,000,000 for the purpose. In the same year Andrew + Jackson's decisive victories over the Creeks at Talladega + and Horseshoe Bend—of which more must be said—resulted in + the cession of a vast tract of the land of that unhappy + nation and thus finally opened for settlement three-fourths + of the present state of Alabama.</p> + + <p>It was in line with the advance that slavery was making in + new territory that there was passed the first Fugitive Slave + Act (1793). This grew out of the discussion incident to the + seizure in 1791 at Washington, Penn., of a Negro named John, + who was taken to Virginia, and the correspondence between the + Governor of Pennsylvania and the Governor of Virginia with + reference to the case. The important third section of the act + read as follows:</p> + + <p class="letter"> + <i>And be it also enacted</i>, That when a person held to + labor in any of the United States, or in either of the + territories on the northwest or south of the river Ohio, + under the laws thereof, shall escape into any other of the + said states or territory, the person to whom such labor or + service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby + empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labor, and + to take him or her before any judge of the circuit or + district courts of the United States, residing or being + within the state, or before any magistrate of a county, + city or town corporate, wherein such seizure or arrest + shall be made, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such + judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit + taken before and certified by a magistrate of any such + state or territory, that the person so seized or arrested, + doth, under the laws of the state or territory from which + he or she fled, owe service or labor to the person claiming + him or her, it shall be the duty of such judge or + magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, + his agent or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant + for removing the said fugitive from labor, to the state or + territory from which he or she fled.</p> + + <p>It will be observed that by the terms of this enactment a + master had the right to recover a fugitive slave by proving his + ownership before a magistrate without a jury or any other of + the ordinary forms of law. A human being was thus placed at the + disposal of the lowest of courts and subjected to such + procedure as was not allowed even in petty property suits. A + great field for the bribery of magistrates was opened up, and + opportunity was given for committing to slavery Negro men about + whose freedom there should have been no question.</p> + + <p>By the close of the decade 1790-1800 the fear occasioned by + the Haytian revolution had led to a general movement against + the importation of Negroes, especially of those from the West + Indies. Even Georgia in 1798 prohibited the importation of all + slaves, and this provision, although very loosely enforced, was + never repealed. In South Carolina, however, to the utter + chagrin and dismay of the other states, importation, prohibited + in 1787, was again legalized in 1803; and in the four years + immediately following 39,075 Negroes were brought to + Charleston, most of these going to the territories.<a id= + "footnotetag65" + name="footnotetag65"></a><a href= + "#footnote65"><sup>65</sup></a> When in 1803 Ohio was carved + out of the Northwest Territory as a free state, an attempt + was made to claim the rest of the territory for slavery, but + this failed. In the congressional session of 1804-5 the + matter of slavery in the newly acquired territory of + Louisiana was brought up, and slaves were allowed to be + imported if they had come to the United States before 1798, + the purpose of this provision being to guard against the + consequences of South Carolina's recent act, although such a + clause never received rigid enforcement. The mention of + Louisiana, however, brings us concretely to Toussaint + L'Ouverture, the greatest Negro in the New World in the + period and one of the greatest of all time.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="SlaveTrade2" + name="SlaveTrade2"><i>Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louisiana, and + the Formal Closing of the Slave-Trade</i></a></h4> + + <p>When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, it was not + long before its general effects were felt in the West Indies. + Of special importance was Santo Domingo because of the + commercial interests centered there. The eastern end of the + island was Spanish, but the western portion was French, and in + this latter part was a population of 600,000, of which number + 50,000 were French Creoles, 50,000 mulattoes, and 500,000 pure + Negroes. All political and social privileges were monopolized + by the Creoles, while the Negroes were agricultural laborers + and slaves; and between the two groups floated the restless + element of the free people of color.</p> + + <p>When the General Assembly in France decreed equality of + rights to all citizens, the mulattoes of Santo Domingo made a + petition for the enjoyment of the same political privileges as + the white people—to the unbounded consternation of the latter. + They were rewarded with a decree which was so ambiguously + worded that it was open to different interpretations and which + simply heightened the animosity that for years had been + smoldering. A new petition to the Assembly in 1791 primarily + for an interpretation brought forth on May 15 the explicit + decree that the people of color were to have all the rights and + privileges of citizens, provided they had been born of free + parents on both sides. The white people were enraged by the + decision, turned royalist, and trampled the national cockade + underfoot; and throughout the summer armed strife and + conflagration were the rule. To add to the confusion the black + slaves struck for freedom and on the night of August 23, 1791, + drenched the island in blood. In the face of these events the + Conventional Assembly rescinded its order, then announced that + the original decree must be obeyed, and it sent three + commissioners with troops to Santo Domingo, real authority + being invested in Santhonax and Polverel.</p> + + <p>On June 20, 1793, at Cape François trouble was renewed by a + quarrel between a mulatto and a white officer in the marines. + The seamen came ashore and loaned their assistance to the white + people, and the Negroes now joined forces with the mulattoes. + In the battle of two days that followed the arsenal was taken + and plundered, thousands were killed in the streets, and more + than half of the town was burned. The French commissioners were + the unhappy witnesses of the scene, but they were practically + helpless, having only about a thousand troops. Santhonax, + however, issued a proclamation offering freedom to all slaves + who were willing to range themselves under the banner of the + Republic. This was the first proclamation for the freeing of + slaves in Santo Domingo, and as a result of it many of the + Negroes came in and were enfranchised.</p> + + <p>Soon after this proclamation Polverel left his colleague at + the Cape and went to Port au Prince, the capital of the West. + Here things were quiet and the cultivation of the crops was + going forward as usual. The slaves were soon unsettled, + however, by the news of what was being done elsewhere, and + Polverel was convinced that emancipation could not be delayed + and that for the safety of the planters themselves it was + necessary to extend it to the whole island. In September (1793) + he set in circulation from Aux Cayes a proclamation to this + effect, and at the same time he exhorted all the planters in + the vicinity who concurred in his work to register their names. + This almost all of them did, as they were convinced of the need + of measures for their personal safety; and on February 4, 1794, + the Conventional Assembly in Paris formally approved all that + had been done by decreeing the abolition of slavery in all the + colonies of France.</p> + + <p>All the while the Spanish and the English had been looking + on with interest and had even come to the French part of the + island as if to aid in the restoration of order. Among the + former, at first in charge of a little royalist band, was the + Negro, Toussaint, later called L'Ouverture. He was then a man + in the prime of life, forty-eight years old, and already his + experience had given him the wisdom that was needed to bring + peace in Santo Domingo. In April, 1794, impressed by the decree + of the Assembly, he returned to the jurisdiction of France and + took service under the Republic. In 1796 he became a general of + brigade; in 1797 general-in-chief, with the military command of + the whole colony.</p> + + <p>He at once compelled the surrender of the English who had + invaded his country. With the aid of a commercial agreement + with the United States, he next starved out the garrison of his + rival, the mulatto Rigaud, whom he forced to consent to leave + the country. He then imprisoned Roume, the agent of the + Directory, and assumed civil as well as military authority. He + also seized the Spanish part of the island, which had been + ceded to France some years before but had not been actually + surrendered. He then, in May, 1801, gave to Santo Domingo a + constitution by which he not only assumed power for life but + gave to himself the right of naming his successor; and all the + while he was awakening the admiration of the world by his + bravery, his moderation, and his genuine instinct for + government.</p> + + <p>Across the ocean, however, a jealous man was watching with + interest the career of the "gilded African." None knew better + than Napoleon that it was because he did not trust France that + Toussaint had sought the friendship of the United States, and + none read better than he the logic of events. As Adams says, + "Bonaparte's acts as well as his professions showed that he was + bent on crushing democratic ideas, and that he regarded St. + Domingo as an outpost of American republicanism, although + Toussaint had made a rule as arbitrary as that of Bonaparte + himself.... By a strange confusion of events, Toussaint + L'Ouverture, because he was a Negro, became the champion of + republican principles, with which he had nothing but the + instinct of personal freedom in common. Toussaint's government + was less republican than that of Bonaparte; he was doing by + necessity in St. Domingo what Bonaparte was doing by choice in + France."<a id="footnotetag66" + name="footnotetag66"></a><a href= + "#footnote66"><sup>66</sup></a></p> + + <p>This was the man to whom the United States ultimately owes + the purchase of Louisiana. On October 1, 1801, Bonaparte gave + orders to General Le Clerc for a great expedition against Santo + Domingo. In January, 1802, Le Clerc appeared and war followed. + In the course of this, Toussaint—who was ordinarily so wise and + who certainly knew that from Napoleon he had most to fear—made + the great mistake of his life and permitted himself to be led + into a conference on a French vessel. He was betrayed and taken + to France, where within the year he died of pneumonia in the + dungeon of Joux. Immediately there was a proclamation annulling + the decree of 1794 giving freedom to the slaves. Bonaparte, + however, had not estimated the force of Toussaint's work, and + to assist the Negroes in their struggle now came a stalwart + ally, yellow fever. By the end of the summer only one-seventh + of Le Clerc's army remained, and he himself died in November. + At once Bonaparte planned a new expedition. While he was + arranging for the leadership of this, however, the European war + broke out again. Meanwhile the treaty for the retrocession of + the territory of Louisiana had not yet received the signature + of the Spanish king, because Godoy, the Spanish representative, + would not permit the signature to be affixed until all the + conditions were fulfilled; and toward the end of 1802 the civil + officer at New Orleans closed the Mississippi to the United + States. Jefferson, at length moved by the plea of the South, + sent a special envoy, no less a man than James Monroe, to + France to negotiate the purchase; Bonaparte, disgusted by the + failure of his Egyptian expedition and his project for reaching + India, and especially by his failure in Santo Domingo, in need + also of ready money, listened to the offer; and the people of + the United States—who within the last few years have witnessed + the spoliation of Hayti—have not yet realized how much they owe + to the courage of 500,000 Haytian Negroes who refused to be + slaves.</p> + + <p>The slavery question in the new territory was a critical + one. It was on account of it that the Federalists had opposed + the acquisition; the American Convention endeavored to secure a + provision like that of the Northwest Ordinance; and the Yearly + Meeting of the Society of Friends in Philadelphia in 1805 + prayed "that effectual measures may be adopted by Congress to + prevent the introduction of slavery into any of the territories + of the United States." Nevertheless the whole territory without + regard to latitude was thrown open to the system March 2, + 1805.</p> + + <p>In spite of this victory for slavery, however, the general + force of the events in Hayti was such as to make more certain + the formal closing of the slave-trade at the end of the + twenty-year period for which the Constitution had permitted it + to run. The conscience of the North had been profoundly + stirred, and in the far South was the ever-present fear of a + reproduction of the events in Hayti. The agitation in England + moreover was at last about to bear fruit in the act of 1807 + forbidding the slave-trade. In America it seems from the first + to have been an understood thing, especially by the Southern + representatives, that even if such an act passed it would be + only irregularly enforced, and the debates were concerned + rather with the disposal of illegally imported Africans and + with the punishment of those concerned in the importation than + with the proper limitation of the traffic by water.<a id= + "footnotetag67" + name="footnotetag67"></a><a href= + "#footnote67"><sup>67</sup></a> On March 2, 1807, the act + was passed forbidding the slave-trade after the close of the + year. In course of time it came very near to being a dead + letter, as may be seen from presidential messages, reports + of cabinet officers, letters of collectors of revenue, + letters of district attorneys, reports of committees of + Congress, reports of naval commanders, statements on the + floor of Congress, the testimony of eye-witnesses, and the + complaints of home and foreign anti-slavery societies. + Fernandina and Galveston were only two of the most notorious + ports for smuggling. A regular chain of posts was + established from the head of St. Mary's River to the upper + country, and through the Indian nation, by means of which + the Negroes were transferred to every part of the + country.<a id="footnotetag68" + name="footnotetag68"></a><a href= + "#footnote68"><sup>68</sup></a> If dealers wished to form a + caravan they would give an Indian alarm, so that the woods + might be less frequented, and if pursued in Georgia they + would escape into Florida. One small schooner contained one + hundred and thirty souls. "They were almost packed into a + small space, between a floor laid over the water-casks and + the deck—not near three feet—insufficient for them to sit + upright—and so close that chafing against each other their + bones pierced the skin and became galled and ulcerated by + the motion of the vessel." Many American vessels were + engaged in the trade under Spanish colors, and the traffic + to Africa was pursued with uncommon vigor at Havana, the + crews of vessels being made up of men of all nations, who + were tempted by the high wages to be earned. Evidently + officials were negligent in the discharge of their duty, but + even if offenders were apprehended it did not necessarily + follow that they would receive effective punishment. + President Madison in his message of December 5, 1810, said, + "It appears that American citizens are instrumental in + carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in + violation of the laws of humanity, and in defiance of those + of their own country"; and on January 7, 1819, the Register + of the Treasury made to the House the amazing report that + "it doth not appear, from an examination of the records of + this office, and particularly of the accounts (to the date + of their last settlement) of the collectors of the customs, + and of the several marshals of the United States, that any + forfeitures had been incurred under the said act." A + supplementary and compromising and ineffective act of 1818 + sought to concentrate efforts against smuggling by + encouraging informers; and one of the following year that + authorized the President to "make such regulations and + arrangements as he may deem expedient for the safe keeping, + support, and removal beyond the limits of the United States" + of recaptured Africans, and that bore somewhat more fruit, + was in large measure due to the colonization movement and of + importance in connection with the founding of Liberia.</p> + + <p>Thus, while the formal closing of the slave-trade might seem + to be a great step forward, the laxness with which the decree + was enforced places it definitely in the period of + reaction.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Gabriel" + name="Gabriel"><i>Gabriel's Insurrection and the Rise of the + Negro Problem</i></a></h4> + + <p>Gabriel's insurrection of 1800 was by no means the most + formidable revolt that the Southern states witnessed. In design + it certainly did not surpass the scope of the plot of Denmark + Vesey twenty-two years later, and in actual achievement it was + insignificant when compared not only with Nat Turner's + insurrection but even with the uprisings sixty years before. At + the last moment in fact a great storm that came up made the + attempt to execute the plan a miserable failure. Nevertheless + coming as it did so soon after the revolution in Hayti, and + giving evidence of young and unselfish leadership, the plot was + regarded as of extraordinary significance.</p> + + <p>Gabriel himself<a id="footnotetag69" + name="footnotetag69"></a><a href= + "#footnote69"><sup>69</sup></a> was an intelligent slave + only twenty-four years old, and his chief assistant was Jack + Bowler, aged twenty-eight. Throughout the summer of 1800 he + matured his plan, holding meetings at which a brother named + Martin interpreted various texts from Scripture as bearing + on the situation of the Negroes. His insurrection was + finally set for the first day of September. It was well + planned. The rendezvous was to be a brook six miles from + Richmond. Under cover of night the force of 1,100 was to + march in three columns on the city, then a town of 8,000 + inhabitants, the right wing to seize the penitentiary + building which had just been converted into an arsenal, + while the left took possession of the powder-house. These + two columns were to be armed with clubs, and while they were + doing their work the central force, armed with muskets, + knives, and pikes, was to begin the carnage, none being + spared except the French, whom it is significant that the + Negroes favored. In Richmond at the time there were not more + than four or five hundred men with about thirty muskets; but + in the arsenal were several thousand guns, and the + powder-house was well stocked. Seizure of the mills was to + guarantee the insurrectionists a food supply; and meanwhile + in the country districts were the new harvests of corn, and + flocks and herds were fat in the fields.</p> + + <p>On the day appointed for the uprising Virginia witnessed + such a storm as she had not seen in years. Bridges were carried + away, and roads and plantations completely submerged. Brook + Swamp, the strategic point for the Negroes, was inundated; and + the country Negroes could not get into the city, nor could + those in the city get out to the place of rendezvous. The force + of more than a thousand dwindled to three hundred, and these, + almost paralyzed by fear and superstition, were dismissed. + Meanwhile a slave who did not wish to see his master killed + divulged the plot, and all Richmond was soon in arms.</p> + + <p>A troop of United States cavalry was ordered to the city and + arrests followed quickly. Three hundred dollars was offered by + Governor Monroe for the arrest of Gabriel, and as much more for + Jack Bowler. Bowler surrendered, but it took weeks to find + Gabriel. Six men were convicted and condemned to be executed on + September 12, and five more on September 18. Gabriel was + finally captured on September 24 at Norfolk on a vessel that + had come from Richmond; he was convicted on October 3 and + executed on October 7. He showed no disposition to dissemble as + to his own plan; at the same time he said not one word that + incriminated anybody else. After him twenty-four more men were + executed; then it began to appear that some "mistakes" had been + made and the killing ceased. About the time of this uprising + some Negroes were also assembled for an outbreak in Suffolk + County; there were alarms in Petersburg and in the country near + Edenton, N.C.; and as far away as Charleston the excitement was + intense.</p> + + <p>There were at least three other Negro insurrections of + importance in the period 1790-1820. When news came of the + uprising of the slaves in Santo Domingo in 1791, the Negroes in + Louisiana planned a similar effort.<a id="footnotetag70" + name="footnotetag70"></a><a href= + "#footnote70"><sup>70</sup></a> They might have succeeded + better if they had not disagreed as to the hour of the + outbreak, when one of them informed the commandant. As a + punishment twenty-three of the slaves were hanged along the + banks of the river and their corpses left dangling for days; + but three white men who assisted them and who were really + the most guilty of all, were simply sent out of the colony. + In Camden, S. C, on July 4, 1816, some other Negroes risked + all for independence.<a id="footnotetag71" + name="footnotetag71"></a><a href= + "#footnote71"><sup>71</sup></a> On various pretexts men from + the country districts were invited to the town on the + appointed night, and different commands were assigned, all + except that of commander-in-chief, which position was to be + given to him who first forced the gates of the arsenal. + Again the plot was divulged by "a favorite and confidential + slave," of whom we are told that the state legislature + purchased the freedom, settling upon him a pension for life. + About six of the leaders were executed. On or about May 1, + 1819, there was a plot to destroy the city of Augusta, + Ga.<a id="footnotetag72" + name="footnotetag72"></a><a href= + "#footnote72"><sup>72</sup></a> The insurrectionists were to + assemble at Beach Island, proceed to Augusta, set fire to + the place, and then destroy the inhabitants. Guards were + posted, and a white man who did not answer when hailed was + shot and fatally wounded. A Negro named Coot was tried as + being at the head of the conspiracy and sentenced to be + executed a few days later. Other trials followed his. Not a + muscle moved when the verdict was pronounced upon him.</p> + + <p>The deeper meaning of such events as these could not escape + the discerning. More than one patriot had to wonder just + whither the country was drifting. Already it was evident that + the ultimate problem transcended the mere question of slavery, + and many knew that human beings could not always be confined to + an artificial status. Throughout the period the slave-trade + seemed to flourish without any real check, and it was even + accentuated by the return to power of the old royalist houses + of Europe after the fall of Napoleon. Meanwhile it was observed + that slave labor was driving out of the South the white man of + small means, and antagonism between the men of the "up-country" + and the seaboard capitalists was brewing. The ordinary social + life of the Negro in the South left much to be desired, and + conditions were not improved by the rapid increase. As for + slavery itself, no one could tell when or where or how the + system would end; all only knew that it was developing apace: + and meanwhile there was the sinister possibility of the + alliance of the Negro and the Indian. Sincere plans of gradual + abolition were advanced in the South as well as the North, but + in the lower section they seldom got more than a respectful + hearing. In his "Dissertation on Slavery, with a Proposal for + the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of Virginia," St. + George Tucker, a professor of law in the University of William + and Mary, and one of the judges of the General Court of + Virginia, in 1796 advanced a plan by which he figured that + after sixty years there would be only one-third as many slaves + as at first. At this distance his proposal seems extremely + conservative; at the time, however, it was laid on the table by + the Virginia House of Delegates, and from the Senate the author + received merely "a civil acknowledgment."</p> + + <p>Two men of the period—widely different in temper and tone, + but both earnest seekers after truth—looked forward to the + future with foreboding, one with the eye of the scientist, the + other with the vision of the seer. Hezekiah Niles had full + sympathy with the groping and striving of the South; but he + insisted that slavery must ultimately be abolished throughout + the country, that the minds of the slaves should be exalted, + and that reasonable encouragement should be given free + Negroes.<a id="footnotetag73" + name="footnotetag73"></a><a href= + "#footnote73"><sup>73</sup></a> Said he: "<i>We are ashamed + of the thing we practice</i>;... there is no attribute of + heaven that takes part with us, and <i>we know it</i>. And + in the contest that must come and <i>will come</i>, there + will be a heap of sorrows such as the world has rarely + seen."<a id="footnotetag74" + name="footnotetag74"></a><a href= + "#footnote74"><sup>74</sup></a></p> + + <p>On the other hand rose Lorenzo Dow, the foremost itinerant + preacher of the time, the first Protestant who expounded the + gospel in Alabama and Mississippi, and a reformer who at the + very moment that cotton was beginning to be supreme, presumed + to tell the South that slavery was wrong.<a id="footnotetag75" + name="footnotetag75"></a><a href= + "#footnote75"><sup>75</sup></a> Everywhere he arrested + attention—with his long hair, his harsh voice, and his wild + gesticulation startling all conservative hearers. But he was + made in the mold of heroes. In his lifetime he traveled not + less than two hundred thousand miles, preaching to more + people than any other man of his time. Several times he went + to Canada, once to the West Indies, and three times to + England, everywhere drawing great crowds about him. In <i>A + Cry from the Wilderness</i> he more than once clothed his + thought in enigmatic garb, but the meaning was always + ultimately clear. At this distance, when slavery and the + Civil War are alike viewed in the perspective, the words of + the oracle are almost uncanny: "In the rest of the Southern + states the influence of these Foreigners will be known and + felt in its time, and the seeds from the HORY ALLIANCE and + the DECAPIGANDI, who have a hand in those grades of + Generals, from the Inquisitor to the Vicar General and + down...!!! The STRUGGLE will be DREADFUL! the CUP will be + BITTER! and when the agony is over, those who survive may + see better days! FAREWELL!"</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote64" + name="footnote64"></a><b>Footnote 64:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag64">(return)</a><br/> + + Phillips in <i>The South in the Building of the + Nation</i>, II, 154.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote65" + name="footnote65"></a><b>Footnote 65:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag65">(return)</a><br/> + + DuBois: <i>Suppression of the Slave-Trade</i>, 90.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote66" + name="footnote66"></a><b>Footnote 66:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag66">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>History of the United States</i>, I, 391-392.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote67" + name="footnote67"></a><b>Footnote 67:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag67">(return)</a><br/> + + See DuBois, 95, ff.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote68" + name="footnote68"></a><b>Footnote 68:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag68">(return)</a><br/> + + Niles's <i>Register</i>, XIV, 176 (May 2, 1818).</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote69" + name="footnote69"></a><b>Footnote 69:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag69">(return)</a><br/> + + His full name was Gabriel Prosser.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote70" + name="footnote70"></a><b>Footnote 70:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag70">(return)</a><br/> + + Gayarré: <i>History of Louisiana</i>, III, 355.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote71" + name="footnote71"></a><b>Footnote 71:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag71">(return)</a><br/> + + Holland: <i>Refutation of Calumnies</i>.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote72" + name="footnote72"></a><b>Footnote 72:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag72">(return)</a><br/> + + Niles's <i>Register</i>, XVI, 213 (May 22, 1819).</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote73" + name="footnote73"></a><b>Footnote 73:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag73">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Register</i>, XVI, 177 (May 8, 1819).</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote74" + name="footnote74"></a><b>Footnote 74:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag74">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Ibid</i>., XVI, 213 (May 22, 1819).</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote75" + name="footnote75"></a><b>Footnote 75:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag75">(return)</a><br/> + + For full study see article "Lorenzo Dow," in + <i>Methodist Review</i> and <i>Journal of Negro + History</i>, July, 1916, the same being included in + <i>Africa and the War</i>, New York, 1918.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERV" + name="CHAPTERV"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + + <h3>INDIAN AND NEGRO</h3> + + <p>It is not the purpose of the present chapter to give a + history of the Seminole Wars, or even to trace fully the + connection of the Negro with these contests. We do hope to show + at least, however, that the Negro was more important than + anything else as an immediate cause of controversy, though the + general pressure of the white man upon the Indian would in time + of course have made trouble in any case. Strange parallels + constantly present themselves, and incidentally it may be seen + that the policy of the Government in force in other and even + later years with reference to the Negro was at this time also + very largely applied in the case of the Indian.</p> + + <h4>1. <a id="creek" + name="creek"><i>Creek, Seminole, and Negro to 1817: The War + of 1812</i></a></h4> + + <p>On August 7, 1786, the Continental Congress by a definite + and far-reaching ordinance sought to regulate for the future + the whole conduct of Indian affairs. Two great districts were + formed, one including the territory north of the Ohio and west + of the Hudson, and the other including that south of the Ohio + and east of the Mississippi; and for anything pertaining to the + Indian in each of these two great tracts a superintendent was + appointed. As affecting the Negro the southern district was + naturally of vastly more importance than the northern. In the + eastern portion of this, mainly in what are now Georgia, + eastern Tennessee, and eastern Alabama, were the Cherokees and + the great confederacy of the Creeks, while toward the west, in + the present Mississippi and western Alabama, were the + Chickasaws and the Choctaws. Of Muskhogean stock, and + originally a part of the Creeks, were the Seminoles + ("runaways"), who about 1750, under the leadership of a great + chieftain, Secoffee, separated from the main confederacy, which + had its center in southwest Georgia just a little south of + Columbus, and overran the peninsula of Florida. In 1808 came + another band under Micco Hadjo to the present site of + Tallahassee. The Mickasukie tribe was already on the ground in + the vicinity of this town, and at first its members objected to + the newcomers, who threatened to take their lands from them; + but at length all abode peaceably together under the general + name of Seminoles. About 1810 these people had twenty towns, + the chief ones being Mikasuki and Tallahassee. From the very + first they had received occasional additions from the Yemassee, + who had been driven out of South Carolina, and of fugitive + Negroes.</p> + + <p>By the close of the eighteenth century all along the + frontier the Indian had begun to feel keenly the pressure of + the white man, and in his struggle with the invader he + recognized in the oppressed Negro a natural ally. Those Negroes + who by any chance became free were welcomed by the Indians, + fugitives from bondage found refuge with them, and while Indian + chiefs commonly owned slaves, the variety of servitude was very + different from that under the white man. The Negroes were + comparatively free, and intermarriage was frequent; thus a + mulatto woman who fled from bondage married a chief and became + the mother of a daughter who in course of time became the wife + of the famous Osceola. This very close connection of the Negro + with the family life of the Indian was the determining factor + in the resistance of the Seminoles to the demands of the agents + of the United States, and a reason, stronger even than his love + for his old hunting-ground, for his objection to removal to new + lands beyond the Mississippi. Very frequently the Indian could + not give up his Negroes without seeing his own wife and + children led away into bondage; and thus to native courage and + pride was added the instinct of a father for the preservation + of his own.</p> + + <p>In the two wars between the Americans and the English it was + but natural that the Indian should side with the English, and + it was in some measure but a part of the game that he should + receive little consideration at the hands of the victor. In the + politics played by the English and the French, the English and + the Spaniards, and finally between the Americans and all + Europeans, the Indian was ever the loser. In the very early + years of the Carolina colonies, some effort was made to enslave + the Indians; but such servants soon made their way to the + Indian country, and it was not long before they taught the + Negroes to do likewise. This constant escape of slaves, with + its attendant difficulties, largely accounted for the + establishing of the free colony of Georgia between South + Carolina and the Spanish possession, Florida. It was soon + evident, however, that the problem had been aggravated rather + than settled. When Congress met in 1776 it received from + Georgia a communication setting forth the need of "preventing + slaves from deserting their masters"; and as soon as the + Federal Government was organized in 1789 it received also from + Georgia an urgent request for protection from the Creeks, who + were charged with various ravages, and among other documents + presented was a list of one hundred and ten Negroes who were + said to have left their masters during the Revolution and to + have found refuge among the Creeks. Meanwhile by various + treaties, written and unwritten, the Creeks were being forced + toward the western line of the state, and in any agreement the + outstanding stipulation was always for the return of fugitive + slaves. For a number of years the Creeks retreated without + definitely organized resistance. In the course of the War of + 1812, however, moved by the English and by a visit from + Tecumseh, they suddenly rose, and on August 30, 1813, under the + leadership of Weathersford, they attacked Fort Mims, a stockade + thirty-five miles north of Mobile. The five hundred and + fifty-three men, women, and children in this place were almost + completely massacred. Only fifteen white persons escaped by + hiding in the woods, a number of Negroes being taken prisoner. + This occurrence spurred the whole Southwest to action. + Volunteers were called for, and the Tennessee legislature + resolved to exterminate the whole tribe. Andrew Jackson with + Colonel Coffee administered decisive defeats at Talladega and + Tohopeka or Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River, and the + Creeks were forced to sue for peace. By the treaty of Fort + Jackson (August 9, 1814) the future president, now a major + general in the regular army and in command at Mobile, demanded + that the unhappy nation give up more than half of its land as + indemnity for the cost of the war, that it hold no + communication with a Spanish garrison or town, that it permit + the necessary roads to be made or forts to be built in any part + of the territory, and that it surrender the prophets who had + instigated the war. This last demand was ridiculous, or only + for moral effect, for the so-called prophets had already been + left dead on the field of battle. The Creeks were quite broken, + however, and Jackson passed on to fame and destiny at the + Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. In April of this year + he was made commander-in-chief of the Southern Division.<a id= + "footnotetag76" + name="footnotetag76"></a><a href= + "#footnote76"><sup>76</sup></a> It soon developed that his + chief task in this capacity was to reckon with the + Seminoles.</p> + + <p>On the Appalachicola River the British had rebuilt an old + fort, calling it the British Post on the Appalachicola. Early + in the summer of 1815 the commander, Nicholls, had occasion to + go to London, and he took with him his troops, the chief + Francis, and several Creeks, leaving in the fort seven hundred + and sixty-three barrels of cannon powder, twenty-five hundred + muskets, and numerous pistols and other weapons of war. The + Negroes from Georgia who had come to the vicinity, who numbered + not less than a thousand, and who had some well kept farms up + and down the banks of the river, now took charge of the fort + and made it their headquarters. They were joined by some + Creeks, and the so-called Negro Fort soon caused itself to be + greatly feared by any white people who happened to live near. + Demands on the Spanish governor for its suppression were + followed by threats of the use of the soldiery of the United + States; and General Gaines, under orders in the section, wrote + to Jackson asking authority to build near the boundary another + post that might be used as the base for any movement that had + as its aim to overawe the Negroes. Jackson readily complied + with the request, saying, "I have no doubt that this fort has + been established by some villains for the purpose of murder, + rapine, and plunder, and that it ought to be blown up + regardless of the ground it stands on. If you have come to the + same conclusion, destroy it, and restore the stolen Negroes and + property to their rightful owners." Gaines accordingly built + Fort Scott not far from where the Flint and the Chattahoochee + join to form the Appalachicola. It was necessary for Gaines to + pass the Negro Fort in bringing supplies to his own men; and on + July 17, 1816, the boats of the Americans were within range of + the fort and opened fire. There was some preliminary shooting, + and then, since the walls were too stubborn to be battered down + by a light fire, "a ball made red-hot in the cook's galley was + put in the gun and sent screaming over the wall and into the + magazine. The roar, the shock, the scene that followed, may be + imagined, but not described. Seven hundred barrels of gunpowder + tore the earth, the fort, and all the wretched creatures in it + to fragments. Two hundred and seventy men, women, and children + died on the spot. Of sixty-four taken out alive, the greater + number died soon after."<a id="footnotetag77" + name="footnotetag77"></a><a href= + "#footnote77"><sup>77</sup></a></p> + + <p>The Seminoles—in the West more and more identified with the + Creeks—were angered by their failure to recover the lands lost + by the treaty of Fort Jackson and also by the building of Fort + Scott. One settlement, Fowltown, fifteen miles east of Fort + Scott, was especially excited and in the fall of 1817 sent a + warning to the Americans "not to cross or cut a stick of timber + on the east side of the Flint." The warning was regarded as a + challenge; Fowltown was taken on a morning in November, and the + Seminole Wars had begun.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Moultrie" + name="Moultrie"><i>First Seminole War and the Treaties of + Indian Spring and Fort Moultrie</i></a></h4> + + <p>In the course of the First Seminole War (1817-18) Jackson + ruthlessly laid waste the towns of the Indians; he also took + Pensacola, and he awakened international difficulties by his + rather summary execution of two British subjects, Arbuthnot and + Ambrister, who were traders to the Indians and sustained + generally pleasant relations with them. For his conduct, + especially in this last instance, he was severely criticized in + Congress, but it is significant of his rising popularity that + no formal vote of censure could pass against him. On the + cession of Florida to the United States he was appointed + territorial governor; but he served for a brief term only. As + early as 1822 he was nominated for the presidency by the + legislature of Tennessee, and in 1823 he was sent to the United + States Senate.</p> + + <p>Of special importance in the history of the Creeks about + this time was the treaty of Indian Spring, of January 8, 1821, + an iniquitous agreement in the signing of which bribery and + firewater were more than usually present. By this the Creeks + ceded to the United States, for the benefit of Georgia, five + million acres of their most valuable land. In cash they were to + receive $200,000, in payments extending over fourteen years. + The United States Government moreover was to hold $250,000 as a + fund from which the citizens of Georgia were to be reimbursed + for any "claims" (for runaway slaves of course) that the + citizens of the state had against the Creeks prior to the year + 1802.<a id="footnotetag78" + name="footnotetag78"></a><a href= + "#footnote78"><sup>78</sup></a> In the actual execution of + this agreement a slave was frequently estimated at two or + three times his real value, and the Creeks were expected to + pay whether the fugitive was with them or not. All possible + claims, however, amounted to $101,000. This left $149,000 of + the money in the hands of the Government. This sum was not + turned over to the Indians, as one might have expected, but + retained until 1834, when the Georgia citizens interested + petitioned for a division. The request was referred to the + Commission on Indian Affairs, and the chairman, Gilmer of + Georgia, was in favor of dividing the money among the + petitioners as compensation for "the offspring which the + slaves would have borne had they remained in bondage." This + suggestion was rejected at the time, but afterwards the + division was made nevertheless; and history records few more + flagrant violations of all principles of honor and + justice.</p> + + <p>The First Seminole War, while in some ways disastrous to the + Indians, was in fact not much more than the preliminary + skirmish of a conflict that was not to cease until 1842. In + general the Indians, mindful of the ravages of the War of 1812, + did not fully commit themselves and bided their time. They were + in fact so much under cover that they led the Americans to + underestimate their real numbers. When the cession of Florida + was formally completed, however (July 17, 1821), they were + found to be on the very best spots of land in the territory. On + May 20, 1822, Colonel Gad Humphreys was appointed agent to + them, William P. Duval as governor of the territory being + ex-officio superintendent of Indian affairs. Altogether the + Indians at this time, according to the official count, numbered + 1,594 men, 1,357 women, and 993 children, a total of 3,944, + with 150 Negro men and 650 Negro women and children.<a id= + "footnotetag79" + name="footnotetag79"></a><a href= + "#footnote79"><sup>79</sup></a> In the interest of these + people Humphreys labored faithfully for eight years, and not + a little of the comparative quiet in his period of service + is to be credited to his own sympathy, good sense, and + patience.</p> + + <p>In the spring of 1823 the Indians were surprised by the + suggestion of a treaty that would definitely limit their + boundaries and outline their future relations with the white + man. The representative chiefs had no desire for a conference, + were exceedingly reluctant to meet the commissioners, and + finally came to the meeting prompted only by the hope that such + terms might be arrived at as would permanently guarantee them + in the peaceable possession of their homes. Over the very + strong protest of some of them a treaty was signed at Fort + Moultrie, on the coast five miles below St. Augustine, + September 18, 1823, William P. Duval, James Gadsden, and + Bernard Segui being the representatives of the United States. + By this treaty we learn that the Indians, in view of the fact + that they have "thrown themselves on, and have promised to + continue under, the protection of the United States, and of no + other nation, power, or sovereignty; and in consideration of + the promises and stipulations hereinafter made, do cede and + relinquish all claim or title which they have to the whole + territory of Florida, with the exception of such district of + country as shall herein be allotted to them." They are to have + restricted boundaries, the extreme point of which is nowhere to + be nearer than fifteen miles to the Gulf of Mexico. The United + States promises to distribute, as soon as the Indians are + settled on their new land, under the direction of their agent, + "implements of husbandry, and stock of cattle and hogs to the + amount of six thousand dollars, and an annual sum of five + thousand dollars a year for twenty successive years"; and "to + restrain and prevent all white persons from hunting, settling, + or otherwise intruding" upon the land set apart for the + Indians, though any American citizen, lawfully authorized, is + to pass and repass within the said district and navigate the + waters thereof "without any hindrance, toll or exactions from + said tribes." For facilitating removal and as compensation for + any losses or inconvenience sustained, the United States is to + furnish rations of corn, meat, and salt for twelve months, with + a special appropriation of $4,500 for those who have made + improvements, and $2,000 more for the facilitating of + transportation. The agent, sub-agent, and interpreter are to + reside within the Indian boundary "to watch over the interests + of said tribes"; and the United States further undertake "as an + evidence of their humane policy towards said tribes" to allow + $1,000 a year for twenty years for the establishment of a + school and $1,000 a year for the same period for the support of + a gun- and blacksmith. Of supreme importance is Article 7: "The + chiefs and warriors aforesaid, for themselves and tribes, + stipulate to be active and vigilant in the preventing the + retreating to, or passing through, the district of country + assigned them, of any absconding slaves, or fugitives from + justice; and further agree to use all necessary exertions to + apprehend and deliver the same to the agent, who shall receive + orders to compensate them agreeably to the trouble and expense + incurred." We have dwelt at length upon the provisions of this + treaty because it contained all the seeds of future trouble + between the white man and the Indian. Six prominent chiefs—Nea + Mathla, John Blunt, Tuski Hajo, Mulatto King, Emathlochee, and + Econchattimico—refused absolutely to sign, and their marks were + not won until each was given a special reservation of from two + to four square miles outside the Seminole boundaries. Old Nea + Mathla in fact never did accept the treaty in good faith, and + when the time came for the execution of the agreement he + summoned his warriors to resistance. Governor Duval broke in + upon his war council, deposed the war leaders, and elevated + those who favored peaceful removal. The Seminoles now retired + to their new lands, but Nea Mathla was driven into practical + exile. He retired to the Creeks, by whom he was raised to the + dignity of a chief. It was soon realized by the Seminoles that + they had been restricted to some pine woods by no means as + fertile as their old lands, nor were matters made better by one + or two seasons of drought. To allay their discontent twenty + square miles more, to the north, was given them, but to offset + this new cession their rations were immediately reduced.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Landing" + name="Landing"><i>From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to the + Treaty of Payne's Landing</i></a></h4> + + <p>Now succeeded ten years of trespassing, of insult, and of + increasing enmity. Kidnapers constantly lurked near the Indian + possessions, and instances of injury unredressed increased the + bitterness and rancor. Under date May 20, 1825, Humphreys<a id= + "footnotetag80" + name="footnotetag80"></a><a href= + "#footnote80"><sup>80</sup></a> wrote to the Indian Bureau + that the white settlers were already thronging to the + vicinity of the Indian reservation and were likely to become + troublesome. As to some recent disturbances, writing from + St. Augustine February 9, 1825, he said: "From all I can + learn here there is little doubt that the disturbances near + Tallahassee, which have of late occasioned so much clamor, + were brought about by a course of unjustifiable conduct on + the part of the whites, similar to that which it appears to + be the object of the territorial legislature to legalize. In + fact, it is stated that one Indian had been so severely + whipped by the head of the family which was destroyed in + these disturbances, as to cause his death; if such be the + fact, the subsequent act of the Indians, however lamentable, + must be considered as one of retaliation, and I can not but + think it is to be deplored that they were afterwards + 'hunted' with so unrelenting a revenge." The word + <i>hunted</i> was used advisedly by Humphreys, for, as we + shall see later, when war was renewed one of the common + means of fighting employed by the American officers was the + use of bloodhounds. Sometimes guns were taken from the + Indians so that they had nothing with which to pursue the + chase. On one occasion, when some Indians were being marched + to headquarters, a woman far advanced in pregnancy was + forced onward with such precipitancy as to produce a + premature delivery, which almost terminated her life. More + far-reaching than anything else, however, was the constant + denial of the rights of the Indian in court in cases + involving white men. As Humphreys said, the great + disadvantage under which the Seminoles labored as witnesses + "destroyed everything like equality of rights." Some of the + Negroes that they had, had been born among them, and some + others had been purchased from white men and duly paid for. + No receipts were given, however, and efforts were frequently + made to recapture the Negroes by force. The Indian, + conscious of his rights, protested earnestly against such + attempts and naturally determined to resist all efforts to + wrest from him his rightfully acquired property.</p> + + <p>By 1827, however, the territorial legislature had begun to + memorialize Congress and to ask for the complete removal of the + Indians. Meanwhile the Negro question was becoming more + prominent, and orders from the Department of War, increasingly + peremptory, were made on Humphreys for the return of definite + Negroes. For Duval and Humphreys, however, who had actually to + execute the commissions, the task was not always so easy. Under + date March 20, 1827, the former wrote to the latter: "Many of + the slaves belonging to the whites are now in the possession of + the white people; these slaves can not be obtained for their + Indian owners without a lawsuit, and I see no reason why the + Indians shall be compelled to surrender all slaves claimed by + our citizens when this surrender is not mutual." Meanwhile the + annuity began to be withheld from the Indians in order to force + them to return Negroes, and a friendly chief, Hicks, constantly + waited upon Humphreys only to find the agent little more + powerful than himself. Thus matters continued through 1829 and + 1830. In violation of all legal procedure, the Indians were + constantly <i>required to relinquish beforehand property in + their possession to settle a question of claim</i>. On March + 21, 1830, Humphreys was informed that he was no longer agent + for the Indians. He had been honestly devoted to the interest + of these people, but his efforts were not in harmony with the + policy of the new administration.</p> + + <p>Just what that policy was may be seen from Jackson's special + message on Indian affairs of February 22, 1831. The Senate had + asked for information as to the conduct of the Government in + connection with the act of March 30, 1802, "to regulate trade + and intercourse with the Indian tribes and to preserve peace on + the frontiers." The Nullification controversy was in + everybody's mind, and already friction had arisen between the + new President and the abolitionists. In spite of Jackson's + attitude toward South Carolina, his message in the present + instance was a careful defense of the whole theory of state + rights. Nothing in the conduct of the Federal Government toward + the Indian tribes, he insisted, had ever been intended to + attack or even to call in question the rights of a sovereign + state. In one way the Southern states had seemed to be an + exception. "As early as 1784 the settlements within the limits + of North Carolina were advanced farther to the west than the + authority of the state to enforce an obedience of its laws." + After the Revolution the tribes desolated the frontiers. "Under + these circumstances the first treaties, in 1785 and 1790, with + the Cherokees, were concluded by the Government of the United + States." Nothing of all this, said Jackson, had in any way + affected the relation of any Indians to the state in which they + happened to reside, and he concluded as follows: "Toward this + race of people I entertain the kindest feelings, and am not + sensible that the views which I have taken of their true + interests are less favorable to them than those which oppose + their emigration to the West. Years since I stated to them my + belief that if the States chose to extend their laws over them + it would not be in the power of the Federal Government to + prevent it. My opinion remains the same, and I can see no + alternative for them but that of their removal to the West or a + quiet submission to the state laws. If they prefer to remove, + the United States agree to defray their expenses, to supply + them the means of transportation and a year's support after + they reach their new homes—a provision too liberal and kind to + bear the stamp of injustice. Either course promises them peace + and happiness, whilst an obstinate perseverance in the effort + to maintain their possessions independent of the state + authority can not fail to render their condition still more + helpless and miserable. Such an effort ought, therefore, to be + discountenanced by all who sincerely sympathize in the fortunes + of this peculiar people, and especially by the political bodies + of the Union, as calculated to disturb the harmony of the two + Governments and to endanger the safety of the many blessings + which they enable us to enjoy."</p> + + <p>The policy thus formally enunciated was already in practical + operation. In the closing days of the administration of John + Quincy Adams a delegation came to Washington to present to the + administration the grievances of the Cherokee nation. The + formal reception of the delegation fell to the lot of Eaton, + the new Secretary of War. The Cherokees asserted that not only + did they have no rights in the Georgia courts in cases + involving white men, but that they had been notified by Georgia + that all laws, usages, and agreements in force in the Indian + country would be null and void after June 1, 1830; and + naturally they wanted the interposition of the Federal + Government. Eaton replied at great length, reminding the + Cherokees that they had taken sides with England in the War of + 1812, that they were now on American soil only by sufferance, + and that the central government could not violate the rights of + the state of Georgia; and he strongly advised immediate removal + to the West. The Cherokees, quite broken, acted in accord with + this advice; and so in 1832 did the Creeks, to whom Jackson had + sent a special talk urging removal as the only basis of Federal + protection.</p> + + <p>To the Seminoles as early as 1827 overtures for removal had + been made; but before the treaty of Fort Moultrie had really + become effective they had been intruded upon and they in turn + had become more slow about returning runaway slaves. From some + of the clauses in the treaty of Fort Moultrie, as some of the + chiefs were quick to point out, the understanding was that the + same was to be in force for twenty years; and they felt that + any slowness on their part about the return of Negroes was + fully nullified by the efforts of the professional Negro + stealers with whom they had to deal.</p> + + <p>Early in 1832, however, Colonel James Gadsden of Florida was + directed by Lewis Cass, the Secretary of War, to enter into + negotiation for the removal of the Indians of Florida. There + was great opposition to a conference, but the Indians were + finally brought together at Payne's Landing on the Ocklawaha + River just seventeen miles from Fort King. Here on May 9, 1832, + was wrested from them a treaty which is of supreme importance + in the history of the Seminoles. The full text was as + follows:</p> + + <p class="letter"> + TREATY OF PAYNE'S LANDING,<br /> + MAY 9, 1832<br/> +    Whereas, a treaty between the United States and the + Seminole nation of Indians was made and concluded at + Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha River, on the 9th of May, + one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, by James + Gadsden, commissioner on the part of the United States, and + the chiefs and headmen of said Seminole nation of Indians, + on the part of said nation; which treaty is in the words + following, to wit:<br/> +    The Seminole Indians, regarding with just respect the + solicitude manifested by the President of the United States + for the improvement of their condition, by recommending a + removal to the country more suitable to their habits and + wants than the one they at present occupy in the territory + of Florida, are willing that their confidential chiefs, + Jumper, Fuch-a-lus-to-had-jo, Charley Emathla, Coi-had-jo, + Holati-Emathla, Ya-ha-had-jo, Sam Jones, accompanied by + their agent, Major John Phagan, and their faithful + interpreter, Abraham, should be sent, at the expense of the + United States, as early as convenient, to examine the + country assigned to the Creeks, west of the Mississippi + River, and should they be satisfied with the character of + the country, and of the favorable disposition of the Creeks + to re-unite with the Seminoles as one people; the articles + of the compact and agreement herein stipulated, at Payne's + Landing, on the Ocklawaha River, this ninth day of May, one + thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, between James + Gadsden, for and in behalf of the government of the United + States, and the undersigned chiefs and headmen, for and in + behalf of the Seminole Indians, shall be binding on the + respective parties.<br/> +    Article I. The Seminole Indians relinquish to the United + States all claim to the land they at present occupy in the + territory of Florida, and agree to emigrate to the country + assigned to the Creeks, west of the Mississippi River, it + being understood that an additional extent of country, + proportioned to their numbers, will be added to the Creek + territory, and that the Seminoles will be received as a + constituent part of the Creek nation, and be re-admitted to + all the privileges as a member of the same.<br/> +    Article II. For and in consideration of the + relinquishment of claim in the first article of this + agreement, and in full compensation for all the + improvements which may have been made on the lands thereby + ceded, the United States stipulate to pay to the Seminole + Indians fifteen thousand four hundred ($15,400) dollars, to + be divided among the chiefs and warriors of the several + towns, in a ratio proportioned to their population, the + respective proportions of each to be paid on their arrival + in the country they consent to remove to; it being + understood that their faithful interpreters, Abraham and + Cudjo, shall receive two hundred dollars each, of the above + sum, in full remuneration of the improvements to be + abandoned on the lands now cultivated by them.<br/> +    Article III. The United States agree to distribute, as + they arrive at their new homes in the Creek territory, west + of the Mississippi River, a blanket and a homespun frock to + each of the warriors, women and children, of the Seminole + tribe of Indians.<br/> +    Article IV. The United States agree to extend the + annuity for the support of a blacksmith, provided for in + the sixth article of the treaty at Camp Moultrie, for ten + (10) years beyond the period therein stipulated, and in + addition to the other annuities secured under that treaty, + the United States agree to pay the sum of three thousand + ($3,000) dollars a year for fifteen (15) years, commencing + after the removal of the whole tribe; these sums to be + added to the Creek annuities, and the whole amount to be so + divided that the chiefs and warriors of the Seminole + Indians may receive their equitable proportion of the same, + as members of the Creek confederation.<br/> +    Article V. The United States will take the cattle + belonging to the Seminoles, at the valuation of some + discreet person, to be appointed by the President, and the + same shall be paid for in money to the respective owners, + after their arrival at their new homes; or other cattle, + such as may be desired, will be furnished them; notice + being given through their agent, of their wishes upon this + subject, before their removal, that time may be afforded to + supply the demand.<br/> +    Article VI. The Seminoles being anxious to be relieved + from the repeated vexatious demands for slaves, and other + property, alleged to have been stolen and destroyed by + them, so that they may remove unembarrassed to their new + homes, the United States stipulate to have the same + property (properly) investigated, and to liquidate such as + may be satisfactorily established, provided the amount does + not exceed seven thousand ($7,000) dollars.<br/> +    Article VII. The Seminole Indians will remove within + three (3) years after the ratification of this agreement, + and the expenses of their removal shall be defrayed by the + United States, and such subsistence shall also be furnished + them, for a term not exceeding twelve (12) months after + their arrival at their new residence, as in the opinion of + the President their numbers and circumstances may require; + the emigration to commence as early as practicable in the + year eighteen hundred and thirty-three (1833), and with + those Indians at present occupying the Big Swamp, and other + parts of the country beyond the limits, as defined in the + second article of the treaty concluded at Camp Moultrie + Creek, so that the whole of that proportion of the + Seminoles may be removed within the year aforesaid, and the + remainder of the tribe, in about equal proportions, during + the subsequent years of eighteen hundred and thirty-four + and five (1834 and 1835).<br/> +    In testimony whereof, the commissioner, James Gadsden, + and the undersigned chiefs and head-men of the Seminole + Indians, have hereunto subscribed their names and affixed + their seals.<br/> +    Done at camp, at Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha + River, in the territory of Florida, on this ninth day of + May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and of the + independence of the United States of America, the + fifty-sixth.<br/> +    (Signed) James Gadsden. L.S.<br /> + Holati Emathlar, his X mark.<br /> + Jumper, his X mark.<br /> + Cudjo, Interpreter, his X mark.<br /> + Erastus Rodgers.<br /> + B. Joscan.<br /> + Holati Emathlar, his X mark.<br /> + Jumper, his X mark.<br /> + Fuch-ta-lus-ta-Hadjo, his X mark.<br /> + Charley Emathla, his X mark.<br /> + Coi Hadjo, his X mark.<br /> + Ar-pi-uck-i, or Sam<br /> + Jones, his X mark.<br /> + Ya-ha-Hadjo, his X mark.<br /> + Mico-Noha, his X mark.<br /> + Tokose Emathla, or<br /> + John Hicks, his X mark.<br /> + Cat-sha-Tustenuggee, his X mark.<br /> + Holat-a-Micco, his X mark.<br /> + Hitch-it-i-Micco, his X mark.<br /> + E-na-hah, his X mark.<br /> + Ya-ha-Emathla-Chopco, his X mark.<br /> + Moki-his-she-lar-ni, his X mark.<br/> +    Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jackson, + President of the United States of America, having seen and + considered said treaty, do, by and with the advice and + consent of the Senate, as expressed by their resolution of + the eighth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and + thirty-four, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and + every clause and article thereof.<br/> +    In witness whereof, I have caused the seal of the United + States to be hereunto affixed, having signed the same with + my hand. Done at the city of Washington, this twelfth day + of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight + hundred and thirty-four, and of the independence of the + United States of America, the fifty-eighth.<br/> +    (Signed) ANDREW JACKSON. By the President,<br /> + LOUIS MCLANE, Secretary of State.</p> + + + <p>It will be seen that by the terms of this document seven + chiefs were to go and examine the country assigned to the + Creeks, and that they were to be accompanied by Major John + Phagan, the successor of Humphreys, and the Negro interpreter + Abraham. The character of Phagan may be seen from the facts + that he was soon in debt to different ones of the Indians and + to Abraham, and that he was found to be short in his accounts. + While the Indian chiefs were in the West, three United States + commissioners conferred with them as to the suitability of the + country for a future home, and at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, March + 28, 1833, they were beguiled into signing an additional treaty + in which occurred the following sentence: "And the undersigned + Seminole chiefs, delegated as aforesaid, on behalf of their + nation, hereby declare themselves well satisfied with the + location provided for them by the commissioners, and agree that + their nation shall commence the removal to their new home as + soon as the government will make arrangements for their + emigration, satisfactory to the Seminole nation." They of + course had no authority to act on their own initiative, and + when all returned in April, 1833, and Phagan explained what had + happened, the Seminoles expressed themselves in no uncertain + terms. The chiefs who had gone West denied strenuously that + they had signed away any rights to land, but they were + nevertheless upbraided as the agents of deception. Some of the + old chiefs, of whom Micanopy was the highest authority, + resolved to resist the efforts to dispossess them; and John + Hicks, who seems to have been substituted for Sam Jones on the + commission, was killed because he argued too strongly for + migration. Meanwhile the treaty of Payne's Landing was ratified + by the Senate of the United States and proclaimed as in force + by President Jackson April 12, 1834, and in connection with it + the supplementary treaty of Fort Gibson was also ratified. The + Seminoles, however, were not showing any haste about removing, + and ninety of the white citizens of Alachua County sent a + protest to the President alleging that the Indians were not + returning their fugitive slaves. Jackson was made angry, and + without even waiting for the formal ratification of the + treaties, he sent the document to the Secretary of War, with an + endorsement on the back directing him "to inquire into the + alleged facts, and if found to be true, to direct the Seminoles + to prepare to remove West and join the Creeks." General Wiley + Thompson was appointed to succeed Phagan as agent, and General + Duncan L. Clinch was placed in command of the troops whose + services it was thought might be needed. It was at this + juncture that Osceola stepped forward as the leading spirit of + his people.</p> + + <h4>4. <a id="Osceola" + name="Osceola"><i>Osceola and the Second Seminole + War</i></a></h4> + + <p>Osceola (Asseola, or As-se-he-ho-lar, sometimes called + Powell because after his father's death his mother married a + white man of that name<a id="footnotetag81" + name="footnotetag81"></a><a href= + "#footnote81"><sup>81</sup></a>) was not more than thirty + years of age. He was slender, of only average height, and + slightly round-shouldered; but he was also well + proportioned, muscular, and capable of enduring great + fatigue. He had light, deep, restless eyes, and a shrill + voice, and he was a great admirer of order and technique. He + excelled in athletic contests and in his earlier years had + taken delight in engaging in military practice with the + white men. As he was neither by descent nor formal election + a chief, he was not expected to have a voice in important + deliberations; but he was a natural leader and he did more + than any other man to organize the Seminoles to resistance. + It is hardly too much to say that to his single influence + was due a contest that ultimately cost $10,000,000 and the + loss of thousands of lives. Never did a patriot fight more + valiantly for his own, and it stands to the eternal disgrace + of the American arms that he was captured under a flag of + truce.</p> + + <p>It is well to pause for a moment and reflect upon some of + the deeper motives that entered into the impending contest. A + distinguished congressman,<a id="footnotetag82" + name="footnotetag82"></a><a href= + "#footnote82"><sup>82</sup></a> speaking in the House of + Representatives a few years later, touched eloquently upon + some of the events of these troublous years. Let us remember + that this was the time of the formation of anti-slavery + societies, of pronounced activity on the part of the + abolitionists, and recall also that Nat Turner's + insurrection was still fresh in the public mind. Giddings + stated clearly the issue as it appeared to the people of the + North when he said, "I hold that if the slaves of Georgia or + any other state leave their masters, the Federal Government + has no constitutional authority to employ our army or navy + for their recapture, or to apply the national treasure to + repurchase them." There could be no question of the fact + that the war was very largely one over fugitive slaves. + Under date October 28, 1834, General Thompson wrote to the + Commissioner of Indian Affairs: "There are many very likely + Negroes in this nation [the Seminole]. Some of the whites in + the adjacent settlements manifest a restless desire to + obtain them, and I have no doubt that Indian raised Negroes + are now in the possession of the whites." In a letter dated + January 20, 1834, Governor Duval had already said to the + same official: "The slaves belonging to the Indians have a + controlling influence over the minds of their masters, and + are entirely opposed to any change of residence." Six days + later he wrote: "The slaves belonging to the Indians must be + made to fear for themselves before they will cease to + influence the minds of their masters.... The first step + towards the emigration of these Indians must be the breaking + up of the runaway slaves and the outlaw Indians." And the + New Orleans <i>Courier</i> of July 27, 1839, revealed all + the fears of the period when it said, "Every day's delay in + subduing the Seminoles increases the danger of a rising + among the serviles."</p> + + <p>All the while injustice and injury to the Indians continued. + Econchattimico, well known as one of those chiefs to whom + special reservations had been given by the treaty of Fort + Moultrie, was the owner of twenty slaves valued at $15,000. + Observing Negro stealers hovering around his estate, he armed + himself and his men. The kidnapers then furthered their designs + by circulating the report that the Indians were arming + themselves for union with the main body of Seminoles for the + general purpose of massacring the white people. Face to face + with this charge Econchattimico gave up his arms and threw + himself on the protection of the government; and his Negroes + were at once taken and sold into bondage.</p> + + <p>A similar case was that of John Walker, an Appalachicola + chief, who wrote to Thompson under date July 28, 1835: "I am + induced to write you in consequence of the depredations making + and attempted to be made upon my property, by a company of + Negro stealers, some of whom are from Columbus, Ga., and have + connected themselves with Brown and Douglass.... I should like + your advice how I am to act. I dislike to make or to have any + difficulty with the white people. But if they trespass upon my + premises and my rights, I must defend myself the best way I + can. If they do make this attempt, and I have no doubt they + will, they must bear the consequences. <i>But is there no civil + law to protect me</i>? Are the free Negroes and the Negroes + belonging to this town to be stolen away publicly, and in the + face of law and justice, carried off and sold to fill the + pockets of these worse than land pirates? Douglass and his + company hired a man who has two large trained dogs for the + purpose to come down and take Billy. He is from Mobile and + follows for a livelihood catching runaway Negroes."</p> + + <p>Such were the motives, fears and incidents in the years + immediately after the treaty of Payne's Landing. Beginning at + the close of 1834 and continuing through April, 1835, Thompson + had a series of conferences with the Seminole chiefs. At these + meetings Micanopy, influenced by Osceola and other young + Seminoles, took a more definite stand than he might otherwise + have assumed. Especially did he insist with reference to the + treaty that he understood that the chiefs who went West were to + <i>examine</i> the country, and for his part he knew that when + they returned they would report unfavorably. Thompson then, + becoming angry, delivered an ultimatum to the effect that if + the treaty was not observed the annuity from the great father + in Washington would cease. To this, Osceola, stepping forward, + replied that he and his warriors did not care if they never + received another dollar from the great father, and drawing his + knife, he plunged it in the table and said, "The only treaty I + will execute is with this." Henceforward there was deadly + enmity between the young Seminole and Thompson. More and more + Osceola made his personality felt, constantly asserting to the + men of his nation that whoever recommended emigration was an + enemy of the Seminoles, and he finally arrived at an + understanding with many of them that the treaty would be + resisted with their very lives. Thompson, however, on April 23, + 1835, had a sort of secret conference with sixteen of the + chiefs who seemed favorably disposed toward migration, and he + persuaded them to sign a document "freely and fully" assenting + to the treaties of Payne's Landing and Fort Gibson. The next + day there was a formal meeting at which the agent, backed up by + Clinch and his soldiers, upbraided the Indians in a very harsh + manner. His words were met by groans, angry gesticulations, and + only half-muffled imprecations. Clinch endeavored to appeal to + the Indians and to advise them that resistance was both unwise + and useless. Thompson, however, with his usual lack of tact, + rushed onward in his course, and learning that five chiefs were + unalterably opposed to the treaty, he arbitrarily struck their + names off the roll of chiefs, an action the highhandedness of + which was not lost on the Seminoles. Immediately after the + conference moreover he forbade the sale of any more arms and + powder to the Indians. To the friendly chiefs the understanding + had been given that the nation might have until January 1, + 1836, to make preparation for removal, by which time all were + to assemble at Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, for emigration.</p> + + <p>About the first of June Osceola was one day on a quiet + errand of trading at Fort King. With him was his wife, the + daughter of a mulatto slave woman who had run away years before + and married an Indian chief. By Southern law this woman + followed the condition of her mother, and when the mother's + former owner appeared on the scene and claimed the daughter, + Thompson, who desired to teach Occeola a lesson, readily agreed + that she should be remanded into captivity.<a id= + "footnotetag83" + name="footnotetag83"></a><a href= + "#footnote83"><sup>83</sup></a> Osceola was highly enraged, + and this time it was his turn to upbraid the agent. Thompson + now had him overpowered and put in irons, in which situation + he remained for the better part of two days. In this period + of captivity his soul plotted revenge and at length he too + planned a "<i>ruse de guerre</i>." Feigning assent to the + treaty he told Thompson that if he was released not only + would he sign himself but he would also bring his people to + sign. The agent was completely deceived by Osceola's + tactics. "True to his professions," wrote Thompson on June + 3, "he this day appeared with seventy-nine of his people, + men, women, and children, including some who had joined him + since his conversion, and redeemed his promise. He told me + many of his friends were out hunting, whom he could and + would bring over on their return. I have now no doubt of his + sincerity, and as little, that the greatest difficulty is + surmounted."</p> + + <p>Osceola now rapidly urged forward preparations for war, + which, however, he did not wish actually started until after + the crops were gathered. By the fall he was ready, and one day + in October when he and some other warriors met Charley Emathla, + who had upon him the gold and silver that he had received from + the sale of his cattle preparatory to migration, they killed + this chief, and Osceola threw the money in every direction, + saying that no one was to touch it, as it was the price of the + red man's blood. The true drift of events became even more + apparent to Thompson and Clinch in November, when five chiefs + friendly to migration with five hundred of their people + suddenly appeared at Fort Brooke to ask for protection. When in + December Thompson sent final word to the Seminoles that they + must bring in their horses and cattle, the Indians did not come + on the appointed day; on the contrary they sent their women and + children to the interior and girded themselves for battle. To + Osceola late in the month a runner brought word that some + troops under the command of Major Dade were to leave Fort + Brooke on the 25th and on the night of the 27th were to be + attacked by some Seminoles in the Wahoo Swamp. Osceola himself, + with some of his men, was meanwhile lying in the woods near + Fort King, waiting for an opportunity to kill Thompson. On the + afternoon of the 28th the agent dined not far from the fort at + the home of the sutler, a man named Rogers, and after dinner he + walked with Lieutenant Smith to the crest of a neighboring + hill. Here he was surprised by the Indians, and both he and + Smith fell pierced by numerous bullets. The Indians then + pressed on to the home of the sutler and killed Rogers, his two + clerks, and a little boy. On the same day the command of Major + Dade, including seven officers and one hundred and ten men, was + almost completely annihilated, only three men escaping. Dade + and his horse were killed at the first onset. These two attacks + began the actual fighting of the Second Seminole War. That the + Negroes were working shoulder to shoulder with the Indians in + these encounters may be seen from the report of Captain + Belton,<a id="footnotetag84" + name="footnotetag84"></a><a href= + "#footnote84"><sup>84</sup></a> who said, "Lieut. Keays, + third artillery, had both arms broken from the first shot; + was unable to act, and was tomahawked the latter part of the + second attack, by a Negro"; and further: "A Negro named + Harry controls the Pea Band of about a hundred warriors, + forty miles southeast of us, who have done most of the + mischief, and keep this post constantly observed." Osceola + now joined forces with those Indians who had attacked Dade, + and in the early morning of the last day of the year + occurred the Battle of Ouithlecoochee, a desperate encounter + in which both Osceola and Clinch gave good accounts of + themselves. Clinch had two hundred regulars and five or six + hundred volunteers. The latter fled early in the contest and + looked on from a distance; and Clinch had to work + desperately to keep from duplicating the experience of Dade. + Osceola himself was conspicuous in a red belt and three long + feathers, but although twice wounded he seemed to bear a + charmed life. He posted himself behind a tree, from which + station he constantly sallied forth to kill or wound an + enemy with almost infallible aim.</p> + + <p>After these early encounters the fighting became more and + more bitter and the contest more prolonged. Early in the war + the disbursing agent reported that there were only three + thousand Indians, including Negroes, to be considered; but this + was clearly an understatement. Within the next year and a half + the Indians were hard pressed, and before the end of this + period the notorious Thomas S. Jessup had appeared on the scene + as commanding major general. This man seems to have determined + never to use honorable means of warfare if some ignoble + instrument could serve his purpose. In a letter sent to Colonel + Harvey from Tampa Bay under date May 25, 1837, he said: "If you + see Powell (Osceola), tell him I shall send out and take all + the Negroes who belong to the white people. And he must not + allow the Indian Negroes to mix with them. Tell him I am + sending to Cuba for bloodhounds to trail them; and I intend to + hang every one of them who does not come in." And it might be + remarked that for his bloodhounds Jessup spent—or said he + spent—as much as $5,000, a fact which thoroughly aroused + Giddings and other persons from the North, who by no means + cared to see such an investment of public funds. By order No. + 160, dated August 3, 1837, Jessup invited his soldiers to + plunder and rapine, saying, "All Indian property captured from + this date will belong to the corps or detachment making it." + From St. Augustine, under date October 20, 1837, in a + "confidential" communication he said to one of his lieutenants: + "Should Powell and his warriors come within the fort, seize him + and the whole party. It is important that he, Wild Cat, John + Cowagee, and Tustenuggee, be secured. Hold them until you have + my orders in relation to them."<a id="footnotetag85" + name="footnotetag85"></a><a href= + "#footnote85"><sup>85</sup></a> Two days later he was able + to write to the Secretary of War that Osceola was actually + taken. Said he: "That chief came into the vicinity of Fort + Peyton on the 20th, and sent a messenger to General + Hernandez, desiring to see and converse with him. The sickly + season being over, and there being no further necessity to + temporize, I sent a party of mounted men, and seized the + entire body, and now have them securely lodged in the fort." + Osceola, Wild Cat, and others thus captured were marched to + St. Augustine; but Wild Cat escaped. Osceola was ultimately + taken to Fort Moultrie, in the harbor of Charleston, where + in January (1838) he died.</p> + + <p>Important in this general connection was the fate of the + deputation that the influential John Ross, chief of the + Cherokees, was persuaded to send from his nation to induce the + Seminoles to think more favorably of migration. Micanopy, + twelve other chieftains, and a number of warriors accompanied + the Cherokee deputation to the headquarters of the United + States Army at Fort Mellon, where they were to discuss the + matter. These warriors also Jessup seized, and Ross wrote to + the Secretary of War a dignified but bitter letter protesting + against this "unprecedented violation of that sacred rule which + has ever been recognized by every nation, civilized and + uncivilized, of treating with all due respect those who had + ever presented themselves under a flag of truce before the + enemy, for the purpose of proposing the termination of + warfare." He had indeed been most basely used as the agent of + deception.</p> + + <p>This chapter, we trust, has shown something of the real + nature of the points at issue in the Seminole Wars. In the + course of these contests the rights of Indian and Negro alike + were ruthlessly disregarded. There was redress for neither + before the courts, and at the end in dealing with them every + honorable principle of men and nations was violated. It is + interesting that the three representatives of colored peoples + who in the course of the nineteenth century it was most + difficult to capture—Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Negro, Osceola, + the Indian, and Aguinaldo, the Filipino—were all taken through + treachery; and on two of the three occasions this treachery was + practiced by responsible officers of the United States + Army.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote76" + name="footnote76"></a><b>Footnote 76:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag76">(return)</a><br/> + + In his official capacity Jackson issued two addresses + which have an important place in the history of the Negro + soldier. From his headquarters at Mobile, September 21, + 1814, he issued an appeal "To the Free Colored Inhabitants + of Louisiana," offering them an honorable part in the war, + and this was later followed by a "Proclamation to the Free + People of Color" congratulating them on their achievement. + Both addresses are accessible in many books.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote77" + name="footnote77"></a><b>Footnote 77:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag77">(return)</a><br/> + + McMaster, IV, 431.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote78" + name="footnote78"></a><b>Footnote 78:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag78">(return)</a><br/> + + See J.R. Giddings: <i>The Exiles of Florida</i>, 63-66; + also speech in House of Representatives February 9, + 1841.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote79" + name="footnote79"></a><b>Footnote 79:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag79">(return)</a><br/> + + Sprague, 19.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote80" + name="footnote80"></a><b>Footnote 80:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag80">(return)</a><br/> + + The correspondence is readily accessible in Sprague, + 30-37.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote81" + name="footnote81"></a><b>Footnote 81:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag81">(return)</a><br/> + + Hodge's <i>Handbook of American Indians</i>, II, + 159.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote82" + name="footnote82"></a><b>Footnote 82:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag82">(return)</a><br/> + + Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio. His exhaustive speech on + the Florida War was made February 9, 1841.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote83" + name="footnote83"></a><b>Footnote 83:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag83">(return)</a><br/> + + This highly important incident, which was really the + spark that started the war, is absolutely ignored even by + such well informed writers as Drake and Sprague. Drake + simply gives the impression that the quarrel between + Osceola and Thompson was over the old matter of emigration, + saying (413), "Remonstrance soon grew into altercation, + which ended in a <i>ruse de guerre</i>, by which Osceola + was made prisoner by the agent, and put in irons, in which + situation he was kept one night and part of two days." The + story is told by McMaster, however. Also note M.M. Cohen as + quoted in <i>Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine</i>, Vol. II, + p. 419 (July, 1837).</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote84" + name="footnote84"></a><b>Footnote 84:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag84">(return)</a><br/> + + Accessible in Drake, 416-418.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote85" + name="footnote85"></a><b>Footnote 85:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag85">(return)</a><br/> + + This correspondence, and much more bearing on the point, + may be found in House Document 327 of the Second Session of + the Twenty-fifth Congress.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERVI" + name="CHAPTERVI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + + <h3>EARLY APPROACH TO THE NEGRO PROBLEM</h3> + + <h4>1. <a id="Compromise" + name="Compromise"><i>The Ultimate Problem and the Missouri + Compromise</i></a></h4> + + <p>In a previous chapter<a id="footnotetag86" + name="footnotetag86"></a><a href= + "#footnote86"><sup>86</sup></a> we have already indicated + the rise of the Negro Problem in the last decade of the + eighteenth and the first two decades of the nineteenth + century. And what was the Negro Problem? It was certainly + not merely a question of slavery; in the last analysis this + institution was hardly more than an incident. Slavery has + ceased to exist, but even to-day the Problem is with us. The + question was rather what was to be the final place in the + American body politic of the Negro population that was so + rapidly increasing in the country. In the answering of this + question supreme importance attached to the Negro himself; + but the problem soon transcended the race. Ultimately it was + the destiny of the United States rather than of the Negro + that was to be considered, and all the ideals on which the + country was based came to the testing. If one studied those + ideals he soon realized that they were based on Teutonic or + at least English foundations. By 1820, however, the young + American republic was already beginning to be the hope of + all of the oppressed people of Europe, and Greeks and + Italians as well as Germans and Swedes were turning their + faces toward the Promised Land. The whole background of + Latin culture was different from the Teutonic, and yet the + people of Southern as well as of Northern Europe somehow + became a part of the life of the United States. In this life + was it also possible for the children of Africa to have a + permanent and an honorable place? With their special + tradition and gifts, with their shortcomings, above all with + their distinctive color, could they, too, become genuine + American citizens? Some said No, but in taking this position + they denied not only the ideals on which the country was + founded but also the possibilities of human nature itself. + In any case the answer to the first question at once + suggested another, What shall we do with the Negro? About + this there was very great difference of opinion, it not + always being supposed that the Negro himself had anything + whatever to say about the matter. Some said send the Negro + away, get rid of him by any means whatsoever; others said if + he must stay, keep him in slavery; still others said not to + keep him permanently in slavery, but emancipate him only + gradually; and already there were beginning to be persons + who felt that the Negro should be emancipated everywhere + immediately, and that after this great event had taken place + he and the nation together should work out his salvation on + the broadest possible plane.</p> + + <p>Into the agitation was suddenly thrust the application of + Missouri for entrance into the Union as a slave state. The + struggle that followed for two years was primarily a political + one, but in the course of the discussion the evils of slavery + were fully considered. Meanwhile, in 1819, Alabama and Maine + also applied for admission. Alabama was allowed to enter + without much discussion, as she made equal the number of slave + and free states. Maine, however, brought forth more talk. The + Southern congressmen would have been perfectly willing to admit + this as a free state if Missouri had been admitted as a slave + state; but the North felt that this would have been to concede + altogether too much, as Missouri from the first gave promise of + being unusually important. At length, largely through the + influence of Henry Clay, there was adopted a compromise whose + main provisions were (1) that Maine was to be admitted as a + free state; (2) that in Missouri there was to be no prohibition + of slavery; but (3) that slavery was to be prohibited in any + other states that might be formed out of the Louisiana Purchase + north of the line of 36° 30'.</p> + + <p>By this agreement the strife was allayed for some years; but + it is now evident that the Missouri Compromise was only a + postponement of the ultimate contest and that the social + questions involved were hardly touched. Certainly the + significance of the first clear drawing of the line between the + sections was not lost upon thoughtful men. Jefferson wrote from + Monticello in 1820: "This momentous question, like a fire-bell + in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered + it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for + the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final + sentence.... I can say, with conscious truth, that there is not + a man on earth who would sacrifice more than I would to relieve + us from this heavy reproach, in any <i>practicable</i> way. The + cession of that kind of property, for so it is misnamed, is a + bagatelle that would not cost me a second thought, if, in that + way, a general emancipation and <i>expatriation</i> could be + effected; and, gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it + might be."<a id="footnotetag87" + name="footnotetag87"></a><a href= + "#footnote87"><sup>87</sup></a> For the time being, however, + the South was concerned mainly about immediate dangers; nor + was this section placed more at ease by Denmark Vesey's + attempted insurrection in 1822.<a id="footnotetag88" + name="footnotetag88"></a><a href= + "#footnote88"><sup>88</sup></a> A representative South + Carolinian,<a id="footnotetag89" + name="footnotetag89"></a><a href= + "#footnote89"><sup>89</sup></a> writing after this event, + said, "We regard our Negroes as the <i>Jacobins</i> of the + country, against whom we should always be upon our guard, + and who, although we fear no permanent effects from any + insurrectionary movements on their part, should be watched + with an eye of steady and unremitted observation." Meanwhile + from a ratio of 43.72 to 56.28 in 1790 the total Negro + population in South Carolina had by 1820 come to outnumber + the white 52.77 to 47.23, and the tendency was increasingly + in favor of the Negro. The South, the whole country in fact, + was more and more being forced to consider not only slavery + but the ultimate reaches of the problem.</p> + + <p>Whatever one might think of the conclusion—and in this case + the speaker was pleading for colonization—no statement of the + problem as it impressed men about 1820 or 1830 was clearer than + that of Rev. Dr. Nott, President of Union College, at Albany in + 1829.<a id="footnotetag90" + name="footnotetag90"></a><a href= + "#footnote90"><sup>90</sup></a> The question, said he, was + by no means local. Slavery was once legalized in New + England; and New England built slave-ships and manned these + with New England seamen. In 1820 the slave population in the + country amounted to 1,500,000. The number doubled every + twenty years, and it was easy to see how it would progress + from 1,500,000 to 3,000,000; to 6,000,000; to 12,000,000; to + 24,000,000. "Twenty-four millions of slaves! What a drawback + from our strength; what a tax on our resources; what a + hindrance to our growth; what a stain on our character; and + what an impediment to the fulfillment of our destiny! Could + our worst enemies or the worst enemies of republics, wish us + a severer judgment?" How could one know that wakeful and + sagacious enemies without would not discover the vulnerable + point and use it for the country's overthrow? Or was there + not danger that among a people goaded from age to age there + might at length arise some second Toussaint L'Ouverture, + who, reckless of consequences, would array a force and cause + a movement throughout the zone of bondage, leaving behind + him plantations waste and mansions desolate? Who could + believe that such a tremendous physical force would remain + forever spell-bound and quiescent? After all, however, + slavery was doomed; public opinion had already pronounced + upon it, and the moral energy of the nation would sooner or + later effect its overthrow. "But," continued Nott, "the + solemn question here arises—in what condition will this + momentous change place us? The freed men of other countries + have long since disappeared, having been amalgamated in the + general mass. Here there can be no amalgamation. Our + manumitted bondmen have remained already to the third and + fourth, as they will to the thousandth generation—a + distinct, a degraded, and a wretched race." After this + sweeping statement, which has certainly not been justified + by time, Nott proceeded to argue the expediency of his + organization. Gerrit Smith, who later drifted away from + colonization, said frankly on the same occasion that the + ultimate solution was either amalgamation or colonization, + and that of the two courses he preferred to choose the + latter. Others felt as he did. We shall now accordingly + proceed to consider at somewhat greater length the two + solutions that about 1820 had the clearest + advocates—Colonization and Slavery.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Colonization2" + name="Colonization2"><i>Colonization</i></a></h4> + + <p>Early in 1773, Rev. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, called on + his friend, Rev. Ezra Stiles, afterwards President of Yale + College, and suggested the possibility of educating Negro + students, perhaps two at first, who would later go as + missionaries to Africa. Stiles thought that for the plan to be + worth while there should be a colony on the coast of Africa, + that at least thirty or forty persons should go, and that the + enterprise should not be private but should have the formal + backing of a society organized for the purpose. In harmony with + the original plan two young Negro men sailed from New York for + Africa, November 12, 1774; but the Revolutionary War followed + and nothing more was done at the time. In 1784, however, and + again in 1787, Hopkins tried to induce different merchants to + fit out a vessel to convey a few emigrants, and in the latter + year he talked with a young man from the West Indies, Dr. + William Thornton, who expressed a willingness to take charge of + the company. The enterprise failed for lack of funds, though + Thornton kept up his interest and afterwards became a member of + the first Board of Managers of the American Colonization + Society. Hopkins in 1791 spoke before the Connecticut + Emancipation Society, which he wished to see incorporated as a + colonization society, and in a sermon before the Providence + society in 1793 he reverted to his favorite theme. Meanwhile, + as a result of the efforts of Wilberforce, Clarkson, and + Granville Sharp in England, in May, 1787, some four hundred + Negroes and sixty white persons were landed at Sierra Leone. + Some of the Negroes in England had gained their freedom in + consequence of Lord Mansfield's decision in 1772, others had + been discharged from the British Army after the American + Revolution, and all were leading in England a more or less + precarious existence. The sixty white persons sent along were + abandoned women, and why Sierra Leone should have had this + weight placed upon it at the start history has not yet told. It + is not surprising to learn that "disease and disorder were + rife, and by 1791 a mere handful survived."<a id= + "footnotetag91" + name="footnotetag91"></a><a href= + "#footnote91"><sup>91</sup></a> As early as in his <i>Notes + on Virginia</i>, privately printed in 1781, Thomas Jefferson + had suggested a colony for Negroes, perhaps in the new + territory of Ohio. The suggestion was not acted upon, but it + is evident that by 1800 several persons had thought of the + possibility of removing the Negroes in the South to some + other place either within or without the country.</p> + + <p>Gabriel's insurrection in 1800 again forced the idea + concretely forward. Virginia was visibly disturbed by this + outbreak, and <i>in secret session</i>, on December 21, the + House of Delegates passed the following resolution: "That the + Governor<a id="footnotetag92" + name="footnotetag92"></a><a href= + "#footnote92"><sup>92</sup></a> be requested to correspond + with the President of the United States,<a id= + "footnotetag93" + name="footnotetag93"></a><a href= + "#footnote93"><sup>93</sup></a> on the subject of purchasing + land without the limits of this state, whither persons + obnoxious to the laws, or dangerous to the peace of society + may be removed." The real purpose of this resolution was to + get rid of those Negroes who had had some part in the + insurrection and had not been executed; but not in 1800, or + in 1802 or 1804, was the General Assembly thus able to + banish those whom it was afraid to hang. Monroe, however, + acted in accordance with his instructions, and Jefferson + replied to him under date November 24, 1801. He was not now + favorable to deportation to some place within the United + States, and thought that the West Indies, probably Santo + Domingo, might be better. There was little real danger that + the exiles would stimulate vindictive or predatory descents + on the American coasts, and in any case such a possibility + was "overweighed by the humanity of the measures proposed." + "Africa would offer a last and undoubted resort," thought + Jefferson, "if all others more desirable should fail."<a id= + "footnotetag94" + name="footnotetag94"></a><a href= + "#footnote94"><sup>94</sup></a> Six months later, on July + 13, 1802, the President wrote about the matter to Rufus + King, then minister in London. The course of events in the + West Indies, he said, had given an impulse to the minds of + Negroes in the United States; there was a disposition to + insurgency, and it now seemed that if there was to be + colonization, Africa was by all means the best place. An + African company might also engage in commercial operations, + and if there was coöperation with Sierra Leone, there was + the possibility of "one strong, rather than two weak + colonies." Would King accordingly enter into conference with + the English officials with reference to disposing of any + Negroes who might be sent? "It is material to observe," + remarked Jefferson, "that they are not felons, or common + malefactors, but persons guilty of what the safety of + society, under actual circumstances, obliges us to treat as + a crime, but which their feelings may represent in a far + different shape. They are such as will be a valuable + acquisition to the settlement already existing there, and + well calculated to coöperate in the plan of + civilization."<a id="footnotetag95" + name="footnotetag95"></a><a href= + "#footnote95"><sup>95</sup></a> King accordingly opened + correspondence with Thornton and Wedderbourne, the + secretaries of the company having charge of Sierra Leone, + but was informed that the colony was in a languishing + condition and that funds were likely to fail, and that in no + event would they be willing to receive more people from the + United States, as these were the very ones who had already + made most trouble in the settlement.<a id="footnotetag96" + name="footnotetag96"></a><a href= + "#footnote96"><sup>96</sup></a> On January 22, 1805, the + General Assembly of Virginia passed a resolution that + embodied a request to the United States Government to set + aside a portion of territory in the new Louisiana Purchase + "to be appropriated to the residence of such people of color + as have been, or shall be, emancipated, or may hereafter + become dangerous to the public safety." Nothing came of + this. By the close then of Jefferson's second administration + the Northwest, the Southwest, the West Indies, and Sierra + Leone had all been thought of as possible fields for + colonization, but from the consideration nothing visible had + resulted.</p> + + <p>Now followed the period of Southern expansion and of + increasing materialism, and before long came the War of 1812. + By 1811 a note of doubt had crept into Jefferson's dealing with + the subject. Said he: "Nothing is more to be wished than that + the United States would themselves undertake to make such an + establishment on the coast of Africa ... But for this the + national mind is not yet prepared. It may perhaps be doubted + whether many of these people would voluntarily consent to such + an exchange of situation, and very certain that few of those + advanced to a certain age in habits of slavery, would be + capable of self-government. This should not, however, + discourage the experiment, nor the early trial of it; and the + proposition should be made with all the prudent cautions and + attentions requisite to reconcile it to the interests, the + safety, and the prejudices of all parties."<a id= + "footnotetag97" + name="footnotetag97"></a><a href= + "#footnote97"><sup>97</sup></a></p> + + <p>From an entirely different source, however, and prompted not + by expediency but the purest altruism, came an impulse that + finally told in the founding of Liberia. The heart of a young + man reached out across the sea. Samuel J. Mills, an + undergraduate of Williams College, in 1808 formed among his + fellow-students a missionary society whose work later told in + the formation of the American Bible Society and the Board of + Foreign Missions. Mills continued his theological studies at + Andover and then at Princeton; and while at the latter place he + established a school for Negroes at Parsippany, thirty miles + away. He also interested in his work and hopes Rev. Robert + Finley, of Basking Ridge, N.J., who "succeeded in assembling at + Princeton the first meeting ever called to consider the project + of sending Negro colonists to Africa,"<a id="footnotetag98" + name="footnotetag98"></a><a href= + "#footnote98"><sup>98</sup></a> and who in a letter to John + P. Mumford, of New York, under date February 14, 1815, + expressed his interest by saying, "We should send to Africa + a population partly civilized and christianized for its + benefit; and our blacks themselves would be put in a better + condition."</p> + + <p>In this same year, 1815, the country was startled by the + unselfish enterprise of a Negro who had long thought of the + unfortunate situation of his people in America and who himself + shouldered the obligation to do something definite in their + behalf. Paul Cuffe had been born in May, 1759, on one of the + Elizabeth Islands near New Bedford, Mass., the son of a father + who was once a slave from Africa and of an Indian mother.<a id= + "footnotetag99" + name="footnotetag99"></a><a href= + "#footnote99"><sup>99</sup></a> Interested in navigation, he + made voyages to Russia, England, Africa, the West Indies, + and the South; and in time he commanded his own vessel, + became generally respected, and by his wisdom rose to a fair + degree of opulence. For twenty years he had thought + especially about Africa, and in 1815 he took to Sierra Leone + a total of nine families and thirty-eight persons at an + expense to himself of nearly $4000. The people that he + brought were well received at Sierra Leone, and Cuffe + himself had greater and more far-reaching plans when he died + September 7, 1817. He left an estate valued at $20,000.</p> + + <p>Dr. Finley's meeting at Princeton was not very well attended + and hence not a great success. Nevertheless he felt + sufficiently encouraged to go to Washington in December, 1816, + to use his effort for the formation of a national colonization + society. It happened that in February of this same year, 1816, + General Charles Fenton Mercer, member of the House of + Delegates, came upon the secret journals of the legislature for + the period 1801-5 and saw the correspondence between Monroe and + Jefferson. Interested in the colonization project, on December + 14 (Monroe then being President-elect) he presented in the + House of Delegates resolutions embodying the previous + enactments; and these passed 132 to 14. Finley was generally + helped by the effort of Mercer, and on December 21, 1816, there + was held in Washington a meeting of public men and interested + citizens, Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House of + Representatives, presiding. A constitution was adopted at an + adjourned meeting on December 28; and on January 1, 1817, were + formally chosen the officers of "The American Society for + Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States." At + this last meeting Henry Clay, again presiding, spoke in glowing + terms of the possibilities of the movement; Elias B. Caldwell, + a brother-in-law of Finley, made the leading argument; and John + Randolph, of Roanoke, Va., and Robert Wright, of Maryland, + spoke of the advantages to accrue from the removal of the free + Negroes from the country (which remarks were very soon to + awaken much discussion and criticism, especially on the part of + the Negroes themselves). It is interesting to note that Mercer + had no part at all in the meeting of January 1, not even being + present; he did not feel that any but Southern men should be + enrolled in the organization. However, Bushrod Washington, the + president, was a Southern man; twelve of the seventeen + vice-presidents were Southern men, among them being Andrew + Jackson and William Crawford; and all of the twelve managers + were slaveholders.</p> + + <p>Membership in the American Colonization Society originally + consisted, first, of such as sincerely desired to afford the + free Negroes an asylum from oppression and who hoped through + them to extend to Africa the blessings of civilization and + Christianity; second, of such as sought to enhance the value of + their own slaves by removing the free Negroes; and third, of + such as desired to be relieved of any responsibility whatever + for free Negroes. The movement was widely advertised as "an + effort for the benefit of the blacks in which all parts of the + country could unite," it being understood that it was "not to + have the abolition of slavery for its immediate object," nor + was it to "aim directly at the instruction of the great body of + the blacks." Such points as the last were to prove in course of + time hardly less than a direct challenge to the different + abolitionist organizations in the North, and more and more the + Society was denounced as a movement on the part of slaveholders + for perpetuating their institutions by doing away with the free + people of color. It is not to be supposed, however, that the + South, with its usual religious fervor, did not put much + genuine feeling into the colonization scheme. One man in + Georgia named Tubman freed his slaves, thirty in all, and + placed them in charge of the Society with a gift of $10,000; + Thomas Hunt, a young Virginian, afterwards a chaplain in the + Union Army, sent to Liberia the slaves he had inherited, paying + the entire cost of the journey; and others acted in a similar + spirit of benevolence. It was but natural, however, for the + public to be somewhat uncertain as to the tendencies of the + organization when the utterances of representative men were + sometimes directly contradictory. On January 20, 1827, for + instance, Henry Clay, then Secretary of State, speaking in the + hall of the House of Representatives at the annual meeting of + the Society, said: "Of all classes of our population, the most + vicious is that of the free colored. It is the inevitable + result of their moral, political, and civil degradation. + Contaminated themselves, they extend their vices to all around + them, to the slaves and to the whites." Just a moment later he + said: "Every emigrant to Africa is a missionary carrying with + him credentials in the holy cause of civilization, religion, + and free institutions." How persons contaminated and vicious + could be missionaries of civilization and religion was + something possible only in the logic of Henry Clay. In the + course of the next month Robert Y. Hayne gave a Southern + criticism in two addresses on a memorial presented in the + United States Senate by the Colonization Society.<a id= + "footnotetag100" + name="footnotetag100"></a><a href= + "#footnote100"><sup>100</sup></a> The first of these + speeches was a clever one characterized by much wit and + good-humored raillery; the second was a sober arraignment. + Hayne emphasized the tremendous cost involved and the + physical impossibility of the whole undertaking, estimating + that at least sixty thousand persons a year would have to be + transported to accomplish anything like the desired result. + At the close of his brilliant attack, still making a veiled + plea for the continuance of slavery, he nevertheless rose to + genuine statesmanship in dealing with the problem of the + Negro, saying, "While this process is going on the colored + classes are gradually diffusing themselves throughout the + country and are making steady advances in intelligence and + refinement, and if half the zeal were displayed in bettering + their condition that is now wasted in the vain and fruitless + effort of sending them abroad, their intellectual and moral + improvement would be steady and rapid." William Lloyd + Garrison was untiring and merciless in flaying the + inconsistencies and selfishness of the colonization + organization. In an editorial in the <i>Liberator</i>, July + 9, 1831, he charged the Society, first, with persecution in + compelling free people to emigrate against their will and in + discouraging their education at home; second, with falsehood + in saying that the Negroes were natives of Africa when they + were no more so than white Americans were natives of Great + Britain; third, with cowardice in asserting that the + continuance of the Negro population in the country involved + dangers; and finally, with infidelity in denying that the + Gospel has full power to reach the hatred in the hearts of + men. In <i>Thoughts on African Colonisation</i> (1832) he + developed exhaustively ten points as follows: That the + American Colonization Society was pledged not to oppose the + system of slavery, that it apologized for slavery and + slaveholders, that it recognized slaves as property, that by + deporting Negroes it increased the value of slaves, that it + was the enemy of immediate abolition, that it was nourished + by fear and selfishness, that it aimed at the utter + expulsion of the blacks, that it was the disparager of free + Negroes, that it denied the possibility of elevating the + black people of the country, and that it deceived and misled + the nation. Other criticisms were numerous. A broadside, + "The Shields of American Slavery" ("Broad enough to hide the + wrongs of two millions of stolen men") placed side by side + conflicting utterances of members of the Society; and in + August, 1830, Kendall, fourth auditor, in his report to the + Secretary of the Navy, wondered why the resources of the + government should be used "to colonize recaptured Africans, + to build homes for them, to furnish them with farming + utensils, to pay instructors to teach them, to purchase + ships for their convenience, to build forts for their + protection, to supply them with arms and munitions of war, + to enlist troops to guard them, and to employ the army and + navy in their defense."<a id="footnotetag101" + name="footnotetag101"></a><a href= + "#footnote101"><sup>101</sup></a> Criticism of the American + Colonization Society was prompted by a variety of motives; + but the organization made itself vulnerable at many points. + The movement attracted extraordinary attention, but has had + practically no effect whatever on the position of the Negro + in the United States. Its work in connection with the + founding of Liberia, however, is of the highest importance, + and must later receive detailed attention.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Slavery2" + name="Slavery2"><i>Slavery</i></a></h4> + + <p>We have seen that from the beginning there were + liberal-minded men in the South who opposed the system of + slavery, and if we actually take note of all the utterances of + different men and of the proposals for doing away with the + system, we shall find that about the turn of the century there + was in this section considerable anti-slavery sentiment. + Between 1800 and 1820, however, the opening of new lands in the + Southwest, the increasing emphasis on cotton, and the rapidly + growing Negro population, gave force to the argument of + expediency; and the Missouri Compromise drew sharply the lines + of the contest. The South now came to regard slavery as its + peculiar heritage; public men were forced to defend the + institution; and in general the best thought of the section + began to be obsessed and dominated by the Negro, just as it is + to-day in large measure. In taking this position the South + deliberately committed intellectual suicide. In such matters as + freedom of speech and literary achievement, and in genuine + statesmanship if not for the time being in political influence, + this part of the country declined, and before long the + difference between it and New England was appalling. Calhoun + and Hayne were strong; but between 1820 and 1860 the South had + no names to compare with Longfellow and Emerson in literature, + or with Morse and Hoe in invention. The foremost college + professor, Dew, of William and Mary, and even the outstanding + divines, Furman, the Baptist, of South Carolina, in the + twenties, and Palmer, the Presbyterian of New Orleans, in the + fifties, are all now remembered mainly because they defended + their section in keeping the Negro in bonds. William and Mary + College, and even the University of Virginia, as compared with + Harvard and Yale, became provincial institutions; and instead + of the Washington or Jefferson of an earlier day now began to + be nourished such a leader as "Bob" Toombs, who for all of his + fire and eloquence was a demagogue. In making its choice the + South could not and did not blame the Negro per se, for it was + freely recognized that upon slave labor rested such economic + stability as the section possessed. The tragedy was simply that + thousands of intelligent Americans deliberately turned their + faces to the past, and preferred to read the novels of Walter + Scott and live in the Middle Ages rather than study the French + Revolution and live in the nineteenth century. One hundred + years after we find that the chains are still forged, that + thought is not yet free. Thus the Negro Problem began to be, + and still is, very largely the problem of the white man of the + South. The era of capitalism had not yet dawned, and still far + in the future was the day when the poor white man and the Negro + were slowly to realize that their interests were largely + identical.</p> + + <p>The argument with which the South came to support its + position and to defend slavery need not here detain us at + length. It was formally stated by Dew and others<a id= + "footnotetag102" + name="footnotetag102"></a><a href= + "#footnote102"><sup>102</sup></a> and it was to be heard on + every hand. One could hardly go to church, to say nothing of + going to a public meeting, without hearing echoes of it. In + general it was maintained that slavery had made for the + civilization of the world in that it had mitigated the evils + of war, had made labor profitable, had changed the nature of + savages, and elevated woman. The slave-trade was of course + horrible and unjust, but the great advantages of the system + more than outweighed a few attendant evils. Emancipation and + deportation were alike impossible. Even if practicable, they + would not be expedient measures, for they meant the loss to + Virginia of one-third of her property. As for morality, it + was not to be expected that the Negro should have the + sensibilities of the white man. Moreover the system had the + advantage of cultivating a republican spirit among the white + people. In short, said Dew, the slaves, in both the economic + and the moral point of view, were "entirely unfit for a + state of freedom among the whites." Holland, already cited, + in 1822 maintained five points, as follows: 1. That the + United States are one for national purposes, but separate + for their internal regulation and government; 2. That the + people of the North and East "always exhibited an unfriendly + feeling on subjects affecting the interests of the South and + West"; 3. That the institution of slavery was not an + institution of the South's voluntary choosing; 4. That the + Southern sections of the Union, both before and after the + Declaration of Independence, "had uniformly exhibited a + disposition to restrict the extension of the evil—and had + always manifested as cordial a disposition to ameliorate it + as those of the North and East"; and 5. That the actual + state and condition of the slave population "reflected no + disgrace whatever on the character of the country—as the + slaves were infinitely better provided for than the laboring + poor of other countries of the world, and were generally + happier than millions of white people in the world." Such + arguments the clergy supported and endeavored to reconcile + with Christian precept. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman, president + of the Baptist Convention of South Carolina,<a id= + "footnotetag103" + name="footnotetag103"></a><a href= + "#footnote103"><sup>103</sup></a> after much inquiry and + reasoning, arrived at the conclusion that "the holding of + slaves is justifiable by the doctrine and example contained + in Holy Writ; and is, therefore, consistent with Christian + uprightness both in sentiment and conduct." Said he further: + "The Christian golden rule, of doing to others as we would + they should do to us, has been urged as an unanswerable + argument against holding slaves. But surely this rule is + never to be urged against that order of things which the + Divine government has established; nor do our desires become + a standard to us, under this rule, unless they have a due + regard to justice, propriety, and the general good.... A + father may very naturally desire that his son should be + obedient to his orders: Is he therefore to obey the orders + of his son? A man might be pleased to be exonerated from his + debts by the generosity of his creditors; or that his rich + neighbor should equally divide his property with him; and in + certain circumstances might desire these to be done: Would + the mere existence of this desire oblige him to exonerate + his debtors, and to make such division of his property?" + Calhoun in 1837 formally accepted slavery, saying that the + South should no longer apologize for it; and the whole + argument from the standpoint of expediency received eloquent + expression in the Senate of the United States from no less a + man than Henry Clay, who more and more appears in the + perspective as a pro-Southern advocate. Said he: "I am no + friend of slavery. But I prefer the liberty of my own + country to that of any other people; and the liberty of my + own race to that of any other race. The liberty of the + descendants of Africa in the United States is incompatible + with the safety and liberty of the European descendants. + Their slavery forms an exception—an exception resulting from + a stern and inexorable necessity—to the general liberty in + the United States."<a id="footnotetag104" + name="footnotetag104"></a><a href= + "#footnote104"><sup>104</sup></a> After the lapse of years + the pro-slavery argument is pitiful in its numerous + fallacies. It was in line with much of the discussion of the + day that questioned whether the Negro was actually a human + being, and but serves to show to what extremes economic + interest will sometimes drive men otherwise of high + intelligence and honor.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote86" + name="footnote86"></a><b>Footnote 86:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag86">(return)</a><br/> + + IV, Section 3.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote87" + name="footnote87"></a><b>Footnote 87:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag87">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Writings</i>, XV, 249.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote88" + name="footnote88"></a><b>Footnote 88:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag88">(return)</a><br/> + + See Chapter VII, Section 1.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote89" + name="footnote89"></a><b>Footnote 89:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag89">(return)</a><br/> + + Holland: <i>A Refutation of Calumnies</i>, 61.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote90" + name="footnote90"></a><b>Footnote 90:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag90">(return)</a><br/> + + See "African Colonization. Proceedings of the Formation + of the New York State Colonization Society." Albany, + 1829.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote91" + name="footnote91"></a><b>Footnote 91:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag91">(return)</a><br/> + + McPherson, 15. (See bibliography on Liberia.)</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote92" + name="footnote92"></a><b>Footnote 92:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag92">(return)</a><br/> + + Monroe.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote93" + name="footnote93"></a><b>Footnote 93:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag93">(return)</a><br/> + + Jefferson.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote94" + name="footnote94"></a><b>Footnote 94:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag94">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Writings</i>, X, 297.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote95" + name="footnote95"></a><b>Footnote 95:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag95">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Writings</i>, X, 327-328.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote96" + name="footnote96"></a><b>Footnote 96:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag96">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Ibid</i>., XIII, 11.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote97" + name="footnote97"></a><b>Footnote 97:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag97">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Writings</i>, XIII, 11.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote98" + name="footnote98"></a><b>Footnote 98:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag98">(return)</a><br/> + + McPherson, 18.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote99" + name="footnote99"></a><b>Footnote 99:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag99">(return)</a><br/> + + First Annual Report of American Colonization + Society.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote100" + name="footnote100"></a><b>Footnote 100:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag100">(return)</a><br/> + + See Jervey: <i>Robert Y. Hayne and His Times</i>, + 207-8.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote101" + name="footnote101"></a><b>Footnote 101:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag101">(return)</a><br/> + + Cited by McPherson, 22.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote102" + name="footnote102"></a><b>Footnote 102:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag102">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>The Pro-Slavery Argument</i> (as maintained by the + most distinguished writers of the Southern states). + Charleston, 1852.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote103" + name="footnote103"></a><b>Footnote 103:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag103">(return)</a><br/> + + "Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the Views of + the Baptists relative to the Coloured Population in the + United States, in a Communication to the Governor of South + Carolina." Second edition, Charleston, 1833 (letter bears + original date, December 24, 1822).</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote104" + name="footnote104"></a><b>Footnote 104:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag104">(return)</a><br/> + + Address "On Abolition," February 7, 1839.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERVII" + name="CHAPTERVII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + + <h3>THE NEGRO REPLY, I: REVOLT</h3> + + <p>We have already seen that on several occasions in colonial + times the Negroes in bondage made a bid for freedom, many men + risking their all and losing their lives in consequence. In + general these early attempts failed completely to realize their + aim, organization being feeble and the leadership untrained and + exerting only an emotional hold over adherents. In Charleston, + S.C., in 1822, however, there was planned an insurrection about + whose scope there could be no question. The leader, Denmark + Vesey, is interesting as an intellectual insurrectionist just + as the more famous Nat Turner is typical of the more fervent + sort. It is the purpose of the present chapter to study the + attempts for freedom made by these two men, and also those of + two daring groups of captives who revolted at sea.</p> + + <h4>1. <a id="Denmark" + name="Denmark"><i>Denmark Vesey's Insurrection</i></a></h4> + + <p>Denmark Vesey is first seen as one of the three hundred and + ninety slaves on the ship of Captain Vesey, who commanded a + vessel trading between St. Thomas and Cape François (Santo + Domingo), and who was engaged in supplying the French of the + latter place with slaves. At the time, the boy was fourteen + years old, and of unusual personal beauty, alertness, and + magnetism. He was shown considerable favoritism, and was called + Télémaque (afterwards corrupted to <i>Telmak</i>, and then + to <i>Denmark</i>). On his arrival at Cape François, Denmark + was sold with others of the slaves to a planter who owned a + considerable estate. On his next trip, however, Captain Vesey + learned that the boy was to be returned to him as unsound and + subject to epileptic fits. The laws of the place permitted the + return of a slave in such a case, and while it has been thought + that Denmark's fits may have been feigned in order that he + might have some change of estate, there was quite enough proof + in the matter to impress the king's physician. Captain Vesey + never had reason to regret having to take the boy back. They + made several voyages together, and Denmark served until 1800 as + his faithful personal attendant. In this year the young man, + now thirty-three years of age and living in Charleston, won + $1,500 in an East Bay Street lottery, $600 of which he devoted + immediately to the purchase of his freedom. The sum was much + less than he was really worth, but Captain Vesey liked him and + had no reason to drive a hard bargain with him.</p> + + <p>In the early years of his full manhood accordingly Denmark + Vesey found himself a free man in his own right and possessed + of the means for a little real start in life. He improved his + time and proceeded to win greater standing and recognition by + regular and industrious work at his trade, that of a carpenter. + Over the slaves he came to have unbounded influence. Among + them, in accordance with the standards of the day, he had + several wives and children (none of whom could he call his + own), and he understood perfectly the fervor and faith and + superstition of the Negroes with whom he had to deal. To his + remarkable personal magnetism moreover he added just the strong + passion and the domineering temper that were needed to make his + conquest complete.</p> + + <p>Thus for twenty years he worked on. He already knew French + as well as English, but he now studied and reflected upon as + wide a range of subjects as possible. It was not expected at + the time that there would be religious classes or congregations + of Negroes apart from the white people; but the law was not + strictly observed, and for a number of years a Negro + congregation had a church in Hampstead in the suburbs of + Charleston. At the meetings here and elsewhere Vesey found his + opportunity, and he drew interesting parallels between the + experiences of the Jews and the Negroes. He would rebuke a + companion on the street for bowing to a white person; and if + such a man replied, "We are slaves," he would say, "You deserve + to be." If the man then asked what he could do to better his + condition, he would say, "Go and buy a spelling-book and read + the fable of Hercules and the wagoner."<a id="footnotetag105" + name="footnotetag105"></a><a href= + "#footnote105"><sup>105</sup></a> At the same time if he + happened to engage in conversation with white people in the + presence of Negroes, he would often take occasion to + introduce some striking remark on slavery. He regularly held + up to emulation the work of the Negroes of Santo Domingo; + and either he or one of his chief lieutenants clandestinely + sent a letter to the President of Santo Domingo to ask if + the people there would help the Negroes of Charleston if the + latter made an effort to free themselves.<a id= + "footnotetag106" + name="footnotetag106"></a><a href= + "#footnote106"><sup>106</sup></a> About 1820 moreover, when + he heard of the African Colonization scheme and the + opportunity came to him to go, he put this by, waiting for + something better. This was the period of the Missouri + Compromise. Reports of the agitation and of the debates in + Congress were eagerly scanned by those Negroes in Charleston + who could read; rumor exaggerated them; and some of the more + credulous of the slaves came to believe that the efforts of + Northern friends had actually emancipated them and that they + were being illegally held in bondage. Nor was the situation + improved when the city marshal, John J. Lafar, on January + 15, 1821, reminded those ministers or other persons who kept + night and Sunday schools for Negroes that the law forbade + the education of such persons and would have to be enforced. + Meanwhile Vesey was very patient. After a few months, + however, he ceased to work at his trade in order that all + the more he might devote himself to the mission of his life. + This was, as he conceived it, an insurrection that would do + nothing less than totally annihilate the white population of + Charleston.</p> + + <p>In the prosecution of such a plan the greatest secrecy and + faithfulness were of course necessary, and Vesey waited until + about Christmas, 1821, to begin active recruiting. He first + sounded Ned and Rolla Bennett, slaves of Governor Thomas + Bennett, and then Peter Poyas and Jack Purcell. After Christmas + he spoke to Gullah Jack and Monday Gell; and Lot Forrester and + Frank Ferguson became his chief agents for the plantations + outside of Charleston.<a id="footnotetag107" + name="footnotetag107"></a><a href= + "#footnote107"><sup>107</sup></a> In the whole matter of the + choice of his chief assistants he showed remarkable judgment + of character. His penetration was almost uncanny. "Rolla was + plausible, and possessed uncommon self-possession; bold and + ardent, he was not to be deterred from his purpose by + danger. Ned's appearance indicated that he was a man of firm + nerves and desperate courage. Peter was intrepid and + resolute, true to his engagements, and cautious in observing + secrecy when it was necessary; he was not to be daunted or + impeded by difficulties, and though confident of success, + was careful in providing against any obstacles or casualties + which might arise, and intent upon discovering every means + which might be in their power if thought of beforehand. + Gullah Jack was regarded as a sorcerer, and as such feared + by the natives of Africa, who believe in witchcraft. He was + not only considered invulnerable, but that he could make + others so by his charms; and that he could and certainly + would provide all his followers with arms.... His influence + amongst the Africans was inconceivable. Monday was firm, + resolute, discreet, and intelligent."<a id="footnotetag108" + name="footnotetag108"></a><a href= + "#footnote108"><sup>108</sup></a> He was also daring and + active, a harness-maker in the prime of life, and he could + read and write with facility; but he was also the only man + of prominence in the conspiracy whose courage failed him in + court and who turned traitor. To these names must be added + that of Batteau Bennett, who was only eighteen years old and + who brought to the plan all the ardor and devotion of youth. + In general Vesey sought to bring into the plan those + Negroes, such as stevedores and mechanics, who worked away + from home and who had some free time. He would not use men + who were known to become intoxicated, and one talkative man + named George he excluded from his meetings. Nor did he use + women, not because he did not trust them, but because in + case of mishap he wanted the children to be properly cared + for. "Take care," said Peter Poyas, in speaking about the + plan to one of the recruits, "and don't mention it to those + waiting men who receive presents of old coats, etc., from + their masters, or they'll betray us; I will speak to + them."</p> + + <p>With his lieutenants Vesey finally brought into the plan the + Negroes for seventy or eighty miles around Charleston. The + second Monday in July, 1822, or Sunday, July 14, was the time + originally set for the attack. July was chosen because in + midsummer many of the white people were away at different + resorts; and Sunday received favorable consideration because on + that day the slaves from the outlying plantations were + frequently permitted to come to the city. Lists of the recruits + were kept. Peter Poyas is said to have gathered as many as six + hundred names, chiefly from that part of Charleston known as + South Bay in which he lived; and it is a mark of his care and + discretion that of all of those afterwards arrested and tried, + not one belonged to his company. Monday Gell, who joined late + and was very prudent, had forty-two names. All such lists, + however, were in course of time destroyed. "During the period + that these enlistments were carrying on, Vesey held frequent + meetings of the conspirators at his house; and as arms were + necessary to their success, each night a hat was handed round, + and collections made, for the purpose of purchasing them, and + also to defray other necessary expenses. A Negro who was a + blacksmith and had been accustomed to make edged tools, was + employed to make pike-heads and bayonets with sockets, to be + fixed at the ends of long poles and used as pikes. Of these + pike-heads and bayonets, one hundred were said to have been + made at an early day, and by the 16th June as many as two or + three hundred, and between three and four hundred + daggers."<a id="footnotetag109" + name="footnotetag109"></a><a href= + "#footnote109"><sup>109</sup></a> A bundle containing some + of the poles, neatly trimmed and smoothed off, and nine or + ten feet long, was afterwards found concealed on a farm on + Charleston Neck, where several of the meetings were held, + having been carried there to have the pike-heads and + bayonets fixed in place. Governor Bennett stated that the + number of poles thus found was thirteen, but so wary were + the Negroes that he and other prominent men underestimated + the means of attack. It was thought that the Negroes in + Charleston might use their masters' arms, while those from + the country were to bring hoes, hatchets, and axes. For + their main supply of arms, however, Vesey and Peter Poyas + depended upon the magazines and storehouses in the city. + They planned to seize the Arsenal in Meeting Street opposite + St. Michael's Church; it was the key to the city, held the + arms of the state, and had for some time been neglected. + Poyas at a given signal at midnight was to move upon this + point, killing the sentinel. Two large gun and powder stores + were by arrangement to be at the disposal of the + insurrectionists; and other leaders, coming from six + different directions, were to seize strategic points and + thus aid the central work of Poyas. Meanwhile a body of + horse was to keep the streets clear. "Eat only dry food," + said Gullah Jack as the day approached, "parched corn and + ground nuts, and when you join us as we pass put this crab + claw in your mouth and you can't be wounded."</p> + + <p>On May 25<a id="footnotetag110" + name="footnotetag110"></a><a href= + "#footnote110"><sup>110</sup></a> a slave of Colonel + Prioleau, while on an errand at the wharf, was accosted by + another slave, William Paul, who remarked: "I have often + seen a flag with the number 76, but never one with the + number 96 upon it before." As this man showed no knowledge + of what was going on, Paul spoke to him further and quite + frankly about the plot. The slave afterwards spoke to a free + man about what he had heard; this man advised him to tell + his master about it; and so he did on Prioleau's return on + May 30. Prioleau immediately informed the Intendant, or + Mayor, and by five o'clock in the afternoon both the slave + and Paul were being examined. Paul was placed in + confinement, but not before his testimony had implicated + Peter Poyas and Mingo Harth, a man who had been appointed to + lead one of the companies of horse. Harth and Poyas were + cool and collected, however, they ridiculed the whole idea, + and the wardens, completely deceived, discharged them. In + general at this time the authorities were careful and + endeavored not to act hastily. About June 8, however, Paul, + greatly excited and fearing execution, confessed that the + plan was very extensive and said that it was led by an + individual who bore a charmed life. Ned Bennett, hearing + that his name had been mentioned, voluntarily went before + the Intendant and asked to be examined, thus again + completely baffling the officials. All the while, in the + face of the greatest danger, Vesey continued to hold his + meetings. By Friday, June 14, however, another informant had + spoken to his master, and all too fully were Peter Poyas's + fears about "waiting-men" justified. This man said that the + original plan had been changed, for the night of Sunday, + June 16, was now the time set for the insurrection, and + otherwise he was able to give all essential + information.<a id="footnotetag111" + name="footnotetag111"></a><a href= + "#footnote111"><sup>111</sup></a> On Saturday night, June + 15, Jesse Blackwood, an aid sent into the country to prepare + the slaves to enter the following day, while he penetrated + two lines of guards, was at the third line halted and sent + back into the city. Vesey now realized in a moment that all + his plans were disclosed, and immediately he destroyed any + papers that might prove to be incriminating. "On Sunday, + June 16, at ten o'clock at night, Captain Cattle's Corps of + Hussars, Captain Miller's Light Infantry, Captain + Martindale's Neck Rangers, the Charleston Riflemen and the + City Guard were ordered to rendezvous for guard, the whole + organized as a detachment under command of Colonel R.Y. + Hayne."<a id="footnotetag112" + name="footnotetag112"></a><a href= + "#footnote112"><sup>112</sup></a> It was his work on this + occasion that gave Hayne that appeal to the public which was + later to help him to pass on to the governorship and then to + the United States Senate. On the fateful night twenty or + thirty men from the outlying districts who had not been able + to get word of the progress of events, came to the city in a + small boat, but Vesey sent word to them to go back as + quickly as possible.</p> + + <p>Two courts were formed for the trial of the conspirators. + The first, after a long session of five weeks, was dissolved + July 20; a second was convened, but after three days closed its + investigation and adjourned August 8.<a id="footnotetag113" + name="footnotetag113"></a><a href= + "#footnote113"><sup>113</sup></a> All the while the public + mind was greatly excited. The first court, which speedily + condemned thirty-four men to death, was severely criticized. + The New York <i>Daily Advertiser</i> termed the execution "a + bloody sacrifice"; but Charleston replied with the reminder + of the Negroes who had been burned in New York in 1741.<a id= + "footnotetag114" + name="footnotetag114"></a><a href= + "#footnote114"><sup>114</sup></a> Some of the Negroes blamed + the leaders for the trouble into which they had been + brought, but Vesey himself made no confession. He was by no + means alone. "Do not open your lips," said Poyas; "die + silent as you shall see me do." Something of the solicitude + of owners for their slaves may be seen from the request of + Governor Bennett himself in behalf of Batteau Bennett. He + asked for a special review of the case of this young man, + who was among those condemned to death, "with a view to the + mitigation of his punishment." The court did review the + case, but it did not change its sentence. Throughout the + proceedings the white people of Charleston were impressed by + the character of those who had taken part in the + insurrection; "many of them possessed the highest confidence + of their owners, and not one was of bad character."<a id= + "footnotetag115" + name="footnotetag115"></a><a href= + "#footnote115"><sup>115</sup></a></p> + + <p>As a result of this effort for freedom one hundred and + thirty-one Negroes were arrested; thirty-five were executed and + forty-three banished.<a id="footnotetag116" + name="footnotetag116"></a><a href= + "#footnote116"><sup>116</sup></a> Of those executed, Denmark + Vesey, Peter Poyas, Ned Bennett, Rolla Bennett, Batteau + Bennett, and Jesse Blackwood were hanged July 2; Gullah Jack + and one more on July 12; twenty-two were hanged on a huge + gallows Friday, July 26; four more were hanged July 30, and + one on August 9. Of those banished, twelve had been + sentenced for execution, but were afterwards given + banishment instead; twenty-one were to be transported by + their masters beyond the limits of the United States; one, a + free man, required to leave the state, satisfied the court + by offering to leave the United States, while nine others + who were not definitely sentenced were strongly recommended + to their owners for banishment. The others of the one + hundred and thirty-one were acquitted. The authorities at + length felt that they had executed enough to teach the + Negroes a lesson, and the hanging ceased; but within the + next year or two Governor Bennett and others gave to the + world most gloomy reflections upon the whole proceeding and + upon the grave problem at their door. Thus closed the + insurrection that for the ambitiousness of its plan, the + care with which it was matured, and the faithfulness of the + leaders to one another, was never equalled by a similar + attempt for freedom in the United States.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Nat" + name="Nat"><i>Nat Turner's Insurrection</i></a></h4> + + <p>About noon on Sunday, August 21, 1831, on the plantation of + Joseph Travis at Cross Keys, in Southampton County, in + Southeastern Virginia, were gathered four Negroes, Henry + Porter, Hark Travis, Nelson Williams, and Sam Francis, + evidently preparing for a barbecue. They were soon joined by a + gigantic and athletic Negro named Will Francis, and by another + named Jack Reese. Two hours later came a short, strong-looking + man who had a face of great resolution and at whom one would + not have needed to glance a second time to know that he was to + be the master-spirit of the company. Seeing Will and his + companion he raised a question as to their being present, to + which Will replied that life was worth no more to him than the + others and that liberty was as dear to him. This answer + satisfied the latest comer, and Nat Turner now went into + conference with his most trusted friends. One can only imagine + the purpose, the eagerness, and the firmness on those dark + faces throughout that long summer afternoon and evening. When + at last in the night the low whispering ceased, the doom of + nearly three-score white persons—and it might be added, of + twice as many Negroes—was sealed.</p> + + <p>Cross Keys was seventy miles from Norfolk, just about as far + from Richmond, twenty-five miles from the Dismal Swamp, fifteen + miles from Murfreesboro in North Carolina, and also fifteen + miles from Jerusalem, the county seat of Southampton County. + The community was settled primarily by white people of modest + means. Joseph Travis, the owner of Nat Turner, had recently + married the widow of one Putnam Moore.</p> + + <p>Nat Turner, who originally belonged to one Benjamin Turner, + was born October 2, 1800. He was mentally precocious and had + marks on his head and breast which were interpreted by the + Negroes who knew him as marking him for some high calling. In + his mature years he also had on his right arm a knot which was + the result of a blow which he had received. He experimented in + paper, gunpowder, and pottery, and it is recorded of him that + he was never known to swear an oath, to drink a drop of + spirits, or to commit a theft. Instead he cultivated fasting + and prayer and the reading of the Bible.</p> + + <p>More and more Nat gave himself up to a life of the spirit + and to communion with the voices that he said he heard. He once + ran away for a month, but felt commanded by the spirit to + return. About 1825 a consciousness of his great mission came to + him, and daily he labored to make himself more worthy. As he + worked in the field he saw drops of blood on the corn, and he + also saw white spirits and black spirits contending in the + skies. While he thus so largely lived in a religious or + mystical world and was immersed, he was not a professional + Baptist preacher. On May 12, 1828, he was left no longer in + doubt. A great voice said unto him that the Serpent was loosed, + that Christ had laid down the yoke, that he, Nat, was to take + it up again, and that the time was fast approaching when the + first should be last and the last should be first. An eclipse + of the sun in February, 1831, was interpreted as the sign for + him to go forward. Yet he waited a little longer, until he had + made sure of his most important associates. It is worthy of + note that when he began his work, while he wanted the killing + to be as effective and widespread as possible, he commanded + that no outrage be committed, and he was obeyed.</p> + + <p>When on the Sunday in August Nat and his companions finished + their conference, they went to find Austin, a brother-spirit; + and then all went to the cider-press and drank except Nat. It + was understood that he as the leader was to spill the first + blood, and that he was to begin with his own master, Joseph + Travis. Going to the house, Hark placed a ladder against the + chimney. On this Nat ascended; then he went downstairs, + unbarred the doors, and removed the guns from their places. He + and Will together entered Travis's chamber, and the first blow + was given to the master of the house. The hatchet glanced off + and Travis called to his wife; but this was with his last + breath, for Will at once despatched him with his ax. The wife + and the three children of the house were also killed + immediately. Then followed a drill of the company, after which + all went to the home of Salathiel Francis six hundred yards + away. Sam and Will knocked, and Francis asked who was there. + Sam replied that he had a letter, for him. The man came to the + door, where he was seized and killed by repeated blows over the + head. He was the only white person in the house. In silence all + passed on to the home of Mrs. Reese, who was killed while + asleep in bed. Her son awoke, but was also immediately killed. + A mile away the insurrectionists came to the home of Mrs. + Turner, which they reached about sunrise on Monday morning. + Henry, Austin, and Sam went to the still, where they found and + killed the overseer, Peebles, Austin shooting him. Then all + went to the house. The family saw them coming and shut the + door—to no avail, however, as Will with one stroke of his ax + opened it and entered to find Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Newsome in + the middle of the room almost frightened to death. Will killed + Mrs. Turner with one blow of his ax, and after Nat had struck + Mrs. Newsome over the head with his sword, Will turned and + killed her also. By this time the company amounted to fifteen. + Nine went mounted to the home of Mrs. Whitehead and six others + went along a byway to the home of Henry Bryant. As they neared + the first house Richard Whitehead, the son of the family, was + standing in the cotton-patch near the fence. Will killed him + with his ax immediately. In the house he killed Mrs. Whitehead, + almost severing her head from her body with one blow. Margaret, + a daughter, tried to conceal herself and ran, but was killed by + Turner with a fence-rail. The men in this first company were + now joined by those in the second, the six who had gone to the + Bryant home, who informed them that they had done the work + assigned, which was to kill Henry Bryant himself, his wife and + child, and his wife's mother. By this time the killing had + become fast and furious. The company divided again; some would + go ahead, and Nat would come up to find work already + accomplished. Generally fifteen or twenty of the best mounted + were put in front to strike terror and prevent escape, and Nat + himself frequently did not get to the houses where killing was + done. More and more the Negroes, now about forty in number, + were getting drunken and noisy. The alarm was given, and by + nine or ten o'clock on Monday morning one Captain Harris and + his family had escaped. Prominent among the events of the + morning, however, was the killing at the home of Mrs. Waller of + ten children who were gathering for school.<a id= + "footnotetag117" + name="footnotetag117"></a><a href= + "#footnote117"><sup>117</sup></a></p> + + <p>As the men neared the home of James Parker, it was suggested + that they call there; but Turner objected, as this man had + already gone to Jerusalem and he himself wished to reach the + county seat as soon as possible. However, he and some of the + men remained at the gate while others went to the house half a + mile away. This exploit proved to be the turning-point of the + events of the day. Uneasy at the delay of those who went to the + house, Turner went thither also. On his return he was met by a + company of white men who had fired on those Negroes left at the + gate and dispersed them. On discovering these men, Turner + ordered his own men to halt and form, as now they were + beginning to be alarmed. The white men, eighteen in number, + approached and fired, but were forced to retreat. + Reënforcements for them from Jerusalem were already at hand, + however, and now the great pursuit of the Negro + insurrectionists began.</p> + + <p>Hark's horse was shot under him and five or six of the men + were wounded. Turner's force was largely dispersed, but on + Monday night he stopped at the home of Major Ridley, and his + company again increased to forty. He tried to sleep a little, + but a sentinel gave the alarm; all were soon up and the number + was again reduced to twenty. Final resistance was offered at + the home of Dr. Blunt, but here still more of the men were put + to flight and were never again seen by Turner.</p> + + <p>A little later, however, the leader found two of his men + named Jacob and Nat. These he sent with word to Henry, Hark, + Nelson, and Sam to meet him at the place where on Sunday they + had taken dinner together. With what thoughts Nat Turner + returned alone to this place on Tuesday evening can only be + imagined. Throughout the night he remained, but no one joined + him and he presumed that his followers had all either been + taken or had deserted him. Nor did any one come on Wednesday, + or on Thursday. On Thursday night, having supplied himself with + provisions from the Travis home, he scratched a hole under a + pile of fence-rails, and here he remained for six weeks, + leaving only at night to get water. All the while of course he + had no means of learning of the fate of his companions or of + anything else. Meanwhile not only the vicinity but the whole + South was being wrought up to an hysterical state of mind. A + reward of $500 for the capture of the man was offered by the + Governor, and other rewards were also offered. On September 30 + a false account of his capture appeared in the newspapers; on + October 7 another; on October 8 still another. By this time + Turner had begun to move about a little at night, not speaking + to any human being and returning always to his hole before + daybreak. Early on October 15 a dog smelt his provisions and + led thither two Negroes. Nat appealed to these men for + protection, but they at once began to run and excitedly spread + the news. Turner fled in another direction and for ten days + more hid among the wheat-stacks on the Francis plantation. All + the while not less than five hundred men were on the watch for + him, and they found the stick that he had notched from day to + day. Once he thought of surrendering, and walked within two + miles of Jerusalem. Three times he tried to get away, and + failed. On October 25 he was discovered by Francis, who + discharged at him a load of buckshot, twelve of which passed + through his hat, and he was at large for five days more. On + October 30 Benjamin Phipps, a member of the patrol, passing a + clearing in the woods noticed a motion among the boughs. He + paused, and gradually he saw Nat's head emerging from a hole + beneath. The fugitive now gave up as he knew that the woods + were full of men. He was taken to the nearest house, and the + crowd was so great and the excitement so intense that it was + with difficulty that he was taken to Jerusalem. For more than + two months, from August 25 to October 30, he had eluded his + pursuers, remaining all the while in the vicinity of his + insurrection.</p> + + <p>While Nat Turner was in prison, Thomas C. Gray, his counsel, + received from him what are known as his "Confessions." This + pamphlet is now almost inaccessible,<a id="footnotetag118" + name="footnotetag118"></a><a href= + "#footnote118"><sup>118</sup></a> but it was in great demand + at the time it was printed and it is now the chief source + for information about the progress of the insurrection. + Turner was tried November 5 and sentenced to be hanged six + days later. Asked in court by Gray if he still believed in + the providential nature of his mission, he asked, "Was not + Christ crucified?" Of his execution itself we read: "Nat + Turner was executed according to sentence, on Friday, the + 11th of November, 1831, at Jerusalem, between the hours of + 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. He exhibited the utmost composure + throughout the whole ceremony; and, although assured that he + might, if he thought proper, address the immense crowd + assembled on the occasion, declined availing himself of the + privilege; and, being asked if he had any further + confessions to make, replied that he had nothing more than + he had communicated; and told the sheriff in a firm voice + that he was ready. Not a limb or muscle was observed to + move. His body, after death, was given over to the surgeons + for dissection."</p> + + <p>Of fifty-three Negroes arraigned in connection with the + insurrection "seventeen were executed and twelve transported. + The rest were discharged, except ... four free Negroes sent on + to the Superior Court. Three of the four were executed." <a id= + "footnotetag119" + name="footnotetag119"></a><a href= + "#footnote119"><sup>119</sup></a> Such figures as these, + however, give no conception of the number of those who lost + their lives in connection with the insurrection. In general, + if slaves were convicted by legal process and executed or + transported, or if they escaped before trial, they were paid + for by the commonwealth; if killed, they were not paid for, + and a man like Phipps might naturally desire to protect his + prisoner in order to get his reward. In spite of this, the + Negroes were slaughtered without trial and sometimes under + circumstances of the greatest barbarity. One man proudly + boasted that he had killed between ten and fifteen. A party + went from Richmond with the intention of killing every Negro + in Southampton County. Approaching the cabin of a free Negro + they asked, "Is this Southampton County?" "Yes, sir," came + the reply, "you have just crossed the line by yonder tree." + They shot him dead and rode on. In general the period was + one of terror, with voluntary patrols, frequently drunk, + going in all directions. These men tortured, burned, or + maimed the Negroes practically at will. Said one old woman + <a id="footnotetag120" + name="footnotetag120"></a><a href= + "#footnote120"><sup>120</sup></a> of them: "The patrols were + low drunken whites, and in Nat's time, if they heard any of + the colored folks prayin' or singin' a hymn, they would fall + upon 'em and abuse 'em, and sometimes kill 'em.... The + brightest and best was killed in Nat's time. The whites + always suspect such ones. They killed a great many at a + place called Duplon. They killed Antonio, a slave of Mr. J. + Stanley, whom they shot; then they pointed their guns at him + and told him to confess about the insurrection. He told 'em + he didn't know anything about any insurrection. They shot + several balls through him, quartered him, and put his head + on a pole at the fork of the road leading to the court.... + It was there but a short time. He had no trial. They never + do. In Nat's time, the patrols would tie up the free colored + people, flog 'em, and try to make 'em lie against one + another, and often killed them before anybody could + interfere. Mr. James Cole, High Sheriff, said if any of the + patrols came on his plantation, he would lose his life in + defense of his people. One day he heard a patroller boasting + how many Negroes he had killed. Mr. Cole said, 'If you don't + pack up, as quick as God Almighty will let you, and get out + of this town, and never be seen in it again, I'll put you + where dogs won't bark at you.' He went off, and wasn't seen + in them parts again."</p> + + <p>The immediate panic created by the Nat Turner insurrection + in Virginia and the other states of the South it would be + impossible to exaggerate. When the news of what was happening + at Cross Keys spread, two companies, on horse and foot, came + from Murfreesboro as quickly as possible. On the Wednesday + after the memorable Sunday night there came from Fortress + Monroe three companies and a piece of artillery. These commands + were reënforced from various sources until not less than eight + hundred men were in arms. Many of the Negroes fled to the + Dismal Swamp, and the wildest rumors were afloat. One was that + Wilmington had been burned, and in Raleigh and Fayetteville the + wildest excitement prevailed. In the latter place scores of + white women and children fled to the swamps, coming out two + days afterwards muddy, chilled, and half-starved. Slaves were + imprisoned wholesale. In Wilmington four men were shot without + trial and their heads placed on poles at the four corners of + the town. In Macon, Ga., a report was circulated that an armed + band of Negroes was only five miles away, and within an hour + the women and children were assembled in the largest building + in the town, with a military force in front for protection.</p> + + <p>The effects on legislation were immediate. Throughout the + South the slave codes became more harsh; and while it was clear + that the uprising had been one of slaves rather than of free + Negroes, as usual special disabilities fell upon the free + people of color. Delaware, that only recently had limited the + franchise to white men, now forbade the use of firearms by free + Negroes and would not suffer any more to come within the state. + Tennessee also forbade such immigration, while Maryland passed + a law to the effect that all free Negroes must leave the state + and be colonized in Africa—a monstrous piece of legislation + that it was impossible to put into effect and that showed once + for all the futility of attempts at forcible emigration as a + solution of the problem. In general, however, the insurrection + assisted the colonization scheme and also made more certain the + carrying out of the policy of the Jackson administration to + remove the Indians of the South to the West. It also focussed + the attention of the nation upon the status of the Negro, + crystallized opinion in the North, and thus helped with the + formation of anti-slavery organizations. By it for the time + being the Negro lost; in the long run he gained.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Cases" + name="Cases"><i>The "Amistad" and "Creole" + Cases</i></a></h4> + + <p>On June 28, 1839, a schooner, the <i>Amistad</i>, sailed + from Havana bound for Guanaja in the vicinity of Puerto + Principe. She was under the command of her owner, Don Ramon + Ferrer, was laden with merchandise, and had on board + fifty-three Negroes, forty-nine of whom supposedly belonged to + a Spaniard, Don Jose Ruiz, the other four belonging to Don + Pedro Montes. During the night of June 30 the slaves, under the + lead of one of their number named Cinque, rose upon the crew, + killed the captain, a slave of his, and two sailors, and while + they permitted most of the crew to escape, they took into close + custody the two owners, Ruiz and Montes. Montes, who had some + knowledge of nautical affairs, was ordered to steer the vessel + back to Africa. So he did by day, when the Negroes would watch + him, but at night he tried to make his way to some land nearer + at hand. Other vessels passed from time to time, and from these + the Negroes bought provisions, but Montes and Ruiz were so + closely watched that they could not make known their plight. At + length, on August 26, the schooner reached Long Island Sound, + where it was detained by the American brig-of-war + <i>Washington</i>, in command of Captain Gedney, who secured + the Negroes and took them to New London, Conn. It took a year + and a half to dispose of the issue thus raised. The case + attracted the greatest amount of attention, led to + international complications, and was not really disposed of + until a former President had exhaustively argued the case for + the Negroes before the Supreme Court of the United States.</p> + + <p>In a letter of September 6, 1839, to John Forsyth, the + American Secretary of State, Calderon, the Spanish minister, + formally made four demands: 1. That the <i>Amistad</i> be + immediately delivered up to her owner, together with every + article on board at the time of her capture; 2. That it be + declared that no tribunal in the United States had the right to + institute proceedings against, or to impose penalties upon, the + subjects of Spain, for crimes committed on board a Spanish + vessel, and in the waters of Spanish territory; 3. That the + Negroes be conveyed to Havana or otherwise placed at the + disposal of the representatives of Spain; and 4. That if, in + consequence of the intervention of the authorities in + Connecticut, there should be any delay in the desired delivery + of the vessel and the slaves, the owners both of the latter and + of the former be indemnified for the injury that might accrue + to them. In support of his demands Calderon invoked "the law of + nations, the stipulations of existing treaties, and those good + feelings so necessary in the maintenance of the friendly + relations that subsist between the two countries, and are so + interesting to both." Forsyth asked for any papers bearing on + the question, and Calderon replied that he had none except "the + declaration on oath of Montes and Ruiz."</p> + + <p>Meanwhile the abolitionists were insisting that protection + had <i>not</i> been afforded the African strangers cast on + American soil and that in no case did the executive arm of the + Government have any authority to interfere with the regular + administration of justice. "These Africans," it was said, "are + detained in jail, under process of the United States courts, in + a free state, after it has been decided by the District Judge, + on sufficient proof, that they are recently from Africa, were + never the lawful slaves of Ruiz and Montes," and "when it is + clear as noonday that there is no law or treaty stipulation + that requires the further detention of these Africans or their + delivery to Spain or its subjects."</p> + + <p>Writing on October 24 to the Spanish representative with + reference to the arrest of Ruiz and Montes, Forsyth informed + him that the two Spanish subjects had been arrested on process + issuing from the superior court of the city of New York upon + affidavits of certain men, natives of Africa, "for the purpose + of securing their appearance before the proper tribunal, to + answer for wrongs alleged to have been inflicted by them upon + the persons of said Africans," that, consequently, the + occurrence constituted simply a "case of resort by individuals + against others to the judicial courts of the country, which are + equally open to all without distinction," and that the agency + of the Government to obtain the release of Messrs. Ruiz and + Montes could not be afforded in the manner requested. Further + pressure was brought to bear by the Spanish representative, + however, and there was cited the case of Abraham Wendell, + captain of the brig <i>Franklin</i>, who was prosecuted at + first by Spanish officials for maltreatment of his mate, but + with reference to whom documents were afterwards sent from + Havana to America. Much more correspondence followed, and Felix + Grundy, of Tennessee, Attorney General of the United States, at + length muddled everything by the following opinion: "These + Negroes deny that they are slaves; if they should be delivered + to the claimants, no opportunity may be afforded for the + assertion of their right to freedom. For these reasons, it + seems to me that a delivery to the Spanish minister is the only + safe course for this Government to pursue." The fallacy of all + this was shown in a letter dated November 18, 1839, from B.F. + Butler, United States District Attorney in New York, to Aaron + Vail, acting Secretary of State. Said Butler: "It does not + appear to me that any question has yet arisen under the treaty + with Spain; because, although it is an admitted principle, that + neither the courts of this state, nor those of the United + States, can take jurisdiction of criminal offenses committed by + foreigners within the territory of a foreign state, yet it is + equally settled in this country, that our courts will take + cognizance of <i>civil</i> actions between foreigners + transiently within our jurisdiction, founded upon contracts or + other transactions made or had in a foreign state." Southern + influence was strong, however, and a few weeks afterwards an + order was given from the Department of State to have a vessel + anchor off New Haven, Conn., January 10, 1840, to receive the + Negroes from the United States marshal and take them to Cuba; + and on January 7 the President, Van Buren, issued the necessary + warrant.</p> + + <p>The rights of humanity, however, were not to be handled in + this summary fashion. The executive order was stayed, and the + case went further on its progress to the highest tribunal in + the land. Meanwhile the anti-slavery people were teaching the + Africans the rudiments of English in order that they might be + better able to tell their own story. From the first a committee + had been appointed to look out for their interests and while + they were awaiting the final decision in their case they + cultivated a garden of fifteen acres.</p> + + <p>The appearance of John Quincy Adams in behalf of these + Negroes before the Supreme Court of the United States February + 24 and March 1, 1841, is in every way one of the most beautiful + acts in American history. In the fullness of years, with his + own administration as President twelve years behind him, the + "Old Man Eloquent" came once more to the tribunal that he knew + so well to make a last plea for the needy and oppressed. To the + task he brought all his talents—his profound knowledge of law, + his unrivaled experience, and his impressive personality; and + his argument covers 135 octavo pages. He gave an extended + analysis of the demand of the Spanish minister, who asked the + President to do what he simply had no constitutional right to + do. "The President," said Adams, "has no power to arrest either + citizens or foreigners. But even that power is almost + insignificant compared with that of sending men beyond seas to + deliver them up to a foreign government." The Secretary of + State had "degraded the country, in the face of the whole + civilized world, not only by allowing these demands to remain + unanswered, but by proceeding, throughout the whole + transaction, as if the Executive were earnestly desirous to + comply with every one of the demands." The Spanish minister had + naturally insisted in his demands because he had not been + properly met at first. The slave-trade was illegal by + international agreement, and the only thing to do under the + circumstances was to release the Negroes. Adams closed his plea + with a magnificent review of his career and of the labors of + the distinguished jurists he had known in the court for nearly + forty years, and be it recorded wherever the name of Justice is + spoken, he won his case.</p> + + <p>Lewis Tappan now accompanied the Africans on a tour through + the states to raise money for their passage home. The first + meeting was in Boston. Several members of the company + interested the audience by their readings from the New + Testament or by their descriptions of their own country and of + the horrors of the voyage. Cinque gave the impression of great + dignity and of extraordinary ability; and Kali, a boy only + eleven years of age, also attracted unusual attention. Near the + close of 1841, accompanied by five missionaries and teachers, + the Africans set sail from New York, to make their way first to + Sierra Leone and then to their own homes as well as they + could.</p> + + <p>While this whole incident of the <i>Amistad</i> was still + engaging the interest of the public, there occurred another + that also occasioned international friction and even more + prolonged debate between the slavery and anti-slavery forces. + On October 25, 1841, the brig <i>Creole</i>, Captain Ensor, of + Richmond, Va., sailed from Richmond and on October 27 from + Hampton Roads, with a cargo of tobacco and one hundred and + thirty slaves bound for New Orleans. On the vessel also, aside + from the crew, were the captain's wife and child, and three or + four passengers, who were chiefly in charge of the slaves, one + man, John R. Hewell, being directly in charge of those + belonging to an owner named McCargo. About 9.30 on the night of + Sunday, November 7, while out at sea, nineteen of the slaves + rose, cowed the others, wounded the captain, and generally took + command of the vessel. Madison Washington began the uprising by + an attack on Gifford, the first mate, and Ben Blacksmith, one + of the most aggressive of his assistants, killed Hewell. The + insurgents seized the arms of the vessel, permitted no + conversation between members of the crew except in their + hearing, demanded and obtained the manifests of slaves, and + threatened that if they were not taken to Abaco or some other + British port they would throw the officers and crew overboard. + The <i>Creole</i> reached Nassau, New Providence, on Tuesday, + November 9, and the arrival of the vessel at once occasioned + intense excitement. Gifford went ashore and reported the + matter, and the American consul, John F. Bacon, contended to + the English authorities that the slaves on board the brig were + as much a part of the cargo as the tobacco and entitled to the + same protection from loss to the owners. The governor, Sir + Francis Cockburn, however, was uncertain whether to interfere + in the business at all. He liberated those slaves who were not + concerned in the uprising, spoke of all of the slaves as + "passengers," and guaranteed to the nineteen who were shown by + an investigation to have been connected with the uprising all + the rights of prisoners called before an English court. He told + them further that the British Government would be communicated + with before their case was finally passed upon, that if they + wished copies of the informations these would be furnished + them, and that they were privileged to have witnesses examined + in refutation of the charges against them. From time to time + Negroes who were natives of the island crowded about the brig + in small boats and intimidated the American crew, but when on + the morning of November 12 the Attorney General questioned them + as to their intentions they replied with transparent good humor + that they intended no violence and had assembled only for the + purpose of conveying to shore such of the persons on the + <i>Creole</i> as might be permitted to leave and might need + their assistance. The Attorney General required, however, that + they throw overboard a dozen stout cudgels that they had. Here + the whole case really rested. Daniel Webster as Secretary of + State aroused the anti-slavery element by making a strong + demand for the return of the slaves, basing his argument on the + sacredness of vessels flying the American flag; but the English + authorities at Nassau never returned any of them. On March 21, + 1842, Joshua R. Giddings, untiring defender of the rights of + the Negro, offered in the House of Representatives resolutions + to the effect that slavery could exist only by positive law of + the different states; that the states had delegated no control + over slavery to the Federal Government, which alone had + jurisdiction on the high seas, and that, therefore, slaves on + the high seas became free and the coastwise trade was + unconstitutional. The House, strongly pro-Southern, replied + with a vote of censure and Giddings resigned, but he was + immediately reëlected by his Ohio constituency.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote105" + name="footnote105"></a><b>Footnote 105:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag105">(return)</a><br/> + + Official Report, 19.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote106" + name="footnote106"></a><b>Footnote 106:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag106">(return)</a><br/> + + Official Report, 96-97, and Higginson, 232-3.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote107" + name="footnote107"></a><b>Footnote 107:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag107">(return)</a><br/> + + Official Report, 20. Note that Higginson, who was so + untiring in his research, strangely confuses Jack Purcell + and Gullah Jack (p. 230). The men were quite distinct, as + appears throughout the report and from the list of those + executed. The name of Gullah Jack's owner was + Pritchard.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote108" + name="footnote108"></a><b>Footnote 108:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag108">(return)</a><br/> + + Official Report, 24. Note that this remarkable + characterization was given by the judges, Kennedy and + Parker, who afterwards condemned the men to death.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote109" + name="footnote109"></a><b>Footnote 109:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag109">(return)</a><br/> + + Official Report, 31-32.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote110" + name="footnote110"></a><b>Footnote 110:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag110">(return)</a><br/> + + Higginson, 215.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote111" + name="footnote111"></a><b>Footnote 111:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag111">(return)</a><br/> + + For reasons of policy the names of these informers were + withheld from publication, but they were well known, of + course, to the Negroes of Charleston. The published + documents said of the chief informer, "It would be a libel + on the liberality and gratitude of this community to + suppose that this man can be overlooked among those who are + to be rewarded for their fidelity and principle." The + author has been informed that his reward for betraying his + people was to be officially and legally declared "a white + man."</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote112" + name="footnote112"></a><b>Footnote 112:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag112">(return)</a><br/> + + Jervey: <i>Robert Y. Hayne and His Times</i>, 131-2.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote113" + name="footnote113"></a><b>Footnote 113:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag113">(return)</a><br/> + + Bennett letter.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote114" + name="footnote114"></a><b>Footnote 114:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag114">(return)</a><br/> + + See <i>City Gazette</i>, August 14, 1822, cited by + Jervey.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote115" + name="footnote115"></a><b>Footnote 115:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag115">(return)</a><br/> + + Official Report, 44.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote116" + name="footnote116"></a><b>Footnote 116:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag116">(return)</a><br/> + + The figure is sometimes given as 37, but the lists total + 43.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote117" + name="footnote117"></a><b>Footnote 117:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag117">(return)</a><br/> + + In "Horrid Massacre," or, to use the more formal title, + "Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical Scene + which was Witnessed in Southampton County (Virginia) on + Monday the 22d of August Last," the list below of the + victims of Nat Turner's insurrection is given. It must be + said about this work, however, that it is not altogether + impeccable; it seems to have been prepared very hastily + after the event, its spelling of names is often arbitrary, + and instead of the fifty-five victims noted it appears that + at least fifty-seven white persons were killed:</p> + + <table summary= + "This table is a list of deaths due to Nat Turner's insurrection + showing a total of 55. The left column contains the names of + those who died and the right column lists the number who died"> + <tr> + <td>Joseph Travis, wife and three children</td> + + <td>5</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, Hartwell Peebles, and + Sarah Newsum</td> + + <td>3</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Mrs. Piety Reese and son, William</td> + + <td>2</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Trajan Doyal</td> + + <td>1</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Henry Briant, wife and child, and wife's + mother</td> + + <td>4</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Mrs. Catherine Whitehead, her son Richard, four + daughters and a grandchild</td> + + <td>7</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Salathael Francis</td> + + <td>1</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Nathaniel Francis's overseer and two + children</td> + + <td>3</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>John T. Barrow and George Vaughan</td> + + <td>2</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Mrs. Levi Waller and ten children</td> + + <td>11</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Mr. William Williams, wife and two boys</td> + + <td>4</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Mrs. Caswell Worrell and child</td> + + <td>2</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Mrs. Rebacca Vaughan, Ann Eliza Vaughan, and + son Arthur</td> + + <td>3</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>Mrs. Jacob Williams and three children and + Edwin Drewry</td> + + <td>5</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td>—</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td>55</td> + </tr> + </table> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote118" + name="footnote118"></a><b>Footnote 118:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag118">(return)</a><br/> + + The only copy that the author has seen is that in the + library of Harvard University.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote119" + name="footnote119"></a><b>Footnote 119:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag119">(return)</a><br/> + + Drewry, 101.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote120" + name="footnote120"></a><b>Footnote 120:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag120">(return)</a><br/> + + Charity Bowery, who gave testimony to L.M. Child, quoted + by Higginson.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERVIII" + name="CHAPTERVIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + + <h3>THE NEGRO REPLY, II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION</h3> + + <p>It is not the purpose of the present chapter primarily to + consider social progress on the part of the Negro. A little + later we shall endeavor to treat this interesting subject for + the period between the Missouri Compromise and the Civil War. + Just now we are concerned with the attitude of the Negro + himself toward the problem that seemed to present itself to + America and for which such different solutions were proposed. + So far as slavery was concerned, we have seen that the remedy + suggested by Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner was insurrection. It + is only to state an historical fact, however, to say that the + great heart of the Negro people in the South did not believe in + violence, but rather hoped and prayed for a better day to come + by some other means. But what was the attitude of those people, + progressive citizens and thinking leaders, who were not + satisfied with the condition of the race and who had to take a + stand on the issues that confronted them? If we study the + matter from this point of view, we shall find an amount of + ferment and unrest and honest difference of opinion that is + sometimes overlooked or completely forgotten in the questions + of a later day.</p> + + <h4>1. <a id="Walker" + name="Walker"><i>Walker's "Appeal"</i></a></h4> + + <p>The most widely discussed book written by a Negro in the + period was one that appeared in Boston in 1829. David Walker, + the author, had been born in North Carolina in 1785, of a free + mother and a slave father, and he was therefore free.<a id= + "footnotetag121" + name="footnotetag121"></a><a href= + "#footnote121"><sup>121</sup></a> He received a fair + education, traveled widely over the United States, and by + 1827 was living in Boston as the proprietor of a second-hand + clothing store on Brattle Street. He felt very strongly on + the subject of slavery and actually seems to have + contemplated leading an insurrection. In 1828 he addressed + various audiences of Negroes in Boston and elsewhere, and in + 1829 he published his <i>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</i>. The book was remarkably successful. + Appearing in September, by March of the following year it + had reached its third edition; and in each successive + edition the language was more bold and vigorous. Walker's + projected insurrection did not take place, and he himself + died in 1830. While there was no real proof of the fact, + among the Negro people there was a strong belief that he met + with foul play.</p> + + <p>Article I Walker headed "Our Wretchedness in Consequence of + Slavery." A trip over the United States had convinced him that + the Negroes of the country were "the most degraded, wretched + and abject set of beings that ever lived since the world + began." He quoted a South Carolina paper as saying, "The Turks + are the most barbarous people in the world—they treat the + Greeks more like brutes than human beings"; and then from the + same paper cited an advertisement of the sale of eight Negro + men and four women. "Are we men?" he exclaimed. "I ask you, O! + my brothers, are we men?... Have we any other master but Jesus + Christ alone? Is He not their master as well as ours? What + right, then, have we to obey and call any man master but + Himself? How we could be so submissive to a gang of men, whom + we can not tell whether they are as good as ourselves, or not, + I never could conceive." "The whites," he asserted, "have + always been an unjust, jealous, unmerciful, avaricious and + bloodthirsty set of beings, always seeking after power and + authority." As heathen the white people had been cruel enough, + but as Christians they were ten times more so. As heathen "they + were not quite so audacious as to go and take vessel loads of + men, women and children, and in cold blood, through + devilishness, throw them into the sea, and murder them in all + kind of ways. But being Christians, enlightened and sensible, + they are completely prepared for such hellish cruelties." Next + was considered "Our Wretchedness in Consequence of Ignorance." + In general the writer maintained that his people as a whole did + not have intelligence enough to realize their own degradation; + even if boys studied books they did not master their texts, nor + did their information go sufficiently far to enable them + actually to meet the problems of life. If one would but go to + the South or West, he would see there a son take his mother, + who bore almost the pains of death to give him birth, and by + the command of a tyrant, strip her as naked as she came into + the world and apply the cowhide to her until she fell a victim + to death in the road. He would see a husband take his dear + wife, not unfrequently in a pregnant state and perhaps far + advanced, and beat her for an unmerciful wretch, until her + infant fell a lifeless lump at her feet. Moreover, "there have + been, and are this day, in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and + Baltimore, colored men who are in league with tyrants and who + receive a great portion of their daily bread of the moneys + which they acquire from the blood and tears of their more + miserable brethren, whom they scandalously deliver into the + hands of our natural enemies." In Article III Walker considered + "Our Wretchedness in Consequence of the Preachers of the + Religion of Jesus Christ." Here was a fertile field, which was + only partially developed. Walker evidently did not have at hand + the utterances of Furman and others to serve as a definite + point of attack. He did point out, however, the general failure + of Christian ministers to live up to the teachings of Christ. + "Even here in Boston," we are informed, "pride and prejudice + have got to such a pitch, that in the very houses erected to + the Lord they have built little places for the reception of + colored people, where they must sit during meeting, or keep + away from the house of God." Hypocrisy could hardly go further + than that of preachers who could not see the evils at their + door but could "send out missionaries to convert the heathen, + notwithstanding." Article IV was headed "Our Wretchedness in + Consequence of the Colonizing Plan." This was a bitter + arraignment, especially directed against Henry Clay. "I appeal + and ask every citizen of these United States," said Walker, + "and of the world, both white and black, who has any knowledge + of Mr. Clay's public labors for these states—I want you + candidly to answer the Lord, who sees the secrets of your + hearts, Do you believe that Mr. Henry Clay, late Secretary of + State, and now in Kentucky, is a friend to the blacks further + than his personal interest extends?... Does he care a pinch of + snuff about Africa—whether it remains a land of pagans and of + blood, or of Christians, so long as he gets enough of her sons + and daughters to dig up gold and silver for him?... Was he not + made by the Creator to sit in the shade, and make the blacks + work without remuneration for their services, to support him + and his family? I have been for some time taking notice of this + man's speeches and public writings, but never to my knowledge + have I seen anything in his writings which insisted on the + emancipation of slavery, which has almost ruined his country." + Walker then paid his compliments to Elias B. Caldwell and John + Randolph, the former of whom had said, "The more you improve + the condition of these people, the more you cultivate their + minds, the more miserable you make them in their present + state." "Here," the work continues, "is a demonstrative proof + of a plan got up, by a gang of slaveholders, to select the free + people of color from among the slaves, that our more miserable + brethren may be the better secured in ignorance and + wretchedness, to work their farms and dig their mines, and thus + go on enriching the Christians with their blood and groans. + What our brethren could have been thinking about, who have left + their native land and gone away to Africa, I am unable to + say.... The Americans may say or do as they please, but they + have to raise us from the condition of brutes to that of + respectable men, and to make a national acknowledgment to us + for the wrongs they have inflicted on us.... You may doubt it, + if you please. I know that thousands will doubt—they think they + have us so well secured in wretchedness, to them and their + children, that it is impossible for such things to occur. So + did the antediluvians doubt Noah, until the day in which the + flood came and swept them away. So did the Sodomites doubt, + until Lot had got out of the city, and God rained down fire and + brimstone from heaven upon them and burnt them up. So did the + king of Egypt doubt the very existence of God, saying, 'Who is + the Lord, that I should let Israel go?' ... So did the Romans + doubt.... But they got dreadfully deceived."</p> + + <p>This document created the greatest consternation in the + South. The Mayor of Savannah wrote to Mayor Otis of Boston, + demanding that Walker be punished. Otis, in a widely published + letter, replied expressing his disapproval of the pamphlet, but + saying that the author had done nothing that made him + "amenable" to the laws. In Virginia the legislature considered + passing an "extraordinary bill," not only forbidding the + circulation of such seditious publications but forbidding the + education of free Negroes. The bill passed the House of + Delegates, but failed in the Senate. The <i>Appeal</i> even + found its way to Louisiana, where there were already rumors of + an insurrection, and immediately a law was passed expelling all + free Negroes who had come to the state since 1825.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Movement" + name="Movement"><i>The Convention Movement</i></a></h4> + + <p>As may be inferred from Walker's attitude, the + representative men of the race were almost a unit in their + opposition to colonization. They were not always opposed to + colonization itself, for some looked favorably upon settlement + in Canada, and a few hundred made their way to the West Indies. + They did object, however, to the plan offered by the American + Colonization Society, which more and more impressed them as a + device on the part of slaveholders to get free Negroes out of + the country in order that slave labor might be more valuable. + Richard Allen, bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal + Church, and the foremost Negro of the period, said: "We were + stolen from our mother country and brought here. We have tilled + the ground and made fortunes for thousands, and still they are + not weary of our services. <i>But they who stay to till the + ground must be slaves</i>. Is there not land enough in America, + or 'corn enough in Egypt'? Why should they send us into a far + country to die? See the thousands of foreigners emigrating to + America every year: and if there be ground sufficient for them + to cultivate, and bread for them to eat, why would they wish to + send the <i>first tillers</i> of the land away? Africans have + made fortunes for thousands, who are yet unwilling to part with + their services; but the free must be sent away, and those who + remain must be slaves. I have no doubt that there are many good + men who do not see as I do, and who are sending us to Liberia; + but they have not duly considered the subject—they are not men + of color. This land which we have watered with our tears and + our blood is now our <i>mother country</i>, and we are well + satisfied to stay where wisdom abounds and the gospel is + free."<a id="footnotetag122" + name="footnotetag122"></a><a href= + "#footnote122"><sup>122</sup></a> This point of view + received popular expression in a song which bore the + cumbersome title, "The Colored Man's Opinion of + Colonization," and which was sung to the tune of "Home, + Sweet Home." The first stanza was as follows:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">Great God, if the humble and weak are as + dear<br /> + To thy love as the proud, to thy children give ear!<br /> + Our brethren would drive us in deserts to roam;<br /> + Forgive them, O Father, and keep us at home.<br /> + Home, sweet home!<br /> + We have no other; this, this is our home.<a id= + "footnotetag123" + name="footnotetag123"></a><a href= + "#footnote123"><sup>123</sup></a></p> + </div> + + <p>To this sentiment formal expression was given in the + measures adopted at various Negro meetings in the North. In + 1817 the greatest excitement was occasioned by a report that + through the efforts of the newly-formed Colonization Society + all free Negroes were forcibly to be deported from the country. + Resolutions of protest were adopted, and these were widely + circulated.<a id="footnotetag124" + name="footnotetag124"></a><a href= + "#footnote124"><sup>124</sup></a> Of special importance was + the meeting in Philadelphia in January, presided over by + James Forten. Of this the full report is as follows:</p> + + <p>At a numerous meeting of the people of color, convened at + Bethel Church, to take into consideration the propriety of + remonstrating against the contemplated measure that is to exile + us from the land of our nativity, James Forten was called to + the chair, and Russell Parrott appointed secretary. The intent + of the meeting having been stated by the chairman, the + following resolutions were adopted without one dissenting + voice:</p> + + <p class="letter"> + WHEREAS, Our ancestors (not of choice) were the first + successful cultivators of the wilds of America, we their + descendants feel ourselves entitled to participate in the + blessings of her luxuriant soil, which their blood and + sweat manured; and that any measure or system of measures, + having a tendency to banish us from her bosom, would not + only be cruel, but in direct violation of those principles + which have been the boast of this republic,<br/> +    <i>Resolved</i>, That we view with deep abhorrence the + unmerited stigma attempted to be cast upon the reputation + of the free people of color, by the promoters of this + measure, "that they are a dangerous and useless part of the + community," when in the state of disfranchisement in which + they live, in the hour of danger they ceased to remember + their wrongs, and rallied around the standard of their + country.<br/> +    <i>Resolved</i>, That we never will separate ourselves + voluntarily from the slave population of this country; they + are our brethren by the ties of consanguinity, of + suffering, and of wrong; and we feel that there is more + virtue in suffering privations with them, than fancied + advantages for a season.<br/> +    <i>Resolved</i>, That without arts, without science, + without a proper knowledge of government to cast upon the + savage wilds of Africa the free people of color, seems to + us the circuitous route through which they must return to + perpetual bondage.<br/> +    <i>Resolved</i>, That having the strongest confidence in + the justice of God, and philanthropy of the free states, we + cheerfully submit our destinies to the guidance of Him who + suffers not a sparrow to fall without his special + providence.<br/> +    <i>Resolved</i>, That a committee of eleven persons be + appointed to open a correspondence with the honorable + Joseph Hopkinson, member of Congress from this city, and + likewise to inform him of the sentiments of this meeting, + and that the following named persons constitute the + committee, and that they have power to call a general + meeting, when they, in their judgment, may deem it proper: + Rev. Absalom Jones, Rev. Richard Allen, James Forten, + Robert Douglass, Francis Perkins, Rev. John Gloucester, + Robert Gorden, James Johnson, Quamoney Clarkson, John + Summersett, Randall Shepherd.<br/> +    JAMES FORTEN, Chairman.<br/> +    RUSSELL PARROTT, Secretary.</p> + + + <p>In 1827, in New York, was begun the publication of + <i>Freedom's Journal</i>, the first Negro newspaper in the + United States. The editors were John B. Russwurm and Samuel E. + Cornish. Russwurm was a recent graduate of Bowdoin College and + was later to become better known as the governor of Maryland in + Africa. By 1830 feeling was acute throughout the country, + especially in Ohio and Kentucky, and on the part of Negro men + had developed the conviction that the time had come for + national organization and protest.</p> + + <p>In the spring of 1830 Hezekiah Grice of Baltimore, who had + become personally acquainted with the work of Lundy and + Garrison, sent a letter to prominent Negroes in the free states + bringing in question the general policy of emigration.<a id= + "footnotetag125" + name="footnotetag125"></a><a href= + "#footnote125"><sup>125</sup></a> received no immediate + response, but in August he received from Richard Allen an + urgent request to come at once to Philadelphia. Arriving + there he found in session a meeting discussing the wisdom of + emigration to Canada, and Allen "showed him a printed + circular signed by Peter Williams, rector of St. Philip's + Church, New York, Peter Vogelsang and Thomas L. Jennings of + the same place, approving the plan of convention."<a id= + "footnotetag126" + name="footnotetag126"></a><a href= + "#footnote126"><sup>126</sup></a> The Philadelphians now + issued a call for a convention of the Negroes of the United + States to be held in their city September 15, 1830.</p> + + <p>This September meeting was held in Bethel A.M.E. Church. + Bishop Richard Allen was chosen president, Dr. Belfast Burton + of Philadelphia and Austin Steward of Rochester + vice-presidents, Junius C. Morell of Pennsylvania secretary, + and Robert Cowley of Maryland assistant secretary. There were + accredited delegates from seven states. While this meeting + might really be considered the first national convention of + Negroes in the United States (aside of course from the + gathering of denominational bodies), it seems to have been + regarded merely as preliminary to a still more formal + assembling, for the minutes of the next year were printed as + the "Minutes and Proceedings of the First Annual Convention of + the People of Color, held by adjournments in the city of + Philadelphia, from the sixth to the eleventh of June, + inclusive, 1831. Philadelphia, 1831." The meetings of this + convention were held in the Wesleyan Church on Lombard Street. + Richard Allen had died earlier in the year and Grice was not + present; not long afterwards he emigrated to Hayti, where he + became prominent as a contractor. Rev. James W.C. Pennington of + New York, however, now for the first time appeared on the + larger horizon of race affairs; and John Bowers of Philadelphia + served as president, Abraham D. Shadd of Delaware and William + Duncan of Virginia as vice-presidents, William Whipper of + Philadelphia as secretary, and Thomas L. Jennings of New York + as assistant secretary. Delegates from five states were + present. The gathering was not large, but it brought together + some able men; moreover, the meeting had some distinguished + visitors, among them Benjamin Lundy, William Lloyd Garrison, + Rev. S.S. Jocelyn of New Haven, and Arthur Tappan of New + York.</p> + + <p>The very first motion of the convention resolved "That a + committee be appointed to institute an inquiry into the + condition of the free people of color throughout the United + States, and report their views upon the subject at a subsequent + meeting." As a result of its work this committee recommended + that the work of organizations interested in settlement in + Canada be continued; that the free people of color be annually + called to assemble by delegation; and it submitted "the + necessity of deliberate reflection on the dissolute, + intemperate, and ignorant condition of a large portion of the + colored population of the United States." "And, lastly, your + Committee view with unfeigned regret, and respectfully submit + to the wisdom of this Convention, the operations and + misrepresentations of the American Colonization Society in + these United States.... We feel sorrowful to see such an + immense and wanton waste of lives and property, not doubting + the benevolent feelings of some individuals engaged in that + cause. But we can not for a moment doubt but that the cause of + many of our unconstitutional, unchristian, and unheard-of + sufferings emanate from that unhallowed source; and we would + call on Christians of every denomination firmly to resist it." + The report was unanimously received and adopted.</p> + + <p>Jocelyn, Tappan, and Garrison addressed the convention with + reference to a proposed industrial college in New Haven, toward + the $20,000 expense of which one individual (Tappan himself) + had subscribed $1000 with the understanding that the remaining + $19,000 be raised within a year; and the convention approved + the project, <i>provided</i> the Negroes had a majority of at + least one on the board of trustees. An illuminating address to + the public called attention to the progress of emancipation + abroad, to the fact that it was American persecution that led + to the calling of the convention, and that it was this also + that first induced some members of the race to seek an asylum + in Canada, where already there were two hundred log houses, and + five hundred acres under cultivation.</p> + + <p>In 1832 eight states were represented by a total of thirty + delegates. By this time we learn that a total of eight hundred + acres had been secured in Canada, that two thousand Negroes had + gone thither, but that considerable hostility had been + manifested on the part of the Canadians. Hesitant, the + convention appointed an agent to investigate the situation. It + expressed itself as strongly opposed to any national aid to the + American Colonization Society and urged the abolition of + slavery in the District of Columbia—all of which activity, it + is well to remember, was a year before the American + Anti-Slavery Society was organized.</p> + + <p>In 1833 there were fifty-eight delegates, and Abraham Shadd, + now of Washington, was chosen president. The convention again + gave prominence to the questions of Canada and colonization, + and expressed itself with reference to the new law in + Connecticut prohibiting Negroes from other states from + attending schools within the state. The 1834 meeting was held + in New York. Prudence Crandall<a id="footnotetag127" + name="footnotetag127"></a><a href= + "#footnote127"><sup>127</sup></a> was commended for her + stand in behalf of the race, and July 4 was set apart as a + day for prayer and addresses on the condition of the Negro + throughout the country. By this time we hear much of + societies for temperance and moral reform, especially of the + so-called Phoenix Societies "for improvement in general + culture—literature, mechanic arts, and morals." Of these + organizations Rev. Christopher Rush, of the A.M.E. Zion + Church, was general president, and among the directors were + Rev. Peter Williams, Boston Crummell, the father of + Alexander Crummell, and Rev. William Paul Quinn, afterwards + a well-known bishop of the A.M.E. Church. The 1835 and 1836 + meetings were held in Philadelphia, and especially were the + students of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati commended for their + zeal in the cause of abolition. A committee was appointed to + look into the dissatisfaction of some emigrants to Liberia + and generally to review the work of the Colonization + Society.</p> + + <p>In the decade 1837-1847 Frederick Douglass was outstanding + as a leader, and other men who were now prominent were Dr. + James McCune Smith, Rev. James W.C. Pennington, Alexander + Crummell, William C. Nell, and Martin R. Delany. These are + important names in the history of the period. These were the + men who bore the brunt of the contest in the furious days of + Texas annexation and the Compromise of 1850. About 1853 and + 1854 there was renewed interest in the idea of an industrial + college; steps were taken for the registry of Negro mechanics + and artisans who were in search of employment, and of the names + of persons who were willing to give them work; and there was + also a committee on historical records and statistics that was + not only to compile studies in Negro biography but also to + reply to any assaults of note.<a id="footnotetag128" + name="footnotetag128"></a><a href= + "#footnote128"><sup>128</sup></a></p> + + <p>Immediately after the last of the conventions just + mentioned, those who were interested in emigration and had not + been able to get a hearing in the regular convention issued a + call for a National Emigration Convention of Colored Men to + take place in Cleveland, Ohio, August 24-26, 1854. The + preliminary announcement said: "No person will be admitted to a + seat in the Convention who would introduce the subject of + emigration to the Eastern Hemisphere—either to Asia, Africa, or + Europe—as our object and determination are to consider our + claims to the West Indies, Central and South America, and the + Canadas. This restriction has no reference to personal + preference, or individual enterprise, but to the great question + of national claims to come before the Convention."<a id= + "footnotetag129" + name="footnotetag129"></a><a href= + "#footnote129"><sup>129</sup></a> Douglass pronounced the + call "uncalled for, unwise, unfortunate and premature," and + his position led him into a wordy discussion in the press + with James M. Whitfield, of Buffalo, prominent at the time + as a writer. Delany explained the call as follows: "It was a + mere policy on the part of the authors of these documents, + to confine their scheme to America (including the West + Indies), whilst they were the leading advocates of the + regeneration of Africa, lest they compromised themselves and + their people to the avowed enemies of their race."<a id= + "footnotetag130" + name="footnotetag130"></a><a href= + "#footnote130"><sup>130</sup></a> At the secret sessions, he + informs us, Africa was the topic of greatest interest. In + order to account for this position it is important to take + note of the changes that had taken place between 1817 and + 1854. When James Forten and others in Philadelphia in 1817 + protested against the American Colonization Society as the + plan of a "gang of slaveholders" to drive free people from + their homes, they had abundant ground for the feeling. By + 1839, however, not only had the personnel of the + organization changed, but, largely through the influence of + Garrison, the purpose and aim had also changed, and not + Virginia and Maryland, but New York and Pennsylvania were + now dominant in influence. Colonization had at first been + regarded as a possible solution of the race problem; money + was now given, however, "rather as an aid to the + establishment of a model Negro republic in Africa, whose + effort would be to discourage the slave-trade, and encourage + energy and thrift among those free Negroes from the United + States who chose to emigrate, and to give native Africans a + demonstration of the advantages of civilization."<a id= + "footnotetag131" + name="footnotetag131"></a><a href= + "#footnote131"><sup>131</sup></a> In view of the changed + conditions, Delany and others who disagreed with Douglass + felt that for the good of the race in the United States the + whole matter of emigration might receive further + consideration; at the same time, remembering old + discussions, they did not wish to be put in the light of + betrayers of their people. The Pittsburgh <i>Daily Morning + Post</i> of October 18, 1854, sneered at the new plan as + follows: "If Dr. Delany drafted this report it certainly + does him much credit for learning and ability; and can not + fail to establish for him a reputation for vigor and + brilliancy of imagination never yet surpassed. It is a vast + conception of impossible birth. The Committee seem to have + entirely overlooked the strength of the 'powers on earth' + that would oppose the Africanization of more than half the + Western Hemisphere. We have no motive in noticing this + gorgeous dream of 'the Committee' except to show its + fallacy—its impracticability, in fact, its absurdity. No + sensible man, whatever his color, should be for a moment + deceived by such impracticable theories." However, in spite + of all opposition, the Emigration Convention met. Upon + Delany fell the real brunt of the work of the organization. + In 1855 Bishop James Theodore Holly was commissioned to + Faustin Soulouque, Emperor of Hayti; and he received in his + visit of a month much official attention with some + inducement to emigrate. Delany himself planned to go to + Africa as the head of a "Niger Valley Exploring Party." Of + the misrepresentation and difficulties that he encountered + he himself has best told. He did get to Africa, however, and + he had some interesting and satisfactory interviews with + representative chiefs. The Civil War put an end to his + project, he himself accepting a major's commission from + President Lincoln. Through the influence of Holly about two + thousand persons went to Hayti, but not more than a third of + these remained. A plan fostered by Whitfield for a colony in + Central America came to naught when this leading spirit died + in San Francisco on his way thither.<a id="footnotetag132" + name="footnotetag132"></a><a href= + "#footnote132"><sup>132</sup></a></p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Suffrage" + name="Suffrage"><i>Sojourner Truth and Woman + Suffrage</i></a></h4> + + <p>With its challenge to the moral consciousness it was but + natural that anti-slavery should soon become allied with + temperance, woman suffrage, and other reform movements that + were beginning to appeal to the heart of America. Especially + were representative women quick to see that the arguments used + for their cause were very largely identical with those used for + the Negro. When the woman suffrage movement was launched at + Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1848, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady + Stanton, and their co-workers issued a Declaration of + Sentiments which like many similar documents copied the + phrasing of the Declaration of Independence. This said in part: + "The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and + usurpations on the part of man towards woman, having in direct + object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.... He + has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to + the elective franchise.... He has made her, if married, in the + eye of the law civilly dead.... He has denied her the + facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges + being closed to her." It mattered not at the time that male + suffrage was by no means universal, or that amelioration of the + condition of woman had already begun; the movement stated its + case clearly and strongly in order that it might fully be + brought to the attention of the American people. In 1850 the + first formal National Woman's Rights Convention assembled in + Worcester, Mass. To this meeting came a young Quaker woman who + was already listed in the cause of temperance. In fact, + wherever she went Susan B. Anthony entered into "causes." She + possessed great virtues and abilities, and at the same time was + capable of very great devotion. "She not only sympathized with + the Negro; when an opportunity offered she drank tea with him, + to her own 'unspeakable satisfaction.'"<a id="footnotetag133" + name="footnotetag133"></a><a href= + "#footnote133"><sup>133</sup></a> Lucy Stone, an Oberlin + graduate, was representative of those who came into the + agitation by the anti-slavery path. Beginning in 1848 to + speak as an agent of the Anti-Slavery Society, almost from + the first she began to introduce the matter of woman's + rights in her speeches.</p> + + <p>To the second National Woman's Suffrage Convention, held in + Akron, Ohio, in 1852, and presided over by Mrs. Frances D. + Gage, came Sojourner Truth.</p> + + <p>The "Libyan Sibyl" was then in the fullness of her powers. + She had been born of slave parents about 1798 in Ulster County, + New York. In her later years she remembered vividly the cold, + damp cellar-room in which slept the slaves of the family to + which she belonged, and where she was taught by her mother to + repeat the Lord's Prayer and to trust in God. When in the + course of gradual emancipation she became legally free in 1827, + her master refused to comply with the law and kept her in + bondage. She left, but was pursued and found. Rather than have + her go back, a friend paid for her services for the rest of the + year. Then came an evening when, searching for one of her + children who had been stolen and sold, she found herself a + homeless wanderer. A Quaker family gave her lodging for the + night. Subsequently she went to New York City, joined a + Methodist church, and worked hard to improve her condition. + Later, having decided to leave New York for a lecture tour + through the East, she made a small bundle of her belongings and + informed a friend that her name was no longer <i>Isabella</i> + but <i>Sojourner</i>. She went on her way, speaking to people + wherever she found them assembled and being entertained in many + aristocratic homes. She was entirely untaught in the schools, + but was witty, original, and always suggestive. By her tact and + her gift of song she kept down ridicule, and by her fervor and + faith she won many friends for the anti-slavery cause. As to + her name she said: "And the Lord gave me <i>Sojourner</i> + because I was to travel up an' down the land showin' the people + their sins an' bein' a sign unto them. Afterwards I told the + Lord I wanted another name, 'cause everybody else had two + names, an' the Lord gave me <i>Truth</i>, because I was to + declare the truth to the people."</p> + + <p>On the second day of the convention in Akron, in a corner, + crouched against the wall, sat this woman of care, her elbows + resting on her knees, and her chin resting upon her broad, hard + palms.<a id="footnotetag134" + name="footnotetag134"></a><a href= + "#footnote134"><sup>134</sup></a> In the intermission she + was employed in selling "The Life of Sojourner Truth." From + time to time came to the presiding officer the request, + "Don't let her speak; it will ruin us. Every newspaper in + the land will have our cause mixed with abolition and + niggers, and we shall be utterly denounced." Gradually, + however, the meeting waxed warm. Baptist, Methodist, + Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Universalist preachers had + come to hear and discuss the resolutions presented. One + argued the superiority of the male intellect, another the + sin of Eve, and the women, most of whom did not "speak in + meeting," were becoming filled with dismay. Then slowly from + her seat in the corner rose Sojourner Truth, who till now + had scarcely lifted her head. Slowly and solemnly to the + front she moved, laid her old bonnet at her feet, and turned + her great, speaking eyes upon the chair. Mrs. Gage, quite + equal to the occasion, stepped forward and announced + "Sojourner Truth," and begged the audience to be silent a + few minutes. "The tumult subsided at once, and every eye was + fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly six + feet high, head erect, and eye piercing the upper air, like + one in a dream." At her first word there was a profound + hush. She spoke in deep tones, which, though not loud, + reached every ear in the house, and even the throng at the + doors and windows. To one man who had ridiculed the general + helplessness of woman, her needing to be assisted into + carriages and to be given the best place everywhere, she + said, "Nobody eber helped me into carriages, or ober mud + puddles, or gibs me any best place"; and raising herself to + her full height, with a voice pitched like rolling thunder, + she asked, "And a'n't I a woman? Look at me. Look at my + arm." 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 man could head me—and a'n't + I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man, + when I could get it, and bear de lash as well—and a'n't I a + woman? I have borne five chilern and seen 'em mos' all sold + off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's + grief, none but Jesus heard—and a'n't I a woman?... Dey + talks 'bout dis ting in de head—what dis dey call it?" + "Intellect," said some one near. "Dat's it, honey. What's + dat got to do with women's rights or niggers' rights? If my + cup won't hold but a pint and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't + ye be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" + And she pointed her significant finger and sent a keen + glance at the minister who had made the argument. The + cheering was long and loud. "Den dat little man in black + dar, he say women can't have as much rights as man, 'cause + Christ wa'n't a woman. But whar did Christ come from?" + Rolling thunder could not have stilled that crowd as did + those deep, wonderful tones as the woman stood there with + her outstretched arms and her eyes of fire. Raising her + voice she repeated, "Whar did Christ come from? From God and + a woman. Man had nothing to do with Him." Turning to another + objector, she took up the defense of Eve. She was pointed + and witty, solemn and serious at will, and at almost every + sentence awoke deafening applause; and she ended by + asserting, "If de fust woman God made was strong enough to + turn the world upside down, all alone, dese togedder,"—and + she glanced over the audience—"ought to be able to turn it + back and get it right side up again, and now dey is askin' + to do it, de men better let 'em."</p> + + <p>"Amid roars of applause," wrote Mrs. Gage, "she returned to + her corner, leaving more than one of us with streaming eyes and + hearts beating with gratitude." Thus, as so frequently + happened, Sojourner Truth turned a difficult situation into + splendid victory. She not only made an eloquent plea for the + slave, but placing herself upon the broadest principles of + humanity, she saved the day for woman suffrage as well.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote121" + name="footnote121"></a><b>Footnote 121:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag121">(return)</a><br/> + + Adams: <i>Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery</i>, 93.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote122" + name="footnote122"></a><b>Footnote 122:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag122">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Freedom's Journal</i>, November 2, 1827, quoted by + Walker.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote123" + name="footnote123"></a><b>Footnote 123:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag123">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Anti-Slavery Picknick</i>, 105-107.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote124" + name="footnote124"></a><b>Footnote 124:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag124">(return)</a><br/> + + They are fully recorded in <i>Garrison's Thoughts on + African Colonization</i>.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote125" + name="footnote125"></a><b>Footnote 125:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag125">(return)</a><br/> + + John W. Cromwell: <i>The Early Negro Convention + Movement</i>.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote126" + name="footnote126"></a><b>Footnote 126:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag126">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Ibid</i>., 5.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote127" + name="footnote127"></a><b>Footnote 127:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag127">(return)</a><br/> + + See Chapter X, Section 3.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote128" + name="footnote128"></a><b>Footnote 128:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag128">(return)</a><br/> + + We can not too much emphasize the fact that the leaders + of this period were by no means impractical theorists but + men who were scientifically approaching the social problem + of their people. They not only anticipated such ideas as + those of industrial education and of the National Urban + League of the present day, but they also endeavored to lay + firmly the foundations of racial self-respect.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote129" + name="footnote129"></a><b>Footnote 129:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag129">(return)</a><br/> + + Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party, by + M.R. Delany, Chief Commissioner to Africa, New York, + 1861.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote130" + name="footnote130"></a><b>Footnote 130:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag130">(return)</a><br/> + + Delany, 8.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote131" + name="footnote131"></a><b>Footnote 131:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag131">(return)</a><br/> + + Fox: <i>The American Colonisation Society</i>, 177; also + note pp. 12, 120-2.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote132" + name="footnote132"></a><b>Footnote 132:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag132">(return)</a><br/> + + For the progress of all the plans offered to the + convention note important letter written by Holly and given + by Cromwell, 20-21.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote133" + name="footnote133"></a><b>Footnote 133:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag133">(return)</a><br/> + + Ida M. Tarbell: "The American Woman: Her First + Declaration of Independence," <i>American Magazine</i>, + February, 1910.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote134" + name="footnote134"></a><b>Footnote 134:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag134">(return)</a><br/> + + Reminiscences of the president, Mrs. Frances D. Gage, + cited by Tarbell.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERIX" + name="CHAPTERIX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + + <h3>LIBERIA</h3> + + <p>In a former chapter we have traced the early development of + the American Colonization Society, whose efforts culminated in + the founding of the colony of Liberia. The recent world war, + with Africa as its prize, fixed attention anew upon the little + republic. This comparatively small tract of land, just slightly + more than one-three hundredth part of the surface of Africa, is + now of interest and strategic importance not only because (if + we except Abyssinia, which claims slightly different race + origin, and Hayti, which is now really under the government of + the United States) it represents the one distinctively Negro + government in the world, but also because it is the only tract + of land on the great West Coast of the continent that has + survived, even through the war, the aggression of great + European powers. It is just at the bend of the shoulder of + Africa, and its history is as romantic as its situation is + unique.</p> + + <p>Liberia has frequently been referred to as an outstanding + example of the incapacity of the Negro for self-government. + Such a judgment is not necessarily correct. It is indeed an + open question if, in view of the nature of its beginning, the + history of the country proves anything one way or the other + with reference to the capacity of the race. The early settlers + were frequently only recently out of bondage, but upon them + were thrust all the problems of maintenance and government, and + they brought with them, moreover, the false ideas of life and + work that obtained in the Old South. Sometimes they suffered + from neglect, sometimes from excessive solicitude; never were + they really left alone. In spite of all, however, more than a + score of native tribes have been subdued by only a few thousand + civilized men, the republic has preserved its integrity, and + there has been handed down through the years a tradition of + constitutional government.</p> + + <h4>1. <a id="People" + name="People"><i>The Place and the People</i></a></h4> + + <p>The resources of Liberia are as yet imperfectly known. There + is no question, however, about the fertility of the interior, + or of its capacity when properly developed. There are no rivers + of the first rank, but the longest streams are about three + hundred miles in length, and at convenient distances apart flow + down to a coastline somewhat more than three hundred miles + long. Here in a tract of land only slightly larger than our own + state of Ohio are a civilized population between 30,000 and + 100,000 in number, and a native population estimated at + 2,000,000. Of the civilized population the smaller figure, + 30,000, is the more nearly correct if we consider only those + persons who are fully civilized, and this number would be about + evenly divided between Americo-Liberians and natives. + Especially in the towns along the coast, however, there are + many people who have received only some degree of civilization, + and most of the households in the larger towns have several + native children living in them. If all such elements are + considered, the total might approach 100,000. The natives in + their different tribes fall into three or four large divisions. + In general they follow their native customs, and the foremost + tribes exhibit remarkable intelligence and skill in industry. + Outstanding are the dignified Mandingo, with a Mohammedan + tradition, and the Vai, distinguished for skill in the arts and + with a culture similar to that of the Mandingo. Also easily + recognized are the Kpwessi, skillful in weaving and ironwork; + the Kru, intelligent, sea-faring, and eager for learning; the + Grebo, ambitious and aggressive, and in language connection + close to the Kru; the Bassa, with characteristics somewhat + similar to those of the Kru, but in general not quite so + ambitious; the Buzi, wild and highly tattooed; and the + cannibalistic Mano. By reason of numbers if nothing else, + Liberia's chief asset for the future consists in her native + population.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="History" + name="History"><i>History</i></a></h4> + + <h5>(a) <a id="Settlement" + name="Settlement"><i>Colonization and + Settlement</i></a></h5> + + <p>In pursuance of its plans for the founding of a permanent + colony on the coast of Africa, the American Colonization + Society in November, 1817, sent out two men, Samuel J. Mills + and Ebenezer Burgess, who were authorized to find a suitable + place for a settlement. Going by way of England, these men were + cordially received by the officers of the African Institution + and given letters to responsible persons in Sierra Leone. + Arriving at the latter place in March, 1818, they met John + Kizell, a native and a man of influence, who had received some + training in America and had returned to his people, built a + house of worship, and become a preacher. Kizell undertook to + accompany them on their journey down the coast and led the way + to Sherbro Island, a place long in disputed territory but since + included within the limits of Sierra Leone. Here the agents + were hospitably received; they fixed upon the island as a + permanent site, and in May turned their faces homeward. Mills + died on the voyage in June and was buried at sea; but Burgess + made a favorable report, though the island was afterwards to + prove by no means healthy. The Society was impressed, but + efforts might have languished at this important stage if + Monroe, now President, had not found it possible to bring the + resources of the United States Government to assist in the + project. Smuggling, with the accompanying evil of the sale of + "recaptured Africans," had by 1818 become a national disgrace, + and on March 3, 1819, a bill designed to do away with the + practice became a law. This said in part: "The President of the + United States is hereby authorized to make such regulations and + arrangements as he may deem expedient for the safe-keeping, + support, and removal beyond the limits of the United States, of + all such Negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color as may be so + delivered and brought within their jurisdiction; and to appoint + a proper person or persons residing upon the coast of Africa as + agent or agents for receiving the Negroes, mulattoes, or + persons of color, delivered from on board vessels seized in the + prosecution of the slave-trade by commanders of the United + States armed vessels." For the carrying out of the purpose of + this act $100,000 was appropriated, and Monroe was disposed to + construe as broadly as necessary the powers given him under it. + In his message of December 20, he informed Congress that he had + appointed Rev. Samuel Bacon, of the American Colonization + Society, with John Bankson as assistant, to charter a vessel + and take the first group of emigrants to Africa, the + understanding being that he was to go to the place fixed upon + by Mills and Burgess. Thus the National Government and the + Colonization Society, while technically separate, began to work + in practical coöperation. The ship <i>Elizabeth</i> was made + ready for the voyage; the Government informed the Society that + it would "receive on board such free blacks recommended by the + Society as might be required for the purpose of the agency"; + $33,000 was placed in the hands of Mr. Bacon; Rev. Samuel A. + Crozer was appointed as the Society's official representative; + 88 emigrants were brought together (33 men and 18 women, the + rest being children); and on February 5, 1820, convoyed by the + war-sloop <i>Cyane</i>, the expedition set forth.</p> + + <p>An interesting record of the voyage—important for the + sidelights it gives—was left by Daniel Coker, the respected + minister of a large Methodist congregation in Baltimore who was + persuaded to accompany the expedition for the sake of the moral + influence that he might be able to exert.<a id="footnotetag135" + name="footnotetag135"></a><a href= + "#footnote135"><sup>135</sup></a> There was much bad weather + at the start, and it was the icy sea that on February 4 made + it impossible to get under way until the next day. On board, + moreover, there was much distrust of the agents in charge, + with much questioning of their motives; nor were matters + made better by a fight between one of the emigrants and the + captain of the vessel. It was a restless company, uncertain + as to the future, and dissatisfied and peevish from day to + day. Kizell afterwards remarked that "some would not be + governed by white men, and some would not be governed by + black men, and some would not be governed by mulattoes; but + the truth was they did not want to be governed by anybody." + On March 3, however, the ship sighted the Cape Verde Islands + and six days afterwards was anchored at Sierra Leone; and + Coker rejoiced that at last he had seen Africa. Kizell, + however, whom the agents had counted on seeing, was found to + be away at Sherbro; accordingly, six days after their + arrival<a id="footnotetag136" + name="footnotetag136"></a><a href= + "#footnote136"><sup>136</sup></a> they too were making + efforts to go on to Sherbro, for they were allowed at anchor + only fifteen days and time was passing rapidly. Meanwhile + Bankson went to find Kizell. Captain Sebor was at first + decidedly unwilling to go further; but his reluctance was at + length overcome; Bacon purchased for $3,000 a British + schooner that had formerly been engaged in the slave-trade; + and on March 17 both ship and schooner got under way for + Sherbro. The next day they met Bankson, who informed them + that he had seen Kizell. This man, although he had not heard + from America since the departure of Mills and Burgess, had + already erected some temporary houses against the rainy + season. He permitted the newcomers to stay in his little + town until land could be obtained; sent them twelve fowls + and a bushel of rice; but he also, with both dignity and + pathos, warned Bankson that if he and his companions came + with Christ in their hearts, it was well that they had come; + if not, it would have been better if they had stayed in + America.</p> + + <p>Now followed much fruitless bargaining with the native + chiefs, in all of which Coker regretted that the slave-traders + had so ruined the people that it seemed impossible to make any + progress in a "palaver" without the offering of rum. Meanwhile + a report was circulated through the country that a number of + Americans had come and turned Kizell out of his own town and + put some of his people in the hold of their ship. Disaster + followed disaster. The marsh, the bad water, and the malaria + played havoc with the colonists, and all three of the + responsible agents died. The few persons who remained alive + made their way back to Sierra Leone.</p> + + <p>Thus the first expedition failed. One year later, in March, + 1821, a new company of twenty-one emigrants, in charge of J.B. + Winn and Ephraim Bacon, arrived at Freetown in the brig + <i>Nautilus</i>. It had been the understanding that in return + for their passage the members of the first expedition would + clear the way for others; but when the agents of the new + company saw the plight of those who remained alive, they + brought all of the colonists together at Fourah Bay, and Bacon + went farther down the coast to seek a more favorable site. A + few persons who did not wish to go to Fourah Bay remained in + Sierra Leone and became British subjects. Bacon found a + promising tract about two hundred and fifty miles down the + coast at Cape Montserado; but the natives were not especially + eager to sell, as they did not wish to break up the slave + traffic. Meanwhile Winn and several more of the colonists died; + and Bacon now returned to the United States. The second + expedition had thus proved to be little more successful than + the first; but the future site of Monrovia had at least been + suggested.</p> + + <p>In November came Dr. Eli Ayres as agent of the Society, and + in December Captain Robert F. Stockton of the <i>Alligator</i> + with instructions to coöperate. These two men explored the + coast and on December 11 arrived at Mesurado Bay. Through the + jungle they made their way to a village and engaged in a + palaver with King Peter and five of his associates. The + negotiations were conducted in the presence of an excited crowd + and with imminent danger; but Stockton had great tact and at + length, for the equivalent of $300, he and Ayres purchased the + mouth of the Mesurado River, Cape Montserado, and the land for + some distance in the interior. There was also an understanding + (for half a dozen gallons of rum and some trade-cloth and + tobacco) with King George, who "resided on the Cape and claimed + a sort of jurisdiction over the northern district of the + peninsula of Montserado, by virtue of which the settlers were + permitted to pass across the river and commence the laborious + task of clearing away the heavy forest which covered the site + of their intended town."<a id="footnotetag137" + name="footnotetag137"></a><a href= + "#footnote137"><sup>137</sup></a> Then the agent returned to + effect the removal of the colonists from Fourah Bay, leaving + a very small company as a sort of guard on Perseverance (or + Providence) Island at the mouth of the river. Some of the + colonists refused to leave, remained, and thus became + British subjects. For those who had remained on the island + there was trouble at once. A small vessel, the prize of an + English cruiser, bound to Sierra Leone with thirty liberated + Africans, put into the roads for water, and had the + misfortune to part her cable and come ashore. "The natives + claim to a prescriptive right, which interest never fails to + enforce to its fullest extent, to seize and appropriate the + wrecks and cargoes of vessels stranded, under whatever + circumstances, on their coast."<a id="footnotetag138" + name="footnotetag138"></a><a href= + "#footnote138"><sup>138</sup></a> The vessel in question + drifted to the mainland one mile from the cape, a small + distance below George's town, and the natives proceeded to + act in accordance with tradition. They were fired on by the + prize master and forced to desist, and the captain appealed + to the few colonists on the island for assistance. They + brought into play a brass field piece, and two of the + natives were killed and several more wounded. The English + officer, his crew, and the captured Africans escaped, though + the small vessel was lost; but the next day the Deys (the + natives), feeling outraged, made another attack, in the + course of which some of them and one of the colonists were + killed. In the course of the operations moreover, through + the carelessness of some of the settlers themselves, fire + was communicated to the storehouse and $3000 worth of + property destroyed, though the powder and some of the + provisions were saved. Thus at the very beginning, by + accident though it happened, the shadow of England fell + across the young colony, involving it in difficulties with + the natives. When then Ayres returned with the main crowd of + settlers on January 7, 1822—which arrival was the first real + landing of settlers on what is now Liberian soil—he found + that the Deys wished to annul the agreement previously made + and to give back the articles paid. He himself was seized in + the course of a palaver, and he was able to arrive at no + better understanding than that the colonists might remain + only until they could make a new purchase elsewhere. Now + appeared on the scene Boatswain, a prominent chief from the + interior who sometimes exercised jurisdiction over the coast + tribes and who, hearing that there was trouble in the bay, + had come hither, bringing with him a sufficient following to + enforce his decrees. Through this man shone something of the + high moral principle so often to be observed in responsible + African chiefs, and to him Ayres appealed. Hearing the story + he decided in favor of the colonists, saying to Peter, + "Having sold your country and accepted payment, you must + take the consequences. Let the Americans have their land + immediately." To the agent he said, "I promise you + protection. If these people give you further disturbance, + send for me; and I swear, if they oblige me to come again to + quiet them, I will do it to purpose, by taking their heads + from their shoulders, as I did old king George's on my last + visit to the coast to settle disputes." Thus on the word of + a native chief was the foundation of Liberia assured.</p> + + <p>By the end of April all of the colonists who were willing to + move had been brought from Sierra Leone to their new home. It + was now decided to remove from the low and unhealthy island to + the higher land of Cape Montserado only a few hundred feet + away; on April 28 there was a ceremony of possession and the + American flag was raised. The advantages of the new position + were obvious, to the natives as well as the colonists, and the + removal was attended with great excitement. By July the island + was completely abandoned. Meanwhile, however, things had not + been going well. The Deys had been rendered very hostile, and + from them there was constant danger of attack. The rainy season + moreover had set in, shelter was inadequate, supplies were low, + and the fever continually claimed its victims. Ayres at length + became discouraged. He proposed that the enterprise be + abandoned and that the settlers return to Sierra Leone, and on + June 4 he did actually leave with a few of them. It was at this + juncture that Elijah Johnson, one of the most heroic of the + colonists, stepped forth to fame.</p> + + <p>The early life of the man is a blank. In 1789 he was taken + to New Jersey. He received some instruction and studied for the + Methodist ministry, took part in the War of 1812, and eagerly + embraced the opportunity to be among the first to come to the + new colony. To the suggestion that the enterprise be abandoned + he replied, "Two years long have I sought a home; here I have + found it; here I remain." To him the great heart of the + colonists responded. Among the natives he was known and + respected as a valiant fighter. He lived until March 23, + 1849.</p> + + <p>Closely associated with Johnson, his colleague in many an + effort and the pioneer in mission work, was the Baptist + minister, Lott Cary, from Richmond, Va., who also had become + one of the first permanent settlers.<a id="footnotetag139" + name="footnotetag139"></a><a href= + "#footnote139"><sup>139</sup></a> He was a man of most + unusual versatility and force of character. He died November + 8, 1828, as the result of a powder explosion that occurred + while he was acting in defense of the colony against the + Deys.</p> + + <p>July (1822) was a hard month for the settlers. Not only were + their supplies almost exhausted, but they were on a rocky cape + and the natives would not permit any food to be brought to + them. On August 8, however, arrived Jehudi Ashmun, a young man + from Vermont who had worked as a teacher and as the editor of a + religious publication for some years before coming on this + mission. He brought with him a company of liberated Africans + and emigrants to the number of fifty-five, and as he did not + intend to remain permanently he had yielded to the entreaty of + his wife and permitted her to accompany him on the voyage. He + held no formal commission from the American Colonization + Society, but seeing the situation he felt that it was his duty + to do what he could to relieve the distress; and he faced + difficulties from the very first. On the day after his arrival + his own brig, the <i>Strong</i>, was in danger of being lost; + the vessel parted its cable, and on the following morning broke + it again and drifted until it was landlocked between Cape + Montserado and Cape Mount. A small anchor was found, however, + and the brig was again moored, but five miles from the + settlement. The rainy season was now on in full force; there + was no proper place for the storing of provisions; and even + with the newcomers it soon developed that there were in the + colony only thirty-five men capable of bearing arms, so great + had been the number of deaths from the fever. Sometimes almost + all of these were sick; on September 10 only two were in + condition for any kind of service. Ashmun tried to make terms + with the native chiefs, but their malignity was only partially + concealed. His wife languished before his eyes and died + September 15, just five weeks after her arrival. He himself was + incapacitated for several months, nor at the height of his + illness was he made better by the ministrations of a French + charlatan. He never really recovered from the great inroads + made upon his strength at this time.</p> + + <p>As a protection from sudden attack a clearing around the + settlement was made. Defenses had to be erected without tools, + and so great was the anxiety that throughout the months of + September and October a nightly watch of twenty men was kept. + On Sunday, November 10, the report was circulated that the Deys + were crossing the Mesurado River, and at night it became known + that seven or eight hundred were on the peninsula only half a + mile to the west. The attack came at early dawn on the 11th and + the colonists might have been annihilated if they had not + brought a field-piece into play. When this was turned against + the natives advancing in compact array, it literally tore + through masses of living flesh until scores of men were killed. + Even so the Deys might have won the engagement if they had not + stopped too soon to gather plunder. As it was, they were forced + to retreat. Of the settlers three men and one woman were + killed, two men and two women injured, and several children + taken captive, though these were afterwards returned. At this + time the colonists suffered greatly from the lack of any + supplies for the treatment of wounds. Only medicines for the + fever were on hand, and in the hot climate those whose flesh + had been torn by bullets suffered terribly. In this first + encounter, as often in these early years, the real burden of + conflict fell upon Cary and Johnson. After the battle these men + found that they had on hand ammunition sufficient for only one + hour's defense. All were placed on a special allowance of + provisions and November 23 was observed as a day of prayer. A + passing vessel furnished additional supplies and happily + delayed for some days the inevitable attack. This came from two + sides very early in the morning of December 2. There was a + desperate battle. Three bullets passed through Ashmun's + clothes, one of the gunners was killed, and repeated attacks + were resisted only with the most dogged determination. An + accident, or, as the colonists regarded it, a miracle, saved + them from destruction. A guard, hearing a noise, discharged a + large gun and several muskets. The schooner <i>Prince + Regent</i> was passing, with Major Laing, Midshipman Gordon, + and eleven specially trained men on board. The officers, + hearing the sound of guns, came ashore to see what was the + trouble. Major Laing offered assistance if ground was given for + the erection of a British flag, and generally attempted to + bring about an adjustment of difficulties on the basis of + submitting these to the governor of Sierra Leone. To these + propositions Elijah Johnson replied, "We want no flagstaff put + up here that it will cost more to get down than it will to whip + the natives." However, Gordon and the men under him were left + behind for the protection of the colony until further help + could arrive. Within one month he and seven of the eleven were + dead. He himself had found a ready place in the hearts of the + settlers, and to him and his men Liberia owes much. They came + in a needy hour and gave their lives for the cause of + freedom.</p> + + <p>An American steamer passing in December, 1822, gave some + temporary relief. On March 31, 1823, the <i>Cyane</i>, with + Capt. R.T. Spence in charge, arrived from America with + supplies. As many members of his crew became ill after only a + few days, Spence soon deemed it advisable to leave. His chief + clerk, however, Richard Seaton, heroically volunteered to help + with the work, remained behind, and died after only three + months. On May 24 came the <i>Oswego</i> with sixty-one new + colonists and Dr. Ayres, who, already the Society's agent, now + returned with the additional authority of Government agent and + surgeon. He made a survey and attempted a new allotment of + land, only to find that the colony was soon in ferment, because + some of those who possessed the best holdings or who had + already made the beginnings of homes, were now required to give + these up. There was so much rebellion that in December Ayres + again deemed it advisable to leave. The year 1823 was in fact + chiefly noteworthy for the misunderstandings that arose between + the colonists and Ashmun. This man had been placed in a most + embarrassing situation by the arrival of Dr. Ayres.<a id= + "footnotetag140" + name="footnotetag140"></a><a href= + "#footnote140"><sup>140</sup></a> He not only found himself + superseded in the government, but had the additional + misfortune to learn that his drafts had been dishonored and + that no provision had been made to remunerate him for his + past services or provide for his present needs. Finding his + services undervalued, and even the confidence of the Society + withheld, he was naturally indignant, though his attachment + to the cause remained steadfast. Seeing the authorized agent + leaving the colony, and the settlers themselves in a state + of insubordination, with no formal authority behind him he + yet resolved to forget his own wrongs and to do what he + could to save from destruction that for which he had already + suffered so much. He was young and perhaps not always as + tactful as he might have been. On the other hand, the + colonists had not yet learned fully to appreciate the real + greatness of the man with whom they were dealing. As for the + Society at home, not even so much can be said. The real + reason for the withholding of confidence from Ashmun was + that many of the members objected to his persistent attacks + on the slave-trade.</p> + + <p>By the regulations that governed the colony at the time, + each man who received rations was required to contribute to the + general welfare two days of labor a week. Early in December + twelve men cast off all restraint, and on the 13th Ashmun + published a notice in which he said: "There are in the colony + more than a dozen healthy persons who will receive no more + provisions out of the public store until they earn them." On + the 19th, in accordance with this notice, the provisions of the + recalcitrants were stopped. The next morning, however, the men + went to the storehouse, and while provisions were being issued, + each seized a portion and went to his home. Ashmun now issued a + circular, reminding the colonists of all of their struggles + together and generally pointing out to them how such a breach + of discipline struck at the very heart of the settlement. The + colonists rallied to his support and the twelve men returned to + duty. The trouble, however, was not yet over. On March 19, + 1824, Ashmun found it necessary to order a cut in provisions. + He had previously declared to the Board that in his opinion the + evil was "incurable by any of the remedies which fall within + the existing provisions"; and counter remonstrances had been + sent by the colonists, who charged him with oppression, neglect + of duty, and the seizure of public property. He now, seeing + that his latest order was especially unpopular, prepared new + despatches, on March 22 reviewed the whole course of his + conduct in a strong and lengthy address, and by the last of the + month had left the colony.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile the Society, having learned that things were not + going well with the colony, had appointed its secretary, Rev. + R.R. Gurley, to investigate conditions. Gurley met Ashmun at + the Cape Verde Islands and urgently requested that he return to + Monrovia.<a id="footnotetag141" + name="footnotetag141"></a><a href= + "#footnote141"><sup>141</sup></a> This Ashmun was not + unwilling to do, as he desired the fullest possible + investigation into his conduct. Gurley was in Liberia from + August 13 to August 22, 1824, only; but from the time of his + visit conditions improved. Ashmun was fully vindicated and + remained for four years more until his strength was all but + spent. There was adopted what was known as the Gurley + Constitution. According to this the agent in charge was to + have supreme charge and preside at all public meetings. He + was to be assisted, however, by eleven officers annually + chosen, the most important of whom he was to appoint on + nomination by the colonists. Among these were a vice-agent, + two councilors, two justices of the peace, and two + constables. There was to be a guard of twelve privates, two + corporals, and one sergeant.</p> + + <p>For a long time it was the custom of the American + Colonization Society to send out two main shipments of settlers + a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. On February 13, + 1824, arrived a little more than a hundred emigrants, mainly + from Petersburg, Va. These people were unusually intelligent + and industrious and received a hearty welcome. Within a month + practically all of them were sick with the fever. On this + occasion, as on many others, Lott Cary served as physician, and + so successful was he that only three of the sufferers died. + Another company of unusual interest was that which arrived + early in 1826. It brought along a printer, a press with the + necessary supplies, and books sent by friends in Boston. + Unfortunately the printer was soon disabled by the fever.</p> + + <p>Sickness, however, and wars with the natives were not the + only handicaps that engaged the attention of the colony in + these years. "At this period the slave-trade was carried on + extensively within sight of Monrovia. Fifteen vessels were + engaged in it at the same time, almost under the guns of the + settlement; and in July of this year a contract was existing + for eight hundred slaves to be furnished, in the short space of + four months, within eight miles of the cape. Four hundred of + these were to be purchased for two American traders."<a id= + "footnotetag142" + name="footnotetag142"></a><a href= + "#footnote142"><sup>142</sup></a> Ashmun attacked the + Spaniards engaged in the traffic, and labored generally to + break up slave factories. On one occasion he received as + many as one hundred and sixteen slaves into the colony as + freemen. He also adopted an attitude of justice toward the + native Krus. Of special importance was the attack on Trade + Town, a stronghold of French and Spanish traders about one + hundred miles below Monrovia. Here there were not less than + three large factories. On the day of the battle, April 10, + there were three hundred and fifty natives on shore under + the direction of the traders, but the colonists had the + assistance of some American vessels, and a Liberian officer, + Captain Barbour, was of outstanding courage and ability. The + town was fired after eighty slaves had been surrendered. The + flames reached the ammunition of the enemy and over two + hundred and fifty casks of gunpowder exploded. By July, + however, the traders had built a battery at Trade Town and + were prepared to give more trouble. All the same a severe + blow had been dealt to their work.</p> + + <p>In his report rendered at the close of 1825 Ashmun showed + that the settlers were living in neatness and comfort; two + chapels had been built, and the militia was well organized, + equipped, and disciplined. The need of some place for the + temporary housing of immigrants having more and more impressed + itself upon the colony, before the end of 1826 a "receptacle" + capable of holding one hundred and fifty persons was erected. + Ashmun himself served on until 1828, by which time his strength + was completely spent. He sailed for America early in the summer + and succeeded in reaching New Haven, only to die after a few + weeks. No man had given more for the founding of Liberia. The + principal street in Monrovia is named after him.</p> + + <p>Aside from wars with the natives, the most noteworthy being + the Dey-Gola war of 1832, the most important feature of + Liberian history in the decade 1828-1838 was the development + along the coast of other settlements than Monrovia. These were + largely the outgrowth of the activity of local branch + organizations of the American Colonization Society, and they + were originally supposed to have the oversight of the central + organization and of the colony of Monrovia. The circumstances + under which they were founded, however, gave them something of + a feeling of independence which did much to influence their + history. Thus arose, about seventy-five miles farther down the + coast, under the auspices especially of the New York and + Pennsylvania societies, the Grand Bassa settlements at the + mouth of the St. John's River, the town Edina being + outstanding. Nearly a hundred miles farther south, at the mouth + of the Sino River, another colony developed as its most + important town Greenville; and as most of the settlers in this + vicinity came from Mississippi, their province became known as + Mississippi in Africa. A hundred miles farther, on Cape Palmas, + just about twenty miles from the Cavalla River marking the + boundary of the French possessions, developed the town of + Harper in what became known as Maryland in Africa. This colony + was even more aloof than others from the parent settlement of + the American Colonization Society. When the first colonists + arrived at Monrovia in 1831, they were not very cordially + received, there being trouble about the allotment of land. They + waited for some months for reënforcements and then sailed down + the coast to the vicinity of the Cavalla River, where they + secured land for their future home and where their distance + from the other colonists from America made it all the more easy + for them to cultivate their tradition of independence.<a id= + "footnotetag143" + name="footnotetag143"></a><a href= + "#footnote143"><sup>143</sup></a> These four ports are now + popularly known as Monrovia, Grand Bassa, Sino, and Cape + Palmas; and to them for general prominence might now be + added Cape Mount, about fifty miles from Monrovia higher up + the coast and just a few miles from the Mano River, which + now marks the boundary between Sierra Leone and Liberia. In + 1838, on a constitution drawn up by Professor Greenleaf, of + Harvard College, was organized the "Commonwealth of + Liberia," the government of which was vested in a Board of + Directors composed of delegates from the state societies, + and which included all the settlements except Maryland. This + remote colony, whose seaport is Cape Palmas, did not join + with the others until 1857, ten years after Liberia had + become an independent republic. When a special company of + settlers arrived from Baltimore and formally occupied Cape + Palmas (1834), Dr. James Hall was governor and he served in + this capacity until 1836, when failing health forced him to + return to America. He was succeeded by John B. Russwurm, a + young Negro who had come to Liberia in 1829 for the purpose + of superintending the system of education. The country, + however, was not yet ready for the kind of work he wanted to + do, and in course of time he went into politics. He served + very efficiently as Governor of Maryland from 1836 to 1851, + especially exerting himself to standardize the currency and + to stabilize the revenues. Five years after his death + Maryland suffered greatly from an attack by the Greboes, + twenty-six colonists being killed. An appeal to Monrovia for + help led to the sending of a company of men and later to the + incorporation of the colony in the Republic.</p> + + <p>Of the events of the period special interest attaches to the + murder of I.F.C. Finley, Governor of Mississippi in Africa, to + whose father, Rev. Robert Finley, the organization of the + American Colonization Society had been very largely due. In + September, 1838, Governor Finley left his colony to go to + Monrovia on business, and making a landing at Bassa Cove, he + was robbed and killed by the Krus. This unfortunate murder led + to a bitter conflict between the settlers in the vicinity and + the natives. This is sometimes known as the Fish War (from + being waged around Fishpoint) and did not really cease for a + year.</p> + + <h5>(b) <a id="Liberia" + name="Liberia"><i>The Commonwealth of Liberia</i></a></h5> + + <p>The first governor of the newly formed Commonwealth was + Thomas H. Buchanan, a man of singular energy who represented + the New York and Pennsylvania societies and who had come in + 1836 especially to take charge of the Grand Bassa settlements. + Becoming governor in 1838, he found it necessary to proceed + vigorously against the slave dealers at Trade Town. He was also + victorious in 1840 in a contest with the Gola tribe led by + Chief Gatumba. The Golas had defeated the Dey tribe so severely + that a mere remnant of the latter had taken refuge with the + colonists at Millsburg, a station a few miles up the St. Paul's + River. Thus, as happened more than once, a tribal war in time + involved the very existence of the new American colonies. + Governor Buchanan's victory greatly increased his prestige and + made it possible for him to negotiate more and more favorable + treaties with the natives. A contest of different sort was that + with a Methodist missionary, John Seyes, who held that all + goods used by missionaries, including those sold to the + natives, should be admitted free of duty. The governor + contended that such privilege should be extended only to goods + intended for the personal use of missionaries; and the + Colonization Society stood behind him in this opinion. As early + as 1840 moreover some shadow of future events was cast by + trouble made by English traders on the Mano River, the Sierra + Leone boundary. Buchanan sent an agent to England to represent + him in an inquiry into the matter; but in the midst of his + vigorous work he died in 1841. He was the last white man + formally under any auspices at the head of Liberian affairs. + Happily his period of service had given opportunity and + training to an efficient helper, upon whom now the burden fell + and of whom it is hardly too much to say that he is the + foremost figure in Liberian history.</p> + + <p>Joseph Jenkin Roberts was a mulatto born in Virginia in + 1809. At the age of twenty, with his widowed mother and younger + brothers, he went to Liberia and engaged in trade. In course of + time he proved to be a man of unusual tact and graciousness of + manner, moving with ease among people of widely different rank. + His abilities soon demanded recognition, and he was at the head + of the force that defeated Gatumba. As governor he realized the + need of cultivating more far-reaching diplomacy than the + Commonwealth had yet known. He had the coöperation of the + Maryland governor, Russwurm, in such a matter as that of + uniform customs duties; and he visited the United States, where + he made a very good impression. He soon understood that he had + to reckon primarily with the English and the French. England + had indeed assumed an attitude of opposition to the + slave-trade; but her traders did not scruple to sell rum to + slave dealers, and especially were they interested in the palm + oil of Liberia. When the Commonwealth sought to impose customs + duties, England took the position that as Liberia was not an + independent government, she had no right to do so; and the + English attitude had some show of strength from the fact that + the American Colonization Society, an outside organization, had + a veto power over whatever Liberia might do. When in 1845 the + Liberian Government seized the <i>Little Ben</i>, an English + trading vessel whose captain acted in defiance of the revenue + laws, the British in turn seized the <i>John Seyes</i>, + belonging to a Liberian named Benson, and sold the vessel for + £8000. Liberia appealed to the United States; but the Oregon + boundary question as well as slavery had given the American + Government problems enough at home; and the Secretary of State, + Edward Everett, finally replied to Lord Aberdeen (1845) that + America was not "presuming to settle differences arising + between Liberian and British subjects, the Liberians being + responsible for their own acts." The Colonization Society, + powerless to act except through its own government, in January, + 1846, resolved that "the time had arrived when it was expedient + for the people of the Commonwealth of Liberia to take into + their own hands the whole work of self-government including the + management of all their foreign relations." Forced to act for + herself Liberia called a constitutional convention and on July + 26, 1847, issued a Declaration of Independence and adopted the + Constitution of the Liberian Republic. In October, Joseph + Jenkin Roberts, Governor of the Commonwealth, was elected the + first President of the Republic.</p> + + <p>It may well be questioned if by 1847 Liberia had developed + sufficiently internally to be able to assume the duties and + responsibilities of an independent power. There were at the + time not more than 4,500 civilized people of American origin in + the country; these were largely illiterate and scattered along + a coastline more than three hundred miles in length. It is not + to be supposed, however, that this consummation had been + attained without much yearning and heart-beat and high + spiritual fervor. There was something pathetic in the effort of + this small company, most of whose members had never seen Africa + but for the sake of their race had made their way back to the + fatherland. The new seal of the Republic bore the motto: THE + LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US HERE. The flag, modeled on that of + the United States, had six red and five white stripes for the + eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence, and in the + upper corner next to the staff a lone white star in a field of + blue. The Declaration itself said in part:</p> + + <p class="letter"> + We, the people of the Republic of Liberia, were + originally inhabitants of the United States of North + America.<br/> +    In some parts of that country we were debarred by law + from all the rights and privileges of men; in other parts + public sentiment, more powerful than law, frowned us + down.<br/> +    We were everywhere shut out from all civil office.<br/> +    We were excluded from all participation in the + government.<br/> +    We were taxed without our consent.<br/> +    We were compelled to contribute to the resources of a + country which gave us no protection.<br/> +    We were made a separate and distinct class, and against + us every avenue of improvement was effectually closed. + Strangers from all lands of a color different from ours + were preferred before us.<br/> +    We uttered our complaints, but they were unattended to, + or met only by alleging the peculiar institution of the + country.<br/> +    All hope of a favorable change in our country was thus + wholly extinguished in our bosom, and we looked with + anxiety abroad for some asylum from the deep + degradation.<br/> +    The Western coast of Africa was the place selected by + American benevolence and philanthropy for our future home. + Removed beyond those influences which depressed us in our + native land, it was hoped we would be enabled to enjoy + those rights and privileges, and exercise and improve those + faculties, which the God of nature had given us in common + with the rest of mankind.</p> + + + <h5>(c) <a id="Republic" + name="Republic"><i>The Republic of Liberia</i></a></h5> + + <p>With the adoption of its constitution the Republic of + Liberia formally asked to be considered in the family of + nations; and since 1847 the history of the country has + naturally been very largely that of international relations. In + fact, preoccupation with the questions raised by powerful + neighbors has been at least one strong reason for the + comparatively slow internal development of the country. The + Republic was officially recognized by England in 1848, by + France in 1852, but on account of slavery not by the United + States until 1862. Continuously there has been an observance of + the forms of order, and only one president has been deposed. + For a long time the presidential term was two years in length; + but by an act of 1907 it was lengthened to four years. From + time to time there have been two political parties, but not + always has such a division been emphasized.</p> + + <p>It is well to pause and note exactly what was the task set + before the little country. A company of American Negroes + suddenly found themselves placed on an unhealthy and + uncultivated coast which was thenceforth to be their home. If + we compare them with the Pilgrim Fathers, we find that as the + Pilgrims had to subdue the Indians, so they had to hold their + own against a score of aggressive tribes. The Pilgrims had the + advantage of a thousand years of culture and experience in + government; the Negroes, only recently out of bondage, had been + deprived of any opportunity for improvement whatsoever. Not + only, however, did they have to contend against native tribes + and labor to improve their own shortcomings; on every hand they + had to meet the designs of nations supposedly more enlightened + and Christian. On the coast Spanish traders defied + international law; on one side the English, and on the other + the French, from the beginning showed a tendency toward + arrogance and encroachment. To crown the difficulty, the + American Government, under whose auspices the colony had + largely been founded, became more and more halfhearted in its + efforts for protection and at length abandoned the enterprise + altogether. It did not cease, however, to regard the colony as + the dumping-ground of its own troubles, and whenever a vessel + with slaves from the Congo was captured on the high seas, it + did not hesitate to take these people to the Liberian coast and + leave them there, nearly dead though they might be from + exposure or cramping. It is well for one to remember such facts + as these before he is quick to belittle or criticize. To the + credit of the "Congo men" be it said that from the first they + labored to make themselves a quiet and industrious element in + the body politic.</p> + + <p>The early administrations of President Roberts (four terms, + 1848-1855) were mainly devoted to the quelling of the native + tribes that continued to give trouble and to the cultivating of + friendly relations with foreign powers. Soon after his + inauguration Roberts made a visit to England, the power from + which there was most to fear; and on this occasion as on + several others England varied her arrogance with a rather + excessive friendliness toward the little republic. She + presented to Roberts the <i>Lark</i>, a ship with four guns, + and sent the President home on a war-vessel. Some years + afteryards, when the <i>Lark</i> was out of repair, England + sent instead a schooner, the <i>Quail</i>. Roberts made a + second visit to England in 1852 to adjust disputes with traders + on the western boundary. He also visited France, and Louis + Napoleon, not to be outdone by England, presented to him a + vessel, the <i>Hirondelle</i>, and also guns and uniforms for + his soldiers. In general the administrations of Roberts (we + might better say his first series of administrations, for he + was later to be called again to office) made a period of + constructive statesmanship and solid development, and not a + little of the respect that the young republic won was due to + the personal influence of its first president. Roberts, + however, happened to be very fair, and generally successful + though his administrations were, the desire on the part of the + people that the highest office in the country be held by a + black man seems to have been a determining factor in the choice + of his successor. There was an interesting campaign toward the + close of his last term. "There were about this time two + political parties in the country—the old Republicans and the + 'True Liberians,' a party which had been formed in opposition + to Roberts's foreign policies. But during the canvass the + platform of this new party lost ground; the result was in favor + of the Republican candidate."<a id="footnotetag144" + name="footnotetag144"></a><a href= + "#footnote144"><sup>144</sup></a></p> + + <p>Stephen Allen Benson (four terms, 1856-1863) was forced to + meet in one way or another almost all of the difficulties that + have since played a part in the life of the Liberian people. He + had come to the country in 1822 at the age of six and had + developed into a practical and efficient merchant. To his high + office he brought the same principles of sobriety and good + sense that had characterized him in business. On February 28, + 1857, the independent colony of Maryland formally became a part + of the republic. This action followed immediately upon the + struggle with the Greboes in the vicinity of Cape Palmas in + which assistance was rendered by the Liberians under + Ex-President Roberts. In 1858 an incident that threatened + complications with France but that was soon happily closed + arose from the fact that a French vessel which sought to carry + away some Kru laborers to the West Indies was attacked by these + men when they had reason to fear that they might be sold into + slavery and not have to work simply along the coast, as they at + first supposed. The ship was seized and all but one of the + crew, the physician, were killed. Trouble meanwhile continued + with British smugglers in the West, and to this whole matter we + shall have to give further and special attention. In 1858 and a + year or two thereafter the numerous arrivals from America, + especially of Congo men captured on the high seas, were such as + to present a serious social problem. Flagrant violation by the + South of the laws against the slave-trade led to the seizure by + the United States Government of many Africans. Hundreds of + these people were detained at a time at such a port as Key + West. The Government then adopted the policy of ordering + commanders who seized slave-ships at sea to land the Africans + directly upon the coast of Liberia without first bringing them + to America, and appropriated $250,000 for the removal and care + of those at Key West. The suffering of many of these people is + one of the most tragic stories in the history of slavery. To + Liberia came at one time 619, at another 867, and within two + months as many as 4000. There was very naturally consternation + on the part of the people at this sudden immigration, + especially as many of the Africans arrived cramped or paralyzed + or otherwise ill from the conditions under which they had been + forced to travel. President Benson stated the problem to the + American Government; the United States sent some money to + Liberia, the people of the Republic helped in every way they + could, and the whole situation was finally adjusted without any + permanently bad effects, though it is well for students to + remember just what Liberia had to face at this time. Important + toward the close of Benson's terms was the completion of the + building of the Liberia College, of which Joseph Jenkin Roberts + became the first president.</p> + + <p>The administrations of Daniel Bashiel Warner (two terms, + 1864-1867) and the earlier one of James Spriggs Payne + (1868-1869) were comparatively uneventful. Both of these men + were Republicans, but Warner represented something of the + shifting of political parties at the time. At first a + Republican, he went over to the Whig party devoted to the + policy of preserving Liberia from white invasion. Moved to + distrust of English merchants, who delighted in defrauding the + little republic, he established an important Ports-of-Entry Law + in 1865, which it is hardly necessary to say was very unpopular + with the foreigners. Commerce was restricted to six ports and a + circle six miles in diameter around each port. On account of + the Civil War and the hopes that emancipation held out to the + Negroes in the United States, immigration from America ceased + rapidly; but a company of 346 came from Barbadoes at this time. + The Liberian Government assisted these people with $4000, set + apart for each man an allotment of twenty-five rather than the + customary ten acres; the Colonization Society appropriated + $10,000, and after a pleasant voyage of thirty-three days they + arrived without the loss of a single life. In the company was a + little boy, Arthur Barclay, who was later to be known as the + President of the Republic. At the semi-centennial of the + American Colonization Society held in Washington in January, + 1867, it was shown that the Society and its auxiliaries had + been directly responsible for the sending of more than 12,000 + persons to Africa. Of these 4541 had been born free, 344 had + purchased their freedom, 5957 had been emancipated to go to + Africa, and 1227 had been settled by the Maryland Society. In + addition, 5722 captured Africans had been sent to Liberia. The + need of adequate study of the interior having more and more + impressed itself, Benjamin Anderson, an adventurous explorer, + assisted with funds by a citizen of New York, in 1869 studied + the country for two hundred miles from the coast. He found the + land constantly rising, and made his way to Musardu, the chief + city of the western Mandingoes. He summed up his work in his + <i>Narrative of a Journey to Musardo</i> and made another + journey of exploration in 1874.</p> + + <p>Edward James Roye (1870-October 26, 1871), a Whig whose + party was formed out of the elements of the old True Liberian + party, attracts attention by reason of a notorious British loan + to which further reference must be made. Of the whole amount of + £100,000 sums were wasted or misappropriated until it has been + estimated that the country really reaped the benefit of little + more than a quarter of the whole amount. President Roye added + to other difficulties by his seizure of a bank building + belonging to an Industrial Society of the St. Paul's River + settlements, and by attempting by proclamation to lengthen his + term of office. Twice a constitutional amendment for + lengthening the presidential term from two years to four had + been considered and voted down. Roye contested the last vote, + insisted that his term ran to January, 1874, and issued a + proclamation forbidding the coming biennial election. He was + deposed, his house sacked, some of his cabinet officers tried + before a court of impeachment,<a id="footnotetag145" + name="footnotetag145"></a><a href= + "#footnote145"><sup>145</sup></a> and he himself was drowned + as he was pursued while attempting to escape to a British + ship in the harbor. A committee of three was appointed to + govern the country until a new election could be held; and + in this hour of storm and stress the people turned once more + to the guidance of their old leader, Joseph J. Roberts (two + terms, 1872-1875). His efforts were mainly devoted to + restoring order and confidence, though there was a new war + with the Greboes to be waged.<a id="footnotetag146" + name="footnotetag146"></a><a href= + "#footnote146"><sup>146</sup></a> He was succeeded by + another trusted leader, James S. Payne (1876-1877), whose + second administration was as devoid as the first of striking + incident. In fact, the whole generation succeeding the loan + of 1871 was a period of depression. The country not only + suffered financially, but faith in it was shaken both at + home and abroad. Coffee grown in Liberia fell as that + produced at Brazil grew in favor, the farmer witnessing a + drop in value from 24 to 4 cents a pound. Farms were + abandoned, immigration from the United States ceased, and + the country entered upon a period of stagnation from which + it has not yet fully recovered.</p> + + <p>Within just a few years after 1871, however, conditions in + the United States led to an interesting revival of the whole + idea of colonization, and to noteworthy effort on the part of + the Negroes themselves to better their condition. The + withdrawal of Federal troops from the South, and all the evils + of the aftermath of reconstruction, led to such a terrorizing + of the Negroes and such a denial of civil rights that there set + in the movement that culminated in the great exodus from the + South in 1879. The movement extended all the way from North + Carolina to Louisiana and Arkansas. Insofar as it led to + migration to Kansas and other states in the West, it belongs to + American history. However, there was also interest in going to + Africa. Applications by the thousands poured in upon the + American Colonization Society, and one organization in Arkansas + sent hundreds of its members to seek the help of the New York + State Colonization Society. In all such endeavor Negro Baptists + and Methodists joined hands, and especially prominent was + Bishop H.M. Turner, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. + By 1877 there was organized in South Carolina the Liberian + Exodus and Joint Stock Company; in North Carolina there was the + Freedmen's Emigration Aid Society; and there were similar + organizations in other states. The South Carolina organization + had the threefold purpose of emigration, missionary activity, + and commercial enterprise, and to these ends it purchased a + vessel, the <i>Azor</i>, at a cost of $7000. The white people + of Charleston unfortunately embarrassed the enterprise in every + possible way, among other things insisting when the <i>Azor</i> + was ready to sail that it was not seaworthy and needed a new + copper bottom (to cost $2000). The vessel at length made one or + two trips, however, on one voyage carrying as many as 274 + emigrants. It was then stolen and sold in Liverpool, and one + gets an interesting sidelight on Southern conditions in the + period when he knows that even the United States Circuit Court + in South Carolina refused to entertain the suit brought by the + Negroes.</p> + + <p>In the administration of Anthony W. Gardiner (three terms, + 1878-1883) difficulties with England and Germany reached a + crisis. Territory in the northwest was seized; the British made + a formal show of force at Monrovia; and the looting of a German + vessel along the Kru Coast and personal indignities inflicted + by the natives upon the shipwrecked Germans, led to the + bombardment of Nana Kru by a German warship and the + presentation at Monrovia of a claim for damages, payment of + which was forced by the threat of the bombardment of the + capital. To the Liberian people the outlook was seldom darker + than in this period of calamities. President Gardiner, very + ill, resigned office in January of his last year of service, + being succeeded by the vice-president, Alfred F. Russell. More + and more was pressure brought to bear upon Liberian officials + for the granting of monopolies and concessions, especially to + Englishmen; and in his message of 1883 President Russell said, + "Recent events admonish us as to the serious responsibility of + claims held against us by foreigners, and we cannot tell what + complications may arise." In the midst of all this, however, + Russell did not forget the natives and the need of guarding + them against liquor and exploitation.</p> + + <p>Hilary Richard Wright Johnson (four terms, 1884-1891), the + next president, was a son of the distinguished Elijah Johnson + and the first man born in Liberia who had risen to the highest + place in the republic. Whigs and Republicans united in his + election. Much of his time had necessarily to be given to + complications arising from the loan of 1871; but the western + boundary was adjusted (with great loss) with Great Britain at + the Mano River, though new difficulties arose with the French, + who were pressing their claim to territory as far as the + Cavalla River. In the course of the last term of President + Johnson there was an interesting grant (by act approved January + 21, 1890) to F.F. Whittekin, of Pennsylvania, of the right to + "construct, maintain, and operate a system of railroads, + telegraph and telephone lines." Whittekin bought up in England + stock to the value of half a million dollars, but died on the + way to Liberia to fulfil his contract. His nephew, F.F. + Whittekin, asked for an extension of time, which was granted, + but after a while the whole project languished.<a id= + "footnotetag147" + name="footnotetag147"></a><a href= + "#footnote147"><sup>147</sup></a></p> + + <p>Joseph James Cheeseman (1892-November 15, 1896) was a Whig. + He conducted what was known as the third Grebo War and labored + especially for a sound currency. He was a man of unusual + ability and his devotion to his task undoubtedly contributed + toward his death in office near the middle of his third term. + As up to this time there had been no internal improvement and + little agricultural or industrial development in the country, + O.F. Cook, the agent of the New York State Colonization + Society, in 1894 signified to the legislature a desire to + establish a station where experiments could be made as to the + best means of introducing, receiving, and propagating beasts of + burden, commercial plants, etc. His request was approved and + one thousand acres of land granted for the purpose by act of + January 20, 1894. Results, however, were neither permanent nor + far-reaching. In fact, by the close of the century immigration + had practically ceased and the activities of the American + Colonization Society had also ceased, many of the state + organizations having gone out of existence. In 1893 Julius C. + Stevens, of Goldsboro, N.C., went to Liberia and served for a + nominal salary as agent of the American Colonization Society, + becoming also a teacher in the Liberia College and in time + Commissioner of Education, in connection with which post he + edited his <i>Liberian School Reader</i>; but he died in + 1903.<a id="footnotetag148" + name="footnotetag148"></a><a href= + "#footnote148"><sup>148</sup></a></p> + + <p>William D. Coleman as vice-president finished the incomplete + term of President Cheeseman (to the end of 1897) and later was + elected for two terms in his own right. In the course of his + last administration, however, his interior policy became very + unpopular, as he was thought to be harsh in his dealing with + the natives, and he resigned in December, 1900. As there was at + the time no vice-president, he was succeeded by the Secretary + of State, Garretson W. Gibson, a man of scholarly attainments, + who was afterwards elected for a whole term (1902-1903). The + feature of this term was the discussion that arose over the + proposal to grant a concession to an English concern known as + the West African Gold Concessions, Ltd. This offered to the + legislators a bonus of £1500, and for this bribe it asked for + the sole right to prospect for and obtain gold, precious + stones, and all other minerals over more than half of Liberia. + Specifically it asked for the right to acquire freehold land + and to take up leases for eighty years, in blocks of from ten + to a thousand acres; to import all mining machinery and all + other things necessary free of duty; to establish banks in + connection with the mining enterprises, these to have the power + to issue notes; to construct telegraphs and telephones; to + organize auxiliary syndicates; and to establish its own police. + It would seem that English impudence could hardly go further, + though time was to prove that there were still other things to + be borne. The proposal was indignantly rejected.</p> + + <p>Arthur Barclay (1904-1911) had already served in three + cabinet positions before coming to the presidency; he had also + been a professor in the Liberia College and for some years had + been known as the leader of the bar in Monrovia. It was near + the close of his second term that the president's term of + office was lengthened from two to four years, and he was the + first incumbent to serve for the longer period. In his first + inaugural address President Barclay emphasized the need of + developing the resources of the hinterland and of attaching the + native tribes to the interests of the state. In his foreign + policy he was generally enlightened and broad-minded, but he + had to deal with the arrogance of England. In 1906 a new + British loan was negotiated. This also was for £100,000, more + than two-thirds of which amount was to be turned over to the + Liberian Development Company, an English scheme for the + development of the interior. The Company was to work in + coöperation with the Liberian Government, and as security for + the loan British officials were to have charge of the customs + revenue, the chief inspector acting as financial adviser to the + Republic. It afterwards developed that the Company never had + any resources except those it had raised on the credit of the + Republic, and the country was forced to realize that it had + been cheated a second time. Meanwhile the English officials + who, on various pretexts of reform, had taken charge of the + barracks and the customs in Monrovia, were carrying things with + a high hand. The Liberian force appeared with English insignia + on the uniforms, and in various other ways the commander sought + to overawe the populace. At the climax of the difficulties, on + February 13, 1909, a British warship <i>happened</i> to appear + in the waters of Monrovia, and a calamity was averted only by + the skillful diplomacy of the Liberians. Already, however, in + 1908, Liberia had sent a special commission to ask the aid of + the United States. This consisted of Garretson W. Gibson, + former president; J.J. Dossen, vice-president at the time, and + Charles B. Dunbar. The commission was received by President + Roosevelt and by Secretary Taft just before the latter was + nominated for the presidency. On May 8, 1909, a return + commission consisting of Roland P. Falkner, George Sale, and + Emmett J. Scott, arrived in Monrovia. The work of this + commission must receive further and special attention.</p> + + <p>President Barclay was succeeded by Daniel Edward Howard (two + long terms, 1912-1919), who at his inauguration began the + policy of giving prominence to the native chiefs. The feature + of President Howard's administrations was of course Liberia's + connection with the Great War in Europe. War against Germany + having been declared, on the morning of April 10, 1918, a + submarine came to Monrovia and demanded that the French + wireless station be torn down. The request being refused, the + town was bombarded. The excitement of the day was such as has + never been duplicated in the history of Liberia. In one house + two young girls were instantly killed and an elderly woman and + a little boy fatally wounded; but except in this one home the + actual damage was comparatively slight, though there might have + been more if a passing British steamer had not put the + submarine to flight. Suffering of another and more far-reaching + sort was that due to the economic situation. The comparative + scarcity of food in the world and the profiteering of foreign + merchants in Liberia by the summer of 1919 brought about a + condition that threatened starvation; nor was the situation + better early in 1920, when butter retailed at $1.25 a pound, + sugar at 72 cents a pound, and oil at $1.00 a gallon.</p> + + <p>President Howard was succeeded by Charles Dunbar Burgess + King, who as president-elect had visited Europe and America, + and who was inaugurated January 5, 1920. His address on this + occasion was a comprehensive presentation of the needs of + Liberia, especially along the lines of agriculture and + education. He made a plea also for an enlightened native + policy. Said he: "We cannot afford to destroy the native + institutions of the country. Our true mission lies not in the + building here in Africa of a Negro state based solely on + Western ideas, but rather a Negro nationality indigenous to the + soil, having its foundation rooted in the institutions of + Africa and purified by Western thought and development."</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Relations" + name="Relations"><i>International Relations</i></a></h4> + + <p>Our study of the history of Liberia has suggested two or + three matters that call for special attention. Of prime + importance is the country's connection with world politics. Any + consideration of Liberia's international relations falls into + three divisions: first, that of titles to land; second, that of + foreign loans; and third, that of so-called internal + reform.</p> + + <p>In the very early years of the colony the raids of + slave-traders gave some excuse for the first aggression on the + part of a European power. "Driven from the Pongo Regions + northwest of Sierra Leone, Pedro Blanco settled in the + Gallinhas territory northwest of the Liberian frontier, and + established elaborate headquarters for his mammoth + slave-trading operations in West Africa, with slave-trading + sub-stations at Cape Mount, St. Paul River, Bassa, and at other + points of the Liberian coast, employing numerous police, + watchers, spies, and servants. To obtain jurisdiction the + colony of Liberia began to purchase from the lords of the soil + as early as 1824 the lands of the St. Paul Basin and the Grain + Coast from the Mafa River on the west to the Grand Sesters + River on the east; so that by 1845, twenty-four years after the + establishment of the colony, Liberia with the aid of Great + Britain had destroyed throughout these regions the baneful + traffic in slaves and the slave barracoons, and had driven the + slave-trading leaders from the Liberian coast."<a id= + "footnotetag149" + name="footnotetag149"></a><a href= + "#footnote149"><sup>149</sup></a> The trade continued to + flourish, however, in the Gallinhas territory, and in course + of time, as we have seen, the colony had also to reckon with + British merchants in this section, the Declaration of + Independence in 1847 being very largely a result of the + defiance of Liberian revenue-laws by Englishmen. While + President Roberts was in England not long after his + inauguration, Lord Ashley, moved by motives of philanthropy, + undertook to raise £2000 with which he (Roberts) might + purchase the Gallinhas territory; and by 1856 Roberts had + secured the title and deeds to all of this territory from + the Mafa River to Sherbro Island. The whole transaction was + thoroughly honorable, Roberts informed England of his + acquisition, and his right to the territory was not then + called in question. Trouble, however, developed out of the + attitude of John M. Harris, a British merchant, and in 1862, + while President Benson was in England, he was officially + informed that the right of Liberia was recognized + <i>only</i> to the land "east of Turner's Peninsula to the + River San Pedro." Harris now worked up a native war against + the Vais; the Liberians defended themselves; and in the end + the British Government demanded £8878.9.3 as damages for + losses sustained by Harris, and arbitrarily extended its + territory from Sherbro Island to Cape Mount. In the course + of the discussion claims mounted up to £18,000. Great + Britain promised to submit this boundary question to the + arbitration of the United States, but when the time arrived + at the meeting of one of the commissions in Sierra Leone she + firmly declined to do so. After this, whenever she was ready + to take more land she made a plausible pretext and was ready + to back up her demands with force. On March 20, 1882, four + British men-of-war came to Monrovia and Sir A.E. Havelock, + Governor of Sierra Leone, came ashore; and President + Gardiner was forced to submit to an agreement by which, in + exchange for £4750 and the abandonment of all further + claims, the Liberian Government gave up all right to the + Gallinhas territory from Sherbro Island to the Mafa River. + This agreement was repudiated by the Liberian Senate, but + when Havelock was so informed he replied, "Her Majesty's + Government can not in any case recognize any rights on the + part of Liberia to any portions of the territories in + dispute." Liberia now issued a protest to other great + powers; but this was without avail, even the United States + counseling acquiescence, though through the offices of + America the agreement was slightly modified and the boundary + fixed at the Mano River. Trouble next arose on the east. In + 1846 the Maryland Colonization Society purchased the lands + of the Ivory Coast east of Cape Palmas as far as the San + Pedro River. These lands were formally transferred to + Liberia in 1857, and remained in the undisputed possession + of the Republic for forty years. France now, not to be + outdone by England, on the pretext of title deeds obtained + by French naval commanders who visited the coast in 1890, in + 1891 put forth a claim not only to the Ivory Coast, but to + land as far away as Grand Bassa and Cape Mount. The next + year, under threat of force, she compelled Liberia to accept + a treaty which, for 25,000 francs and the relinquishment of + all other claims, permitted her to take all the territory + east of the Cavalla River. In 1904 Great Britain asked + permission to advance her troops into Liberian territory to + suppress a native war threatening her interests. She + occupied at this time what is known as the Kaure-Lahun + section, which is very fertile and of easy access to the + Sierra Leone railway. This land she never gave up; instead + she offered Liberia £6000 or some poorer land for it. France + after 1892 made no endeavor to delimit her boundary, and, + roused by the action of Great Britain, she made great + advances in the hinterland, claiming tracts of Maryland and + Sino; and now France and England each threatened to take + more land if the other was not stopped. President Barclay + visited both countries; but by a treaty of 1907 his + commission was forced to permit France to occupy all the + territory seized by force; and as soon as this agreement was + reached France began to move on to other land in the basin + of the St. Paul's and St. John's rivers. This is all then + simply one more story of the oppression of the weak by the + strong. For eighty years England has not ceased to + intermeddle in Liberian affairs, cajoling or browbeating as + at the moment seemed advisable; and France has been only + less bad. Certainly no country on earth now has better + reason than Liberia to know that "they should get who have + the power, and they should keep who can."</p> + + <p>The international loans and the attempts at reform must be + considered together. In 1871, at the rate of 7 per cent, there + was authorized a British loan of £100,000. <i>For their + services</i> the British negotiators retained £30,000, and + £20,000 more was deducted as the interest for three years. + President Roye ordered Mr. Chinery, a British subject and the + Liberian consul general in London, to supply the Liberian + Secretary of Treasury with goods and merchandise to the value + of £10,000; and other sums were misappropriated until the + country itself actually received the benefit of not more than + £27,000, if so much. This whole unfortunate matter was an + embarrassment to Liberia for years; but in 1899 the Republic + assumed responsibility for £80,000, the interest being made a + first charge on the customs revenue. In 1906, not yet having + learned the lesson of "Cavete Graecos dona ferentes," and moved + by the representations of Sir Harry H. Johnston, the country + negotiated a new loan of £100,000. £30,000 of this amount was + to satisfy pressing obligations; but the greater portion was to + be turned over to the Liberian Development Company, a great + scheme by which the Government and the company were to work + hand in hand for the development of the country. As security + for the loan, British officials were to have charge of the + customs revenue, the chief inspector acting as financial + adviser to the Republic. When the Company had made a road of + fifteen miles in one district and made one or two other slight + improvements, it represented to the Liberian Government that + its funds were exhausted. When President Barclay asked for an + accounting the managing director expressed surprise that such a + demand should be made upon him. The Liberian people were + chagrined, and at length they realized that they had been + cheated a second time, with all the bitter experiences of the + past to guide them. Meanwhile the English representatives in + the country were demanding that the judiciary be reformed, that + the frontier force be under British officers, and that + Inspector Lamont as financial adviser have a seat in the + Liberian cabinet and a veto power over all expenditures; and + the independence of the country was threatened if these demands + were not complied with. Meanwhile also the construction of + barracks went forward under Major Cadell, a British officer, + and the organization of the frontier force was begun. Not less + than a third of this force was brought from Sierra Leone, and + the whole Cadell fitted out with suits and caps stamped with + the emblems of His Britannic Majesty's service. He also + persuaded the Monrovia city government to let him act without + compensation as chief of police, and he likewise became street + commissioner, tax collector, and city treasurer. The Liberian + people naturally objected to the usurping of all these + prerogatives, but Cadell refused to resign and presented a + large bill for his services. He also threatened violence to the + President if his demands were not met within twenty-four hours. + Then it was that the British warship, the <i>Mutiny</i>, + suddenly appeared at Monrovia (February 12, 1909). Happily the + Liberians rose to the emergency. They requested that any + British soldiers at the barracks be withdrawn in order that + they might be free to deal with the insurrectionary movement + said to be there on the part of Liberian soldiers; and thus + tactfully they brought about the withdrawal of Major + Cadell.</p> + + <p>By this time, however, the Liberian commission to the United + States had done its work, and just three months after Cadell's + retirement the return American commission came. After studying + the situation it made the following recommendations: That the + United States extend its aid to Liberia in the prompt + settlement of pending boundary disputes; that the United States + enable Liberia to refund its debt by assuming as a guarantee + for the payment of obligations under such arrangement the + control and collection of the Liberian customs; that the United + States lend its assistance to the Liberian Government in the + reform of its internal finances; that the United States lend + its aid to Liberia in organizing and drilling an adequate + constabulary or frontier police force; that the United States + establish and maintain a research station at Liberia; and that + the United States reopen the question of establishing a + coaling-station in Liberia. Under the fourth of these + recommendations Major (now Colonel) Charles Young went to + Liberia, where from time to time since he has rendered most + efficient service. Arrangements were also made for a new loan, + one of $1,700,000, which was to be floated by banking + institutions in the United States, Germany, France, and + England; and in 1912 an American General Receiver of Customs + and Financial Adviser to the Republic of Liberia (with an + assistant from each of the other three countries mentioned) + opened his office in Monrovia. It will be observed that a + complicated and expensive receivership was imposed on the + Liberian people when an arrangement much more simple would have + served. The loan of $1,700,000 soon proving inadequate for any + large development of the country, negotiations were begun in + 1918 for a new loan, one of $5,000,000. Among the things + proposed were improvements on the harbor of Monrovia, some good + roads through the country, a hospital, and the broadening of + the work of education. About the loan two facts were + outstanding: first, any money to be spent would be spent wholly + under American and not under Liberian auspices; and, second, to + the Liberians acceptance of the terms suggested meant + practically a surrender of their sovereignty, as American + appointees were to be in most of the important positions in the + country, at the same time that upon themselves would fall the + ultimate burden of the interest of the loan. By the spring of + 1920 (in Liberia, the commencement of the rainy season) it was + interesting to note that although the necessary measures of + approval had not yet been passed by the Liberian Congress, + perhaps as many as fifteen American officials had come out to + the country to begin work in education, engineering, and + sanitation. Just a little later in the year President King + called an extra session of the legislature to consider + amendments. While it was in session a cablegram from the United + States was received saying that no amendments to the plan would + be accepted and that it must be accepted as submitted, "or the + friendly interest which has heretofore existed would become + lessened." The Liberians were not frightened, however, and + stood firm. Meanwhile a new presidential election took place in + the United States; there was to be a radical change in the + government; and the Liberians were disposed to try further to + see if some changes could not be made in the proposed + arrangements. Most watchfully from month to month, let it be + remembered, England and France were waiting; and in any case it + could easily be seen that as the Republic approached its + centennial it was face to face with political problems of the + very first magnitude.<a id="footnotetag150" + name="footnotetag150"></a><a href= + "#footnote150"><sup>150</sup></a></p> + + <h4>4. <a id="Economic" + name="Economic"><i>Economic and Social + Conditions</i></a></h4> + + <p>From what has been said, it is evident that there is still + much to be done in Liberia along economic lines. There has been + some beginning in coöperative effort; thus the Bassa Trading + Association is an organization for mutual betterment of perhaps + as many as fifty responsible merchants and farmers. The country + has as yet (1921), however, no railroads, no street cars, no + public schools, and no genuine newspapers; nor are there any + manufacturing or other enterprises for the employment of young + men on a large scale. The most promising youth accordingly look + too largely to an outlet in politics; some come to America to + be educated and not always do they return. A few become clerks + in the stores, and a very few assistants in the customs + offices. There is some excellent agriculture in the interior, + but as yet no means of getting produce to market on a large + scale. In 1919 the total customs revenue at Monrovia, the + largest port, amounted to $196,913.21. For the whole country + the figure has recently been just about half a million dollars + a year. Much of this amount goes to the maintenance of the + frontier force. Within the last few years also the annual + income for the city of Monrovia—for the payment of the mayor, + the police, and all other city officers—has averaged $6000.</p> + + <p>In any consideration of social conditions the first question + of all of course is that of the character of the people + themselves. Unfortunately Liberia was begun with faulty ideals + of life and work. The early settlers, frequently only recently + out of bondage, too often felt that in a state of freedom they + did not have to work, and accordingly they imitated the habits + of the old master class of the South. The real burden of life + then fell upon the native. There is still considerable feeling + between the native and the Americo-Liberian; but more and more + the wisest men of the country realize that the good of one is + the good of all, and they are endeavoring to make the native + chiefs work for the common welfare. From time to time the + people of Liberia have given to visitors an impression of + arrogance, and perhaps no one thing had led to more unfriendly + criticism of this country than this. The fact is that the + Liberians, knowing that their country has various shortcomings + according to Western standards, are quick to assume the + defensive, and one method of protecting themselves is by + erecting a barrier of dignity and reserve. One has only to go + beyond this, however, to find the real heartbeat of the people. + The comparative isolation of the Republic moreover, and the + general stress of living conditions have together given to the + everyday life an undue seriousness of tone, with a rather + excessive emphasis on the church, on politics, and on secret + societies. In such an atmosphere boys and girls too soon became + mature, and for them especially one might wish to see a little + more wholesome outdoor amusement. In school or college + catalogues one still sees much of jurisprudence and moral + philosophy, but little of physics or biology. Interestingly + enough, this whole system of education and life has not been + without some elements of very genuine culture. Literature has + been mainly in the diction of Shakespeare and Milton; but + Shakespeare and Milton, though not of the twentieth century, + are still good models, and because the officials have had to + compose many state documents and deliver many formal addresses, + there has been developed in the country a tradition of good + English speech. A service in any one of the representative + churches is dignified and impressive.</p> + + <p>The churches and schools of Liberia have been most largely + in the hands of the Methodists and the Episcopalians, though + the Baptists, the Presbyterians, and the Lutherans are well + represented. The Lutherans have penetrated to a point in the + interior beyond that attained by any other denomination. The + Episcopalians have excelled others, even the Methodists, by + having more constant and efficient oversight of their work. The + Episcopalians have in Liberia a little more than 40 schools, + nearly half of these being boarding-schools, with a total + attendance of 2000. The Methodists have slightly more than 30 + schools, with 2500 pupils. The Lutherans in their five mission + stations have 20 American workers and 300 pupils. While it + seems from these figures that the number of those reached is + small in proportion to the outlay, it must be remembered that a + mission school becomes a center from which influence radiates + in all directions.</p> + + <p>While the enterprise of the denominational institutions can + not be doubted, it may well be asked if, in so largely + relieving the people of the burden of the education of their + children, they are not unduly cultivating a spirit of + dependence rather than of self-help. Something of this point of + view was emphasized by the Secretary of Public Instruction, Mr. + Walter F. Walker, in an address, "Liberia and Her Educational + Problems," delivered in Chicago in 1916. Said he of the day + schools maintained by the churches: "These day schools did + invaluable service in the days of the Colony and Commonwealth, + and, indeed, in the early days of the Republic; but to their + continuation must undoubtedly be ascribed the tardy recognition + of the government and people of the fact that no agency for the + education of the masses is as effective as the public + school.... There is not one public school building owned by the + government or by any city or township."</p> + + <p>It might further be said that just now in Liberia there is + no institution that is primarily doing college work. Two + schools in Monrovia, however, call for special remark. The + College of West Africa, formerly Monrovia Seminary, was founded + by the Methodist Church in 1839. The institution does + elementary and lower high school work, though some years ago it + placed a little more emphasis on college work than it has been + able to do within recent years. It was of this college that the + late Bishop A.P. Camphor served so ably as president for twelve + years. Within recent years it has recognized the importance of + industrial work and has had in all departments an average + annual enrollment of 300. Not quite so prominent within the + last few years, but with more tradition and theoretically at + the head of the educational system of the Republic is the + Liberia College. In 1848 Simon Greenleaf of Boston, received + from John Payne, a missionary at Cape Palmas, a request for his + assistance in building a theological school. Out of this + suggestion grew the Board of Trustees of Donations for + Education in Liberia incorporated in Massachusetts in March, + 1850. The next year the Liberia legislature incorporated the + Liberia College, it being understood that the institution would + emphasize academic as well as theological subjects. In 1857 + Ex-President J.J. Roberts was elected president; he + superintended the erection of a large building; and in 1862 the + college was opened for work. Since then it has had a very + uneven existence, sometimes enrolling, aside from its + preparatory department, twenty or thirty college students, then + again having no college students at all. Within the last few + years, as the old building was completely out of repair, the + school has had to seek temporary quarters. It is too vital to + the country to be allowed to languish, however, and it is to be + hoped that it may soon be well started upon a new career of + usefulness. In the course of its history the Liberia College + has had connected with it some very distinguished men. Famous + as teacher and lecturer, and president from 1881 to 1885, was + Edward Wilmot Blyden, generally regarded as the foremost + scholar that Western Africa has given to the world. Closely + associated with him in the early years, and well known in + America as in Africa, was Alexander Crummell, who brought to + his teaching the richness of English university training. A + trustee for a number of years was Samuel David Ferguson, of the + Protestant Episcopal Church, who served with great dignity and + resource as missionary bishop of the country from 1884 until + his death in 1916. A new president of the college, Rev. + Nathaniel H.B. Cassell, was elected in 1918, and it is expected + that under his efficient direction the school will go forward + to still greater years of service.</p> + + <p>Important in connection with the study of the social + conditions in Liberia is that of health and living conditions. + One who lives in America and knows that Africa is a land of + unbounded riches can hardly understand the extent to which the + West Coast has been exploited, or the suffering that is there + just now. The distress is most acute in the English colonies, + and as Liberia is so close to Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast, + much of the same situation prevails there. In Monrovia the only + bank is the branch of the Bank of British West Africa. In the + branches of this great institution all along the coast, as a + result of the war, gold disappeared, silver became very scarce, + and the common form of currency became paper notes, issued in + denominations as low as one and two shillings. These the + natives have refused to accept. They go even further: rather + than bring their produce to the towns and receive paper for it + they will not come at all. In Monrovia an effort was made to + introduce the British West African paper currency, and while + this failed, more and more the merchants insisted on being paid + in silver, nor in an ordinary purchase would silver be given in + change on an English ten-shilling note. Prices accordingly + became exorbitant; children were not properly nourished and the + infant mortality grew to astonishing proportions. Nor were + conditions made better by the lack of sanitation and by the + prevalence of disease. Happily relief for these conditions—for + some of them at least—seems to be in sight, and it is expected + that before very long a hospital will be erected in + Monrovia.</p> + + <p>One or two reflections suggest themselves. It has been said + that the circumstances under which Liberia was founded led to a + despising of industrial effort. The country is now quite awake, + however, to the advantages of industrial and agricultural + enterprise. A matter of supreme importance is that of the + relation of the Americo-Liberian to the native; this will work + itself out, for the native is the country's chief asset for the + future. In general the Republic needs a few visible evidences + of twentieth century standards of progress; two or three high + schools and hospitals built on the American plan would work + wonders. Finally let it not be forgotten that upon the American + Negro rests the obligation to do whatever he can to help to + develop the country. If he will but firmly clasp hands with his + brother across the sea, a new day will dawn for American Negro + and Liberian alike.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote135" + name="footnote135"></a><b>Footnote 135:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag135">(return)</a><br/> + + "Journal of Daniel Coker, a descendant of Africa, from + the time of leaving New York, in the ship <i>Elizabeth</i>, + Capt. Sebor, on a voyage for Sherbro, in Africa. Baltimore, + 1820."</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote136" + name="footnote136"></a><b>Footnote 136:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag136">(return)</a><br/> + + March 15. The narrative, page 26, says February 15, but + this is obviously a typographical error.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote137" + name="footnote137"></a><b>Footnote 137:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag137">(return)</a><br/> + + Ashmun: <i>History of the American Colony in Liberia, + from 1821 to 1823</i>, 8.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote138" + name="footnote138"></a><b>Footnote 138:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag138">(return)</a><br/> + + Ashmun, 9.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote139" + name="footnote139"></a><b>Footnote 139:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag139">(return)</a><br/> + + See Chapter III, Section 5.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote140" + name="footnote140"></a><b>Footnote 140:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag140">(return)</a><br/> + + Stockwell, 73.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote141" + name="footnote141"></a><b>Footnote 141:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag141">(return)</a><br/> + + This name, in honor of President Monroe, had recently + been adopted by the Society at the suggestion of Robert + Goodloe Harper, of Maryland, who also suggested the name + <i>Liberia</i> for the country. Harper himself was + afterwards honored by having the chief town in Maryland in + Africa named after him.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote142" + name="footnote142"></a><b>Footnote 142:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag142">(return)</a><br/> + + Stockwell, 79.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote143" + name="footnote143"></a><b>Footnote 143:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag143">(return)</a><br/> + + McPherson is especially valuable for his study of the + Maryland colony.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote144" + name="footnote144"></a><b>Footnote 144:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag144">(return)</a><br/> + + Karnga, 28.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote145" + name="footnote145"></a><b>Footnote 145:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag145">(return)</a><br/> + + But not Hilary R.W. Johnson, the efficient Secretary of + State, later President.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote146" + name="footnote146"></a><b>Footnote 146:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag146">(return)</a><br/> + + President Roberts died February 21, 1876, barely two + months after giving up office. He was caught in the rain + while attending a funeral, took a severe chill, and was not + able to recover.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote147" + name="footnote147"></a><b>Footnote 147:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag147">(return)</a><br/> + + See <i>Liberia</i>, Bulletin No. 5, November, 1894.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote148" + name="footnote148"></a><b>Footnote 148:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag148">(return)</a><br/> + + Interest in Liberia by no means completely died. + Contributions for education were sometimes made by the + representative organizations, and individual students came + to America from time to time. When, however, the important + commission representing the Government came to America in + 1908, the public was slightly startled as having heard from + something half-forgotten.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote149" + name="footnote149"></a><b>Footnote 149:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag149">(return)</a><br/> + + Ellis in <i>Journal of Race Development</i>, January, + 1911.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote150" + name="footnote150"></a><b>Footnote 150:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag150">(return)</a><br/> + + Early in 1921 President King headed a new commission to + the United States to take up the whole matter of Liberia + with the incoming Republican administration.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERX" + name="CHAPTERX"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + + <h3>THE NEGRO A NATIONAL ISSUE</h3> + + <h4>1. <a id="Tendencies" + name="Tendencies"><i>Current Tendencies</i></a></h4> + + <p>It is evident from what has been said already that the idea + of the Negro current about 1830 in the United States was not + very exalted. It was seriously questioned if he was really a + human being, and doctors of divinity learnedly expounded the + "Cursed be Canaan" passage as applying to him. A prominent + physician of Mobile<a id="footnotetag151" + name="footnotetag151"></a><a href= + "#footnote151"><sup>151</sup></a> gave it as his opinion + that "the brain of the Negro, when compared with the + Caucasian, is smaller by a tenth ... and the intellect is + wanting in the same proportion," and finally asserted that + Negroes could not live in the North because "a cold climate + so freezes their brains as to make them insane." About + mulattoes, like many others, he stretched his imagination + marvelously. They were incapable of undergoing fatigue; the + women were very delicate and subject to all sorts of + diseases, and they did not beget children as readily as + either black women or white women. In fact, said Nott, + between the ages of twenty-five and forty mulattoes died ten + times as fast as either white or black people; between forty + and fifty-five fifty times as fast, and between fifty-five + and seventy one hundred times as fast.</p> + + <p>To such opinions was now added one of the greatest + misfortunes that have befallen the Negro race in its entire + history in America—burlesque on the stage. When in 1696 Thomas + Southerne adapted <i>Oroonoko</i> from the novel of Mrs. Aphra + Behn and presented in London the story of the African prince + who was stolen from his native Angola, no one saw any reason + why the Negro should not be a subject for serious treatment on + the stage, and the play was a great success, lasting for + decades. In 1768, however, was presented at Drury Lane a comic + opera, <i>The Padlock</i>, and a very prominent character was + Mungo, the slave of a West Indian planter, who got drunk in the + second act and was profane throughout the performance. In the + course of the evening Mungo entertained the audience with such + lines as the following:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">Dear heart, what a terrible life I am + led!<br /> + A dog has a better, that's sheltered and fed.</p> + + <p class="i8">Night and day 'tis the same;<br /> + My pain is deir game:</p> + + <p class="i2">Me wish to de Lord me was dead!</p> + + <p class="i8">Whate'er's to be done,<br /> + Poor black must run.<br /> + Mungo here, Mungo dere,<br /> + Mungo everywhere:<br /> + Above and below,<br /> + Sirrah, come; sirrah, go;<br /> + Do so, and do so,</p> + + <p class="i10">Oh! oh!</p> + + <p class="i2">Me wish to de Lord me was dead!</p> + </div> + + <p>The depreciation of the race that Mungo started continued, + and when in 1781 <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> was given as a + pantomime at Drury Lane, Friday was represented as a Negro. The + exact origins of Negro minstrelsy are not altogether clear; + there have been many claimants, and it is interesting to note + in passing that there was an "African Company" playing in New + York in the early twenties, though this was probably nothing + more than a small group of amateurs. Whatever may have been the + beginning, it was Thomas D. Rice who brought the form to + genuine popularity. In Louisville in the summer of 1828, + looking from one of the back windows of a theater, he was + attracted by an old and decrepit slave who did odd jobs about a + livery stable. The slave's master was named Crow and he called + himself Jim Crow. His right shoulder was drawn up high and his + left leg was stiff at the knee, but he took his deformity + lightly, singing as he worked. He had one favorite tune to + which he had fitted words of his own, and at the end of each + verse he made a ludicrous step which in time came to be known + as "rocking the heel." His refrain consisted of the words:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">Wheel about, turn about,<br /> + Do jis so,<br /> + An' ebery time I wheel about<br /> + I jump Jim Crow.</p> + </div> + + <p>Rice, who was a clever and versatile performer, caught the + air, made up like the Negro, and in the course of the next + season introduced Jim Crow and his step to the stage, and so + successful was he in his performance that on his first night in + the part he was encored twenty times.<a id="footnotetag152" + name="footnotetag152"></a><a href= + "#footnote152"><sup>152</sup></a> Rice had many imitators + among the white comedians of the country, some of whom + indeed claimed priority in opening up the new field, and + along with their burlesque these men actually touched upon + the possibilities of plaintive Negro melodies, which they of + course capitalized. In New York late in 1842 four men—"Dan" + Emmett, Frank Brower, "Billy" Whitlock, and "Dick" + Pelham—practiced together with fiddle and banjo, "bones" and + tambourine, and thus was born the first company, the + "Virginia Minstrels," which made its formal debut in New + York February 17, 1843. Its members produced in connection + with their work all sorts of popular songs, one of Emmett's + being "Dixie," which, introduced by Mrs. John Wood in a + burlesque in New Orleans at the outbreak of the Civil War, + leaped into popularity and became the war-song of the + Confederacy. Companies multipled apace. "Christy's + Minstrels" claimed priority to the company already + mentioned, but did not actually enter upon its New York + career until 1846. "Bryant's Minstrels" and Buckley's "New + Orleans Serenaders" were only two others of the most popular + aggregations featuring and burlesquing the Negro. In a + social history of the Negro in America, however, it is + important to observe in passing that already, even in + burlesque, the Negro element was beginning to enthrall the + popular mind. About the same time as minstrelsy also + developed the habit of belittling the race by making the + name of some prominent and worthy Negro a term of contempt; + thus "cuffy" (corrupted from Paul Cuffe) now came into + widespread use.</p> + + <p>This was not all. It was now that the sinister crime of + lynching raised its head in defiance of all law. At first used + as a form of punishment for outlaws and gamblers, it soon came + to be applied especially to Negroes. One was burned alive near + Greenville, S.C., in 1825; in May, 1835, two were burned near + Mobile for the murder of two children; and for the years + between 1823 and 1860 not less than fifty-six cases of the + lynching of Negroes have been ascertained, though no one will + ever know how many lost their lives without leaving any record. + Certainly more men were executed illegally than legally; thus + of forty-six recorded murders by Negroes of owners or overseers + between 1850 and 1860 twenty resulted in legal execution and + twenty-six in lynching. Violent crimes against white women were + not relatively any more numerous than now; but those that + occurred or were attempted received swift punishment; thus of + seventeen cases of rape in the ten years last mentioned Negroes + were legally executed in five and lynched in twelve.<a id= + "footnotetag153" + name="footnotetag153"></a><a href= + "#footnote153"><sup>153</sup></a></p> + + <p>Extraordinary attention was attracted by the burning in St. + Louis in 1835 of a man named McIntosh, who had killed an + officer who was trying to arrest him.<a id="footnotetag154" + name="footnotetag154"></a><a href= + "#footnote154"><sup>154</sup></a> This event came in the + midst of a period of great agitation, and it was for + denouncing this lynching that Elijah P. Lovejoy had his + printing-office destroyed in St. Louis and was forced to + remove to Alton, Ill., where his press was three times + destroyed and where he finally met death at the hands of a + mob while trying to protect his property November 7, 1837. + Judge Lawless defended the lynching and even William Ellery + Channing took a compromising view. Abraham Lincoln, however, + then a very young man, in an address on "The Perpetuation of + Our Political Institutions" at Springfield, January 27, + 1837, said: "Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the + everyday news of the times. They have pervaded the country + from New England to Louisiana; they are neither peculiar to + the eternal snows of the former nor the burning suns of the + latter; they are not the creatures of climate, neither are + they confined to the slaveholding or the nonslaveholding + states.... Turn to that horror-striking scene at St. Louis. + A single victim only was sacrificed there. This story is + very short, and is perhaps the most highly tragic of + anything that has ever been witnessed in real life. A + mulatto man by the name of McIntosh was seized in the + street, dragged to the suburbs of the city, chained to a + tree, and actually burned to death; and all within a single + hour from the time he had been a free man attending to his + own business and at peace with the world.... Such are the + effects of mob law, and such are the scenes becoming more + and more frequent in this land so lately famed for love of + law and order, and the stories of which have even now grown + too familiar to attract anything more than an idle + remark."</p> + + <p>All the while flagrant crimes were committed against Negro + women and girls, and free men in the border states were + constantly being dragged into slavery by kidnapers. Two typical + cases will serve for illustration. George Jones, a respectable + man of New York, was in 1836 arrested on Broadway on the + pretext that he had committed assault and battery. He refused + to go with his captors, for he knew that he had done nothing to + warrant such a charge; but he finally yielded on the assurance + of his employer that everything possible would be done for him. + He was placed in the Bridewell and a few minutes afterwards + taken before a magistrate, to whose satisfaction he was proved + to be a slave. Thus, in less than two hours after his arrest he + was hurried away by the kidnapers, whose word had been accepted + as sufficient evidence, and he had not been permitted to secure + a single friendly witness. Solomon Northrup, who afterwards + wrote an account of his experiences, was a free man who lived + in Saratoga and made his living by working about the hotels, + where in the evenings he often played the violin at parties. + One day two men, supposedly managers of a traveling circus + company, met him and offered him good pay if he would go with + them as a violinist to Washington. He consented, and some + mornings afterwards awoke to find himself in a slave pen in the + capital. How he got there was ever a mystery to him, but + evidently he had been drugged. He was taken South and sold to a + hard master, with whom he remained twelve years before he was + able to effect his release.<a id="footnotetag155" + name="footnotetag155"></a><a href= + "#footnote155"><sup>155</sup></a> In the South any free + Negro who entertained a runaway might himself become a + slave; thus in South Carolina in 1827 a free woman with her + three children suffered this penalty because she gave succor + to two homeless and fugitive children six and nine years + old.</p> + + <p>Day by day, moreover, from the capital of the nation went on + the internal slave-trade. "When by one means and another a + dealer had gathered twenty or more likely young Negro men and + girls, he would bring them forth from their cells; would huddle + the women and young children into a cart or wagon; would + handcuff the men in pairs, the right hand of one to the left + hand of another; make the handcuffs fast to a long chain which + passed between each pair of slaves, and would start his + procession southward."<a id="footnotetag156" + name="footnotetag156"></a><a href= + "#footnote156"><sup>156</sup></a> It is not strange that + several of the unfortunate people committed suicide. One + distracted mother, about to be separated from her loved + ones, dumbfounded the nation by hurling herself from the + window of a prison in the capital on the Sabbath day and + dying in the street below.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile even in the free states the disabilities of the + Negro continued. In general he was denied the elective + franchise, the right of petition, the right to enter public + conveyances or places of amusement, and he was driven into a + status of contempt by being shut out from the army and the + militia. He had to face all sorts of impediments in getting + education or in pursuing honest industry; he had nothing + whatever to do with the administration of justice; and + generally he was subject to insult and outrage.</p> + + <p>One might have supposed that on all this proscription and + denial of the ordinary rights of human beings the Christian + Church would have taken a positive stand. Unfortunately, as so + often happens, it was on the side of property and vested + interest rather than on that of the oppressed. We have already + seen that Southern divines held slaves and countenanced the + system; and by 1840 James G. Birney had abundant material for + his indictment, "The American Churches the Bulwarks of American + Slavery." He showed among other things that while in 1780 the + Methodist Episcopal Church had opposed slavery and in 1784 had + given a slaveholder one month to repent or withdraw from its + conferences, by 1836 it had so drifted away from its original + position as to disclaim "any right, wish, or intention to + interfere in the civil and political relation between master + and slave, as it existed in the slaveholding states of the + union." Meanwhile in the churches of the North there was the + most insulting discrimination; in the Baptist Church in + Hartford the pews for Negroes were boarded up in front, and in + Stonington, Conn., the floor was cut out of a Negro's pew by + order of the church authorities. In Boston, in a church that + did not welcome and that made little provision for Negroes, a + consecrated deacon invited into his own pew some Negro people, + whereupon he lost the right to hold a pew in his church. He + decided that there should be some place where there might be + more freedom of thought and genuine Christianity, he brought + others into the plan, and the effort that he put forth resulted + in what has since become the Tremont Temple Baptist Church.</p> + + <p>Into all this proscription, burlesque, and crime, and denial + of the fundamental principles of Christianity, suddenly came + the program of the Abolitionists; and it spoke with tongues of + fire, and had all the vigor and force of a crusade.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Abolitionists" + name="Abolitionists"><i>The Challenge of the + Abolitionists</i></a></h4> + + <p>The great difference between the early abolition societies + which resulted in the American Convention and the later + anti-slavery movement of which Garrison was the representative + figure was the difference between a humanitarian impulse + tempered by expediency and one that had all the power of a + direct challenge. Before 1831 "in the South the societies were + more numerous, the members no less earnest, and the hatred of + slavery no less bitter,... yet the conciliation and persuasion + so noticeable in the earlier period in twenty years + accomplished practically nothing either in legislation or in + the education of public sentiment; while gradual changes in + economic conditions at the South caused the question to grow + more difficult."<a id="footnotetag157" + name="footnotetag157"></a><a href= + "#footnote157"><sup>157</sup></a> Moreover, "the evidence of + open-mindedness can not stand against the many instances of + absolute refusal to permit argument against slavery. In the + Colonial Congress, in the Confederation, in the + Constitutional Convention, in the state ratifying + conventions, in the early Congresses, there were many + vehement denunciations of anything which seemed to have an + anti-slavery tendency, and wholesale suspicion of the North + at all times when the subject was opened."<a id= + "footnotetag158" + name="footnotetag158"></a><a href= + "#footnote158"><sup>158</sup></a> One can not forget the + effort of James G. Birney, or that Benjamin Lundy's work was + most largely done in what we should now call the South, or + that between 1815 and 1828 at least four journals which + avowed the extinction of slavery as one, if not the chief + one, of their objects were published in the Southern + states.<a id="footnotetag159" + name="footnotetag159"></a><a href= + "#footnote159"><sup>159</sup></a> Only gradual emancipation, + however, found any real support in the South; and, as + compared with the work of Garrison, even that of Lundy + appears in the distance with something of the mildness of + "sweetness and light." Even before the rise of Garrison, + Robert James Turnbull of South Carolina, under the name of + "Brutus," wrote a virulent attack on anti-slavery; and + Representative Drayton of the same state, speaking in + Congress in 1828, said, "Much as we love our country, we + would rather see our cities in flames, our plains drenched + in blood—rather endure all the calamities of civil war, than + parley for an instant upon the right of any power, than our + own to interfere with the regulation of our slaves."<a id= + "footnotetag160" + name="footnotetag160"></a><a href= + "#footnote160"><sup>160</sup></a> More and more this was to + be the real sentiment of the South, and in the face of this + kind of eloquence and passion mere academic discussion was + powerless.</p> + + <p>The <i>Liberator</i> was begun January 1, 1831. The next + year Garrison was the leading spirit in the formation of the + New England Anti-Slavery Society; and in December, 1833, in + Philadelphia, the American Anti-Slavery Society was organized. + In large measure these organizations were an outgrowth of the + great liberal and humanitarian spirit that by 1830 had become + manifest in both Europe and America. Hugo and Mazzini, Byron + and Macaulay had all now appeared upon the scene, and + romanticism was regnant. James Montgomery and William Faber + wrote their hymns, and Reginald Heber went as a missionary + bishop to India. Forty years afterwards the French Revolution + was bearing fruit. France herself had a new revolution in 1830, + and in this same year the kingdom of Belgium was born. In + England there was the remarkable reign of William IV, which + within the short space of seven years summed up in legislation + reforms that had been agitated for decades. In 1832 came the + great Reform Bill, in 1833 the abolition of slavery in English + dominions, and in 1834 a revision of factory legislation and + the poor law. Charles Dickens and Elizabeth Barrett Browning + began to be heard, and in 1834 came to America George Thompson, + a powerful and refined speaker who had had much to do with the + English agitation against slavery. The young republic of the + United States, lusty and self-confident, was seething with new + thought. In New England the humanitarian movement that so + largely began with the Unitarianism of Channing "ran through + its later phase in transcendentalism, and spent its last + strength in the anti-slavery agitation and the enthusiasms of + the Civil War."<a id="footnotetag161" + name="footnotetag161"></a><a href= + "#footnote161"><sup>161</sup></a> The movement was + contemporary with the preaching of many novel gospels in + religion, in sociology, in science, education, and medicine. + New sects were formed, like the Universalists, the + Spiritualists, the Second Adventists, the Mormons, and the + Shakers, some of which believed in trances and miracles, + others in the quick coming of Christ, and still others in + the reorganization of society; and the pseudo-sciences, like + mesmerism and phrenology, had numerous followers. The + ferment has long since subsided, and much that was then + seething has since gone off in vapor; but when all that was + spurious has been rejected, we find that the general impulse + was but a new baptism of the old Puritan spirit. + Transcendentalism appealed to the private consciousness as + the sole standard of truth and right. With kindred movements + it served to quicken the ethical sense of a nation that was + fast becoming materialistic and to nerve it for the conflict + that sooner or later had to come.</p> + + <p>In his salutatory editorial Garrison said with reference to + his position: "In Park Street Church, on the Fourth of July, + 1829, in an address on slavery, I unreflectingly assented to + the popular but pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition. I + seize this opportunity to make a full and unequivocal + recantation, and thus publicly to ask pardon of my God, of my + country, and of my brethren, the poor slaves, for having + uttered a sentiment so full of timidity, injustice, and + absurdity.... I am aware that many object to the severity of my + language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as + harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this + subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with + moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire, to give + a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from + the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually + extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; but + urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present! I am + in earnest. I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not + retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD." With something of + the egotism that comes of courage in a holy cause, he said: "On + this question my influence, humble as it is, is felt at this + moment to a considerable extent, and shall be felt in coming + years—not perniciously, but beneficially—not as a curse, but as + a blessing; and POSTERITY WILL BEAR TESTIMONY THAT I WAS + RIGHT."</p> + + <p>All the while, in speaking to the Negro people themselves, + Garrison endeavored to beckon them to the highest possible + ground of personal and racial self-respect. Especially did he + advise them to seek the virtues of education and coöperation. + Said he to them:<a id="footnotetag162" + name="footnotetag162"></a><a href= + "#footnote162"><sup>162</sup></a> "Support each other.... + When I say 'support each other,' I mean, sell to each other, + and buy of each other, in preference to the whites. This is + a duty: the whites do not trade with you; why should you + give them your patronage? If one of your number opens a + little shop, do not pass it by to give your money to a white + shopkeeper. If any has a trade, employ him as often as + possible. If any is a good teacher, send your children to + him, and be proud that he is one of your color.... Maintain + your rights, in all cases, and at whatever expense.... + Wherever you are allowed to vote, see that your names are + put on the lists of voters, and go to the polls. If you are + not strong enough to choose a man of your own color, give + your votes to those who are friendly to your cause; but, if + possible, elect intelligent and respectable colored men. I + do not despair of seeing the time when our State and + National Assemblies will contain a fair proportion of + colored representatives—especially if the proposed college + at New Haven goes into successful operation. Will you + despair now so many champions are coming to your help, and + the trump of jubilee is sounding long and loud; when is + heard a voice from the East, a voice from the West, a voice + from the North, a voice from the South, crying, <i>Liberty + and Equality now, Liberty and Equality forever</i>! Will you + despair, seeing Truth, and Justice, and Mercy, and God, and + Christ, and the Holy Ghost, are on your side? Oh, no—never, + never despair of the complete attainment of your + rights!"</p> + + <p>To second such sentiments rose a remarkable group of men and + women, among them Elijah P. Lovejoy, Wendell Phillips, Theodore + Parker, John Greenleaf Whittier, Lydia Maria Child, Samuel J. + May, William Jay, Charles Sumner, Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet + Beecher Stowe, and John Brown. Phillips, the "Plumed Knight" of + the cause, closed his law office because he was not willing to + swear that he would support the Constitution; he relinquished + the franchise because he did not wish to have any + responsibility for a government that countenanced slavery; and + he lost sympathy with the Christian Church because of its + compromising attitude. Garrison himself termed the Constitution + "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell." Lydia Maria + Child in 1833 published an <i>Appeal in Favor of That Class of + Americans Called Africans</i>, and wrote or edited numerous + other books for the cause, while the anti-slavery poems of + Whittier are now a part of the main stream of American + literature. The Abolitionists repelled many conservative men by + their refusal to countenance any laws that recognized slavery; + but they gained force when Congress denied them the right of + petition and when President Jackson refused them the use of the + mails.</p> + + <p>There could be no question as to the directness of their + attack. They held up the slaveholder to scorn. They gave + thousands of examples of the inhumanity of the system of + slavery, publishing scores and even hundreds of tracts and + pamphlets. They called the attention of America to the slave + who for running away was for five days buried in the ground up + to his chin with his arms tied behind him; to women who were + whipped because they did not breed fast enough or would not + yield to the lust of planters or overseers; to men who were + tied to be whipped and then left bleeding, or who were branded + with hot irons, or forced to wear iron yokes and clogs and + bells; to the Presbyterian preacher in Georgia who tortured a + slave until he died; to a woman in New Jersey who was "bound to + a log, and scored with a knife, in a shocking manner, across + her back, and the gashes stuffed with salt, after which she was + tied to a post in a cellar, where, after suffering three days, + death kindly terminated her misery"; and finally to the fact + that even when slaves were dead they were not left in peace, as + the South Carolina Medical College in Charleston advertised + that the bodies were used for dissection.<a id="footnotetag163" + name="footnotetag163"></a><a href= + "#footnote163"><sup>163</sup></a> In the face of such an + indictment the South appeared more injured and innocent than + ever, and said that evils had been greatly exaggerated. + Perhaps in some instances they were; but the South and + everybody also knew that no pen could nearly do justice to + some of the things that were possible under the iniquitous + and abominable system of American slavery.</p> + + <p>The Abolitionists, however, did not stop with a mere attack + on slavery. Not satisfied with the mere enumeration of examples + of Negro achievement, they made even higher claims in behalf of + the people now oppressed. Said Alexander H. Everett:<a id= + "footnotetag164" + name="footnotetag164"></a><a href= + "#footnote164"><sup>164</sup></a> "We are sometimes told + that all these efforts will be unavailing—that the African + is a degraded member of the human family—that a man with a + dark skin and curled hair is necessarily, as such, incapable + of improvement and civilization, and condemned by the vice + of his physical conformation to vegetate forever in a state + of hopeless barbarism. I reject with contempt and + indignation this miserable heresy. In replying to it the + friends of truth and humanity have not hitherto done justice + to the argument. In order to prove that the blacks were + capable of intellectual efforts, they have painfully + collected a few specimens of what some of them have done in + this way, even in the degraded condition which they occupy + at present in Christendom. This is not the way to treat the + subject. Go back to an earlier period in the history of our + race. See what the blacks were and what they did three + thousand years ago, in the period of their greatness and + glory, when they occupied the forefront in the march of + civilization—when they constituted in fact the whole + civilized world of their time. Trace this very civilization, + of which we are so proud, to its origin, and see where you + will find it. We received it from our European ancestors: + they had it from the Greeks and Romans, and the Jews. But, + sir, where did the Greeks and the Romans and the Jews get + it? They derived it from Ethiopia and Egypt—in one word, + from Africa.<a id="footnotetag165" + name="footnotetag165"></a><a href= + "#footnote165"><sup>165</sup></a> ... The ruins of the + Egyptian temples laugh to scorn the architectural monuments + of any other part of the world. They will be what they are + now, the delight and admiration of travelers from all + quarters, when the grass is growing on the sites of St. + Peter's and St. Paul's, the present pride of Rome and + London.... It seems, therefore, that for this very + civilization of which we are so proud, and which is the only + ground of our present claim of superiority, we are indebted + to the ancestors of these very blacks, whom we are pleased + to consider as naturally incapable of civilization."</p> + + <p>In adherence to their convictions the Abolitionists were now + to give a demonstration of faith in humanity such as has never + been surpassed except by Jesus Christ himself. They believed in + the Negro even before the Negro had learned to believe in + himself. Acting on their doctrine of equal rights, they + traveled with their Negro friends, "sat upon the same platforms + with them, ate with them, and one enthusiastic abolitionist + white couple adopted a Negro child."<a id="footnotetag166" + name="footnotetag166"></a><a href= + "#footnote166"><sup>166</sup></a></p> + + <p>Garrison appealed to posterity. He has most certainly been + justified by time. Compared with his high stand for the right, + the opportunism of such a man as Clay shrivels into + nothingness. Within recent years a distinguished American + scholar,<a id="footnotetag167" + name="footnotetag167"></a><a href= + "#footnote167"><sup>167</sup></a> writing of the principles + for which he and his co-workers stood, has said: "The race + question transcends any academic inquiry as to what ought to + have been done in 1866. It affects the North as well as the + South; it touches the daily life of all of our citizens, + individually, politically, humanly. It molds the child's + conception of democracy. It tests the faith of the adult. It + is by no means an American problem only. What is going on in + our states, North and South, is only a local phase of a + world-problem.... Now, Whittier's opinions upon that + world-problem are unmistakable. He believed, quite + literally, that all men are brothers; that oppression of one + man or one race degrades the whole human family; and that + there should be the fullest equality of opportunity. That a + mere difference in color should close the door of civil, + industrial, and political hope upon any individual was a + hateful thing to the Quaker poet. The whole body of his + verse is a protest against the assertion of race pride, + against the emphasis upon racial differences. To Whittier + there was no such thing as a 'white man's civilization.' The + only distinction was between civilization and barbarism. He + had faith in education, in equality before the law, in + freedom of opportunity, and in the ultimate triumph of + brotherhood.</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">'They are rising,—</p> + + <p class="i4">All are rising,</p> + + <p class="i2">The black and white together.'</p> + </div> + + <p>This faith is at once too sentimental and too dogmatic to + suit those persons who have exalted economic efficiency into a + fetish and who have talked loudly at times—though rather less + loudly since the Russo-Japanese War—about the white man's task + of governing the backward races. <i>But whatever progress has + been made by the American Negro since the Civil War, in + self-respect, in moral and intellectual development, and—for + that matter—in economic efficiency, has been due to fidelity to + those principles which Whittier and other like-minded men and + women long ago enunciated</i>.<a id="footnotetag168" + name="footnotetag168"></a><a href= + "#footnote168"><sup>168</sup></a> The immense tasks which + still remain, alike for 'higher' as for 'lower' races, can + be worked out by following Whittier's program, if they can + be worked out at all."</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Contest" + name="Contest"><i>The Contest</i></a></h4> + + <p>Even before the Abolitionists became aggressive a test law + had been passed, the discussion of which did much to prepare + for their coming. Immediately after the Denmark Vesey + insurrection the South Carolina legislature voted that the + moment that a vessel entered a port in the state with a free + Negro or person of color on board he should be seized, even if + he was the cook, the steward, or a mariner, or if he was a + citizen of another state or country.<a id="footnotetag169" + name="footnotetag169"></a><a href= + "#footnote169"><sup>169</sup></a> The sheriff was to board + the vessel, take the Negro to jail and detain him there + until the vessel was actually ready to leave. The master of + the ship was then to pay for the detention of the Negro and + take him away, or pay a fine of $1,000 and see the Negro + sold as a slave. Within a short time after this enactment + was passed, as many as forty-one vessels were deprived of + one or more hands, from one British trading vessel almost + the entire crew being taken. The captains appealed to the + judge of the United States District Court, who with alacrity + turned the matter over to the state courts. Now followed + much legal proceeding, with an appeal to higher authorities, + in the course of which both Canning and Adams were forced to + consider the question, and it was generally recognized that + the act violated both the treaty with Great Britain and the + power of Congress to regulate trade. To all of this South + Carolina replied that as a sovereign state she had the right + to interdict the entry of foreigners, that in fact she had + been a sovereign state at the time of her entrance into the + Union and that she never had surrendered the right to + exclude free Negroes. Finally she asserted that if a + dissolution of the Union must be the alternative she was + quite prepared to abide by the result. Unusual excitement + arose soon afterwards when four free Negroes on a British + ship were seized by the sheriff and dragged from the deck. + The captain had to go to heavy expense to have these men + released, and on reaching Liverpool he appealed to the Board + of Trade. The British minister now sent a more vigorous + protest, Adams referred the same to Wirt, the Attorney + General, and Wirt was forced to declare South Carolina's act + unconstitutional and void. His opinion with a copy of the + British protest Adams sent to the Governor of the state, who + immediately transmitted the same to the legislature. Each + branch of the legislature passed resolutions which the other + would not accept, but neither voted to repeal the law. In + fact, it remained technically in force until the Civil War. + In 1844 Massachusetts sent Samuel Hoar as a commissioner to + Charleston to make a test case of a Negro who had been + deprived of his rights. Hoar cited Article II, Section 2, of + the National Constitution ("The citizens of each state shall + be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens + in the several states"), intending ultimately to bring a + case before the United States Supreme Court. When he + appeared, however, the South Carolina legislature voted that + "this agent comes here not as a citizen of the United + States, but as an emissary of a foreign Government hostile + to our domestic institutions and with the sole purpose of + subverting our internal police." Hoar was at length notified + that his life was in danger and he was forced to leave the + state. Meanwhile Southern sentiment against the American + Colonization Society had crystallized, and the excitement + raised by David Walker's <i>Appeal</i> was exceeded only by + that occasioned by Nat Turner's insurrection.</p> + + <p>When, then, the Abolitionists began their campaign the + country was already ripe for a struggle, and in the North as + well as the South there was plenty of sentiment unfavorable to + the Negro. In July, 1831, when an attempt was made to start a + manual training school for Negro youth in New Haven, the + citizens at a public meeting declared that "the founding of + colleges for educating colored people is an unwarrantable and + dangerous interference with the internal concerns of other + states, and ought to be discouraged"; and they ultimately + forced the project to be abandoned. At Canterbury in the same + state Prudence Crandall, a young Quaker woman twenty-nine years + of age, was brought face to face with the problem when she + admitted a Negro girl, Sarah Harris, to her school.<a id= + "footnotetag170" + name="footnotetag170"></a><a href= + "#footnote170"><sup>170</sup></a> When she was boycotted she + announced that she would receive Negro girls only if no + others would attend, and she advertised accordingly in the + Liberator. She was subjected to various indignities and + efforts were made to arrest her pupils as vagrants. As she + was still undaunted, her opponents, on May 24, 1833, + procured a special act of the legislature forbidding, under + severe penalties, the instruction of any Negro from outside + the state without the consent of the town authorities. Under + this act Miss Crandall was arrested and imprisoned, being + confined to a cell which had just been vacated by a + murderer. The Abolitionists came to her defense, but she was + convicted, and though the higher courts quashed the + proceedings on technicalities, the village shopkeepers + refused to sell her food, manure was thrown into her well, + her house was pelted with rotten eggs and at last + demolished, and even the meeting-house in the town was + closed to her. The attempt to continue the school was then + abandoned. In 1834 an academy was built by subscription in + Canaan, N.H.; it was granted a charter by the legislature, + and the proprietors determined to admit all applicants + having "suitable moral and intellectual recommendations, + without other distinctions." The town-meeting "viewed with + abhorrence" the attempt to establish the school, but when it + was opened twenty-eight white and fourteen Negro scholars + attended. The town-meeting then ordered that the academy be + forcibly removed and appointed a committee to execute the + mandate. Accordingly on August 10 three hundred men with two + hundred oxen assembled, took the edifice from its place, + dragged it for some distance and left it a ruin. From 1834 + to 1836, in fact, throughout the country, from east to west, + swept a wave of violence. Not less than twenty-five attempts + were made to break up anti-slavery meetings. In New York in + October, 1833, there was a riot in Clinton Hall, and from + July 7 to 11 of the next year a succession of riots led to + the sacking of the house of Lewis Tappan and the destruction + of other houses and churches. When George Thompson arrived + from England in September, 1834, his meetings were + constantly disturbed, and Garrison himself was mobbed in + Boston in 1835, being dragged through the streets with a + rope around his body.</p> + + <p>In general the Abolitionists were charged by the South with + promoting both insurrection and the amalgamation of the races. + There was no clear proof of these charges; nevertheless, May + said, "If we do not emancipate our slaves by our own moral + energy, they will emancipate themselves and that by a process + too horrible to contemplate";<a id="footnotetag171" + name="footnotetag171"></a><a href= + "#footnote171"><sup>171</sup></a> and Channing said, + "Allowing that amalgamation is to be anticipated, then, I + maintain, we have no right to resist it. Then it is not + unnatural."<a id="footnotetag172" + name="footnotetag172"></a><a href= + "#footnote172"><sup>172</sup></a> While the South grew + hysterical at the thought, it was, as Hart remarks, a fair + inquiry, which the Abolitionists did not hesitate to put—Who + was responsible for the only amalgamation that had so far + taken place? After a few years there was a cleavage among + the Abolitionists. Some of the more practical men, like + Birney, Gerrit Smith, and the Tappans, who believed in + fighting through governmental machinery, in 1838 broke away + from the others and prepared to take a part in Federal + politics. This was the beginning of the Liberty party, which + nominated Birney for the presidency in 1840 and again in + 1844. In 1848 it became merged in the Free Soil party and + ultimately in the Republican party.</p> + + <p>With the forties came division in the Church—a sort of + prelude to the great events that were to thunder through the + country within the next two decades. Could the Church really + countenance slavery? Could a bishop hold a slave? These were to + become burning questions. In 1844-5 the Baptists of the North + and East refused to approve the sending out of missionaries who + owned slaves, and the Southern Baptist Convention resulted. In + 1844, when James O. Andrew came into the possession of slaves + by his marriage to a widow who had these as a legacy from her + former husband, the Northern Methodists refused to grant that + one of their bishops might hold a slave, and the Methodist + Episcopal Church, South, was formally organized in Louisville + the following year. The Presbyterians and the Episcopalians, + more aristocratic in tone, did not divide.</p> + + <p>The great events of the annexation of Texas, with the + Mexican War that resulted, the Compromise of 1850, with the + Fugitive Slave Law, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854, and the + Dred Scott decision of 1857 were all regarded in the North as + successive steps in the campaign of slavery, though now in the + perspective they appear as vain efforts to beat back a + resistless tide. In the Mexican War it was freely urged by the + Mexicans that, should the American line break, their host would + soon find itself among the rich cities of the South, where + perhaps it could not only exact money, but free two million + slaves as well, call to its assistance the Indians, and even + draw aid from the Abolitionists in the North.<a id= + "footnotetag173" + name="footnotetag173"></a><a href= + "#footnote173"><sup>173</sup></a> Nothing of all this was to + be. Out of the academic shades of Harvard, however, at last + came a tongue of flame. In "The Present Crisis" James + Russell Lowell produced lines whose tremendous beat was like + a stern call of the whole country to duty:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">Once to every man and nation comes the moment + to decide,<br /> + In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil + side;<br /> + Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the + bloom or blight,<br /> + Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the + right,<br /> + And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and + that light.</p> + <hr /> + + <p class="i2">Then to side with Truth is noble when we + share her wretched crust,<br /> + Ere her cause bring fame and profit and 'tis prosperous to + be just;<br /> + Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands + aside,<br /> + Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is + crucified,<br /> + And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had + denied.</p> + <hr /> + + <p class="i2">New occasions teach new duties; Time makes + ancient good uncouth;<br /> + They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast + of Truth;<br /> + Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must + Pilgrims be,<br /> + Launch our <i>Mayflower</i>, and steer boldly through the + desperate winter sea,<br /> + Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's + blood-rusted key.</p> + </div> + + <p>As "The Present Crisis" came after the Mexican War, so after + the new Fugitive Slave Law appeared <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> + (1852). "When despairing Hungarian fugitives make their way, + against all the search-warrants and authorities of their lawful + governments, to America, press and political cabinet ring with + applause and welcome. When despairing African fugitives do the + same thing—it is—what <i>is</i> it?" asked Harriet Beecher + Stowe; and in her remarkable book she proceeded to show the + injustice of the national position. <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> + has frequently been termed a piece of propaganda that gave an + overdrawn picture of Southern conditions. The author, however, + had abundant proof for her incidents, and she was quite aware + of the fact that the problem of the Negro, North as well as + South, transcended the question of slavery. Said St. Clair to + Ophelia: "If we emancipate, are you willing to educate? How + many families of your town would take in a Negro man or woman, + teach them, bear with them, and seek to make them Christians? + How many merchants would take Adolph, if I wanted to make him a + clerk; or mechanics, if I wanted to teach him a trade? If I + wanted to put Jane and Rosa to school, how many schools are + there in the Northern states that would take them in?... We are + in a bad position. We are the more <i>obvious</i> oppressors of + the Negro; but the unchristian prejudice of the North is an + oppressor almost equally severe."</p> + + <p>Meanwhile the thrilling work of the Underground Railroad was + answered by a practical reopening of the slave-trade. From 1820 + to 1840, as the result of the repressive measure of 1819, the + traffic had declined; between 1850 and 1860, however, it was + greatly revived, and Southern conventions resolved that all + laws, state or Federal, prohibiting the slave-trade, should be + repealed. The traffic became more and more open and defiant + until, as Stephen A. Douglas computed, as many as 15,000 slaves + were brought into the country in 1859. It was not until the + Lincoln government in 1862 hanged the first trader who ever + suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and made with Great + Britain a treaty embodying the principle of international right + of search, that the trade was effectually checked. By the end + of the war it was entirely suppressed, though as late as 1866 a + squadron of ships patrolled the slave coast.</p> + + <p>The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, repealing the Missouri Compromise + and providing for "squatter sovereignty" in the territories in + question, outraged the North and led immediately to the forming + of the Republican party. It was not long before public + sentiment began to make itself felt, and the first + demonstration took place in Boston. Anthony Burns was a slave + who escaped from Virginia and made his way to Boston, where he + was at work in the winter of 1853-4. He was discovered by a + United States marshal who presented a writ for his arrest just + at the time of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in May, + 1854. Public feeling became greatly aroused. Wendell Phillips + and Theodore Parker delivered strong addresses at a meeting in + Faneuil Hall while an unsuccessful attempt to rescue Burns from + the Court House was made under the leadership of Thomas + Wentworth Higginson, who with others of the attacking party was + wounded. It was finally decided in court that Burns must be + returned to his master. The law was obeyed; but Boston had been + made very angry, and generally her feeling had counted for + something in the history of the country. The people draped + their houses in mourning, hissed the procession that took Burns + to his ship and at the wharf a riot was averted only by a + minister's call to prayer. This incident did more to + crystallize Northern sentiment against slavery than any other + except the exploit of John Brown, and this was the last time + that a fugitive slave was taken out of Boston. Burns himself + was afterwards bought by popular subscription, and ultimately + became a Baptist minister in Canada.</p> + + <p>In 1834 Dr. Emerson, an army officer stationed in Missouri, + removed to Illinois, taking with him his slave, Dred Scott. Two + years later, again accompanied by Scott, he went to Minnesota. + In Illinois slavery was prohibited by state law and Minnesota + was a free territory. In 1838 Emerson returned with Scott to + Missouri. After a while the slave raised the important + question: Had not his residence outside of a slave state made + him a free man? Beaten by his master in 1848, with the aid of + anti-slavery lawyers Scott brought a suit against him for + assault and battery, the circuit court of St. Louis rendering a + decision in his favor. Emerson appealed and in 1852 the Supreme + Court of the state reversed the decision of the lower court. + Not long after this Emerson sold Scott to a citizen of New York + named Sandford. Scott now brought suit against Sandford, on the + ground that they were citizens of different states. The case + finally reached the Supreme Court of the United States, which + in 1857 handed down the decision that Scott was not a citizen + of Missouri and had no standing in the Federal courts, that a + slave was only a piece of property, and that a master might + take his property with impunity to any place within the + jurisdiction of the United States. The ownership of Scott and + his family soon passed to a Massachusetts family by whom they + were liberated; but the important decision that the case had + called forth aroused the most intense excitement throughout the + country, and somehow out of it all people remembered more than + anything else the amazing declaration of Chief Justice Taney + that "the Negroes were so far inferior that they had no rights + which the white man was bound to respect." The extra-legal + character and the general fallacy of his position were exposed + by Justice Curtis in a masterly dissenting opinion.</p> + + <p>No one incident of the period showed more clearly the + tension under which the country was laboring than the assault + on Charles Sumner by Preston S. Brooks, a congressional + representative from South Carolina. As a result of this + regrettable occurrence splendid canes with such inscriptions as + "Hit him again" and "Use knock-down arguments" were sent to + Brooks from different parts of the South and he was + triumphantly reëlected by his constituency, while on the other + hand resolutions denouncing him were passed all over the North, + in Canada, and even in Europe. More than ever the South was + thrown on the defensive, and in impassioned speeches Robert + Toombs now glorified his state and his section. Speaking at + Emory College in 1853 he had already made an extended apology + for slavery;<a id="footnotetag174" + name="footnotetag174"></a><a href= + "#footnote174"><sup>174</sup></a> speaking in the Georgia + legislature on the eve of secession he contended that the + South had been driven to bay by the Abolitionists and must + now "expand or perish." A writer in the <i>Southern Literary + Messenger</i>,<a id="footnotetag175" + name="footnotetag175"></a><a href= + "#footnote175"><sup>175</sup></a> in an article "The Black + Race in North America," made the astonishing statement that + "the slavery of the black race on this continent is the + price America has paid for her liberty, civil and religious, + and, humanly speaking, these blessings would have been + unattainable without their aid." Benjamin M. Palmer, a + distinguished minister of New Orleans, in a widely quoted + sermon in 1860 spoke of the peculiar trust that had been + given to the South—to be the guardians of the slaves, the + conservers of the world's industry, and the defenders of the + cause of religion.<a id="footnotetag176" + name="footnotetag176"></a><a href= + "#footnote176"><sup>176</sup></a> "The blooms upon Southern + fields gathered by black hands have fed the spindles and + looms of Manchester and Birmingham not less than of Lawrence + and Lowell. Strike now a blow at this system of labor and + the world itself totters at the stroke. Shall we permit that + blow to fall? Do we not owe it to civilized man to stand in + the breach and stay the uplifted arm?... This trust we will + discharge in the face of the worst possible peril. Though + war be the aggregation of all evils, yet, should the madness + of the hour appeal to the arbitration of the sword, we will + not shrink even from the baptism of fire.... The position of + the South is at this moment sublime. If she has grace given + her to know her hour, she will save herself, the country, + and the world."</p> + + <p>All of this was very earnest and very eloquent, but also + very mistaken, and the general fallacy of the South's position + was shown by no less a man than he who afterwards became + vice-president of the Confederacy. Speaking in the Georgia + legislature in opposition to the motion for secession, Stephens + said that the South had no reason to feel aggrieved, for all + along she had received more than her share of the nation's + privileges, and had almost always won in the main that which + was demanded. She had had sixty years of presidents to the + North's twenty-four; two-thirds of the clerkships and other + appointments although the white population in the section was + only one-third that of the country; fourteen attorneys general + to the North's five; and eighteen Supreme Court judges to the + North's eleven, although four-fifths of the business of the + court originated in the free states. "This," said Stephens in + an astonishing declaration, "we have required so as to guard + against any interpretation of the Constitution unfavorable to + us."</p> + + <p>Still another voice from the South, in a slightly different + key, attacked the tendencies in the section. <i>The Impending + Crisis</i> (1857), by Hinton Rowan Helper, of North Carolina, + was surpassed in sensational interest by no other book of the + period except <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>. The author did not + place himself upon the broadest principles of humanity and + statesmanship; he had no concern for the Negro, and the great + planters of the South were to him simply the "whelps" and + "curs" of slavery. He spoke merely as the voice of the + non-slaveholding white men in the South. He set forth such + unpleasant truths as that the personal and real property, + including slaves, of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, + Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, taken all together, was + less than the real and personal estate in the single state of + New York; that representation in Southern legislatures was + unfair; that in Congress a Southern planter was twice as + powerful as a Northern man; that slavery was to blame for the + migration from the South to the West; and that in short the + system was in every way harmful to the man of limited means. + All of this was decidedly unpleasant to the ears of the + property owners of the South; Helper's book was proscribed, and + the author himself found it more advisable to live in New York + than in his native state. <i>The Impending Crisis</i> was + eagerly read, however, and it succeeded as a book because it + attempted to attack with some degree of honesty a great + economic problem.</p> + + <p>The time for speeches and books, however, was over, and the + time for action had come. For years the slave had chanted, + "I've been listenin' all the night long"; and his prayer had + reached the throne. On October 16, 1859, John Brown made his + raid on Harper's Ferry and took his place with the immortals. + In the long and bitter contest on American slavery the + Abolitionists had won.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote151" + name="footnote151"></a><b>Footnote 151:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag151">(return)</a><br/> + + See "Two Lectures on the Natural History of the + Caucasian and Negro Races. By Josiah C. Nott, M.D., Mobile, + 1844."</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote152" + name="footnote152"></a><b>Footnote 152:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag152">(return)</a><br/> + + See Laurence Hutton: "The Negro on the Stage," in + <i>Harper's Magazine</i>, 79:137 (June, 1889), referring to + article by Edmon S. Conner in <i>New York Times</i>, June + 5, 1881.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote153" + name="footnote153"></a><b>Footnote 153:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag153">(return)</a><br/> + + See Hart: <i>Slavery and Abolition</i>, 11 and 117, + citing Cutler: <i>Lynch Law</i>, 98-100 and 126-128.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote154" + name="footnote154"></a><b>Footnote 154:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag154">(return)</a><br/> + + Cutler: <i>Lynch Law</i>, 109, citing Niles's + <i>Register</i>, June 4, 1836.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote155" + name="footnote155"></a><b>Footnote 155:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag155">(return)</a><br/> + + McDougall: Fugitive Slaves, 36-37.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote156" + name="footnote156"></a><b>Footnote 156:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag156">(return)</a><br/> + + McMaster, V, 219-220.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote157" + name="footnote157"></a><b>Footnote 157:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag157">(return)</a><br/> + + Adams: <i>The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery, + 1808-1831</i>, 250-251.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote158" + name="footnote158"></a><b>Footnote 158:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag158">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Ibid</i>., 110.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote159" + name="footnote159"></a><b>Footnote 159:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag159">(return)</a><br/> + + William Birney: <i>James G. Birney and His Times</i>, + 85-86.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote160" + name="footnote160"></a><b>Footnote 160:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag160">(return)</a><br/> + + Register of Debates, <i>4,975</i>, cited by Adams, + 112-3.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote161" + name="footnote161"></a><b>Footnote 161:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag161">(return)</a><br/> + + Henry A. Beers: <i>Initial Studies in American + Letters</i>, 95-98 passim.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote162" + name="footnote162"></a><b>Footnote 162:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag162">(return)</a><br/> + + "An Address delivered before the Free People of Color in + Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, during the month + of June, 1831, by Wm. Lloyd Garrison. Boston, 1831," pp. + 14-18.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote163" + name="footnote163"></a><b>Footnote 163:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag163">(return)</a><br/> + + See "American Slavery as it is: Testimony of a Thousand + Witnesses. By Theodore Dwight Weld. Published by the + American Anti-Slavery Society, New York, 1839"; but the + account of the New Jersey woman is from "A Portraiture of + Domestic Slavery in the United States, by Jesse Torrey, + Ballston Spa, Penn., 1917," p. 67.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote164" + name="footnote164"></a><b>Footnote 164:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag164">(return)</a><br/> + + See "The Anti-Slavery Picknick: a collection of + Speeches, Poems, Dialogues, and Songs, intended for use in + schools and anti-slavery meetings. By John A. Collins, + Boston, 1842," 10-12.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote165" + name="footnote165"></a><b>Footnote 165:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag165">(return)</a><br/> + + It is worthy of note that this argument, which was long + thought to be fallacious, is more and more coming to be + substantiated by the researches of scholars, and that not + only as affecting Northern but also Negro Africa. Note Lady + Lugard (Flora L. Shaw): <i>A Tropical Dependency</i>, + London, 1906, pp. 16-18.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote166" + name="footnote166"></a><b>Footnote 166:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag166">(return)</a><br/> + + Hart: <i>Slavery and Abolition</i>, 245-6.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote167" + name="footnote167"></a><b>Footnote 167:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag167">(return)</a><br/> + + Bliss Perry: "Whittier for To-Day," <i>Atlantic + Monthly</i>, Vol. 100, 851-859 (December, 1907).</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote168" + name="footnote168"></a><b>Footnote 168:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag168">(return)</a><br/> + + The italics are our own.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote169" + name="footnote169"></a><b>Footnote 169:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag169">(return)</a><br/> + + Note McMaster, V, 200-204.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote170" + name="footnote170"></a><b>Footnote 170:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag170">(return)</a><br/> + + Note especially "Connecticut's Canterbury Tale; its + Heroine, Prudence Crandall, and its Moral for To-Day, by + John C. Kimball," Hartford (1886).</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote171" + name="footnote171"></a><b>Footnote 171:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag171">(return)</a><br/> + + Hart, 221, citing <i>Liberator</i>, V, 59.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote172" + name="footnote172"></a><b>Footnote 172:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag172">(return)</a><br/> + + Hart, 216, citing Channing, <i>Works</i>, V. 57.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote173" + name="footnote173"></a><b>Footnote 173:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag173">(return)</a><br/> + + Justin H. Smith: <i>The War with Mexico</i>, I, 107.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote174" + name="footnote174"></a><b>Footnote 174:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag174">(return)</a><br/> + + See "An Oration delivered before the Few and Phi Gamma + Societies of Emory College: Slavery in the United States; + its consistency with republican institutions, and its + effects upon the slave and society. Augusta, Ga., + 1853."</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote175" + name="footnote175"></a><b>Footnote 175:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag175">(return)</a><br/> + + November, 1855.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote176" + name="footnote176"></a><b>Footnote 176:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag176">(return)</a><br/> + + "The Rights of the South defended in the Pulpits, by + B.M. Palmer, D.D., and W.T. Leacock, D.D., Mobile, + 1860."</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERXI" + name="CHAPTERXI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + + <h3>SOCIAL PROGRESS, 1820-1860<a id="footnotetag177" + name="footnotetag177"></a><a href= + "#footnote177"><sup>177</sup></a></h3> + + <p>So far in our study we have seen the Negro as the object of + interest on the part of the American people. Some were disposed + to give him a helping hand, some to keep him in bondage, and + some thought that it might be possible to dispose of any + problem by sending him out of the country. In all this period + of agitation and ferment, aside from the efforts of friends in + his behalf, just what was the Negro doing to work out his own + salvation? If for the time being we can look primarily at + constructive effort rather than disabilities, just what do we + find that on his own account he was doing to rise to the full + stature of manhood?</p> + + <p>Naturally in the answer to such a question we shall have to + be concerned with those people who had already attained unto + nominal freedom. We shall indeed find many examples of + industrious slaves who, working in agreement with their owners, + managed sometimes to purchase themselves and even to secure + ownership of their families. Such cases, while considerable in + the aggregate, were after all exceptional, and for the ordinary + slave on the plantation the outlook was hopeless enough. In + 1860 the free persons formed just one-ninth of the total Negro + population in the country, there being 487,970 of them to + 3,953,760 slaves. It is a commonplace to remark the progress + that the race has made since emancipation. A study of the + facts, however, will show that with all their disadvantages + less than half a million people had before 1860 not only made + such progress as amasses a surprising total, but that they had + already entered every large field of endeavor in which the race + is engaged to-day.</p> + + <p>When in course of time the status of the Negro in the + American body politic became a live issue, the possibility and + the danger of an <i>imperium in imperio</i> were perceived; and + Rev. James W.C. Pennington, undoubtedly a leader, said in his + lectures in London and Glasgow: "The colored population of the + United States have no destiny separate from that of the nation + in which they form an integral part. Our destiny is bound up + with that of America. Her ship is ours; her pilot is ours; her + storms are ours; her calms are ours. If she breaks upon any + rock, we break with her. If we, born in America, can not live + upon the same soil upon terms of equality with the descendants + of Scotchmen, Englishmen, Irishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, + Hungarians, Greeks, and Poles, then the fundamental theory of + America fails and falls to the ground."<a id="footnotetag178" + name="footnotetag178"></a><a href= + "#footnote178"><sup>178</sup></a> While everybody was + practically agreed upon this fundamental matter of the + relation of the race to the Federal Government, more and + more there developed two lines of thought, equally honest, + as to the means by which the race itself was to attain unto + the highest things that American civilization had to offer. + The leader of one school of thought was Richard Allen, + founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. When this + man and his friends found that in white churches they were + not treated with courtesy, they said, We shall have our own + church; we shall have our own bishop; we shall build up our + own enterprises in any line whatsoever; and even to-day the + church that Allen founded remains as the greatest single + effort of the race in organization. The foremost + representative of the opposing line of thought was + undoubtedly Frederick Douglass, who in a speech in Rochester + in 1848 said: "I am well aware of the anti-Christian + prejudices which have excluded many colored persons from + white churches, and the consequent necessity for erecting + their own places of worship. This evil I would charge upon + its originators, and not the colored people. But such a + necessity does not now exist to the extent of former years. + There are societies where color is not regarded as a test of + membership, and such places I deem more appropriate for + colored persons than exclusive or isolated organizations." + There is much more difference between these two positions + than can be accounted for by the mere lapse of forty years + between the height of the work of Allen and that of + Douglass. Allen certainly did not sanction segregation under + the law, and no man worked harder than he to relieve his + people from proscription. Douglass moreover, who did not + formally approve of organizations that represented any such + distinction as that of race, again and again presided over + gatherings of Negro men. In the last analysis, however, it + was Allen who was foremost in laying the basis of + distinctively Negro enterprise, and Douglass who felt that + the real solution of any difficulty was for the race to lose + itself as quickly as possible in the general body + politic.</p> + + <p>We have seen that the Church was from the first the race's + foremost form of social organization, and that sometimes in + very close touch with it developed the early lodges of such a + body as the Masons. By 1800 emancipation was well under way; + then began emigration from the South to the central West; + emigration brought into being the Underground Railroad; and + finally all forces worked together for the development of Negro + business, the press, conventions, and other forms of activity. + It was natural that states so close to the border as + Pennsylvania and Ohio should be important in this early + development.</p> + + <p>The Church continued the growth that it had begun several + decades before. The A.M.E. denomination advanced rapidly from 7 + churches and 400 members in 1816 to 286 churches and 73,000 + members by the close of the Civil War. Naturally such a + distinctively Negro organization could make little progress in + the South before the war, but there were small congregations in + Charleston and New Orleans, and William Paul Quinn blazed a + path in the West, going from Pittsburgh to St. Louis.</p> + + <p>In 1847 the Prince Hall Lodge of the Masons in + Massachusetts, the First Independent African Grand Lodge in + Pennsylvania, and the Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania formed + a National Grand Lodge, and from one or another of these all + other Grand Lodges among Negroes have descended. In 1842 the + members of the Philomathean Institute of New York and of the + Philadelphia Library Company and Debating Society applied for + admission to the International Order of Odd Fellows. They were + refused on account of their race. Thereupon Peter Ogden, a + Negro, who had already joined the Grand United Order of Odd + Fellows of England, secured a charter for the first Negro + American lodge, Philomathean, No. 646, of New York, which was + set up March 1, 1843. It was followed within the next two years + by lodges in New York, Philadelphia, Albany, and Poughkeepsie. + The Knights of Pythias were not organized until 1864 in + Washington; but the Grand Order of Galilean Fishermen started + on its career in Baltimore in 1856.</p> + + <p>The benefit societies developed apace. At first they were + small and confined to a group of persons well known to each + other, thus being genuinely fraternal. Simple in form, they + imposed an initiation fee of hardly less than $2.50 or more + than $5.00, a monthly fee of about 50 cents, and gave sick dues + ranging from $1.50 to $5.00 a month, with guarantee of payment + of one's funeral expenses and subsequent help to the widow. By + 1838 there were in Philadelphia alone 100 such groups with + 7,448 members. As bringing together spirits supposedly + congenial, these organizations largely took the place of clubs, + and the meetings were relished accordingly. Some drifted into + secret societies, and after the Civil War some that had not + cultivated the idea of insurance were forced to add this + feature to their work.</p> + + <p>In the sphere of civil rights the Negroes, in spite of + circumstances, were making progress, and that by their own + efforts as well as those of their friends the Abolitionists. + Their papers helped decidedly. The <i>Journal of Freedom</i> + (commonly known as <i>Freedom's Journal</i>), begun March 30, + 1827, ran for three years. It had numerous successors, but no + one of outstanding strength before the <i>North Star</i> (later + known as <i>Frederick Douglass' Paper</i>) began publication in + 1847, continuing until the Civil War. Largely through the + effort of Paul Cuffe for the franchise, New Bedford, Mass., was + generally prominent in all that made for racial prosperity. + Here even by 1850 the Negro voters held the balance of power + and accordingly exerted a potent influence on Election + day.<a id="footnotetag179" + name="footnotetag179"></a><a href= + "#footnote179"><sup>179</sup></a> Under date March 6, 1840, + there was brought up for repeal so much of the Massachusetts + Statutes as forbade intermarriage between white persons and + Negroes, mulattoes, or Indians, as "contrary to the + principles of Christianity and republicanism." The committee + said that it did not recommend a repeal in the expectation + that the number of connections, legal or illegal, between + the races would be thereupon increased; but its object + rather was that wherever such connections were found the + usual civil liabilities and obligations should not fail to + attach to the contracting parties. The enactment was + repealed. In the same state, by January, 1843, an act + forbidding discrimination on railroads was passed. This grew + out of separate petitions or remonstrances from Francis + Jackson and Joseph Nunn, each man being supported by + friends, and the petitioners based their request "not on the + supposition that the colored man is not as well treated as + his white fellow-citizen, but on the broad principle that + the constitution allows no distinction in public privileges + among the different classes of citizens in this + commonwealth."<a id="footnotetag180" + name="footnotetag180"></a><a href= + "#footnote180"><sup>180</sup></a> In New York City an + interesting case arose over the question of public + conveyances. When about 1852 horse-cars began to supersede + omnibuses on the streets, the Negro was excluded from the + use of them, and he continued to be excluded until 1855, + when a decision of Judge Rockwell gave him the right to + enter them. The decision was ignored and the Negro continued + to be excluded as before. One Sunday in May, however, Rev. + James W.C. Pennington, after service, reminded his hearers + of Judge Rockwell's decision, urged them to stand up for + their rights, and especially to inform any friends who might + visit the city during the coming anniversary week that + Negroes were no longer excluded from the street cars. He + himself then boarded a car on Sixth Avenue, refused to leave + when requested to do so, and was forcibly ejected. He + brought suit against the company and won his case; and thus + the Negro made further advance toward full citizenship in + New York.<a id="footnotetag181" + name="footnotetag181"></a><a href= + "#footnote181"><sup>181</sup></a></p> + + <p>Thus was the Negro developing in religious organization, in + his benefit societies, and toward his rights as a citizen. When + we look at the economic life upon which so much depended, we + find that rather amazing progress had been made. Doors were so + often closed to the Negro, competing white artisans were so + often openly hostile, and he himself labored under so many + disadvantages generally that it has often been thought that his + economic advance before 1860 was negligible; but nothing could + be farther from the truth. It must not be forgotten that for + decades the South had depended upon Negro men for whatever was + to be done in all ordinary trades; some brick-masons, + carpenters, and shoemakers had served a long apprenticeship and + were thoroughly accomplished; and when some of the more + enterprising of these men removed to the North or West they + took their training with them. Very few persons became paupers. + Certainly many were destitute, especially those who had most + recently made their way from slavery; and in general the + colored people cared for their own poor. In 1852, of 3500 + Negroes in Cincinnati, 200 were holders of property who paid + taxes on their real estate.<a id="footnotetag182" + name="footnotetag182"></a><a href= + "#footnote182"><sup>182</sup></a> In 1855 the Negro per + capita ownership of property compared most favorably with + that of the white people. Altogether the Negroes owned + $800,000 worth of property in the city and $5,000,000 worth + in the state. In the city there were among other workers + three bank tellers, a landscape artist who had visited Rome + to complete his education, and nine daguerreotypists, one of + whom was the best in the entire West.<a id="footnotetag183" + name="footnotetag183"></a><a href= + "#footnote183"><sup>183</sup></a> Of 1696 Negroes at work in + Philadelphia in 1856, some of the more important occupations + numbered workers as follows: tailors, dressmakers, and + shirtmakers, 615; barbers, 248; shoemakers, 66; brickmakers, + 53; carpenters, 49; milliners, 45; tanners, 24; cake-bakers, + pastry-cooks, or confectioners, 22; blacksmiths, 22. There + were also 15 musicians or music-teachers, 6 physicians, and + 16 school-teachers.<a id="footnotetag184" + name="footnotetag184"></a><a href= + "#footnote184"><sup>184</sup></a> The foremost and the most + wealthy man of business of the race in the country about + 1850 was Stephen Smith, of the firm of Smith and Whipper, of + Columbia, Pa.<a id="footnotetag185" + name="footnotetag185"></a><a href= + "#footnote185"><sup>185</sup></a> He and his partner were + lumber merchants. Smith was a man of wide interests. He + invested his capital judiciously, engaging in real estate + and spending much of his time in Philadelphia, where he + owned more than fifty brick houses, while Whipper, a + relative, attended to the business of the firm. Together + these men gave employment to a large number of persons. Of + similar quality was Samuel T. Wilcox, of Cincinnati, the + owner of a large grocery business who also engaged in real + estate. Henry Boyd, of Cincinnati, was the proprietor of a + bedstead manufactory that filled numerous orders from the + South and West and that sometimes employed as many as + twenty-five men, half of whom were white. Sometimes through + an humble occupation a Negro rose to competence; thus one of + the eighteen hucksters in Cincinnati became the owner of + $20,000 worth of property. Here and there several caterers + and tailors became known as having the best places in their + line of business in their respective towns. John Julius, of + Pittsburgh, was the proprietor of a brilliant place known as + Concert Hall. When President-elect William Henry Harrison in + 1840 visited the city it was here that his chief reception + was held. Cordovell became widely known as the name of the + leading tailor and originator of fashions in New Orleans. + After several years of success in business this merchant + removed to France, where he enjoyed the fortune that he had + accumulated.</p> + + <p>Cordovell was representative of the advance of the people of + mixed blood in the South. The general status of these people + was better in Louisiana than anywhere else in the country, + North or South; at the same time their situation was such as to + call for special consideration. In Louisiana the "F.M.C." (Free + Man of Color) formed a distinct and anomalous class in + society.<a id="footnotetag186" + name="footnotetag186"></a><a href= + "#footnote186"><sup>186</sup></a> As a free man he had + certain rights, and sometimes his property holdings were + very large.<a id="footnotetag187" + name="footnotetag187"></a><a href= + "#footnote187"><sup>187</sup></a> In fact, in New Orleans a + few years before the Civil War not less than one-fifth of + the taxable property was in the hands of free people of + color. At the same time the lot of these people was one of + endless humiliation. Among some of them irregular household + establishments were regularly maintained by white men, and + there were held the "quadroon balls" which in course of time + gave the city a distinct notoriety. Above the people of this + group, however, was a genuine aristocracy of free people of + color who had a long tradition of freedom, being descended + from the early colonists, and whose family life was most + exemplary. In general they lived to themselves. In fact, it + was difficult for them to do otherwise. They were often + compelled to have papers filled out by white guardians, and + they were not allowed to be visited by slaves or to have + companionship with them, even when attending church or + walking along the roads. Sometimes free colored men owned + their women and children in order that the latter might + escape the invidious law against Negroes recently + emancipated; or the situation was sometimes turned around, + as in Norfolk, Va., where several women owned their + husbands. When the name of a free man of color had to appear + on any formal document—a deed of conveyance, a + marriage-license, a certificate of birth or death, or even + in a newspaper report—the initials F.M.C. had to be + appended. In Louisiana these people petitioned in vain for + the suffrage, and at the outbreak of the Civil War organized + and splendidly equipped for the Confederacy two battalions + of five hundred men. For these they chose two distinguished + white commanders, and the governor accepted their services, + only to have to inform them later that the Confederacy + objected to the enrolling of Negro soldiers. In Charleston + thirty-seven men in a remarkable petition also formally + offered their services to the Confederacy.<a id= + "footnotetag188" + name="footnotetag188"></a><a href= + "#footnote188"><sup>188</sup></a> What most readily found + illustration in New Orleans or Charleston was also true to + some extent of other centers of free people of color such as + Mobile and Baltimore. In general the F.M.C.'s were + industrious and they almost monopolized one or two avenues + of employment; but as a group they had not yet learned to + place themselves upon the broad basis of racial + aspiration.</p> + + <p>Whatever may have been the situation of special groups, + however, it can readily be seen that there were at least some + Negroes in the country—a good many in the aggregate—who by 1860 + were maintaining a high standard in their ordinary social life. + It must not be forgotten that we are dealing with a period when + the general standard of American culture was by no means what + it is to-day. "Four-fifths of the people of the United States + of 1860 lived in the country, and it is perhaps fair to say + that half of these dwelt in log houses of one or two rooms. + Comforts such as most of us enjoy daily were as good as + unknown.... For the workaday world shirtsleeves, heavy brogan + boots and shoes, and rough wool hats were the rule."<a id= + "footnotetag189" + name="footnotetag189"></a><a href= + "#footnote189"><sup>189</sup></a> In Philadelphia, a fairly + representative city, there were at this time a considerable + number of Negroes of means or professional standing. These + people were regularly hospitable; they visited frequently; + and they entertained in well furnished parlors with music + and refreshments. In a day when many of their people had not + yet learned to get beyond showiness in dress, they were + temperate and self-restrained, they lived within their + incomes, and they retired at a seasonable hour.<a id= + "footnotetag190" + name="footnotetag190"></a><a href= + "#footnote190"><sup>190</sup></a></p> + + <p>In spite moreover of all the laws and disadvantages that + they had to meet the Negroes also made general advance in + education. In the South efforts were of course sporadic, but + Negroes received some teaching through private or clandestine + sources.<a id="footnotetag191" + name="footnotetag191"></a><a href= + "#footnote191"><sup>191</sup></a> More than one slave + learned the alphabet while entertaining the son of his + master. In Charleston for a long time before the Civil War + free Negroes could attend schools especially designed for + their benefit and kept by white people or other Negroes. The + course of study not infrequently embraced such subjects as + physiology, physics, and plane geometry. After John Brown's + raid the order went forth that no longer should any colored + person teach Negroes. This resulted in a white person's + being brought to sit in the classroom, though at the + outbreak of the war schools were closed altogether. In the + North, in spite of all proscription, conditions were + somewhat better. As early as 1850 there were in the public + schools in New York 3,393 Negro children, these sustaining + about the same proportion to the Negro population that white + children sustained to the total white population. Two + institutions for the higher education of the Negro were + established before the Civil War, Lincoln University in + Pennsylvania (1854) and Wilberforce University in Ohio + (1856). Oberlin moreover was founded in 1833. In 1835 + Professor Asa Mahan, of Lane Seminary, was offered the + presidency. As he was an Abolitionist he said that he would + accept only if Negroes were admitted on equal terms with + other students. After a warm session of the trustees the + vote was in his favor. Though, before this, individual + Negroes had found their way into Northern institutions, it + was here at Oberlin that they first received a real welcome. + By the outbreak of the war nearly one-third of the students + were of the Negro race, and one of the graduates, John M. + Langston, was soon to be generally prominent in the affairs + of the country.</p> + + <p>It has been maintained that in their emphasis on education + and on the highest culture possible for the Negro the + Abolitionists were mere visionaries who had no practical + knowledge whatever of the race's real needs. This was neither + true nor just. It was absolutely necessary first of all to + establish the Negro's right to enter any field occupied by any + other man, and time has vindicated this position. Even in 1850, + however, the needs of the majority of the Negro people for + advance in their economic life were not overlooked either by + the Abolitionists or the Negroes themselves. Said Martin V. + Delany: "Our elevation must be the result of + <i>self-efforts</i>, and work of our <i>own hands</i>. No other + human power can accomplish it.... Let our young men and young + women prepare themselves for usefulness and business; that the + men may enter into merchandise, trading, and other things of + importance; the young women may become teachers of various + kinds, and otherwise fill places of usefulness. Parents must + turn their attention more to the education of their children. + We mean, to educate them for useful practical business + purposes. Educate them for the store and counting-house—to do + everyday practical business. Consult the children's + propensities, and direct their education according to their + inclinations. It may be that there is too great a desire on the + part of parents to give their children a professional + education, before the body of the people are ready for it. A + people must be a business people and have more to depend upon + than mere help in people's houses and hotels, before they are + either able to support or capable of properly appreciating the + services of professional men among them. This has been one of + our great mistakes—we have gone in advance of ourselves. We + have commenced at the superstructure of the building, instead + of the foundation—at the top instead of the bottom. We should + first be mechanics and common tradesmen, and professions as a + matter of course would grow out of the wealth made + thereby."<a id="footnotetag192" + name="footnotetag192"></a><a href= + "#footnote192"><sup>192</sup></a></p> + + <p>In professional life the Negro had by 1860 made a noteworthy + beginning. Already he had been forced to give attention to the + law, though as yet little by way of actual practice had been + done. In this field Robert Morris, Jr., of Boston, was probably + foremost. William C. Nell, of Rochester and Boston, at the time + prominent in newspaper work and politics, is now best + remembered for his study of the Negro in the early wars of the + country. About the middle of the century Samuel Ringgold Ward, + author of the <i>Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro</i>, and one + of the most eloquent men of the time, was for several years + pastor of a white Congregational church in Courtlandville, + N.Y.; and Henry Highland Garnett was the pastor of a white + congregation in Troy, and well known as a public-spirited + citizen as well. Upon James W.C. Pennington the degree of + Doctor of Divinity was conferred by Heidelberg, and generally + this man had a reputation in England and on the continent of + Europe as well as in America. About the same time Bishops + Daniel A. Payne and William Paul Quinn were adding to the + dignity of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.</p> + + <p>Special interest attaches to the Negro physician. Even in + colonial times, though there was much emphasis on the control + of diseases by roots or charms, there was at least a beginning + in work genuinely scientific. As early as 1792 a Negro named + Cæsar had gained such distinction by his knowledge of curative + herbs that the Assembly of South Carolina purchased his freedom + and gave him an annuity. In the earlier years of the last + century James Derham, of New Orleans, became the first + regularly recognized Negro physician of whom there is a + complete record. Born in Philadelphia in 1762, as a boy he was + transferred to a physician for whom he learned to perform minor + duties. Afterwards he was sold to a physician in New Orleans + who used him as an assistant. Two or three years later he won + his freedom, he became familiar with French and Spanish as well + as English, and he soon commanded general respect by his + learning and skill. About the middle of the century, in New + York, James McCune Smith, a graduate of the University of + Glasgow, was prominent. He was the author of several scientific + papers, a man of wide interests, and universally held in high + esteem. "The first real impetus to bring Negroes in + considerable numbers into the professional world came from the + American Colonization Society, which in the early years + flourished in the South as well as the North ... and undertook + to prepare professional leaders of their race for the Liberian + colony. 'To execute this scheme, leaders of the colonization + movement endeavored to educate Negroes in mechanic arts, + agriculture, science, and Biblical literature. Especially + bright or promising youths were to be given special training as + catechists, teachers, preachers, and physicians. Not much was + said about what they were doing, but now and then appeared + notices of Negroes who had been prepared privately in the South + or publicly in the North for service in Liberia. Dr. William + Taylor and Dr. Fleet were thus educated in the District of + Columbia. In the same way John V. De Grasse, of New York, and + Thomas J. White, of Brooklyn, were allowed to complete the + medical course at Bowdoin in 1849. In 1854 Dr. De Grasse was + admitted as a member of the Massachusetts Medical + Society.'"<a id="footnotetag193" + name="footnotetag193"></a><a href= + "#footnote193"><sup>193</sup></a> Martin V. Delany, more + than once referred to in these pages, after being refused + admission at a number of institutions, was admitted to the + medical school at Harvard. He became distinguished for his + work in a cholera epidemic in Pittsburgh in 1854. It was of + course not until after the Civil War that medical + departments were established in connection with some of the + new higher institutions of learning for Negro students.</p> + + <p>Before 1860 a situation that arose more than once took from + Negroes the real credit for inventions. If a slave made an + invention he was not permitted to take out a patent, for no + slave could make a contract. At the same time the slave's + master could not take out a patent for him, for the Government + would not recognize the slave as having the legal right to make + the assignment to his master. It is certain that Negroes, who + did most of the mechanical work in the South before the Civil + War, made more than one suggestion for the improvement of + machinery. We have already referred to the strong claim put + forth by a member of the race for the real credit of the + cotton-gin. The honor of being the first Negro to be granted a + patent belongs to Henry Blair, of Maryland, who in 1834 + received official protection for a corn harvester.</p> + + <p>Throughout the century there were numerous attempts at + poetical composition, and several booklets were published. + Perhaps the most promising was George Horton's <i>The Hope of + Liberty</i>, which appeared in 1829. Unfortunately, Horton + could not get the encouragement that he needed and in course of + time settled down to the life of a janitor at the University of + North Carolina.<a id="footnotetag194" + name="footnotetag194"></a><a href= + "#footnote194"><sup>194</sup></a> Six years before the war + Frances Ellen Watkins (later Mrs. Harper) struck the popular + note by readings from her <i>Miscellaneous Poems</i>, which + ran through several editions. About the same time William + Wells Brown was prominent, though he also worked for several + years after the war. He was a man of decided talent and had + traveled considerably. He wrote several books dealing with + Negro history and biography; and he also treated racial + subjects in a novel, <i>Clotel</i>, and in a drama, <i>The + Escape</i>. The latter suffers from an excess of moralizing, + but several times it flashes out with the quality of genuine + drama, especially when it deals with the jealousy of a + mistress for a favorite slave and the escape of the latter + with her husband. In 1841 the first Negro magazine began to + appear, this being issued by the A.M.E. Church. There were + numerous autobiographies, that of Frederick Douglass, first + appearing in 1845, running through edition after edition. On + the stage there was the astonishing success of Ira Aldridge, + a tragedian who in his earlier years went to Europe, where + he had the advantage of association with Edmund Kean. About + 1857 he was commonly regarded as one of the two or three + greatest actors in the world. He became a member of several + of the continental academies of arts and science, and + received many decorations of crosses and medals, the + Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia being + among those who honored him. In the great field of music + there was much excellent work both in composition and in the + performance on different instruments. Among the free people + of color in Louisiana there were several distinguished + musicians, some of whom removed to Europe for the sake of + greater freedom.<a id="footnotetag195" + name="footnotetag195"></a><a href= + "#footnote195"><sup>195</sup></a> The highest individual + achievement was that of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, of + Philadelphia. This singer was of the very first rank. Her + voice was of remarkable sweetness and had a compass of + twenty-seven notes. She sang before many distinguished + audiences in both Europe and America and was frequently + compared with Jenny Lind, then at the height of her + fame.</p> + + <p>It is thus evident that honorable achievement on the part of + Negroes and general advance in social welfare by no means began + with the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1860 eight-ninths of the + members of the race were still slaves, but in the face of every + possible handicap the one-ninth that was free had entered + practically every great field of human endeavor. Many were + respected citizens in their communities, and a few had even + laid the foundations of wealth. While there was as yet no book + of unquestioned genius or scholarship, there was considerable + intellectual activity, and only time and a little more freedom + from economic pressure were needed for the production of works + of the first order of merit.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote177" + name="footnote177"></a><b>Footnote 177:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag177">(return)</a><br/> + + This chapter follows closely upon Chapter III, Section + 5, and is largely complementary to Chapter VIII.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote178" + name="footnote178"></a><b>Footnote 178:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag178">(return)</a><br/> + + Nell: <i>Colored Patriots of the American + Revolution</i>, 356.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote179" + name="footnote179"></a><b>Footnote 179:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag179">(return)</a><br/> + + Nell, III.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote180" + name="footnote180"></a><b>Footnote 180:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag180">(return)</a><br/> + + Senate document 63 of 1842.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote181" + name="footnote181"></a><b>Footnote 181:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag181">(return)</a><br/> + + McMaster, VIII, 74.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote182" + name="footnote182"></a><b>Footnote 182:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag182">(return)</a><br/> + + Clarke: <i>Condition of the Free Colored People of the + United States</i>.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote183" + name="footnote183"></a><b>Footnote 183:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag183">(return)</a><br/> + + Nell, 285.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote184" + name="footnote184"></a><b>Footnote 184:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag184">(return)</a><br/> + + Bacon: <i>Statistics</i>, 13.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote185" + name="footnote185"></a><b>Footnote 185:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag185">(return)</a><br/> + + Delany.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote186" + name="footnote186"></a><b>Footnote 186:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag186">(return)</a><br/> + + See "The F.M.C.'s of Louisiana," by P.F. de Gournay, + <i>Lippincott's Magazine</i>, April, 1894; and "Black + Masters," by Calvin Dill Wilson, <i>North American + Review</i>, November, 1905.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote187" + name="footnote187"></a><b>Footnote 187:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag187">(return)</a><br/> + + See Stone: "The Negro in the South," in <i>The South in + the Building of the Nation</i>, X, 180.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote188" + name="footnote188"></a><b>Footnote 188:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag188">(return)</a><br/> + + Note broadside (Charleston, 1861) accessible in Special + Library of Boston Public Library as Document No. 9 in 20th + Cab. 3. 7.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote189" + name="footnote189"></a><b>Footnote 189:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag189">(return)</a><br/> + + W.E. Dodd: <i>Expansion and Conflict</i>, Volume 3 of + "Riverside History of the United States," Houghton Mifflin + Co., Boston, 1915, p. 208.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote190" + name="footnote190"></a><b>Footnote 190:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag190">(return)</a><br/> + + Turner: <i>The Negro in Pennsylvania</i>, 140.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote191" + name="footnote191"></a><b>Footnote 191:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag191">(return)</a><br/> + + For interesting examples see C.G. Woodson: <i>The + Education of the Negro prior to 1861</i>.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote192" + name="footnote192"></a><b>Footnote 192:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag192">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of + the Colored People of the United States, Politically + Considered</i>, Philadelphia, 1852, P. 45.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote193" + name="footnote193"></a><b>Footnote 193:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag193">(return)</a><br/> + + Kelly Miller: "The Background of the Negro Physician," + <i>Journal of Negro History</i>, April, 1916, quoting in + part Woodson: <i>The Education of the Negro prior to + 1861</i>.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote194" + name="footnote194"></a><b>Footnote 194:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag194">(return)</a><br/> + + See "George Moses Horton: Slave Poet," by Stephen B. + Weeks, <i>Southern Workman</i>, October, 1914.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote195" + name="footnote195"></a><b>Footnote 195:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag195">(return)</a><br/> + + See Washington: <i>The Story of the Negro</i>, II, + 276-7.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERXII" + name="CHAPTERXII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + + <h3>THE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION</h3> + + <p>At the outbreak of the Civil War two great questions + affecting the Negro overshadowed all others—his freedom and his + employment as a soldier. The North as a whole had no special + enthusiasm about the Negro and responded only to Lincoln's call + to the duty of saving the Union. Among both officers and men + moreover there was great prejudice against the use of the Negro + as a soldier, the feeling being that he was disqualified by + slavery and ignorance. Privates objected to meeting black men + on the same footing as themselves and also felt that the arming + of slaves to fight for their former masters would increase the + bitterness of the conflict. If many men in the North felt thus, + the South was furious at the thought of the Negro as a possible + opponent in arms.</p> + + <p>The human problem, however, was not long in presenting + itself and forcing attention. As soon as the Northern soldiers + appeared in the South, thousands of Negroes—men, women, and + children—flocked to their camps, feeling only that they were + going to their friends. In May, 1861, while in command at + Fortress Monroe, Major-General Benjamin F. Butler came into + national prominence by his policy of putting to work the men + who came within his lines and justifying their retention on the + ground that, being of service to the enemy for purposes of war, + they were like guns, powder, etc., "contraband of war," and + could not be reclaimed. On August 30th of this same year + Major-General John C. Fremont, in command in Missouri, placed + the state under martial law and declared the slaves there + emancipated. The administration was embarrassed, Fremont's + order was annulled, and he was relieved of his command. On May + 9, 1862, Major-General David Hunter, in charge of the + Department of the South (South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) + issued his famous order freeing the slaves in his department, + and thus brought to general attention the matter of the + employment of Negro soldiers in the Union armies. The + Confederate government outlawed Hunter, Lincoln annulled his + order, and the grace of the nation was again saved; but in the + meantime a new situation had arisen. While Brigadier-General + John W. Phelps was taking part in the expedition against New + Orleans, a large sugar-planter near the city, disgusted with + Federal interference with affairs on his plantation, drove all + his slaves away, telling them to go to their friends, the + Yankees. The Negroes came to Phelps in great numbers, and for + the sake of discipline he attempted to organize them into + troops. Accordingly he, too, was outlawed by the Confederates, + and his act was disavowed by the Union, that was not ready to + take this step.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile President Lincoln was debating the Emancipation + Proclamation. Pressure from radical anti-slavery sources was + constantly being brought to bear upon him, and Horace Greeley + in his famous editorial, "The Prayer of Twenty Millions," was + only one of those who criticized what seemed to be his lack of + strength in handling the situation. After McClellan's + unsuccessful campaign against Richmond, however, he felt that + the freedom of the slaves was a military and moral necessity + for its effects upon both the North and the South; and Lee's + defeat at Antietam, September 17, 1862, furnished the + opportunity for which he had been waiting. Accordingly on + September 22nd he issued a preliminary declaration giving + notice that on January 1, 1865, he would free all slaves in the + states still in rebellion, and asserting as before that the + object of the war was the preservation of the Union.</p> + + <p>The Proclamation as finally issued January 1st is one of the + most important public documents in the history of the United + States, ranking only below the Declaration of Independence and + the Constitution itself. It full text is as follows:</p> + + <p class="letter"> + 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:<br/> +    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.<br/> +    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 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.<br/> +    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 date 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:<br/> +    Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. + Bernard, Plaquemine, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. + James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. + Marie, 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 Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth + City, York, Princess Anne, 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.<br/> +    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.<br/> +    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.<br/> +    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.<br/> +    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.<br/> +    In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name, and + caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.<br/> +    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 the eighty-seventh.<br/> +    By the President,<br /> + ABRAHAM LINCOLN.<br/> +    WILLIAM H. SEWARD,<br /> + Secretary of State.</p> + + + <p>It will be observed that the Proclamation was merely a war + measure resting on the constitutional power of the President. + Its effects on the legal status of the slaves gave rise to much + discussion; and it is to be noted that it did not apply to what + is now West Virginia, to seven counties in Virginia, and to + thirteen parishes in Louisiana, which districts had already + come under Federal jurisdiction. All questions raised by the + measure, however, were finally settled by the Thirteenth + Amendment to the Constitution, and as a matter of fact freedom + actually followed the progress of the Union arms from 1863 to + 1865.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile from the very beginning of the war Negroes were + used by the Confederates in making redoubts and in doing other + rough work, and even before the Emancipation Proclamation there + were many Northern officers who said that definite enlistment + was advisable. They felt that such a course would help to + destroy slavery and that as the Negroes had so much at stake + they should have some share in the overthrow of the rebellion. + They said also that the men would be proud to wear the national + uniform. Individuals moreover as officers' servants saw much of + fighting and won confidence in their ability; and as the war + advanced and more and more men were killed the conviction grew + that a Negro could stop a bullet as well as a white man and + that in any case the use of Negroes for fatigue work would + release numbers of other men for the actual fighting.</p> + + <p>At last—after a great many men had been killed and the + Emancipation Proclamation had changed the status of the + Negro—enlistment was decided on. The policy was that Negroes + might be non-commissioned men while white men who had seen + service would be field and line officers. In general it was + expected that only those who had kindly feeling toward the + Negro would be used as officers, but in the pressure of + military routine this distinction was not always observed. + Opinion for the race gained force after the Draft Riot in New + York (July, 1863), when Negroes in the city were persecuted by + the opponents of conscription. Soon a distinct bureau was + established in Washington for the recording of all matters + pertaining to Negro troops, a board was organized for the + examination of candidates, and recruiting stations were set up + in Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee. The Confederates were + indignant at the thought of having to meet black men on equal + footing, and refused to exchange Negro soldiers for white men. + How such action was met by Stanton, Secretary of War, may be + seen from the fact that when he learned that three Negro + prisoners had been placed in close confinement, he ordered + three South Carolina men to be treated likewise, and the + Confederate leaders to be informed of his policy.</p> + + <p>The economic advantage of enlistment was apparent. It gave + work to 187,000 men who had been cast adrift by the war and who + had found no place of independent labor. It gave them food, + clothing, wages, and protection, but most of all the feeling of + self-respect that comes from profitable employment. To the men + themselves the year of jubilee had come. At one great step they + had crossed the gulf that separates chattels from men and they + now had a chance to vindicate their manhood. A common poster of + the day represented a Negro soldier bearing the flag, the + shackles of a slave being broken, a young Negro boy reading a + newspaper, and several children going into a public school. + Over all were the words: "All Slaves were made Freemen by + Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, January 1st, + 1863. Come, then, able-bodied Colored Men, to the nearest + United States Camp, and fight for the Stars and Stripes."</p> + + <p>To the credit of the men be it said that in their new + position they acted with dignity and sobriety. When they + picketed lines through which Southern citizens passed, they + acted with courtesy at the same time that they did their duty. + They captured Southern men without insulting them, and by their + own self-respect won the respect of others. Meanwhile their + brothers in the South went about the day's work, caring for the + widow and the orphan; and a nation that still lynches the Negro + has to remember that in all these troublous years deeds of + violence against white women and girls were absolutely + unknown.</p> + + <p>Throughout the country the behavior of the black men under + fire was watched with the most intense interest. More and more + in the baptism of blood they justified the faith for which + their friends had fought for years. At Port Hudson, Fort + Wagner, Fort Pillow, and Petersburg their courage was most + distinguished. Said the New York <i>Times</i> of the battle at + Port Hudson (1863): "General Dwight, at least, must have had + the idea not only that they (the Negro troops) were men, but + something more than men, from the terrific test to which he put + their valor.... Their colors are torn to pieces by shot, and + literally bespattered by blood and brains." This was the + occasion on which Color-Sergeant Anselmas Planciancois said + before a shell blew off his head, "Colonel, I will bring back + these colors to you on honor, or report to God the reason why." + On June 6 the Negroes again distinguished themselves and won + friends by their bravery at Milliken's Bend. The Fifty-fourth + Massachusetts, commanded by Robert Gould Shaw, was conspicuous + in the attempt to take Fort Wagner, on Morris Island near + Charleston, July 18, 1863. The regiment had marched two days + and two nights through swamps and drenching rains in order to + be in time for the assault. In the engagement nearly all the + officers of the regiment were killed, among them Colonel Shaw. + The picturesque deed was that of Sergeant William H. Carney, + who seized the regiment's colors from the hands of a falling + comrade, planted the flag on the works, and said when borne + bleeding and mangled from the field, "Boys, the old flag never + touched the ground." Fort Pillow, a position on the + Mississippi, about fifty miles above Memphis, was garrisoned by + 557 men, 262 of whom were Negroes, when it was attacked April + 13, 1864. The fort was finally taken by the Confederates, but + the feature of the engagement was the stubborn resistance + offered by the Union troops in the face of great odds. In the + Mississippi Valley, and in the Department of the South, the + Negro had now done excellent work as a soldier. In the spring + of 1864 he made his appearance in the Army of the Potomac. In + July there was around Richmond and Petersburg considerable + skirmishing between the Federal and the Confederate forces. + Burnside, commanding a corps composed partly of Negroes, dug + under a Confederate fort a trench a hundred and fifty yards + long. This was filled with explosives, and on July 30 the match + was applied and the famous crater formed. Just before the + explosion the Negroes had figured in a gallant charge on the + Confederates. The plan was to follow the eruption by a still + more formidable assault, in which Burnside wanted to give his + Negro troops the lead. A dispute about this and a settlement by + lot resulted in the awarding of precedence to a New Hampshire + regiment. Said General Grant later of the whole unfortunate + episode: "General Burnside wanted to put his colored division + in front; I believe if he had done so it would have been a + success." After the men of a Negro regiment had charged and + taken a battery at Decatur, Ala., in October, 1864, and shown + exceptional gallantry under fire, they received an ovation from + their white comrades "who by thousands sprang upon the parapets + and cheered the regiment as it reëntered the lines."<a id= + "footnotetag196" + name="footnotetag196"></a><a href= + "#footnote196"><sup>196</sup></a></p> + + <p>When all was over there was in the North a spontaneous + recognition of the right of such men to honorable and generous + treatment at the hands of the nation, and in Congress there was + the feeling that if the South could come back to the Union with + its autonomy unimpaired, certainly the Negro soldier should + have the rights of citizenship. Before the war closed, however, + there was held in Syracuse, N.Y., a convention of Negro men + that threw interesting light on the problems and the feeling of + the period.<a id="footnotetag197" + name="footnotetag197"></a><a href= + "#footnote197"><sup>197</sup></a> At this gathering John + Mercer Langston was temporary chairman, Frederick Douglass, + president, and Henry Highland Garnett, of Washington; James + W.C. Pennington, of New York; George L. Ruffin, of Boston, + and Ebenezer D. Bassett, of Philadelphia, were among the + more prominent delegates. There was at the meeting a fear + that some of the things that seemed to have been gained by + the war might not actually be realized; and as Congress had + not yet altered the Constitution so as to abolish slavery, + grave question was raised by a recent speech in which no + less a man than Seward, Secretary of State, had said: "When + the insurgents shall have abandoned their armies and laid + down their arms, the war will instantly cease; and all the + war measures then existing, including those which affect + slavery, will cease also." The convention thanked the + President and the Thirty-Seventh Congress for revoking a + prohibitory law in regard to the carrying of mails by + Negroes, for abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, + for recognizing Hayti and Liberia, and for the military + order retaliating for the unmilitary treatment accorded + Negro soldiers by the Confederate officers; and especially + it thanked Senator Sumner "for his noble efforts to cleanse + the statute-books of the nation from every stain of + inequality against colored men," and General Butler for the + stand he had taken early in the war. At the same time it + resolved to send a petition to Congress to ask that the + rights of the country's Negro patriots in the field be + respected, and that the Government cease to set an example + to those in arms against it by making invidious + distinctions, based upon color, as to pay, labor, and + promotion. It begged especially to be saved from supposed + friends: "When the <i>Anti-Slavery Standard</i>, + representing the American Anti-Slavery Society, denies that + the society asks for the enfranchisement of colored men, and + the <i>Liberator</i> apologizes for excluding the colored + men of Louisiana from the ballot-box, they injure us more + vitally than all the ribald jests of the whole pro-slavery + press." Finally the convention insisted that any such things + as the right to own real estate, to testify in courts of + law, and to sue and be sued, were mere privileges so long as + general political liberty was withheld, and asked frankly + not only for the formal and complete abolition of slavery in + the United States, but also for the elective franchise in + all the states then in the Union and in all that might come + into the Union thereafter. On the whole this representative + gathering showed a very clear conception of the problems + facing the Negro and the country in 1864. Its reference to + well-known anti-slavery publications shows not only the + increasing race consciousness that came through this as + through all other wars in which the country has engaged, but + also the great drift toward conservatism that had taken + place in the North within thirty years.</p> + + <p>Whatever might be the questions of the moment, however, + about the supreme blessing of freedom there could at last be no + doubt. It had been long delayed and had finally come merely as + an incident to the war; nevertheless a whole race of people had + passed from death unto life. Then, as before and since, they + found a parallel for their experiences in the story of the Jews + in the Old Testament. They, too, had sojourned in Egypt and + crossed the Red Sea. What they could not then see, or only + dimly realize, was that they needed faith—faith in God and + faith in themselves—for the forty years in the wilderness. They + did not yet fully know that He who guided the children of + Israel and drove out before them the Amorite and the Hittite, + would bring them also to the Promised Land.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>To those who led the Negro in these wonderful years—to + Robert Gould Shaw, the young colonel of the Fifty-Fourth + Massachusetts, who died leading his men at Fort Wagner; to + Norwood Penrose Hallowell, lieutenant-colonel of the + Fifty-Fourth and then colonel of the Fifty-Fifth; to his + brother, Edward N. Hallowell, who succeeded Shaw when he fell; + and to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who commanded the first + regiment of freed slaves—no ordinary eulogy can apply. Their + names are written in letters of flame and their deeds live + after them. On the Shaw Monument in Boston are written these + words:</p> + + <p class="letter"> + The White Officers<br/> +    Taking Life and Honor in their Hands—Cast their lot with + Men of a Despised Race Unproved in War—and Risked Death as + Inciters of a Servile Insurrection if Taken Prisoners, + Besides Encountering all the Common Perils of Camp, March, + and Battle.<br/> +    The Black Rank and File<br/> +    Volunteered when Disaster Clouded the Union Cause—Served + without Pay for Eighteen Months till Given that of White + Troops—Faced Threatened Enslavement if Captured—Were Brave + in Action—Patient under Dangerous and Heavy Labors and + Cheerful amid Hardships and Privations.<br/> +    Together<br/> +    They Gave to the Nation Undying Proof that Americans of + African Descent Possess the Pride, Courage, and Devotion of + the Patriot Soldier—One Hundred and Eighty Thousand Such + Americans Enlisted under the Union Flag in + MDCCCLXIII-MDCCCLXV.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote196" + name="footnote196"></a><b>Footnote 196:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag196">(return)</a><br/> + + General Thomas J. Morgan: "The Negroes in the Civil + War," in the <i>Baptist Home Mission Monthly</i>, quoted in + <i>Liberia</i>, Bulletin 12, February, 1898. General Morgan + in October, 1863, became a major in the Fourteenth United + States Colored Infantry. He organized the regiment and + became its colonel. He also organized the Forty-second and + Forty-fourth regiments of colored infantry.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote197" + name="footnote197"></a><b>Footnote 197:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag197">(return)</a><br/> + + See Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored + Men, held in the city of Syracuse, N.Y., October 4, 5, 6, + and 7, 1864, with the Bill of Wrongs and Rights, and the + Address to the American People. Boston, 1864.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERXIII" + name="CHAPTERXIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + + <h3>THE ERA OF ENFRANCHISEMENT</h3> + + <h4>1. <a id="Problem" + name="Problem"><i>The Problem</i></a></h4> + + <p>At the close of the Civil War the United States found itself + face to face with one of the gravest social problems of modern + times. More and more it became apparent that it was not only + the technical question of the restoration of the states to the + Union that had to be considered, but the whole adjustment for + the future of the lives of three and a half million Negroes and + five and a half million white people in the South. In its final + analysis the question was one of race, and to add to the + difficulties of this problem it is to be regretted that there + should have been actually upon the scene politicians and + speculators who sought to capitalize for their own gain the + public distress.</p> + + <p>The South was thoroughly demoralized, and the women who had + borne the burden of the war at home were especially bitter. + Slave property to the amount of two billions of dollars had + been swept away; several of the chief cities had suffered + bombardment; the railroads had largely run down; and the + confiscation of property was such as to lead to the + indemnification of thousands of claimants afterwards. The Negro + was not yet settled in new places of abode, and his death rate + was appalling. Throughout the first winter after the war the + whole South was on the verge of starvation.</p> + + <p>Here undoubtedly was a difficult situation—one calling for + the highest quality of statesmanship, and of sportsmanship on + the part of the vanquished. Many Negroes, freed from the + tradition of two hundred and fifty years of slavery, took a + holiday; some resolved not to work any more as long as they + lived, and some even appropriated to their own use the produce + of their neighbors. If they remained on the old plantations, + they feared that they might still be considered slaves; on the + other hand, if they took to the high road, they might be + considered vagrants. If one returned from a Federal camp to + claim his wife and children, he might be driven away. "Freedom + cried out," and undoubtedly some individuals did foolish + things; but serious crime was noticeably absent. On the whole + the race bore the blessing of emancipation with remarkable good + sense and temper. Returning soldiers paraded, there were some + meetings and processions, sometimes a little regalia—and even a + little noise; then everybody went home. Unfortunately even so + much the white South regarded as insolence.</p> + + <p>The example of how the South <i>might</i> have met the + situation was afforded by no less a man than Robert E. Lee, + about whose unselfishness and standard of conduct as a + gentleman there could be no question. One day in Richmond a + Negro from the street, intent on asserting his rights, entered + a representative church, pushed his way to the communion altar + and knelt. The congregation paused, and all fully realized the + factors that entered into the situation. Then General Lee rose + and knelt beside the Negro; the congregation did likewise, and + the tension was over. Furthermore, every one went home + spiritually uplifted.</p> + + <p>Could the handling of this incident have been multipled a + thousand times—could men have realized that mere accidents are + fleeting but that principles are eternal—both races would have + been spared years of agony, and our Southland would be a far + different place to-day. The Negro was at the heart of the + problem, but to that problem the South undoubtedly held the + key. Of course the cry of "social equality" might have been + raised; <i>anything</i> might have been said to keep the right + thing from being done. In this instance, as in many others, the + final question was not what somebody else did, but how one + himself could act most nobly.</p> + + <p>Unfortunately Lee's method of approach was not to prevail. + Passion and prejudice and demagoguery were to have their day, + and conservative and broadly patriotic men were to be made to + follow leaders whom they could not possibly approve. Sixty + years afterwards we still suffer from the KuKlux solution of + the problem.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Meeting" + name="Meeting"><i>Meeting the Problem</i></a></h4> + + <p>The story of reconstruction has been many times told, and it + is not our intention to tell that story again. We must content + ourselves by touching upon some of the salient points in the + discussion.</p> + + <p>Even before the close of the war the National Government had + undertaken to handle officially the thousands of Negroes who + had crowded to the Federal lines and not less than a million of + whom were in the spring of 1865 dependent upon the National + Government for support. The Bureau of Refugee Freedmen and + Abandoned Lands, created in connection with the War Department + by an act of March 3, 1865, was to remain in existence + throughout the war and for one year thereafter. Its powers were + enlarged July 16, 1866, and its chief work did not end until + January 1, 1869, its educational work continuing for a year and + a half longer. The Freedmen's Bureau was to have "the + supervision and management of all abandoned lands, and the + control of all subjects relating to refugees and freedmen." Of + special importance was the provision in the creating act that + gave the freedmen to understand that each male refugee was to + be given forty acres with the guarantee of possession for three + years. Throughout the existence of the Bureau its chief + commissioner was General O.O. Howard. While the principal + officers were undoubtedly men of noble purpose, many of the + minor officials were just as undoubtedly corrupt and + self-seeking. In the winter of 1865-6 one-third of its aid was + given to the white people of the South. For Negro pupils the + Bureau established altogether 4,239 schools, and these had + 9,307 teachers and 247,333 students. Its real achievement has + been thus ably summed up: "The greatest success of the + Freedmen's Bureau lay in the planting of the free school among + Negroes, and the idea of free elementary education among all + classes in the South.... For some fifteen million dollars, + beside the sum spent before 1865, and the dole of benevolent + societies, this bureau set going a system of free labor, + established a beginning of peasant proprietorship, secured the + recognition of black freedmen before courts of law, and founded + the free common school in the South. On the other hand, it + failed to begin the establishment of good will between + ex-masters and freedmen, to guard its work wholly from + paternalistic methods, which discouraged self-reliance, and to + carry out to any considerable extent its implied promises to + furnish the freedmen with land."<a id="footnotetag198" + name="footnotetag198"></a><a href= + "#footnote198"><sup>198</sup></a> To this tale of its + shortcomings must be added also the management of the + Freedmen's Bank, which "was morally and practically part of + the Freedmen's Bureau, although it had no legal connection + with it." This institution made a really remarkable start in + the development of thrift among the Negroes, and its + failure, involving the loss of the first savings of hundreds + of ex-slaves, was as disastrous in its moral as in its + immediate financial consequences.</p> + + <p>When the Freedmen's Bureau came to an end, it turned its + educational interests and some money over to the religious and + benevolent societies which had coöperated with it, especially + to the American Missionary Association. This society had been + organized before the Civil War on an interdenominational and + strong anti-slavery basis; but with the withdrawal of general + interest the body passed in 1881 into the hands of the + Congregational Church. Other prominent agencies were the + American Baptist Home Mission Society (also the American + Baptist Publication Society), the Freedmen's Aid Society + (representing the Northern Methodists), and the Presbyterian + Board of Missions. Actual work was begun by the American + Missionary Association. In 1861 Lewis Tappan, treasurer of the + organization, wrote to General Butler to ask just what aid + could be given. The result of the correspondence was that on + September 3 of this year Rev. L.C. Lockwood reached Hampton and + on September 17 opened the first day school among the freedmen. + This school was taught by Mrs. Mary S. Peake, a woman of the + race who had had the advantage of a free mother, and whose + devotion to the work was such that she soon died. However, she + had helped to lay the foundations of Hampton Institute. Soon + there was a school at Norfolk, there were two at Newport News, + and by January schools at Hilton Head and Beaufort, S.C. Then + came the Emancipation Proclamation, throwing wide open the door + of the great need. Rev. John Eaton, army chaplain from Ohio, + afterwards United States Commissioner of Education, was placed + in charge of the instruction of the Negroes, and in one way or + another by the close of the war probably as many as one million + in the South had learned to read and write. The 83 missionaries + and teachers of the Association in 1863 increased to 250 in + 1864. At the first day session of the school in Norfolk after + the Proclamation there were 350 scholars, with 300 others in + the evening. On the third day there were 550 in the day school + and 500 others in the evening. The school had to be divided, a + part going to another church; the assistants increased in + number, and soon the day attendance was 1,200. For such schools + the houses on abandoned plantations were used, and even public + buildings were called into commission. Afterwards arose the + higher institutions, Atlanta, Berea, Fisk, Talladega, Straight, + with numerous secondary schools. Similarly the Baptists founded + the colleges which, with some changes of name, have become + Virginia Union, Hartshorn, Shaw, Benedict, Morehouse, Spelman, + Jackson, and Bishop, with numerous affiliated institutions. The + Methodists began to operate Clark (in South Atlanta), Claflin, + Rust, Wiley, and others; and the Presbyterians, having already + founded Lincoln in 1854, now founded Biddle and several + seminaries for young women; while the United Presbyterians + founded Knoxville. In course of time the distinctively Negro + denominations—the A.M.E., the A.M.E.Z., and the C.M.E. (which + last represented a withdrawal from the Southern Methodists in + 1870)—also helped in the work, and thus, in addition to + Wilberforce in Ohio, arose such institutions as Morris Brown + University, Livingstone College, and Lane College. In 1867, + moreover, the Federal Government crowned its work for the + education of the Negro by the establishment at Washington of + Howard University.</p> + + <p>As these institutions have grown they have naturally + developed some differences or special emphasis. Hampton and + Atlanta University are now independent; and Berea has had a + peculiar history, legislation in Kentucky in 1903 restricting + the privileges of the institution to white students. Hampton, + in the hands of General Armstrong, placed emphasis on the idea + of industrial and practical education which has since become + world-famous. In 1871 the Fisk Jubilee Singers began their + memorable progress through America and Europe, meeting at first + with scorn and sneers, but before long touching the heart of + the world with their strange music. Their later success was as + remarkable as their mission was unique. Meanwhile Spelman + Seminary, in the record of her graduates who have gone as + missionaries to Africa, has also developed a glorious + tradition.</p> + + <p>To those heroic men and women who represented this idea of + education at its best, too much credit can not be given. + Cravath at Fisk, Ware at Atlanta, Armstrong at Hampton, Graves + at Morehouse, Tupper at Shaw, and Packard and Giles at Spelman, + are names that should ever be recalled with thanksgiving. These + people had no enviable task. They were ostracized and + persecuted, and some of their co-workers even killed. It is + true that their idea of education founded on the New England + college was not very elastic; but their theory was that the + young men and women whom they taught, before they were Negroes, + were human beings. They had the key to the eternal verities, + and time will more and more justify their position.</p> + + <p>To the Freedmen's Bureau the South objected because of the + political activity of some of its officials. To the schools + founded by missionary endeavor it objected primarily on the + score of social equality. To both the provisional Southern + governments of 1865 replied with the so-called Black Codes. The + theory of these remarkable ordinances—most harsh in + Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana—was that even if the + Negro was nominally free he was by no means able to take care + of himself and needed the tutelage and oversight of the white + man. Hence developed what was to be known as a system of + "apprenticeship." South Carolina in her act of December 21, + 1865, said, "A child, over the age of two years, born of a + colored parent, may be bound by the father if he be living in + the district, or in case of his death or absence from the + district, by the mother, as an apprentice to any respectable + white or colored person who is competent to make a contract; a + male until he shall attain the age of twenty-one years, and a + female until she shall attain the age of eighteen.... Males of + the age of twelve years, and females of the age of ten years, + shall sign the indenture of apprenticeship, and be bound + thereby.... The master shall receive to his own use the profits + of the labor of his apprentice." To this Mississippi added: "If + any apprentice shall leave the employment of his or her master + or mistress, said master or mistress may pursue and recapture + said apprentice, and bring him or her before any justice of + peace of the county, whose duty it shall be to remand said + apprentice to the service of his or her master or mistress; and + in the event of a refusal on the part of said apprentice so to + return, then said justice shall commit said apprentice to the + jail of said county," etc., etc. In general by such legislation + the Negro was given the right to sue and be sued, to testify in + court concerning Negroes, and to have marriage and the + responsibility for children recognized. On the other hand, he + could not serve on juries, could not serve in the militia, and + could not vote or hold office. He was virtually forbidden to + assemble, and his freedom of movement was restricted. Within + recent years the Black Codes have been more than once defended + as an honest effort to meet a difficult situation, but the old + slavery attitude peered through them and gave the impression + that those who framed them did not yet know that the old order + had passed away.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile the South was in a state of panic, and the + provisional governor of Mississippi asked of President Johnson + permission to organize the local militia. The request was + granted and the patrols immediately began to show their + hostility to Northern people and the freedmen. In the spring of + 1866 there was a serious race riot in Memphis. On July 30, + while some Negroes were marching to a political convention in + New Orleans, they became engaged in brawls with the white + spectators. Shots were exchanged; the police, assisted by the + spectators, undertook to arrest the Negroes; the Negroes took + refuge in the convention hall; and their pursuers stormed the + building and shot down without mercy the Negroes and their + white supporters. Altogether not less than forty were killed + and not less than one hundred wounded; but not more than a + dozen men were killed on the side of the police and the white + citizens. General Sheridan, who was in command at New Orleans, + characterized the affair as "an absolute massacre ... a murder + which the mayor and police of the city perpetrated without the + shadow of a necessity."</p> + + <p>In the face of such events and tendencies, and influenced to + some extent by a careful and illuminating but much criticized + report of Carl Schurz, Congress, led by Charles Sumner and + Thaddeus Stevens, proceeded to pass legislation designed to + protect the freedmen and to guarantee to the country the fruits + of the war. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution + formally abolishing slavery was passed December 18, 1865. In + the following March Congress passed over the President's veto + the first Civil Rights Bill, guaranteeing to the freedmen all + the ordinary rights of citizenship, and it was about the same + time that it enlarged the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau. The + Fourteenth Amendment (July 28, 1868) denied to the states the + power to abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of + the United States; and the Fifteenth Amendment (March 30, 1870) + sought to protect the Negro by giving to him the right of + suffrage instead of military protection. In 1875 was passed the + second Civil Rights act, designed to give Negroes equality of + treatment in theaters, railway cars, hotels, etc.; but this the + Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in 1883.</p> + + <p>As a result of this legislation the Negro was placed in + positions of responsibility; within the next few years the race + sent two senators and thirteen representatives to Congress, and + in some of the state legislatures, as in South Carolina, + Negroes were decidedly in the majority. The attainments of some + of these men were undoubtedly remarkable; the two United States + senators, Hiram R. Revels and Blanche K. Bruce, both from + Mississippi, were of unquestioned intelligence and ability, and + Robert B. Elliott, one of the representatives from South + Carolina, attracted unusual attention by his speech in reply to + Alexander Stephens on the constitutionality of the Civil Rights + bill. At the same time among the Negro legislators there was + also considerable ignorance, and there set in an era of + extravagance and corruption from which the "carpet-baggers" and + the "scalawags" rather than the Negroes themselves reaped the + benefit. Accordingly within recent years it has become more and + more the fashion to lament the ills of the period, and no + representative American historian can now write of + reconstruction without a tone of apology. A few points, + however, are to be observed. In the first place the ignorance + was by no means so vast as has been supposed. Within the four + years from 1861 to 1865, thanks to the army schools and + missionary agencies, not less than half a million Negroes in + the South had learned to read and write. Furthermore, the + suffrage was not immediately given to the emancipated Negroes; + this was the last rather than the first step in reconstruction. + The provisional legislatures formed at the close of the war + were composed of white men only; but the experiment failed + because of the short-sighted laws that were enacted. If the + fruit of the Civil War was not to be lost, if all the sacrifice + was not to prove in vain, it became necessary for Congress to + see that the overthrow of slavery was final and complete. By + the Fourteenth Amendment the Negro was invested with the + ordinary rights and dignity of a citizen of the United States. + He was not enfranchised, but he could no longer be made the + victim of state laws designed merely to keep him in servile + subjection. If the Southern states had accepted this amendment, + they might undoubtedly have reëntered the Union without further + conditions. They refused to do so; they refused to help the + National Government in any way whatsoever in its effort to + guarantee to the Negro the rights of manhood. Achilles sulked + in his tent, and whenever he sulks the world moves on—without + him. The alternative finally presented to Congress, if it was + not to make an absolute surrender, was either to hold the South + indefinitely under military subjection or to place the ballot + in the hands of the Negro. The former course was impossible; + the latter was chosen, and the Union was really restored—was + really saved—by the force of the ballot in the hands of black + men.</p> + + <p>It has been held that the Negro was primarily to blame for + the corruption of the day. Here again it is well to recall the + tendencies of the period. The decade succeeding the war was + throughout the country one of unparalleled political + corruption. The Tweed ring, the Crédit Mobilier, and the + "salary grab" were only some of the more outstanding signs of + the times. In the South the Negroes were not the real leaders + in corruption; they simply followed the men who they supposed + were their friends. Surely in the face of such facts as these + it is not just to fix upon a people groping to the light the + peculiar odium of the corruption that followed in the wake of + the war.</p> + + <p>And we shall have to leave it to those better informed than + we to say to just what extent city and state politics in the + South have been cleaned up since the Negro ceased to be a + factor. Many of the constitutions framed by the reconstruction + governments were really excellent models, and the fact that + they were overthrown seems to indicate that some other + spoilsmen were abroad. Take North Carolina, for example. In + this state in 1868 the reconstruction government by its new + constitution introduced the township system so favorably known + in the North and West. When in 1875 the South regained control, + with all the corruption it found as excellent a form of + republican state government as was to be found in any state in + the Union. "Every provision which any state enjoyed for the + protection of public society from its bad members and bad + impulses was either provided or easily procurable under the + Constitution of the state."<a id="footnotetag199" + name="footnotetag199"></a><a href= + "#footnote199"><sup>199</sup></a> Yet within a year, in + order to annul the power of their opponents in every county + in the state, the new party so amended the Constitution as + to take away from every county the power of self-government + and centralize everything in the legislature. Now was + realized an extent of power over elections and election + returns so great that no party could wholly clear itself of + the idea of corrupt intentions.</p> + + <p>At the heart of the whole question of course was race. As a + matter of fact much work of genuine statesmanship was + accomplished or attempted by the reconstruction governments. + For one thing the idea of common school education for all + people was now for the first time fully impressed upon the + South. The Charleston <i>News and Courier</i> of July 11, 1876, + formally granted that in the administration of Governor + Chamberlain of South Carolina the abuse of the pardoning power + had been corrected; the character of the officers appointed by + the Executive had improved; the floating indebtedness of the + state had been provided for in such a way that the rejection of + fraudulent claims was assured and that valid claims were scaled + one-half; the tax laws had been so amended as to secure + substantial equality in the assessment of property; taxes had + been reduced to eleven mills on the dollar; the contingent fund + of the executive department had been reduced at a saving in two + years of $101,200; legislative expenses had also been reduced + so as to save in two years $350,000; legislative contingent + expenses had also been handled so as to save $355,000; and the + public printing reduced from $300,000 to $50,000 a year. There + were, undoubtedly, at first, many corrupt officials, white and + black. Before they were through, however, after only a few + years of experimenting, the reconstruction governments began to + show signs of being quite able to handle the situation; and it + seems to have been primarily the fear on the part of the white + South <i>that they might not fail</i> that prompted the + determination to regain power at whatever cost. Just how this + was done we are now to see.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Klan" + name="Klan"><i>Reaction: The KuKlux Klan</i></a></h4> + + <p>Even before the Civil War a secret organization, the Knights + of the Golden Circle, had been formed to advance Southern + interests. After the war there were various organizations—Men + of Justice, Home Guards, Pale Faces, White Brotherhood, White + Boys, Council of Safety, etc., and, with headquarters at New + Orleans, the thoroughly organized Knights of the White Camelia. + All of these had for their general aim the restoration of power + to the white men of the South, which aim they endeavored to + accomplish by regulating the conduct of the Negroes and their + leaders in the Republican organization, the Union League, + especially by playing upon the fears and superstitions of the + Negroes. In general, especially in the Southeast, everything + else was surpassed or superseded by the KuKlux Klan, which + originated in Tennessee in the fall of 1865 as an association + of young men for amusement, but which soon developed into a + union for the purpose of whipping, banishing, terrorizing, and + murdering Negroes and Northern white men who encouraged them in + the exercise of their political rights. No Republican, no + member of the Union League, and no G.A.R. man could become a + member. The costume of the Klan was especially designed to + strike terror in the uneducated Negroes. Loose-flowing sleeves, + hoods in which were apertures for the eyes, nose, and mouth + trimmed with red material, horns made of cotton-stuff standing + out on the front and sides, high cardboard hats covered with + white cloth decorated with stars or pictures of animals, long + tongues of red flannel, were all used as occasion demanded. The + KuKlux Klan finally extended over the whole South and greatly + increased its operations on the cessation of martial law in + 1870. As it worked generally at night, with its members in + disguise, it was difficult for a grand jury to get evidence on + which to frame a bill, and almost impossible to get a jury that + would return a verdict for the state. Repeated measures against + the order were of little effect until an act of 1870 extended + the jurisdiction of the United States courts to all KuKlux + cases. Even then for some time the organization continued + active.</p> + + <p>Naturally there were serious clashes before government was + restored to the white South, especially as the KuKlux Klan grew + bolder. At Colfax, Grant Parish, Louisiana, in April, 1873, + there was a pitched battle in which several white men and more + than fifty Negroes were killed; and violence increased as the + "red shirt" campaign of 1876 approached.</p> + + <p>In connection with the events of this fateful year, and with + reference to South Carolina, where the Negro seemed most + solidly in power, we recall one episode, that of the Hamburg + Massacre. We desire to give this as fully as possible in all + its incidents, because we know of nothing that better + illustrates the temper of the times, and because a most + important matter is regularly ignored or minimized by + historians.<a id="footnotetag200" + name="footnotetag200"></a><a href= + "#footnote200"><sup>200</sup></a></p> + + <p>In South Carolina an act providing for the enrollment of the + male citizens of the state, who were by the terms of the said + act made subject to the performance of militia duty, was passed + by the General Assembly and approved by the Governor March 16, + 1869. By virtue of this act Negro citizens were regularly + enrolled as a part of the National Guard of the State of South + Carolina, and as the white men, with very few exceptions, + failed or refused to become a part of the said force, the + active militia was composed almost wholly of Negro men. The + County of Edgefield, of which Hamburg was a part, was one of + the military districts of the state under the apportionment of + the Adjutant-General, one regiment being allotted to the + district. One company of this regiment was in Hamburg. In 1876 + it had recently been reorganized with Doc Adams as captain, + Lewis Cartledge as first lieutenant, and A.T. Attaway as second + lieutenant. The ranks were recruited to the requisite number of + men, to whom arms and equipment were duly issued.</p> + + <p>On Tuesday, July 4, the militia company assembled for drill + and while thus engaged paraded through one of the least + frequented streets of the town. This street was unusually wide, + but while marching four abreast the men were interrupted by a + horse and buggy driven <i>into their ranks</i> by Thomas Butler + and Henry Getzen, white men who resided about two miles from + the town. At the time of this interference the company was + occupying a space covering a width of not more than eight feet, + so that on either side there was abundant room for vehicles. At + the interruption Captain Adams commanded a halt and, stepping + to the head of his column, said, "Mr. Getzen, I did not think + that you would treat me this way; I would not so act towards + you." To this Getzen replied with curses, and after a few more + remarks on either side, Adams, in order to avoid further + trouble, commanded his men to break ranks and permit the buggy + to pass through. The company was then marched to the drill + rooms and dismissed.</p> + + <p>On Wednesday, July 5, Robert J. Butler, father of Thomas + Butler and father-in-law of Getzen, appeared before P.R. + Rivers, colored trial justice, and made complaint that the + militia company had on the previous day obstructed one of the + public streets of Hamburg and prevented his son and son-in-law + from passing through. Rivers accordingly issued a summons for + the officers to appear the next day, July 6. When Adams and his + two lieutenants appeared on Thursday, they found present Robert + J. Butler and several other white men heavily armed with + revolvers. On the calling of the case it was announced that the + defendants were present and that Henry Sparnick, a member of + the circuit bar of the county, had been retained to represent + them. Butler angrily protested against such representation and + demanded that the hearing be postponed until he could procure + counsel from the city of Augusta; whereupon Adams and his + lieutenants, after consultation with their attorney, who + informed them that there were no legal grounds on which the + case could be decided against them, waived their constitutional + right to be represented by counsel and consented to go to + trial. On this basis the case was opened and proceeded with for + some time, when on account of some disturbance its progress was + arrested, and it was adjourned for further hearing on the + following Saturday, July 8, at four o'clock in the + afternoon.</p> + + <p>On Saturday, between two and three o'clock, General M.C. + Butler, of Edgefield, formerly an officer in the Confederate + army, arrived in Hamburg, and he was followed by mounted men in + squads of ten or fifteen until the number was more than two + hundred, the last to arrive being Colonel A.P. Butler at the + head of threescore men. Immediately after his arrival General + Butler sent for Attorney Sparnick, who was charged with the + request to Rivers and the officers of the militia company to + confer with him at once. There was more passing of messengers + back and forth, and it was at length deemed best for the men to + confer with Butler. To this two of the officers objected on the + ground that the whole plan was nothing more than a plot for + their assassination. They sent to ask if General Butler would + meet them without the presence of his armed force. He replied + Yes, but before arrangements could be made for the interview + another messenger came to say that the hour for the trial had + arrived, that General Butler was at the court, and that he + requested the presence of the trial justice, Rivers. Rivers + proceeded to court alone and found Butler there waiting for + him. He was about to proceed with the case when Butler asked + for more time, which request was granted. He went away and + never returned to the court. Instead he went to the council + chamber, being surrounded now by greater and greater numbers of + armed men, and he sent a committee to the officers asking that + they come to the council chamber to see him. The men again + declined for the same reason as before. Butler now sent an + ultimatum demanding that the officers apologize for what took + place on July 4 and that they surrender to him their arms, + threatening that if the surrender was not made at once he would + take their guns and officers by force. Adams and his men now + awoke to a full sense of their danger, and they asked Rivers, + who was not only trial justice but also Major General of the + division of the militia to which they belonged, if he demanded + their arms of them. Rivers replied that he did not. Thereupon + the officers refused the request of Butler on the ground that + he had no legal right to demand their arms or to receive them + if surrendered. At this point Butler let it be known that he + demanded the surrender of the arms within half an hour and that + if he did not receive them he would "lay the d—— town in + ashes." Asked in an interview whether, if his terms were + complied with, he would guarantee protection to the people of + the town he answered that he did not know and that that would + depend altogether upon how they behaved themselves.</p> + + <p>Butler now went with a companion to Augusta, returning in + about thirty minutes. A committee called upon him as soon as he + got back. He had only to say that he demanded the arms + immediately. Asked if he would accept the boxing up of the arms + and the sending of them to the Governor, he said, "D—— the + Governor. I am not here to consult him, but am here as Colonel + Butler, and this won't stop until after November." Asked again + if he would guarantee general protection if the arms were + surrendered, he said, "I guarantee nothing."</p> + + <p>All the while scores of mounted men were about the streets. + Such members of the militia company as were in town and their + friends to the number of thirty-eight repaired to their + armory—a large brick building about two hundred yards from the + river—and barricaded themselves for protection. Firing upon the + armory was begun by the mounted men, and after half an hour + there were occasional shots from within. After a while the men + in the building heard an order to bring cannon from Augusta, + and they began to leave the building from the rear, concealing + themselves as well as they could in a cornfield. The cannon was + brought and discharged three or four times, those firing it not + knowing that the building had been evacuated. When they + realized their mistake they made a general search through lots + and yards for the members of the company and finally captured + twenty-seven of them, after two had been killed. The men, none + of whom now had arms, were marched to a place near the railroad + station, where the sergeant of the company was ordered to call + the roll. Allan T. Attaway, whose name was first, was called + out and shot in cold blood. Twelve men fired upon him and he + was killed instantly. The men whose names were second, third, + and fourth on the list were called out and treated likewise. + The fifth man made a dash for liberty and escaped with a slight + wound in the leg. All the others were then required to hold up + their right hands and swear that they would never bear arms + against the white people or give in court any testimony + whatsoever regarding the occurrence. They were then marched off + two by two and dispersed, but stray shots were fired after them + as they went away. In another portion of the town the chief of + police, James Cook, was taken from his home and brutally + murdered. A marshal of the town was shot through the body and + mortally wounded. One of the men killed was found with his + tongue cut out. The members of Butler's party finally entered + the homes of most of the prominent Negroes in the town, smashed + the furniture, tore books to pieces, and cut pictures from + their frames, all amid the most heartrending distress on the + part of the women and children. That night the town was + desolate, for all who could do so fled to Aiken or + Columbia.</p> + + <p>Upon all of which our only comment is that while such a + process might seem for a time to give the white man power, it + makes no progress whatever toward the ultimate solution of the + problem.</p> + + <h4>4. <a id="Exodus" + name="Exodus"><i>Counter-Reaction: The Negro + Exodus</i></a></h4> + + <p>The Negro Exodus of 1879 was partially considered in + connection with our study of Liberia; but a few facts are in + place here.</p> + + <p>After the withdrawal of Federal troops conditions in the + South were changed so much that, especially in South Carolina, + Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, the state of affairs was no + longer tolerable. Between 1866 and 1879 more than three + thousand Negroes were summarily killed.<a id="footnotetag201" + name="footnotetag201"></a><a href= + "#footnote201"><sup>201</sup></a> The race began to feel + that a new slavery in the horrible form of peonage was + approaching, and that the disposition of the men in power + was to reduce the laborer to the minimum of advantages as a + free man and to none at all as a citizen. The fear, which + soon developed into a panic, rose especially in consequence + of the work of political mobs in 1874 and 1875, and it soon + developed organization. About this the outstanding fact was + that the political leaders of the last few years were + regularly distrusted and ignored, the movement being secret + in its origin and committed either to the plantation + laborers themselves or their direct representatives. In + North Carolina circulars about Nebraska were distributed. In + Tennessee Benjamin ("Pap") Singleton began about 1869 to + induce Negroes to go to Kansas, and he really founded two + colonies with a total of 7432 Negroes from his state, paying + of his own money over $600 for circulars. In Louisiana alone + 70,000 names were taken of those who wished to better their + condition by removal; and by 1878 98,000 persons in + Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas were ready to go + elsewhere. A convention to consider the whole matter of + migration was held in Nashville in 1879. At this the + politician managed to put in an appearance and there was + much wordy discussion. At the same time much of the + difference of opinion was honest; the meeting was on the + whole constructive; and it expressed itself as favorable to + "reasonable migration." Already, however, thousands of + Negroes were leaving their homes in the South and going in + greatest numbers to Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana. Within + twenty months Kansas alone received in this way an addition + to her population of 40,000 persons. Many of these people + arrived at their destination practically penniless and + without prospect of immediate employment; but help was + afforded by relief agencies in the North, and they + themselves showed remarkable sturdiness in adapting + themselves to the new conditions.</p> + + <p>Many of the stories that the Negroes told were + pathetic.<a id="footnotetag202" + name="footnotetag202"></a><a href= + "#footnote202"><sup>202</sup></a> Sometimes boats would not + take them on, and they suffered from long exposure on the + river banks. Sometimes, while they were thus waiting, agents + of their own people employed by the planters tried to induce + them to remain. Frequently they were clubbed or whipped. + Said one: "I saw nine put in one pile, that had been killed, + and the colored people had to bury them; eight others were + found killed in the woods.... It is done this way: they + arrest them for breach of contract and carry them to jail. + Their money is taken from them by the jailer and it is not + returned when they are let go." Said another: "If a colored + man stays away from the polls and does not vote, they spot + him and make him vote. If he votes their way, they treat him + no better in business. They hire the colored people to vote, + and then take their pay away. I know a man to whom they gave + a cow and a calf for voting their ticket. After election + they came and told him that if he kept the cow he must pay + for it; and they took the cow and calf away." Another: "One + man shook his fist in my face and said, 'D—— you, sir, you + are my property.' He said that I owed him. He could not show + it and then said, 'You sha'n't go anyhow.' All we want is a + living chance." Another: "There is a general talk among the + whites and colored people that Jeff Davis will run for + president of the Southern states, and the colored people are + afraid they will be made slaves again. They are already + trying to prevent them from going from one plantation to + another without a pass." Another: "The deputy sheriff came + and took away from me a pair of mules. He had a constable + and twenty-five men with guns to back him." Another: "Last + year, after settling with my landlord, my share was four + bales of cotton. I shipped it to Richardson and May, 38 and + 40 Perdido Street, New Orleans, through W.E. Ringo & + Co., merchants, at Mound Landing, Miss. I lived four miles + back of this landing. I received from Ringo a ticket showing + that my cotton was sold at nine and three-eighths cents, but + I could never get a settlement. He kept putting me off by + saying that the bill of lading had not come. Those bales + averaged over four hundred pounds. I did not owe him over + twenty-five dollars. A man may work there from Monday + morning to Saturday night, and be as economical as he + pleases, and he will come out in debt. I am a close man, and + I work hard. I want to be honest in getting through the + world. I came away and left a crop of corn and cotton + growing up. I left it because I did not want to work twelve + months for nothing. I have been trying it for fifteen years, + thinking every year that it would get better, and it gets + worse." Said still another: "I learned about Kansas from the + newspapers that I got hold of. They were Southern papers. I + got a map, and found out where Kansas was; and I got a + History of the United States, and read about it."</p> + + <p>Query: Was it genuine statesmanship that permitted these + people to feel that they must leave the South?</p> + <hr /> + + <h4>5. <a id="Reconstruction" + name="Reconstruction"><i>A Postscript on the War and + Reconstruction</i></a></h4> + + <p>Of all of the stories of these epoch-making years we have + chosen one—an idyl of a woman with an alabaster box, of one who + had a clear conception of the human problem presented and who + gave her life in the endeavor to meet it.</p> + + <p>In the fall of 1862 a young woman who was destined to be a + great missionary entered the Seminary at Rockford, Illinois. + There was little to distinguish her from the other students + except that she was very plainly dressed and seemed forced to + spend most of her spare time at work. Yes, there was one other + difference. She was older than most of the girls—already + thirty, and rich in experience. When not yet fifteen she had + taught a country school in Pennsylvania. At twenty she was + considered capable of managing an unusually turbulent crowd of + boys and girls. When she was twenty-seven her father died, + leaving upon her very largely the care of her mother. At + twenty-eight she already looked back upon fourteen years as a + teacher, upon some work for Christ incidentally accomplished, + but also upon a fading youth of wasted hopes and unfulfilled + desires.</p> + + <p>Then came a great decision—not the first, not the last, but + one of the most important that marked her long career. Her + education was by no means complete, and, at whatever cost, she + would go to school. That she had no money, that her clothes + were shabby, that her mother needed her, made no difference; + now or never she would realize her ambition. She would do + anything, however menial, if it was honest and would give her + food while she continued her studies. For one long day she + walked the streets of Belvidere looking for a home. Could any + one use a young woman who wanted to work for her board? Always + the same reply. Nightfall brought her to a farmhouse in the + suburbs of the town. She timidly knocked on the door. "No, we + do not need any one," said the woman who greeted her, "but wait + until I see my husband." The man of the house was very + unwilling, but decided to give shelter for the night. The next + morning he thought differently about the matter, and a few days + afterwards the young woman entered school. The work was hard; + fires had to be made, breakfasts on cold mornings had to be + prepared, and sometimes the washing was heavy. Naturally the + time for lessons was frequently cut short or extended far into + the night. But the woman of the house was kind, and her + daughter a helpful fellow-student.</p> + + <p>The next summer came another season at school-teaching, and + then the term at Rockford. 1862! a great year that in American + history, one more famous for the defeat of the Union arms than + for their success. But in September came Antietam, and the + heart of the North took courage. Then with the new year came + the Emancipation Proclamation.</p> + + <p>The girls at Rockford, like the people everywhere, were + interested in the tremendous events that were shaking the + nation. A new note of seriousness crept into their work. + Embroidery was laid aside; instead, socks were knit and + bandages prepared. On the night of January 1 a jubilee meeting + was held in the town.</p> + + <p>To Joanna P. Moore, however, the news of freedom brought a + strange undertone of sadness. She could not help thinking of + the spiritual and intellectual condition of the millions now + emancipated. Strange that she should be possessed by this + problem! She had thought of work in China, or India, or even in + Africa—but of this, never!</p> + + <p>In February a man who had been on Island No. 10 came to the + Seminary and told the girls of the distress of the women and + children there. Cabins and tents were everywhere. As many as + three families, with eight or ten children each, cooked their + food in the same pot on the same fire. Sometimes the women were + peevish or quarrelsome; always the children were dirty. "What + can a man do to help such a suffering mass of humanity?" asked + the speaker. "Nothing. A woman is needed; nobody else will do." + For the student listening so intently the cheery schoolrooms + with their sweet associations faded; the vision of foreign + missions also vanished; and in their stead stood only a pitiful + black woman with a baby in her arms.</p> + + <p>She reached Island No. 10 in November. The outlook was + dismal enough. The Sunday school at Belvidere had pledged four + dollars a month toward her support, and this was all the money + in sight, though the Government provided transportation and + soldiers' rations. That was in 1863, sixty years ago; but every + year since then, until 1916, in summer and winter, in sunshine + and rain, in the home and the church, with teaching and + praying, feeding and clothing, nursing and hoping and loving, + Joanna P. Moore in one way or another ministered to the Negro + people of the South.</p> + + <p>In April, 1864, her whole colony was removed to Helena, + Arkansas. The Home Farm was three miles from Helena. Here was + gathered a great crowd of women and children and helpless old + men, all under the guard of a company of soldiers in a fort + nearby. Thither went the missionary alone, except for her faith + in God. She made an arbor with some rude seats, nailed a + blackboard to a tree, divided the people into four groups, and + began to teach school. In the twilight every evening a great + crowd gathered around her cabin for prayers. A verse of the + Bible was read and explained, petitions were offered, one of + the sorrow-songs was chanted, and then the service was + over.</p> + + <p>Some Quaker workers were her friends in Helena, and in 1868 + she went to Lauderdale, Mississippi, to help the Friends in an + orphan asylum. Six weeks after her arrival the superintendent's + daughter died, and the parents left to take their child back to + their Indiana home to rest. The lone woman was left in charge + of the asylum. Cholera broke out. Eleven children died within + one week. Still she stood by her post. Often, she said, those + who were well and happy when they retired, ere daylight came + were in the grave, for they were buried the same hour they + died. Night after night she prayed to God in the dark, and at + length the fury of the plague was abated.</p> + + <p>From time to time the failing health of her mother called + her home, and from 1870 to 1873 she once more taught school + near Belvidere. The first winter the school was in the country. + "You can never have a Sunday school in the winter," they told + her. But she did; in spite of the snow, the house was crowded + every Sunday, whole families coming in sleighs. Even at that + the real work of the teacher was with the Negroes of the South. + In her prayers and public addresses they were always with her, + and in 1873 friends in Chicago made it possible for her to + return to the work of her choice. In 1877 the Woman's Baptist + Home Mission Society honored itself by giving to her its first + commission.</p> + + <p>Nine years she spent in the vicinity of New Orleans. Near + Leland University she found a small, one-room house. After + buying a bed, a table, two chairs, and a few cooking utensils, + she began housekeeping. Often she started out at six in the + morning, not to return until dark. Most frequently she read the + Bible to those who could not read. Sometimes she gave cheer to + mothers busy over the washtub. Sometimes she would teach the + children to read or to sew. Often she would write letters for + those who had been separated from friends or kindred in the + dark days. She wrote hundreds and hundreds of such letters; and + once in a while, a very long while, came a response.</p> + + <p>Most pitiful of all the objects she found in New Orleans + were the old women worn out with years of slavery. They were + usually rag-pickers who ate at night the scraps for which they + had begged during the day. There was in the city an Old Ladies' + Home; but this was not for Negroes. A house was secured and the + women taken in, Joanna Moore and her associates moving into the + second story. Sometimes, very often, there was real need; but + sometimes, too, provisions came when it was not known who sent + them; money or boxes came from Northern friends who had never + seen the workers; and the little Negro children in the Sunday + schools in the city gave their pennies.</p> + + <p>In 1878 the laborer in the Southwest started on a journey of + exploration. In Atlanta Dr. Robert at Atlanta Baptist Seminary + (now Morehouse College) gave her cheer; so did President Ware + at Atlanta University. At Benedict in Columbia she saw Dr. + Goodspeed, President Tupper at Shaw in Raleigh, and Dr. Corey + in Richmond. In May she appeared at the Baptist anniversaries, + with fifteen years of missionary achievement already behind + her.</p> + + <p>But each year brought its own sorrows and disappointments. + She wanted the Society to establish a training school for + women; but to this objection was raised. In Louisiana also it + was not without danger that a white woman attended a Negro + association in 1877; and there were always sneers and jeers. At + length, however, a training school for mothers was opened in + Baton Rouge. All went well for two years; and then a notice + with skull and crossbones was placed on the gate. The woman who + had worked through the cholera still stood firm; but the + students had gone. Sick at heart and worn out with waiting, she + at last left Baton Rouge and the state in which so many of her + best years had been spent.</p> + + <p>"Bible Band" work was started in 1884, and <i>Hope</i> in + 1885. The little paper, beginning with a circulation of five + hundred, has now reached a monthly issue of twenty thousand + copies, and daily it brings its lesson of cheer to thousands of + mothers and children in the South. In connection with it all + has developed the Fireside School, than which few agencies have + been more potent in the salvation and uplift of the humble + Negro home.</p> + + <p>What wisdom was gathered from the passing of fourscore + years! On almost every page of her tracts, her letters, her + account of her life, one finds quotations of proverbial + pith:</p> + + <p>The love of God gave me courage for myself and the rest of + mankind; therefore I concluded to invest in human souls. They + surely are worth more than anything else in the world.</p> + + <p>Beloved friends, be hopeful, be courageous. God can not use + discouraged people.</p> + + <p>The good news spread, not by telling what we were going to + do but by praising God for what had been done.</p> + + <p>So much singing in all our churches leaves too little time + for the Bible lesson. Do not misunderstand me. I do love music + that impresses the meaning of words. But no one climbs to + heaven on musical scales.</p> + + <p>I thoroughly believe that the only way to succeed with any + vocation is to make it a part of your very self and weave it + into your every thought and prayer.</p> + + <p>You must love before you can comfort and help.</p> + + <p>There is no place too lowly or dark for our feet to enter, + and no place so high and bright but it needs the touch of the + light that we carry from the Cross.</p> + + <p>How shall we measure such a life? Who can weigh love and + hope and service, and the joy of answered prayer? "An annual + report of what?" she once asked the secretary of her + organization. "Report of tears shed, prayers offered, smiles + scattered, lessons taught, steps taken, cheering words, warning + words—tender, patient words for the little ones, stern but + loving tones for the wayward—songs of hope and songs of sorrow, + wounded hearts healed, light and love poured into dark sad + homes? Oh, Miss Burdette, you might as well ask me to gather up + the raindrops of last year or the petals that fall from the + flowers that bloomed. It is true that I can send you a little + stagnant water from the cistern, and a few dried flowers; but + if you want to know the freshness, the sweetness, the glory, + the grandeur, of our God-given work, then you must come and + keep step with us from early morn to night for three hundred + and sixty-five days in the year."</p> + + <p>Until the very last she was on the roll of the active + workers of the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society. + In the fall of 1915 she decided that she must once more see the + schools in the South that meant so much to her. In December she + came again to her beloved Spelman. While in Atlanta she met + with an accident that still further weakened her. After a few + weeks, however, she went on to Jacksonville, and then to Selma. + There she passed.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the + holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his + glory.... Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, + when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and + gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? + or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in + prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say + unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it + unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it + unto me.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote198" + name="footnote198"></a><b>Footnote 198:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag198">(return)</a><br/> + + DuBois: <i>The Souls of Black Folk</i>, 32-37.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote199" + name="footnote199"></a><b>Footnote 199:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag199">(return)</a><br/> + + George W. Cable: <i>The Southern Struggle for Pure + Government</i>: An Address. Boston, 1890, included in + <i>The Negro Question</i>, New York, 1890.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote200" + name="footnote200"></a><b>Footnote 200:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag200">(return)</a><br/> + + Fleming, in his latest and most mature account of + reconstruction, <i>The Sequel of Appomattox</i>, has not + one word to say about the matter. Dunning, in + <i>Reconstruction Political and Economic</i> (306), speaks + as follows: "July 6, 1876, an armed collision between + whites and blacks at Hamburg, Aiken County, resulted in the + usual slaughter of the blacks. Whether the original cause + of the trouble was the insolence and threats of a Negro + militia company, or the aggressiveness and violence of some + young white men, was much discussed throughout the state, + and, indeed, the country at large. Chamberlain took frankly + and strongly the ground that the whites were at fault." + Such a statement we believe simply does not do justice to + the facts. The account given herewith is based upon the + report of the matter in a letter published in a Washington + paper and submitted in connection with the debate in the + United States House of Representatives, July 15th and 18th, + 1876, on the Massacre of Six Colored Citizens at Hamburg, + S.C., July 4, 1876; and on "An Address to the People of the + United States, adopted at a Conference of Colored Citizens, + held at Columbia, S.C., July 20th and 21st, 1876" + (Republican Printing Co., Columbia, S.C., 1876). The + Address, a document most important for the Negro's side of + the story, was signed by no less than sixty representative + men, among them R.B. Elliott, R.H. Gleaves, F.L. Cardozo, + D.A. Straker, T. McC. Stewart, and H.N. Bouey.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote201" + name="footnote201"></a><b>Footnote 201:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag201">(return)</a><br/> + + Emmett J. Scott: Negro Migration during the War (in + Preliminary Economic Studies of the War—Carnegie Endowment + for International Peace: Division of Economics and + History). Oxford University Press, American Branch, New + York, 1920.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote202" + name="footnote202"></a><b>Footnote 202:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag202">(return)</a><br/> + + See <i>Negro Exodus</i> (Report of Colonel Frank H. + Fletcher).</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERXIV" + name="CHAPTERXIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + + <h3>THE NEGRO IN THE NEW SOUTH</h3> + + <h4>1. <a id="Disfranchisement" + name="Disfranchisement"><i>Political Life: + Disfranchisement</i></a></h4> + + <p>By 1876 the reconstruction governments had all but passed. A + few days after his inauguration in 1877 President Hayes sent to + Louisiana a commission to investigate the claims of rival + governments there. The decision was in favor of the Democrats. + On April 9 the President ordered the removal of Federal troops + from public buildings in the South; and in Columbia, S.C., + within a few days the Democratic administration of Governor + Wade Hampton was formally recognized. The new governments at + once set about the abrogation of the election laws that had + protected the Negro in the exercise of suffrage, and, having by + 1877 obtained a majority in the national House of + Representatives, the Democrats resorted to the practice of + attaching their repeal measures to appropriation bills in the + hope of compelling the President to sign them. Men who had been + prominently connected with the Confederacy were being returned + to Congress in increasing numbers, but in general the Democrats + were not able to carry their measures over the President's + veto. From the Supreme Court, however, they received practical + assistance, for while this body did not formally grant that the + states had full powers over elections, it nevertheless + nullified many of the most objectionable sections of the laws. + Before the close of the decade, by intimidation, the theft, + suppression or exchange of the ballot boxes, the removal of the + polls to unknown places, false certifications, and illegal + arrests on the day before an election, the Negro vote had been + rendered ineffectual in every state of the South.</p> + + <p>When Cleveland was elected in 1884 the Negroes of the South + naturally felt that the darkest hour of their political + fortunes had come. It had, for among many other things this + election said that after twenty years of discussion and tumult + the Negro question was to be relegated to the rear, and that + the country was now to give main attention to other problems. + For the Negro the new era was signalized by one of the most + effective speeches ever delivered in this or any other country, + all the more forceful because the orator was a man of unusual + nobility of spirit. In 1886 Henry W. Grady, of Georgia, + addressed the New England Club in New York on "The New South." + He spoke to practical men and he knew his ground. He asked his + hearers to bring their "full faith in American fairness and + frankness" to judgment upon what he had to say. He pictured in + brilliant language the Confederate soldier, "ragged, + half-starved, heavy-hearted, who wended his way homeward to + find his house in ruins and his farm devastated." He also spoke + kindly of the Negro: "Whenever he struck a blow for his own + liberty he fought in open battle, and when at last he raised + his black and humble hands that the shackles might be struck + off, those hands were innocent of wrong against his helpless + charges." But Grady also implied that the Negro had received + too much attention and sympathy from the North. Said he: "To + liberty and enfranchisement is as far as law can carry the + Negro. The rest must be left to conscience and common sense." + Hence on this occasion and others he asked that the South be + left alone in the handling of her grave problem. The North, a + little tired of the Negro question, a little uncertain also as + to the wisdom of the reconstruction policy that it had forced + on the South, and if concerned with this section at all, + interested primarily in such investments as it had there, + assented to this request; and in general the South now felt + that it might order its political life in its own way.</p> + + <p>As yet, however, the Negro was not technically + disfranchised, and at any moment a sudden turn of events might + call him into prominence. Formal legislation really followed + the rise of the Populist party, which about 1890 in many places + in the South waged an even contest with the Democrats. It was + evident that in such a struggle the Negro might still hold the + balance of power, and within the next few years a fusion of the + Republicans and the Populists in North Carolina sent a Negro, + George H. White, to Congress. This event finally served only to + strengthen the movement for disfranchisement which had already + begun. In 1890 the constitution of Mississippi was so amended + as to exclude from the suffrage any person who had not paid his + poll-tax or who was unable to read any section of the + constitution, or understand it when read to him, or to give a + reasonable interpretation of it. The effect of the + administration of this provision was that in 1890 only 8615 + Negroes out of 147,000 of voting age became registered. South + Carolina amended her constitution with similar effect in 1895. + In this state the population was almost three-fifths Negro and + two-fifths white. The franchise of the Negro was already in + practical abeyance; but the problem now was to devise a means + for the perpetuity of a government of white men. Education was + not popular as a test, for by it many white illiterates would + be disfranchised and in any case it would only postpone the + race issue. For some years the dominant party had been engaged + in factional controversies, with the populist wing led by + Benjamin R. Tillman prevailing over the conservatives. It was + understood, however, that each side would be given half of the + membership of the convention, which would exclude all Negro and + Republican representation, and that the constitution would go + into effect without being submitted to the people. Said the + most important provision: "Any person who shall apply for + registration after January 1, 1898, if otherwise qualified, + shall be registered; provided that he can both read and write + any section of this constitution submitted to him by the + registration officer or can show that he owns and has paid all + taxes collectible during the previous year on property in this + state assessed at three hundred dollars or more"—clauses which + it is hardly necessary to say the registrars regularly + interpreted in favor of white men and against the Negro. In + 1898 Louisiana passed an amendment inventing the so-called + "grandfather clause." This excused from the operation of her + disfranchising act all descendants of men who had voted before + the Civil War, thus admitting to the suffrage all white men who + were illiterate and without property. North Carolina in 1900, + Virginia and Alabama in 1901, Georgia in 1907, and Oklahoma in + 1910 in one way or another practically disfranchised the Negro, + care being taken in every instance to avoid any definite clash + with the Fifteenth Amendment. In Maryland there have been + several attempts to disfranchise the Negro by constitutional + amendments, one in 1905, another in 1909, and still another in + 1911, but all have failed. About the intention of its + disfranchising legislation the South, as represented by more + than one spokesman, was very frank. Unfortunately the new order + called forth a group of leaders—represented by Tillman in South + Carolina, Hoke Smith in Georgia, and James K. Vardaman in + Mississippi—who made a direct appeal to prejudice and thus + capitalized the racial feeling that already had been brought to + too high tension.</p> + + <p>Naturally all such legislation as that suggested had + ultimately to be brought before the highest tribunal in the + country. The test came over the following section from the + Oklahoma law: "No person shall be registered as an elector of + this state or be allowed to vote in any election herein unless + he shall be able to read and write any section of the + Constitution of the State of Oklahoma; but no person who was on + January 1, 1866, or at any time prior thereto, entitled to vote + under any form of government, or who at any time resided in + some foreign nation, and no lineal descendant of such person + shall be denied the right to register and vote because of his + inability to so read and write sections of such Constitution." + This enactment the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in + 1915. The decision exerted no great and immediate effect on + political conditions in the South; nevertheless as the official + recognition by the nation of the fact that the Negro was not + accorded his full political rights, it was destined to have + far-reaching effect on the whole political fabric of the + section.</p> + + <p>When the era of disfranchisement began it was in large + measure expected by the South that with the practical + elimination of the Negro from politics this section would + become wider in its outlook and divide on national issues. Such + has not proved to be the case. Except for the noteworthy + deflection of Tennessee in the presidential election of 1920, + and Republican gains in some counties in other states, this + section remains just as "solid" as it was forty years ago, + largely of course because the Negro, through education and the + acquisition of property, is becoming more and more a potential + factor in politics. Meanwhile it is to be observed that the + Negro is not wholly without a vote, even in the South, and + sometimes his power is used with telling effect, as in the city + of Atlanta in the spring of 1919, when he decided in the + negative the question of a bond issue. In the North + moreover—especially in Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois, + Pennsylvania, and New York—he has on more than one occasion + proved the deciding factor in political affairs. Even when not + voting, however, he involuntarily wields tremendous influence + on the destinies of the nation, for even though men may be + disfranchised, all are nevertheless counted in the allotment of + congressmen to Southern states. This anomalous situation means + that in actual practice the vote of one white man in the South + is four or six or even eight times as strong as that of a man + in the North;<a id="footnotetag203" + name="footnotetag203"></a><a href= + "#footnote203"><sup>203</sup></a> and it directly accounted + for the victory of President Wilson and the Democrats over + the Republicans led by Charles E. Hughes in 1916. For + remedying it by the enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment + bills have been frequently presented in Congress, but on + these no action has been taken.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Peonage" + name="Peonage"><i>Economic Life: Peonage</i></a></h4> + + <p>Within fifteen years after the close of the war it was clear + that the Emancipation Proclamation was a blessing to the poor + white man of the South as well as to the Negro. The break-up of + the great plantation system was ultimately to prove good for + all men whose slender means had given them little chance before + the war. At the same time came also the development of + cotton-mills throughout the South, in which as early as 1880 + not less than 16,000 white people were employed. With the decay + of the old system the average acreage of holdings in the South + Atlantic states decreased from 352.8 in 1860 to 108.4 in 1900. + It was still not easy for an independent Negro to own land on + his own account; nevertheless by as early a year as 1874 the + Negro farmers had acquired 338,769 acres. After the war the + planters first tried the wage system for the Negroes. This was + not satisfactory—from the planter's standpoint because the + Negro had not yet developed stability as a laborer; from the + Negro's standpoint because while the planter might advance + rations, he frequently postponed the payment of wages and + sometimes did not pay at all. Then land came to be rented; but + frequently the rental was from 80 to 100 pounds of lint cotton + an acre for land that produced only 200 to 400 pounds. In + course of time the share system came to be most widely used. + Under this the tenant frequently took his whole family into the + cotton-field, and when the crop was gathered and he and the + landlord rode together to the nearest town to sell it, he + received one-third, one-half, or two-thirds of the money + according as he had or had not furnished his own food, + implements, and horses or mules. This system might have proved + successful if he had not had to pay exorbitant prices for his + rations. As it was, if the landlord did not directly furnish + foodstuffs he might have an understanding with the keeper of + the country store, who frequently charged for a commodity twice + what it was worth in the open market. At the close of the + summer there was regularly a huge bill waiting for the Negro at + the store; this had to be disposed of first, <i>and he always + came out just a few dollars behind</i>. However, the landlord + did not mind such a small matter and in the joy of the harvest + might even advance a few dollars; but the understanding was + always that the tenant was to remain on the land the next year. + Thus were the chains of peonage forged about him.</p> + + <p>At the same time there developed a still more vicious + system. Immediately after the war legislation enacted in the + South made severe provision with reference to vagrancy. Negroes + were arrested on the slightest pretexts and their labor as that + of convicts leased to landowners or other business men. When, a + few years later, Negroes, dissatisfied with the returns from + their labor on the farms, began a movement to the cities, there + arose a tendency to make the vagrancy legislation still more + harsh, so that at last a man could not stop work without + technically committing a crime. Thus in all its hideousness + developed the convict lease system.</p> + + <p>This institution and the accompanying chain-gang were at + variance with all the humanitarian impulses of the nineteenth + century. Sometimes prisoners were worked in remote parts of a + state altogether away from the oversight of responsible + officials; if they stayed in a prison the department for women + was frequently in plain view and hearing of the male convicts, + and the number of cubic feet in a cell was only one-fourth of + what a scientific test would have required. Sometimes there was + no place for the dressing of the dead except in the presence of + the living. The system was worst when the lessee was given the + entire charge of the custody and discipline of the convicts, + and even of their medical or surgical care. Of real attention + there frequently was none, and reports had numerous blank + spaces to indicate deaths from unknown causes. The sturdiest + man could hardly survive such conditions for more than ten + years. In Alabama in 1880 only three of the convicts had been + in confinement for eight years, and only one for nine. In + Texas, from 1875 to 1880, the total number of prisoners + discharged was 1651, while the number of deaths and escapes for + the same period totalled 1608. In North Carolina the mortality + was eight times as great as in Sing Sing.</p> + + <p>At last the conscience of the nation began to be heard, and + after 1883 there were remedial measures. However, the care of + the prisoner still left much to be desired; and as the Negro is + greatly in the majority among prisoners in the South, and as he + is still sometimes arrested illegally or on flimsy pretexts, + the whole matter of judicial and penal procedure becomes one of + the first points of consideration in any final settlement of + the Negro Problem.<a id="footnotetag204" + name="footnotetag204"></a><a href= + "#footnote204"><sup>204</sup></a></p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Lynching" + name="Lynching"><i>Social Life: Proscription, + Lynching</i></a></h4> + + <p>Meanwhile proscription went forward. Separate and inferior + traveling accommodations, meager provision for the education of + Negro children, inadequate street, lighting and water + facilities in most cities and towns, and the general lack of + protection of life and property, made living increasingly + harder for a struggling people. For the Negro of aspiration or + culture every day became a long train of indignities and + insults. On street cars he was crowded into a few seats, + generally in the rear; he entered a railway station by a side + door; in a theater he might occupy only a side, or more + commonly the extreme rear, of the second balcony; a house of + ill fame might flourish next to his own little home; and from + public libraries he was shut out altogether, except where a + little branch was sometimes provided. Every opportunity for + such self-improvement as a city might be expected to afford him + was either denied him, or given on such terms as his + self-respect forced him to refuse.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile—and worst of all—he failed to get justice in the + courts. Formally called before the bar he knew beforehand that + the case was probably already decided against him. A white boy + might insult and pick a quarrel with his son, but if the case + reached the court room the white boy would be freed and the + Negro boy fined $25 or sent to jail for three months. Some + trivial incident involving no moral responsibility whatever on + the Negro's part might yet cost him his life.</p> + + <p>Lynching grew apace. Generally this was said to be for the + protection of white womanhood; but statistics certainly did not + give rape the prominence that it held in the popular mind. Any + cause of controversy, however slight, that forced a Negro to + defend himself against a white man might result in a lynching, + and possibly in a burning. In the period of 1871-73 the number + of Negroes lynched in the South is said to have been not more + than 11 a year. Between 1885 and 1915, however, the number of + persons lynched in the country amounted to 3500, the great + majority being Negroes in the South. For the year 1892 alone + the figure was 235.</p> + + <p>One fact was outstanding: astonishing progress was being + made by the Negro people, but in the face of increasing + education and culture on their part, there was no diminution of + race feeling. Most Southerners preferred still to deal with a + Negro of the old type rather than with one who was neatly + dressed, simple and unaffected in manner, and ambitious to have + a good home. In any case, however, it was clear that since the + white man held the power, upon him rested primarily the + responsibility of any adjustment. Old schemes for deportation + or colonization in a separate state having proved ineffective + or chimerical, it was necessary to find a new platform on which + both races could stand. The Negro was still the outstanding + factor in agriculture and industry; in large numbers he had to + live, and will live, in Georgia and South Carolina, Mississippi + and Texas; and there should have been some plane on which he + could reside in the South not only serviceably but with justice + to his self-respect. The wealth of the New South, it is to be + remembered, was won not only by the labor of black hands but + also that of little white boys and girls. As laborers and + citizens, real or potential, both of these groups deserved the + most earnest solicitude of the state, for it is not upon the + riches of the few but the happiness of the many that a nation's + greatness depends. Moreover no state can build permanently or + surely by denying to a half or a third of those governed any + voice whatever in the government. If the Negro was ignorant, he + was also economically defenseless; and it is neither just nor + wise to deny to any man, however humble, any real power for his + legal protection. If these principles hold—and we think they + are in line with enlightened conceptions of society—the + prosperity of the New South was by no means as genuine as it + appeared to be, and the disfranchisement of the Negro, morally + and politically, was nothing less than a crime.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote203" + name="footnote203"></a><b>Footnote 203:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag203">(return)</a><br/> + + In 1914 Kansas and Mississippi each elected eight + members of the House of Representatives, but Kansas cast + 483,683 votes for her members, while Mississippi cast only + 37,185 for hers, less than one-twelfth as many.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote204" + name="footnote204"></a><b>Footnote 204:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag204">(return)</a><br/> + + Within recent years it has been thought that the convict + lease system and peonage had practically passed in the + South. That this was by no means the case was shown by the + astonishing revelations from Jasper County, Georgia, early + in 1921, it being demonstrated in court that a white + farmer, John S. Williams, who had "bought out" Negroes from + the prisons of Atlanta and Macon, had not only held these + people in peonage, but had been directly responsible for + the killing of not less than eleven of them.</p> + + <p>However, as the present work passes through the press, + word comes of the remarkable efforts of Governor Hugh M. + Dorsey for a more enlightened public conscience in his + state. In addition to special endeavor for justice in the + Williams case, he has issued a booklet citing with detail + one hundred and thirty-five cases in which Negroes have + suffered grave wrong. He divides his cases into four + divisions: (1) The Negro lynched, (2) The Negro held in + peonage, (3) The Negro driven out by organized lawlessness, + and (4) The Negro subject to individual acts of cruelty. + "In some counties," he says, "the Negro is being driven out + as though he were a wild beast. In others he is being held + as a slave. In others no Negroes remain.... In only two of + the 135 cases cited is crime against white women + involved."</p> + + <p>For the more recent history of peonage see pp. 306, 329, + 344, 360-363.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERXV" + name="CHAPTERXV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + + <h3>"THE VALE OF TEARS," 1890-1910</h3> + + <h4>1. <a id="Opinion" + name="Opinion"><i>Current Opinion and + Tendencies</i></a></h4> + + <p>In the two decades that we are now to consider we find the + working out of all the large forces mentioned in our last + chapter. After a generation of striving the white South was + once more thoroughly in control, and the new program well under + way. Predictions for both a broader outlook for the section as + a whole and greater care for the Negro's moral and intellectual + advancement were destined not to be fulfilled; and the period + became one of bitter social and economic antagonism.</p> + + <p>All of this was primarily due to the one great fallacy on + which the prosperity of the New South was built, and that was + that the labor of the Negro existed only for the good of the + white man. To this one source may be traced most of the ills + borne by both white man and Negro during the period. If the + Negro's labor was to be exploited, it was necessary that he be + without the protection of political power and that he be denied + justice in court. If he was to be reduced to a peon, certainly + socially he must be given a peon's place. Accordingly there + developed everywhere—in schools, in places of public + accommodation, in the facilities of city life—the idea of + inferior service for Negroes; and an unenlightened prison + system flourished in all its hideousness. Furthermore, as a + result of the vicious economic system, arose the sinister form + of the Negro criminal. Here again the South begged the + question, representative writers lamenting the passing of the + dear dead days of slavery, and pointing cynically to the + effects of freedom on the Negro. They failed to remember in the + case of the Negro criminal that from childhood to manhood—in + education, in economic chance, in legal power—they had by their + own system deprived a human being of every privilege that was + due him, ruining him body and soul; and then they stood aghast + at the thing their hands had made. More than that, they blamed + the race itself for the character that now sometimes appeared, + and called upon thrifty, aspiring Negroes to find the criminal + and give him up to the law. Thrifty, aspiring Negroes wondered + what was the business of the police.</p> + + <p>It was this pitiful failure to get down to fundamentals that + characterized the period and that made life all the more hard + for those Negroes who strove to advance. Every effort was made + to brutalize a man, and then he was blamed for not being a St. + Bernard. Fortunately before the period was over there arose not + only clear-thinking men of the race but also a few white men + who realized that such a social order could not last + forever.</p> + + <p>Early in the nineties, however, the pendulum had swung fully + backward, and the years from 1890 to 1895 were in some ways the + darkest that the race has experienced since emancipation. When + in 1892 Cleveland was elected for a second term and the + Democrats were once more in power, it seemed to the Southern + rural Negro that the conditions of slavery had all but come + again. More and more the South formulated its creed; it + glorified the old aristocracy that had flourished and departed, + and definitely it began to ask the North if it had not been + right after all. It followed of course that if the Old South + had the real key to the problem, the proper place of the Negro + was that of a slave.</p> + + <p>Within two or three years there were so many important + articles on the Negro in prominent magazines and these were by + such representative men that taken together they formed a + symposium. In December, 1891, James Bryce wrote in the <i>North + American Review</i>, pointing out that the situation in the + South was a standing breach of the Constitution, that it + suspended the growth of political parties and accustomed the + section to fraudulent evasions, and he emphasized education as + a possible remedy; he had quite made up his mind that the Negro + had little or no place in politics. In January, 1892, a + distinguished classical scholar, Basil L. Gildersleeve, turned + aside from linguistics to write in the <i>Atlantic</i> "The + Creed of the Old South," which article he afterwards published + as a special brochure, saying that it had been more widely read + than anything else he had ever written. In April, Thomas Nelson + Page in the <i>North American</i> contended that in spite of + the $5,000,000 spent on the education of the Negro in Virginia + between 1870 and 1890 the race had retrograded or not greatly + improved, and in fact that the Negro "did not possess the + qualities to raise himself above slavery." Later in the same + year he published <i>The Old South</i>. In the same month + Frederick L. Hoffman, writing in the <i>Arena</i>, contended + that in view of its mortality statistics the Negro race would + soon die out.<a id="footnotetag205" + name="footnotetag205"></a><a href= + "#footnote205"><sup>205</sup></a> Also in April, 1892, Henry + Watterson wrote of the Negro in the <i>Chautauquan</i>, + recalling the facts that the era of political turmoil had + been succeeded by one of reaction and violence, and that by + one of exhaustion and peace; but with all his insight he + ventured no constructive suggestion, thinking it best for + everybody "simply to be quiet for a time." Early in 1893 + John C. Wycliffe, a prominent lawyer of New Orleans, writing + in the <i>Forum</i>, voiced the desires of many in asking + for a repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment; and in October, + Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, writing in the same periodical of + a recent and notorious lynching, said, "It was horrible to + torture the guilty wretch; the burning was an act of + insanity. But had the dismembered form of his victim been + the dishonored body of my baby, I might also have gone into + an insanity that might have ended never." Again and again + was there the lament that the Negroes of forty years after + were both morally and intellectually inferior to their + antebellum ancestors; and if college professors and lawyers + and ministers of the Gospel wrote in this fashion one could + not wonder that the politician made capital of choice + propaganda.</p> + + <p>In this chorus of dispraise truth struggled for a hearing, + but then as now traveled more slowly than error. In the + <i>North American</i> for July, 1892, Frederick Douglass wrote + vigorously of "Lynch Law in the South." In the same month + George W. Cable answered affirmatively and with emphasis the + question, "Does the Negro pay for his education?" He showed + that in Georgia in 1889-90 the colored schools did not really + cost the white citizens a cent, and that in the other Southern + states the Negro was also contributing his full share to the + maintenance of the schools. In June of the same year William T. + Harris, Commissioner of Education, wrote in truly statesmanlike + fashion in the <i>Atlantic</i> of "The Education of the Negro." + Said he: "With the colored people all educated in schools and + become a reading people interested in the daily newspaper; with + all forms of industrial training accessible to them, and the + opportunity so improved that every form of mechanical and + manufacturing skill has its quota of colored working men and + women; with a colored ministry educated in a Christian theology + interpreted in a missionary spirit, and finding its auxiliaries + in modern science and modern literature; with these educational + essentials the Negro problem for the South will be solved + without recourse to violent measures of any kind, whether + migration, or disfranchisement, or ostracism." In December, + 1893, Walter H. Page, writing in the <i>Forum</i> of lynching + under the title, "The Last Hold of the Southern Bully," said + that "the great danger is not in the first violation of law, + nor in the crime itself, but in the danger that Southern public + sentiment under the stress of this phase of the race problem + will lose the true perspective of civilization"; and L.E. + Bleckley, Chief Justice of Georgia, spoke in similar vein. On + the whole, however, the country, while occasionally indignant + at some atrocity, had quite decided not to touch the Negro + question for a while; and when in the spring of 1892 some + representative Negroes protested without avail to President + Harrison against the work of mobs, the <i>Review of Reviews</i> + but voiced the drift of current opinion when it said: "As for + the colored men themselves, their wisest course would be to + cultivate the best possible relations with the most upright and + intelligent of their white neighbors, and for some time to come + to forget all about politics and to strive mightily for + industrial and educational progress."<a id="footnotetag206" + name="footnotetag206"></a><a href= + "#footnote206"><sup>206</sup></a></p> + + <p>It is not strange that under the circumstances we have now + to record such discrimination, crime, and mob violence as can + hardly be paralleled in the whole of American history. The + Negro was already down; he was now to be trampled upon. When in + the spring of 1892 some members of the race in the lowlands of + Mississippi lost all they had by the floods and the Federal + Government was disposed to send relief, the state government + protested against such action on the ground that it would keep + the Negroes from accepting the terms offered by the white + planters. In Louisiana in 1895 a Negro presiding elder reported + to the <i>Southwestern Christian Advocate</i> that he had lost + a membership of a hundred souls, the people being compelled to + leave their crops and move away within ten days.</p> + + <p>In 1891 the jail at Omaha was entered and a Negro taken out + and hanged to a lamp-post. On February 27, 1892, at Jackson, + La., where there was a pound party for the minister at the + Negro Baptist church, a crowd of white men gathered, shooting + revolvers and halting the Negroes as they passed. Most of the + people were allowed to go on, but after a while the sport + became furious and two men were fatally shot. About the same + time, and in the same state, at Rayville, a Negro girl of + fifteen was taken from a jail by a mob and hanged to a tree. In + Texarkana, Ark., a Negro who had outraged a farmer's wife was + captured and burned alive, the injured woman herself being + compelled to light the fire. Just a few days later, in March, a + constable in Memphis in attempting to arrest a Negro was + killed. Numerous arrests followed, and at night a mob went to + the jail, gained easy access, and, having seized three + well-known Negroes who were thought to have been leaders in the + killing, lynched them, the whole proceeding being such a + flagrant violation of law that it has not yet been forgotten by + the older Negro citizens of this important city. On February 1, + 1893, at Paris, Texas, after one of the most brutal crimes + occurred one of the most horrible lynchings on record. Henry + Smith, the Negro, who seems to have harbored a resentment + against a policeman of the town because of ill-treatment that + he had received, seized the officer's three-year-old child, + outraged her, and then tore her body to pieces. He was tortured + by the child's father, her uncles, and her fifteen-year-old + brother, his eyes being put out with hot irons before he was + burned. His stepson, who had refused to tell where he could be + found, was hanged and his body riddled with bullets. Thus the + lynchings went on, the victims sometimes being guilty of the + gravest crimes, but often also perfectly innocent people. In + February, 1893, the average was very nearly one a day. At the + same time injuries inflicted on the Negro were commonly + disregarded altogether. Thus at Dickson, Tenn., a young white + man lost forty dollars. A fortune-teller told him that the + money had been taken by a woman and gave a description that + seemed to fit a young colored woman who had worked in the home + of a relative. Half a dozen men then went to the home of the + young woman and outraged her, her mother, and also another + woman who was in the house. At the very close of 1894, in + Brooks County, Ga., after a Negro named Pike had killed a white + man with whom he had a quarrel, seven Negroes were lynched + after the real murderer had escaped. Any relative or other + Negro who, questioned, refused to tell of the whereabouts of + Pike, whether he knew of the same or not, was shot in his + tracks, one man being shot before he had chance to say anything + at all. Meanwhile the White Caps or "Regulators" took charge of + the neighboring counties, terrifying the Negroes everywhere; + and in the trials that resulted the state courts broke down + altogether, one judge in despair giving up the holding of court + as useless.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile discrimination of all sorts went forward. On May + 29, 1895, moved by the situation at the Orange Park Academy, + the state of Florida approved "An Act to Prohibit White and + Colored Youth from being Taught in the same Schools." Said one + section: "It shall be a penal offense for any individual body + of inhabitants, corporation, or association to conduct within + this State any school of any grade, public, private, or + parochial, wherein white persons and Negroes shall be + instructed or boarded within the same building, or taught in + the same class or at the same time by the same teacher." + Religious organizations were not to be left behind in such + action; and when before the meeting of the Baptist Young + People's Union in Baltimore a letter was sent to the secretary + of the organization and the editor of the <i>Baptist Union</i>, + in behalf of the Negroes, who the year before had not been well + treated at Toronto, he sent back an evasive answer, saying that + the policy of his society was to encourage local unions to + affiliate with their own churches.</p> + + <p>More grave than anything else was the formal denial of the + Negro's political rights. As we have seen, South Carolina in + 1895 followed Mississippi in the disfranchising program and + within the next fifteen years most of the other Southern states + did likewise. With the Negro thus deprived of any genuine + political voice, all sorts of social and economic injustice + found greater license.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Washington" + name="Washington"><i>Industrial Education: Booker T. + Washington</i></a></h4> + + <p>Such were the tendencies of life in the South as affecting + the Negro thirty years after emancipation. In September, 1895, + a rising educator of the race attracted national attention by a + remarkable speech that he made at the Cotton States Exposition + in Atlanta. Said Booker T. Washington: "To those of my race who + depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land, or who + underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations + with the Southern white man who is their next door neighbor, I + would say, 'Cast down your bucket where you are'—cast it down + in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races + by whom we are surrounded.... To those of the white race who + look to the incoming of those of foreign birth and strange + tongue and habits for the prosperity of the South, were I + permitted I would repeat what I say to my own race, 'Cast down + your bucket where you are.' Cast it down among 8,000,000 + Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you have + tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin + of your fire-sides.... In all things that are purely social we + can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all + things essential to mutual progress."</p> + + <p>The message that Dr. Washington thus enunciated he had + already given in substance the previous spring in an address at + Fisk University, and even before then his work at Tuskegee + Institute had attracted attention.<a id="footnotetag207" + name="footnotetag207"></a><a href= + "#footnote207"><sup>207</sup></a> The Atlanta Exposition + simply gave him the great occasion that he needed; and he + was now to proclaim the new word throughout the length and + breadth of the land. Among the hundreds of addresses that he + afterwards delivered, especially important were those at + Harvard University in 1896, at the Chicago Peace Jubilee in + 1898, and before the National Education Association in St. + Louis in 1904. Again and again in these speeches one comes + upon such striking sentences as the following: "Freedom can + never be given. It must be purchased."<a id="footnotetag208" + name="footnotetag208"></a><a href= + "#footnote208"><sup>208</sup></a> "The race, like the + individual, that makes itself indispensable, has solved most + of its problems."<a id="footnotetag209" + name="footnotetag209"></a><a href= + "#footnote208"><sup>209</sup></a> "As a race there are two + things we must learn to do—one is to put brains into the + common occupations of life, and the other is to dignify + common labor."<a id="footnotetag210" + name="footnotetag210"></a><a href= + "#footnote210"><sup>210</sup></a> "Ignorant and + inexperienced, it is not strange that in the first years of + our new life we began at the top instead of at the bottom; + that a seat in Congress or the State Legislature was worth + more than real estate or industrial skill."<a id= + "footnotetag211" + name="footnotetag211"></a><a href= + "#footnote211"><sup>211</sup></a> "The opportunity to earn a + dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than + the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera house."<a id= + "footnotetag212" + name="footnotetag212"></a><a href= + "#footnote211"><sup>212</sup></a> "One of the most vital + questions that touch our American life is how to bring the + strong, wealthy, and learned into helpful contact with the + poorest, most ignorant, and humblest, and at the same time + make the one appreciate the vitalizing, strengthening + influence of the other."<a id="footnotetag213" + name="footnotetag213"></a><a href= + "#footnote211"><sup>213</sup></a> "There is no defense or + security for any of us except in the highest intelligence + and development of all."<a id="footnotetag214" + name="footnotetag214"></a><a href= + "#footnote214"><sup>214</sup></a></p> + + <p>The time was ripe for a new leader. Frederick Douglass had + died in February, 1895. In his later years he had more than + once lost hold on the heart of his people, as when he opposed + the Negro Exodus or seemed not fully in sympathy with the + religious convictions of those who looked to him. At his + passing, however, the race remembered only his early service + and his old magnificence, and to a striving people his death + seemed to make still darker the gathering gloom. Coming when he + did, Booker T. Washington was thoroughly in line with the + materialism of his age; he answered both an economic and an + educational crisis. He also satisfied the South of the new day + by what he had to say about social equality.</p> + + <p>The story of his work reads like a romance, and he himself + has told it better than any one else ever can. He did not claim + the credit for the original idea of industrial education; that + he gave to General Armstrong, and it was at Hampton that he + himself had been nurtured. What was needed, however, was for + some one to take the Hampton idea down to the cotton belt, + interpret the lesson for the men and women digging in the + ground, and generally to put the race in line with the + country's industrial development. This was what Booker T. + Washington undertook to do.</p> + + <p>He reached Tuskegee early in June, 1881. July 4 was the date + set for the opening of the school in the little shanty and + church which had been secured for its accommodation. On the + morning of this day thirty students reported for admission. The + greater number were school-teachers and some were nearly forty + years of age. Just about three months after the opening of the + school there was offered for sale an old and abandoned + plantation a mile from Tuskegee on which the mansion had been + burned. All told the place seemed to be just the location + needed to make the work effective and permanent. The price + asked was five hundred dollars, the owner requiring the + immediate payment of two hundred and fifty dollars, the + remaining two hundred and fifty to be paid within a year. In + his difficulty Mr. Washington wrote to General J.F.B. Marshall, + treasurer of Hampton Institute, placing the matter before him + and asking for the loan of two hundred and fifty dollars. + General Marshall replied that he had no authority to lend money + belonging to Hampton Institute, but that he would gladly + advance the amount needed from his personal funds. Toward the + paying of this sum the assisting teacher, Olivia A. Davidson + (afterwards Mrs. Washington), helped heroically. Her first + effort was made by holding festivals and suppers, but she also + canvassed the families in the town of Tuskegee, and the white + people as well as the Negroes helped her. "It was often + pathetic," said the principal, "to note the gifts of the older + colored people, many of whom had spent their best days in + slavery. Sometimes they would give five cents, sometimes + twenty-five cents. Sometimes the contribution was a quilt, or a + quantity of sugarcane. I recall one old colored woman, who was + about seventy years of age, who came to see me when we were + raising money to pay for the farm. She hobbled into the room + where I was, leaning on a cane. She was clad in rags, but they + were clean. She said, 'Mr. Washington, God knows I spent de + bes' days of my life in slavery. God knows I's ignorant an' + poor; but I knows what you an' Miss Davidson is tryin' to do. I + knows you is tryin' to make better men an' better women for de + colored race. I ain't got no money, but I wants you to take + dese six eggs, what I's been savin' up, an' I wants you to put + dese six eggs into de eddication of dese boys an' gals.' Since + the work at Tuskegee started," added the speaker, "it has been + my privilege to receive many gifts for the benefit of the + institution, but never any, I think, that touched me as deeply + as this one."</p> + + <p>It was early in the history of the school that Mr. + Washington conceived the idea of extension work. The Tuskegee + Conferences began in February, 1892. To the first meeting came + five hundred men, mainly farmers, and many woman. Outstanding + was the discussion of the actual terms on which most of the men + were living from year to year. A mortgage was given on the + cotton crop before it was planted, and to the mortgage was + attached a note which waived all right to exemptions under the + constitution and laws of the state of Alabama or of any other + state to which the tenant might move. Said one: "The mortgage + ties you tighter than any rope and a waive note is a consuming + fire." Said another: "The waive note is good for twenty years + and when you sign one you must either pay out or die out." + Another: "When you sign a waive note you just cross your hands + behind you and go to the merchant and say, 'Here, tie me and + take all I've got.'" All agreed that the people mortgaged more + than was necessary, to buy sewing machines (which sometimes + were not used), expensive clocks, great family Bibles, or other + things easily dispensed with. Said one man: "My people want all + they can get on credit, not thinking of the day of settlement. + We must learn to bore with a small augur first. The black man + totes a heavy bundle, and when he puts it down there is a plow, + a hoe, and ignorance."</p> + + <p>It was to people such as these that Booker T. Washington + brought hope, and serving them he passed on to fame. Within a + few years schools on the plan of Tuskegee began to spring up + all over the South, at Denmark, at Snow Hill, at Utica, and + elsewhere. In 1900 the National Negro Business League began its + sessions, giving great impetus to the establishment of banks, + stores, and industrial enterprises throughout the country, and + especially in the South. Much of this progress would certainly + have been realized if the Business League had never been + organized; but every one granted that in all the development + the genius of the leader at Tuskegee was the chief force. About + his greatness and his very definite contribution there could be + no question.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="SpanishAmerican" + name="SpanishAmerican"><i>Individual Achievement: The + Spanish-American War</i></a></h4> + + <p>It happened that just at the time that Booker T. Washington + was advancing to great distinction, three or four other + individuals were reflecting special credit on the race. One of + these was a young scholar, W.E. Burghardt DuBois, who after a + college career at Fisk continued his studies at Harvard and + Berlin and finally took the Ph.D. degree at Harvard in 1895. + There had been sound scholars in the race before DuBois, but + generally these had rested on attainment in the languages or + mathematics, and most frequently they had expressed themselves + in rather philosophical disquisition. Here, however, was a + thorough student of economics, and one who was able to attack + the problems of his people and meet opponents on the basis of + modern science. He was destined to do great good, and the race + was proud of him.</p> + + <p>In 1896 also an authentic young poet who had wrestled with + poverty and doubt at last gained a hearing. After completing + the course at a high school in Dayton, Paul Laurence Dunbar ran + an elevator for four dollars a week, and then he peddled from + door to door two little volumes of verse that had been + privately printed. William Dean Howells at length gave him a + helping hand, and Dodd, Mead & Co. published <i>Lyrics of + Lowly Life</i>. Dunbar wrote both in classic English and in the + dialect that voiced the humor and the pathos of the life of + those for whom he spoke. What was not at the time especially + observed was that in numerous poems he suggested the discontent + with the age in which he lived and thus struck what later years + were to prove an important keynote. After he had waited and + struggled so long, his success was so great that it became a + vogue, and imitators sprang up everywhere. He touched the heart + of his people and the race loved him.</p> + + <p>By 1896 also word began to come of a Negro American painter, + Henry O. Tanner, who was winning laurels in Paris. At the same + time a beautiful singer, Mme. Sissieretta Jones, on the concert + stage was giving new proof of the possibilities of the Negro as + an artist in song. In the previous decade Mme. Marie Selika, a + cultured vocalist of the first rank, had delighted audiences in + both America and Europe, and in 1887 had appeared Flora Batson, + a ballad singer whose work at its best was of the sort that + sends an audience into the wildest enthusiasm. In 1894, + moreover, Harry T. Burleigh, competing against sixty + candidates, became baritone soloist at St. Georges's Episcopal + Church, New York, and just a few years later he was to be + employed also at Temple Emanu-El, the Fifth Avenue Jewish + synagogue. From abroad also came word of a brilliant musician, + Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who by his "Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast" + in 1898 leaped into the rank of the foremost living English + composers. On the more popular stage appeared light musical + comedy, intermediate between the old Negro minstrelsy and a + genuine Negro drama, the representative companies becoming + within the next few years those of Cole and Johnson, and + Williams and Walker.</p> + + <p>Especially outstanding in the course of the decade, however, + was the work of the Negro soldier in the Spanish-American War. + There were at the time four regiments of colored regulars in + the Army of the United States, the Twenty-fourth Infantry, the + Twenty-fifth Infantry, the Ninth Cavalry, and the Tenth + Cavalry. When the war broke out President McKinley sent to + Congress a message recommending the enlistment of more + regiments of Negroes. Congress failed to act; nevertheless + colored troops enlisted in the volunteer service in + Massachusetts, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, + Tennessee, and Virginia. The Eighth Illinois was officered + throughout by Negroes, J.R. Marshall commanding; and Major + Charles E. Young, a West Point graduate, was in charge of the + Ohio battalion. The very first regiment ordered to the front + when the war broke out was the Twenty-fourth Infantry; and + Negro troops were conspicuous in the fighting around Santiago. + They figured in a brilliant charge at Las Quasimas on June 24, + and in an attack on July 1 upon a garrison at El Caney (a + position of importance for securing possession of a line of + hills along the San Juan River, a mile and a half from + Santiago) the First Volunteer Cavalry (Colonel Roosevelt's + "Rough Riders") was practically saved from annihilation by the + gallant work of the men of the Tenth Cavalry. Fully as + patriotic, though in another way, was a deed of the + Twenty-fourth Infantry. Learning that General Miles desired a + regiment for the cleaning of a yellow fever hospital and the + nursing of some victims of the disease, the Twenty-fourth + volunteered its services and by one day's work so cleared away + the rubbish and cleaned the camp that the number of cases was + greatly reduced. Said the <i>Review of Reviews</i> in editorial + comment:<a id="footnotetag215" + name="footnotetag215"></a><a href= + "#footnote215"><sup>215</sup></a> "One of the most + gratifying incidents of the Spanish War has been the + enthusiasm that the colored regiments of the regular army + have aroused throughout the whole country. Their fighting at + Santiago was magnificent. The Negro soldiers showed + excellent discipline, the highest qualities of personal + bravery, very superior physical endurance, unfailing good + temper, and the most generous disposition toward all + comrades in arms, whether white or black. Roosevelt's Rough + Riders have come back singing the praises of the colored + troops. There is not a dissenting voice in the chorus of + praise.... Men who can fight for their country as did these + colored troops ought to have their full share of gratitude + and honor."</p> + + <h4>4. <a id="Massacre" + name="Massacre"><i>Mob Violence; Election Troubles; The + Atlanta Massacre</i></a></h4> + + <p>After two or three years of comparative quiet—but only + <i>comparative</i> quiet—mob violence burst forth about the + turn of the century with redoubled intensity. In a large way + this was simply a result of the campaigns for disfranchisement + that in some of the Southern states were just now getting under + way; but charges of assault and questions of labor also played + a part. In some places people who were innocent of any charge + whatever were attacked, and so many were killed that sometimes + it seemed that the law had broken down altogether. Not the + least interesting development of these troublous years was that + in some cases as never before Negroes began to fight with their + backs to the wall, and thus at the very close of the century—at + the end of a bitter decade and the beginning of one still more + bitter—a new factor entered into the problem, one that was + destined more and more to demand consideration.</p> + + <p>On one Sunday toward the close of October, 1898, the country + recorded two race wars, one lynching, two murders, one of which + was expected to lead to a lynching, with a total of ten Negroes + killed and four wounded and four white men killed and seven + wounded. The most serious outbreak was in the state of + Mississippi, and it is worthy of note that in not one single + case was there any question of rape.</p> + + <p>November was made red by election troubles in both North and + South Carolina. In the latter state, at Phoenix, in Greenwood + County, on November 8 and for some days thereafter, the + Tolberts, a well-known family of white Republicans, were + attacked by mobs and barely escaped alive. R.R. Tolbert was a + candidate for Congress and also chairman of the Republican + state committee. John R. Tolbert, his father, collector of the + port of Charleston, had come home to vote and was at one of the + polling-places in the county. Thomas Tolbert at Phoenix was + taking the affidavits of the Negroes who were not permitted to + vote for his brother in order that later there might be ground + on which to contest the election. While thus engaged he was + attacked by Etheridge, the Democratic manager of another + precinct. The Negroes came to Tolbert's defense, and in the + fight that followed Etheridge was killed and Tolbert wounded. + John Tolbert, coming up, was filled with buckshot, and a + younger member of the family was also hurt. The Negroes were at + length overpowered and the Tolberts forced to flee. All told it + appears that two white men and about twelve Negroes lost their + lives in connection with the trouble, six of the latter being + lynched on account of the death of Etheridge.</p> + + <p>In North Carolina in 1894 the Republicans by combining with + the Populists had secured control of the state legislature. In + 1896 the Democrats were again outvoted, Governor Russell being + elected by a plurality of 9000. A considerable number of local + offices was in the hands of Negroes, who had the backing of the + Governor, the legislature, and the Supreme Court as well. + Before the November elections in 1898 the Democrats in + Wilmington announced their determination to prevent Negroes + from holding office in the city. Especially had they been made + angry by an editorial in a local Negro paper, the + <i>Record</i>, in which, under date August 18, the editor, + Alex. L. Manly, starting with a reference to a speaker from + Georgia, who at the Agricultural Society meeting at Tybee had + advocated lynching as an extreme measure, said that she "lost + sight of the basic principle of the religion of Christ in her + plea for one class of people as against another," and + continued: "The papers are filled with reports of rapes of + white women, and the subsequent lynching of the alleged + rapists. The editors pour forth volleys of aspersions against + all Negroes because of the few who may be guilty. If the papers + and speakers of the other race would condemn the commission of + crime because it is crime and not try to make it appear that + the Negroes were the only criminals, they would find their + strongest allies in the intelligent Negroes themselves, and + together the whites and blacks would root the evil out of both + races.... Our experience among poor white people in the country + teaches us that the women of that race are not any more + particular in the matter of clandestine meetings with colored + men than are the white men with colored women. Meetings of this + kind go on for some time until the woman's infatuation or the + man's boldness brings attention to them and the man is lynched + for rape." In reply to this the speaker quoted in a signed + statement said: "When the Negro Manly attributed the crime of + rape to intimacy between Negro men and white women of the + South, the slanderer should be made to fear a lyncher's rope + rather than occupy a place in New York newspapers"—a method of + argument that was unfortunately all too common in the South. As + election day approached the Democrats sought generally to + intimidate the Negroes, the streets and roads being patrolled + by men wearing red shirts. Election day, however, passed + without any disturbance; but on the next day there was a mass + meeting of white citizens, at which there were adopted + resolutions to employ white labor instead of Negro, to banish + the editor of the <i>Record</i>, and to send away from the city + the printing-press in the office of that paper; and a committee + of twenty-five was appointed to see that these resolutions were + carried into effect within twenty-four hours. In the course of + the terrible day that followed the printing office was + destroyed, several white Republicans were driven from the city, + and nine Negroes were killed at once, though no one could say + with accuracy just how many more lost their lives or were + seriously wounded before the trouble was over.</p> + + <p>Charles W. Chesnutt, in <i>The Marrow of Tradition</i>, has + given a faithful portrayal of these disgraceful events, the + Wellington of the story being Wilmington. Perhaps the best + commentary on those who thus sought power was afforded by their + apologist, a Presbyterian minister and editor, A.J. McKelway, + who on this occasion and others wrote articles in the + <i>Independent</i> and the <i>Outlook</i> justifying the + proceedings. Said he: "It is difficult to speak of the Red + Shirts without a smile. They victimized the Negroes with a huge + practical joke.... A dozen men would meet at a crossroad, on + horseback, clad in red shirts or calico, flannel or silk, + according to the taste of the owner and the enthusiasm of his + womankind. They would gallop through the country, and the Negro + would quietly make up his mind that his interest in political + affairs was not a large one, anyhow. It would be wise not to + vote, and wiser not to register to prevent being dragooned into + voting on election day." It thus appears that the forcible + seizure of the political rights of people, the killing and + wounding of many, and the compelling of scores to leave their + homes amount in the end to not more than a "practical + joke."</p> + + <p>One part of the new program was the most intense opposition + to Federal Negro appointees anywhere in the South. On the + morning of February 22, 1898, Frazer B. Baker, the colored + postmaster at Lake City, S.C., awoke to find his house in + flames. Attempting to escape, he and his baby boy were shot and + killed and their bodies consumed in the burning house. His wife + and the other children were wounded but escaped. The + Postmaster-General was quite disposed to see that justice was + done in this case; but the men charged with the crime gave the + most trivial alibis, and on Saturday, April 22, 1899, the jury + in the United States Circuit Court at Charleston reported its + failure to agree on a verdict. Three years later the whole + problem was presented strongly to President Roosevelt. When + Mrs. Minne Cox, who was serving efficiently as postmistress at + Indianola, Miss., was forced to resign because of threats, he + closed the office; and when there was protest against the + appointment of Dr. William D. Crum as collector of the port of + Charleston, he said, "I do not intend to appoint any unfit man + to office. So far as I legitimately can, I shall always + endeavor to pay regard to the wishes and feelings of the people + of each locality; but I can not consent to take the position + that the door of hope—the door of opportunity—is to be shut + upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely upon the grounds of + race or color. Such an attitude would, according to my + convictions, be fundamentally wrong." These memorable words, + coming in a day of compromise and expediency in high places, + greatly cheered the heart of the race. Just the year before, + the importance of the incident of Booker T. Washington's taking + lunch with President Roosevelt was rather unnecessarily + magnified by the South into all sorts of discussion of social + equality.</p> + + <p>On Tuesday, January 24, 1899, a fire in the center of the + town of Palmetto, Ga., destroyed a hotel, two stores, and a + storehouse, on which property there was little insurance. The + next Saturday there was another fire and this destroyed a + considerable part of the town. For some weeks there was no clue + as to the origin of these fires; but about the middle of March + something overheard by a white citizen led to the implicating + of nine Negroes. These men were arrested and confined for the + night of March 15 in a warehouse to await trial the next + morning, a dummy guard of six men being placed before the door. + About midnight a mob came, pushed open the door, and fired two + volleys at the Negroes, killing four immediately and fatally + wounding four more. The circumstances of this atrocious crime + oppressed the Negro people of the state as few things had done + since the Civil War. That it did no good was evident, for in + its underlying psychology it was closely associated with a + double crime that was now to be committed. In April, Sam Hose, + a Negro who had brooded on the happenings at Palmetto, not many + miles from the scene killed a farmer, Alfred Cranford, who had + been a leader of the mob, and outraged his wife. For two weeks + he was hunted like an animal, the white people of the state + meanwhile being almost unnerved and the Negroes sickened by the + pursuit. At last, however, he was found, and on Sunday, April + 23, at Newnan, Ga., he was burned, his execution being + accompanied by unspeakable mutilation; and on the same day Lige + Strickland, a Negro preacher whom Hose had accused of + complicity in his crime, was hanged near Palmetto. The nation + stood aghast, for the recent events in Georgia had shaken the + very foundations of American civilization. Said the + <i>Charleston News and Courier</i>: "The chains which bound the + citizen, Sam Hose, to the stake at Newnan mean more for us and + for his race than the chains or bonds of slavery, which they + supplanted. The flames that lit the scene of his torture shed + their baleful light throughout every corner of our land, and + exposed a state of things, actual and potential, among us that + should rouse the dullest mind to a sharp sense of our true + condition, and of our unchanged and unchangeable relations to + the whole race whom the tortured wretch represented."</p> + + <p>Violence breeds violence, and two or three outstanding + events are yet to be recorded. On August 23, 1899, at Darien, + Ga., hundreds of Negroes, who for days had been aroused by + rumors of a threatened lynching, assembled at the ringing of + the bell of a church opposite the jail and by their presence + prevented the removal of a prisoner. They were later tried for + insurrection and twenty-one sent to the convict farms for a + year. The general circumstances of the uprising excited great + interest throughout the country. In May, 1900, in Augusta, Ga., + an unfortunate street car incident resulted in the death of the + aggressor, a young white man named Whitney, and in the lynching + of the colored man, Wilson, who killed him. In this instance + the victim was tortured and mutilated, parts of his body and of + the rope by which he was hanged being passed around as + souvenirs. A Negro organization at length recovered the body, + and so great was the excitement at the funeral that the coffin + was not allowed to be opened. Two months later, in New Orleans, + there was a most extraordinary occurrence, the same being + important because the leading figure was very frankly regarded + by the Negroes as a hero and his fight in his own defense a + sign that the men of the race would not always be shot down + without some effort to protect themselves.</p> + + <p>One night in July, an hour before midnight, two Negroes + Robert Charles and Leonard Pierce, who had recently come into + the city from Mississippi and whose movements had interested + the police, were found by three officers on the front steps of + a house in Dryades Street. Being questioned they replied that + they had been in the town two or three days and had secured + work. In the course of the questioning the larger of the + Negroes, Charles, rose to his feet; he was seized by one of the + officers, Mora, who began to use his billet; and in the + struggle that resulted Charles escaped and Mora was wounded in + each hand and the hip. Charles now took refuge in a small house + on Fourth Street, and when he was surrounded, with deadly aim + he shot and instantly killed the first two officers who + appeared.<a id="footnotetag216" + name="footnotetag216"></a><a href= + "#footnote216"><sup>216</sup></a> The other men advancing, + retreated and waited until daylight for reënforcement, and + Charles himself withdrew to other quarters, and for some + days his whereabouts were unknown. With the new day, + however, the city was wild with excitement and thousands of + men joined in the search, the newspapers all the while + stirring the crowd to greater fury. Mobs rushed up and down + the streets assaulting Negroes wherever they could be found, + no effort to check them being made by the police. On the + second night a crowd of nearly a thousand was addressed at + the Lee Monument by a man from Kenner, a town a few miles + above the city. Said he: "Gentlemen, I am from Kenner, and I + have come down here to-night to assist you in teaching the + blacks a lesson. I have killed a Negro before and in revenge + of the wrong wrought upon you and yours I am willing to kill + again. The only way you can teach these niggers a lesson and + put them in their place is to go out and lynch a few of them + as an object lesson. String up a few of them. That is the + only thing to do—kill them, string them up, lynch them. I + will lead you. On to the parish prison and lynch Pierce." + The mob now rushed to the prison, stores and pawnshops being + plundered on the way. Within the next few hours a Negro was + taken from a street car on Canal Street, killed, and his + body thrown into the gutter. An old man of seventy going to + work in the morning was fatally shot. On Rousseau Street the + mob fired into a little cabin; the inmates were asleep and + an old woman was killed in bed. Another old woman who looked + out from her home was beaten into insensibility. A man + sitting at his door was shot, beaten, and left for dead. + Such were the scenes that were enacted almost hourly from + Monday until Friday evening. One night the excellent school + building given by Thomy Lafon, a member of the race and a + philanthropist, was burned.</p> + + <p>About three o'clock on Friday afternoon Charles was found to + be in a two-story house at the corner of Saratoga and Clio + Streets. Two officers, Porteus and Lally, entered a lower room. + The first fell dead at the first shot, and the second was + mortally wounded by the next. A third, Bloomfield, waiting with + gun in hand, was wounded at the first shot and killed at the + second. The crowd retreated, but bullets rained upon the house, + Charles all the while keeping watch in every direction from + four different windows. Every now and then he thrust his rifle + through one of the shattered windowpanes and fired, working + with incredible rapidity. He succeeded in killing two more of + his assailants and wounding two. At last he realized that the + house was on fire, and knowing that the end had come he rushed + forth upon his foes, fired one shot more and fell dead. He had + killed eight men and mortally wounded two or three more. His + body was mutilated. In his room there was afterwards found a + copy of a religious publication, and it was known that he had + resented disfranchisement in Louisiana and had distributed + pamphlets to further a colonization scheme. No incriminating + evidence, however, was found.</p> + + <p>In the same memorable year, 1900, on the night of Wednesday, + August 15, there were serious riots in the city of New York. On + the preceding Sunday a policeman named Thorpe in attempting to + arrest a colored woman was stabbed by a Negro, Arthur Harris, + so fatally that he died on Monday. On Wednesday evening Negroes + were dragged from the street cars and beaten, and by midnight + there were thousands of rioters between 25th and 35th Streets. + On the next night the trouble was resumed. These events were + followed almost immediately by riots in Akron, Ohio. On the + last Sunday in October, 1901, while some Negroes were holding + their usual fall camp-meeting in a grove in Washington Parish, + Louisiana, they were attacked, and a number of people, not less + than ten and perhaps several more, were killed; and hundreds of + men, women, and children felt forced to move away from the + vicinity. In the first week of March, 1904, there was in + Mississippi a lynching that exceeded even others of the period + in its horror and that became notorious for its use of a + corkscrew. A white planter of Doddsville was murdered, and a + Negro, Luther Holbert, was charged with the crime. Holbert + fled, and his innocent wife went with him. Further report we + read in the Democratic <i>Evening Post</i> of Vicksburg as + follows: "When the two Negroes were captured, they were tied to + trees, and while the funeral pyres were being prepared they + were forced to suffer the most fiendish tortures. The blacks + were forced to hold out their hands while one finger at a time + was chopped off. The fingers were distributed as souvenirs. The + ears of the murderers were cut off. Holbert was beaten + severely, his skull was fractured, and one of his eyes, knocked + out with a stick, hung by a shred from the socket.... The most + excruciating form of punishment consisted in the use of a large + corkscrew in the hands of some of the mob. This instrument was + bored into the flesh of the man and the woman, in the arms, + legs, and body, and then pulled out, the spirals tearing out + big pieces of raw, quivering flesh every time it was + withdrawn." In the summer of this same year Georgia was once + more the scene of a horrible lynching, two Negroes, Paul Reed + and Will Cato—because of the murder of the Hodges family six + miles from the town on July 20—being burned at the stake at + Statesville under unusually depressing circumstances. In + August, 1908, there were in Springfield, Illinois, race riots + of such a serious nature that a force of six thousand soldiers + was required to quell them. These riots were significant not + only because of the attitude of Northern laborers toward Negro + competition, but also because of the indiscriminate killing of + Negroes by people in the North, this indicating a genuine + nationalization of the Negro Problem. The real climax of + violence within the period, however, was the Atlanta Massacre + of Saturday, September 22, 1906.</p> + + <p>Throughout the summer the heated campaign of Hoke Smith for + the governorship capitalized the gathering sentiment for the + disfranchisement of the Negro in the state and at length raised + the race issue to such a high pitch that it leaped into flame. + The feeling was intensified by the report of assaults and + attempted assaults by Negroes, particularly as these were + detailed and magnified or even invented by an evening paper, + the <i>Atlanta News</i>, against which the Fulton County Grand + Jury afterwards brought in an indictment as largely responsible + for the riot, and which was forced to suspend publication when + the business men of the city withdrew their support. Just how + much foundation there was to the rumors may be seen from the + following report of the investigator: "Three, charged to white + men, attracted comparatively little attention in the + newspapers, although one, the offense of a man named Turnadge, + was shocking in its details. Of twelve such charges against + Negroes in the six months preceding the riot, two were cases of + rape, horrible in their details, three were aggravated attempts + at rape, three may have been attempts, three were pure cases of + fright on the part of white women, and in one the white woman, + first asserting that a Negro had assaulted her, finally + confessed attempted suicide."<a id="footnotetag217" + name="footnotetag217"></a><a href= + "#footnote217"><sup>217</sup></a> On Friday, September 21, + while a Negro was on trial, the father of the girl concerned + asked the recorder for permission to deal with the Negro + with his own hand, and an outbreak was barely averted in the + open court. On Saturday evening, however, some elements in + the city and from neighboring towns, heated by liquor and + newspaper extras, became openly riotous and until midnight + defied all law and authority. Negroes were assaulted + wherever they appeared, for the most part being found + unsuspecting, as in the case of those who happened to be + going home from work and were on street cars passing through + the heart of the city. In one barber shop two workers were + beaten to death and their bodies mangled. A lame bootblack, + innocent and industrious, was dragged from his work and + kicked and beaten to death. Another young Negro was stabbed + with jack-knives. Altogether very nearly a score of persons + lost their lives and two or three times as many were + injured. After some time Governor Terrell mobilized the + militia, but the crowd did not take this move seriously, and + the real feeling of the Mayor, who turned on the hose of the + fire department, was shown by his statement that just so + long as the Negroes committed certain crimes just so long + would they be unceremoniously dealt with. Sunday dawned upon + a city of astounded white people and outraged and sullen + Negroes. Throughout Monday and Tuesday the tension + continued, the Negroes endeavoring to defend themselves as + well as they could. On Monday night the union of some + citizens with policemen who were advancing in a suburb in + which most of the homes were those of Negroes, resulted in + the death of James Heard, an officer, and in the wounding of + some of those who accompanied him. More Negroes were also + killed, and a white woman to whose front porch two men were + chased died of fright at seeing them shot to death. It was + the disposition, however, on the part of the Negroes to make + armed resistance that really put an end to the massacre. Now + followed a procedure that is best described in the words of + the prominent apologist for such outbreaks. Said A.J. + McKelway: "Tuesday every house in the town (i.e., the suburb + referred to above) was entered by the soldiers, and some two + hundred and fifty Negroes temporarily held, while the search + was proceeding and inquiries being made. They were all + disarmed, and those with concealed weapons, or under + suspicion of having been in the party firing on the police, + were sent to jail."<a id="footnotetag218" + name="footnotetag218"></a><a href= + "#footnote218"><sup>218</sup></a> It is thus evident that in + this case, as in many others, the Negroes who had suffered + most, not the white men who killed a score of them, were + disarmed, and that for the time being their terrified women + and children were left defenseless. McKelway also says in + this general connection: "Any Southern man would protect an + innocent Negro who appealed to him for help, with his own + life if necessary." This sounds like chivalry, but it is + really the survival of the old slavery attitude that begs + the whole question. The Negro does not feel that he should + ask any other man to protect him. He has quite made up his + mind that he will defend his own home himself. He stands as + a man before the bar, and the one thing he wants to know is + if the law and the courts of America are able to give him + justice—simple justice, nothing more.</p> + + <h4>5. <a id="Labor" + name="Labor"><i>The Question of Labor</i></a></h4> + + <p>From time to time, in connection with cases of violence, we + have referred to the matter of labor. Riots such as we have + described are primarily social in character, the call of race + invariably being the final appeal. The economic motive has + accompanied this, however, and has been found to be of + increasing importance. Says DuBois: "The fatal campaign in + Georgia which culminated in the Atlanta Massacre was an + attempt, fathered by conscienceless politicians, to arouse the + prejudices of the rank and file of white laborers and farmers + against the growing competition of black men, so that black men + by law could be forced back to subserviency and serfdom."<a id= + "footnotetag219" + name="footnotetag219"></a><a href= + "#footnote219"><sup>219</sup></a> The question was indeed + constantly recurrent, but even by the end of the period + policies had not yet been definitely decided upon, and for + the time being there were frequent armed clashes between the + Negro and the white laborer. Both capital and common sense + were making it clear, however, that the Negro was + undoubtedly a labor asset and would have to be given place + accordingly.</p> + + <p>In March, 1895, there were bloody riots in New Orleans, + these growing out of the fact that white laborers who were + beginning to be organized objected to the employment Of Negro + workers by the shipowners for the unloading of vessels. When + the trouble was at its height volley after volley was poured + upon the Negroes, and in turn two white men were killed and + several wounded. The commercial bodies of the city met, blamed + the Governor and the Mayor for the series of outbreaks, and + demanded that the outrages cease. Said they: "Forbearance has + ceased to be a virtue. We can no longer treat with men who, + with arms in their hands, are shooting down an inoffensive + people because they will not think and act with them. For these + reasons we say to these people that, cost what it may, we are + determined that the commerce of this city must and shall be + protected; that every man who desires to perform honest labor + must and shall be permitted to do so regardless of race, color, + or previous condition." About August I of this same year, 1895, + there were sharp conflicts between the white and the black + miners at Birmingham, a number being killed on both sides + before military authority could intervene. Three years later, + moreover, the invasion of the North by Negro labor had begun, + and about November 17, 1898, there was serious trouble in the + mines at Pana and Virden, Illinois. In the same month the + convention of railroad brotherhoods in Norfolk expressed strong + hostility to Negro labor, Grand Master Frank P. Sargent of the + Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen saying that one of the chief + purposes of the meeting of the brotherhoods was "to begin a + campaign in advocacy of white supremacy in the railway + service." This November, it will be recalled, was the fateful + month of the election riots in North and South Carolina. <i>The + People</i>, the Socialist-Labor publication, commenting upon a + Negro indignation meeting at Cooper Union and upon the problem + in general, said that the Negro was essentially a wage-slave, + that it was the capitalism of the North and not humanity that + in the first place had demanded the freedom of the slave, that + in the new day capital demanded the subjugation of the working + class—Negro or otherwise; and it blamed the Negroes for not + seeing the real issues at stake. It continued with emphasis: + "It is not the <i>Negro</i> that was massacred in the + Carolinas; it was Carolina <i>workingmen</i>, Carolina + <i>wage-slaves</i> who happened to be colored men. Not as + Negroes must the race rise;... it is as <i>workingmen</i>, as a + branch of the <i>working class</i>, that the Negro must + denounce the Carolina felonies. Only by touching that chord can + he denounce to a purpose, because only then does he place + himself upon that elevation that will enable him to perceive + the source of the specific wrong complained of now." This point + of view was destined more and more to stimulate those + interested in the problem, whether they accepted it in its + entirety or not. Another opinion, very different and also + important, was that given in 1899 by the editor of + <i>Dixie</i>, a magazine published in Atlanta and devoted to + Southern industrial interests. Said he: "The manufacturing + center of the United States will one day be located in the + South; and this will come about, strange as it may seem, for + the reason that the Negro is a fixture here.... Organized + labor, as it exists to-day, is a menace to industry. The Negro + stands as a permanent and positive barrier against labor + organization in the South.... So the Negro, all unwittingly, is + playing an important part in the drama of Southern industrial + development. His good nature defies the Socialist." At the time + this opinion seemed plausible, and yet the very next two + decades were to raise the question if it was not founded on + fallacious assumptions.</p> + + <p>The real climax of labor trouble as of mob violence within + the period came in Georgia and in Atlanta, a city that now + assumed outstanding importance as a battleground of the + problems of the New South. In April, 1909, it happened that ten + white workers on the Georgia Railroad who had been placed on + the "extra list" were replaced by Negroes at lower wages. + Against this there was violent protest all along the route. A + little more than a month later the white Firemen's Union + started a strike that was intended to be the beginning of an + effort to drive all Negro firemen from Southern roads, and it + was soon apparent that the real contest was one occasioned by + the progress in the South of organized labor on the one hand + and the progress of the Negro in efficiency on the other. The + essential motives that entered into the struggle were in fact + the same as those that characterized the trouble in New Orleans + in 1895. Said E.A. Ball, second vice-president of the Firemen's + Union, in an address to the public: "It will be up to you to + determine whether the white firemen now employed on the Georgia + Railroad shall be accorded rights and privileges over the + Negro, or whether he shall be placed on the same equality with + the Negro. Also, it will be for you to determine whether or not + white firemen, supporting families in and around Atlanta on a + pay of $1.75 a day, shall be compelled to vacate their + positions in Atlanta joint terminals for Negroes, who are + willing to do the same work for $1.25." Some papers, like the + Augusta <i>Herald</i>, said that it was a mistaken policy to + give preference to Negroes when white men would ultimately have + to be put in charge of trains and engines; but others, like the + Baltimore <i>News</i>, said, "If the Negro can be driven from + one skilled employment, he can be driven from another; but a + country that tries to do it is flying in the face of every + economic law, and must feel the evil effects of its policy if + it could be carried out." At any rate feeling ran very high; + for a whole week about June I there were very few trains + between Atlanta and Augusta, and there were some acts of + violence; but in the face of the capital at stake and the + fundamental issues involved it was simply impossible for the + railroad to give way. The matter was at length referred to a + board of arbitration which decided that the Georgia Railroad + was still to employ Negroes whenever they were found qualified + and that they were to receive the same wages as white workers. + Some thought that this decision would ultimately tell against + the Negro, but such was not the immediate effect at least, and + to all intents and purposes the white firemen had lost in the + strike. The whole matter was in fact fundamentally one of the + most pathetic that we have had to record. Humble white workers, + desirous of improving the economic condition of themselves and + their families, instead of assuming a statesmanlike and truly + patriotic attitude toward their problem, turned aside into the + wilderness of racial hatred and were lost.</p> + + <p>This review naturally prompts reflection as to the whole + function of the Negro laborer in the South. In the first place, + what is he worth, and especially what is he worth in honest + Southern opinion? It was said after the Civil War that he would + not work except under compulsion; just how had he come to be + regarded in the industry of the New South? In 1894 a number of + large employers were asked about this point. 50 per cent said + that in skilled labor they considered the Negro inferior to the + white worker, 46 per cent said that he was fairly equal, and 4 + per cent said that, all things considered, he was superior. As + to common labor 54 per cent said that he was equal, 29 per cent + superior, and 17 per cent inferior to the white worker. At the + time it appeared that wages paid Negroes averaged 80 per cent + of those paid white men. A similar investigation by the + Chattanooga <i>Tradesman</i> in 1902 brought forth five hundred + replies. These were summarized as follows: "We find the Negro + more useful and skilled in the cotton-seed oil-mills, the + lumber-mills, the foundries, brick kilns, mines, and + blast-furnaces. He is superior to white labor and possibly + superior to any other labor in these establishments, but not in + the capacity of skillful and ingenious artisans." In this + opinion, it is to be remembered, the Negro was subjected to a + severe test in which nothing whatever was given to him, and at + least it appears that in many lines of labor he is not less + than indispensable to the progress of the South. The question + then arises: Just what is the relation that he is finally to + sustain to other workingmen? It would seem that white worker + and black worker would long ago have realized their identity of + interest and have come together. The unions, however, have been + slow to admit Negroes and give them the same footing and + backing as white men. Under the circumstances accordingly there + remained nothing else for the Negro to do except to work + wherever his services were desired and on the best terms that + he was able to obtain.</p> + + <h4>6. <a id="Brownsville" + name="Brownsville"><i>Defamation: Brownsville</i></a></h4> + + <p>Crime demands justification, and it is not surprising that + after such violence as that which we have described, and after + several states had passed disfranchising acts, there appeared + in the first years of the new century several publications + especially defamatory of the race. Some books unfortunately + descended to a coarseness in vilification such as had not been + reached since the Civil War. From a Bible House in St. Louis in + 1902 came <i>The Negro a Beast, or In the Image of God</i>, a + book that was destined to have an enormous circulation among + the white people of the poorer class in the South, and that of + course promoted the mob spirit.<a id="footnotetag220" + name="footnotetag220"></a><a href= + "#footnote220"><sup>220</sup></a> Contemporary and of the + same general tenor were R.W. Shufeldt's <i>The Negro</i> and + W.B. Smith's <i>The Color Line</i>, while a member of the + race itself, William Hannibal Thomas, published a book, + <i>The American Negro</i>, that was without either faith or + ideal and as a denunciation of the Negro in America + unparalleled in its vindictiveness and exaggeration.<a id= + "footnotetag221" + name="footnotetag221"></a><a href= + "#footnote221"><sup>221</sup></a></p> + + <p>In January, 1904, the new governor of Mississippi, J.K. + Vardaman, in his inaugural address went to the extreme of + voicing the opinion of those who were now contending that the + education of the Negro was only complicating the problem and + intensifying its dangerous features. Said he of the Negro + people: "As a race, they are deteriorating morally every day. + Time has demonstrated that they are more criminal as freemen + than as slaves; that they are increasing in criminality with + frightful rapidity, being one-third more criminal in 1890 than + in 1880." A few weeks later Bishop Brown of Arkansas in a + widely quoted address contended that the Southern Negro was + going backward both morally and intellectually and could never + be expected to take a helpful part in the Government; and he + also justified lynching. In the same year one of the more + advanced thinkers of the South, Edgar Gardner Murphy, in + <i>Problems of the Present South</i> was not yet quite willing + to receive the Negro on the basis of citizenship; and Thomas + Nelson Page, who had belittled the Negro in such a collection + of stories as <i>In Ole Virginia</i> and in such a novel as + <i>Red Rock</i><a id="footnotetag222" + name="footnotetag222"></a><a href= + "#footnote222"><sup>222</sup></a> formally stated his + theories in <i>The Negro: The Southerner's Problem</i>. The + worst, however—if there could be a worst in such an + array—was yet to appear. In 1905 Thomas Dixon added to a + series of high-keyed novels <i>The Clansman</i>, a + glorification of the KuKlux Klan that gave a malignant + portrayal of the Negro and that was of such a quality as to + arouse the most intense prejudice and hatred. Within a few + months the work was put on the stage and again and again it + threw audiences into the wildest excitement. The production + was to some extent held to blame for the Atlanta Massacre. + In several cities it was proscribed. In Philadelphia on + October 23, 1906, after the Negro people had made an + unavailing protest, three thousand of them made a + demonstration before the Walnut Street theater where the + performance was given, while the conduct of some within the + playhouse almost precipitated a riot; and in this city the + play was suppressed the next day. Throughout the South, + however, and sometimes elsewhere it continued to do its + deadly work, and it was later to furnish the basis of "The + Birth of a Nation," an elaborate motion picture of the same + general tendency.</p> + + <p>Still another line of attack was now to attempt to deprive + the Negro of any credit for initiative or for any independent + achievement whatsoever. In May, 1903, Alfred H. Stone + contributed to the <i>Atlantic</i> a paper, "The Mulatto in the + Negro Problem," which contended at the same time that whatever + meritorious work the race had accomplished was due to the + infusion of white blood and that it was the mulatto that was + constantly poisoning the mind of the Negro with "radical + teachings and destructive doctrines." These points found + frequent iteration throughout the period, and years afterwards, + in 1917, the first found formal statement in the <i>American + Journal of Sociology</i> in an article by Edward Byron Reuter, + "The Superiority of the Mulatto," which the next year was + elaborated into a volume, <i>The Mulatto in the United + States</i>. To argue the superiority of the mulatto of course + is simply to argue once more the inferiority of the Negro to + the white man.</p> + + <p>All of this dispraise together presented a formidable case + and one from which the race suffered immeasurably; nor was it + entirely offset in the same years by the appearance even of + DuBois's remarkable book, <i>The Souls of Black Folk</i>, or by + the several uplift publications of Booker T. Washington. In + passing we wish to refer to three points: (1) The effect of + education on the Negro; (2) the matter of the Negro criminal + (and of mortality), and (3) the quality and function of the + mulatto.</p> + + <p>Education could certainly not be blamed for the difficulties + of the problem in the new day until it had been properly tried. + In no one of the Southern states within the period did the + Negro child receive a fair chance. He was frequently subjected + to inferior teaching, dilapidated accommodations, and short + terms. In the representative city of Atlanta in 1903 the white + school population numbered 14,465 and the colored 8,118. The + Negroes, however, while numbering 35 per cent of the whole, + received but 12 per cent of the school funds. The average white + teacher received $745 a year, and the Negro teacher $450. In + the great reduction of the percentage of illiteracy in the race + from 70 in 1880 to 30.4 in 1910 the missionary colleges—those + of the American Missionary Association, the American Baptist + Home Mission Society, and the Freedmen's Aid Society—played a + much larger part than they are ordinarily given credit for; and + it is a very, very rare occurrence that a graduate of one of + the institutions sustained by these agencies, or even one who + has attended them for any length of time, has to be summoned + before the courts. Their influence has most decidedly been on + the side of law and order. Undoubtedly some of those who have + gone forth from these schools have not been very practical, and + some have not gained a very firm sense of relative values in + life—it would be a miracle if all had; but as a group the young + people who have attended the colleges have most abundantly + justified the expenditures made in their behalf, expenditures + for which their respective states were not responsible but of + which they reaped the benefit. From one standpoint, however, + the so-called higher education did most undoubtedly complicate + the problem. Those critics of the race who felt that the only + function of Negroes in life was that of hewers of wood and + drawers of water quite fully realized that Negroes who had been + to college did not care to work longer as field laborers. Some + were to prove scientific students of agriculture, but as a + group they were out of the class of peons. In this they were + just like white people and all other people. No one who has + once seen the light chooses to live always on the plane of the + "man with the hoe." Nor need it be thought that these students + are unduly crowding into professional pursuits. While, for + instance, the number of Negro physicians and dentists has + greatly increased within recent years, the number would still + have to be four or five times as great to sustain to the total + Negro population the same proportion as that borne by the whole + number of white physicians and dentists to the total white + population.</p> + + <p>The subjects of the criminality and the mortality of the + race are in their ultimate reaches closely related, both being + mainly due, as we have suggested, to the conditions under which + Negroes have been forced to live. In the country districts, + until 1900 at least, there was little provision for + improvements in methods of cooking or in sanitation, while in + cities the effects of inferior housing, poor and unlighted + streets, and of the segregation of vice in Negro neighborhoods + could not be otherwise than obvious. Thus it happened in such a + year as 1898 that in Baltimore the Negro death rate was + somewhat more and in Nashville just a little less than twice + that of the white people. Legal procedure, moreover, emphasized + a vicious circle; living conditions sent the Negroes to the + courts in increasing numbers, and the courts sent them still + farther down in the scale. There were undoubtedly some Negro + thieves, some Negro murderers, and some Negroes who were + incontinent; no race has yet appeared on the face of the earth + that did not contain members having such propensities, and all + such people should be dealt with justly by law. Our present + contention is that throughout the period of which we are now + speaking the dominant social system was not only such as to + accentuate criminal elements but also such as even sought to + discourage aspiring men. A few illustrations, drawn from widely + different phases of life, must suffice. In the spring of 1903, + and again in 1904, Jackson W. Giles, of Montgomery County, + Alabama, contended before the Supreme Court of the United + States that he and other Negroes in his county were wrongfully + excluded from the franchise by the new Alabama constitution. + Twice was his case thrown out on technicalities, the first time + it was said because he was petitioning for the right to vote + under a constitution whose validity he denied, and the second + time because the Federal right that he claimed had not been + passed on in the state court from whose decision he appealed. + Thus the supreme tribunal in the United States evaded at the + time any formal judgment as to the real validity of the new + suffrage provisions. In 1903, moreover, in Alabama, Negroes + charged with petty offenses and sometimes with no offense at + all were still sent to convict farms or turned over to + contractors. They were sometimes compelled to work as peons for + a length of time; and they were flogged, starved, hunted with + bloodhounds, and sold from one contractor to another in direct + violation of law. One Joseph Patterson borrowed $1 on a + Saturday, promising to pay the amount on the following Tuesday + morning. He did not get to town at the appointed time, and he + was arrested and carried before a justice of the peace, who + found him guilty of obtaining money under false pretenses. No + time whatever was given to the Negro to get witnesses or a + lawyer, or to get money with which to pay his fine and the + costs of court. He was sold for $25 to a man named Hardy, who + worked him for a year and then sold him for $40 to another man + named Pace. Patterson tried to escape, but was recaptured and + given a sentence of six months more. He was then required to + serve for an additional year to pay a doctor's bill. When the + case at last attracted attention, it appeared that for $1 + borrowed in 1903 he was not finally to be released before 1906. + Another case of interest and importance was set in New York. In + the spring of 1909 a pullman porter was arrested on the charge + of stealing a card-case containing $20. The next day he was + discharged as innocent. He then entered against his accuser a + suit for $10,000 damages. The jury awarded him $2,500, which + amount the court reduced to $300, Justice P.H. Dugro saying + that a Negro when falsely imprisoned did not suffer the same + amount of injury that a white man would suffer—an opinion which + the New York <i>Age</i> very naturally characterized as "one of + the basest and most offensive ever handed down by a New York + judge."</p> + + <p>In the history of the question of the mulatto two facts are + outstanding. One is that before the Civil War, as was very + natural under the circumstances, mulattoes became free much + faster than pure Negroes; thus the census of 1850 showed that + 581 of every 1000 free Negroes were mulattoes and only 83 of + every 1000 slaves. Since the Civil War, moreover, the mulatto + element has rapidly increased, advancing from 11.2 per cent of + the Negro population in 1850 to 20.9 per cent in 1910, or from + 126 to 264 per 1000. On the whole question of the function of + this mixed element the elaborate study, that of Reuter, is + immediately thrown out of court by its lack of accuracy. The + fundamental facts on which it rests its case are not always + true, and if premises are false conclusions are worthless. No + work on the Negro that calls Toussaint L'Ouverture and + Sojourner Truth mulattoes and that will not give the race + credit for several well-known pure Negroes of the present day, + can long command the attention of scholars. This whole argument + on the mulatto goes back to the fallacy of degrading human + beings by slavery for two hundred years and then arguing that + they have not the capacity or the inclination to rise. In a + country predominantly white the quadroon has frequently been + given some advantage that his black friend did not have, from + the time that one was a house-servant and the other a + field-hand; but no scientific test has ever demonstrated that + the black boy is intellectually inferior to the fair one. In + America, however, it is the fashion to place upon the Negro any + blame or deficiency and to claim for the white race any merit + that an individual may show. Furthermore—and this is a point + not often remarked in discussions of the problem—the element of + genius that distinguishes the Negro artist of mixed blood is + most frequently one characteristically Negro rather than + Anglo-Saxon. Much has been made of the fact that within the + society of the race itself there have been lines of cleavage, a + comparatively few people, very fair in color, sometimes drawing + off to themselves. This is a fact, and it is simply one more + heritage from slavery, most tenacious in some conservative + cities along the coast. Even there, however, old lines are + vanishing and the fusion of different groups within the race + rapidly going forward. Undoubtedly there has been some + snobbery, as there always is, and a few quadroons and octoroons + have crossed the color line and been lost to the race; but + these cases are after all comparatively few in number, and the + younger generation is more and more emphasizing the ideals of + racial solidarity. In the future there may continue to be lines + of cleavage in society within the race, but the standards + governing these will primarily be character and merit. On the + whole, then, the mulatto has placed himself squarely on the + side of the difficulties, aspirations, and achievements of the + Negro people and it is simply an accident and not inherent + quality that accounts for the fact that he has been so + prominent in the leadership of the race.</p> + + <p>The final refutation of defamation, however, is to be found + in the actual achievement of members of the race themselves. + The progress in spite of handicaps continued to be amazing. + Said the New York <i>Sun</i> early in 1907 (copied by the + <i>Times</i>) of "Negroes Who Have Made Good": "Junius C. + Groves of Kansas produces 75,000 bushels of potatoes every + year, the world's record. Alfred Smith received the blue ribbon + at the World's Fair and first prize in England for his + Oklahoma-raised cotton. Some of the thirty-five patented + devices of Granville T. Woods, the electrician, form part of + the systems of the New York elevated railways and the Bell + Telephone Company. W. Sidney Pittman drew the design of the + Collis P. Huntington memorial building, the largest and finest + at Tuskegee. Daniel H. Williams, M.D., of Chicago, was the + first surgeon to sew up and heal a wounded human heart. Mary + Church Terrell addressed in three languages at Berlin recently + the International Association for the Advancement of Women. + Edward H. Morris won his suit between Cook County and the city + of Chicago, and has a law practice worth $20,000 a year."</p> + + <p>In one department of effort, that of sport, the Negro was + especially prominent. In pugilism, a diversion that has always + been noteworthy for its popular appeal, Peter Jackson was well + known as a contemporary of John L. Sullivan. George Dixon was, + with the exception of one year, either bantamweight or + featherweight champion for the whole of the period from 1890 to + 1900; and Joe Gans was lightweight champion from 1902 to 1908. + Joe Walcott was welterweight champion from 1901 to 1904, and + was succeeded by Dixie Kid, who held his place from 1904 to + 1908. In 1908, to the chagrin of thousands and with a victory + that occasioned a score of racial conflicts throughout the + South and West and that resulted in several deaths, Jack + Johnson became the heavyweight champion of America, a position + that he was destined to hold for seven years. In professional + baseball the Negro was proscribed, though occasionally a member + of the race played on teams of the second group. Of + semi-professional teams the American Giants and the Leland + Giants of Chicago, and the Lincoln Giants of New York, were + popular favorites, and frequently numbered on their rolls + players of the first order of ability. In intercollegiate + baseball W.C. Matthews of Harvard was outstanding for several + years about 1904. In intercollegiate football Lewis at Harvard + in the earlier nineties and Bullock at Dartmouth a decade later + were unusually prominent, while Marshall of Minnesota in 1905 + became an All-American end. Pollard of Brown, a half-back, in + 1916, and Robeson of Rutgers, an end, in 1918, also won + All-American honors. About the turn of the century Major Taylor + was a champion bicycle rider, and John B. Taylor of + Pennsylvania was an intercollegiate champion in track + athletics. Similarly fifteen years later Binga Dismond of + Howard and Chicago, Sol Butler of Dubuque, and Howard P. Drew + of Southern California were destined to win national and even + international honors in track work. Drew broke numerous records + as a runner and Butler was the winner in the broad jump at the + Inter-Allied Games in the Pershing Stadium in Paris. In 1920 E. + Gourdin of Harvard came prominently forward as one of the best + track athletes that institution had ever had.</p> + + <p>In the face, then, of the Negro's unquestionable physical + ability and prowess the supreme criticism that he was called on + to face within the period was all the more hard to bear. In all + nations and in all ages courage under fire as a soldier has + been regarded as the sterling test of manhood, and by this + standard we have seen that in war the Negro had more than + vindicated himself. His very honor as a soldier was now to be + attacked.</p> + + <p>In August, 1906, Companies B, C, and D of the Twenty-fifth + Regiment, United States Infantry, were stationed at Fort Brown, + Brownsville, Texas, where they were forced to exercise very + great self-restraint in the face of daily insults from the + citizens. On the night of the 13th occurred a riot in which one + citizen of the town was killed, another wounded, and the chief + of police injured. The people of the town accused the soldiers + of causing the riot and demanded their removal. + Brigadier-General E.A. Garlington, Inspector General, was sent + to find the guilty men, and, failing in his mission, he + recommended dishonorable discharge for the regiment. On this + recommendation President Roosevelt on November 9 dismissed + "without honor" the entire battalion, disqualifying its members + for service thereafter in either the military or the civil + employ of the United States. When Congress met in December + Senator J.B. Foraker of Ohio placed himself at the head of the + critics of the President's action, and in a ringing speech said + of the discharged men that "they asked no favors because they + were Negroes, but only justice because they were men." On + January 22 the Senate authorized a general investigation of the + whole matter, a special message from the President on the 14th + having revoked the civil disability of the discharged soldiers. + The case was finally disposed of by a congressional act + approved March 3, 1909, which appointed a court of inquiry + before which any discharged man who wished to reënlist had the + burden of establishing his innocence—a procedure which clearly + violated the fundamental principle in law that a man is to be + accounted innocent until he is proved guilty.</p> + + <p>In connection with the dishonored soldier of Brownsville, + and indeed with reference to the Negro throughout the period, + we recall Edwin Markham's poem, "Dreyfus,"<a id= + "footnotetag223" + name="footnotetag223"></a><a href= + "#footnote223"><sup>223</sup></a> written for a far + different occasion but with fundamental principles of + justice that are eternal:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <div class="stanza"> + <h2>I</h2> + + <p class="i2">A man stood stained; France was one Alp + of hate,<br /> + Pressing upon him with the whole world's weight;<br /> + In all the circle of the ancient sun<br /> + There was no voice to speak for him—not one;<br /> + In all the world of men there was no sound<br /> + But of a sword flung broken to the ground.</p> + + <p class="i2">Hell laughed its little hour; and then + behold<br /> + How one by one the guarded gates unfold!<br /> + Swiftly a sword by Unseen Forces hurled,<br /> + And now a man rising against the world!</p> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <h2>II</h2> + + <p class="i2">Oh, import deep as life is, deep as + time!<br /> + There is a Something sacred and sublime<br /> + Moving behind the worlds, beyond our ken,<br /> + Weighing the stars, weighing the deeds of men.</p> + + <p class="i2">Take heart, O soul of sorrow, and be + strong!<br /> + There is one greater than the whole world's + wrong.<br /> + Be hushed before the high Benignant Power<br /> + That moves wool-shod through sepulcher and tower!<br /> + No truth so low but He will give it crown;<br /> + No wrong so high but He will hurl it down.<br /> + O men that forge the fetter, it is vain;<br /> + There is a Still Hand stronger than your chain.<br /> + 'Tis no avail to bargain, sneer, and nod,<br /> + And shrug the shoulder for reply to God.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4>7. <a id="Tomorrow" + name="Tomorrow"><i>The Dawn of a To-morrow</i></a></h4> + + <p>The bitter period that we have been considering was not + wholly without its bright features, and with the new century + new voices began to be articulate. In May, 1900, there was in + Montgomery a conference in which Southern men undertook as + never before to make a study of their problems. That some who + came had yet no real conception of the task and its + difficulties may be seen from the suggestion of one man that + the Negroes be deported to the West or to the islands of the + sea. Several men advocated the repeal of the Fifteenth + Amendment. The position outstanding for its statesmanship was + that of ex-Governor William A. McCorkle of West Virginia, who + asserted that the right of franchise was the vital and + underlying principle of the life of the people of the United + States and must not be violated, that the remedy for present + conditions was an "honest and inflexible educational and + property basis, administered fairly for black and white," and + finally that the Negro Problem was not a local problem but one + to be settled by the hearty coöperation of all of the people of + the United States.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile the Southern Educational Congress continued its + sittings from year to year, and about 1901 there developed new + and great interest in education, the Southern Education Board + acting in close coöperation with the General Education Board, + the medium of the philanthropy of John D. Rockefeller, and + frequently also with the Peabody and Slater funds.<a id= + "footnotetag224" + name="footnotetag224"></a><a href= + "#footnote224"><sup>224</sup></a> In 1907 came the + announcement of the Jeanes Fund, established by Anna T. + Jeanes, a Quaker of Philadelphia, for the education of the + Negro in the rural districts of the South; and in 1911 that + of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, established by Caroline + Phelps-Stokes with emphasis on the education of the Negro in + Africa and America. More and more these agencies were to + work in harmony and coöperation with the officials in the + different states concerned. In 1900 J.L.M. Curry, a Southern + man of great breadth of culture, was still in charge of the + Peabody and Slater funds, but he was soon to pass from the + scene and in the work now to be done were prominent Robert + C. Ogden, Hollis B. Frissell, Wallace Buttrick, George + Foster Peabody, and James H. Dillard.</p> + + <p>Along with the mob violence, moreover, that disgraced the + opening years of the century was an increasing number of + officers who were disposed to do their duty even under trying + circumstances. Less than two months after his notorious + inaugural Governor Vardaman of Mississippi interested the + reading public by ordering out a company of militia when a + lynching was practically announced to take place, and by + boarding a special train to the scene to save the Negro. In + this same state in 1909, when the legislature passed a law + levying a tax for the establishment of agricultural schools for + white students, and levied this on the property of white people + and Negroes alike, though only the white people were to have + schools, a Jasper County Negro contested the matter before the + Chancery Court, which declared the law unconstitutional, and he + was further supported by the Supreme Court of the state. Such a + decision was inspiring, but it was not the rule, and already + the problems of another decade were being foreshadowed. Already + also under the stress of conditions in the South many Negroes + were seeking a haven in the North. By 1900 there were as many + Negroes in Pennsylvania as in Missouri, whereas twenty years + before there had been twice as many in the latter state. There + were in Massachusetts more than in Delaware, whereas twenty + years before Delaware had had 50 per cent more than + Massachusetts. Within twenty years Virginia gained 312,000 + white people and only 29,000 Negroes, the latter having begun a + steady movement to New York. North Carolina gained 400,000 + white people and only 93,000 Negroes. South Carolina and + Mississippi, however, were not yet affected in large measure by + the movement.</p> + + <p>The race indeed was beginning to be possessed by a new + consciousness. After 1895 Booker T. Washington was a very + genuine leader. From the first, however, there was a distinct + group of Negro men who honestly questioned the ultimate wisdom + of the so-called Atlanta Compromise, and who felt that in + seeming to be willing temporarily to accept proscription and to + waive political rights Dr. Washington had given up too much. + Sometimes also there was something in his illustrations of the + effects of current methods of education that provoked reply. + Those who were of the opposition, however, were not at first + united and constructive, and in their utterances they sometimes + offended by harshness of tone. Dr. Washington himself said of + the extremists in this group that they frequently understood + theories but not things; that in college they gave little + thought to preparing for any definite task in the world, but + started out with the idea of preparing themselves to solve the + race problem; and that many of them made a business of keeping + the troubles, wrongs, and hardships of the Negro race before + the public.<a id="footnotetag225" + name="footnotetag225"></a><a href= + "#footnote225"><sup>225</sup></a> There was ample ground for + this criticism. More and more, however, the opposition + gained force; the <i>Guardian</i>, a weekly paper edited in + Boston by Monroe Trotter, was particularly outspoken, and in + Boston the real climax came in 1903 in an endeavor to break + up a meeting at which Dr. Washington was to speak. Then, + beginning in January, 1904, the <i>Voice of the Negro</i>, a + magazine published in Atlanta for three years, definitely + helped toward the cultivation of racial ideals. Publication + of the periodical became irregular after the Atlanta + Massacre, and it finally expired in 1907. Some of the + articles dealt with older and more philosophical themes, but + there were also bright and illuminating studies in education + and other social topics, as well as a strong stand on + political issues. The <i>Colored American</i>, published in + Boston just a few years before the <i>Voice</i> began to + appear, also did inspiring work. Various local or state + organizations, moreover, from time to time showed the virtue + of coöperation; thus the Georgia Equal Rights Convention, + assembled in Macon in February, 1906, at the call of William + J. White, the veteran editor of the <i>Georgia Baptist</i>, + brought together representative men from all over the state + and considered such topics as the unequal division of school + taxes, the deprivation of the jury rights of Negroes, the + peonage system, and the penal system. In 1905 twenty-nine + men of the race launched what was known as the Niagara + Movement. The aims of this organization were freedom of + speech and criticism, an unlettered and unsubsidized press, + manhood suffrage, the abolition of all caste distinctions + based simply on race and color, the recognition of the + principle of human brotherhood as a practical present creed, + the recognition of the highest and best training as the + monopoly of no class or race, a belief in the dignity of + labor, and united effort to realize these ideals under wise + and courageous leadership. The time was not yet quite + propitious, and the Niagara Movement as such died after + three or four years. Its principles lived on, however, and + it greatly helped toward the formation of a stronger and + more permanent organization.</p> + + <p>In 1909 a number of people who were interested in the + general effect of the Negro Problem on democracy in America + organized in New York the National Association for the + Advancement of Colored People.<a id="footnotetag226" + name="footnotetag226"></a><a href= + "#footnote226"><sup>226</sup></a> It was felt that the + situation had become so bad that the time had come for a + simple declaration of human rights. In 1910 Moorfield + Storey, a distinguished lawyer of Boston, became national + president, and W.E. Burghardt DuBois director of publicity + and research, and editor of the <i>Crisis</i>, which + periodical began publication in November of this year. The + organization was successful from the first, and local + branches were formed all over the country, some years + elapsing, however, before the South was penetrated. Said the + Director: "Of two things we Negroes have dreamed for many + years: An organization so effective and so powerful that + when discrimination and injustice touched one Negro, it + would touch 12,000,000. We have not got this yet, but we + have taken a great step toward it. We have dreamed, too, of + an organization that would work ceaselessly to make + Americans know that the so-called 'Negro problem' is simply + one phase of the vaster problem of democracy in America, and + that those who wish freedom and justice for their country + must wish it for every black citizen. This is the great and + insistent message of the National Association for the + Advancement of Colored People."</p> + + <p>This organization is outstanding as an effort in coöperation + between the races for the improvement of the condition of the + Negro. Of special interest along the line of economic + betterment has been the National League on Urban Conditions + among Negroes, now known as the National Urban League, which + also has numerous branches with headquarters in New York and + through whose offices thousands of Negroes have been placed in + honorable employment. The National Urban League was also + formally organized in 1910; it represented a merging of the + different agencies working in New York City in behalf of the + social betterment of the Negro population, especially of the + National League for the Protection of Colored Women and of the + Committee for Improving the Industrial Conditions among Negroes + in New York, both of which agencies had been organized in 1906. + As we shall see, the work of the League was to be greatly + expanded within the next decade by the conditions brought about + by the war; and under the direction of the executive secretary, + Eugene Kinckle Jones, with the assistance of alert and + patriotic officers, its work was to prove one of genuinely + national service.</p> + + <p>Interesting also was a new concern on the part of the young + Southern college man about the problems at his door. Within + just a few years after the close of the period now considered, + Phelps-Stokes fellowships for the study of problems relating to + the Negro were founded at the Universities of Virginia and + Georgia; it was expected that similar fellowships would be + founded in other institutions; and there was interest in the + annual meetings of the Southern Sociological Congress and the + University Commission on Southern Race Questions.</p> + + <p>Thus from one direction and another at length broke upon a + "vale of tears" a new day of effort and of hope. For the real + contest the forces were gathering. The next decade was to be + one of unending bitterness and violence, but also one in which + the Negro was to rise as never before to the dignity of + self-reliant and courageous manhood.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote205" + name="footnote205"></a><b>Footnote 205:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag205">(return)</a><br/> + + In 1896 this paper entered into an elaborate study, + <i>Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro</i>, a + publication of the American Economic Association. In this + Hoffman contended at length that the race was not only not + holding its own in population, but that it was also + astonishingly criminal and was steadily losing + economically. His work was critically studied and its + fallacies exposed in the <i>Nation</i>, April 1, 1897.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote206" + name="footnote206"></a><b>Footnote 206:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag206">(return)</a><br/> + + June, 1892, p. 526.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote207" + name="footnote207"></a><b>Footnote 207:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag207">(return)</a><br/> + + See article by Albert Shaw, "Negro Progress on the + Tuskegee Plan," in <i>Review of Reviews</i>, April, + 1894.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote208" + name="footnote208"></a><b>Footnote 208,209:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag208">(return 208)</a> + <a href="#footnotetag209">(return 209)</a><br/> + + Speech before N.E.A., in St. Louis, June 30, 1904.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote210" + name="footnote210"></a><b>Footnote 210:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag210">(return)</a><br/> + + Speech at Fisk University, 1805.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote211" + name="footnote211"></a><b>Footnote + 211,212,213:</b> <a href= + "#footnotetag211">(return 211)</a> <a href= + "#footnotetag212">(return 212)</a> <a href= + "#footnotetag213">(return 213)</a><br/> + + Speech at Atlanta Exposition, September 18, 1895.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote214" + name="footnote214"></a><b>Footnote 214:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag214">(return)</a><br/> + + Speech at Harvard University, June 24, 1896.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote215" + name="footnote215"></a><b>Footnote 215:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag215">(return)</a><br/> + + October, 1898, p. 387.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote216" + name="footnote216"></a><b>Footnote 216:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag216">(return)</a><br/> + + From this time forth the wildest rumors were afloat and + the number of men that Charles had killed was greatly + exaggerated. Some reports said scores or even hundreds, and + it is quite possible that any figures given herewith are an + understatement.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote217" + name="footnote217"></a><b>Footnote 217:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag217">(return)</a><br/> + + R.S. Baker: <i>Following the Colour Line</i>, 3.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote218" + name="footnote218"></a><b>Footnote 218:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag218">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>Outlook</i>, November 3, 1906, p. 561.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote219" + name="footnote219"></a><b>Footnote 219:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag219">(return)</a><br/> + + <i>The Negro in the South</i>, 115.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote220" + name="footnote220"></a><b>Footnote 220:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag220">(return)</a><br/> + + Its fundamental assumptions were ably refuted by Edward + Atkinson in the <i>North American Review</i>, August, + 1905.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote221" + name="footnote221"></a><b>Footnote 221:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag221">(return)</a><br/> + + It was reviewed in the <i>Dial</i>, April 16, 1901, by + W.E.B. DuBois, who said in part: "Mr. Thomas's book is a + sinister symptom—a growth and development under American + conditions of life which illustrates peculiarly the + anomalous position of black men, and the terrific stress + under which they struggle. And the struggle and the fight + of human beings against hard conditions of life always + tends to develop the criminal or the hypocrite, the cynic + or the radical. Wherever among a hard-pressed people these + types begin to appear, it is a visible sign of a burden + that is threatening to overtax their strength, and the + foreshadowing of the age of revolt."</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote222" + name="footnote222"></a><b>Footnote 222:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag222">(return)</a><br/> + + For a general treatment of the matter of the Negro as + dealt with in American Literature, especially fiction, note + "The Negro in American Fiction," in the <i>Dial</i>, May + 11, 1916, a paper included in <i>The Negro in Literature + and Art</i>. The thesis there is that imaginative treatment + of the Negro is still governed by outworn antebellum types, + or that in the search for burlesque some types of young and + uncultured Negroes of the present day are deliberately + overdrawn, but that there is not an honest or a serious + facing of the characters and the situations in the life of + the Negro people in the United States to-day. Since the + paper first appeared it has received much further point; + witness the stories by E.K. Means and Octavius Roy + Cohen.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote223" + name="footnote223"></a><b>Footnote 223:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag223">(return)</a><br/> + + It is here quoted with the permission of the author and + in the form in which it originally appeared in <i>McClure's + Magazine</i>, September, 1899.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote224" + name="footnote224"></a><b>Footnote 224:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag224">(return)</a><br/> + + In 1867 George Peabody, an American merchant and + patriot, established the Peabody Educational Fund for the + purpose of promoting "intellectual, moral, and industrial + education in the most destitute portion of the Southern + states." The John F. Slater Fund was established in 1882 + especially for the encouragement of the industrial + education of Negroes.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote225" + name="footnote225"></a><b>Footnote 225:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag225">(return)</a><br/> + + See chapter "The Intellectuals," in <i>My Larger + Education</i>.</p> + + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote226" + name="footnote226"></a><b>Footnote 226:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag226">(return)</a><br/> + + For detailed statement of origin see pamphlet, "How the + National Association for the Advancement of Colored People + Began," by Mary White Ovington, published by the + Association.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERXVI" + name="CHAPTERXVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + + <h3>THE NEGRO IN THE NEW AGE</h3> + + <h4>1. <a id="Period" + name="Period"><i>Character of the Period</i></a></h4> + + <p>The decade 1910-1920, momentous in the history of the world, + in the history of the Negro race in America must finally be + regarded as the period of a great spiritual uprising against + the proscription, the defamation, and the violence of the + preceding twenty years. As never before the Negro began to + realize that the ultimate burden of his salvation rested upon + himself, and he learned to respect and to depend upon himself + accordingly.</p> + + <p>The decade naturally divides into two parts, that before and + that after the beginning of the Great War in Europe. Even in + the earlier years, however, the tendencies that later were + dominant were beginning to be manifest. The greater part of the + ten years was consumed by the two administrations of President + Woodrow Wilson; and not only did the National Government in the + course of these administrations discriminate openly against + persons of Negro descent in the Federal service and fail to + protect those who happened to live in the capital, but its + policy also gave encouragement to outrage in places technically + said to be beyond its jurisdiction. A great war was to give new + occasion and new opportunity for discrimination, defamatory + propaganda was to be circulated on a scale undreamed of before, + and the close of the war was to witness attempts for a new + reign of terror in the South. Even beyond the bounds of + continental America the race was now to suffer by reason of the + national policy, and the little republic of Hayti to lift its + bleeding hands to the calm judgment of the world.</p> + + <p>Both a cause and a result of the struggle through which the + race was now to pass was its astonishing progress. The fiftieth + anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation—January 1, + 1913—called to mind as did nothing else the proscription and + the mistakes, but also the successes and the hopes of the Negro + people in America. Throughout the South disfranchisement seemed + almost complete; and yet, after many attempts, the movement + finally failed in Maryland in 1911 and in Arkansas in 1912. In + 1915, moreover, the disfranchising act of Oklahoma was declared + unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, and + henceforth the Negro could feel that the highest legal + authority was no longer on the side of those who sought to + deprive him of all political voice. Eleven years before, the + Court had taken refuge in technicalities. The year 1911 was + also marked by the appointment of the first Negro policeman in + New York, by the election of the first Negro legislator in + Pennsylvania, and by the appointment of a man of the race, + William H. Lewis, as Assistant Attorney General of the United + States; and several civil rights suits were won in + Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Banks, insurance + companies, and commercial and industrial enterprises were + constantly being capitalized; churches erected more and more + stately edifices; and fraternal organizations constantly + increased in membership and wealth. By 1913 the Odd Fellows + numbered very nearly half a million members and owned property + worth two and a half million dollars; in 1920 the Dunbar + Amusement Corporation of Philadelphia erected a theater costing + $400,000; and the foremost business woman of the race in the + decade, Mme. C.J. Walker, on the simple business of toilet + articles and hair preparations built up an enterprise of + national scope and conducted in accordance with the principles + regularly governing great American commercial organizations. + Fifty years after emancipation, moreover, very nearly + one-fourth of all the Negroes in the Southern states were + living in homes that they themselves owned; thus 430,449 of + 1,917,391 houses occupied in these states were reported in 1910 + as owned, and 314,340 were free of all encumbrance. The + percentage of illiteracy decreased from 70 in 1880 to 30.4 in + 1910, and movements were under way for the still more rapid + spread of elementary knowledge. Excellent high schools, such as + those in St. Louis, Washington, Kansas City (both cities of + this name), Louisville, Baltimore, and other cities and towns + in the border states and sometimes as far away as Texas, were + setting a standard such as was in accord with the best in the + country; and in one year, 1917, 455 young people of the race + received the degree of bachelor of arts, while throughout the + decade different ones received honors and took the highest + graduate degrees at the foremost institutions of learning in + the country. Early in the decade the General Education Board + began actively to assist in the work of the higher educational + institutions, and an outstanding gift was that of half a + million dollars to Fisk University in 1920. Meanwhile, through + the National Urban League and hundreds of local clubs and + welfare organizations, social betterment went forward, much + impetus being given to the work by the National Association of + Colored Women's Clubs organized in 1896.</p> + + <p>Along with its progress, throughout the decade the race had + to meet increasing bitterness and opposition, and this was + intensified by the motion picture, "The Birth of a Nation," + built on lines similar to those of <i>The Clansman</i>. Negro + men standing high on civil service lists were sometimes set + aside; in 1913 the white railway mail clerks of the South began + an open campaign against Negroes in the service in direct + violation of the rules; and a little later in the same year + segregation in the different departments became notorious. In + 1911 the American Bar Association raised the question of the + color-line; and efforts for the restriction of Negroes to + certain neighborhoods in different prominent cities sometimes + resulted in violence, as in the dynamiting of the homes of + Negroes in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1911. When the Progressive + party was organized in 1912 the Negro was given to understand + that his support was not sought, and in 1911 a strike of + firemen on the Queen and Crescent Railroad was in its main + outlines similar to the trouble on the Georgia Railroad two + years before. Meanwhile in the South the race received only 18 + per cent of the total expenditures for education, although it + constituted more than 30 per cent of the population.</p> + + <p>Worse than anything else, however, was the matter of + lynching. In each year the total number of victims of illegal + execution continued to number three- or fourscore; but no one + could ever be sure that every instance had been recorded. + Between the opening of the decade and the time of the entrance + of the United States into the war, five cases were attended by + such unusual circumstances that the public could not soon + forget them. At Coatesville, Pennsylvania, not far from + Philadelphia, on August 12, 1911, a Negro laborer, Zach Walker, + while drunk, fatally shot a night watchman. He was pursued and + attempted suicide. Wounded, he was brought to town and placed + in the hospital. From this place he was taken chained to his + cot, dragged for some miles, and then tortured and burned to + death in the presence of a great crowd of people, including + many women, and his bones and the links of the chain which + bound him distributed as souvenirs. At Monticello, Georgia, in + January, 1915, when a Negro family resisted an officer who was + making an arrest, the father, Dan Barbour, his young son, and + his two daughters were all hanged to a tree and their bodies + riddled with bullets. Before the close of the year there was + serious trouble in the southwestern portion of the state, and + behind this lay all the evils of the system of peonage in the + black belt. Driven to desperation by the mistreatment accorded + them in the raising of cotton, the Negroes at last killed an + overseer who had whipped a Negro boy. A reign of terror was + then instituted; churches, society halls, and homes were burnt, + and several individuals shot. On December 30 there was a + wholesale lynching of six Negroes in Early County. Less than + three weeks afterwards a sheriff who attempted to arrest some + more Negroes and who was accompanied by a mob was killed. Then + (January 20, 1916) five Negroes who had been taken from the + jail in Worth County were rushed in automobiles into Lee County + adjoining, and hanged and shot. On May 15, 1916, at Waco, + Texas, Jesse Washington, a sullen and overgrown boy of + seventeen, who worked for a white farmer named Fryar at the + town of Robinson, six miles away, and who one week before had + criminally assaulted and killed Mrs. Fryar, after unspeakable + mutilation was burned in the heart of the town. A part of the + torture consisted in stabbing with knives and the cutting off + of the boy's fingers as he grabbed the chain by which he was + bound. Finally, on October 21, 1916, Anthony Crawford, a Negro + farmer of Abbeville, South Carolina, who owned four hundred and + twenty-seven acres of the best cotton land in his county and + who was reported to be worth $20,000, was lynched. He had come + to town to the store of W.D. Barksdale to sell a load of + cotton-seed, and the two men had quarreled about the price, + although no blow was struck on either side. A little later, + however, Crawford was arrested by a local policeman and a crowd + of idlers from the public square rushed to give him a whipping + for his "impudence." He promptly knocked down the ringleader + with a hammer. The mob then set upon him, nearly killed him, + and at length threw him into the jail. A few hours later, + fearing that the sheriff would secretly remove the prisoner, it + returned, dragged the wounded man forth, and then hanged and + shot him, after which proceedings warning was sent to his + family to leave the county by the middle of the next month.</p> + + <p>It will be observed that in these five noteworthy + occurrences, in only one case was there any question of + criminal assault. On the other hand, in one case two young + women were included among the victims; another was really a + series of lynchings emphasizing the lot of some Negroes under a + vicious economic system; and the last simply grew out of the + jealousy and hatred aroused by a Negro of independent means who + knew how to stand up for his rights.</p> + + <p>Such was the progress, such also the violence that the Negro + witnessed during the decade. Along with his problems at home he + now began to have a new interest in those of his kin across the + sea, and this feeling was intensified by the world war. It + raises questions of such far-reaching importance, however, that + it must receive separate and distinct treatment.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="Louis" + name="Louis"><i>Migration; East St. Louis</i></a></h4> + + <p>Very soon after the beginning of the Great War in Europe + there began what will ultimately be known as the most + remarkable migratory movement in the history of the Negro in + America. Migration had indeed at no time ceased since the great + movement of 1879, but for the most part it had been merely + personal and not in response to any great emergency. The sudden + ceasing of the stream of immigration from Europe, however, + created an unprecedented demand for labor in the great + industrial centers of the North, and business men were not long + in realizing the possibilities of a source that had as yet been + used in only the slightest degree. Special agents undoubtedly + worked in some measure; but the outstanding feature of the new + migration was that it was primarily a mass movement and not one + organized or encouraged by any special group of leaders. Labor + was needed in railroad construction, in the steel mills, in the + tobacco farms of Connecticut, and in the packing-houses, + foundries, and automobile plants. In 1915 the New England + tobacco growers hastily got together in New York two hundred + girls; but these proved to be unsatisfactory, and it was + realized that the labor supply would have to be more carefully + supervised. In January, 1916, the management of the Continental + Tobacco Corporation definitely decided on the policy of + importing workers from the South, and within the next year not + less than three thousand Negroes came to Hartford, several + hundred being students from the schools and colleges who went + North to work for the summer. In the same summer came also + train-loads of Negroes from Jacksonville and other points to + work for the Erie and Pennsylvania Railroads.</p> + + <p>Those who left their homes in the South to find new ones in + the North thus worked first of all in response to a new + economic demand. Prominent in their thought to urge them on, + however, were the generally unsatisfactory conditions in the + South from which they had so long suffered and from which all + too often there had seemed to be no escape. As it was, they + were sometimes greatly embarrassed in leaving. In Jacksonville + the city council passed an ordinance requiring that agents who + wished to recruit labor to be sent out of the state should pay + $1,000 for a license or suffer a fine of $600 and spend sixty + days in jail. Macon, Ga., raised the license fee to $25,000. In + Savannah the excitement was intense. When two trains did not + move as it was expected that they would, three hundred Negroes + paid their own fares and went North. Later, when the leaders of + the movement could not be found, the police arrested one + hundred of the Negroes and sent them to the police barracks, + charging them with loitering. Similar scenes were enacted + elsewhere, the South being then as ever unwilling to be + deprived of its labor supply. Meanwhile wages for some men in + such an industrial center as Birmingham leaped to $9 and $10 a + day. All told, hardly less than three-fourths of a million + Negroes went North within the four years 1915-1918.</p> + + <p>Naturally such a great shifting of population did not take + place without some inconvenience and hardship. Among the + thousands who changed their place of residence were many + ignorant and improvident persons; but sometimes it was the most + skilled artisans and the most substantial owners of homes in + different communities who sold their property and moved away. + In the North they at once met congestion in housing facilities. + In Philadelphia and Pittsburgh this condition became so bad as + to demand immediate attention. In more than one place there + were outbreaks in which lives were lost. In East St. Louis, + Ill., all of the social problems raised by the movement were + seen in their baldest guise. The original population of this + city had come for the most part from Georgia, Mississippi, + Kentucky, and Tennessee. It had long been an important + industrial center. It was also a very rough place, the scene of + prize-fights and cock-fights and a haven for escaped prisoners; + and there was very close connection between the saloons and + politics. For years the managers of the industrial plants had + recruited their labor supply from Ellis Island. When this + failed they turned to the Negroes of the South; and + difficulties were aggravated by a series of strikes on the part + of the white workers. By the spring of 1917 not less than ten + thousand Negroes had recently arrived in the city, and the + housing situation was so acute that these people were more and + more being forced into the white localities. Sometimes Negroes + who had recently arrived wandered aimlessly about the streets, + where they met the rougher elements of the city; there were + frequent fights and also much trouble on the street cars. The + Negroes interested themselves in politics and even succeeded in + placing in office several men of their choice. In February, + 1917, there was a strike of the white workers at the Aluminum + Ore Works. This was adjusted at the time, but the settlement + was not permanent, and meanwhile there were almost daily + arrivals from the South, and the East St. Louis <i>Journal</i> + was demanding: "Make East St. Louis a Lily White Town." There + were preliminary riots on May 27-30. On the night of July I men + in automobiles rode through the Negro section and began firing + promiscuously. The next day the massacre broke forth in all its + fury, and before it was over hundreds of thousands of dollars + in property had been destroyed, six thousand Negroes had been + driven from their homes, and about one hundred and fifty shot, + burned, hanged, or maimed for life. Officers of the law failed + to do their duty, and the testimony of victims as to the + torture inflicted upon them was such as to send a thrill of + horror through the heart of the American people. Later there + was a congressional investigation, but from this nothing very + material resulted. In the last week of this same month, July, + 1917, there were also serious outbreaks in both Chester and + Philadelphia, Penn., the fundamental issues being the same as + in East St. Louis.</p> + + <p>Meanwhile welfare organizations earnestly labored to adjust + the Negro in his new environment. In Chicago the different + state clubs helped nobly. Greater than any other one agency, + however, was the National Urban League, whose work now + witnessed an unprecedented expansion. Representative was the + work of the Detroit branch, which was not content merely with + finding vacant positions, but approached manufacturers of all + kinds through distribution of literature and by personal + visits, and within twelve months was successful in placing not + less than one thousand Negroes in employment other than + unskilled labor. It also established a bureau of investigation + and information regarding housing conditions, and generally + aimed at the proper moral and social care of those who needed + its service. The whole problem of the Negro was of such + commanding importance after the United States entered the war + as to lead to the creation of a special Division of Negro + Economics in the office of the Secretary of Labor, to the + directorship of which Dr. George E. Haynes was called.</p> + + <p>In January, 1918, a Conference of Migration was called in + New York under the auspices of the National Urban League, and + this placed before the American Federation of Labor resolutions + asking that Negro labor be considered on the same basis as + white. The Federation had long been debating the whole question + of the Negro, and it had not seemed to be able to arrive at a + clearcut policy though its general attitude was unfavorable. In + 1919, however, it voted to take steps to recognize and admit + Negro unions. At last it seemed to realize the necessity of + making allies of Negro workers, and of course any such change + of front on the part of white workmen would menace some of the + foundations of racial strife in the South and indeed in the + country at large. Just how effective the new decision was to be + in actual practice remained to be seen, especially as the whole + labor movement was thrown on the defensive by the end of 1920. + However, special interest attached to the events in Bogalusa, + La., in November, 1919. Here were the headquarters of the Great + Southern Lumber Company, whose sawmill in the place was said to + be the largest in the world. For some time it had made use of + unorganized Negro labor as against the white labor unions. The + forces of labor, however, began to organize the Negroes in the + employ of the Company, which held political as well as + capitalistic control in the community. The Company then began + to have Negroes arrested on charges of vagrancy, taking them + before the city court and having them fined and turned over to + the Company to work out the fines under the guard of gunmen. In + the troubles that came to a head on November 22, three white + men were shot and killed, one of them being the district + president of the American Federation of Labor, who was helping + to give protection to a colored organizer. The full + significance of this incident remained also to be seen; but it + is quite possible that in the final history of the Negro + problem the skirmish at Bogalusa will mark the beginning of the + end of the exploiting of Negro labor and the first recognition + of the identity of interest between white and black workmen in + the South.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="GreatWar" + name="GreatWar"><i>The Great War</i></a></h4> + + <p>Just on the eve of America's entrance into the war in Europe + occurred an incident that from the standpoint of the Negro at + least must finally appear simply as the prelude to the great + contest to come. Once more, at an unexpected moment, ten years + after Brownsville, the loyalty and heroism of the Negro soldier + impressed the American people. The expedition of the American + forces into Mexico in 1916, with the political events attending + this, is a long story. The outstanding incident, however, was + that in which two troops of the Tenth Cavalry engaged. About + eighty men had been sent a long distance from the main line of + the American army, their errand being supposedly the pursuit of + a deserter. At or near the town of Carrizal the Americans seem + to have chosen to go through the town rather than around it, + and the result was a clash in which Captain Boyd, who commanded + the detachment, and some twenty of his men were killed, + twenty-two others being captured by the Mexicans. Under the + circumstances the whole venture was rather imprudent in the + first place. As to the engagement itself, the Mexicans said + that the American troops made the attack, while the latter said + that the Mexicans themselves first opened fire. However this + may have been, all other phases of the Mexican problem seemed + for the moment to be forgotten at Washington in the demand for + the release of the twenty-two men who had been taken. There was + no reason for holding them, and they were brought up to El Paso + within a few days and sent across the line. Thus, though "some + one had blundered," these Negro soldiers did their duty; + "theirs not to make reply; theirs but to do and die." So in the + face of odds they fought like heroes and twenty died beneath + the Mexican stars.</p> + + <p>When the United States entered the war in Europe in April, + 1917, the question of overwhelming importance to the Negro + people was naturally that of their relation to the great + conflict in which their country had become engaged. Their + response to the draft call set a noteworthy example of loyalty + to all other elements in the country. At the very outset the + race faced a terrible dilemma: If there were to be special + training camps for officers, and if the National Government + would make no provision otherwise, did it wish to have a + special camp for Negroes, such as would give formal approval to + a policy of segregation, or did it wish to have no camp at all + on such terms and thus lose the opportunity to have any men of + the race specially trained as officers? The camp was + secured—Camp Dodge, near Des Moines, Iowa; and throughout the + summer of 1917 the work of training went forward, the heart of + a harassed and burdened people responding more and more with + pride to the work of their men. On October 15, 625 became + commissioned officers, and all told 1200 received commissions. + To the fighting forces of the United States the race furnished + altogether very nearly 400,000 men, of whom just a little more + than half actually saw service in Europe.</p> + + <p>Negro men served in all branches of the military + establishment and also as surveyors and draftsmen. For the + handling of many of the questions relating to them Emmett J. + Scott was on October 1, 1917, appointed Special Assistant to + the Secretary of War. Mr. Scott had for a number of years + assisted Dr. Booker T. Washington as secretary at Tuskegee + Institute, and in 1909 he was one of the three members of the + special commission appointed by President Taft for the + investigation of Liberian affairs. Negro nurses were authorized + by the War Department for service in base hospitals at six army + camps, and women served also as canteen workers in France and + in charge of hostess houses in the United States. Sixty Negro + men served as chaplains; 350 as Y.M.C.A. secretaries; and + others in special capacities. Service of exceptional value was + rendered by Negro women in industry, and very largely also they + maintained and promoted the food supply through agriculture at + the same time that they released men for service at the front. + Meanwhile the race invested millions of dollars in Liberty + Bonds and War Savings stamps and contributed generously to the + Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., and other relief agencies. In the summer + of 1918 interest naturally centered upon the actual performance + of Negro soldiers in France and upon the establishment of units + of the Students' Army Training Corps in twenty leading + educational institutions. When these units were demobilized in + December, 1918, provision was made in a number of the schools + for the formation of units of the Reserve Officers' Training + Corps.</p> + + <p>The remarkable record made by the Negro in the previous wars + of the country was fully equaled by that in the Great War. + Negro soldiers fought with special distinction in the Argonne + Forest, at Château-Thierry, in Belleau Wood, in the St. Mihiel + district, in the Champagne sector, at Vosges and Metz, winning + often very high praise from their commanders. Entire regiments + of Negro troops were cited for exceptional valor and decorated + with the Croix de Guerre—the 369th, the 371st, and the 372nd; + while groups of officers and men of the 365th, the 366th, the + 368th, the 370th, and the first battalion of the 367th were + also decorated. At the close of the war the highest Negro + officers in the army were Lieutenant Colonel Otis B. Duncan, + commander of the third battalion of the 370th, formerly the + Eighth Illinois, and the highest ranking Negro officer in the + American Expeditionary Forces; Colonel Charles Young (retired), + on special duty at Camp Grant, Ill.; Colonel Franklin A. + Dennison, of the 370th Infantry, and Lieutenant Colonel + Benjamin O. Davis, of the Ninth Cavalry. The 370th was the + first American regiment stationed in the St. Mihiel sector; it + was one of the three that occupied a sector at Verdun when a + penetration there would have been disastrous to the Allied + cause; and it went direct from the training camp to the + firing-line. Noteworthy also was the record of the 369th + infantry, formerly the Fifteenth Regiment, New York National + Guard. This organization was under shellfire for 191 days, and + it held one trench for 91 days without relief. It was the first + unit of Allied fighters to reach the Rhine, going down as an + advance guard of the French army of occupation. A prominent + hero in this regiment was Sergeant Henry Johnson, who returned + with the Croix de Guerre with one star and one palm. He is + credited with routing a party of Germans at Bois-Hanzey in the + Argonne on May 5, 1918, with singularly heavy losses to the + enemy. Many other men acted with similar bravery. Hardly less + heroic was the service of the stevedore regiments, or the + thousands of men in the army who did not go to France but who + did their duty as they were commanded at home. General + Vincenden said of the men of the 370th: "Fired by a noble + ardor, they go at times even beyond the objectives given them + by the higher command; they have always wished to be in the + front line"; and General Coybet said of the 371st and 372nd: + "The most powerful defenses, the most strongly organized + machine gun nests, the heaviest artillery barrages—nothing + could stop them. These crack regiments overcame every obstacle + with a most complete contempt for danger.... They have shown us + the way to victory."</p> + + <p>In spite of his noble record—perhaps in some measure because + of it—and in the face of his loyal response to the call to + duty, the Negro unhappily became in the course of the war the + victim of proscription and propaganda probably without parallel + in the history of the country. No effort seems to have been + spared to discredit him both as a man and as a soldier. In both + France and America the apparent object of the forces working + against him was the intention to prevent any feeling that the + war would make any change in the condition of the race at home. + In the South Negroes were sometimes forced into peonage and + restrained in their efforts to go North; and generally they had + no representation on local boards, the draft was frequently + operated so as to be unfair to them, and every man who + registered found special provision for the indication of his + race in the corner of his card. Accordingly in many localities + Negroes contributed more than their quota, this being the + result of favoritism shown to white draftees. The first report + of the Provost-Marshal General showed that of every 100 Negroes + called 36 were certified for service, while of every 100 white + men called only 25 were certified. Of those summoned in Class I + Negroes contributed 51.65 per cent of their registrants as + against 32.53 per cent of the white. In France the work of + defamation was manifest and flagrant. Slanders about the Negro + soldiers were deliberately circulated among the French people, + sometimes on very high authority, much of this propaganda + growing out of a jealous fear of any acquaintance whatsoever of + the Negro men with the French women. Especially insolent and + sometimes brutal were the men of the military police, who at + times shot and killed on the slightest provocation. Proprietors + who sold to Negro soldiers were sometimes boycotted, and + offenses were magnified which in the case of white men never + saw publication. Negro officers were discriminated against in + hotel and traveling accommodations, while upon the ordinary men + in the service fell unduly any specially unpleasant duty such + as that of re-burying the dead. White women engaged in "Y" + work, especially Southern women, showed a disposition not to + serve Negroes, though the Red Cross and Salvation Army + organizations were much better in this respect; and finally the + Negro soldier was not given any place in the great victory + parade in Paris. About the close of the war moreover a great + picture, or series of pictures, the "Pantheon de la Guerre," + that was on a mammoth scale and that attracted extraordinary + attention, was noteworthy as giving representation to all of + the forces and divisions of the Allied armies except the + Negroes in the forces from the United States.<a id= + "footnotetag227" + name="footnotetag227"></a><a href= + "#footnote227"><sup>227</sup></a> Not unnaturally the + Germans endeavored—though without success—to capitalize the + situation by circulating among the Negroes insidious + literature that sometimes made very strong points. All of + these things are to be considered by those people in the + United States who think that the Negro suffers unduly from a + grievance.</p> + + <p>While the Negro soldier abroad was thus facing unusual + pressure in addition to the ordinary hardships of war, at home + occurred an incident that was doubly depressing coming as it + did just a few weeks after the massacre at East St. Louis. In + August, 1917, a battalion of the Twenty-fourth Infantry, + stationed at Houston, Texas, to assist in the work of + concentrating soldiers for the war in Europe, encountered the + ill-will of the town, and between the city police and the Negro + military police there was constant friction. At last when one + of the Negroes had been beaten, word was circulated among his + comrades that he had been shot, and a number of them set out + for revenge. In the riot that followed (August 23) two of the + Negroes and seventeen white people of the town were killed, the + latter number including five policemen. As a result of this + encounter sixty-three members of the battalion were + court-martialed at Fort Sam Houston. Thirteen were hanged on + December 11, 1917, five more were executed on September 13, + 1918, fifty-one were sentenced to life imprisonment and five to + briefer terms; and the Negro people of the country felt very + keenly the fact that the condemned men were hanged like common + criminals rather than given the death of soldiers. Thus for one + reason or another the whole matter of the war and the incidents + connected therewith simply made the Negro question more + bitterly than ever the real disposition toward him of the + government under which he lived and which he had striven so + long to serve.</p> + + <h4>4. <a id="Elaine" + name="Elaine"><i>High Tension: Washington, Chicago, + Elaine</i></a></h4> + + <p>Such incidents abroad and such feeling at home as we have + recorded not only agitated the Negro people, but gave thousands + of other citizens concern, and when the armistice suddenly came + on November 11, 1918, not only in the South but in localities + elsewhere in the country racial feeling had been raised to the + highest point. About the same time there began to be spread + abroad sinister rumors that the old KuKlux were riding again; + and within a few months parades at night in representative + cities in Alabama and Georgia left no doubt that the rumors + were well founded. The Negro people fully realized the + significance of the new movement, and they felt full well the + pressure being brought to bear upon them in view of the + shortage of domestic servants in the South. Still more did they + sense the situation that would face their sons and brothers + when they returned from France. But they were not afraid; and + in all of the riots of the period the noteworthy fact stands + out that in some of the cities in which the situation was most + tense—notably Atlanta and Birmingham—no great race trouble was + permitted to start.</p> + + <p>In general, however, the violence that had characterized the + year 1917 continued through 1918 and 1919. In the one state of + Tennessee, within less than a year and on separate occasions, + three Negroes were burned at the stake. On May 22, 1917, near + Memphis, Ell T. Person, nearly fifty years of age, was burned + for the alleged assault and murder of a young woman; and in + this case the word "alleged" is used advisedly, for the whole + matter of the fixing of the blame for the crime and the fact + that the man was denied a legal trial left grave doubt as to + the extent of his guilt. On Sunday, December 2, 1917, at + Dyersburg, immediately after the adjournment of services in the + churches of the town, Lation Scott, guilty of criminal assault, + was burned; his eyes were put out with red-hot irons, a hot + poker was rammed down his throat, and he was mutilated in + unmentionable ways. Two months later, on February 12, 1918, at + Estill Springs, Jim McIlheron, who had shot and killed two + young white men, was also burned at the stake. In Estill + Springs it had for some time been the sport of young white men + in the community to throw rocks at single Negroes and make them + run. Late one afternoon McIlheron went into a store to buy some + candy. As he passed out, a remark was made by one of three + young men about his eating his candy. The rest of the story is + obvious.</p> + + <p>As horrible as these burnings were, it is certain that they + did not grind the iron into the Negro's soul any more surely + than the three stories that follow. Hampton Smith was known as + one of the harshest employers of Negro labor in Brooks County, + Ga. As it was difficult for him to get help otherwise, he would + go into the courts and whenever a Negro was convicted and was + unable to pay his fine or was sentenced to a term on the + chain-gang, he would pay the fine and secure the man for work + on his plantation. He thus secured the services of Sidney + Johnson, fined thirty dollars for gambling. After Johnson had + more than worked out the thirty dollars he asked pay for the + additional time he served. Smith refused to give this and a + quarrel resulted. A few mornings later, when Johnson, sick, did + not come to work, Smith found him in his cabin and beat him. A + few evenings later, while Smith was sitting in his home, he was + shot through a window and killed instantly, and his wife was + wounded. As a result of this occurrence the Negroes of both + Brooks and Lowndes counties were terrorized for the week May + 17-24, 1918, and not less than eleven of them lynched. Into the + bodies of two men lynched together not less than seven hundred + bullets are said to have been fired. Johnson himself had been + shot dead when he was found; but his body was mutilated, + dragged through the streets of Valdosta, and burned. Mary + Turner, the wife of one of the victims, said that her husband + had been unjustly treated and that if she knew who had killed + him she would have warrants sworn out against them. For saying + this she too was lynched, although she was in an advanced state + of pregnancy. Her ankles were tied together and she was hung to + a tree, head downward. Gasoline and oil from the automobiles + near were thrown on her clothing and a match applied. While she + was yet alive her abdomen was cut open with a large knife and + her unborn babe fell to the ground. It gave two feeble cries + and then its head was crushed by a member of the mob with his + heel. Hundreds of bullets were then fired into the woman's + body. As a result of these events not less than five hundred + Negroes left the immediate vicinity of Valdosta immediately, + and hundreds of others prepared to leave as soon as they could + dispose of their land, and this they proceeded to do in the + face of the threat that any Negro who attempted to leave would + be regarded as implicated in the murder of Smith and dealt with + accordingly. At the end of this same year—on December 20, + 1918—four young Negroes—Major Clark, aged twenty; Andrew Clark, + aged fifteen; Maggie Howze, aged twenty, and Alma Howze, aged + sixteen—were taken from the little jail at Shubuta, + Mississippi, and lynched on a bridge near the town. They were + accused of the murder of E.L. Johnston, a white dentist, though + all protested their innocence. The situation that preceded the + lynching was significant. Major Clark was in love with Maggie + Howze and planned to marry her. This thought enraged Johnston, + who was soon to become the father of a child by the young + woman, and who told Clark to leave her alone. As the two + sisters were about to be killed, Maggie screamed and fought, + crying, "I ain't guilty of killing the doctor and you oughtn't + to kill me"; and to silence her cries one member of the mob + struck her in the mouth with a monkey wrench, knocking her + teeth out. On May 24, 1919, at Milan, Telfair County, Georgia, + two young white men, Jim Dowdy and Lewis Evans, went drunk late + at night to the Negro section of the town and to the home of a + widow who had two daughters. They were refused admittance and + then fired into the house. The girls, frightened, ran to + another home. They were pursued, and Berry Washington, a + respectable Negro seventy-two years of age, seized a shotgun, + intending to give them protection; and in the course of the + shooting that followed Dowdy was killed. The next night, + Saturday the 25th, Washington was taken to the place where + Dowdy was killed and his body shot to pieces.</p> + + <p>It remained for the capital of the nation, however, largely + to show the real situation of the race in the aftermath of a + great war conducted by a Democratic administration. Heretofore + the Federal Government had declared itself powerless to act in + the case of lawlessness in an individual state; but it was now + to have an opportunity to deal with violence in Washington + itself. On July 19, 1919, a series of lurid and exaggerated + stories in the daily papers of attempted assaults of Negroes on + white women resulted in an outbreak that was intended to + terrorize the popular Northwest section, in which lived a large + proportion of the Negroes in the District of Columbia. For + three days the violence continued intermittently, and as the + constituted police authority did practically nothing for the + defense of the Negro citizens, the loss of life might have been + infinitely greater than it was if the colored men of the city + had not assumed their own defense. As it was they saved the + capital and earned the gratitude of the race and the nation. It + appeared that Negroes—educated, law-abiding Negroes—would not + now run when their lives and their homes were at stake, and + before such determination the mob retreated ingloriously.</p> + + <p>Just a week afterwards—before the country had really caught + its breath after the events in Washington—there burst into + flame in Chicago a race war of the greatest bitterness and + fierceness. For a number of years the Western metropolis had + been known as that city offering to the Negro the best + industrial and political opportunity in the country. When the + migration caused by the war was at its height, tens of + thousands of Negroes from the South passed through the city + going elsewhere, but thousands also remained to work in the + stockyards or other places. With all of the coming and going, + the Negroes in the city must at any time in 1918 or 1919 have + numbered not less than 150,000; and banks, coöperative + societies, and race newspapers flourished. There were also + abundant social problems awakened by the saloons and gambling + dens, and by the seamy side of politics. Those who had been + longest in the city, however, rallied to the needs of the + newcomers, and in their homes, their churches, and their places + of work endeavored to get them adjusted in their environment. + The housing situation, in spite of all such effort, became more + and more acute, and when some Negroes were forced beyond the + bounds of the old "black belt" there were attempts to dynamite + their new residences. Meanwhile hundreds of young men who had + gone to France or to cantonments—1850 from the district of one + draft board at State and 35th Streets—returned to find again a + place in the life of Chicago; and daily from Washington or from + the South came the great waves of social unrest. Said Arnold + Hill, secretary of the Chicago branch of the National Urban + League: "Every time a lynching takes place in a community down + South you can depend on it that colored people from that + community will arrive in Chicago inside of two weeks; we have + seen it happen so often that whenever we read newspaper + dispatches of a public hanging or burning in a Texas or a + Mississippi town, we get ready to extend greetings to the + people from the immediate vicinity of the lynching." Before the + armistice was signed the League was each month finding work for + 1700 or 1800 men and women; in the following April the number + fell to 500, but with the coming of summer it rapidly rose + again. Unskilled work was plentiful, and jobs in foundries and + steel mills, in building and construction work, and in light + factories and packing-houses kept up a steady demand for + laborers. Meanwhile trouble was brewing, and on the streets + there were occasional encounters.</p> + + <p>Such was the situation when on a Sunday at the end of July a + Negro boy at a bathing beach near Twenty-sixth Street swam + across an imaginary segregation line. White boys threw rocks at + him, knocked him off a raft, and he was drowned. Colored people + rushed to a policeman and asked him to arrest the boys who + threw the stones. He refused to do so, and as the dead body of + the Negro boy was being handled, more rocks were thrown on both + sides. The trouble thus engendered spread through the Negro + district on the South Side, and for a week it was impossible or + dangerous for people to go to work. Some employed at the + stockyards could not get to their work for some days further. + At the end of three days twenty Negroes were reported as dead, + fourteen white men were dead, scores of people were injured, + and a number of houses of Negroes burned.</p> + + <p>In the face of this disaster the great soul of Chicago rose + above its materialism. There were many conferences between + representative people; out of all the effort grew the + determination to work for a nobler city; and the sincerity was + such as to give one hope not only for Chicago but also for a + new and better America.</p> + + <p>The riots in Washington and Chicago were followed within a + few weeks by outbreaks in Knoxville and Omaha. In the latter + place the fundamental cause of the trouble was social and + political corruption, and because he strongly opposed the + lynching of William Brown, the Negro, the mayor of the city, + Edward P. Smith, very nearly lost his life. As it was, the + county court house was burned, one man more was killed, and + perhaps as many as forty injured. More important even than + this, however—and indeed one of the two or three most + far-reaching instances of racial trouble in the history of the + Negro in America—was the reign of terror in and near Elaine, + Phillips County, Arkansas, in the first week of October, 1919. + The causes of this were fundamental and reached the very heart + of the race problem and of the daily life of tens of thousands + of Negroes.</p> + + <p>Many Negro tenants in eastern Arkansas, as in other states, + were still living under a share system by which the owner + furnished the land and the Negro the labor, and by which at the + end of the year the two supposedly got equal parts of the crop. + Meanwhile throughout the year the tenant would get his food, + clothing, and other supplies at exorbitant prices from a + "commissary" operated by the planter or his agent; and in + actual practice the landowner and the tenant did not go + together to a city to dispose of the crop when it was gathered, + as was sometimes done elsewhere, but the landowner alone sold + the crop and settled with the tenant whenever and however he + pleased; nor at the time of settlement was any itemized + statement of supplies given, only the total amount owed being + stated. Obviously the planter could regularly pad his accounts, + keep the Negro in debt, and be assured of his labor supply from + year to year.</p> + + <p>In 1918 the price of cotton was constantly rising and at + length reached forty cents a pound. Even with the cheating to + which the Negroes were subjected, it became difficult to keep + them in debt, and they became more and more insistent in their + demands for itemized statements. Nevertheless some of those + whose cotton was sold in October, 1918, did not get any + statement of any sort before July of the next year.</p> + + <p>Seeing no other way out of their difficulty, sixty-eight of + the Negroes got together and decided to hire a lawyer who would + help them to get statements of their accounts and settlement at + the right figures. Feeling that the life of any Negro lawyer + who took such a case would be endangered, they employed the + firm of Bratton and Bratton, of Little Rock. They made + contracts with this firm to handle the sixty-eight cases at + fifty dollars each in cash and a percentage of the moneys + collected from the white planters. Some of the Negroes also + planned to go before the Federal Grand Jury and charge certain + planters with peonage. They had secret meetings from time to + time in order to collect the money to be paid in advance and to + collect the evidence which would enable them successfully to + prosecute their cases. Some Negro cotton-pickers about the same + time organized a union; and at Elaine many Negroes who worked + in the sawmills and who desired to protect their wives and + daughters from insult, refused to allow them to pick cotton or + to work for a white man at any price.</p> + + <p>Such was the sentiment out of which developed the + Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America, which was + an effort by legal means to secure protection from unscrupulous + landlords, but which did use the form of a fraternal order with + passwords and grips and insignia so as the more forcefully to + appeal to some of its members. About the first of October the + report was spread abroad in Phillips County that the Negroes + were plotting an insurrection and that they were rapidly + preparing to massacre the white people on a great scale. When + the situation had become tense, one Sunday John Clem, a white + man from Helena, drunk, came to Elaine and proceeded to + terrorize the Negro population by gun play. The colored people + kept off the streets in order to avoid trouble and telephoned + the sheriff at Helena. This man failed to act. The next day + Clem was abroad again, but the Negroes still avoided trouble, + thinking that his acts were simply designed to start a race + riot. On Tuesday evening, October 1, however, W.D. Adkins, a + special agent of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, in company with + Charles Pratt, a deputy sheriff, was riding past a Negro church + near Hoop Spur, a small community just a few miles from Elaine. + According to Pratt, persons in the church fired without cause + on the party, killing Adkins and wounding himself. According to + the Negroes, Adkins and Pratt fired into the church, evidently + to frighten the people there assembled. At any rate word spread + through the county that the massacre had started, and for days + there was murder and rioting, in the course of which not less + than five white men and twenty-five Negroes were killed, though + some estimates placed the number of fatalities a great deal + higher. Negroes were arrested and disarmed; some were shot on + the highways; homes were fired into; and at one time hundreds + of men and women were in a stockade under heavy guard and under + the most unwholesome conditions, while hundreds of white men, + armed to the teeth, rushed to the vicinity from neighboring + cities and towns. Governor Charles H. Brough telegraphed to + Camp Pike for Federal troops, and five hundred were mobilized + at once "to repel the attack of the black army." Worse than any + other feature was the wanton slaying of the four Johnston + brothers, whose father had been a prominent Presbyterian + minister and whose mother was formerly a school-teacher. Dr. + D.A.E. Johnston was a successful dentist and owned a + three-story building in Helena. Dr. Louis Johnston was a + physician who lived in Oklahoma and who had come home on a + visit. A third brother had served in France and been wounded + and gassed at Château-Thierry.</p> + + <p>Altogether one thousand Negroes were arrested and one + hundred and twenty-two indicted. A special committee of seven + gathered evidence and is charged with having used electric + connections on the witness chair in order to frighten the + Negroes. Twelve men were sentenced to death (though up to the + end of 1920 execution had been stayed), and fifty-four to + penitentiary terms. The trials lasted from five to ten minutes + each. No witnesses for the defense were called; no Negroes were + on the juries; no change of venue was given. Meanwhile lawyers + at Helena were preparing to reap further harvest from Negroes + who would be indicted and against whom there was no evidence, + but who had saved money and Liberty Bonds.</p> + + <p>Governor Brough in a statement to the press blamed the + <i>Crisis</i> and the Chicago <i>Defender</i> for the trouble. + He had served for a number of years as a professor of economics + before becoming governor and had even identified himself with + the forward-looking University Commission on Southern Race + Questions; and it is true that he postponed the executions in + order to allow appeals to be filed in behalf of the condemned + men. That he should thus attempt to shift the burden of blame + and overlook the facts when in a position of grave + responsibility was a keen disappointment to the lovers of + progress.</p> + + <p>Reference to the monthly periodical and the weekly paper + just mentioned, however, brings us to still another matter—the + feeling on the part of the Negro that, in addition to the + outrages visited on the race, the Government was now, under the + cloak of wartime legislation, formally to attempt to curtail + its freedom of speech. For some days the issue of the + <i>Crisis</i> for May, 1919, was held up in the mail; a South + Carolina representative in Congress quoted by way of + denunciation from the editorial "Returning Soldiers" in the + same number of the periodical; and a little later in the year + the Department of Justice devoted twenty-seven pages of the + report of the investigation against "Persons Advising Anarchy, + Sedition, and the Forcible Overthrow of the Government" to a + report on "Radicalism and Sedition among the Negroes as + Reflected in Their Publications." Among other periodicals and + papers mentioned were the <i>Messenger</i> and the <i>Negro + World</i> of New York; and by the <i>Messenger</i> indeed, + frankly radical in its attitude not only on the race question + but also on fundamental economic principles, even the + <i>Crisis</i> was regarded as conservative in tone. There could + be no doubt that a great spiritual change had come over the + Negro people of the United States. At the very time that their + sons and brothers were making the supreme sacrifice in France + they were witnessing such events as those at East St. Louis or + Houston, or reading of three burnings within a year in + Tennessee. A new determination closely akin to consecration + possessed them. Fully to understand the new spirit one would + read not only such publications as those that have been + mentioned, but also those issued in the heart of the South. + "Good-by, Black Mammy," said the <i>Southwestern Christian + Advocate</i>, taking as its theme the story of four Southern + white men who acted as honorary pallbearers at an old Negro + woman's funeral, but who under no circumstances would thus have + served for a thrifty, intelligent, well-educated man of the + race. Said the Houston <i>Informer</i>, voicing the feeling of + thousands, "The black man fought to make the world safe for + democracy; he now demands that America be made and maintained + safe for black Americans." With hypocrisy in the practice of + the Christian religion there ceased to be any patience + whatsoever, as was shown by the treatment accorded a Y.M.C.A. + "Call on behalf of the young men and boys of the two great + sister Anglo-Saxon nations." "Read! Read! Read!" said the + <i>Challenge Magazine</i>, "then when the mob comes, whether + with torch or with gun, let us stand at Armageddon and battle + for the Lord." "Protect your home," said the gentle + <i>Christian Recorder</i>, "protect your wife and children, + with your life if necessary. If a man crosses your threshold + after you and your family, the law allows you to protect your + home even if you have to kill the intruder." Perhaps nothing, + however, better summed up the new spirit than the following + sonnet by Claude McKay:</p> + + <div class="poem"> + <p class="i2">If we must die, let it not be like hogs</p> + + <p class="i4">Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,</p> + + <p class="i2">While round us bark the mad and hungry + dogs,</p> + + <p class="i4">Making their mock at our accursed lot.</p> + + <p class="i2">If we must die, let it not be like hogs</p> + + <p class="i4">So that our precious blood may not be + shed</p> + + <p class="i2">In vain; then even the monsters we defy</p> + + <p class="i4">Shall be constrained to honor us, though + dead!</p> + + <p class="i2">Oh, kinsman! We must meet the common foe;</p> + + <p class="i4">Though far outnumbered, let us still be + brave,</p> + + <p class="i2">And for their thousand blows deal one + deathblow!</p> + + <p class="i4">What though before us lies the open + grave?</p> + + <p class="i2">Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly + pack</p> + + <p class="i4">Pressed to the wall, dying, but—fighting + back!</p> + </div> + + <h4>5. <a id="Problem2" + name="Problem2"><i>The Widening Problem</i></a></h4> + + <p>In view of the world war and the important part taken in it + by French colonial troops, especially those from Senegal, it is + not surprising that the heart of the Negro people in the United + States broadened in a new sympathy with the problems of their + brothers the world over. Even early in the decade that we are + now considering, however, there was some indication of this + tendency, and the First Universal Races Congress in London in + 1911 attracted wide attention. In February, 1919, largely + through the personal effort of Dr. DuBois, a Pan-African + Congress was held in Paris, the chief aims of which were the + hearing of statements on the condition of Negroes throughout + the world, the obtaining of authoritative statements of policy + toward the Negro race from the Great Powers, the making of + strong representations to the Peace Conference then sitting in + Paris in behalf of the Negroes throughout the world, and the + laying down of principles on which the future development of + the race must take place. Meanwhile the cession of the Virgin + Islands had fixed attention upon an interesting colored + population at the very door of the United States; and the + American occupation of Hayti culminating in the killing of many + of the people in the course of President Wilson's second + administration gave a new feeling of kinship for the land of + Toussaint L'Ouverture. Among other things the evidence showed + that on June 12, 1918, under military pressure a new + constitution was forced on the Haytian people, one favoring the + white man and the foreigner; that by force and brutality + innocent men and women, including native preachers and members + of their churches, had been taken, roped together, and marched + as slave-gangs to prison; and that in large numbers Haytians + had been taken from their homes and farms and made to work on + new roads for twenty cents a week, without being properly + furnished with food—all of this being done under the pretense + of improving the social and political condition of the country. + The whole world now realized that the Negro problem was no + longer local in the United States or South Africa, or the West + Indies, but international in its scope and possibilities.</p> + + <p>Very early in the course of the conflict in Europe it was + pointed out that Africa was the real prize of the war, and it + is now simply a commonplace to say that the bases of the + struggle were economic. Nothing did Germany regret more than + the forcible seizure of her African possessions. One can not + fail to observe, moreover, a tendency of discussion of problems + resultant from the war to shift the consideration from that of + pure politics to that of racial relations, and early in the + conflict students of society the world over realized that it + was nothing less than suicide on the part of the white race. + After the close of the war many books dealing with the issues + at stake were written, and in the year 1920 alone several of + these appeared in the United States. Of all of these + publications, because of their different points of view, four + might call for special consideration—<i>The Republic of + Liberia</i>, by R.C.F. Maugham; <i>The Rising Tide of + Color</i>, by Lothrop Stoddard; <i>Darkwater</i>, by W.E. + Burghardt DuBois, and <i>Empire and Commerce in Africa: A Study + in Economic Imperialism</i>, by Leonard Woolf. The position of + each of these books is clear and all bear directly upon the + central theme.</p> + + <p>The <i>Republic of Liberia</i> was written by one who some + years ago was the English consul at Monrovia and who afterwards + was appointed to Dakar. The supplementary preface also gives + the information that the book was really written two years + before it appeared, publication being delayed on account of the + difficulties of printing at the time. Even up to 1918, however, + the account is incomplete, and the failure to touch upon recent + developments becomes serious; but it is of course impossible to + record the history of Liberia from 1847 to the present and + reflect credit upon England. There are some pages of value in + the book, especially those in which the author speaks of the + labor situation in the little African republic; but these are + obviously intended primarily for consumption by business men in + London. "Liberians," we are informed, "tell you that, whatever + may be said to the contrary, the republic's most uncomfortable + neighbor has always been France." This is hardly true. France + has indeed on more than one occasion tried to equal her great + rival in aggrandizement, but she has never quite succeeded in + so doing. As we have already shown in connection with Liberia + in the present work, from the very first the shadow of Great + Britain fell across the country. In more recent years, by loans + that were no more than clever plans for thievery, by the + forceful occupation of large tracts of land, and by + interference in the internal affairs of the country, England + has again and again proved herself the arch-enemy of the + republic. The book so recently written in the last analysis + appears to be little more than the basis of effort toward still + further exploitation.</p> + + <p>The very merit of <i>The Rising Tide of Color</i> depends on + its bias, and it is significant that the book closes with a + quotation from Kipling's "The Heritage." To Dr. Stoddard the + most disquieting feature of the recent situation was not the + war but the peace. Says he, "The white world's inability to + frame a constructive settlement, the perpetuation of intestine + hatreds and the menace of fresh civil wars complicated by the + specter of social revolution, evoke the dread thought that the + late war may be merely the first stage in a cycle of ruin." As + for the war itself, "As colored men realized the significance + of it all, they looked into each other's eyes and there saw the + light of undreamed-of hopes. The white world was tearing itself + to pieces. White solidarity was riven and shattered. And—fear + of white power and respect for white civilization together + dropped away like garments outworn. Through the bazaars of Asia + ran the sibilant whisper: 'The East will see the West to bed.'" + At last comes the inevitable conclusion pleading for a better + understanding between England and Germany and for everything + else that would make for racial solidarity. The pitiful thing + about this book is that it is so thoroughly representative of + the thing for which it pleads. It is the very essence of + jingoism; civilization does not exist in and of itself, it is + "white"; and the conclusions are directly at variance with the + ideals that have been supposed to guide England and America. + Incidentally the work speaks of the Negro and negroid + population of Africa as "estimated at about 120,000,000." This + low estimate has proved a common pitfall for writers. If we + remember that Africa is three and a half times as large as the + United States, and that while there are no cities as large as + New York and Chicago, there are many centers of very dense + population; if we omit entirely from the consideration the + Desert of Sahara and make due allowance for some heavily wooded + tracts in which live no people at all; and if we then take some + fairly well-known region like Nigeria or Sierra Leone as the + basis of estimate, we shall arrive at some such figure as + 450,000,000. In order to satisfy any other points that might + possibly be made, let us reduce this by as much as a third, and + we shall still have 300,000,000, which figure we feel justified + in advancing as the lowest possible estimate for the population + of Africa; and yet most books tell us that there are only + 140,000,000 people on the whole continent.</p> + + <p><i>Darkwater</i> may be regarded as the reply to such a + position as that taken by Dr. Stoddard. If the white world + conceives it to be its destiny to exploit the darker races of + mankind, then it simply remains for the darker races to gird + their loins for the contest. "What of the darker world that + watches? Most men belong to this world. With Negro and Negroid, + East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese they form two-thirds of the + population of the world. A belief in humanity is a belief in + colored men. If the uplift of mankind must be done by men, then + the destinies of this world will rest ultimately in the hands + of darker nations. What, then, is this dark world thinking? It + is thinking that as wild and awful as this shameful war was, it + is nothing to compare with that fight for freedom which black + and brown and yellow men must and will make unless their + oppression and humiliation and insult at the hands of the White + World cease. The Dark World is going to submit to its present + treatment just as long as it must and not one moment + longer."</p> + + <p>Both of these books are strong, and both are materialistic; + and materialism, it must be granted, is a very important factor + in the world just now. Somewhat different in outlook, however, + is the book that labors under an economic subject, <i>Empire + and Commerce in Africa</i>. In general the inquiry is concerned + with the question, What do we desire to attain, particularly + economically, in Africa, and how far is it attainable through + policy? The discussion is mainly confined to the three powers: + England, France, and Germany; and special merit attaches to the + chapter on Abyssinia, probably the best brief account of this + country ever written. Mr. Woolf announces such fundamental + principles as that the land in Africa should be reserved for + the natives; that there should be systematic education of the + natives with a view to training them to take part in, and + eventually control, the government of the country; that there + should be a gradual expatriation of all Europeans and their + capitalistic enterprises; that all revenue raised in Africa + should be applied to the development of the country and the + education and health of the inhabitants; that alcohol should be + absolutely prohibited; and that Africa should be completely + neutralized, that is, in no case should any military operations + between European states be allowed. The difficulties of the + enforcement of such a program are of course apparent to the + author; but with other such volumes as this to guide and mold + opinion, the time may indeed come at no distant date when + Africa will cease to exist solely for exploitation and no + longer be the rebuke of Christendom.</p> + + <p>These four books then express fairly well the different + opinions and hopes with which Africa and the world problem that + the continent raises have recently been regarded. It remains + simply to mention a conception that after the close of the war + found many adherents in the United States and elsewhere, and + whose operation was on a scale that forced recognition. This + was the idea of the Provisional Republic of Africa, the + Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities + League of the World, the Black Star Line of steamships, and the + Negro Factories Corporation, all of which activities were + centered in New York, had as their organ the <i>Negro + World</i>, and as their president and leading spirit Marcus + Garvey, who was originally from Jamaica. The central thought + that appealed to great crowds of people and won their support + was that of freedom for the race in every sense of the word. + Such freedom, it was declared, transcended the mere demand for + the enforcement of certain political and social rights and + could finally be realised only under a vast super-government + guiding the destinies of the race in Africa, the United States, + the West Indies, and everywhere else in the world. This was to + control its people "just as the Pope and the Catholic Church + control its millions in every land." The related ideas and + activities were sometimes termed grandiose and they awakened + much opposition on the part of the old leaders, the clergy, + while conservative business stood aloof. At the same time the + conception is one that deserves to be considered on its + merits.</p> + + <p>It is quite possible that if promoted on a scale vast enough + such a Negro super-government as that proposed could be + realized. It is true that England and France seem to-day to + have a firm grip on the continent of Africa, but the experience + of Germany has shown that even the mailèd fist may lose its + strength overnight. With England beset with problems in Ireland + and the West Indies, in India and Egypt, it is easy for the + millions in equatorial Africa to be made to know that even this + great power is not invincible and in time might rest with + Nineveh and Tyre. There are things in Africa that will forever + baffle all Europeans, and no foreign governor will ever know + all that is at the back of the black man's mind. Even now, + without the aid of modern science, information travels in a few + hours throughout the length and breadth of the continent; and + those that slept are beginning to be awake and restless. Let + this restlessness increase, let intelligence also increase, let + the natives be aided by their fever, and all the armies of + Europe could be lost in Africa and this ancient mother still + rise bloody but unbowed. The realization of the vision, + however, would call for capital on a scale as vast as that of a + modern war or an international industrial enterprise. At the + very outset it would engage England in nothing less than a + death-grapple, especially as regards the shipping on the West + Coast. If ships can not go from Liverpool to Seccondee and + Lagos, then England herself is doomed. The possible contest + appalls the imagination. At the same time the exploiting that + now goes on in the world can not go on forever.</p> + + <p class="footnote"> + <a id="footnote227" + name="footnote227"></a><b>Footnote 227:</b> + <a href="#footnotetag227">(return)</a><br/> + + On the whole subject of the actual life of the Negro + soldier unusual interest attaches to the forthcoming and + authoritative "Sidelights on Negro Soldiers," by Charles H. + Williams, who as a special and official investigator had + unequaled opportunity to study the Negro in camp and on the + battle-line both in the United States and in France.</p> + + + <h2><a id="CHAPTERXVII" + name="CHAPTERXVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII</h2> + + <h3>THE NEGRO PROBLEM</h3> + + <p>It is probably clear from our study in the preceding pages + that the history of the Negro people in the United States falls + into well defined periods or epochs. First of all there was the + colonial era, extending from the time of the first coming of + Negroes to the English colonies to that of the Revolutionary + War. This divides into two parts, with a line coming at the + year 1705. Before this date the exact status of the Negro was + more or less undefined; the system of servitude was only + gradually passing into the sterner one of slavery; and + especially in the middle colonies there was considerable + intermixture of the races. By the year 1705, however, it had + become generally established that the Negro was to be regarded + not as a person but as a thing; and the next seventy years were + a time of increasing numbers, but of no racial coherence or + spiritual outlook, only a spasmodic insurrection here and there + indicating the yearning for a better day. With the Revolution + there came a change, and the second period extends from this + war to the Civil War. This also divides into two parts, with a + line at the year 1830. In the years immediately succeeding the + Revolution there was put forth the first effective effort + toward racial organization, this being represented by the work + of such men as Richard Allen and Prince Hall; but, in spite of + a new racial consciousness, the great mass of the Negro people + remained in much the same situation as before, the increase in + numbers incident to the invention of the cotton-gin only + intensifying the ultimate problem. About the year 1830, + however, the very hatred and ignominy that began to be visited + upon the Negro indicated that at least he was no longer a thing + but a person. Lynching began to grow apace, burlesque on the + stage tended to depreciate and humiliate the race, and the + South became definitely united in its defense of the system of + slavery. On the other hand, the Abolitionists challenged the + attitude that was becoming popular; the Negroes themselves + began to be prosperous and to hold conventions; and Nat + Turner's insurrection thrust baldly before the American people + the great moral and economic problem with which they had to + deal. With such divergent opinions, in spite of feeble attempts + at compromise, there could be no peace until the issue of + slavery at least was definitely settled. The third great period + extends from the Civil War to the opening of the Great War in + Europe. Like the others it also falls into two parts, the + division coming at the year 1895. The thirty years from 1865 to + 1895 may be regarded as an era in which the race, now + emancipated, was mainly under the guidance of political ideals. + Several men went to Congress and popular education began to be + emphasized; but the difficulties of Reconstruction and the + outrages of the KuKlux Klan were succeeded by an enveloping + system of peonage, and by 1890-1895 the pendulum had swung + fully backward and in the South disfranchisement had been + arrived at as the concrete solution of the political phase of + the problem. The twenty years from 1895 to 1915 formed a period + of unrest and violence, but also of solid economic and social + progress, the dominant influence being the work of Booker T. + Washington. With the world war the Negro people came face to + face with new and vast problems of economic adjustment and + passed into an entirely different period of their racial + history in America.</p> + + <p>This is not all, however. The race is not to be regarded + simply as existent unto itself. The most casual glance at any + such account as we have given emphasizes the importance of the + Negro in the general history of the United States. Other races + have come, sometimes with great gifts or in great numbers, but + it is upon this one that the country's history has turned as on + a pivot. It is true that it has been despised and rejected, but + more and more it seems destined to give new proof that the + stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of + the corner. In the colonial era it was the economic advantage + of slavery over servitude that caused it to displace this + institution as a system of labor. In the preliminary draft of + the Declaration of Independence a noteworthy passage arraigned + the king of England for his insistence upon the slave-trade, + but this was later suppressed for reasons of policy. The war + itself revealed clearly the fallacy of the position of the + patriots, who fought for their rights as Englishmen but not for + the fundamental rights of man; and their attitude received + formal expression in the compromises that entered into the + Constitution. The expansion of the Southwest depended on the + labor of the Negro, whose history became inextricably bound up + with that of the cotton-gin; and the question or the excuse of + fugitives was the real key to the Seminole Wars. The long + struggle culminating in the Civil War was simply to settle the + status of the Negro in the Republic; and the legislation after + the war determined for a generation the history not only of the + South but very largely of the nation as well. The later + disfranchising acts have had overwhelming importance, the + unfair system of national representation controlling the + election of 1916 and thus the attitude of America in the world + war.</p> + + <p>This is an astonishing phenomenon—this vast influence of a + people oppressed, proscribed, and scorned. The Negro is so + dominant in American history not only because he tests the real + meaning of democracy, not only because he challenges the + conscience of the nation, but also because he calls in question + one's final attitude toward human nature itself. As we have + seen, it is not necessarily the worker, not even the criminal, + who makes the ultimate problem, but the simple Negro of + whatever quality. If this man did not have to work at all, and + if his race did not include a single criminal, in American + opinion he would still raise a question. It is accordingly from + the social standpoint that we must finally consider the + problem. Before we can do this we need to study the race as an + actual living factor in American life; and even before we do + that it might be in order to observe the general importance of + the Negro to-day in any discussion of the racial problems of + the world.</p> + + <h4>1. <a id="WorldAspect" + name="WorldAspect"><i>World Aspect</i></a></h4> + + <p>Any consideration of the Negro Problem in its world aspect + at the present time must necessarily be very largely concerned + with Africa as the center of the Negro population. This in turn + directs attention to the great colonizing powers of Europe, and + especially to Great Britain as the chief of these; and the + questions that result are of far-reaching importance for the + whole fabric of modern civilization. No one can gainsay the + tremendous contribution that England has made to the world; + every one must respect a nation that produced Wycliffe and + Shakespeare and Darwin, and that, standing for democratic + principles, has so often stayed the tide of absolutism and + anarchy; and it is not without desert that for three hundred + years this country has held the moral leadership of mankind. It + may now not unreasonably be asked, however, if it has not lost + some of its old ideals, and if further insistence upon some of + its policies would not constitute a menace to all that the + heart of humanity holds dear.</p> + + <p>As a preliminary to our discussion let us remark two men by + way of contrast. A little more than seventy years ago a great + traveler set out upon the first of three long journeys through + central and southern Africa. He was a renowned explorer, and + yet to him "the end of the geographical feat was only the + beginning of the enterprise." Said Henry Drummond of him: + "Wherever David Livingstone's footsteps are crossed in Africa + the fragrance of his memory seems to remain." On one occasion a + hunter was impaled on the horn of a rhinoceros, and a messenger + ran eight miles for the physician. Although he himself had been + wounded for life by a lion and his friends said that he should + not ride at night through a wood infested with beasts, + Livingstone insisted on his Christian duty to go, only to find + that the man had died and to be obliged to retrace his + footsteps. Again and again his party would have been destroyed + if it had not been for his own unbounded tact and courage, and + after his death at Chitambo's village Susi and Chuma journeyed + for nine months and over eight hundred miles to take his body + to the coast. "We work for a glorious future," said he, "which + we are not destined to see—the golden age which has not been, + but will yet be. We are only morning-stars shining in the dark, + but the glorious morn will break, the good time coming yet. For + this time we work; may God accept our imperfect service."</p> + + <p>About the time that Livingstone was passing off the scene + another strong man, one of England's "empire builders," began + his famous career. Going first to South Africa as a young man + in quest of health, Cecil Rhodes soon made a huge fortune out + of Kimberley diamonds and Transvaal gold, and by 1890 had + become the Prime Minister of Cape Colony. In the pursuit of his + aims he was absolutely unscrupulous. He refused to recognize + any rights of the Portuguese in Matabeleland and Mashonaland; + he drove hard bargains with the Germans and the French; he + defied the Boers; and to him the native Africans were simply so + many tools for the heaping up of gold. Nobody ever said of him + that he left a "fragrant memory" behind him; but thousands of + bruised bodies and broken hearts bore witness to his policy. + According to the ideals of modern England, however, he was a + great man. What the Negro in the last analysis wonders is: Who + was right, Livingstone or Rhodes? And which is the world to + choose, Christ or Mammon?</p> + + <p>There are two fundamental assumptions upon which all + so-called Western civilization is based—that of racial and that + of religious superiority. Sight has been lost of the fact that + there is really no such thing as a superior race, that only + individuals are superior one to another, and a popular English + poet has sung of "the white man's burden" and of "lesser breeds + without the law." These two assumptions have accounted for all + of the misunderstanding that has arisen between the West and + the East, for China and Japan, India and Egypt can not see by + what divine right men from the West suppose that they have the + only correct ancestry or by what conceit they presume to have + the only true faith. Let them but be accepted, however, let a + nation be led by them as guiding-stars, and England becomes + justified in forcing her system upon India, she finds it + necessary to send missionaries to Japan, and the lion's paw + pounces upon the very islands of the sea.</p> + + <p>The whole world, however, is now rising as never before + against any semblance of selfishness on the part of great + powers, and it is more than ever clear that before there can be + any genuine progress toward the brotherhood of man, or toward + comity among nations, one man will have to give some + consideration to the other man's point of view. One people will + have to respect another people's tradition. The Russo-Japanese + War gave men a new vision. The whole world gazed upon a new + power in the East—one that could be dealt with only upon equal + terms. Meanwhile there was unrest in India, and in Africa there + were insurrections of increasing bitterness and fierceness. + Africa especially had been misrepresented. The people were all + said to be savages and cannibals, almost hopelessly degraded. + The traders and the politicians knew better. They knew that + there were tribes and tribes in Africa, that many of the chiefs + were upright and wise and proud of their tradition, and that + the land could not be seized any too quickly. Hence they made + haste to get into the game.</p> + + <p>It is increasingly evident also that the real leadership of + the world is a matter not of race, not even of professed + religion, but of principle. Within the last hundred years, as + science has flourished and colonization grown, we have been led + astray by materialism. The worship of the dollar has become a + fetish, and the man or the nation that had the money felt that + it was ordained of God to rule the universe. Germany was led + astray by this belief, but it is England, not Germany, that has + most thoroughly mastered the <i>Art of Colonization</i>. Crown + colonies are to be operated in the interest of the owners. + Jingoism is king. It matters not that the people in India and + Africa, in Hayti and the Philippines, object to our + benevolence; <i>we</i> know what is good for them and therefore + they should be satisfied.</p> + + <p>In Jamaica to-day the poorer people can not get employment; + and yet, rather than accept the supply at hand, the powers of + privilege import "coolie" labor, a still cheaper supply. In + Sierra Leone, where certainly there has been time to see the + working of the principle, native young men crowd about the + wharves and seize any chance to earn a penny, simply because + there is no work at hand to do—nothing that would genuinely + nourish independence and self-respect.</p> + + <p>It is not strange that the worship of industrialism, with + its attendant competition, finally brought about the most + disastrous war in history and such a breakdown of all + principles of morality as made the whole world stand aghast. + Womanhood was no longer sacred; old ideas of ethics vanished; + Christ himself was crucified again—everything holy and lovely + was given to the grasping demon of Wealth.</p> + + <p>Suddenly men realized that England had lost the moral + leadership of the world. Lured by the ideals of Rhodes, the + country that gave to mankind <i>Magna Charta</i> seemed now + bent only on its own aggrandizement and preservation. Germany's + colonies were seized, and anything that threatened the + permanence of the dominant system, especially unrest on the + part of the native African, was throttled. Briton and Boer + began to feel an identity of interest, and especially was it + made known that American Negroes were not wanted.</p> + + <p>Just what the situation is to-day may be illustrated by the + simple matter of foreign missions, the policy of missionary + organizations in both England and America being dictated by the + political policy of the empire. The appointing of Negroes by + the great American denominations for service in Africa has + practically ceased, for American Negroes are not to be admitted + to any portion of the continent except Liberia, which, after + all, is a very small part of the whole. For the time being the + little republic seems to receive countenance from the great + powers as a sort of safety-valve through which the aspiration + of the Negro people might spend itself; but it is evident that + the present understanding is purely artificial and can not + last. Even the Roman Empire declined, and Germany lost her hold + in Africa overnight. Of course it may be contended that the + British Empire to-day is not decadent but stronger than ever. + At the same time there can be no doubt that Englishman and Boer + alike regard these teeming millions of prolific black people + always with concern and sometimes with dismay. Natives of the + Congo still bear the marks of mutilation, and men in South + Africa chafe under unjust land acts and constant indignities in + their daily life.</p> + + <p>Here rises the question for our own country. To the United + States at last has come that moral leadership—that obligation + to do the right thing—that opportunity to exhibit the highest + honor in all affairs foreign or domestic—that is the ultimate + test of greatness. Is America to view this great problem in + Africa sympathetically and find some place for the groping for + freedom of millions of human beings, or is she to be simply a + pawn in the game of English colonization? Is she to abide by + the principles that guided her in 1776, or simply seize her + share of the booty? The Negro either at home or abroad is only + one of many moral problems with which she has to deal. At the + close of the war extravagance reigned, crime was rampant, and + against any one of three or four races there was insidious + propaganda. To add to the difficulties, the government was + still so dominated by politics and officialdom that it was + almost always impossible to get things done at the time they + needed to be done. At the same time every patriot knows that + America is truly the hope of the world. Into her civilization + and her glory have entered not one but many races. All go forth + against a common enemy; all should share the duties and the + privileges of citizenship. In such a country the law can know + no difference of race or class or creed, provided all are + devoted to the general welfare. Such is the obligation resting + upon the United States—such the challenge of social, economic, + and moral questions such as never before faced the children of + men. That she be worthy of her opportunity all would pray; to + the fulfilment of her destiny all should help. The eyes of the + world are upon her; the scepter of the ages is in her hand.</p> + + <h4>2. <a id="AmericanLife" + name="AmericanLife"><i>The Negro in American + Life</i></a></h4> + + <p>If now we come to the Negro in the United States, it is + hardly an exaggeration to say that no other race in the + American body politic, not even the Anglo-Saxon, has been + studied more critically than this one, and treatment has varied + all the way from the celebration of virtues to the bitterest + hostility and malignity. It is clearly fundamentally necessary + to pay some attention to racial characteristics and gifts. In + recent years there has been much discussion from the standpoint + of biology, and special emphasis has been placed on the + emotional temperament of the race. The Negro, however, submits + that in the United States he has not been chiefly responsible + for such miscegenation as has taken place; but he is not + content to rest simply upon a <i>tu quoque</i>. He calls + attention to the fact that whereas it has been charged that + lynchings find their excuse in rape, it has been shown again + and again that this crime is the excuse for only one-fourth or + one-fifth of the cases of violence. If for the moment we + suppose that there is no question about guilt in a fourth or a + fifth of the cases, the overwhelming fraction that remains + indicates that there are other factors of the highest + importance that have to be considered in any ultimate + adjustment of the situation. In every case accordingly the + Negro asks only for a fair trial in court—not too hurried; and + he knows that in many instances a calm study of the facts will + reveal nothing more than fright or hysteria on the part of a + woman or even other circumstances not more incriminating.</p> + + <p>Unfortunately the whole question of the Negro has been + beclouded by misrepresentation as has no other social question + before the American people, and the race asks simply first of + all that the tissue of depreciation raised by prejudice be done + away with in order that it may be judged and estimated for its + quality. America can make no charges against any element of her + population while she denies the fundamental right of + citizenships—the protection of the individual person. Too often + mistakes are made, and no man is so humble or so low that he + should be deprived of his life without due process of law. The + Negro undoubtedly has faults. At the same time, in order that + his gifts may receive just consideration, the tradition of + burlesque must for the time being be forgotten. All stories + about razors, chickens, and watermelons must be relegated to + the rear; and even the revered and beloved "black mammy" must + receive an affectionate but a long farewell.</p> + + <p>The fact is that the Negro has such a contagious brand of + humor that many people never realize that this plays only on + the surface. The real background of the race is one of tragedy. + It is not in current jest but in the wail of the old melodies + that the soul of this people is found. There is something + elemental about the heart of the race, something that finds its + origin in the forest and in the falling of the stars. There is + something grim about it too, something that speaks of the lash, + of the child torn from its mother's bosom, of the dead body + swinging at night by the roadside. The race has suffered, and + in its suffering lies its destiny and its contribution to + America; and hereby hangs a tale.</p> + + <p>If we study the real quality of the Negro we shall find that + two things are observable. One is that any distinction so far + won by a member of the race in America has been almost always + in some one of the arts; and the other is that any influence so + far exerted by the Negro on American civilization has been + primarily in the field of æsthetics. The reason is not far to + seek, and is to be found in the artistic striving even of + untutored Negroes. The instinct for beauty insists upon an + outlet, and if one can find no better picture he will paste a + circus poster or a flaring advertisement on the wall. Very few + homes have not at least a geranium on the windowsill or a + rosebush in the garden. If we look at the matter conversely we + shall find that those things which are most picturesque make to + the Negro the readiest appeal. Red is his favorite color simply + because it is the most pronounced of all colors. The principle + holds in the sphere of religion. In some of our communities + Negroes are known to "get happy" in church. It is, however, + seldom a sermon on the rule of faith or the plan of salvation + that awakens such ecstasy, but rather a vivid portrayal of the + beauties of heaven, with the walls of jasper, the feast of milk + and honey, and the angels with palms in their hands. The appeal + is primarily sensuous, and it is hardly too much to say that + the Negro is thrilled not so much by the moral as by the + artistic and pictorial elements in religion. Every member of + the race is an incipient poet, and all are enthralled by music + and oratory.</p> + + <p>Illustrations are abundant. We might refer to the oratory of + Douglass, to the poetry of Dunbar, to the picturesque style of + DuBois, to the mysticism of the paintings of Tanner, to the + tragic sculpture of Meta Warrick Fuller, and to a long line of + singers and musicians. Even Booker Washington, most practical + of Americans, proves the point, the distinguishing qualities of + his speeches being anecdote and vivid illustration. It is best, + however, to consider members of the race who were entirely + untaught in the schools. On one occasion Harriet Tubman, famous + for her work in the Underground Railroad, was addressing an + audience and describing a great battle in the Civil War. "And + then," said she, "we saw the lightning, and that was the guns; + and then we heard the thunder, and that was the big guns; and + then we heard the rain falling, and that was drops of blood + falling; and when we came to git in the craps, it was dead men + that we reaped." Two decades after the war John Jasper, of + Richmond, Virginia, astonished the most intelligent hearers by + the power of his imagery. He preached not only that the "sun do + move," but also of "dry bones in the valley," the glories of + the New Jerusalem, and on many similar subjects that have been + used by other preachers, sometimes with hardly less effect, + throughout the South. In his own way Jasper was an artist. He + was eminently imaginative; and it is with this imaginative—this + artistic—quality that America has yet to reckon.</p> + + <p>The importance of the influence has begun to be recognized, + and on the principle that to him that hath shall be given, in + increasing measure the Negro is being blamed for the ills of + American life, a ready excuse being found in the perversion and + debasement of Negro music. We have seen discussions whose + reasoning, condensed, was somewhat as follows: The Negro + element is daily becoming more potent in American society; + American society is daily becoming more immoral; therefore at + the door of the Negro may be laid the increase in divorce and + all the other evils of society. The most serious charge brought + against the Negro intellectually is that he has not yet + developed the great creative or organizing mind that points the + way of civilization. He most certainly has not, and in this he + is not very unlike all the other people in America. The whole + country is still in only the earlier years of its striving. + While the United States has made great advance in applied + science, she has as yet produced no Shakespeare or Beethoven. + If America has not yet reached her height after three hundred + years of striving, she ought not to be impatient with the Negro + after only sixty years of opportunity. But all signs go to + prove the assumption of limited intellectual ability + fundamentally false. Already some of the younger men of the + race have given the highest possible promise.</p> + + <p>If all of this, however, is granted, and if the Negro's + exemplification of the principle of self-help is also + recognized, the question still remains: Just what is the race + worth as a constructive factor in American civilization? Is it + finally to be an agency for the upbuilding of the nation, or + simply one of the forces that retard? What is its real promise + in American life?</p> + + <p>In reply to this it might be worth while to consider first + of all the country's industrial life. The South, and very + largely the whole country, depends upon Negro men and women as + the stable labor supply in such occupations as farming, + saw-milling, mining, cooking, and washing. All of this is hard + work, and necessary work. In 1910, of 3,178,554 Negro men at + work, 981,922 were listed as farm laborers and 798,509 as + farmers. That is to say, 56 per cent of the whole number were + engaged in raising farm products either on their own account or + by way of assisting somebody else, and the great staples of + course were the cotton and corn of the Southern states. If + along with the farmers we take those engaged in the occupations + employing the next greatest numbers of men—those of the + building and hand trades, saw and planing mills, as well as + those of railway firemen and porters, draymen, teamsters, and + coal mine operatives—we shall find a total of 71.2 per cent + engaged in such work as represents the very foundation of + American industry. Of the women at work, 1,047,146, or 52 per + cent, were either farm laborers or farmers, and 28 per cent + more were either cooks or washerwomen. In other words, a total + of exactly 80 per cent were engaged in some of the hardest and + at the same time some of the most vital labor in our home and + industrial life. The new emphasis on the Negro as an industrial + factor in the course of the recent war is well known. When + immigration ceased, upon his shoulders very largely fell the + task of keeping the country and the army alive. Since the war + closed he has been on the defensive in the North; but a country + that wishes to consider all of the factors that enter into its + gravest social problem could never forget his valiant service + in 1918. Let any one ask, moreover, even the most prejudiced + observer, if he would like to see every Negro in the country + out of it, and he will then decide whether economically the + Negro is a liability or an asset.</p> + + <p>Again, consider the Negro soldier. In all our history there + are no pages more heroic, more pathetic, than those detailing + the exploits of black men. We remember the Negro, three + thousand strong, fighting for the liberties of America when his + own race was still held in bondage. We remember the deeds at + Port Hudson, Fort Pillow, and Fort Wagner. We remember Santiago + and San Juan Hill, not only how Negro men went gallantly to the + charge, but how a black regiment faced pestilence that the + ranks of their white comrades might not be decimated. And then + Carrizal. Once more, at an unexpected moment, the heart of the + nation was thrilled by the troopers of the Tenth Cavalry. Once + more, despite Brownsville, the tradition of Fort Wagner was + preserved and passed on. And then came the greatest of all + wars. Again was the Negro summoned to the colors—summoned out + of all proportion to his numbers. Others might desert, but not + he; others might be spies or strikers, but not he—not he in the + time of peril. In peace or war, in victory or danger, he has + always been loyal to the Stars and Stripes.</p> + + <p>Not only, however, does the Negro give promise by reason of + his economic worth; not only does he deserve the fullest rights + of citizenship on the basis of his work as a soldier; he brings + nothing less than a great spiritual contribution to + civilization in America. His is a race of enthusiasm, + imagination, and spiritual fervor; and after all the doubt and + fear through which it has passed there still rests with it an + abiding faith in God. Around us everywhere are commercialism, + politics, graft—sordidness, selfishness, cynicism. We need hope + and love, a new birth of idealism, a new faith in the unseen. + Already the work of some members of the race has pointed the + way to great things in the realm of conscious art; but above + even art soars the great world of the spirit. This it is that + America most sadly needs; this it is that her most fiercely + persecuted children bring to her.</p> + + <p>Obviously now if the Negro, if any race, is to make to + America the contribution of which it is capable, it must be + free; and this raises the whole question of relation to the + rest of the body politic. One of the interesting phenomena of + society in America is that the more foreign elements enter into + the "melting pot" and advance in culture, the more do they + cling to their racial identity. Incorporation into American + life, instead of making the Greek or the Pole or the Irishman + forget his native country, makes him all the more jealous of + its traditions. The more a center of any one of these + nationalities develops, the more wealthy and cultured its + members become, the more do we find them proud of the source + from which they sprang. The Irishman is now so much an American + that he controls whole wards in our large cities, and sometimes + the cities themselves. All the same he clings more tenaciously + than ever to the celebration of March 17. When an isolated + Greek came years ago, poor and friendless, nobody thought very + much about him, and he effaced himself as much as possible, + taking advantage, however, of any opportunity that offered for + self-improvement or economic advance. When thousands came and + the newcomers could take inspiration from those of their + brothers who had preceded them and achieved success, + nationality asserted itself. Larger groups now talked about + Venizelos and a greater Greece; their chests expanded at the + thought of Marathon and Plato; and companies paraded amid + applause as they went to fight in the Balkans. In every case, + with increasing intelligence and wealth, race pride asserted + itself. At the same time no one would think of denying to the + Greek or the Irishman or the Italian his full rights as an + American citizen.</p> + + <p>It is a paradox indeed, this thing of a race's holding its + identity at the same time that it is supposed to lose this in + the larger civilization. Apply the principle to the Negro. Very + soon after the Civil War, when conditions were chaotic and + ignorance was rampant, the ideals constantly held before the + race were those of white people. Some leaders indeed measured + success primarily by the extent to which they became merged in + the white man's life. At the time this was very natural. A + struggling people wished to show that it could be judged by the + standards of the highest civilization within sight, and it did + so. To-day the tide has changed. The race now numbers a few + millionaires. In almost every city there are beautiful homes + owned by Negroes. Some men have reached high attainment in + scholarship, and the promise grows greater and greater in art + and science. Accordingly the Negro now loves his own, cherishes + his own, teaches his boys about black heroes, and honors and + glorifies his own black women. Schools and churches and all + sorts of coöperative enterprises testify to the new racial + self-respect, while a genuine Negro drama has begun to + flourish. A whole people has been reborn; a whole race has + found its soul.</p> + + <h4>3. <a id="Face" + name="Face"><i>Face to Face</i></a></h4> + + <p>Even when all that has been said is granted, it is still + sometimes maintained that the Negro is the one race that can + not and will not be permitted to enter into the full promise of + American life. Other elements, it is said, even if difficult to + assimilate, may gradually be brought into the body politic, but + the Negro is the one element that may be tolerated but not + assimilated, utilized but not welcomed to the fullness of the + country's glory.</p> + + <p>However, the Negro has no reason to be discouraged. If one + will but remember that after all slavery was but an incident + and recall the status of the Negro even in the free states ten + years before the Civil War, he will be able to see a steady + line of progress forward. After the great moral and economic + awakening that gave the race its freedom, the pendulum swung + backward, and finally it reached its farthest point of + proscription, of lawlessness, and inhumanity. No obscuring of + the vision for the time being should blind us to the reading of + the great movement of history.</p> + + <p>To-day in the whole question of the Negro problem there are + some matters of pressing and general importance. One that is + constantly thrust forward is that of the Negro criminal. On + this the answer is clear. If a man—Negro or otherwise—is a + criminal, he is an enemy of society, and society demands that + he be placed where he will do the least harm. If execution is + necessary, this should take place in private; and in no case + should the criminal be so handled as to corrupt the morals or + arouse the morbid sensibilities of the populace. At the same + time simple patriotism would demand that by uplifting home + surroundings, good schools, and wholesome recreation everything + possible be done for Negro children as for other children of + the Republic, so that just as few of them as possible may + graduate into the criminal class.</p> + + <p>Another matter, closely akin to this, is that of the + astonishing lust for torture that more and more is actuating + the American people. When in 1835 McIntosh was burned in St. + Louis for the murder of an officer, the American people stood + aghast, and Abraham Lincoln, just coming into local prominence, + spoke as if the very foundations of the young republic had been + shaken. After the Civil War, however, horrible lynchings became + frequent; and within the last decade we have seen a Negro boy + stabbed in numberless places while on his way to the stake, we + have seen the eyes of a Negro man burned out with hot irons and + pieces of his flesh cut off, and a Negro woman—whose only + offense was a word of protest against the lynching of her + husband—while in the state of advanced pregnancy hanged head + downwards, her clothing burned from her body, and herself so + disemboweled that her unborn babe fell to the ground. We submit + that any citizens who commit such deeds as these are deserving + of the most serious concern of their country; and when they + bring their little children to behold their acts—when baby + fingers handle mutilated flesh and baby eyes behold such + pictures as we have suggested—a crime has been committed + against the very name of childhood. Most frequently it will be + found that the men who do these things have had only the most + meager educational advantages, and that generally—but not + always—they live in remote communities, away from centers of + enlightenment, so that their whole course of life is such as to + cultivate provincialism. With not the slightest touch of irony + whatever we suggest that these men need a crusade of education + in books and in the fundamental obligations of citizenship. At + present their ignorance, their prejudice, and their lack of + moral sense constitute a national menace.</p> + + <p>It is full time to pause. We have already gone too far. The + Negro problem is only an index to the ills of society in + America. In our haste to get rich or to meet new conditions we + are in danger of losing all of our old standards of conduct, of + training, and of morality. Our courts need to summon a new + respect for themselves. The average citizen knows only this + about them, that he wants to keep away from them. So far we + have not been assured of justice. The poor man has not stood an + equal chance with the rich, nor the black with the white. Money + has been freely used, even for the changing of laws if need be; + and the sentencing of a man of means generally means only that + he will have a new trial. The murders in any American city + average each year fifteen or twenty times as many as in an + English or French city of the same size. Our churches need a + new baptism; they have lost the faith. The same principle + applies in our home-life, in education, in literature. The + family altar is almost extinct; learning is more easy than + sound; and in literature as in other forms of art any passing + fad is able to gain followers and pose as worthy achievement. + All along the line we need more uprightness—more strength. Even + when a man has committed a crime, he must receive justice in + court. Within recent years we have heard too much about "speedy + trials," which are often nothing more than legalized lynchings. + If it has been decreed that a man is to wait for a trial one + week or one year, the mob has nothing to do with the matter, + and, if need be, all the soldiery of the United States must be + called forth to prevent the storming of a jail. Fortunately the + last few years have shown us several sheriffs who had this + conception of their duty.</p> + + <p>In the last analysis this may mean that more responsibility + and more force will have to be lodged in the Federal + Government. Within recent years the dignity of the United + States has been seriously impaired. The time seems now to have + come when the Government must make a new assertion of its + integrity and its authority. No power in the country can be + stronger than that of the United States of America.</p> + + <p>For the time being, then, this is what we need—a stern + adherence to law. If men will not be good, they must at least + be made to behave. No one will pretend, however, that an + adjustment on such a basis is finally satisfactory. Above the + law of the state—above all law of man—is the law of God. It was + given at Sinai thousands of years ago. It received new meaning + at Calvary. To it we must all yet come. The way may be hard, + and in the strife of the present the time may seem far distant; + but some day the Messiah will reign and man to man the world + over shall brothers be "for a' that."</p> + + <h2>SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> + + <p>Unless an adequate volume is to be devoted to the work, any + bibliography of the history of the Negro Problem in the United + States must be selective. No comprehensive work is in + existence. Importance attaches to <i>Select List of References + on the Negro Question</i>, compiled under the direction of + A.P.C. Griffin, Library of Congress, Washington, 1903; <i>A + Select Bibliography of the Negro American</i>, edited by W.E.B. + DuBois, Atlanta, 1905, and <i>The Negro Problem: a + Bibliography</i>, edited by Vera Sieg, Free Library Commission, + Madison, Wis., 1908; but all such lists have to be supplemented + for more recent years. Compilations on the Abolition Movement, + the early education of the Negro, and the literary and artistic + production of the race are to be found respectively in Hart's + <i>Slavery and Abolition</i>, Woodson's <i>The Education of the + Negro prior to 1861</i>, and Brawley's <i>The Negro in + Literature and Art</i>, and the <i>Journal of Negro History</i> + is constantly suggestive of good material.</p> + + <p>The bibliography that follows is confined to the main + question. First of all are given general references, and then + follows a list of individual authors and books. Finally, there + are special lists on topics on which the study in the present + work is most intensive. In a few instances books that are + superficial in method or prejudiced in tone have been mentioned + as it has seemed necessary to try to consider all shades of + opinion even if the expression was not always adequate. On the + other hand, not every source mentioned in the footnotes is + included, for sometimes these references are merely incidental; + and especially does this apply in the case of lectures or + magazine articles, some of which were later included in books. + Nor is there any reference to works of fiction. These are + frequently important, and books of unusual interest are + sometimes considered in the body of the work; but in such a + study as the present imaginative literature can be hardly more + than a secondary and a debatable source of information.</p> + + <h3>SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY</h3> + + <h4>I. General References</h4> + + <p>(Mainly in Collections, Sets, or Series)</p> + + <p>Statutes at Large, being a Collection of all the Laws of + Virginia from the first session of the Legislature, in the year + 1619, by William Waller Hening. Richmond, 1819-20.</p> + + <p>Laws of the State of North Carolina, compiled by Henry + Potter, J.L. Taylor, and Bart. Yancey. Raleigh, 1821.</p> + + <p>The Statutes at Large of South Carolina, edited by Thomas + Cooper. Columbia, 1837.</p> + + <p>The Pro-Slavery Argument (as maintained by the most + distinguished writers of the Southern states). Charleston, + 1852.</p> + + <p>Files of such publications as Niles's <i>Weekly + Register</i>, the <i>Genius of Universal Emancipation</i>, the + <i>Liberator</i>, and DeBow's <i>Commercial Review</i>, in the + period before the Civil War; and of the <i>Crisis</i>, the + <i>Journal of Negro History</i>, the <i>Negro Year-Book</i>, + the <i>Virginia Magazine of History</i>, the <i>Review of + Reviews</i>, the <i>Literary Digest</i>, the + <i>Independent</i>, the <i>Outlook</i>, as well as + representative newspapers North and South and weekly Negro + newspapers in later years.</p> + + <p>Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political + Science (some numbers important for the present work noted + below).</p> + + <p>Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law edited by the + Faculty of Political Science of Columbia University (some + numbers important for the present work noted below).</p> + + <p>Atlanta University Studies of Negro Problems (for unusually + important numbers note DuBois, editor, below, also Bigham).</p> + + <p>Occasional Papers of the American Negro Academy (especially + note Cromwell in special list No. 1 below and Grimké in No. + 3).</p> + + <p>Census Reports of the United States; also Publications of + the Bureau of Education.</p> + + <p>Annual Reports of the General Education Board, the John F. + Slater Fund, the Jeanes Fund; reports and pamphlets issued by + American Missionary Association, American Baptist Home Mission + Society, Freedmen's Aid Society, etc.; catalogues of + representative educational institutions; and a volume "From + Servitude to Service" (the Old South lectures on representative + educational institutions for the Negro), Boston, 1905.</p> + + <p>Pamphlets and reports of National Association for the + Advancement of Colored People, the National Urban League, the + Southern Sociological Congress, the University Commission on + Southern Race Questions, Hampton Conference reports, 1897-1907, + and Proceedings of the National Negro Business League, annual + since 1900.</p> + + <p>The American Nation: A History from Original Sources by + Associated Scholars, edited by Albert Bushnell Hart. 27 vols. + Harper & Bros., New York, 1907. (Volumes important for the + present work specially noted below.)</p> + + <p>The Chronicles of America. A Series of Historical Narratives + edited by Allen Johnson. 50 vols. Yale University Press, New + Haven, 1918—. (Volumes important for the present work specially + noted below.)</p> + + <p>The South in the Building of the Nation. 12 vols. The + Southern Publication Society. Richmond, Va., 1909.</p> + + <p>Studies in Southern History and Politics. Columbia + University Press, New York, 1914.</p> + + <p>New International and Americana Encyclopedias (especially on + such topics as Africa, the Negro, and Negro Education).</p> + + <h4>II. INDIVIDUAL WORKS</h4> + + <p>(Note pamphlets at end of list; also special lists under III + below.)</p> + + <p>Adams, Alice Dana: The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery in + America (1808-1831), Radcliffe College Monograph No. 14. + Boston, 1908 (now handled by Harvard University Press).</p> + + <p>Adams, Henry: History of the United States from 1801 to + 1817. 9 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1889-90.</p> + + <p>Alexander, William T.: History of the Colored Race in + America. Palmetto Publishing Co., New Orleans, 1887.</p> + + <p>Armistead, Wilson: A Tribute for the Negro, being a + Vindication of the Moral, Intellectual, and Religious + Capabilities of the Colored Portion of Mankind, with particular + reference to the African race, illustrated by numerous + biographical sketches, facts, anecdotes, etc., and many + superior portraits and engravings. Manchester, 1848.</p> + + <p>Baker, Ray Stannard: Following the Color Line. Doubleday, + Page & Co., New York, 1908.</p> + + <p>Ballagh, James Curtis: A History of Slavery in Virginia. + Johns Hopkins Studies, extra volume 24. Baltimore, 1902.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia. Johns Hopkins + Studies, Thirteenth Series, Nos. 6 and 7. Baltimore, 1895.</p> + + + <p>Bassett, John Spencer: Anti-Slavery Leaders of North + Carolina. Sixth Series, No. 6. Baltimore, 1898.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + Slavery and Servitude in the Colony of North Carolina. + Johns Hopkins Studies, Fourteenth Series, Nos. 4 and 5. + Baltimore, 1896.<br/> +    Slavery in the State of North Carolina. Johns Hopkins + Studies, XIV: 179; XVII: 323.</p> + + + <p>Bigham, John Alvin (editor): Select Discussions of Race + Problems, No. 20, of Atlanta University Publications. Atlanta, + 1916.</p> + + <p>Birney, William: James G. Birney and His Times. D. Appleton + & Co., New York, 1890.</p> + + <p>Blake, W.O.: The History of Slavery and the Slave-Trade. + Columbus, O., 1861.</p> + + <p>Blyden, Edward W.: Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race. + London, 1887.</p> + + <p>Bogart, Ernest Ludlow: The Economic History of the United + States. Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1918 edition.</p> + + <p>Bourne, Edward Gaylord: Spain in America, 1450-1580. Vol. 3 + of American Nation Series.</p> + + <p>Brackett, Jeffrey Richardson: The Negro in Maryland: A Study + of the Institution of Slavery. Johns Hopkins Studies, extra + volume 6. Baltimore, 1889.</p> + + <p>Bradford, Sarah H.: Harriet, the Moses of Her People. New + York, 1886.</p> + + <p>Brawley, Benjamin: A Short History of the American Negro. + The Macmillan Co., New York, 1913, revised 1919.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + History of Morehouse College. Atlanta, 1917.<br/> +    The Negro in Literature and Art. Duffield & Co., New + York, 1918.<br/> +    Your Negro Neighbor (in Our National Problems series). + The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918.<br/> +    Africa and the War. Duffield & Co., New York, + 1918.<br/> +    Women of Achievement (written for the Fireside Schools + under the auspices of the Woman's American Baptist Home + Mission Society). Chicago and New York, 1919.</p> + + <p>Brawley, Edward M.: The Negro Baptist Pulpit. American + Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1890.</p> + + <p>Bruce, Philip Alexander: Economic History of Virginia in the + Seventeenth Century. 2 vols. The Macmillan Co., New York, + 1896.</p> + + <p>Cable, George Washington: The Negro Question. Charles + Scribner's Sons, New York, 1890.</p> + + <p>Calhoun, William Patrick: The Caucasian and the Negro in the + United States. R.L. Bryan Co., Columbia, S. C, 1902.</p> + + <p>Chamberlain, D.H.: Present Phases of Our So-Called Negro + Problem (open letter to the Rt. Hon. James Bryce of England), + reprinted from <i>News and Courier</i>, Charleston, of August + 1, 1904.</p> + + <p>Cheyney, Edward Potts: European Background of American + History. Vol. I of American Nation Series.</p> + + <p>Child, Lydia Maria: An Appeal in Favor of That Class of + Americans Called Africans. Boston, 1833.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + The Oasis (edited). Boston, 1834.</p> + + <p>Clayton, V.V.: White and Black under the Old Regimé. + Milwaukee, 1899.</p> + + <p>Clowes, W. Laird: Black America: A Study of the Ex-Slave and + His Late Master. Cassell & Co., London, 1891.</p> + + <p>Coffin, Joshua: An Account of Some of the Principal Slave + Insurrections, and others, which have occurred, or been + attempted, in the United States and elsewhere, during the last + two centuries, with various remarks. American Anti-Slavery + Society, New York, 1860.</p> + + <p>Collins, Winfield H.: The Domestic Slave Trade of the + Southern States. Broadway Publishing Co., New York, 1904.</p> + + <p>Coman, Katherine: The Industrial History of the United + States. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918 edition.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + The Negro as a Peasant Farmer. American Statistical + Association Publications, 1904:39.</p> + + <p>Commons, John R.: Races and Immigrants in America. The + Macmillan Co., 1907.</p> + + <p>Coolidge, Archibald Cary: The United States as a World + Power. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918.</p> + + <p>Cooper, Anna Julia: A Voice from the South, by a black woman + of the South. Xenia, O., 1892.</p> + + <p>Corey, Charles H.: A History of the Richmond Theological + Seminary. Richmond, 1895.</p> + + <p>Cornish, Samuel E., and Wright, T.S.: The Colonization + Scheme Considered in Its Rejection by the Colored People. + Newark, 1840.</p> + + <p>Cromwell, John W.: The Negro in American History. The + American Negro Academy, Washington, 1914.</p> + + <p>Culp, Daniel W. (editor): Twentieth Century Negro + Literature. Nichols & Co., Toronto, 1902.</p> + + <p>Cutler, James E.: Lynch Law, an Investigation into the + History of Lynching in the United States. Longmans, Green & + Co., New York, 1905.</p> + + <p>Daniels, John: In Freedom's Birthplace: A Study of the + Boston Negroes. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, + 1914.</p> + + <p>Dewey, Davis Rich: National Problems, 1885-1897. Vol. 24 in + American Nation Series.</p> + + <p>Dill, Augustus Granville. See DuBois, editor Atlanta + University Publications.</p> + + <p>Dodd, William E.: The Cotton Kingdom. Vol. 27 of Chronicles + of America.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + Expansion and Conflict. Vol. 3 of Riverside History of the + United States. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915.</p> + + <p>Dow, Lorenzo ("Cosmopolite, a Listener"): A Cry from the + Wilderness! A Voice from the East, A Reply from the + West—Trouble in the North, Exemplifying in the South. Intended + as a timely and solemn warning to the People of the United + States. Printed for the Purchaser and the Public. United + States, 1830.</p> + + <p>DuBois, W.E. Burghardt: Suppression of the African + Slave-Trade. Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1896 (now + handled by Harvard University Press).</p> + + <p>DuBois, W.E. Burghardt: The Philadelphia Negro. University + of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1899.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + The Souls of Black Folk. A.C. McClurg & Co., + Chicago, 1903. The Negro in the South (Booker T. + Washington, co-author).<br/> +    George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907.<br/> +    John Brown (in American Crisis Biographies). George W. + Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1909.<br/> +    The Negro (in Home University Library Series). Henry + Holt & Co., New York, 1915.<br/> +    Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil. Harcourt, Brace + & Co., New York, 1920.<br/> +    (Editor Atlanta University Publications).<br/> +    The Negro Church, No. 8.<br/> +    The Health and Physique of the Negro American, No. + II.<br/> +    Economic Co-operation among Negro Americans, No. 12.<br/> +    The Negro American Family, No. 13.<br/> +    Efforts for Social Betterment among Negro Americans, No. + 14. The College-Bred Negro American, No. 15. (A.G. Dill, + co-editor.)<br/> +    The Negro American Artisan, No. 17. (A.G. Dill, + co-editor.)<br/> +    Morals and Manners among Negro Americans, No. 18. (A.G. + Dill, co-editor.)</p> + + <p>Dunbar, Alice Ruth Moore: Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence. + The Bookery Publishing Co., New York, 1914.</p> + + <p>Dunbar, Paul Laurence: Complete Poems. Dodd, Mead & Co., + New York, 1913.</p> + + <p>Dunning, William Archibald: Reconstruction, Political and + Economic. Vol. 22 of American Nation Series.</p> + + <p>Earnest, Joseph B., Jr.: The Religious Development of the + Negro in Virginia (Ph.D. thesis, Virginia). Charlottesville, + 1914.</p> + + <p>Eckenrode, Hamilton James: The Political History of Virginia + during the Reconstruction. Johns Hopkins Studies. Twenty-second + Series, Nos. 6, 7, and 8. Baltimore, 1904.</p> + + <p>Ellis, George W.: Negro Culture in West Africa. The Neale + Publishing Co., New York, 1914.</p> + + <p>Ellwood, Charles A.: Sociology and Modern Social Problems. + American Book Co., New York, 1910.</p> + + <p>Elwang, William W.: The Negroes of Columbia, Mo. (A.M. + thesis, Missouri), 1904.</p> + + <p>Epstein, Abraham: The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh (in + publications of School of Economics of the University of + Pittsburgh). 1918.</p> + + <p>Evans, Maurice S.: Black and White in the Southern States: A + Study of the Race Problem in the United States from a South + African Point of View. Longmans, Green & Co., London, + 1915.</p> + + <p>Ferris, William Henry: The African Abroad. 2 vols. New + Haven, 1913.</p> + + <p>Fleming, Walter L.: Documentary History of Reconstruction. 2 + vols. Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland, O., 1906.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + The Sequel of Appomattox. Vol. 32 of Chronicles of America.</p> + + <p>Fletcher, Frank H.: Negro Exodus. Report of agent appointed + by the St. Louis Commission to visit Kansas for the purpose of + obtaining information in regard to colored emigration. No + imprint.</p> + + <p>Furman, Richard: Exposition of the Views of the Baptists + Relative to the Colored Population in the United States, in a + communication to the Governor of South Carolina. Second + edition, Charleston, 1833. (Letter bears original date December + 24, 1822; Furman was president of State Baptist + Convention.)</p> + + <p>Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Garrison, Francis Jackson: + William Lloyd Garrison; Story of His Life Told by His Children. + 4 vols. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1894.</p> + + <p>Garrison, William Lloyd: Thoughts on African Colonization: + or An Impartial Exhibition of the Doctrines, Principles, and + Purposes of the American Colonization Society, together with + the Resolutions, Addresses, and Remonstrances of the Free + People of Color. Boston, 1832.</p> + + <p>Gayarré, Charles E.A.: History of Louisiana. 4 vols. New + Orleans, 1885 edition.</p> + + <p>Grady, Henry W.: The New South and Other Addresses, with + biography, etc., by Edna H.L. Turpin. Maynard, Merrill & + Co., New York, 1904.</p> + + <p>Graham, Stephen: The Soul of John Brown. The Macmillan Co., + New York, 1920.</p> + + <p>Hallowell, Richard P.: Why the Negro was Enfranchised—Negro + Suffrage Justified. Boston, 1903. (Reprint of two letters in + the <i>Boston Herald</i>, March 11 and 26, 1903.)</p> + + <p>Hammond, Lily Hardy: In Black and White: An Interpretation + of Southern Life. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1914.</p> + + <p>Harris, Norman Dwight: Intervention and Colonization in + Africa. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914.</p> + + <p>Hart, Albert Bushnell: National Ideals Historically Traced. + Vol. 26 in American Nation Series.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + Slavery and Abolition. Vol. 16 in American Nation + Series.<br/> +    The Southern South. D. Appleton & Co., New York, + 1910.</p> + + <p>Hartshorn, W.N., and Penniman, George W.: An Era of Progress + and Promise, 1863-1910. The Priscilla Publishing Co., Boston, + 1910.</p> + + <p>Haworth, Paul Leland: America in Ferment. Bobbs-Merrill Co., + Indianapolis, 1915.</p> + + <p>Haynes, George E.: The Negro at Work in New York City Vol + 49, No. 3, of Columbia Studies, 1912.</p> + + <p>Helper, Hinton Rowan: The Impending Crisis of the South: How + to Meet It. New York, 1857.</p> + + <p>Hickok, Charles T.: The Negro in Ohio, 1802-1870. (Western + Reserve thesis.) Cleveland, 1896.</p> + + <p>Higginson, Thomas Wentworth: Army Life in a Black Regiment + Boston, 1870. (Latest edition, Houghton, Mifflin Co., + 1900.)</p> + + <p>Hoffman, Frederick L.: Race Traits and Tendencies of the + American Negro. American Economics Association Publications, + XI, Nos. 1-3, 1896.</p> + + <p>Hodge, Frederick W. (editor): Spanish Explorers in the + Southern United States, 1528-1543 (in Original Narratives of + Early American History), esp. The Narrative of Alvar Nuñez + Cabeça de Vaca. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1907.</p> + + <p>Holland, Edwin C.: A Refutation of the Calumnies circulated + against the Southern and Western States, respecting the + institution and existence of slavery among them; to which is + added a minute and particular account of the actual condition + and state of their Negro Population, together with Historical + Notices of all the Insurrections that have taken place since + the settlement of the country. By a South Carolinian. + Charleston, 1822.</p> + + <p>Horsemanden, Daniel (Judge): A Journal of the Proceedings in + the Detection of the Conspiracy Formed by Some White People, in + conjunction with Negro and Other Slaves, for Burning the City + of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants. New + York, 1744.</p> + + <p>Hosmer, James K.: The History of the Louisiana Purchase. D. + Appleton & Co., New York, 1902.</p> + + <p>Hurd, John C.: The Law of Freedom and Bondage. 2 vols. + Boston, 1858-1862.</p> + + <p>Jay, William: Inquiry into the Character and Tendency of the + American Colonization and Anti-Slavery Societies. New York, + 1835.</p> + + <p>Jefferson, Thomas: Writings, issued under the auspices of + the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association. 20 vols. Washington, + 1903.</p> + + <p>Jervey, Theodore D.: Robert Y. Hayne and His Times. The + Macmillan Co., New York, 1909.</p> + + <p>Johnson, Allen: Union and Democracy. Vol. 2 of Riverside + History of the United States. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, + 1915.</p> + + <p>Johnson, James W.: Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man + (published anonymously). Sherman, French & Co., Boston, + 1912.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + Fifty Years and Other Poems. The Cornhill Co., Boston, + 1917.<br/> +    Hayti. Four articles reprinted from the <i>Nation</i>, + New York, 1920.</p> + + <p>Johnston, Sir Harry Hamilton: The Negro in the New World. + The Macmillan Co., New York, 1910.</p> + + <p>Kelsey, Carl: The Negro Farmer (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania). + Jennings & Pye, Chicago, 1903.</p> + + <p>Kemble, Frances A.: Journal of Residence on a Georgia + Plantation, 1838-1839. Harper & Bros., 1863.</p> + + <p>Kerlin, Robert T. (editor): The Voice of the Negro, 1919. + E.P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1920.</p> + + <p>Kimball, John C.: Connecticut's Canterbury Tale; Its Heroine + Prudence Crandall, and Its Moral for To-Day. Hartford, Conn. + (1886).</p> + + <p>Krehbiel, Henry E.: Afro-American Folk-Songs. G. Schirmer, + New York and London, 1914.</p> + + <p>Lauber, Almon Wheeler: Indian Slavery in Colonial Times + within the Present Limits of the United States. Vol. 54, No. 3, + of Columbia University Studies, 1913.</p> + + <p>Livermore, George: An Historical Research Respecting the + Opinions of the Founders of the Republic on Negroes as Slaves, + as Citizens, and as Soldiers. Boston, 1863.</p> + + <p>Locke, Mary Stoughton: Anti-Slavery in America from the + Introduction of African Slaves to the Prohibition of the + Slave-Trade, 1619-1808. Radcliffe College Monograph No. 11. + Boston, 1901 (now handled by Harvard University Press).</p> + + <p>Lonn, Ella: Reconstruction in Louisiana. G.P. Putnam's Sons, + New York, 1919.</p> + + <p>Lugard, Lady (Flora L. Shaw): A Tropical Dependency. James + Nisbet & Co., Ltd., London, 1906.</p> + + <p>Lynch, John R.: The Facts of Reconstruction: The Neale + Publishing Co., New York, 1913.</p> + + <p>McConnell, John Preston: Negroes and Their Treatment in + Virginia from 1865 to 1867 (Ph.D. thesis, Virginia, 1905). + Printed by B.D. Smith & Bros., Pulaski, Va., 1910.</p> + + <p>MacCorkle, William A.: Some Southern Questions. G.P. + Putnam's Sons, New York, 1908.</p> + + <p>McCormac, E.I.: White Servitude in Maryland. Johns Hopkins + Studies, XXII, 119.</p> + + <p>McDougall, Marion Gleason: Fugitive Slaves, 1619-1865. Fay + House (Radcliffe College) Monograph, No. 3. Boston, 1891 (now + handled by Harvard University Press).</p> + + <p>McLaughlin, Andrew Cunningham: The Confederation and the + Constitution, 1783-1789. Vol. 10 in American Nation Series.</p> + + <p>McMaster, John Bach: A History of the People of the United + States, from the Revolution to the Civil War. 8 vols. D. + Appleton & Co., New York, 1883-1913.</p> + + <p>Macy, Jesse: The Anti-Slavery Crusade. Vol. 28 in Chronicles + of America.</p> + + <p>Marsh, J.B.T.: The Story of the Jubilee Singers, with their + songs. Boston, 1880.</p> + + <p>Miller, Kelly: Race Adjustment. The Neale Publishing Co., + New York and Washington, 1908.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + Out of the House of Bondage. The Neale Publishing Co., + New York, 1914.<br/> +    Appeal to Conscience (in Our National Problems Series). + The Macmillan Co., New York, 1913.</p> + + + <p>Moore, G.H.: Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes + in the American Army of the Revolution. New York, 1862.</p> + + <p>Morgan, Thomas J.: Reminiscences of Service with Colored + Troops in the Army of the Cumberland, 1863-65. Providence, + 1885.</p> + + <p>Moton, Robert Russa: Finding a Way Out: An Autobiography. + Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1920.</p> + + <p>Murphy, Edgar Gardner: The Basis of Ascendency. Longmans, + Green & Co., London, 1909.</p> + + <p>Murray, Freeman H.M.: Emancipation and the Freed in American + Sculpture. Published by the author, 1733 Seventh St., N.W., + Washington, 1916.</p> + + <p>Odum, Howard W.: Social and Mental Traits of the Negro. + Columbia University Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3. New York, + 1910.</p> + + <p>Olmsted, Frederick Law: The Cotton Kingdom. 2 vols. New + York, 1861.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States. New York, 1856.</p> + + + <p>Page, Thomas Nelson: The Old South. Charles Scribner's Sons, + New York, 1892.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + The Negro: the Southerner's Problem. Charles Scribner's + Sons, New York, 1904.</p> + + + <p>Palmer, B.M. (with W.T. Leacock): The Rights of the South + Defended in the Pulpits. Mobile, 1860.</p> + + <p>Penniman, George W. See Hartshorn, W.N.</p> + + <p>Phillips, Ulrich B.: American Negro Slavery. D. Appleton + & Co., New York, 1918.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + Plantation and Frontier. Vols. I and II of Documentary + History of American Industrial Society. Arthur H. Clark + Co., Cleveland, 1910.</p> + + + <p>Pike, G.D.: The Jubilee Singers and Their Campaign for + $20,000. Boston, 1873.</p> + + <p>Pike, J.S.: The Prostrate State: South Carolina under Negro + Government. New York, 1874.</p> + + <p>Pipkin, James Jefferson: The Negro in Revelation, in + History, and in Citizenship. N.D. Thompson Publishing Co., St. + Louis, 1902.</p> + + <p>Platt, O.H.: Negro Governors. Papers of the New Haven Colony + Historical Society, Vol. 6. New Haven, 1900.</p> + + <p>Reese, David M.: A Brief Review of the First Annual Report + of the American Anti-Slavery Society. New York, 1834.</p> + + <p>Rhodes, James Ford: History of the United States from the + Compromise of 1850 (1850-1877 and 1877-1896). 8 vols. The + Macmillan Co., New York, 1893-1919.</p> + + <p>Roman, Charles Victor: American Civilization and the Negro. + F.A. Davis Co., Philadelphia, 1916.</p> + + <p>Russell, John H.: The Free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865. + Johns Hopkins Studies, Series XXXI, No. 3. Baltimore, 1913.</p> + + <p>Sandburg, Carl: The Chicago Race Riots, July, 1919. + Harcourt, Brace & Howe, New York, 1919.</p> + + <p>Schurz, Carl: Speeches, Correspondence, and Political + Papers, selected and edited by Frederic Bancroft. 6 vols. G.P. + Putnam's Sons, New York and London, 1913.</p> + + <p>Scott, Emmett J.: Negro Migration during the War (in + Preliminary Economic Studies of the War—Carnegie Endowment for + International Peace: Division of Economics and History). Oxford + University Press, American Branch. New York, 1920.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + Official History of the American Negro in the World War. + Washington, 1919.</p> + + + <p>Seligman, Herbert J.: The Negro Faces America. Harper Bros., + New York, 1920.</p> + + <p>Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate: The Neighbor: the Natural + History of Human Contacts. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, + 1904.</p> + + <p>Siebert, Wilbur H.: The Underground Railroad from Slavery to + Freedom. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1898.</p> + + <p>Sinclair, William A.: The Aftermath of Slavery. Small, + Maynard & Co., Boston, 1905.</p> + + <p>Smith, Justin H.: The War with Mexico. 2 vols. The Macmillan + Co., New York, 1919.</p> + + <p>Smith, Theodore Clarke: Parties and Slavery. Vol. 18 of + American Nation Series.</p> + + <p>Smith, T.W.: The Slave in Canada. Vol. 10 in Collections of + the Nova Scotia Historical Society. Halifax, N.S., 1889.</p> + + <p>Stephenson, Gilbert Thomas: Race Distinctions in American + Law. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1910.</p> + + <p>Steward, T.G.: The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804. Thomas Y. + Crowell Co., New York, 1914.</p> + + <p>Stoddard, Lothrop: The Rising Tide of Color against White + World-Supremacy, with an Introduction by Madison Grant. Charles + Scribner's Sons. New York, 1920.</p> + + <p>Stone, Alfred H.: Studies in the American Race Problem. + Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1908.</p> + + <p>Storey, Moorfield: The Negro Question. An Address delivered + before the Wisconsin Bar Association. Boston, 1918. Problems of + To-Day. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1920.</p> + + <p>Thompson, Holland: The New South. Vol. 42 in Chronicles of + America.</p> + + <p>Tillinghast, Joseph Alexander: The Negro in Africa and + America. Publications of American Economics Association, Series + 3 Vol 3, No. 2. New York, 1902.</p> + + <p>Toombs, Robert: Speech on The Crisis, delivered before the + Georgia Legislature, Dec. 7, 1860. Washington, 1860.</p> + + <p>Tucker, St. George: A Dissertation on Slavery, with a + Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of + Virginia. Philadelphia, 1796.</p> + + <p>Turner, Frederick Jackson: The Rise of the New West. Vol. 14 + in American Nation Series.</p> + + <p>Turner, Edward Raymond: The Negro in Pennsylvania, 1639-1861 + (Justin Winsor Prize of American Historical Association, 1910). + Washington, 1911.</p> + + <p>Washington, Booker T.: The Future of the American Negro. + Small, Maynard & Co., Boston, 1899.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + The Story of My Life and Work. Nichols & Co., + Naperville, Ill., 1900.<br/> +    Up from Slavery: An Autobiography. Doubleday, Page & + Co., New York, 1901.<br/> +    Character Building. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, + 1902.<br/> +    Working with the Hands. Doubleday, Page & Co., New + York, 1904.<br/> +    Putting the Most into Life. Crowell & Co., New York, + 1906.<br/> +    Frederick Douglass (in American Crisis Biographies). + George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1906.<br/> +    The Negro in the South (with W.E.B. DuBois). George W. + Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907.<br/> +    The Negro in Business. Hertel, Jenkins & Co., + Chicago, 1907.<br/> +    The Story of the Negro. 2 vols. Doubleday, Page & + Co., New York, 1909.<br/> +    My Larger Education. Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden + City, N.Y., 1911.<br/> +    The Man Farthest Down (with Robert Emory Park). + Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1912.</p> + + + <p>Weale, B.L. Putnam: The Conflict of Color. The Macmillan + Co., New York, 1910.</p> + + <p>Weatherford, W.D.: Present Forces in Negro Progress. + Association Press, New York, 1912.</p> + + <p>Weld, Theodore Dwight: American Slavery as It Is: Testimony + of a Thousand Witnesses. Published by the American Anti-Slavery + Society, New York, 1839.</p> + + <p>Wiener, Leo: Africa and the Discovery of America, Vol. I. + Innes & Sons, Philadelphia, 1920.</p> + + <p>Williams, George Washington: History of the Negro Race in + America from 1619 to 1880. 2 vols. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New + York, 1883.</p> + + <p>Wise, John S.: The End of an Era. Houghton, Mifflin Co., + 1899. Woodson, Carter G.: The Education of the Negro Prior to + 1861. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1915.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + A Century of Negro Migration. Association for the Study of + Negro Life and History, Washington, 1918.</p> + + + <p>Woolf, Leonard: Empire and Commerce in Africa: A Study in + Economic Imperialism. London, 1920. The Macmillan Co., New + York.</p> + + <p>Wright, Richard R.: Negro Companions of the Spanish + Explorers. (Reprinted from the <i>American Anthropologist</i>, + Vol. 4, April-June, 1902.)</p> + + <p>Wright, Richard R., Jr.: The Negro in Pennsylvania: A Study + in Economic History. (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania.) A.M.E. Book + Concern, Philadelphia.</p> + + <p>Wright, T.S. See Cornish, Samuel E.</p> + + <p>Zabriskie, Luther K.: The Virgin Islands of the United + States of America. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1918.</p> + <hr /> + + <p>An Address to the People of the United States, adopted at a + Conference of Colored Citizens, held at Columbia, S.C., July 20 + and 21, 1876. Republican Printing Co., Columbia, S.C., + 1876.</p> + + <p>Paper (letter published in a Washington paper) submitted in + connection with the Debate in the United States House of + Representatives, July 15th and 18th, 1776, on the Massacre of + Six Colored Citizens at Hamburg, S.C., July 4, 1876.</p> + + <p>Proceedings of the National Conference of Colored Men of the + United States, held in the State Capitol at Nashville, Tenn., + May 6, 7, 8, and 9, 1879. Washington, D.C., 1879.</p> + + <p>Story of the Riot. Persecution of Negroes by roughs and + policemen in the City of New York, August, 1900. Statement and + Proofs written and compiled by Frank Moss and issued by the + Citizens' Protective League. New York, 1900.</p> + + <p>The Voice of the Carpet Bagger. Reconstruction Review No. 1, + published by the Anti-Lynching Bureau. Chicago, 1901.</p> + + <h4>III. Special Lists</h4> + + <p>I. On Chapter II, Section 3; Chapter III, Section 5; Chapter + VIII and Chapter XI, the general topic being the social + progress of the Negro before 1860. Titles are mainly in the + order of appearance of works.</p> + + <p>Mather, Cotton: Rules for the Society of Negroes, 1693. + Reprinted by George H. Moore, Lenox Library, New York, + 1888.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + The Negro Christianized. An Essay to excite and assist that + good work, the instruction of Negro-servants in + Christianity. Boston, 1706.</p> + + <p>Allen, Richard. The Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of + the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen, written by himself. Philadelphia, + 1793.</p> + + <p>Hall, Prince. A Charge delivered to the African Lodge, June + 24, 1797, at Menotomy, by the Right Worshipful Prince Hall. + (Boston) 1797.</p> + + <p>To the Free Africans and Other Free People of Color in the + United States. (Broadside) Philadelphia, 1797.</p> + + <p>Walker, David: Appeal, in four articles, together with a + Preamble to the Colored Citizens of the World. Boston, + 1829.</p> + + <p>Garrison, William Lloyd: An Address delivered before the + Free People of Color in Philadelphia, New York, and other + cities, during the month of June, 1831. Boston, 1831.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + Thoughts on African Colonization (see list above).</p> + + + <p>Minutes and Proceedings of the First Annual Convention of + the People of Color, held by adjournments in the City of + Philadelphia, from the sixth to the eleventh of June, + inclusive, 1831. Philadelphia, 1831.</p> + + <p>College for Colored Youth. An Account of the New Haven City + Meeting and Resolutions with Recommendations of the College, + and Strictures upon the Doings of New Haven. New York, + 1831.</p> + + <p>On the Condition of the Free People of Color in the United + States. New York, 1839. (<i>The Anti-Slavery Examiner</i>, No. + 13.)</p> + + <p>Condition of the People of Color in the State of Ohio, with + interesting anecdotes. Boston, 1839.</p> + + <p>Armistead, Wilson: Memoir of Paul Cuffe. London, 1840.</p> + + <p>Wilson, Joseph: Sketches of the Higher Classes of Colored + Society in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1841.</p> + + <p>National Convention of Colored Men and Their Friends. Troy, + N.Y., 1847.</p> + + <p>Garnet, Henry Highland: The Past and Present Condition and + the Destiny of the Colored Race. Troy, 1848.</p> + + <p>Delany, Martin R.: The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and + Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically + Considered. Philadelphia, 1852.</p> + + <p>Cincinnati Convention of Colored Freedmen of Ohio. + Proceedings, Jan. 14-19, 1852. Cincinnati, 1852.</p> + + <p>Proceedings of the Colored National Convention, held in + Rochester, July 6, 7, and 8, 1853. Rochester, 1853.</p> + + <p>Cleveland National Emigration Convention of Colored People. + Proceedings, Aug. 22-24, 1854. Pittsburg, 1854.</p> + + <p>Nell, William C.: The Colored Patriots of the American + Revolution, with sketches of several Distinguished Colored + Persons: to which is added a brief survey of the Condition and + Prospects of Colored Americans, with an Introduction by Harriet + Beecher Stowe. Boston, 1855.</p> + + <p>Stevens, Charles E.: Anthony Burns, a History. Boston, + 1856.</p> + + <p>Catto, William T.: A Semi-Centenary Discourse, delivered in + the First African Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, with a + History of the church from its first organization, including a + brief notice of Rev. John Gloucester, its first pastor. + Philadelphia, 1857.</p> + + <p>Bacon, Benjamin C.: Statistics of the Colored People of + Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1856. Second edition, with + statistics of crime, Philadelphia, 1857.</p> + + <p>Condition of the Free Colored People of the United States, + by James Freeman Clarke, in <i>Christian Examiner</i>, March, + 1859, 246-265. Reprinted as pamphlet by American Anti-Slavery + Society, New York, 1859.</p> + + <p>Brown, William Wells: Clotel, or The President's Daughter (a + narrative of slave life in the United States). London, + 1853.</p> + + <p class="letter"> + The Escape; or A Leap for Freedom, a Drama in five acts. + Boston, 1858.<br/> +    The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His + Achievements. New York, 1863.<br/> +    The Rising Son; or The Antecedents and Advancement of + the Colored Race. Boston, 1874.</p> + + + <p>To Thomas J. Gantt, Esq. (Broadside), Charleston, 1861.</p> + + <p>Douglass, William: Annals of St. Thomas's First African + Church. Philadelphia, 1862.</p> + + <p>Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men, held + in the city of Syracuse, N.Y., October 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1864, + with the Bill of Wrongs and Rights and the Address to the + American People. Boston, 1864.</p> + + <p>The Budget, containing the Annual Reports of the General + Officers of the African M.E. Church of the United States of + America, edited by Benjamin W. Arnett. Xenia, O., 1881. Same + for later years.</p> + + <p>Simms, James M.: The First Colored Baptist Church in North + America. Printed by J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, + 1888.</p> + + <p>Upton, William H.: Negro Masonry, being a Critical + Examination of objections to the legitimacy of the Masonry + existing among the Negroes of America. Cambridge, 1899; second + edition, 1902.</p> + + <p>Brooks, Charles H.: The Official History and Manual of the + Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America. Philadelphia, + 1902.</p> + + <p>Cromwell, John W.: The Early Convention Movement. Occasional + Paper No. 9 of American Negro Academy, Washington, D.C., + 1904.</p> + + <p>Brooks, Walter H.: The Silver Bluff Church, Washington, + 1910.</p> + + <p>Crawford, George W.: Prince Hall and His Followers. New + Haven, 1915.</p> + + <p>Wright, Richard R., Jr. (Editor-in-Chief): Centennial + Encyclopædia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A.M.E. + Book Concern, Philadelphia, 1916.</p> + + <p>Also note narratives or autobiographies of Frederick + Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Samuel Ringgold Ward, Solomon + Northrup, Lunsford Lane, etc.; the poems of Phillis Wheatley + (first edition, London, 1773), and George M. Horton; Williams's + History for study of some more prominent characters; Woodson's + bibliography for the special subject of education; and + periodical literature, especially the articles remarked in + Chapter XI in connection with the free people of color in + Louisiana.</p> + + <p>2. On Chapter V (Indian and Negro)</p> + + <p>A standard work on the Second Seminole War is The Origin, + Progress, and Conclusion of the Florida War, by John T. + Sprague, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1848; but also + important as touching upon the topics of the chapter are The + Exiles of Florida, by Joshua R. Giddings, Columbus, Ohio, 1858, + and a speech by Giddings in the House of Representatives + February 9, 1841. Note also House Document No. 128 of the 1st + session of the 20th Congress, and Document 327 of the 2nd + session of the 25th Congress. The Aboriginal Races of North + America, by Samuel G. Drake, fifteenth edition, New York, 1880, + is interesting and suggestive though formless; and McMaster in + different chapters gives careful brief accounts of the general + course of the Indian wars.</p> + + <p>3. On Chapter VII (Insurrections)</p> + + <p>(For insurrections before that of Denmark Vesey note + especially Coffin, Holland, and Horsemanden above. On Gabriel's + Insurrection see article by Higginson (<i>Atlantic</i>, X. + 337), afterwards included in Travellers and Outlaws.)</p> + + <p>Denmark Vesey</p> + + <p>1. An Official Report of the Trials of Sundry Negroes, + charged with an attempt to raise an Insurrection in the State + of South Carolina. By Lionel H. Kennedy and Thomas Parker + (members of the Charleston Bar and the Presiding Magistrates of + the Court). Charleston, 1822.</p> + + <p>2. An Account of the Late Intended Insurrection among a + Portion of the Black of this City. Published by the Authority + of the Corporation of Charleston. Charleston, 1822 (reprinted + Boston, 1822, and again in Boston and Charleston).</p> + + <p>The above accounts, now exceedingly rare, are the real + sources of all later study of Vesey's insurrection. The two + accounts are sometimes identical; thus the list of those + executed or banished is the same. The first has a good + introduction. The second was written by James Hamilton, + Intendant of Charleston.</p> + + <p>3. Letter of Governor William Bennett, dated August 10, + 1822. (This was evidently a circular letter to the press. + References are to Lundy's <i>Genius of Universal + Emancipation</i>, II, 42, Ninth month, 1822, and there are + reviews in the following issues, pages 81, 131, and 142. + Higginson notes letter as also in <i>Columbian Sentinel</i>, + August 31, 1822; <i>Connecticut Courant</i>, September 3, 1822; + and <i>Worcester Spy</i>, September 18, 1822.)</p> + + <p>Three secondary accounts in later years are important:</p> + + <p>1. Article on Denmark Vesey by Higginson (<i>Atlantic</i>, + VII. 728) included in Travellers and Outlaws: Episodes in + American History. Lee and Shepard, Boston, 1889.</p> + + <p>2. Right on the Scaffold, or the Martyrs of 1822, by + Archibald H. Grimké. No. 7 of the Papers of the American + Negro Academy, Washington.</p> + + <p>3. Book I, Chapter XII, "Denmark Vesey's Insurrection," in + Robert Y. Hayne and His Times, by Theodore D. Jervey, The + Macmillan Co., New York, 1909.</p> + + <p>Various pamphlets were written immediately after the + insurrection not so much to give detailed accounts as to + discuss the general problem of the Negro and the reaction of + the white citizens of Charleston to the event. Of these we may + note the following:</p> + + <p>1. Holland, Edwin C.: A Refutation of the Calumnies + Circulated against the Southern and Western States. (See main + list above.)</p> + + <p>2. Achates (General Thomas Pinckney): Reflections Occasioned + by the Late Disturbances in Charleston. Charleston, 1822.</p> + + <p>3. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the Views of the + Baptists Relative to the Colored Population in the United + States. (See main list above.)</p> + + <p>4. Practical Considerations Founded on the Scriptures + Relative to the Slave Population of South Carolina. By a South + Carolinian. Charleston, 1823.</p> + + <p>Nat Turner</p> + + <p>1. The Confessions of Nat Turner, Leader of the Late + Insurrection in Southampton, Va., as fully and voluntarily made + to Thos. C. Gray, in the prison where he was confined—and + acknowledged by him to be such, when read before the court at + Southampton, convened at Jerusalem November 5, 1831, for his + trial. (This is the main source. Thousands of copies of the + pamphlet are said to have been circulated, but it is now + exceedingly rare. Neither the Congressional Library nor the + Boston Public has a copy, and Cromwell notes that there is not + even one in the State Library in Richmond. The copy used by the + author is in the library of Harvard University.)</p> + + <p>2. Horrid Massacre. Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the + Tragical Scene which was witnessed in Southampton County + (Virginia) on Monday the 22nd of August last. New York, 1831. + (This gives a table of victims and has the advantage of + nearness to the event. This very nearness, however, has given + credence to much hearsay and accounted for several instances of + inaccuracy.)</p> + + <p>To the above may be added the periodicals of the day, such + as the Richmond <i>Enquirer</i> and the <i>Liberator</i>; note + <i>Genius of Universal Emancipation</i>, September, 1831. + Secondary accounts or studies would include the following:</p> + + <p>1. Nat Turner's Insurrection, exhaustive article by + Higginson (<i>Atlantic</i>, VIII. 173) later included in + Travellers and Outlaws.</p> + + <p>2. Drewry, William Sidney: Slave Insurrections in Virginia + (1830-1865). A Dissertation presented to the Board of + University Studies of the Johns Hopkins University for the + Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The Neale Company, Washington, + 1900. (Unfortunately marred by a partisan tone.)</p> + + <p>3. The Aftermath of Nat Turner's Insurrection, by John W. + Cromwell, in <i>Journal of Negro History</i>, April, 1920.</p> + + <p><i>Amistad and Creole</i> Cases</p> + + <p>1. Argument of John Quincy Adams before the Supreme Court of + the United States, in the case of the United States, Apellants, + vs. Cinque, and others, Africans, captured in the Schooner + <i>Amistad</i>, by Lieut. Gedney, delivered on the 24th of + February and 1st of March, 1841. New York, 1841.</p> + + <p>2. Africans Taken in the <i>Amistad</i>. Document No. 185 of + the 1st session of the 26th Congress, containing the + correspondence in relation to the captured Africans. (Reprinted + by Anti-Slavery Depository, New York, 1840.)</p> + + <p>3. Senate Document 51 of the 2nd session of the 27th + Congress.</p> + + <p>4. On Chapter IX (Liberia)</p> + + <p>Much has been written about Liberia, but the books and + pamphlets have been very uneven in quality. Original sources + include the reports of the American Colonization Society to + 1825; <i>The African Repository</i>, a compendium issued + sometimes monthly, sometimes quarterly, by the American + Colonization Society from 1825 to 1892, and succeeded by the + periodical known as <i>Liberia</i>; the reports of the + different state organizations; J. Ashmun's History of the + American Colony in Liberia from December, 1821 to 1823, + compiled from the authentic records of the colony, Washington, + 1826; Ralph Randolph Gurley's Life of Jehudi Ashmun, + Washington, 1835, second edition, New York, 1839; Gurley's + report on Liberia (a United States state paper), Washington, + 1850; and the Memorial of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of + the American Colonization Society, celebrated at Washington, + January 15, 1867, with documents concerning Liberia, + Washington, 1867; to all of which might be added Journal of + Daniel Coker, a descendant of Africa, from the time of leaving + New York, in the ship <i>Elisabeth</i>, Capt. Sebor, on a + voyage for Sherbro, in Africa, Baltimore, 1820. J.H.B. Latrobe, + a president of the American Colonization Society, is prominent + in the Memorial volume of 1867, and after this date are + credited to him Liberia: its Origin, Rise, Progress, and + Results, an address delivered before the American Colonization + Society, January 20, 1880, Washington, 1880, and Maryland in + Liberia, Baltimore, 1885. An early and interesting compilation + is G.S. Stockwell's The Republic of Liberia: Its Geography, + Climate, Soil, and Productions, with a history of its early + settlement, New York, 1868; a good handbook is Frederick + Starr's Liberia, Chicago, 1913; mention might also be made of + T. McCants Stewart's Liberia, New York, 1886; and George W. + Ellis's Negro Culture in West Africa, Neale Publishing Co., New + York, 1914, is outstanding in its special field. Two Johns + Hopkins theses have been written: John H.T. McPherson's History + of Liberia (Studies, IX, No. 10), 1891, and E.L. Fox's The + American Colonization Society 1817-1840 (Studies, XXXVII, + 9-226), 1919; the first of these is brief and clearcut and + especially valuable for its study of the Maryland colony. + Magazine articles of unusual importance are George W. Ellis's + Dynamic Factors in the Liberian Situation and Emmett J. Scott's + Is Liberia Worth Saving? both in <i>Journal of Race + Development</i>, January, 1911. Of English or continental works + outstanding is the monumental but not altogether unimpeachable + Liberia, by Sir Harry H. Johnston, with an appendix on the + Flora of Liberia by Dr. Otto Stapf, 2 vols., Hutchinson & + Co., London, 1906; while with a strong English bias and + incomplete and unsatisfactory as a general treatise is R.C.F. + Maughan's The Republic of Liberia, London (1920?), Charles + Scribner's Sons, New York. Mention must also be made of the + following publications by residents of Liberia: The Negro + Republic on West Africa, by Abayomi Wilfrid Karnga, Monrovia, + 1909; New National Fourth Reader, edited by Julius C. Stevens, + Monrovia, 1903; Liberia and Her Educational Problems, by Walter + F. Walker, an address delivered before the Chicago Historical + Society, October 23, 1916; and Catalogue of Liberia College for + 1916, and Historical Register, printed at the Riverdale Press, + Brookline, Mass., 1919; while Edward Wilmot Blyden's + Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race is representative of + the best of the more philosophical dissertations.</p> + + <p>Abbeville, S.C.<br /> + Aberdeen, Lord<br /> + Abolition, Abolitionists<br /> + Abraham, Negro interpreter<br /> + Abyssinia<br /> + Adams, Doc<br /> + Adams, Henry<br /> + Adams, John<br /> + Adams, John Quincy<br /> + Africa<br /> + African Methodist Episcopal Church, and schools<br /> + African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and schools<br /> + <i>Age, The New York</i><br /> + Aguinaldo<br /> + Akron, Ohio<br /> + Alabama<br /> + Aldridge, Ira<br /> + Allen, Richard<br /> + Alton, Ill.<br /> + Ambrister, Robert<br /> + Amendments to Constitution of United States<br /> + American Anti-Slavery Society<br /> + American Baptist Home Mission Society<br /> + American Baptist Publication Society<br /> + American Bar Association<br /> + American Colonization Society<br /> + American Convention of Abolition Societies<br /> + American Federation of Labor<br /> + American Giants<br /> + American Missionary Association<br /> + Amistad Case<br /> + Anderson, Benjamin<br /> + Andrew, John O.<br /> + Andrew, William<br /> + Anthony, Susan B.<br /> + Anti-Slavery societies<br /> + <i>Appeal</i>, David Walker's<br /> + Arbuthnot, Alexander<br /> + Arkansas<br /> + Arkwright, Richard<br /> + Armstrong, Samuel C.<br /> + Asbury, Bishop<br /> + Ashley, Lord<br /> + Ashmun, Jehudi<br /> + Assiento Contract<br /> + Atlanta, Ga.<br /> + Atlanta Compromise<br /> + Atlanta Massacre<br /> + Atlanta University<br /> + Attaway, A.T.<br /> + Attucks, Crispus<br /> + Augusta, Ga.<br /> + Ayres, Eli</p> + + <p>Bacon, Ephraim<br /> + Bacon, John F.<br /> + Bacon, Samuel<br /> + Baker, F.B.<br /> + Balboa<br /> + Baltimore<br /> + Banbaras<br /> + Bankson, John<br /> + Banneker, Benjamin<br /> + Baptists, churches and schools<br /> + Baptist Young People s Union<br /> + Barbadoes<br /> + Barbour, Capt.<br /> + Barbour, Dan<br /> + Barclay, Arthur<br /> + Barlow, Joel<br /> + Bassa Trading Association<br /> + Bassa tribe<br /> + Bassett, Ebenezer<br /> + Batson, Flora<br /> + Baxter, Richard<br /> + Beecher, Henry Ward<br /> + Behn, Aphra<br /> + Belleau Wood<br /> + Benedict College<br /> + Benefit societies<br /> + Benezet, Anthony<br /> + Bennett, Batteau<br /> + Bennett, Gov., of South Carolina<br /> + Bennett, Ned<br /> + Bennett, Rolla<br /> + Benson, Stephen Allen<br /> + Berea College<br /> + Bethel Church, A.M.E., of Philadelphia<br /> + Birmingham, Ala.<br /> + Birney, James G.<br /> + "Birth of a Nation"<br /> + Bishop College<br /> + Black Codes<br /> + Black Star Line<br /> + Blacksmith, Ben<br /> + Blackwood, Jesse<br /> + Blair, Henry<br /> + Blanco, Pedro<br /> + Bleckley, L.E.<br /> + Blunt, John<br /> + Blyden, Edward Wilmot<br /> + Boatswain, African chief<br /> + Bogalusa, La.<br /> + Boston, Mass.<br /> + Boston Massacre<br /> + Boston, Samuel<br /> + Bouey, H.N.<br /> + Bourne, E.G.<br /> + Bowers, John<br /> + Bowler, Jack<br /> + Boyd, Henry<br /> + Brooks, Preston S.<br /> + Brooks County, Ga.<br /> + Brough, Charles H.<br /> + Brown, Bishop, of Arkansas<br /> + Brown, John<br /> + Brown, William<br /> + Brown, William Wells<br /> + Browning, Elizabeth Barrett<br /> + Brownsville, Texas<br /> + Bruce, Blanche K.<br /> + Bryan, Andrew<br /> + Bryce, James<br /> + Buchanan, Thomas H.<br /> + Bull, Gov., of South Carolina<br /> + Bullock, M.W.<br /> + Burgess, Ebenezer<br /> + Burleigh, Harry T.<br /> + Burning of Negroes<br /> + Burns, Anthony<br /> + Burnside, Gen.<br /> + Burton, Belfast<br /> + Burton, Mary<br /> + Business, Negro<br /> + Butler, B.F., District Attorney in New York<br /> + Butler, B.F., Gen.<br /> + Butler, M.C.<br /> + Butler, Sol<br /> + Buttrick, Wallace<br /> + Buzi tribe<br /> + Byron, Lord</p> + + <p>Cable, George W.<br /> + Cadell, Major<br /> + Cæsar, in New York<br /> + Calderon, Spanish minister<br /> + Caldwell, Elias B.<br /> + Calhoun, John C.<br /> + Calvert, George, Lord Baltimore<br /> + Camp Dodge<br /> + Camp Grant<br /> + Camphor, A.P.<br /> + Canaan, N.H., school at<br /> + Canada<br /> + Canning, George<br /> + Cape Palmas<br /> + Cardozo, F.L.<br /> + Carmantee tribe<br /> + Carney, William H.<br /> + Carranza, Andrés Dorantes de<br /> + Carrizal<br /> + Cartledge, Lewis<br /> + Cary, Lott<br /> + Cass, Lewis<br /> + Cassell, Nathaniel H.B.<br /> + Catholics<br /> + Cato, insurrectionist<br /> + Cato, Will<br /> + Chain-gang<br /> + <i>Challenge Magazine</i><br /> + Chamberlain, Gov., of South Carolina<br /> + Champion, James<br /> + Channing, William Ellery<br /> + Charles V<br /> + Charles, Robert<br /> + Charleston, S.C.<br /> + Château Thierry<br /> + Chavis, John<br /> + Cheeseman, Joseph James<br /> + Cherokees<br /> + Chesnutt, Charles W.<br /> + Chester, Penn.<br /> + Chicago riot<br /> + Chickasaws<br /> + Child, Lydia Maria<br /> + China<br /> + Choctaws,<br /> + Christianity<br /> + <i>Christian Recorder</i><br /> + Chuma<br /> + Cincinnati<br /> + Cinque, Joseph<br /> + Civil Rights<br /> + Civil War<br /> + Claflin University<br /> + <i>Clansman, The</i><br /> + Clark, Andrew<br /> + Clark, Major<br /> + Clark University<br /> + Clarkson, Matthew<br /> + Clarkson, Quamoney<br /> + Clarkson, Thomas<br /> + Clay, Henry<br /> + Cleveland, Grover<br /> + Cleveland, Ohio<br /> + Clinch, Duncan L.<br /> + Clinton, Sir Henry<br /> + Coatesville, Penn.<br /> + Cockburn, Sir Francis<br /> + Coker, Daniel<br /> + Cole and Johnson Company<br /> + Cole, James<br /> + Coleman, William D.<br /> + Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel<br /> + College graduates<br /> + College of West Africa<br /> + Colonization<br /> + Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, and schools<br /> + Compromise of 1850<br /> + Congregationalists<br /> + Connecticut<br /> + Constitution of the United States<br /> + Continental Congress<br /> + Conventions<br /> + Convict Lease system. <i>See</i> Peonage.<br /> + Cook, James<br /> + Cook, O.F.<br /> + Coot, insurrectionist<br /> + Cope, Thomas P.<br /> + Cordovell, of New Orleans<br /> + Corey, C.H.<br /> + "Corkscrew" lynching<br /> + Cornish, Samuel E.<br /> + Cotton-gin<br /> + Cowagee, John<br /> + Cowley, Robert<br /> + Cowper, William<br /> + Cox, Minnie<br /> + Coybet, Gen.<br /> + Cranchell, Cæsar<br /> + Crandall, Prudence<br /> + Cravath, E.M.<br /> + Crawford, Anthony<br /> + Crawford, William<br /> + Creeks<br /> + Creole Case<br /> + Criminal, Negro<br /> + <i>Crisis, The</i><br /> + Crompton, Samuel<br /> + Cross Keys, Va.<br /> + Crozer, Samuel A.<br /> + Crucifixion<br /> + Crum, William D.<br /> + Crummell, Alexander<br /> + Cuba<br /> + Cuffe, Paul<br /> + Cuffe, Peter<br /> + Cuffee, in New York<br /> + Curry, J.L.M.<br /> + Curtis, Justice<br /> + Cutler, Manasseh</p> + + <p>Dade, Major<br /> + Darien, Ga.<br /> + <i>Darkwater</i><br /> + Davis, Benjamin O.<br /> + Declaration of Independence<br /> + Declaration of Independence (Liberian)<br /> + <i>Defender, The</i><br /> + De Grasse, John V.<br /> + Delany, Martin R.<br /> + Delaware<br /> + Democrats<br /> + Denmark<br /> + Dennison, Franklin A.<br /> + Derham, James<br /> + Dew, T.R.<br /> + Deys, in Africa<br /> + Dickens, Charles<br /> + Dillard, James H.<br /> + Disfranchisement<br /> + Dismond, Binga<br /> + District of Columbia<br /> + Dixie Kid<br /> + Dixon, George<br /> + Dixon, Thomas<br /> + Dorsey, Hugh M.<br /> + Dossen, J.J.<br /> + Douglas, Stephen A.<br /> + Douglass, Frederick<br /> + Douglass, Robert<br /> + Dow, Lorenzo<br /> + Dowdy, Jim<br /> + Draft Riot in New York<br /> + Drake, Francis<br /> + Drayton, Congressman from South Carolina<br /> + Dred Scott Decision<br /> + Drew, Howard P.<br /> + "Dreyfus," poem by Edwin Markham<br /> + DuBois, W.E. Burghardt<br /> + Dugro, Justice P.H.<br /> + Dunbar, Charles B.<br /> + Dunbar, Paul L.<br /> + Dunbar Theater, in Philadelphia<br /> + Duncan, Otis B.<br /> + Duncan, William<br /> + Dunmore, Lord<br /> + Dunning, W.A.<br /> + Durham, Clayton<br /> + Duties on importation of slaves<br /> + Duval, William P.<br /> + Dwight, Gen.<br /> + Dyersburg, Tenn.</p> + + <p>Early County, Ga.<br /> + East St. Louis<br /> + Eaton, John, Comm. of Education<br /> + Eaton, John H., Secretary of War<br /> + Econchattimico<br /> + Education<br /> + Egypt<br /> + Elaine, Ark.<br /> + El Caney<br /> + Eliot, John<br /> + Elizabeth, Queen<br /> + Elliott, Robert B.<br /> + Emancipation<br /> + Emathla, Charley<br /> + Emathlochee<br /> + Emerson, Dr.<br /> + <i>Empire and Commerce in Africa</i><br /> + England (or Great Britain)<br /> + Episcopalians<br /> + Erie Railroad<br /> + Estevanico<br /> + Estill Springs, Tenn.<br /> + Etheridge, at Phoenix, S.C.<br /> + Ethiopians<br /> + Evans, Lewis<br /> + Everett, Alexander H.<br /> + Everett, Edward<br /> + Exodus, Negro. <i>See also</i> Migration.</p> + + <p>Faber, F.W.<br /> + Factories, slave<br /> + Falkner, Roland P.<br /> + Federalists<br /> + Ferguson, Frank<br /> + Ferguson, Samuel D.<br /> + Fernandina, Fla.<br /> + Finley, I.F.C.<br /> + Finley, Robert<br /> + First African Baptist Church, in Savannah<br /> + First Bryan Baptist Church, in Savannah<br /> + Fish War<br /> + Fisk Jubilee Singers<br /> + Fisk University<br /> + Fleet, Dr.<br /> + Fleming, W.L.<br /> + Florida<br /> + F.M.C.'s<br /> + Foraker, J.B.<br /> + Forrester, Lot<br /> + Forsyth, John<br /> + Fort Brooke<br /> + Fort Gibson, Ark.<br /> + Fort Jackson, treaty of<br /> + Fort King<br /> + Fort Mims<br /> + Fort Moultrie (near St. Augustine), treaty of<br /> + Fort Moultrie (near Charleston)<br /> + Fort Pillow<br /> + Fort Sam Houston<br /> + Fort Wagner<br /> + Forten, James<br /> + Fortress Monroe<br /> + Foster, Theodore<br /> + Fowltown<br /> + France<br /> + Francis, Sam<br /> + Francis, Will<br /> + Franklin, Benjamin<br /> + Free African Society<br /> + Freedmen's Aid Society<br /> + Freedmen's Bank<br /> + Freedmen's Bureau<br /> + <i>Freedom's Journal</i><br /> + Freeman, Cato<br /> + Free Negroes<br /> + Free-Soil Party<br /> + Fremont, John C.<br /> + Friends, Society of. <i>See</i> Quakers.<br /> + Frissell, Hollis B.<br /> + Fugitive Slave Laws<br /> + Fuller, Meta Warrick<br /> + Furman, Richard</p> + + <p>Gabriel, insurrectionist<br /> + Gadsden, James<br /> + Gage, Frances D.<br /> + Gailliard, Nicholas<br /> + Gaines, Gen.<br /> + Galilean Fishermen<br /> + Galveston<br /> + Gans, Joe<br /> + Gardiner, Anthony W.<br /> + Garlington, E.A.<br /> + Garnett, H.H.<br /> + Garrison, William Lloyd<br /> + Garvey, Marcus<br /> + Gatumba, Chief<br /> + Geaween, John<br /> + Gell, Monday<br /> + General Education Board<br /> + Georgia<br /> + <i>Georgia Baptist</i><br /> + Georgia Railroad labor trouble<br /> + Georgia, University of<br /> + Germans, Germany<br /> + Germantown protest<br /> + Gibbes, Gov., of South Carolina<br /> + Gibson, Garretson W.<br /> + Giddings, Joshua R.<br /> + Gildersleeve, Basil L.<br /> + Giles, Harriet E.<br /> + Giles, Jackson W.<br /> + Gilmer, Congressman, of Georgia<br /> + Gleaves, R.H.<br /> + Gloucester, John<br /> + Gola tribe<br /> + Gold Coast<br /> + Gonzales<br /> + Goodspeed, Dr., of Benedict College<br /> + Gorden, Robert<br /> + Gordon, Midshipman<br /> + Gourdin, E.<br /> + Gradual Emancipation<br /> + Grady, Henry W.<br /> + Graeff, Abraham Op den<br /> + Graeff, Dirck Op den<br /> + Grand Bassa<br /> + "Grandfather Clause,"<br /> + Grant, U.S.<br /> + Graves, Samuel<br /> + Gray, Thomas C.<br /> + Gray, William<br /> + Great War<br /> + Grebo tribe<br /> + Greeley, Horace<br /> + Greene, Col.<br /> + Greenfield, Elizabeth Taylor<br /> + Greenleaf, Prof.<br /> + Greenville, in Liberia<br /> + Grice, Hezekiah<br /> + Groves, Junius C.<br /> + Grundy, Felix<br /> + <i>Guardian, The</i><br /> + Guerra, Christóbal de la<br /> + Guerra, LuÃs de la<br /> + Guinea Coast<br /> + Gullah Jack<br /> + Gurley, R.R.</p> + + <p>Hadjo, Micco<br /> + Hajo, Tuski<br /> + Hall, James<br /> + Hall, Prince<br /> + Hallowell, Edward N.<br /> + Hallowell, N.P.<br /> + Hamburg Massacre<br /> + Hampton Institute<br /> + Hampton, Wade<br /> + Harden, Henry<br /> + Hargreaves, James<br /> + Harper, in Liberia<br /> + Harper, F.E.W.<br /> + Harper's Ferry<br /> + Harris, Arthur<br /> + Harris, John M.<br /> + Harris, William T.<br /> + Harrison, Benjamin<br /> + Harrison, William Henry<br /> + Harrison St. Baptist Church, of Petersburg, Va.<br /> + Harry, Negro in Seminole Wars<br /> + Hart, A.B.<br /> + Hartford, Conn.<br /> + Harth, Mingo<br /> + Hartshorn Memorial College<br /> + Harvard University<br /> + Haussas<br /> + Havana<br /> + Havelock, A.E.<br /> + Hawkins, John<br /> + Hawkins, William<br /> + Hayes, R.B.<br /> + Haygood, Atticus G.<br /> + Hayne, Robert Y.<br /> + Haynes, George E.<br /> + Haynes, Lemuel<br /> + Hayti<br /> + Heber, Reginald<br /> + Helper, Hinton Rowan<br /> + Hendericks, Garret<br /> + Henry, Prince, of Portugal<br /> + Henry, Patrick<br /> + Hewell, John R.<br /> + Hicks, John<br /> + Higginson, Thomas Wentworth<br /> + Hill, Arnold<br /> + Hill, Stephen<br /> + Hoar, Samuel<br /> + Hodge, F.W.<br /> + Hoffman, Frederick L.<br /> + Hogg, Robert, and Mrs. Hogg<br /> + Holbert, Luther<br /> + Holland<br /> + Holland, Edwin C.<br /> + Holly, James Theodore<br /> + Homer<br /> + Hopkins, Samuel<br /> + Horsemanden, Judge<br /> + Horseshoe Bend<br /> + Horton, George M.<br /> + Hose, Sam<br /> + Houston, Texas<br /> + Howard, Daniel Edward<br /> + Howard, O.O.<br /> + Howard University<br /> + Howells, William Dean<br /> + Howze, Alma<br /> + Howze, Maggie<br /> + Hughes, Charles E.<br /> + Hughson, John<br /> + Hughson, Sarah<br /> + Hugo, Victor<br /> + Humphreys, Gad<br /> + Hunter, David</p> + + <p>Illinois<br /> + <i>Impending Crisis, The</i><br /> + Indenture. <i>See</i> Servitude.<br /> + Indiana<br /> + Indians<br /> + Indian Spring, treaty of<br /> + <i>Informer</i>, The Houston<br /> + Insurrections<br /> + Intermarriage, Racial intermixture</p> + + <p>Jackson, Andrew<br /> + Jackson College<br /> + Jackson, Edward<br /> + Jackson, Francis<br /> + Jackson, James<br /> + Jackson, Peter<br /> + Jacksonville, Fla.<br /> + Jamaica<br /> + James, David<br /> + James, Duke of York<br /> + Jamestown<br /> + Japan<br /> + Jasper, John<br /> + Jay, John<br /> + Jay, William<br /> + Jeanes, Anna T.<br /> + Jeanes Fund<br /> + Jefferson, Thomas<br /> + Jennings, Thomas L.<br /> + Jessup, Thomas S.<br /> + "Jim Crow," origin of<br /> + Jocelyn, S.S.<br /> + John, in Fugitive Slave case<br /> + Johnson, Andrew<br /> + Johnson, Elijah<br /> + Johnson, Henry<br /> + Johnson, H.R.W.<br /> + Johnson, Jack<br /> + Johnson, James<br /> + Johnson, Joseph<br /> + Johnston brothers, of Arkansas<br /> + Johnston, E.L.<br /> + Johnston, Sir Harry H.<br /> + Jones, Abraham<br /> + Jones, Eugene K.<br /> + Jones, George<br /> + Jones, Sam<br /> + Jones, Sissieretta<br /> + Julius, John</p> + + <p>Kali, in Amistad case<br /> + Kansas<br /> + Kansas City, dynamiting of homes in<br /> + Kansas-Nebraska Bill<br /> + Kean, Edmund<br /> + Kentucky<br /> + Kerry, Margaret<br /> + King, C.D.B.<br /> + King, Mulatto<br /> + King, Rufus<br /> + Kizell, John<br /> + Knights of Pythias<br /> + Knights of the Golden Circle<br /> + Knoxville College<br /> + Knoxville riot<br /> + Kpwessi tribe<br /> + Kru tribe<br /> + KuKlux Klan</p> + + <p>Labor<br /> + Lafar, John J.<br /> + Laing, Major<br /> + Lake City, S.C.<br /> + Lane College<br /> + Lane Seminary<br /> + Langston, John Mercer<br /> + Las Quasimas<br /> + Laurens, Henry<br /> + Laurens, John<br /> + Law, John<br /> + Lawless, Judge<br /> + Le Clerc, Gen.<br /> + Lee, Robert E.<br /> + Lee County, Ga.<br /> + Leicester, Earl of<br /> + Leland Giants<br /> + Lewis, William H.<br /> + <i>Liberator, The</i><br /> + Liberia<br /> + Liberia College<br /> + Liberian Exodus and Joint Stock Company<br /> + Liberty Party<br /> + Liele, George<br /> + Lincoln, Abraham<br /> + Lincoln Giants<br /> + Lincoln University<br /> + Livingstone College<br /> + Livingstone, David<br /> + Lockwood, L.C.<br /> + London Company<br /> + Louisiana<br /> + Louis Napoleon<br /> + Lovejoy, Elijah P.<br /> + Lowell, James R.<br /> + Lugard, Lady<br /> + Lundy, Benjamin<br /> + Lutherans<br /> + Lynching</p> + + <p>Macaulay, T.B.<br /> + Macon, Ga.<br /> + Madagascar<br /> + Madison, James<br /> + Mahan, Asa<br /> + Maine<br /> + Malays<br /> + Maldonado, Alonzo del Castillo<br /> + Mandingoes<br /> + Manly, Alex. L.<br /> + Mano tribe<br /> + Mansfield, Lord<br /> + Marcos, Fray<br /> + Markham, Edwin<br /> + Marriage<br /> + <i>Marrow of Tradition, The</i><br /> + Marshall, J.F.B.<br /> + Marshall, J.R.<br /> + Marshall, of Univ. of Minnesota<br /> + Martin, Luther<br /> + Maryland<br /> + Mason, George<br /> + Masons, Negro<br /> + Massachusetts<br /> + Mather, Cotton<br /> + Matthews, W.C.<br /> + May, Samuel J.<br /> + Mazzini, G.<br /> + McCorkle, William A.<br /> + McIlheron, Jim<br /> + McIntosh, burned<br /> + McKay, Claude<br /> + McKelway, A.J.<br /> + Medicine, Negro in<br /> + Memphis, Tenn.<br /> + Mercer, Charles F.<br /> + <i>Messenger, The</i><br /> + Methodists, churches and schools. <i>See also</i> African + Methodist.<br /> + Mexican War<br /> + Metz<br /> + Micanopy<br /> + Mickasukie tribe<br /> + Migration. <i>See also</i> Exodus.<br /> + Milan, Ga.<br /> + Milliken's Bend<br /> + Mills, Samuel J.<br /> + Minstrelsy<br /> + Miscegenation. <i>See</i> Intermarriage, Racial + intermixture.<br /> + Mississippi<br /> + Mississippi Company<br /> + Missouri<br /> + Missouri Compromise<br /> + Mobile<br /> + Mohammedans<br /> + Monroe, James<br /> + Monrovia<br /> + Montes, Pedro<br /> + Montgomery, Ala.<br /> + Montgomery, James<br /> + Monticello, Ga.<br /> + Montserado, Cape<br /> + Moore, Joanna P.<br /> + Moorhead, Scipio<br /> + Moors<br /> + Morehouse College<br /> + Morell, Junius C.<br /> + Morgan, Thomas J.<br /> + Morris Brown University<br /> + Morris, Edward H.<br /> + Morris, Gouverneur<br /> + Morris, Robert, Jr.<br /> + Mortality<br /> + Mott, Lucretia<br /> + Mulattoes<br /> + Mumford, John P.<br /> + "Mungo," in The Padlock<br /> + Murphy, Edgar G.</p> + + <p>Napoleon Bonaparte<br /> + Narvaez, Pamfilo de<br /> + Nashville, Tenn.<br /> + Nassau<br /> + National Association for the Advancement of Colored + People<br /> + National Urban League<br /> + Navigation Ordinance<br /> + Nea Mathla<br /> + Neau, Elias<br /> + <i>Negro</i>, the word<br /> + Negro Union<br /> + <i>Negro World, The</i><br /> + Nell, William C.<br /> + New Bedford, Mass.<br /> + New England Anti-Slavery Society<br /> + New Hampshire<br /> + New Jersey<br /> + New Orleans<br /> + New Mexico<br /> + New York (city)<br /> + New York (state)<br /> + <i>News and Courier</i>, of Charleston, S.C.<br /> + Niagara Movement<br /> + Niles, Hezekiah<br /> + Niño, Pedro Alonso<br /> + Norfolk, Va.<br /> + North Carolina<br /> + Northrup, Solomon<br /> + <i>North Star</i><br /> + Northwest Territory<br /> + Nott, Josiah C.<br /> + Nott, Dr., of Union College<br /> + Nullification<br /> + Nunn, Joseph</p> + + <p>Oberlin College<br /> + Odd Fellows<br /> + Ogden, Peter<br /> + Ogden, Robert C.<br /> + Oglethorpe, James<br /> + Ohio<br /> + Oklahoma<br /> + Omaha<br /> + Orange Park Academy<br /> + Osceola<br /> + Otis, James<br /> + Otis, Mayor, of Boston<br /> + Ouithlecoochee, Battle of<br /> + Ovando</p> + + <p>Packard, Sophia B.<br /> + Page, Thomas Nelson<br /> + Page, Walter H.<br /> + Palmer, B.M.<br /> + Palmetto, Ga.<br /> + Pan-African Congress<br /> + Pappa tribe<br /> + Parker, Theodore<br /> + Parrott, Russell<br /> + Pastorius, Francis Daniel<br /> + Patterson, Joseph<br /> + Paul, William<br /> + Payne, Daniel A.<br /> + Payne, James Spriggs<br /> + Payne's Landing, treaty of<br /> + Peabody Educational Fund<br /> + Peabody, George Foster<br /> + Pembroke, Earl of<br /> + Pennington, James W.C.<br /> + Pennsylvania<br /> + Pennsylvania Railroad<br /> + Pensacola<br /> + Peonage<br /> + Perkins, Francis<br /> + Perry, Bliss<br /> + Person, Ell T.<br /> + Petersburg, Va.<br /> + Phagan, John<br /> + Phelps, John W.<br /> + Phelps-Stokes Fellowships<br /> + Philadelphia<br /> + Phillips, Wendell<br /> + Phipps, Benjamin<br /> + Phoenix societies<br /> + Pierce, Leonard<br /> + Pike, in Brooks County, Ga.<br /> + Pittman, W. Sydney<br /> + Pittsburgh, Penn.<br /> + Plançiancois, Anselmas<br /> + Pleasants, Robert<br /> + Pollard, F.<br /> + Poor, Samuel<br /> + Poor white man, as related to Negro<br /> + Population, Negro<br /> + Populist Party<br /> + Port Hudson<br /> + Porter, Henry<br /> + Portugal<br /> + Potter, James<br /> + Powell. See Osceola.<br /> + Poyas, Peter<br /> + Presbyterians<br /> + Price, Arthur<br /> + Prince<br /> + Princeton<br /> + Problem, Negro. See Table of Contents.<br /> + Progressive Party<br /> + Punishment. See also Lynching, Burning.<br /> + Purcell, Jack<br /> + Puritans</p> + + <p>Quack, in New York<br /> + Quakers<br /> + Queen and Crescent Railroad trouble<br /> + Quinn, William Paul</p> + + <p>Randolph, John<br /> + Reconstruction<br /> + Reed, Paul<br /> + Reese, Jack<br /> + <i>Republic of Liberia, The</i><br /> + Republican Party<br /> + Reuter, E.B.<br /> + Revels, Hiram R.<br /> + <i>Review of Reviews</i>, quoted<br /> + Revolutionary War<br /> + Revolution, French<br /> + Rhode Island<br /> + Rhodes, Cecil<br /> + Rice, Thomas D.<br /> + Richmond, Va.<br /> + Rigaud<br /> + <i>Rising Tide of Color, The</i><br /> + Rivers, P.R.<br /> + Robert, Joseph T.<br /> + Roberts, Joseph Jenkin<br /> + Robeson, P.L.<br /> + Rockefeller, John D.<br /> + Romanticism<br /> + Romme, John<br /> + Roosevelt, Theodore<br /> + Ross, John<br /> + Royal African Company<br /> + Roye, Edward James<br /> + Ruffin, George L.<br /> + Ruiz, José<br /> + Rush, Christopher<br /> + Russell, Alfred F.<br /> + Russwurm, John B.<br /> + Rust University<br /> + Rutledge, John</p> + + <p>St. Augustine, Fla.<br /> + St. Louis, Mo.<br /> + St. Mihiel<br /> + St. Philip's Church, in New York<br /> + St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia<br /> + Sale, George<br /> + Salem, Peter<br /> + Samba, insurrectionist<br /> + Sandford (in Dred Scott Case)<br /> + San Juan Hill<br /> + Santiago<br /> + Santo Domingo<br /> + Sargent, Frank P.<br /> + Savannah, Ga.<br /> + Schurz, Carl<br /> + Scott, Emmett J.<br /> + Scott, Lation<br /> + Scott, Walter<br /> + Seaton, Richard<br /> + Sebastian<br /> + Sebor, Capt<br /> + Secoffee<br /> + Secret societies<br /> + Segui, Bernard<br /> + Selika, Mme<br /> + Seminole Wars<br /> + Servitude<br /> + Seward, William H.<br /> + Seyes, John<br /> + Shadd, Abraham<br /> + Sharp, Granville<br /> + Shaw, Robert Gould<br /> + Shaw Monument<br /> + Shaw University<br /> + Shepherd, Randall<br /> + Sheridan, Philip<br /> + Shubuta, Miss.<br /> + Shufeldt, R.W.<br /> + Sierra Leone<br /> + Silver Bluff Church<br /> + Simon<br /> + Singleton, Benjamin<br /> + Sino, in Liberia<br /> + Slater Fund<br /> + Slavery. <i>See</i> Table of Contents.<br /> + Slave Ships<br /> + Smith, Adam<br /> + Smith, Alfred<br /> + Smith, Edward P.<br /> + Smith, Gerrit<br /> + Smith, Hampton<br /> + Smith, Henry<br /> + Smith, Hoke<br /> + Smith, James McCune<br /> + Smith, Stephen<br /> + Smith, W.B.<br /> + Social Progress<br /> + Socialism<br /> + Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign + Parts<br /> + Soldier, Negro<br /> + Somerset, James<br /> + Soulouque, Faustin<br /> + <i>Souls of Black Folk, The</i><br /> + South Carolina<br /> + South Carolina Medical College<br /> + Southern Education Board<br /> + Southern Educational Congress<br /> + Southern Sociological Congress<br /> + Southerne, Thomas<br /> + <i>Southwestern Christian Advocate</i><br /> + Spain<br /> + Spaniards<br /> + Spanish-American War<br /> + Spanish Exploration<br /> + Spelman Seminary<br /> + Spence, R.T.<br /> + Spencer, Peter<br /> + Sport<br /> + Springfield, Ill.<br /> + Stanton, Elizabeth Cady<br /> + Statesville, Ga.<br /> + Stephens, Alexander<br /> + Stevens, Julius C.<br /> + Stevens, Thaddeus<br /> + Steward, Austin<br /> + Stewart, Charles<br /> + Stewart, T. McC.<br /> + Stiles, Ezra<br /> + Stoddard, Lothrop<br /> + Stone, Lucy<br /> + Stockton, Robert F.<br /> + Stone, Alfred H.<br /> + Storey, Moorfield<br /> + Stowe, Harriet Beecher<br /> + Straight University<br /> + Straker, D.A.<br /> + Students' Army Training Corps<br /> + Summersett, John<br /> + Sumner, Charles<br /> + Supreme Court<br /> + Susi</p> + + <p>Taft, W.H.<br /> + Talladega, Ala.<br /> + Talladega College<br /> + Tallahassee, Fla.<br /> + Taney, R.B.<br /> + Tanner, Henry O.<br /> + Tappan, Arthur<br /> + Tappan, Lewis<br /> + Tapsico, Jacob<br /> + Taney, Chief Justice<br /> + Taylor, John B.<br /> + Taylor, Major<br /> + Taylor, William<br /> + Tecumseh<br /> + Tennessee<br /> + Terrell, Mary Church<br /> + Terrell, J.M.<br /> + Texas<br /> + Thomas, Charles<br /> + Thomas, W.H.<br /> + Thompson, George<br /> + Thompson, Wiley<br /> + Thornton, William<br /> + <i>Thoughts on African Colonisation</i><br /> + Tillman, Benjamin R.<br /> + Tithables, defined<br /> + Tolbert, John R.<br /> + Tolbert, R.R.<br /> + Tolbert, Thomas<br /> + Toombs, Robert<br /> + Toussaint L'Ouverture<br /> + Travis, Hark<br /> + Travis, Joseph<br /> + Tremont Temple Baptist Church<br /> + Trotter, Monroe<br /> + Truth, Sojourner<br /> + Tubman, Harriet<br /> + Tucker, St. George<br /> + Tupper, Pres., of Shaw University<br /> + Turnbull, Robert James<br /> + Turner, H.M.<br /> + Turner, Mary<br /> + Turner, Nat, and his insurrection<br /> + Tuskegee Institute<br /> + Tustenuggee, 114</p> + + <p><i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i><br /> + Underground Railroad<br /> + Universal Negro Improvement Association<br /> + Universal Races Congress<br /> + University Commission on Southern Race Questions<br /> + Ury, John<br /> + Utrecht, Peace of</p> + + <p>Vaca, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de<br /> + Vail, Aaron<br /> + Vai tribe<br /> + Valdosta, Ga.<br /> + Valladolid, Juan de<br /> + Van Buren, Martin<br /> + Vardaman, James K.<br /> + Varick, James<br /> + Vermont<br /> + Vesey, Denmark, and his insurrection<br /> + Vincenden, Gen.<br /> + Virginia<br /> + Virginia Union University<br /> + Virginia, University of<br /> + Virgin Islands<br /> + Vogelsang, Peter<br /> + <i>Voice of the Negro, The</i><br /> + Vosges</p> + + <p>Waco, Texas<br /> + Walcott, Joe<br /> + Walker, John<br /> + Walker, Mme. C.J.<br /> + Walker, David<br /> + Walker, Walter F.<br /> + Walker, Zach<br /> + War of 1812<br /> + Ward, Samuel Ringgold<br /> + Ware, Asa<br /> + Warner, Daniel Bashiel<br /> + Washington, Berry<br /> + Washington, Booker T.<br /> + Washington, Bushrod<br /> + Washington, George<br /> + Washington, Jesse<br /> + Washington, Madison<br /> + Washington, D.C.<br /> + Watson, Brook<br /> + Watt, James<br /> + Watterson, Henry<br /> + Weathersford<br /> + Webster, Daniel<br /> + Webster, Thomas<br /> + Wendell, Abraham<br /> + Wesley, John<br /> + West Virginia<br /> + Wheatley, Phillis<br /> + Whipper, of Pennsylvania<br /> + Whipper, William<br /> + White, George H.<br /> + White, Thomas J.<br /> + White, William<br /> + White, William J.<br /> + Whitfield, James M.<br /> + Whittekin, F.F.<br /> + Whitney, Eli<br /> + Whittier, John G.<br /> + Wiener, Leo<br /> + Wilberforce University<br /> + Wilberforce, William<br /> + Wilcox, Samuel T.<br /> + Wild Cat<br /> + Wiley University<br /> + Will<br /> + William and Mary College<br /> + Williams and Walker Company<br /> + Williams, Charles H.<br /> + Williams, Daniel H.<br /> + Williams, George W.<br /> + Williams, Nelson<br /> + Williams, Peter<br /> + Williams, Richard<br /> + Williamsburg, Va.<br /> + Williamson, Edward<br /> + Wilmington, N.C.<br /> + Wilson, James<br /> + Wilson, Woodrow<br /> + Winn, J.B.<br /> + Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society<br /> + Woman Suffrage<br /> + Woods, Granville T.<br /> + Woodson, Carter G.<br /> + Woolf, Leonard<br /> + Woolman, John<br /> + Wright, Robert<br /> + Wycliffe, John C.</p> + + <p>Yellow fever, in Philadelphia;<br /> + in Hayti<br /> + Yemassee<br /> + Y.M.C.A.<br /> + Young, Charles E.</p> + + <p>Zuñi Indians</p> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN NEGRO ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for +copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very +easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation +of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project +Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may +do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected +by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark +license, especially commercial redistribution. +</div> + +<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> +<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person +or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the +Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when +you share it without charge with others. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country other than the United States. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work +on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: +</div> + +<blockquote> + <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most + other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions + whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms + of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online + at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you + are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws + of the country where you are located before using this eBook. + </div> +</blockquote> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg™ License. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format +other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain +Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +provided that: +</div> + +<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation.” + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ + works. + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. + </div> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of +the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set +forth in Section 3 below. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, +Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up +to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website +and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread +public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state +visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Most people start at our website which has the main PG search +facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. +</div> + +</div> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/old/old/12101-8.txt b/old/old/12101-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a83c6b9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/12101-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16787 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Social History of the American Negro +by Benjamin Brawley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Social History of the American Negro + Being a History of the Negro Problem in the United States. Including + A History And Study Of The Republic Of Liberia + + +Author: Benjamin Brawley + +Release Date: April 21, 2004 [EBook #12101] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN NEGRO *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Leonard D Johnson and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +A SOCIAL HISTORY +OF THE +American Negro + + +BEING +A HISTORY OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM +IN THE UNITED STATES + +INCLUDING +A HISTORY AND STUDY OF THE +REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA + +by BENJAMIN BRAWLEY +1921 + + + + + +TO THE MEMORY OF +NORWOOD PENROSE HALLOWELL + +PATRIOT +1839-1914 + + * * * * * + + _These all died in faith, not having received + the promises, but having seen them afar off_. + +Norwood Penrose Hallowell was born in Philadelphia April 13, 1839. He +inherited the tradition of the Quakers and grew to manhood in a +strong anti-slavery atmosphere. The home of his father, Morris L. +Hallowell--the "House called Beautiful," in the phrase of Oliver Wendell +Holmes--was a haven of rest and refreshment for wounded soldiers of the +Union Army, and hither also, after the assault upon him in the Senate, +Charles Sumner had come for succor and peace. Three brothers in one +way or another served the cause of the Union, one of them, Edward +N. Hallowell, succeeding Robert Gould Shaw in the Command of the +Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. Norwood Penrose +Hallowell himself, a natural leader of men, was Harvard class orator in +1861; twenty-five years later he was the marshal of his class; and in +1896 he delivered the Memorial Day address in Sanders Theater. Entering +the Union Army with promptness in April, 1861, he served first in +the New England Guards, then as First Lieutenant in the Twentieth +Massachusetts, won a Captain's commission in November, and within the +next year took part in numerous engagements, being wounded at Glendale +and even more severely at Antietam. On April 17, 1863, he became +Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, and on May 30 +Colonel of the newly organized Fifty-Fifth. Serving in the investment +of Fort Wagner, he was one of the first to enter the fort after its +evacuation. His wounds ultimately forced him to resign his commission, +and in November, 1863, he retired from the service. He engaged in +business in New York, but after a few years removed to Boston, where he +became eminent for his public spirit. He was one of God's noblemen, and +to the last he preserved his faith in the Negro whom he had been among +the first to lead toward the full heritage of American citizenship. He +died April 11, 1914. + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA +1. African Origins +2. The Negro in Spanish Exploration +3. Development of the Slave-Trade +4. Planting of Slavery in the Colonies +5. The Wake of the Slave-Ship + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NEGRO IN THE COLONIES +1. Servitude and Slavery +2. The Indian, the Mulatto, and the Free Negro +3. First Effort toward Social Betterment +4. Early Insurrections + + +CHAPTER III + +THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA +1. Sentiment in England and America +2. The Negro in the War +3. The Northwest Territory and the Constitution +4. Early Steps toward Abolition +5. Beginning of Racial Consciousness + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE NEW WEST, THE SOUTH, AND THE WEST INDIES +1. The Cotton-Gin, the New Southwest, and the First Fugitive Slave Law +2. Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louisiana, and the Formal Closing of the + Slave-Trade +3. Gabriel's Insurrection and the Rise of the Negro Problem + + +CHAPTER V + +INDIAN AND NEGRO +1. Creek, Seminole, and Negro to 1817: The War of 1812 +2. First Seminole War and the Treaties of Indian Spring and Fort Moultrie +3. From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to the Treaty of Payne's Landing +4. Osceola and the Second Seminole War + + +CHAPTER VI + +EARLY APPROACH TO THE NEGRO PROBLEM +1. The Ultimate Problem and the Missouri Compromise +2. Colonization +3. Slavery + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE NEGRO REPLY--I: REVOLT +1. Denmark Vesey's Insurrection +2. Nat Turner's Insurrection +3. The _Amistad_ and _Creole_ Cases + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE NEGRO REPLY--II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION +1. Walker's "Appeal" +2. The Convention Movement +3. Sojourner Truth and Woman Suffrage + + +CHAPTER IX + +LIBERIA +1. The Place and the People +2. History + (a) Colonization and Settlement + (b) The Commonwealth of Liberia + (c) The Republic of Liberia +3. International Relations +4. Economic and Social Conditions + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NEGRO A NATIONAL ISSUE +1. Current Tendencies +2. The Challenge of the Abolitionists +3. The Contest + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOCIAL PROGRESS, 1820-1860 + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE ERA OF ENFRANCHISEMENT +1. The Problem +2. Meeting the Problem +3. Reaction: The Ku-Klux Klan +4. Counter-Reaction: The Negro Exodus +5. A Postscript on the War and Reconstruction + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW SOUTH +1. Political Life: Disfranchisement +2. Economic Life: Peonage +3. Social Life: Proscription, Lynching + + +CHAPTER XV + +"THE VALE OF TEARS," 1890-1910 +1. Current Opinion and Tendencies +2. Industrial Education: Booker T. Washington +3. Individual Achievement: The Spanish-American War +4. Mob Violence; Election Troubles; The Atlanta Massacre +5. The Question of Labor +6. Defamation; Brownsville +7. The Dawn of a To-morrow + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW AGE +1. Character of the Period +2. Migration; East St. Louis +3. The Great War +4. High Tension: Washington, Chicago, Elaine +5. The Widening Problem + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE NEGRO PROBLEM +1. World Aspect +2. The Negro in American Life +3. Face to Face + + + + +PREFACE + +In the following pages an effort is made to give fresh treatment to the +history of the Negro people in the United States, and to present this +from a distinct point of view, the social. It is now forty years since +George W. Williams completed his _History of the Negro Race in America_, +and while there have been many brilliant studies of periods or episodes +since that important work appeared, no one book has again attempted to +treat the subject comprehensively, and meanwhile the race has passed +through some of its most critical years in America. The more outstanding +political phases of the subject, especially in the period before the +Civil War, have been frequently considered; and in any account of +the Negro people themselves the emphasis has almost always been upon +political and military features. Williams emphasizes this point of view, +and his study of legal aspects is not likely soon to be superseded. A +noteworthy point about the history of the Negro, however, is that laws +on the statute-books have not necessarily been regarded, public opinion +and sentiment almost always insisting on being considered. It is +necessary accordingly to study the actual life of the Negro people in +itself and in connection with that of the nation, and something like +this the present work endeavors to do. It thus becomes not only a Social +History of the race, but also the first formal effort toward a History +of the Negro Problem in America. + +With this aim in mind, in view of the enormous amount of material, +we have found it necessary to confine ourselves within very definite +limits. A thorough study of all the questions relating to the Negro in +the United States would fill volumes, for sooner or later it would touch +upon all the great problems of American life. No attempt is made to +perform such a task; rather is it intended to fix attention upon the +race itself as definitely as possible. Even with this limitation there +are some topics that might be treated at length, but that have already +been studied so thoroughly that no very great modification is now likely +to be made of the results obtained. Such are many of the questions +revolving around the general subject of slavery. Wars are studied not so +much to take note of the achievement of Negro soldiers, vital as that +is, as to record the effect of these events on the life of the great +body of people. Both wars and slavery thus become not more than +incidents in the history of the ultimate problem. + +In view of what has been said, it is natural that the method of +treatment should vary with the different chapters. Sometimes it is +general, as when we touch upon the highways of American history. +Sometimes it is intensive, as in the consideration of insurrections and +early effort for social progress; and Liberia, as a distinct and much +criticized experiment in government by American Negroes, receives very +special attention. For the first time also an effort is now made to +treat consecutively the life of the Negro people in America for the last +fifty years. + +This work is the result of studies on which I have been engaged for +a number of years and which have already seen some light in _A Short +History of the American Negro_ and _The Negro in Literature and Art_; +and acquaintance with the elementary facts contained in such books as +these is in the present work very largely taken for granted. I feel +under a special debt of gratitude to the New York State Colonization +Society, which, coöperating with the American Colonization Society and +the Board of Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia, in 1920 +gave me opportunity for some study at first hand of educational and +social conditions on the West Coast of Africa; and most of all do I +remember the courtesy and helpfulness of Dr. E.C. Sage and Dr. J.H. +Dillard in this connection. In general I have worked independently +of Williams, but any student of the subject must be grateful to that +pioneer, as well as to Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, who has made contributions in +so many ways. My obligations to such scholarly dissertations as those +by Turner and Russell are manifest, while to Mary Stoughton Locke's +_Anti-Slavery in America_--a model monograph--I feel indebted more than +to any other thesis. Within the last few years, of course, the _Crisis_, +the _Journal of Negro History_, and the _Negro Year-Book_ have in their +special fields become indispensable, and to Dr. Carter G. Woodson and +Professor M.N. Work much credit is due for the faith which has prompted +their respective ventures. I take this occasion also to thank Professor +W.E. Dodd, of the University of Chicago, who from the time of my +entrance upon this field has generously placed at my disposal his +unrivaled knowledge of the history of the South; and as always I must +be grateful to my father, Rev. E.M. Brawley, for that stimulation and +criticism which all my life have been most valuable to me. Finally, the +work has been dedicated to the memory of a distinguished soldier, who, +in his youth, in the nation's darkest hour, helped to lead a struggling +people to freedom and his country to victory. It is now submitted to the +consideration of all who are interested in the nation's problems, and +indeed in any effort that tries to keep in mind the highest welfare of +the country itself. + +BENJAMIN BRAWLEY. Cambridge, January 1, 1921. + + + + +SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA + + +1. _African Origins_ + +An outstanding characteristic of recent years has been an increasing +recognition of the cultural importance of Africa to the world. From all +that has been written three facts are prominent: (1) That at some time +early in the Middle Ages, perhaps about the seventh century, there was +a considerable infiltration of Arabian culture into the tribes living +below the Sahara, something of which may to-day most easily be seen +among such people as the Haussas in the Soudan and the Mandingoes along +the West Coast; (2) That, whatever influences came in from the outside, +there developed in Africa an independent culture which must not be +underestimated; and (3) That, perhaps vastly more than has been +supposed, this African culture had to do with early exploration and +colonization in America. The first of these three facts is very +important, but is now generally accepted and need not here detain us. +For the present purpose the second and third demand more attention. + +The development of native African art is a theme of never-ending +fascination for the ethnologist. Especially have striking resemblances +between Negro and Oceanian culture been pointed out. In political +organization as well as certain forms of artistic endeavor the Negro +people have achieved creditable results, and especially have they been +honored as the originators of the iron technique.[1] It has further been +shown that fetichism, which is especially well developed along the +West Coast and its hinterland, is at heart not very different from the +manitou beliefs of the American Indians; and it is this connection that +furnishes the key to some of the most striking results of the researches +of the latest and most profound student of this and related problems.[2] + +[Footnote 1: Note article "Africa" in _New International Encyclopedia_, +referring especially to the studies of Von Luschan.] + +[Footnote 2: Leo Wiener: _Africa and the Discovery of America_, Vol. I, +Innes & Sons, Philadelphia, 1920.] + +From the Soudan radiated a culture that was destined to affect Europe +and in course of time to extend its influence even beyond the Atlantic +Ocean. It is important to remember that throughout the early history of +Europe and up to the close of the fifteenth century the approach to the +home of the Negro was by land. The Soudan was thought to be the edge of +the then known world; Homer speaks of the Ethiopians as "the farthest +removed of men, and separated into two divisions." Later Greek writers +carry the description still further and speak of the two divisions as +Eastern and Western--the Eastern occupying the countries eastward of the +Nile, and the Western stretching from the western shores of that river +to the Atlantic Coast. "One of these divisions," says Lady Lugard, "we +have to acknowledge, was perhaps itself the original source of the +civilization which has through Egypt permeated the Western world.... +When the history of Negroland comes to be written in detail, it may be +found that the kingdoms lying toward the eastern end of the Soudan were +the home of races who inspired, rather than of races who received, the +traditions of civilization associated for us with the name of ancient +Egypt."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _A Tropical Dependency_, James Nisbet & Co., Ltd., London, +1906, p. 17.] + +If now we come to America, we find the Negro influence upon the Indian +to be so strong as to call in question all current conceptions of +American archæology and so early as to suggest the coming of men from +the Guinea Coast perhaps even before the coming of Columbus.[1] The +first natives of Africa to come were Mandingoes; many of the words +used by the Indians in their daily life appear to be not more than +corruptions or adaptations of words used by the tribes of Africa; and +the more we study the remains of those who lived in America before 1492, +and the far-reaching influence of African products and habits, the more +must we acknowledge the strength of the position of the latest thesis. +This whole subject will doubtless receive much more attention from +scholars, but in any case it is evident that the demands of Negro +culture can no longer be lightly regarded or brushed aside, and that as +a scholarly contribution to the subject Wiener's work is of the very +highest importance. + +[Footnote 1: See Wiener, I, 178.] + + +2. _The Negro in Spanish Exploration_ + +When we come to Columbus himself, the accuracy of whose accounts has so +recently been questioned, we find a Negro, Pedro Alonso Niño, as the +pilot of one of the famous three vessels. In 1496 Niño sailed to Santo +Domingo and he was also with Columbus on his third voyage. With two men, +Cristóbal de la Guerra, who served as pilot, and Luís de la Guerra, +a Spanish merchant, in 1499 he planned what proved to be the first +successful commercial voyage to the New World. + +The revival of slavery at the close of the Middle Ages and the beginning +of the system of Negro slavery were due to the commercial expansion of +Portugal in the fifteenth century. The very word _Negro_ is the modern +Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin _niger_. In 1441 Prince Henry +sent out one Gonzales, who captured three Moors on the African coast. +These men offered as ransom ten Negroes whom they had taken. The Negroes +were taken to Lisbon in 1442, and in 1444 Prince Henry regularly began +the European trade from the Guinea Coast. For fifty years his country +enjoyed a monopoly of the traffic. By 1474 Negroes were numerous in +Spain, and special interest attaches to Juan de Valladolid, probably the +first of many Negroes who in time came to have influence and power over +their people under the authority of a greater state. He was addressed as +"judge of all the Negroes and mulattoes, free or slaves, which are in +the very loyal and noble city of Seville, and throughout the whole +archbishopric thereof." After 1500 there are frequent references to +Negroes, especially in the Spanish West Indies. Instructions to Ovando, +governor of Hispaniola, in 1501, prohibited the passage to the Indies of +Jews, Moors, or recent converts, but authorized him to take over Negro +slaves who had been born in the power of Christians. These orders were +actually put in force the next year. Even the restricted importation +Ovando found inadvisable, and he very soon requested that Negroes be not +sent, as they ran away to the Indians, with whom they soon made friends. +Isabella accordingly withdrew her permission, but after her death +Ferdinand reverted to the old plan and in 1505 sent to Ovando seventeen +Negro slaves for work in the copper-mines, where the severity of the +labor was rapidly destroying the Indians. In 1510 Ferdinand directed +that fifty Negroes be sent immediately, and that more be sent later; and +in April of this year over a hundred were bought in the Lisbon market. +This, says Bourne,[1] was the real beginning of the African slave-trade +to America. Already, however, as early as 1504, a considerable number +of Negroes had been introduced from Guinea because, as we are informed, +"the work of one Negro was worth more than that of four Indians." In +1513 thirty Negroes assisted Balboa in building the first ships made on +the Pacific Coast of America. In 1517 Spain formally entered upon the +traffic, Charles V on his accession to the throne granting "license +for the introduction of Negroes to the number of four hundred," and +thereafter importation to the West Indies became a thriving industry. +Those who came in these early years were sometimes men of considerable +intelligence, having been trained as Mohammedans or Catholics. By 1518 +Negroes were at work in the sugar-mills in Hispaniola, where they seem +to have suffered from indulgence in drinks made from sugarcane. In 1521 +it was ordered that Negro slaves should not be employed on errands as +in general these tended to cultivate too close acquaintance with the +Indians. In 1522 there was a rebellion on the sugar plantations in +Hispaniola, primarily because the services of certain Indians were +discontinued. Twenty Negroes from the Admiral's mill, uniting with +twenty others who spoke the same language, killed a number of +Christians. They fled and nine leagues away they killed another Spaniard +and sacked a house. One Negro, assisted by twelve Indian slaves, also +killed nine other Christians. After much trouble the Negroes were +apprehended and several of them hanged. It was about 1526 that Negroes +were first introduced within the present limits of the United States, +being brought to a colony near what later became Jamestown, Va. Here the +Negroes were harshly treated and in course of time they rose against +their oppressors and fired their houses. The settlement was broken up, +and the Negroes and their Spanish companions returned to Hispaniola, +whence they had come. In 1540, in Quivira, in Mexico, there was a +Negro who had taken holy orders; and in 1542 there were established at +Guamanga three brotherhoods of the True Cross of Spaniards, one being +for Indians and one for Negroes. + +[Footnote 1: _Spain in America_, Vol. 3 in American Nation Series, p. +270.] + +The outstanding instance of a Negro's heading in exploration is that of +Estévanico (or Estévanillo, or Estévan, that is, Stephen), one of the +four survivors of the ill-fated expedition of De Narvaez, who sailed +from Spain, June 17, 1527. Having returned to Spain after many years of +service in the New World, Pamfilo de Narvaez petitioned for a grant, and +accordingly the right to conquer and colonize the country between the +Rio de las Palmas, in eastern Mexico, and Florida was accorded him.[1] +His force originally consisted of six hundred soldiers and +colonists. The whole conduct of the expedition--incompetent in the +extreme--furnished one of the most appalling tragedies of early +exploration in America. The original number of men was reduced by half +by storms and hurricanes and desertions in Santo Domingo and Cuba, and +those who were left landed in April, 1528, near the entrance to Tampa +Bay, on the west coast of Florida. One disaster followed another in the +vicinity of Pensacola Bay and the mouth of the Mississippi until at +length only four men survived. These were Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca; +Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, a captain of infantry; Alonzo del Castillo +Maldonado; and Estévanico, who had originally come from the west +coast of Morocco and who was a slave of Dorantes. These men had most +remarkable adventures in the years between 1528 and 1536, and as a +narrative of suffering and privation Cabeza de Vaca's _Journal_ has +hardly an equal in the annals of the continent. Both Dorantes and +Estévanico were captured, and indeed for a season or two all four men +were forced to sojourn among the Indians. They treated the sick, and +with such success did they work that their fame spread far and wide +among the tribes. Crowds followed them from place to place, showering +presents upon them. With Alonzo de Castillo, Estévanico sojourned for +a while with the Yguazes, a very savage tribe that killed its own male +children and bought those of strangers. He at length escaped from these +people and spent several months with the Avavares. He afterwards went +with De Vaca to the Maliacones, only a short distance from the Avavares, +and still later he accompanied Alonzo de Castillo in exploring the +country toward the Rio Grande. He was unexcelled as a guide who could +make his way through new territory. In 1539 he went with Fray Marcos of +Nice, the Father Provincial of the Franciscan order in New Spain, as a +guide to the Seven Cities of Cibola, the villages of the ancestors of +the present Zuñi Indians in western New Mexico. Preceding Fray Marcos +by a few days and accompanied by natives who joined him on the way, he +reached Háwikuh, the southern-most of the seven towns. Here he and all +but three of his Indian followers were killed. + +[Footnote 1: Frederick W. Hodge, 3, in _Spanish Explorers in the +Southern United States_, 1528-1543, in "Original Narratives of Early +American History," Scribner's, New York, 1907. Both the Narrative of +Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and the Narrative of the Expedition of +Coronado, by Pedro de Casteñada, are edited by Hodge, with illuminating +introductions.] + + +3. _Development of the Slave-Trade_ + +Portugal and Spain having demonstrated that the slave-trade was +profitable, England also determined to engage in the traffic; and as +early as 1530 William Hawkins, a merchant of Plymouth, visited the +Guinea Coast and took away a few slaves. England really entered the +field, however, with the voyage in 1562 of Captain John Hawkins, son of +William, who in October of this year also went to the coast of Guinea. +He had a fleet of three ships and one hundred men, and partly by the +sword and partly by other means he took three hundred or more Negroes, +whom he took to Santo Domingo and sold profitably.[1] He was richly +laden going homeward and some of his stores were seized by Spanish +vessels. Hawkins made two other voyages, one in 1564, and another, +with Drake, in 1567. On his second voyage he had four armed ships, the +largest being the _Jesus_, a vessel of seven hundred tons, and a force +of one hundred and seventy men. December and January (1564-5) he spent +in picking up freight, and by sickness and fights with the Negroes he +lost many of his men. Then at the end of January he set out for the +West Indies. He was becalmed for twenty-one days, but he arrived at the +Island of Dominica March 9. He traded along the Spanish coasts and on +his return to England he touched at various points in the West Indies +and sailed along the coast of Florida. On his third voyage he had five +ships. He himself was again in command of the _Jesus_, while Drake +was in charge of the _Judith_, a little vessel of fifty tons. He got +together between four and five hundred Negroes and again went to +Dominica. He had various adventures and at last was thrown by a storm on +the coast of Mexico. Here after three days he was attacked by a Spanish +fleet of twelve vessels, and all of his ships were destroyed except the +_Judith_ and another small vessel, the _Minion_, which was so crowded +that one hundred men risked the dangers on land rather than go to +sea with her. On this last voyage Hawkins and Drake had among their +companions the Earls of Pembroke and Leicester, who were then, like +other young Elizabethans, seeking fame and fortune. It is noteworthy +that in all that he did Hawkins seems to have had no sense of cruelty or +wrong. He held religious services morning and evening, and in the spirit +of the later Cromwell he enjoined upon his men to "serve God daily, love +one another, preserve their victuals, beware of fire, and keep good +company." Queen Elizabeth evidently regarded the opening of the +slave-trade as a worthy achievement, for after his second voyage she +made Hawkins a knight, giving him for a crest the device of a Negro's +head and bust with the arms securely bound. + +[Footnote 1: Edward E. Hale in Justin Winsor's _Narrative and Critical +History of America_, III, 60.] + +France joined in the traffic in 1624, and then Holland and Denmark, and +the rivalry soon became intense. England, with her usual aggressiveness, +assumed a commanding position, and, much more than has commonly been +supposed, the Navigation Ordinance of 1651 and the two wars with the +Dutch in the seventeenth century had as their basis the struggle for +supremacy in the slave-trade. The English trade proper began with the +granting of rights to special companies, to one in 1618, to another in +1631, and in 1662 to the "Company of Royal Adventurers," rechartered +in 1672 as the "Royal African Company," to which in 1687 was given the +exclusive right to trade between the Gold Coast and the British colonies +in America. James, Duke of York, was interested in this last company, +and it agreed to supply the West Indies with three thousand slaves +annually. In 1698, on account of the incessant clamor of English +merchants, the trade was opened generally, and any vessel carrying the +British flag was by act of Parliament permitted to engage in it on +payment of a duty of 10 per cent on English goods exported to Africa. +New England immediately engaged in the traffic, and vessels from Boston +and Newport went forth to the Gold Coast laden with hogsheads of rum. In +course of time there developed a three-cornered trade by which molasses +was brought from the West Indies to New England, made into rum to be +taken to Africa and exchanged for slaves, the slaves in turn being +brought to the West Indies or the Southern colonies.[1] A slave +purchased for one hundred gallons of rum worth £10 brought from £20 to +£50 when offered for sale in America.[2] Newport soon had twenty-two +still houses, and even these could not satisfy the demand. England +regarded the slave-trade as of such importance that when in 1713 she +accepted the Peace of Utrecht she insisted on having awarded to her for +thirty years the exclusive right to transport slaves to the Spanish +colonies in America. When in the course of the eighteenth century the +trade became fully developed, scores of vessels went forth each year +to engage in it; but just how many slaves were brought to the present +United States and how many were taken to the West Indies or South +America, it is impossible to say. In 1726 the three cities of London, +Bristol, and Liverpool alone had 171 ships engaged in the traffic, and +the profits were said to warrant a thousand more, though such a number +was probably never reached so far as England alone was concerned.[3] + +[Footnote 1: Bogart: _Economic History_, 72.] + +[Footnote 2: Coman: _Industrial History_, 78.] + +[Footnote 3: Ballagh: _Slavery in Virginia, 12_.] + + +4. _Planting of Slavery in the Colonies_ + +It is only for Virginia that we can state with definiteness the year +in which Negro slaves were first brought to an English colony on the +mainland. When legislation on the subject of slavery first appears +elsewhere, slaves are already present. "About the last of August +(1619)," says John Rolfe in John Smith's _Generall Historie_, "came in a +Dutch man of warre, that sold us twenty Negars." These Negroes were +sold into servitude, and Virginia did not give statutory recognition to +slavery as a system until 1661, the importations being too small to make +the matter one of importance. In this year, however, an act of assembly +stated that Negroes were "incapable of making satisfaction for the time +lost in running away by addition of time"; [1] and thus slavery gained a +firm place in the oldest of the colonies. + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, II, _26_.] + +Negroes were first imported into Massachusetts from Barbadoes a year or +two before 1638, but in John Winthrop's _Journal_, under date February +26 of this year, we have positive evidence on the subject as follows: +"Mr. Pierce in the Salem ship, the _Desire_, returned from the West +Indies after seven months. He had been at Providence, and brought some +cotton, and tobacco, and Negroes, etc., from thence, and salt from +Tertugos. Dry fish and strong liquors are the only commodities for those +parts. He met there two men-of-war, sent forth by the lords, etc., of +Providence with letters of mart, who had taken divers prizes from the +Spaniard and many Negroes." It was in 1641 that there was passed in +Massachusetts the first act on the subject of slavery, and this was the +first positive statement in any of the colonies with reference to +the matter. Said this act: "There shall never be any bond slavery, +villeinage, nor captivity among us, unless it be lawful captives, taken +in just wars, and such strangers as willingly sell themselves or are +sold to us, and these shall have all the liberties and Christian usages +which the law of God established in Israel requires." This article +clearly sanctioned slavery. Of the three classes of persons referred to, +the first was made up of Indians, the second of white people under the +system of indenture, and the third of Negroes. In this whole matter, as +in many others, Massachusetts moved in advance of the other colonies. +The first definitely to legalize slavery, in course of time she became +also the foremost representative of sentiment against the system. In +1646 one John Smith brought home two Negroes from the Guinea Coast, +where we are told he "had been the means of killing near a hundred +more." The General Court, "conceiving themselves bound by the first +opportunity to bear witness against the heinous and crying sin of +man-stealing," ordered that the Negroes be sent at public expense to +their native country.[1] In later cases, however, Massachusetts did not +find herself able to follow this precedent. In general in these early +years New England was more concerned about Indians than about Negroes, +as the presence of the former in large numbers was a constant menace, +while Negro slavery had not yet assumed its most serious aspects. + +[Footnote 1: Coffin: _Slave Insurrections_, 8.] + +In New York slavery began under the Dutch rule and continued under the +English. Before or about 1650 the Dutch West India Company brought some +Negroes to New Netherland. Most of these continued to belong to the +company, though after a period of labor (under the common system of +indenture) some of the more trusty were permitted to have small farms, +from the produce of which they made return to the company. Their +children, however, continued to be slaves. In 1664 New Netherland became +New York. The next year, in the code of English laws that was drawn +up, it was enacted that "no Christian shall be kept in bond slavery, +villeinage, or captivity, except who shall be judged thereunto by +authority, or such as willingly have sold or shall sell themselves." As +at first there was some hesitancy about making Negroes Christians, this +act, like the one in Massachusetts, by implication permitted slavery. + +It was in 1632 that the grant including what is now the states of +Maryland and Delaware was made to George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore. +Though slaves are mentioned earlier, it was in 1663-4 that the Maryland +Legislature passed its first enactment on the subject of slavery. It was +declared that "all Negroes and other slaves within this province, and +all Negroes and other slaves to be hereinafter imported into this +province, shall serve during life; and all children born of any Negro +or other slave, shall be slaves as their fathers were, for the term of +their lives." + +In Delaware and New Jersey the real beginnings of slavery are unusually +hazy. The Dutch introduced the system in both of these colonies. In the +laws of New Jersey the word _slaves_ occurs as early as 1664, and acts +for the regulation of the conduct of those in bondage began with the +practical union of the colony with New York in 1702. The lot of the +slave was somewhat better here than in most of the colonies. Although +the system was in existence in Delaware almost from the beginning of the +colony, it did not receive legal recognition until 1721, when there was +passed an act providing for the trial of slaves in a special court with +two justices and six freeholders. + +As early as 1639 there are incidental reference to Negroes in +Pennsylvania, and there are frequent references after this date.[1] In +this colony there were strong objections to the importing of Negroes in +spite of the demand for them. Penn in his charter to the Free Society of +Traders in 1682 enjoined upon the members of this company that if they +held black slaves these should be free at the end of fourteen years, +the Negroes then to become the company's tenants.[2] In 1688 there +originated in Germantown a protest against Negro slavery that was "the +first formal action ever taken against the barter in human flesh within +the boundaries of the United States." [3] Here a small company of +Germans was assembled April 18, 1688, and there was drawn up a document +signed by Garret Hendericks, Franz Daniel Pastorius, Dirck Op den +Graeff, and Abraham Op den Graeff. The protest was addressed to the +monthly meeting of the Quakers about to take place in Lower Dublin. +The monthly meeting on April 30 felt that it could not pretend to take +action on such an important matter and referred it to the quarterly +meeting in June. This in turn passed it on to the yearly meeting, the +highest tribunal of the Quakers. Here it was laid on the table, and +for the next few years nothing resulted from it. About 1696, however, +opposition to slavery on the part of the Quakers began to be active. In +the colony at large before 1700 the lot of the Negro was regularly +one of servitude. Laws were made for servants, white or black, and +regulations and restrictions were largely identical. In 1700, however, +legislation began more definitely to fix the status of the slave. In +this year an act of the legislature forbade the selling of Negroes out +of the province without their consent, but in other ways it denied the +personality of the slave. This act met further formal approval in 1705, +when special courts were ordained for the trial and punishment of +slaves, and when importation from Carolina was forbidden on the ground +that it made trouble with the Indians nearer home. In 1700 a maximum +duty of 20s. was placed on each Negro imported, and in 1705 this was +doubled, there being already some competition with white labor. In 1712 +the Assembly sought to prevent importation altogether by a duty of £20 +a head. This act was repealed in England, and a duty of £5 in 1715 was +also repealed. In 1729, however, the duty was fixed at £2, at which +figure it remained for a generation. + +[Footnote 1: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 1.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 21.] + +[Footnote 3: Faust: _The German Element in the United States_, Boston, +1909, I, 45.] + +It was almost by accident that slavery was officially recognized in +Connecticut in 1650. The code of laws compiled for the colony in this +year was especially harsh on the Indians. It was enacted that certain of +them who incurred the displeasure of the colony might be made to serve +the person injured or "be shipped out and exchanged for Negroes." In +1680 the governor of the colony informed the Board of Trade that "as for +blacks there came sometimes three or four in a year from Barbadoes, and +they are usually sold at the rate of £22 apiece." These people were +regarded rather as servants than as slaves, and early legislation was +mainly in the line of police regulations designed to prevent their +running away. + +In 1652 it was enacted in Rhode Island that all slaves brought into the +colony should be set free after ten years of service. This law was not +designed, as might be supposed, to restrict slavery. It was really a +step in the evolution of the system, and the limit of ten years was by +no means observed. "The only legal recognition of the law was in the +series of acts beginning January 4, 1703, to control the wandering of +African slaves and servants, and another beginning in April, 1708, in +which the slave-trade was indirectly legalized by being taxed."[1] "In +course of time Rhode Island became the greatest slave-trader in the +country, becoming a sort of clearing-house for the other colonies."[2] + +[Footnote 1: William T. Alexander: History of the Colored Race in +America, New Orleans, 1887, p. 136.] + +[Footnote 2: DuBois: Suppression of the Slave-Trade, 34.] + +New Hampshire, profiting by the experience of the neighboring colony of +Massachusetts, deemed it best from the beginning to discourage +slavery. There were so few Negroes in the colony as to form a quantity +practically negligible. The system was recognized, however, an act being +passed in 1714 to regulate the conduct of slaves, and another four years +later to regulate that of masters. + +In North Carolina, even more than in most of the colonies, the system +of Negro slavery was long controlled by custom rather than by legal +enactment. It was recognized by law in 1715, however, and police +regulations to govern the slaves were enacted. In South Carolina the +history of slavery is particularly noteworthy. The natural resources +of this colony offered a ready home for the system, and the laws here +formulated were as explicit as any ever enacted. Slaves were first +imported from Barbadoes, and their status received official confirmation +in 1682. By 1720 the number had increased to 12,000, the white people +numbering only 9,000. By 1698 such was the fear from the preponderance +of the Negro population that a special act was passed to encourage white +immigration. Legislation "for the better ordering of slaves" was passed +in 1690, and in 1712 the first regular slave law was enacted. Once +before 1713, the year of the Assiento Contract of the Peace of Utrecht, +and several times after this date, prohibitive duties were placed on +Negroes to guard against their too rapid increase. By 1734, however, +importation had again reached large proportions; and in 1740, in +consequence of recent insurrectionary efforts, a prohibitive duty +several times larger than the previous one was placed upon Negroes +brought into the province. + +The colony of Georgia was chartered in 1732 and actually founded the +next year. Oglethorpe's idea was that the colony should be a refuge for +persecuted Christians and the debtor classes of England. Slavery was +forbidden on the ground that Georgia was to defend the other English +colonies from the Spaniards on the South, and that it would not be able +to do this if like South Carolina it dissipated its energies in guarding +Negro slaves. For years the development of Georgia was slow, and the +prosperous condition of South Carolina constantly suggested to the +planters that "the one thing needful" for their highest welfare was +slavery. Again and again were petitions addressed to the trustees, +George Whitefield being among those who most urgently advocated the +innovation. Moreover, Negroes from South Carolina were sometimes hired +for life, and purchases were openly made in Savannah. It was not until +1749, however, that the trustees yielded to the request. In 1755 the +legislature passed an act that regulated the conduct of the slaves, and +in 1765 a more regular code was adopted. Thus did slavery finally gain a +foothold in what was destined to become one of the most important of the +Southern states. + +For the first fifty or sixty years of the life of the colonies the +introduction of Negroes was slow; the system of white servitude +furnished most of the labor needed, and England had not yet won +supremacy in the slave-trade. It was in the last quarter of the +seventeenth century that importations began to be large, and in the +course of the eighteenth century the numbers grew by leaps and bounds. +In 1625, six years after the first Negroes were brought to the colony, +there were in Virginia only 23 Negroes, 12 male, 11 female. [1] In 1659 +there were 300; but in 1683 there were 3,000 and in 1708, 12,000. In +1680 Governor Simon Bradstreet reported to England with reference to +Massachusetts that "no company of blacks or slaves" had been brought +into the province since its beginning, for the space of fifty years, +with the exception of a small vessel that two years previously, after a +twenty months' voyage to Madagascar, had brought hither between forty +and fifty Negroes, mainly women and children, who were sold for £10, +£15, and £20 apiece; occasionally two or three Negroes were brought from +Barbadoes or other islands, and altogether there were in Massachusetts +at the time not more than 100 or 120. + +[Footnote 1: _Virginia Magazine of History_, VII, 364.] + +The colonists were at first largely opposed to the introduction of +slavery, and numerous acts were passed prohibiting it in Virginia, +Massachusetts, and elsewhere; and in Georgia, as we have seen, it had at +first been expressly forbidden. English business men, however, had no +scruples about the matter. About 1663 a British Committee on +Foreign Plantations declared that "black slaves are the most useful +appurtenances of a plantation," [1] and twenty years later the Lords +Commissioners of Trade stated that "the colonists could not possibly +subsist" without an adequate supply of slaves. Laws passed in the +colonies were regularly disallowed by the crown, and royal governors +were warned that the colonists would not be permitted to "discourage a +traffic so beneficial to the nation." Before 1772 Virginia passed not +less than thirty-three acts looking toward the prohibition of the +importation of slaves, but in every instance the act was annulled by +England. In the far South, especially in South Carolina, we have seen +that there were increasingly heavy duties. In spite of all such efforts +for restriction, however, the system of Negro slavery, once well +started, developed apace. + +[Footnote 1: Bogart: _Economic History_, 73.] + +In two colonies not among the original thirteen but important in the +later history of the United States, Negroes were present at a very early +date, in the Spanish colony of Florida from the very first, and in the +French colony of Louisiana as soon as New Orleans really began to grow. +Negroes accompanied the Spaniards in their voyages along the South +Atlantic coast early in the sixteenth century, and specially trained +Spanish slaves assisted in the founding of St. Augustine in 1565. The +ambitious schemes in France of the great adventurer, John Law, and +especially the design of the Mississippi Company (chartered 1717) +included an agreement for the importation into Louisiana of six thousand +white persons and three thousand Negroes, the Company having secured +among other privileges the exclusive right to trade with the colony for +twenty-five years and the absolute ownership of all mines in it. The +sufferings of some of the white emigrants from France--the kidnapping, +the revenge, and the chicanery that played so large a part--all make +a story complete in itself. As for the Negroes, it was definitely +stipulated that these should not come from another French colony without +the consent of the governor of that colony. The contract had only begun +to be carried out when Law's bubble burst. However, in June, 1721, there +were 600 Negroes in Louisiana; in 1745 the number had increased to +2020. The stories connected with these people are as tragic and wildly +romantic as are most of the stories in the history of Louisiana. In +fact, this colony from the very first owed not a little of its abandon +and its fascination to the mysticism that the Negroes themselves brought +from Africa. In the midst of much that is apocryphal one or two events +or episodes stand out with distinctness. In 1729, Perier, governor at +the time, testified with reference to a small company of Negroes who +had been sent against the Indians as follows: "Fifteen Negroes in whose +hands we had put weapons, performed prodigies of valor. If the blacks +did not cost so much, and if their labors were not so necessary to the +colony, it would be better to turn them into soldiers, and to dismiss +those we have, who are so bad and so cowardly that they seem to have +been manufactured purposely for this colony[1]." Not always, however, +did the Negroes fight against the Indians. In 1730 some representatives +of the powerful Banbaras had an understanding with the Chickasaws by +which the latter were to help them in exterminating all the white people +and in setting up an independent republic[2]. They were led by a strong +and desperate Negro named Samba. As a result of this effort for freedom +Samba and seven of his companions were broken on the wheel and a woman +was hanged. Already, however, there had been given the suggestion of the +possible alliance in the future of the Indian and the Negro. From the +very first also, because of the freedom from restraint of all the +elements of population that entered into the life of the colony, there +was the beginning of that mixture of the races which was later to tell +so vitally on the social life of Louisiana and whose effects are so +readily apparent even to-day. + +[Footnote 1: Gayarré: _History of Louisiana_, I, 435.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., I, 440.] + + +5. The Wake of the Slave-Ship + +Thus it was that Negroes came to America. Thus it was also, we might +say, that the Negro Problem came, though it was not for decades, not +until the budding years of American nationality, that the ultimate +reaches of the problem were realized. Those who came were by no means +all of exactly the same race stock and language. Plantations frequently +exhibited a variety of customs, and sometimes traditional enemies became +brothers in servitude. The center of the colonial slave-trade was the +African coast for about two hundred miles east of the great Niger River. +From this comparatively small region came as many slaves as from all the +rest of Africa together. A number of those who came were of entirely +different race stock from the Negroes; some were Moors, and a very few +were Malays from Madagascar. + +The actual procuring of the slaves was by no means as easy a process as +is sometimes supposed. In general the slave mart brought out the most +vicious passions of all who were in any way connected with the traffic. +The captain of a vessel had to resort to various expedients to get his +cargo. His commonest method was to bring with him a variety of gay +cloth, cheap ornaments, and whiskey, which he would give in exchange for +slaves brought to him. His task was most simple when a chieftain of +one tribe brought to him several hundred prisoners of war. Ordinarily, +however, the work was more toilsome, and kidnapping a favorite method, +though individuals were sometimes enticed on vessels. The work was +always dangerous, for the natives along the slave-coast soon became +suspicious. After they had seen some of their tribesmen taken away, they +learned not to go unarmed while a slave-vessel was on the coast, and +very often there were hand-to-hand encounters. It was not long before it +began to be impressed upon those interested in the trade that it was not +good business to place upon the captain of a vessel the responsibility +of getting together three or four hundred slaves, and that it would be +better if he could find his cargo waiting for him when he came. Thus +arose the so-called factories, which were nothing more than warehouses. +Along the coast were placed small settlements of Europeans, whose +business it was to stimulate slave-hunting expeditions, negotiate for +slaves brought in, and see that they were kept until the arrival of the +ships. Practically every nation engaged in the traffic planted factories +of this kind along the West Coast from Cape Verde to the equator; and +thus it was that this part of Africa began to be the most flagrantly +exploited region in the world; thus whiskey and all the other vices of +civilization began to come to a simple and home-loving people. + +Once on board the slaves were put in chains two by two. When the ship +was ready to start, the hold of the vessel was crowded with moody and +unhappy wretches who most often were made to crouch so that their knees +touched their chins, but who also were frequently made to lie on their +sides "spoon-fashion." Sometimes the space between floor and ceiling +was still further diminished by the water-barrels; on the top of these +barrels boards were placed, on the boards the slaves had to lie, and +in the little space that remained they had to subsist as well as they +could. There was generally only one entrance to the hold, and provision +for only the smallest amount of air through the gratings on the sides. +The clothing of a captive, if there was any at all, consisted of only +a rag about the loins. The food was half-rotten rice, yams, beans, or +soup, and sometimes bread and meat; the cooking was not good, nor was +any care taken to see that all were fed. Water was always limited, a +pint a day being a generous allowance; frequently no more than a gill +could be had. The rule was to bring the slaves from the hold twice a +day for an airing, about eight o'clock in the morning and four in the +afternoon; but this plan was not always followed. On deck they were made +to dance by the lash, and they were also forced to sing. Thus were born +the sorrow-songs, the last cry of those who saw their homeland vanish +behind them--forever. + +Sometimes there were stern fights on board. Sometimes food was refused +in order that death might be hastened. When opportunity served, some +leaped overboard in the hope of being taken back to Africa. Throughout +the night the hold resounded with the moans of those who awoke from +dreams of home to find themselves in bonds. Women became hysterical, and +both men and women became insane. Fearful and contagious diseases broke +out. Smallpox was one of these. More common was ophthalmia, a frightful +inflammation of the eyes. A blind, and hence a worthless, slave was +thrown to the sharks. The putrid atmosphere, the melancholy, and the +sudden transition from heat to cold greatly increased the mortality, +and frequently when morning came a dead and a living slave were found +shackled together. A captain always counted on losing one-fourth of his +cargo. Sometimes he lost a great deal more. + +Back on the shore a gray figure with strained gaze watched the ship fade +away--an old woman sadly typical of the great African mother. With her +vision she better than any one else perceived the meaning of it all. The +men with hard faces who came to buy and sell might deceive others, but +not her. In a great vague way she felt that something wrong had attacked +the very heart of her people. She saw men wild with the whiskey of the +Christian nations commit crimes undreamed of before. She did not like +the coast towns; the girl who went thither came not home again, and a +young man was lost to all that Africa held dear. In course of time she +saw every native craft despised, and instead of the fabric that her own +fingers wove her children yearned for the tinsel and the gewgaws of the +trader. She cursed this man, and she called upon all her spirits +to banish the evil. But when at last all was of no avail--when the +strongest youth or the dearest maiden had gone--she went back to her hut +and ate her heart out in the darkness. She wept for her children and +would not be comforted because they were not. Then slowly to the +untutored mind somehow came the promise: "These are they which came out +of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in +the blood of the Lamb.... They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any +more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb +which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them +unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from +their eyes." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NEGRO IN THE COLONIES + + +The Negroes who were brought from Africa to America were brought hither +to work, and to work under compulsion; hence any study of their social +life in the colonial era must be primarily a study of their life under +the system of slavery, and of the efforts of individuals to break away +from the same. + + +1. _Servitude and Slavery_ + +For the antecedents of Negro slavery in America one must go back to the +system of indentured labor known as servitude. This has been defined +as "a legalized status of Indian, white, and Negro servants preceding +slavery in most, if not all, of the English mainland colonies."[1] A +study of servitude will explain many of the acts with reference to +Negroes, especially those about intermarriage with white people. For the +origins of the system one must go back to social conditions in England +in the seventeenth century. While villeinage had been formally abolished +in England at the middle of the fourteenth century, it still lingered in +remote places, and even if men were not technically villeins they might +be subjected to long periods of service. By the middle of the fifteenth +century the demand for wool had led to the enclosure of many farms +for sheep-raising, and accordingly to distress on the part of many +agricultural laborers. Conditions were not improved early in the +sixteenth century, and they were in fact made more acute, the abolition +of the monasteries doing away with many of the sources of relief. Men +out of work were thrown upon the highways and thus became a menace to +society. In 1564 the price of wheat was 19s. a quarter and wages were +7d. a day. The situation steadily grew worse, and in 1610, while wages +were still the same, wheat was 35s. a quarter. Rents were constantly +rising, moreover, and many persons died from starvation. In the course +of the seventeenth century paupers and dissolute persons more and more +filled the jails and workhouses. + +[Footnote 1: _New International Encyclopædia_, Article "Slavery."] + +Meanwhile in the young colonies across the sea labor was scarce, and it +seemed to many an act of benevolence to bring from England persons who +could not possibly make a living at home and give them some chance in +the New World. From the very first, children, and especially young +people between the ages of twelve and twenty, were the most desired. The +London Company undertook to meet half of the cost of the transportation +and maintenance of children sent out by parish authorities, the +understanding being that it would have the service of the same until +they were of age.[1] The Company was to teach each boy a trade and when +his freedom year arrived was to give to each one fifty acres, a cow, +some seed corn, tools, and firearms. He then became the Company's +tenant, for seven years more giving to it one-half of his produce, at +the end of which time he came into full possession of twenty-five acres. +After the Company collapsed individuals took up the idea. Children under +twelve years of age might be bound for seven years, and persons over +twenty-one for no more than four; but the common term was five years. + +[Footnote 1: Coman: _Industrial History_, 42.] + +Under this system fell servants voluntary and involuntary. Hundreds of +people, too poor to pay for their transportation, sold themselves for +a number of years to pay for the transfer. Some who were known as +"freewillers" had some days in which to dispose of themselves to the +best advantage in America; if they could not make satisfactory terms, +they too were sold to pay for the passage. More important from the +standpoint of the system itself, however, was the number of involuntary +servants brought hither. Political offenders, vagrants, and other +criminals were thus sent to the colonies, and many persons, especially +boys and girls, were kidnapped in the streets of London and "spirited" +away. Thus came Irishmen or Scotchmen who had incurred the ire of the +crown, Cavaliers or Roundheads according as one party or the other was +out of power, and farmers who had engaged in Monmouth's rebellion; and +in the year 1680 alone it was estimated that not less than ten thousand +persons were "spirited" away from England. It is easy to see how such +a system became a highly profitable one for shipmasters and those in +connivance with them. Virginia objected to the criminals, and in 1671 +the House of Burgesses passed a law against the importing of such +persons, and the same was approved by the governor. Seven years later, +however, it was set aside for the transportation of political offenders. + +As having the status of an apprentice the servant could sue in court and +he was regularly allowed "freedom dues" at the expiration of his term. +He could not vote, however, could not bear weapons, and of course +could not hold office. In some cases, especially where the system was +voluntary, servants sustained kindly relations with their masters, a few +even becoming secretaries or tutors. More commonly, however, the lot of +the indentured laborer was a hard one, his food often being only coarse +Indian meal, and water mixed with molasses. The moral effect of the +system was bad in the fate to which it subjected woman and in the +evils resulting from the sale of the labor of children. In this whole +connection, however, it is to be remembered that the standards of the +day were very different from those of our own. The modern humanitarian +impulse had not yet moved the heart of England, and flogging was still +common for soldiers and sailors, criminals and children alike. + +The first Negroes brought to the colonies were technically servants, and +generally as Negro slavery advanced white servitude declined. James II, +in fact, did whatever he could to hasten the end of servitude in order +that slavery might become more profitable. Economic forces were with +him, for while a slave varied in price from £10 to £50, the mere cost +of transporting a servant was from £6 to £10. "Servitude became slavery +when to such incidents as alienation, disfranchisement, whipping, and +limited marriage were added those of perpetual service and a denial of +civil, juridical, marital and property rights as well as the denial of +the possession of children."[1] Even after slavery was well established, +however, white men and women were frequently retained as domestic +servants, and the system of servitude did not finally pass in all of its +phases before the beginning of the Revolutionary War. + +[Footnote 1: _New International Encyclopædia_, Article "Slavery."] + +Negro slavery was thus distinctively an evolution. As the first Negroes +were taken by pirates, the rights of ownership could not legally be +given to those who purchased them; hence slavery by custom preceded +slavery by statute. Little by little the colonies drifted into the +sterner system. The transition was marked by such an act as that in +Rhode Island, which in 1652 permitted a Negro to be bound for ten years. +We have already referred to the Act of Assembly in Virginia in 1661 to +the effect that Negroes were incapable of making satisfaction for time +lost in running away by addition of time. Even before it had become +generally enacted or understood in the colonies, however, that a child +born of slave parents should serve for life, a new question had arisen, +that of the issue of a free person and a slave. This led Virginia in +1662 to lead the way with an act declaring that the status of a child +should be determined by that of the mother,[1] which act both gave to +slavery the sanction of law and made it hereditary. From this time +forth Virginia took a commanding lead in legislation; and it is to be +remembered that when we refer to this province we by no means have +reference to the comparatively small state of to-day, but to the richest +and most populous of the colonies. This position Virginia maintained +until after the Revolutionary War, and not only the present West +Virginia but the great Northwest Territory were included in her domain. + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, II, 170.] + +The slave had none of the ordinary rights of citizenship; in a criminal +case he could be arrested, tried, and condemned with but one witness +against him, and he could be sentenced without a jury. In Virginia +in 1630 one Hugh Davis was ordered to be "soundly whipped before an +assembly of Negroes and others, for abusing himself to the dishonor of +God and the shame of Christians, by defiling his body in lying with a +Negro."[1] Just ten years afterwards, in 1640, one Robert Sweet was +ordered "to do penance in church, according to the laws of England, for +getting a Negro woman with child, and the woman to be whipped."[2] Thus +from the very beginning the intermixture of the races was frowned upon +and went on all the same. By the time, moreover, that the important acts +of 1661 and 1662 had formally sanctioned slavery, doubt had arisen +in the minds of some Virginians as to whether one Christian could +legitimately hold another in bondage; and in 1667 it was definitely +stated that the conferring of baptism did not alter the condition of a +person as to his bondage or freedom, so that masters, freed from +this doubt, could now "more carefully endeavor the propagation of +Christianity." In 1669 an "act about the casual killing of slaves" +provided that if any slave resisted his master and under the extremity +of punishment chanced to die, his death was not to be considered a +felony and the master was to be acquitted. In 1670 it was made clear +that none but freeholders and housekeepers should vote in the election +of burgesses, and in the same year provision was taken against the +possible ownership of a white servant by a free Negro, who nevertheless +"was not debarred from buying any of his own nation." In 1692 there +was legislation "for the more speedy prosecution of slaves committing +capital crimes"; and this was reënacted in 1705, when some provision was +made for the compensation of owners and when it was further declared +that Negro, mulatto, and Indian slaves within the dominion were "real +estate" and "incapable in law to be witnesses in any cases whatsoever"; +and in 1723 there was an elaborate and detailed act "directing the +trial of slaves committing capital crimes, and for the more effectual +punishing conspiracies and insurrections of them, and for the better +government of Negroes, mulattoes, and Indians, bond or free." This +last act specifically stated that no slave should be set free upon +any pretense whatsoever "except for some meritorious services, to be +adjudged and allowed by the governor and council." All this legislation +was soon found to be too drastic and too difficult to enforce, and +modification was inevitable. This came in 1732, when it was made +possible for a slave to be a witness when another slave was on trial +for a capital offense, and in 1744 this provision was extended to civil +cases as well. In 1748 there was a general revision of all existing +legislation, with special provision against attempted insurrections. + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, I, 146.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., I, 552.] + +Thus did Virginia pave the way, and more and more slave codes took on +some degree of definiteness and uniformity. Very important was the +act of 1705, which provided that a slave might be inventoried as real +estate. As property henceforth there was nothing to prevent his being +separated from his family. Before the law he was no longer a person but +a thing. + + +2. 737 _The Indian, the Mulatto, and the Free Negro_ + +All along, it is to be observed, the problem of the Negro was +complicated by that of the Indian. At first there was a feeling that +Indians were to be treated not as Negroes but as on the same basis as +Englishmen. An act in Virginia of 1661-2 summed up this feeling in the +provision that they were not to be sold as servants for any longer time +than English people of the same age, and injuries done to them were to +be duly remedied by the laws of England. About the same time a Powhatan +Indian sold for life was ordered to be set free. An interesting +enactment of 1670 attempted to give the Indian an intermediate status +between that of the Englishman and the Negro slave, as "servants not +being Christians, imported into the colony by shipping" (i.e., Negroes) +were to be slaves for their lives, but those that came by land were to +serve "if boys or girls until thirty years of age; if men or women, +twelve years and no longer." All such legislation, however, was +radically changed as a result of Nathaniel Bacon's rebellion of 1676, in +which the aid of the natives was invoked against the English governor. +Henceforth Indians taken in war became the slaves for life of their +captors. An elaborate act of 1682 summed up the new status, and Indians +sold by other Indians were to be "adjudged, deemed, and taken to be +slaves, to all intents and purposes, any law, usage, or custom to the +contrary notwithstanding." Indian women were to be "tithables,"[1] and +they were required to pay levies just as Negro women. From this time +forth enactments generally included Indians along with Negroes, but of +course the laws placed on the statute books did not always bear close +relation to what was actually enforced, and in general the Indian was +destined to be a vanishing rather than a growing problem. Very early in +the eighteenth century, in connection with the wars between the English +and the Spanish in Florida, hundreds of Indians were shipped to the West +Indies and some to New England. Massachusetts in 1712 prohibited +such importation, as the Indians were "malicious, surly, and very +ungovernable," and she was followed to similar effect by Pennsylvania in +1712, by New Hampshire in 1714, and by Connecticut and Rhode Island in +1715. + +[Footnote 1: Hurd, commenting on an act of 1649 declaring all imported +male servants to be tithables, speaks as follows (230): "_Tithables_ +were persons assessed for a poll-tax, otherwise called the 'county +levies.' At first, only free white persons were tithable. The law of +1645 provided for a tax on property and tithable persons. By 1648 +property was released and taxes levied only on the tithables, at +a specified poll-tax. Therefore by classing servants or slaves as +tithables, the law attributes to them legal personality, or a membership +in the social state inconsistent with the condition of a chattel or +property."] + +If the Indian was destined to be a vanishing factor, the mulatto and the +free Negro most certainly were not. In spite of all the laws to prevent +it, the intermixture of the races increased, and manumission somehow +also increased. Sometimes a master in his will provided that several of +his slaves should be given their freedom. Occasionally a slave became +free by reason of what was regarded as an act of service to the +commonwealth, as in the case of one Will, slave belonging to Robert +Ruffin, of the county of Surry in Virginia, who in 1710 divulged a +conspiracy.[1] There is, moreover, on record a case of an indentured +Negro servant, John Geaween, who by his unusual thrift in the matter of +some hogs which he raised on the share system with his master, was able +as early as 1641 to purchase his own son from another master, to the +perfect satisfaction of all concerned.[2] Of special importance for +some years were those persons who were descendants of Negro fathers and +indentured white mothers, and who at first were of course legally free. +By 1691 the problem had become acute in Virginia. In this year "for +prevention of that abominable mixture and spurious issue, which +hereafter may increase in this dominion, as well by Negroes, mulattoes +and Indians intermarrying with English or other white women, as by their +unlawful accompanying with one another," it was enacted that "for the +time to come whatsoever English or other white man or woman being free +shall intermarry with a Negro, mulatto, or Indian man or woman, bond +or free, shall within three months after such marriage be banished +and removed from this dominion forever, and that the justices of each +respective county within this dominion make it their particular care +that this act be put in effectual execution."[3] A white woman who +became the mother of a child by a Negro or mulatto was to be fined £15 +sterling, in default of payment was to be sold for five years, while the +child was to be bound in servitude to the church wardens until thirty +years of age. It was further provided that if any Negro or mulatto was +set free, he was to be transported from the country within six months +of his manumission (which enactment is typical of those that it was +difficult to enforce and that after a while were only irregularly +observed). In 1705 it was enacted that no "Negro, mulatto, or Indian +shall from and after the publication of this act bear any office +ecclesiastical, civil or military, or be in any place of public trust or +power, within this her majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia"; and +to clear any doubt that might arise as to who should be accounted a +mulatto, it was provided that "the child of an Indian, and the child, +grandchild, or great-grandchild of a Negro shall be deemed, accounted, +held, and taken to be a mulatto." It will be observed that while the act +of 1670 said that "none but freeholders and housekeepers" could vote, +this act of 1705 did not specifically legislate against voting by a +mulatto or a free Negro, and that some such privilege was exercised for +a while appears from the definite provision in 1723 that "no free Negro, +mulatto, or Indian, whatsoever, shall hereafter have any vote at the +election of burgesses, or any other election whatsoever." In the same +year it was provided that free Negroes and mulattoes might be employed +as drummers or trumpeters in servile labor, but that they were not to +bear arms; and all free Negroes above sixteen years of age were declared +tithable. In 1769, however, all free Negro and mulatto women were +exempted from levies as tithables, such levies having proved to be +burdensome and "derogatory to the rights of freeborn subjects." + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, III, 537.] + +[Footnote 2: _Virginia Magazine of History_, X, 281.] + +[Footnote 3: The penalty was so ineffective that in 1705 it was changed +simply to imprisonment for six months "without bail or mainprise."] + +More than other colonies Maryland seems to have been troubled about the +intermixture of the races; certainly no other phase of slavery here +received so much attention. This was due to the unusual emphasis on +white servitude in the colony. In 1663 it was enacted that any freeborn +woman intermarrying with a slave should serve the master of the slave +during the life of her husband and that any children resulting from +the union were also to be slaves. This act was evidently intended to +frighten the indentured woman from such a marriage. It had a very +different effect. Many masters, in order to prolong the indenture of +their white female servants, encouraged them to marry Negro slaves. +Accordingly a new law in 1681 threw the responsibility not on the +indentured woman but on the master or mistress; in case a marriage took +place between a white woman-servant and a slave, the woman was to be +free at once, any possible issue was to be free, and the minister +performing the ceremony and the master or mistress were to be fined ten +thousand pounds of tobacco. This did not finally dispose of the problem, +however, and in 1715, in response to a slightly different situation, it +was enacted that a white woman who became the mother of a child by a +free Negro father should become a servant for seven years, the father +also a servant for seven years, and the child a servant until thirty-one +years of age. Any white man who begot a Negro woman with child, whether +a free woman or a slave, was to undergo the same penalty as a white +woman--a provision that in course of time was notoriously disregarded. +In 1717 the problem was still unsettled, and in this year it was enacted +that Negroes or mulattoes of either sex intermarrying with white people +were to be slaves for life, except mulattoes born of white women, who +were to serve for seven years, and the white person so intermarrying +also for seven years. It is needless to say that with all these changing +and contradictory provisions many servants and Negroes did not even +know what the law was. In 1728, however, free mulatto women having +illegitimate children by Negroes and other slaves, and free Negro +women having illegitimate children by white men, and their issue, were +subjected to the same penalties as in the former act were provided +against white women. Thus vainly did the colony of Maryland struggle +with the problem of race intermixture. Generally throughout the South +the rule in the matter of the child of the Negro father and the +indentured white mother was that the child should be bound in servitude +for thirty or thirty-one years. + +In the North as well as in the South the intermingling of the blood of +the races was discountenanced. In Pennsylvania as early as 1677 a white +servant was indicted for cohabiting with a Negro. In 1698 the Chester +County court laid it down as a principle that the mingling of the races +was not to be allowed. In 1722 a woman was punished for promoting a +secret marriage between a white woman and a Negro; a little later the +Assembly received from the inhabitants of the province a petition +inveighing against cohabiting; and in 1725-6 a law was passed positively +forbidding the mixture of the races.[1] In Massachusetts as early as +1705 and 1708 restraining acts to prevent a "spurious and mixt issue" +ordered the sale of offending Negroes and mulattoes out of the colony's +jurisdiction, and punished Christians who intermarried with them by a +fine of £50. After the Revolutionary War such marriages were declared +void and the penalty of £50 was still exacted, and not until 1843 was +this act repealed. Thus was the color-line, with its social and legal +distinctions, extended beyond the conditions of servitude and slavery, +and thus early was an important phase of the ultimate Negro Problem +foreshadowed. + +[Footnote 1: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 29-30.] + +Generally then, in the South, in the colonial period, the free Negro +could not vote, could not hold civil office, could not give testimony in +cases involving white men, and could be employed only for fatigue +duty in the militia. He could not purchase white servants, could not +intermarry with white people, and had to be very circumspect in his +relations with slaves. No deprivation of privilege, however, relieved +him of the obligation to pay taxes. Such advantages as he possessed were +mainly economic. The money gained from his labor was his own; he might +become skilled at a trade; he might buy land; he might buy slaves;[1] he +might even buy his wife and child if, as most frequently happened, +they were slaves; and he might have one gun with which to protect his +home.[2] Once in a long while he might even find some opportunity +for education, as when the church became the legal warden of Negro +apprentices. Frequently he found a place in such a trade as that of +the barber or in other personal service, and such work accounted very +largely for the fact that he was generally permitted to remain in +communities where technically he had no right to be. In the North his +situation was little better than in the South, and along economic lines +even harder. Everywhere his position was a difficult one. He was most +frequently regarded as idle and shiftless, and as a breeder of mischief; +but if he showed unusual thrift he might even be forced to leave his +home and go elsewhere. Liberty, the boon of every citizen, the free +Negro did not possess. For all the finer things of life--the things that +make life worth living--the lot that was his was only less hard than +that of the slave. + +[Footnote 1: Russell: _The Free Negro in Virginia_, 32-33, cites from +the court records of Northampton County, 1651-1654 and 1655-1658, the +noteworthy case of a free negro, Anthony Johnson, who had come to +Virginia not later than 1622 and who by 1650 owned a large tract of land +on the Eastern Shore. To him belonged a Negro, John Casor. After several +years of labor Casor demanded his freedom on the ground that from the +first he had been an indentured servant and not a slave. When the case +came up in court, however, not only did Johnson win the verdict that +Casor was his slave, but he also won his suit against Robert Parker, a +white man, who he asserted had illegally detained Casor.] + +[Footnote 2: Hening: _Statutes_, IV, 131.] + + +3. _First Effort for Social Betterment_ + +If now we turn aside from laws and statutes and consider the ordinary +life and social intercourse of the Negro, we shall find more than one +contradiction, for in the colonial era codes affecting slaves and free +Negroes had to grope their way to uniformity. Especially is it necessary +to distinguish between the earlier and the later years of the period, +for as early as 1760 the liberalism of the Revolutionary era began to be +felt. If we consider what was strictly the colonial epoch, we may find +it necessary to make a division about the year 1705. Before this date +the status of the Negro was complicated by the incidents of the system +of servitude; after it, however, in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and +Massachusetts alike, special discrimination against him on account of +race was given formal recognition. + +By 1715 there were in Virginia 23,000 Negroes, and in all the colonies +58,850, or 14 per cent of the total population.[1] By 1756, however, +the Negroes in Virginia numbered 120,156 and the white people but +173,316.[2] Thirty-eight of the forty-nine counties had more Negro than +white tithables, and eleven of the counties had a Negro population +varying from one-fourth to one-half more than the white. A great many of +the Negroes had only recently been imported from Africa, and they were +especially baffling to their masters of course when they conversed in +their native tongues. At first only men were brought, but soon women +came also, and the treatment accorded these people varied all the way +from occasional indulgence to the utmost cruelty. The hours of work +regularly extended from sunrise to sunset, though corn-husking and +rice-beating were sometimes continued after dark, and overseers were +almost invariably ruthless, often having a share in the crops. Those who +were house-servants would go about only partially clad, and the slave +might be marked or branded like one of the lower animals; he was not +thought to have a soul, and the law sought to deprive him of all human +attributes. Holiday amusement consisted largely of the dances that the +Negroes had brought with them, these being accompanied by the beating of +drums and the blowing of horns; and funeral ceremonies featured African +mummeries. For those who were criminal offenders simple execution was +not always considered severe enough; the right hand might first be +amputated, the criminal then hanged and his head cut off, and his body +quartered and the parts suspended in public places. Sometimes the +hanging was in chains, and several instances of burning are on record. +A master was regularly reimbursed by the government for a slave legally +executed, and in 1714 there was a complaint in South Carolina that +the treasury had become almost exhausted by such reimbursements. In +Massachusetts hanging was the worst legal penalty, but the obsolete +common-law punishment was revived in 1755 to burn alive a slave-woman +who had killed her master in Cambridge.[3] + +[Footnote 1: Blake: _History of Slavery and the Slave-Trade_, 378.] + +[Footnote 2: Ballagh: _Slavery in Virginia_, 12.] + +[Footnote 3: Edward Eggleston: "Social Conditions in the Colonies," in +_Century Magazine_, October, 1884, p. 863.] + +The relations between the free Negro and the slave might well have given +cause for concern. Above what was after all only an artificial barrier +spoke the call of race and frequently of kindred. Sometimes at a later +date jealousy arose when a master employed a free Negro to work with +his slaves, the one receiving pay and the others laboring without +compensation. In general, however, the two groups worked like brothers, +each giving the other the benefit of any temporary advantage that it +possessed. Sometimes the free Negro could serve by reason of the greater +freedom of movement that he had, and if no one would employ him, or if, +as frequently happened, he was browbeaten and cheated out of the reward +of his labor, the slave might somehow see that he got something to eat. +In a state of society in which the relation of master and slave was the +rule, there was of course little place for either the free Negro or the +poor white man. When the pressure became too great the white man moved +away; the Negro, finding himself everywhere buffeted, in the colonial +era at least had little choice but to work out his salvation at home as +well as he could. More and more character told, and if a man had made +himself known for his industry and usefulness, a legislative act might +even be passed permitting him to remain in the face of a hostile law. +Even before 1700 there were in Virginia families in which both parents +were free colored persons and in which every effort was made to bring up +the children in honesty and morality. When some prosperous Negroes found +themselves able to do so, they occasionally purchased Negroes, who might +be their own children or brothers, in order to give them that protection +without which on account of recent manumission they might be required to +leave the colony in which they were born. Thus, whatever the motive, the +tie that bound the free Negro and the slave was a strong one; and in +spite of the fact that Negroes who owned slaves were generally known +as hard masters, as soon as any men of the race began to be really +prominent their best endeavor was devoted to the advancement of their +people. It was not until immediately after the Revolutionary War, +however, that leaders of vision and statesmanship began to be developed. + +It was only the materialism of the eighteenth century that accounted for +the amazing development of the system of Negro slavery, and only this +that defeated the benevolence of Oglethorpe's scheme for the founding +of Georgia. As yet there was no united protest--no general movement for +freedom; and as Von Holst said long afterwards, "If the agitation had +been wholly left to the churches, it would have been long before men +could have rightly spoken of 'a slavery question.'" The Puritans, +however, were not wholly unmindful of the evil, and the Quakers were +untiring in their opposition, though it was Roger Williams who in 1637 +made the first protest that appears in the colonies.[1] Both John Eliot +and Cotton Mather were somewhat generally concerned about the harsh +treatment of the Negro and the neglect of his spiritual welfare. +Somewhat more to the point was Richard Baxter, the eminent English +nonconformist, who was a contemporary of both of these men. "Remember," +said he, in speaking of Negroes and other slaves, "that they are of as +good a kind as you; that is, they are reasonable creatures as well as +you, and born to as much natural liberty. If their sin have enslaved +them to you, yet Nature made them your equals." On the subject of +man-stealing he is even stronger: "To go as pirates and catch up poor +Negroes or people of another land, that never forfeited life or liberty, +and to make them slaves, and sell them, is one of the worst kinds of +thievery in the world." Such statements, however, were not more than the +voice of individual opinion. The principles of the Quakers carried them +far beyond the Puritans, and their history shows what might have been +accomplished if other denominations had been as sincere and as unselfish +as the Society of Friends. The Germantown protest of 1688 has already +been remarked. In 1693 George Keith, in speaking of fugitives, quoted +with telling effect the text, "Thou shalt not deliver unto his master +the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee" (Deut. 23.15). +In 1696 the Yearly Meeting in Pennsylvania first took definite action +in giving as its advice "that Friends be careful not to encourage the +bringing in of any more Negroes; and that such that have Negroes, be +careful of them, bring them to meetings, have meetings with them in +their families, and restrain them from loose and lewd living as much as +in them lies, and from rambling abroad on First-days or other times."[2] +As early as 1713 the Quakers had in mind a scheme for freeing the +Negroes and returning them to Africa, and by 1715 their efforts +against importation had seriously impaired the market for slaves +in Philadelphia. Within a century after the Germantown protest the +abolition of slavery among the Quakers was practically accomplished. + +[Footnote 1: For this and the references immediately following note +Locke: _Anti-Slavery in America_, 11-45.] + +[Footnote 2: _Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the +Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends against Slavery and the +Slave-Trade_, 8.] + +In the very early period there seems to have been little objection to +giving a free Negro not only religious but also secular instruction; +indeed he might be entitled to this, as in Virginia, where in 1691 the +church became the agency through which the laws of Negro apprenticeship +were carried out; thus in 1727 it was ordered that David James, a free +Negro boy, be bound to Mr. James Isdel, who was to "teach him to read +the Bible distinctly, also the trade of a gunsmith" and "carry him to +the clerk's office and take indenture to that purpose."[1] In general +the English church did a good deal to provide for the religious +instruction of the free Negro; "the reports made in 1724 to the English +bishop by the Virginia parish ministers are evidence that the few free +Negroes in the parishes were permitted to be baptized, and were received +into the church when they had been taught the catechism."[2] Among +Negroes, moreover, as well as others in the colonies the Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was active. As early as 1705, +in Goose Creek Parish in South Carolina, among a population largely +recently imported from Africa, a missionary had among his communicants +twenty blacks who well understood the English tongue.[3] The most +effective work of the Society, however, was in New York, where as early +as 1704 a school was opened by Elias Neau, a Frenchman who after several +years of imprisonment because of his Protestant faith had come to New +York to try his fortune as a trader. In 1703 he had called the attention +of the Society to the Negroes who were "without God in the world, and of +whose souls there was no manner of care taken," and had suggested the +appointment of a catechist. He himself was prevailed upon to take up the +work and he accordingly resigned his position as an elder in the French +church and conformed to the Church of England. He worked with success +for a number of years, but in 1712 was embarrassed by the charge that +his school fomented the insurrection that was planned in that year. He +finally showed, however, that only one of his students was in any way +connected with the uprising. + +[Footnote 1: Russell: _The Free Negro in Virginia_, 138-9.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 138.] + +[Footnote 3: C.E. Pierre, in _Journal of Negro History_, October, 1916, +p. 350.] + +From slave advertisements of the eighteenth century[1] we may gain many +sidelights not only on the education of Negroes in the colonial era, +but on their environment and suffering as well. One slave "can write a +pretty good hand; plays on the fife extremely well." Another "can both +read and write and is a good fiddler." Still others speak "Dutch and +good English," "good English and High Dutch," or "Swede and English +well." Charles Thomas of Delaware bore the following remarkable +characterization: "Very black, has white teeth ... has had his left leg +broke ... speaks both French and English, and is a very great rogue." +One man who came from the West Indies "was born in Dominica and speaks +French, but very little English; he is a very ill-natured fellow and has +been much cut in his back by often whipping." A Negro named Simon who in +1740 ran away in Pennsylvania "could bleed and draw teeth pretending to +be a great doctor." Worst of all the incidents of slavery, however, was +the lack of regard for home ties, and this situation of course obtained +in the North as well as the South. In the early part of the eighteenth +century marriages in New York were by mutual consent only, without the +blessing of the church, and burial was in a common field without any +Christian office. In Massachusetts in 1710 Rev. Samuel Phillips drew up +a marriage formulary especially designed for slaves and concluding as +follows: "For you must both of you bear in mind that you remain still, +as really and truly as ever, your master's property, and therefore +it will be justly expected, both by God and man, that you behave +and conduct yourselves as obedient and faithful servants."[2] In +Massachusetts, however, as in New York, marriage was most often by +common consent simply, without the office of ministers. + +[Footnote 1: See documents, "Eighteenth Century Slave Advertisements," +_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1916, 163-216.] + +[Footnote 2: Quoted from Williams: Centennial Oration, "The American +Negro from 1776 to 1876," 10.] + +As yet there was no racial consciousness, no church, no business +organization, and the chief coöperative effort was in insurrection. +Until the great chain of slavery was thrown off, little independent +effort could be put forth. Even in the state of servitude or slavery, +however, the social spirit of the race yearned to assert itself, and +such an event as a funeral was attractive primarily because of the +social features that it developed. As early as 1693 there is record of +the formation of a distinct society by Negroes. In one of his manuscript +diaries, preserved in the library of the Massachusetts Historical +Society,[1] Cotton Mather in October of this year wrote as follows: +"Besides the other praying and pious meetings which I have been +continually serving in our neighborhood, a little after this period +a company of poor Negroes, of their own accord, addressed me, for my +countenance to a design which they had, of erecting such a meeting for +the welfare of their miserable nation, that were servants among us. I +allowed their design and went one evening and prayed and preached (on +Ps. 68.31) with them; and gave them the following orders, which I insert +duly for the curiosity of the occasion." The Rules to which Mather here +refers are noteworthy as containing not one suggestion of anti-slavery +sentiment, and as portraying the altogether abject situation of the +Negro at the time he wrote; nevertheless the text used was an inspiring +one, and in any case the document must have historical importance as +the earliest thing that has come down to us in the nature of the +constitution or by-laws for a distinctively Negro organization. It is +herewith given entire: + + Rules for the Society of Negroes. 1693. + + We the Miserable Children of Adam, and of Noah, thankfully Admiring + and Accepting the Free-Grace of GOD, that Offers to Save us from our + Miseries, by the Lord Jesus Christ, freely Resolve, with His Help, + to become the Servants of that Glorious LORD. + + And that we may be Assisted in the Service of our Heavenly Master, + we now join together in a SOCIETY, wherein the following RULES are + to be observed. + + I. It shall be our Endeavor, to Meet in the _Evening_ after the + _Sabbath_; and Pray together by Turns, one to Begin, and another to + Conclude the Meeting; And between the two _Prayers_, a _Psalm_ shall + be sung, and a _Sermon_ Repeated. + + II. Our coming to the Meeting, shall never be without the _Leave_ of + such as have Power over us: And we will be Careful, that our Meeting + may Begin and Conclude between the Hours of _Seven_ and _Nine_; and + that we may not be _unseasonably Absent_ from the Families whereto + we pertain. + + III. As we will, with the help of God, at all Times avoid all + _Wicked Company_, so we will Receive none into our Meeting, but + such as have sensibly _Reformed_ their lives from all manner of + Wickedness. And, therefore, None shall be Admitted, without the + Knowledge and Consent of the _Minister_ of God in this place; unto + whom we will also carry every Person, that seeks for _Admission_ + among us; to be by Him Examined, Instructed and Exhorted. + + IV. We will, as often as may be, Obtain some Wise and Good Man, of + the English in the Neighborhood, and especially the Officers of the + Church, to look in upon us, and by their Presence and Counsel, do + what they think fitting for us. + + V. If any of our Number fall into the Sin of _Drunkenness_, or + _Swearing_, or _Cursing_, or _Lying_, or _Stealing_, or notorious + _Disobedience_ or _Unfaithfulness_ unto their Masters, we will + Admonish him of his Miscarriage, and Forbid his coming to the + Meeting, for at least _one Fortnight_; And except he then come with + great Signs and Hopes of his _Repentance_, we will utterly Exclude + him, with Blotting his _Name_ out of our list. + + VI. If any of our Society Defile himself with _Fornication_, we will + give him our _Admonition_; and so, debar him from the Meeting, at + least half a Year: Nor shall he Return to it, ever any more, without + Exemplary Testimonies of his becoming a _New Creature_. + + VII. We will, as we have Opportunity, set ourselves to do all the + Good we can, to the other _Negro-Servants_ in the Town; And if any + of them should, at unfit Hours, be _Abroad_, much more, if any of + them should _Run away_ from their Masters, we will afford them + _no Shelter_: But we will do what in us lies, that they may be + discovered, and punished. And if any of _us_ are found Faulty in + this matter, they shall be no longer of _us_. + + VIII. None of our Society shall be _Absent_ from our Meeting, + without giving a Reason of the Absence; and if it be found, that any + have pretended unto their _Owners_, that they came unto the Meeting, + when they were otherwise and elsewhere Employed, we will faithfully + _Inform_ their Owners, and also do what we can to Reclaim such + Person from all such Evil Courses for the Future: + + IX. It shall be expected from every one in the Society, that he + learn the Catechism; And therefore, it shall be one of our usual + Exercises, for one of us, to ask the _Questions_, and for all the + rest in their Order, to say the _Answers_ in the Catechism; Either, + The _New English_ Catechism, or the _Assemblies_ Catechism, or the + Catechism in the _Negro Christianised_. + +[Footnote 1: See _Rules for the Society of Negroes_, 1693, by Cotton +Mather, reprinted, New York, 1888, by George H. Moore.] + + +4. Early Insurrections + +The Negroes who came to America directly from Africa in the eighteenth +century were strikingly different from those whom generations of +servitude later made comparatively docile. They were wild and turbulent +in disposition and were likely at any moment to take revenge for the +great wrong that had been inflicted upon them. The planters in the South +knew this and lived in constant fear of uprisings. When the situation +became too threatening, they placed prohibitive duties on importations, +and they also sought to keep their slaves in subjection by barbarous and +cruel modes of punishment, both crucifixion and burning being legalized +in some early codes. On sea as well as on land Negroes frequently rose +upon those who held them in bondage, and sometimes they actually +won their freedom. More and more, however, in any study of Negro +insurrections it becomes difficult to distinguish between a clearly +organized revolt and what might be regarded as simply a personal crime, +so that those uprisings considered in the following discussion can only +be construed as the more representative of the many attempts for freedom +made by Negro slaves in the colonial era. + +In 1687 there was in Virginia a conspiracy among the Negroes in the +Northern Neck that was detected just in time to prevent slaughter, and +in Surry County in 1710 there was a similar plot, betrayed by one of the +conspirators. In 1711, in South Carolina, several Negroes ran away from +their masters and "kept out, armed, robbing and plundering houses and +plantations, and putting the inhabitants of the province in great +fear and terror";[1] and Governor Gibbes more than once wrote to the +legislature about amending the Negro Act, as the one already in +force did "not reach up to some of the crimes" that were daily being +committed. For one Sebastian, "a Spanish Negro," alive or dead, a reward +of £50 was offered, and he was at length brought in by the Indians and +taken in triumph to Charleston. In 1712 in New York occurred an outbreak +that occasioned greater excitement than any uprising that had preceded +it in the colonies. Early in the morning of April 7 some slaves of the +Carmantee and Pappa tribes who had suffered ill-usage, set on fire the +house of Peter van Tilburgh, and, armed with guns and knives, killed and +wounded several persons who came to extinguish the flames. They fled, +however, when the Governor ordered the cannon to be fired to alarm the +town, and they got away to the woods as well as they could, but +not before they had killed several more of the citizens. Some shot +themselves in the woods and others were captured. Altogether eight or +ten white persons were killed, and, aside from those Negroes who had +committed suicide, eighteen or more were executed, several others being +transported. Of those executed one was hanged alive in chains, some were +burned at the stake, and one was left to die a lingering death before +the gaze of the town. + +[Footnote 1: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 63.] + +In May, 1720, some Negroes in South Carolina were fairly well organized +and killed a man named Benjamin Cattle, one white woman, and a little +Negro boy. They were pursued and twenty-three taken and six convicted. +Three of the latter were executed, the other three escaping. In October, +1722, the Negroes near the mouth of the Rappahannock in Virginia +undertook to kill the white people while the latter were assembled in +church, but were discovered and put to flight. On this occasion, as on +most others, Sunday was the day chosen for the outbreak, the Negroes +then being best able to get together. In April, 1723, it was thought +that some fires in Boston had been started by Negroes, and the selectmen +recommended that if more than two Negroes were found "lurking together" +on the streets they should be put in the house of correction. In 1728 +there was a well organized attempt in Savannah, then a place of three +thousand white people and two thousand seven hundred Negroes. The plan +to kill all the white people failed because of disagreement as to the +exact method; but the body of Negroes had to be, fired on more than +once before it dispersed. In 1730 there was in Williamsburg, Va., an +insurrection that grew out of a report that Colonel Spotswood had orders +from the king to free all baptized persons on his arrival; men from all +the surrounding counties had to be called in before it could be put +down. + +The first open rebellion in South Carolina in which Negroes were +"actually armed and embodied"[1] took place in 1730. The plan was for +each Negro to kill his master in the dead of night, then for all to +assemble supposedly for a dancing-bout, rush upon the heart of the city, +take possession of the arms, and kill any white man they saw. The plot +was discovered and the leaders executed. In this same colony three +formidable insurrections broke out within the one year 1739--one in St. +Paul's Parish, one in St. John's, and one in Charleston. To some extent +these seem to have been fomented by the Spaniards in the South, and in +one of them six houses were burned and as many as twenty-five white +people killed. The Negroes were pursued and fourteen killed. Within two +days "twenty more were killed, and forty were taken, some of whom +were shot, some hanged, and some gibbeted alive."[2] This "examplary +punishment," as Governor Gibbes called it, was by no means effective, +for in the very next year, 1740, there broke out what might be +considered the most formidable insurrection in the South in the whole +colonial period. A number of Negroes, having assembled at Stono, first +surprised, and killed two young men in a warehouse, from which they then +took guns and ammunition.[3] They then elected as captain one of their +own number named Cato, whom they agreed to follow, and they marched +towards the southwest, with drums beating and colors flying, like a +disciplined company. They entered the home of a man named Godfrey, and +having murdered him and his wife and children, they took all the arms he +had, set fire to the house, and proceeded towards Jonesboro. On their +way they plundered and burned every house to which they came, killing +every white person they found and compelling the Negroes to join them. +Governor Bull, who happened to be returning to Charleston from the +southward, met them, and observing them armed, spread the alarm, which +soon reached the Presbyterian Church at Wilton, where a number of +planters was assembled. The women were left in the church trembling with +fear, while the militia formed and marched in quest of the Negroes, who +by this time had become formidable from the number that had joined them. +They had marched twelve miles and spread desolation through all the +plantations on their way. They had then halted in an open field and too +soon had begun to sing and drink and dance by way of triumph. During +these rejoicings the militia discovered them and stationed themselves +in different places around them to prevent their escape. One party then +advanced into the open field and attacked the Negroes. Some were +killed and the others were forced to the woods. Many ran back to the +plantations, hoping thus to avoid suspicion, but most of them were taken +and tried. Such as had been forced to join the uprising against their +will were pardoned, but all of the chosen leaders and the first +insurgents were put to death. All Carolina, we are told, was struck with +terror and consternation by this insurrection, in which more than twenty +white persons were killed. It was followed immediately by the famous and +severe Negro Act of 1740, which among other provisions imposed a duty of +£100 on Africans and £150 on colonial Negroes. This remained technically +in force until 1822, and yet as soon as security and confidence were +restored, there was a relaxation in the execution of the provisions +of the act and the Negroes little by little regained confidence in +themselves and again began to plan and act in concert. + +[Footnote 1: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 68.] + +[Footnote 2: Coffin.] + +[Footnote 3: The following account follows mainly Holland, quoting +Hewitt.] + +About the time of Cato's insurrection there were also several uprisings +at sea. In 1731, on a ship returning to Rhode Island from Guinea with a +cargo of slaves, the Negroes rose and killed three of the crew, all the +members of which died soon afterwards with the exception of the captain +and his boy. The next year Captain John Major of Portsmouth, N.H., was +murdered with all his crew, his schooner and cargo being seized by the +slaves. In 1735 the captives on the _Dolphin_ of London, while still on +the coast of Africa, overpowered the crew, broke into the powder room, +and finally in the course of their effort for freedom blew up both +themselves and the crew. + +A most remarkable design--as an insurrection perhaps not as formidable +as that of Cato, but in some ways the most important single event in the +history of the Negro in the colonial period--was the plot in the city +of New York in 1741. New York was at the time a thriving town of +twelve thousand inhabitants, and the calamity that now befell it was +unfortunate in every way. It was not only a Negro insurrection, though +the Negro finally suffered most bitterly. It was also a strange compound +of the effects of whiskey and gambling, of the designs of abandoned +white people, and of prejudice against the Catholics. + +Prominent in the remarkable drama were John Hughson, a shoemaker and +alehouse keeper; Sarah Hughson, his wife; John Romme, also a shoemaker +and alehouse keeper; Margaret Kerry, alias Salinburgh, commonly known +as Peggy; John Ury, a priest; and a number of Negroes, chief among whom +were Cæsar, Prince, Cuffee, and Quack.[1] Prominent among those who +helped to work out the plot were Mary Burton, a white servant of +Hughson's, sixteen years of age; Arthur Price, a young white man who +at the time of the proceedings happened to be in prison on a charge of +stealing; a young seaman named Wilson; and two white women, Mrs. Earle +and Mrs. Hogg, the latter of whom assisted in the store kept by her +husband, Robert Hogg. Hughson's house on the outskirts of the town was a +resort for Negroes, and Hughson himself aided and abetted the Negro men +in any crime that they might commit. Romme was of similar quality. Peggy +was a prostitute, and it was Cæsar who paid for her board with the +Hughsons. In the previous summer she had found lodging with these +people, a little later she had removed to Romme's, and just before +Christmas she had come back to Hughson's, and a few weeks thereafter she +became a mother. At both the public houses the Negroes would engage in +drinking and gambling; and importance also attaches to an organization +of theirs known as the Geneva Society, which had angered some of the +white citizens by its imitation of the rites and forms of freemasonry. + +[Footnote 1: The sole authority on the plot is "A Journal of the +Proceedings in the Detection of the Conspiracy formed by Some White +People, in Conjunction with Negro and other Slaves, for Burning the City +of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants (by Judge Daniel +Horsemanden). New York, 1744."] + +Events really began on the night of Saturday, February 28, 1741, with +a robbery in the house of Hogg, the merchant, from which were taken +various pieces of linen and other goods, several silver coins, chiefly +Spanish, and medals, to the value of about £60. On the day before, in +the course of a simple purchase by Wilson, Mrs. Hogg had revealed to the +young seaman her treasure. He soon spoke of the same to Cæsar, Prince, +and Cuffee, with whom he was acquainted; he gave them the plan of the +house, and they in turn spoke of the matter to Hughson. Wilson, however, +when later told of the robbery by Mrs. Hogg, at once turned suspicion +upon the Negroes, especially Cæsar; and Mary Burton testified that she +saw some of the speckled linen in question in Peggy's room after Cæsar +had gone thither. + +On Wednesday, March 18, a fire broke out on the roof of His Majesty's +House at Fort George. One week later, on March 25, there was a fire at +the home of Captain Warren in the southwest end of the city, and the +circumstances pointed to incendiary origin. One week later, on April +1, there was a fire in the storehouse of a man named Van Zant; on the +following Saturday evening there was another fire, and while the people +were returning from this there was still another; and on the next day, +Sunday, there was another alarm, and by this time the whole town had +been worked up to the highest pitch of excitement. As yet there was +nothing to point to any connection between the stealing and the fires. +On the day of the last one, however, Mrs. Earle happened to overhear +remarks by three Negroes that caused suspicion to light upon them; Mary +Burton was insisting that stolen goods had been brought by Prince and +Cæsar to the house of her master; and although a search of the home of +Hughson failed to produce a great deal, arrests were made right and +left. The case was finally taken to the Supreme Court, and because of +the white persons implicated, the summary methods ordinarily used in +dealing with Negroes were waived for the time being. + +Peggy at first withstood all questioning, denying any knowledge of the +events that had taken place. One day in prison, however, she remarked +to Arthur Price that she was afraid the Negroes would tell but that she +would not forswear herself unless they brought her into the matter. "How +forswear?" asked Price. "There are fourteen sworn," she said. "What, +is it about Mr. Hogg's goods?" he asked. "No," she replied, "about the +fire." "What, Peggy," asked Price, "were you going to set the town on +fire?" "No," she replied, "but since I knew of it they made me swear." +She also remarked that she had faith in Prince, Cuff, and Cæsar. All +the while she used the vilest possible language, and at last, thinking +suddenly that she had revealed too much, she turned upon Price and with +an oath warned him that he had better keep his counsel. That afternoon +she said further to him that she could not eat because Mary had brought +her into the case. + +A little later Peggy, much afraid, voluntarily confessed that early in +May she was at the home of John Romme, where in the course of December +the Negroes had had several meetings; among other things they had +conspired to burn the fort first of all, then the city, then to get all +the goods they could and kill anybody who had money. One evening just +about Christmas, she said, Romme and his wife and ten or eleven Negroes +had been together in a room. Romme had talked about how rich some people +were, gradually working on the feelings of the Negroes and promising +them that if they did not succeed in their designs he would take them +to a strange country and set them free, meanwhile giving them the +impression that he bore a charmed life. A little later, it appeared, +Cæsar gave to Hughson £12; Hughson was then absent for three days, +and when he came again he brought with him seven or eight guns, some +pistols, and some swords. + +As a result of these and other disclosures it was seen that not only +Hughson and Romme but also Ury, who was not so much a priest as an +adventurer, had instigated the plots of the Negroes; and Quack testified +that Hughson was the first contriver of the plot to burn the houses of +the town and kill the people, though he himself, he confessed, did fire +the fort with a lighted stick. The punishment was terrible. Quack and +Cuffee, the first to be executed, were burned at the stake on May +30. All through the summer the trials and the executions continued, +harassing New York and indeed the whole country. Altogether twenty white +persons were arrested; four--Hughson, his wife, Peggy, and Ury--were +executed, and some of their acquaintances were forced to leave the +province. One hundred and fifty-four Negroes were arrested. Thirteen +were burned, eighteen were hanged, and seventy-one transported. + + * * * * * + +It is evident from these events and from the legislation of the era +that, except for the earnest work of such a sect as the Quakers, there +was little genuine effort for the improvement of the social condition +of the Negro people in the colonies. They were not even regarded as +potential citizens, and both in and out of the system of slavery were +subjected to the harshest regulations. Towards amicable relations with +the other racial elements that were coming to build up a new country +only the slightest measure of progress was made. Instead, insurrection +after insurrection revealed the sharpest antagonism, and any outbreak +promptly called forth the severest and frequently the most cruel +punishment. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA + + +1. _Sentiment in England and America_ + +The materialism of the eighteenth century, with all of its evils, at +length produced a liberalism of thought that was to shake to their very +foundations old systems of life in both Europe and America. The progress +of the cause of the Negro in this period is to be explained by the +general diffusion of ideas that made for the rights of man everywhere. +Cowper wrote his humanitarian poems; in close association with the +romanticism of the day the missionary movement in religion began to +gather force; and the same impulse which in England began the agitation +for a free press and for parliamentary reform, and which in France +accounted for the French Revolution, in America led to the revolt from +Great Britain. No patriot could come under the influence of any one +of these movements without having his heart and his sense of justice +stirred to some degree in behalf of the slave. At the same time it must +be remembered that the contest of the Americans was primarily for the +definite legal rights of Englishmen rather than for the more abstract +rights of mankind which formed the platform of the French Revolution; +hence arose the great inconsistency in the position of men who were +engaged in a stern struggle for liberty at the same time that they +themselves were holding human beings in bondage. + +In England the new era was formally signalized by an epoch-making +decision. In November, 1769, Charles Stewart, once a merchant in Norfolk +and later receiver general of the customs of North America, took to +England his Negro slave, James Somerset, who, being sick, was turned +adrift by his master. Later Somerset recovered and Stewart seized him, +intending to have him borne out of the country and sold in Jamaica. +Somerset objected to this and in so doing raised the important legal +question, Did a slave by being brought to England become free? The case +received an extraordinary amount of attention, for everybody realized +that the decision would be far-reaching in its consequences. After it +was argued at three different sittings, Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of +England, in 1772 handed down from the Court of King's Bench the judgment +that as soon as ever any slave set his foot upon the soil of England he +became free. + +This decision may be taken as fairly representative of the general +advance that the cause of the Negro was making in England at the time. +Early in the century sentiment against the slave-trade had begun to +develop, many pamphlets on the evils of slavery were circulated, and as +early as 1776 a motion for the abolition of the trade was made in the +House of Commons. John Wesley preached against the system, Adam Smith +showed its ultimate expensiveness, and Burke declared that the slavery +endured by the Negroes in the English settlements was worse than that +ever suffered by any other people. Foremost in the work of protest were +Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, the one being the leader in +investigation and in the organization of the movement against slavery +while the other was the parliamentary champion of the cause. For +years, assisted by such debaters as Burke, Fox, and the younger Pitt, +Wilberforce worked until on March 25, 1807, the bill for the abolition +of the slave-trade received the royal assent, and still later until +slavery itself was abolished in the English dominions (1833). + +This high thought in England necessarily found some reflection in +America, where the logic of the position of the patriots frequently +forced them to take up the cause of the slave. As early as 1751 Benjamin +Franklin, in his _Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind_, +pointed out the evil effects of slavery upon population and the +production of wealth; and in 1761 James Otis, in his argument against +the Writs of Assistance, spoke so vigorously of the rights of black men +as to leave no doubt as to his own position. To Patrick Henry slavery +was a practice "totally repugnant to the first impressions of right and +wrong," and in 1777 he was interested in a plan for gradual emancipation +received from his friend, Robert Pleasants. Washington desired nothing +more than "to see some plan adopted by which slavery might be abolished +by law"; while Joel Barlow in his _Columbiad_ gave significant warning +to Columbia of the ills that she was heaping up for herself. + +Two of the expressions of sentiment of the day, by reason of their deep +yearning and philosophic calm, somehow stand apart from others. Thomas +Jefferson in his _Notes on Virginia_ wrote: "The whole commerce between +master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous +passions; the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading +submission on the other.... The man must be a prodigy who can retain his +manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances.... I tremble for my +country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice can not sleep +forever; that considering numbers, nature, and natural means only, a +revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is +among possible events; that it may become probable by supernatural +interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us +in such a contest."[1] Henry Laurens, that fine patriot whose business +sense was excelled only by his idealism, was harassed by the problem and +wrote to his son, Colonel John Laurens, as follows: "You know, my dear +son, I abhor slavery. I was born in a country where slavery had been +established by British kings and parliaments, as well as by the laws of +that country ages before my existence. I found the Christian religion +and slavery growing under the same authority and cultivation. I +nevertheless disliked it. In former days there was no combating the +prejudices of men supported by interest; the day I hope is approaching +when, from principles of gratitude as well as justice, every man will +strive to be foremost in showing his readiness to comply with the golden +rule. Not less than twenty thousand pounds sterling would all my Negroes +produce if sold at public auction to-morrow. I am not the man who +enslaved them; they are indebted to Englishmen for that favor; +nevertheless I am devising means for manumitting many of them, and for +cutting off the entail of slavery. Great powers oppose me--the laws and +customs of my country, my own and the avarice of my countrymen. What +will my children say if I deprive them of so much estate? These are +difficulties, but not insuperable. I will do as much as I can in my +time, and leave the rest to a better hand."[2] Stronger than all else, +however, were the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence: "We +hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; +that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; +that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." +Within the years to come these words were to be denied and assailed as +perhaps no others in the language; but in spite of all they were to +stand firm and justify the faith of 1776 before Jefferson himself and +others had become submerged in a gilded opportunism. + +[Footnote 1: "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, issued under the +auspices of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association," 20 vols., +Washington, 1903, II, 226-227.] + +[Footnote 2: "A South Carolina Protest against Slavery (being a letter +written from Henry Laurens, second president of the Continental +Congress, to his son, Colonel John Laurens; dated Charleston, S.C., +August 14th, 1776)." Reprinted by G.P. Putnam, New York, 1861.] + +It is not to be supposed that such sentiments were by any means general; +nevertheless these instances alone show that some men at least in +the colonies were willing to carry their principles to their logical +conclusion. Naturally opinion crystallized in formal resolutions or +enactments. Unfortunately most of these were in one way or another +rendered ineffectual after the war; nevertheless the main impulse that +they represented continued to live. In 1769 Virginia declared that the +discriminatory tax levied on free Negroes and mulattoes since 1668 was +"derogatory to the rights of freeborn subjects" and accordingly should +be repealed. In October, 1774, the First Continental Congress declared +in its Articles of Association that the united colonies would "neither +import nor purchase any slave imported after the first day of December +next" and that they would "wholly discontinue the trade." On April 16, +1776, the Congress further resolved that "no slaves be imported into any +of the thirteen colonies"; and the first draft of the Declaration of +Independence contained a strong passage censuring the King of England +for bringing slaves into the country and then inciting them to rise +against their masters. On April 14, 1775, the first abolition society in +the country was organized in Pennsylvania; in 1778 Virginia once more +passed an act prohibiting the slave-trade; and the Methodist Conference +in Baltimore in 1780 strongly expressed its disapproval of slavery. + + +2. _The Negro in the War_ + +As in all the greater wars in which the country has engaged, the +position of the Negro was generally improved by the American Revolution. +It was not by reason of any definite plan that this was so, for in +general the disposition of the government was to keep him out of the +conflict. Nevertheless between the hesitating policy of America and the +overtures of England the Negro made considerable advance. + +The American cause in truth presented a strange and embarrassing +dilemma, as we have remarked. In the war itself, moreover, began the +stern cleavage between the North and the South. At the moment the rift +was not clearly discerned, but afterwards it was to widen into a chasm. +Massachusetts bore more than her share of the struggle, and in the South +the combination of Tory sentiment and the aristocratic social system +made enlistment especially difficult. In this latter section, moreover, +there was always the lurking fear of an uprising of the slaves, and +before the end of the war came South Carolina and Georgia were very +nearly demoralized. In the course of the conflict South Carolina lost +not less than 25,000 slaves,[1] about one-fifth of all she had. Georgia +did not lose so many, but proportionally suffered even more. Some of the +Negroes went into the British army, some went away with the loyalists, +and some took advantage of the confusion and escaped to the Indians. +In Virginia, until they were stopped at least, some slaves entered the +Continental Army as free Negroes. + +[Footnote 1: Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in the +American Army of the Revolution, by G.H. Moore, New York, 1862, p. 15.] + +Three or four facts are outstanding. The formal policy of Congress and +of Washington and his officers was against the enlistment of Negroes and +especially of slaves; nevertheless, while things were still uncertain, +some Negroes entered the regular units. The inducements offered by the +English, moreover, forced a modification of the American policy in +actual operation; and before the war was over the colonists were so hard +pressed that in more ways than one they were willing to receive the +assistance of Negroes. Throughout the North Negroes served in the +regular units; but while in the South especially there was much thought +given to the training of slaves, in only one of all the colonies was +there a distinctively Negro military organization, and that one was +Rhode Island. In general it was understood that if a slave served in the +war he was to be given his freedom, and it is worthy of note that many +slaves served in the field instead of their masters. + +In Massachusetts on May 29, 1775, the Committee of Safety passed an act +against the enlistment of slaves as "inconsistent with the principles +that are to be supported." Another resolution of June 6 dealing with the +same matter was laid on the table. Washington took command of the forces +in and about Boston July 3, 1775, and on July 10 issued instructions +to the recruiting officers in Massachusetts against the enlisting of +Negroes. Toward the end of September there was a spirited debate in +Congress over a letter to go to Washington, the Southern delegates, led +by Rutledge of South Carolina, endeavoring to force instructions to the +commander-in-chief to discharge all slaves and free Negroes in the +army. A motion to this effect failed to win a majority; nevertheless, a +council of Washington and his generals on October 8 "agreed unanimously +to reject all slaves, and, by a great majority, to reject Negroes +altogether," and in his general orders of November 12 Washington acted +on this understanding. Meanwhile, however, Lord Dunmore issued his +proclamation declaring free those indentured servants and Negroes who +would join the English army, and in great numbers the slaves in Virginia +flocked to the British standard. Then on December 14--somewhat to the +amusement of both the Negroes and the English--the Virginia Convention +issued a proclamation offering pardon to those slaves who returned to +their duty within ten days. On December 30 Washington gave instructions +for the enlistment of free Negroes, promising later to lay the matter +before Congress; and a congressional committee on January 16, 1776, +reported that those free Negroes who had already served faithfully in +the army at Cambridge might reënlist but no others, the debate in this +connection having drawn very sharply the line between the North and the +South. Henceforth for all practical purposes the matter was left in the +hands of the individual colonies. Massachusetts on January 6, 1777, +passed a resolution drafting every seventh man to complete her quota +"without any exception, save the people called Quakers," and this was as +near as she came at any time in the war to the formal recognition of the +Negro. The Rhode Island Assembly in 1778 resolved to raise a regiment +of slaves, who were to be freed at enlistment, their owners in no case +being paid more than £120. In the Battle of Rhode Island August 29, +1778, the Negro regiment under Colonel Greene distinguished itself by +deeds of desperate valor, repelling three times the assaults of an +overwhelming force of Hessian troops. A little later, when Greene was +about to be murdered, some of these same soldiers had to be cut to +pieces before he could be secured. Maryland employed Negroes as soldiers +and sent them into regiments along with white men, and it is to be +remembered that at the time the Negro population of Maryland was +exceeded only by that of Virginia and South Carolina. For the far South +there was the famous Laurens plan for the raising of Negro regiments. + +In a letter to Washington of March 16, 1779, Henry Laurens suggested +the raising and training of three thousand Negroes in South Carolina. +Washington was rather conservative about the plan, having in mind the +ever-present fear of the arming of Negroes and wondering about the +effect on those slaves who were not given a chance for freedom. On June +30, 1779, however, Sir Henry Clinton issued a proclamation only less +far-reaching than Dunmore's, threatening Negroes if they joined the +"rebel" army and offering them security if they came within the British +lines. This was effective; assistance of any kind that the Continental +Army could now get was acceptable; and the plan for the raising of +several battalions of Negroes in the South was entrusted to Colonel John +Laurens, a member of Washington's staff. In his own way Colonel Laurens +was a man of parts quite as well as his father; he was thoroughly +devoted to the American cause and Washington said of him that his only +fault was a courage that bordered on rashness. He eagerly pursued his +favorite project; able-bodied slaves were to be paid for by Congress at +the rate of $1,000 each, and one who served to the end of the war was +to receive his freedom and $50 in addition. In South Carolina, however, +Laurens received little encouragement, and in 1780 he was called upon +to go to France on a patriotic mission. He had not forgotten the matter +when he returned in 1782; but by that time Cornwallis had surrendered +and the country had entered upon the critical period of adjustment to +the new conditions. Washington now wrote to Laurens: "I must confess +that I am not at all astonished at the failure of your plan. That spirit +of freedom which, at the commencement of this contest, would have gladly +sacrificed everything to the attainment of its object, has long since +subsided, and every selfish passion has taken its place. It is not the +public but private interest which influences the generality of mankind; +nor can the Americans any longer boast an exception. Under these +circumstances, it would rather have been surprising if you had +succeeded; nor will you, I fear, have better success in Georgia."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Sparks's _Washington_, VIII, 322-323.] + +From this brief survey we may at least see something of the anomalous +position occupied by the Negro in the American Revolution. Altogether +not less than three thousand, and probably more, members of the race +served in the Continental army. At the close of the conflict New York, +Rhode Island, and Virginia freed their slave soldiers. In general, +however, the system of slavery was not affected, and the English were +bound by the treaty of peace not to carry away any Negroes. As late as +1786, it is nevertheless interesting to note, a band of Negroes calling +themselves "The King of England's soldiers" harassed and alarmed the +people on both sides of the Savannah River. + +Slavery remained; but people could not forget the valor of the Negro +regiment in Rhode Island, or the courage of individual soldiers. They +could not forget that it was a Negro, Crispus Attucks, who had been the +patriot leader in the Boston Massacre, or the scene when he and one of +his companions, Jonas Caldwell, lay in Faneuil Hall. Those who were at +Bunker Hill could not fail to remember Peter Salem, who, when Major +Pitcairn of the British army was exulting in his expected triumph, +rushed forward, shot him in the breast, and killed him; or Samuel Poor, +whose officers testified that he performed so many brave deeds that "to +set forth particulars of his conduct would be tedious." These and many +more, some with very humble names, in a dark day worked for a better +country. They died in faith, not having received the promises, but +having seen them afar off. + +3. _The Northwest Territory and the Constitution_ + +The materialism and selfishness which rose in the course of the war to +oppose the liberal tendencies of the period, and which Washington felt +did so much to embarrass the government, became pronounced in the +debates on the Northwest Territory and the Constitution. At the outbreak +of the Revolutionary War the region west of Pennsylvania, east of the +Mississippi River, north of the Ohio River, and south of Canada, was +claimed by Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. This +territory afforded to these states a source of revenue not possessed by +the others for the payment of debts incurred in the war, and Maryland +and other seaboard states insisted that in order to equalize matters +these claimants should cede their rights to the general government. The +formal cessions were made and accepted in the years 1782-6. In April, +1784, after Virginia had made her cession, the most important, Congress +adopted a temporary form of government drawn up by Thomas Jefferson for +the territory south as well as north of the Ohio River. Jefferson's most +significant provision, however, was rejected. This declared that "after +the year 1800 there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude +in any of the said states other than in the punishment of crimes whereof +the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally +guilty." This early ordinance, although it did not go into effect, is +interesting as an attempt to exclude slavery from the great West that +was beginning to be opened up. On March 3, 1786, moreover, the Ohio +Company was formed in Boston by a group of New England business men for +the purpose of purchasing land in the West and promoting settlement; and +early in June, 1787, Dr. Manasseh Cutler, one of the chief promoters of +the company, appeared in New York, where the last Continental Congress +was sitting, for the concrete purpose of buying land. He doubtless +did much to hasten action by Congress, and on July 13 was passed "An +Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, +Northwest of the Ohio," the Southern states not having ceded the area +south of the river. It was declared that "There shall be neither slavery +nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in +punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall be duly convicted." To +this was added the stipulation (soon afterwards embodied in the Federal +Constitution) for the return of any person escaping into the territory +from whom labor or service was "lawfully claimed in any one of the +original states." In this shape the ordinance was adopted, even South +Carolina and Georgia concurring; and thus was paved the way for the +first fugitive slave law. + +Slavery, already looming up as a dominating issue, was the cause of +two of the three great compromises that entered into the making of the +Constitution of the United States (the third, which was the first made, +being the concession to the smaller states of equal representation in +the Senate). These were the first but not the last of the compromises +that were to mark the history of the subject; and, as some clear-headed +men of the time perceived, it would have been better and cheaper to +settle the question at once on the high plane of right rather than to +leave it indefinitely to the future. South Carolina, however, with able +representation, largely controlled the thought of the convention, and +she and Georgia made the most extreme demands, threatening not to accept +the Constitution if there was not compliance with them. An important +question was that of representation, the Southern states advocating +representation according to numbers, slave and free, while the Northern +states were in favor of the representation of free persons only. +Williamson of North Carolina advocated the counting of three-fifths of +the slaves, but this motion was at first defeated, and there was little +real progress until Gouverneur Morris suggested that representation be +according to the principle of wealth. Mason of Virginia pointed out +practical difficulties which caused the resolution to be made to apply +to direct taxation only, and in this form it began to be generally +acceptable. By this time, however, the deeper feelings of the delegates +on the subject of slavery had been stirred, and they began to speak +plainly. Davie of North Carolina declared that his state would never +enter the Union on any terms that did not provide for counting at least +three-fifths of the slaves and that "if the Eastern states meant to +exclude them altogether the business was at an end." It was finally +agreed to reckon three-fifths of the slaves in estimating taxes and to +make taxation the basis of representation. The whole discussion was +renewed, however, in connection with the question of importation. There +were more threats from the far South, and some of the men from New +England, prompted by commercial interest, even if they did not favor +the sentiments expressed, were at least disposed to give them passive +acquiescence. From Maryland and Virginia, however, came earnest protest. +Luther Martin declared unqualifiedly that to have a clause in the +Constitution permitting the importation of slaves was inconsistent +with the principles of the Revolution and dishonorable to the American +character, and George Mason could foresee only a future in which a just +Providence would punish such a national sin as slavery by national +calamities. Such utterances were not to dominate the convention, +however; it was a day of expediency, not of morality. A bargain was made +between the commercial interests of the North and the slave-holding +interests of the South, the granting to Congress of unrestricted power +to enact navigation laws being conceded in exchange for twenty years' +continuance of the slave-trade. The main agreements on the subject +of slavery were thus finally expressed in the Constitution: +"Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several +states which may be included within this Union, according to their +respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole +number of free persons, including those bound to servitude for a term +of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other +persons" (Art. I, Sec. 2); "The migration or importation of such persons +as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not +be prohibited by the congress prior to the year 1808; but a tax or duty +may be imposed, not exceeding ten dollars on each person" (Art. I, Sec. +9); "No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws +thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or +regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall +be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may +be due" (Art. IV, Sec. 2). With such provisions, though without the use +of the question-begging word _slaves_, the institution of human bondage +received formal recognition in the organic law of the new republic of +the United States. + +"Just what is the light in which we are to regard the slaves?" wondered +James Wilson in the course of the debate. "Are they admitted as +citizens?" he asked; "then why are they not admitted on an equality with +white citizens? Are they admitted as property? then why is not other +property admitted into the computation?" Such questions and others to +which they gave rise were to trouble more heads than his in the course +of the coming years, and all because a great nation did not have the +courage to do the right thing at the right time. + + +4. Early Steps toward Abolition + +In spite, however, of the power crystallized in the Constitution, the +moral movement that had set in against slavery still held its ground, +and it was destined never wholly to languish until slavery ceased +altogether to exist in the United States. Throughout the century the +Quakers continued their good work; in the generation before the war John +Woolman of New Jersey traveled in the Southern colonies preaching that +"the practice of continuing slavery is not right"; and Anthony Benezet +opened in Philadelphia a school for Negroes which he himself taught +without remuneration, and otherwise influenced Pennsylvania to begin the +work of emancipation. In general the Quakers conducted their campaign +along the lines on which they were most likely to succeed, attacking +the slave-trade first of all but more and more making an appeal to +the central government; and the first Abolition Society, organized in +Pennsylvania in 1775 and consisting mainly of Quakers, had for its +original object merely the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in +bondage.[1] The organization was forced to suspend its work in the +course of the war, but in 1784 it renewed its meetings, and men of other +denominations than the Quakers now joined in greater numbers. In 1787 +the society was formally reorganized as "The Pennsylvania Society +for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, the Relief of Free Negroes +unlawfully held in Bondage, and for Improving the Condition of the +African Race." Benjamin Franklin was elected president and there was +adopted a constitution which was more and more to serve as a model for +similar societies in the neighboring states. + +[Footnote 1: Locke: _Anti-Slavery in America_, 97.] + +Four years later, by 1791, there were in the country as many as +twelve abolition societies, and these represented all the states from +Massachusetts to Virginia, with the exception of New Jersey, where a +society was formed the following year. That of New York, formed in 1785 +with John Jay as president, took the name of the Manumission Society, +limiting its aims at first to promoting manumission and protecting those +Negroes who had already been set free. All of the societies had very +clear ideas as to their mission. The prevalence of kidnaping made them +emphasize "the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage," +and in general each one in addition to its executive committee had +committees for inspection, advice, and protection; for the guardianship +of children; for the superintending of education, and for employment. +While the societies were originally formed to attend to local matters, +their efforts naturally extended in course of time to national affairs, +and on December 8, 1791, nine of them prepared petitions to Congress for +the limitation of the slave-trade. These petitions were referred to a +special committee and nothing more was heard of them at the time. After +two years accordingly the organizations decided that a more vigorous +plan of action was necessary, and on January 1, 1794, delegates from +nine societies organized in Philadelphia the American Convention of +Abolition Societies. The object of the Convention was twofold, "to +increase the zeal and efficiency of the individual societies by +its advice and encouragement ... and to take upon itself the chief +responsibility in regard to national affairs." It prepared an address to +the country and presented to Congress a memorial against the fitting out +of vessels in the United States to engage in the slave-trade, and it had +the satisfaction of seeing Congress in the same year pass a bill to this +effect. + +Some of the organizations were very active and one as far South as that +in Maryland was at first very powerful. Always were they interested +in suits in courts of law. In 1797 the New York Society reported 90 +complaints, 36 persons freed, 21 cases still in suit, and 19 under +consideration. The Pennsylvania Society reported simply that it had +been instrumental in the liberation of "many hundreds" of persons. The +different branches, however, did not rest with mere liberation; they +endeavored generally to improve the condition of the Negroes in their +respective communities, each one being expected to report to the +Convention on the number of freedmen in its state and on their property, +employment, and conduct. From time to time also the Convention prepared +addresses to these people, and something of the spirit of its work and +also of the social condition of the Negro at the time may be seen from +the following address of 1796: + + To the Free Africans and Other Free People of Color in the United + States. + + The Convention of Deputies from the Abolition Societies in the + United States, assembled at Philadelphia, have undertaken to address + you upon subjects highly interesting to your prosperity. + + They wish to see you act worthily of the rank you have acquired as + freemen, and thereby to do credit to yourselves, and to justify the + friends and advocates of your color in the eyes of the world. + + As the result of our united reflections, we have concluded to call + your attention to the following articles of advice. We trust they + are dictated by the purest regard for your welfare, for we view you + as Friends and Brethren. + + _In the first place_, We earnestly recommend to you, a regular + attention to the important duty of public worship; by which means + you will evince gratitude to your Creator, and, at the same time, + promote knowledge, union, friendship, and proper conduct among + yourselves. + + _Secondly_, We advise such of you, as have not been taught reading, + writing, and the first principles of arithmetic, to acquire them + as early as possible. Carefully attend to the instruction of your + children in the same simple and useful branches of education. Cause + them, likewise, early and frequently to read the holy Scriptures; + these contain, amongst other great discoveries, the precious record + of the original equality of mankind, and of the obligations of + universal justice and benevolence, which are derived from the + relation of the human race to each other in a common Father. + + _Thirdly_, Teach your children useful trades, or to labor with their + hands in cultivating the earth. These employments are favorable to + health and virtue. In the choice of masters, who are to instruct + them in the above branches of business, prefer those who will work + with them; by this means they will acquire habits of industry, and + be better preserved from vice than if they worked alone, or under + the eye of persons less interested in their welfare. In forming + contracts, for yourselves or children, with masters, it may be + useful to consult such persons as are capable of giving you the best + advice, and who are known to be your friends, in order to prevent + advantages being taken of your ignorance of the laws and customs of + our country. + + _Fourthly_, Be diligent in your respective callings, and faithful in + all the relations you bear in society, whether as husbands, wives, + fathers, children or hired servants. Be just in all your dealings. + Be simple in your dress and furniture, and frugal in your family + expenses. Thus you will act like Christians as well as freemen, and, + by these means, you will provide for the distresses and wants of + sickness and old age. + + _Fifthly_, Refrain from the use of spirituous liquors; the + experience of many thousands of the citizens of the United States + has proved that these liquors are not necessary to lessen the + fatigue of labor, nor to obviate the effects of heat or cold; nor + can they, in any degree, add to the innocent pleasures of society. + + _Sixthly_, Avoid frolicking, and amusements which lead to expense + and idleness; they beget habits of dissipation and vice, and thus + expose you to deserved reproach amongst your white neighbors. + + _Seventhly_, We wish to impress upon your minds the moral and + religious necessity of having your marriages legally performed; also + to have exact registers preserved of all the births and deaths which + occur in your respective families. + + _Eighthly_, Endeavor to lay up as much as possible of your earnings + for the benefit of your children, in case you should die before they + are able to maintain themselves--your money will be safest and most + beneficial when laid out in lots, houses, or small farms. + + _Ninthly_, We recommend to you, at all times and upon all occasions, + to behave yourselves to all persons in a civil and respectful + manner, by which you may prevent contention and remove every just + occasion of complaint. We beseech you to reflect, that it is by your + good conduct alone that you can refute the objections which have + been made against you as rational and moral creatures, and remove + many of the difficulties which have occurred in the general + emancipation of such of your brethren as are yet in bondage. + + With hearts anxious for your welfare, we commend you to the guidance + and protection of that _Being_ who is able to keep you from all + evil, and who is the common Father and Friend of the whole family of + mankind. + + Theodore Foster, President. Philadelphia, January 6th, 1796. + Thomas P. Cope, Secretary. + +The general impulse for liberty which prompted the Revolution and the +early Abolition societies naturally found some reflection in formal +legislation. The declarations of the central government under the +Confederation were not very effective, and for more definite enactments +we have to turn to the individual states. The honor of being the first +actually to prohibit and abolish slavery really belongs to Vermont, +whose constitution, adopted in 1777, even before she had come into the +Union, declared very positively against the system. In 1782 the old +Virginia statute forbidding emancipation except for meritorious services +was repealed. The repeal was in force ten years, and in this time +manumissions were numerous. Maryland soon afterwards passed acts similar +to those in Virginia prohibiting the further introduction of slaves and +removing restraints on emancipation, and New York and New Jersey also +prohibited the further introduction of slaves from Africa or from other +states. In 1780, in spite of considerable opposition because of the +course of the war, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act forbidding +the further introduction of slaves and giving freedom to all persons +thereafter born in the state. Similar provisions were enacted in +Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784. Meanwhile Massachusetts was much +agitated, and beginning in 1766 there were before the courts several +cases in which Negroes sued for their freedom.[1] Their general argument +was that the royal charter declared that all persons residing in the +province were to be as free as the king's subjects in Great Britain, +that by Magna Carta no subject could be deprived of liberty except by +the judgment of his peers, and that any laws that may have been passed +in the province to mitigate or regulate the evil of slavery did not +authorize it. Sometimes the decisions were favorable, but at the +beginning of the Revolution Massachusetts still recognized the system +by the decision that no slave could be enlisted in the army. In 1777, +however, some slaves brought from Jamaica were ordered to be set at +liberty, and it was finally decided in 1783 that the declaration in the +Massachusetts Bill of Rights to the effect that "all men are born +free and equal" prohibited slavery. In this same year New Hampshire +incorporated in her constitution a prohibitive article. By the time the +convention for the framing of the Constitution of the United States +met in Philadelphia in 1787, two of the original thirteen states +(Massachusetts and New Hampshire) had positively prohibited slavery, and +in three others (Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) gradual +abolition was in progress. + +[Footnote 1: See Williams: _History of the Negro Race in America_, I, +228-236.] + +The next decade was largely one of the settlement of new territory, and +by its close the pendulum seemed to have swung decidedly backward. In +1799, however, after much effort and debating, New York at last declared +for gradual abolition, and New Jersey did likewise in 1804. In general, +gradual emancipation was the result of the work of people who were +humane but also conservative and who questioned the wisdom of thrusting +upon the social organism a large number of Negroes suddenly emancipated. +Sometimes, however, a gradual emancipation act was later followed by one +for immediate manumission, as in New York in 1817. At first those who +favored gradual emancipation were numerous in the South as well as in +the North, but in general after Gabriel's insurrection in 1800, though +some individuals were still outstanding, the South was quiescent. The +character of the acts that were really put in force can hardly be better +stated than has already been done by the specialist in the subject.[1] +We read: + +[Footnote 1: Locke, 124-126.] + + Gradual emancipation is defined as the extinction of slavery by + depriving it of its hereditary quality. In distinction from the + clauses in the constitutions of Vermont, Massachusetts, and New + Hampshire, which directly or indirectly affected the condition of + slavery as already existing, the gradual emancipation acts left this + condition unchanged and affected only the children born after + the passage of the act or after a fixed date. Most of these acts + followed that of Pennsylvania in providing that the children of a + slave mother should remain with her owner as servants until they + reached a certain age, of from twenty-one to twenty-eight years, as + stated in the various enactments. In Pennsylvania, however, they + were to be regarded as free. In Connecticut, on the other hand, they + were to be "held in servitude" until twenty-five years of age and + after that to be free. The most liberal policy was that of Rhode + Island, where the children were pronounced free but were to be + supported by the town and educated in reading, writing, and + arithmetic, morality and religion. The latter clauses, however, were + repealed the following year, leaving the children to be supported by + the owner of the mother until twenty-one years of age, and only if + he abandoned his claims to the mother to become a charge to the + town. In New York and New Jersey they were to remain as servants + until a certain age, but were regarded as free, and liberal + opportunities were given the master for the abandonment of his + claims, the children in such cases to be supported at the common + charge.... The manumission and emancipation acts were naturally + followed, as in the case of the constitutional provision in Vermont, + by the attempts of some of the slave-owners to dispose of their + property outside the State. Amendments to the laws were found + necessary, and the Abolition Societies found plenty of occasion for + their exertions in protecting free blacks from seizure and illegal + sale and in looking after the execution and amendment of the laws. + The process of gradual emancipation was also unsatisfactory on + account of the length of time it would require, and in Pennsylvania + and Connecticut attempts were made to obtain acts for immediate + emancipation. + + +5. _Beginning of Racial Consciousness_ + +Of supreme importance in this momentous period, more important perhaps +in its ultimate effect than even the work of the Abolition Societies, +was what the Negro was doing for himself. In the era of the Revolution +began that racial consciousness on which almost all later effort for +social betterment has been based. + +By 1700 the only coöperative effort on the part of the Negro was such as +that in the isolated society to which Cotton Mather gave rules, or in a +spasmodic insurrection, or a rather crude development of native African +worship. As yet there was no genuine basis of racial self-respect. In +one way or another, however, in the eighteenth century the idea of +association developed, and especially in Boston about the time of the +Revolution Negroes began definitely to work together; thus they assisted +individuals in test cases in the courts, and when James Swan in his +_Dissuasion from the Slave Trade_ made such a statement as that "no +country can be called free where there is one slave," it was "at the +earnest desire of the Negroes in Boston" that the revised edition of the +pamphlet was published. + +From the very beginning the Christian Church was the race's foremost +form of social organization. It was but natural that the first +distinctively Negro churches should belong to the democratic Baptist +denomination. There has been much discussion as to which was the very +first Negro Baptist church, and good claims have been put forth by the +Harrison Street Baptist Church of Petersburg, Va., and for a church +in Williamsburg, Va., organization in each case going back to 1776. +A student of the subject, however, has shown that there was a Negro +Baptist church at Silver Bluff, "on the South Carolina side of the +Savannah River, in Aiken County, just twelve miles from Augusta, Ga.," +founded not earlier than 1773, not later than 1775.[1] In any case +special interest attaches to the First Bryan Baptist Church, of +Savannah, founded in January, 1788. The origin of this body goes back to +George Liele, a Negro born in Virginia, who might justly lay claim to +being America's first foreign missionary. Converted by a Georgia Baptist +minister, he was licensed as a probationer and was known to preach soon +afterwards at a white quarterly meeting.[2] In 1783 he preached in the +vicinity of Savannah, and one of those who came to hear him was Andrew +Bryan, a slave of Jonathan Bryan. Liele then went to Jamaica and in 1784 +began to preach in Kingston, where with four brethren from America he +formed a church. At first he was subjected to persecution; nevertheless +by 1791 he had baptized over four hundred persons. Eight or nine months +after he left for Jamaica, Andrew Bryan began to preach, and at first he +was permitted to use a building at Yamacraw, in the suburbs of Savannah. +Of this, however, he was in course of time dispossessed, the place being +a rendezvous for those Negroes who had been taken away from their homes +by the British. Many of these men were taken before the magistrates +from time to time, and some were whipped and others imprisoned. +Bryan himself, having incurred the ire of the authorities, was twice +imprisoned and once publicly whipped, being so cut that he "bled +abundantly"; but he told his persecutors that he "would freely suffer +death for the cause of Jesus Christ," and after a while he was permitted +to go on with his work. For some time he used a barn, being assisted +by his brother Sampson; then for £50 he purchased his freedom, and +afterwards he began to use for worship a house that Sampson had been +permitted to erect. By 1791 his church had two hundred members, but over +a hundred more had been received as converted members though they +had not won their masters' permission to be baptized. An interesting +sidelight on these people is furnished by the statement that probably +fifty of them could read though only three could write. Years +afterwards, in 1832, when the church had grown to great numbers, a large +part of the congregation left the Bryan Church and formed what is now +the First African Baptist Church of Savannah. Both congregations, +however, remembered their early leader as one "clear in the grand +doctrines of the Gospel, truly pious, and the instrument of doing more +good among the poor slaves than all the learned doctors in America." + +[Footnote 1: Walter H. Brooks: _The Silver Bluff Church_.] + +[Footnote 2: See letters in Journal of Negro History, January, 1916, +69-97.] + +While Bryan was working in Savannah, in Richmond, Va., rose Lott Cary, a +man of massive and erect frame and of great personality. Born a slave in +1780, Cary worked for a number of years in a tobacco factory, leading a +wicked life. Converted in 1807, he made rapid advance in education and +he was licensed as a Baptist preacher. He purchased his own freedom +and that of his children (his first wife having died), organized a +missionary society, and then in 1821 himself went as a missionary to the +new colony of Liberia, in whose interest he worked heroically until his +death in 1828. + +More clearly defined than the origin of Negro Baptist churches are +the beginnings of African Methodism. Almost from the time of its +introduction in the country Methodism made converts among the Negroes +and in 1786 there were nearly two thousand Negroes in the regular +churches of the denomination, which, like the Baptist denomination, it +must be remembered, was before the Revolution largely overshadowed +in official circles by the Protestant Episcopal Church. The general +embarrassment of the Episcopal Church in America in connection with the +war, and the departure of many loyalist ministers, gave opportunity to +other denominations as well as to certain bodies of Negroes. The white +members of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, +however, determined to set apart its Negro membership and to segregate +it in the gallery. Then in 1787 came a day when the Negroes, choosing +not to be insulted, and led by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, left the +edifice, and with these two men as overseers on April 17 organized +the Free African Society. This was intended to be "without regard to +religious tenets," the members being banded together "to support one +another in sickness and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless +children." The society was in the strictest sense fraternal, there being +only eight charter members: Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Samuel Boston, +Joseph Johnson, Cato Freeman, Cæsar Cranchell, James Potter, and William +White. By 1790 the society had on deposit in the Bank of North America +£42 9s. id., and that it generally stood for racial enterprise may be +seen from the fact that in 1788 an organization in Newport known as +the Negro Union, in which Paul Cuffe was prominent, wrote proposing a +general exodus of the Negroes to Africa. Nothing came of the suggestion +at the time, but at least it shows that representative Negroes of the +day were beginning to think together about matters of general policy. + +In course of time the Free African Society of Philadelphia resolved into +an "African Church," and this became affiliated with the Protestant +Episcopal Church, whose bishop had exercised an interest in it. Out of +this organization developed St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, organized in +1791 and formally opened for service July 17, 1794. Allen was at first +selected for ordination, but he decided to remain a Methodist and Jones +was chosen in his stead and thus became the first Negro rector in the +United States. Meanwhile, however, in 1791, Allen himself had purchased +a lot at the corner of Sixth and Lombard Streets; he at once set about +arranging for the building that became Bethel Church; and in 1794 he +formally sold the lot to the church and the new house of worship was +dedicated by Bishop Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal Church. With +this general body Allen and his people for a number of years remained +affiliated, but difficulties arose and separate churches having come +into being in other places, a convention of Negro Methodists was at +length called to meet in Philadelphia April 9, 1816. To this came +sixteen delegates--Richard Allen, Jacob Tapsico, Clayton Durham, James +Champion, Thomas Webster, of Philadelphia; Daniel Coker, Richard +Williams, Henry Harden, Stephen Hill, Edward Williamson, Nicholas +Gailliard, of Baltimore: Jacob Marsh, Edward Jackson, William Andrew, +of Attleborough, Penn.; Peter Spencer, of Wilmington, Del., and Peter +Cuffe, of Salem, N.J.--and these were the men who founded the African +Methodist Episcopal Church. Coker, of whom we shall hear more in +connection with Liberia, was elected bishop, but resigned in favor of +Allen, who served until his death in 1831. + +In 1796 a congregation in New York consisting of James Varick and others +also withdrew from the main body of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and +in 1800 dedicated a house of worship. For a number of years it had the +oversight of the older organization, but after preliminary steps in +1820, on June 21, 1821, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church +was formally organized. To the first conference came 19 preachers +representing 6 churches and 1,426 members. Varick was elected district +chairman, but soon afterwards was made bishop. The polity of this church +from the first differed somewhat from that of the A.M.E. denomination in +that representation of the laity was a prominent feature and there was +no bar to the ordination of women. + +Of denominations other than the Baptist and the Methodist, the most +prominent in the earlier years was the Presbyterian, whose first Negro +ministers were John Gloucester and John Chavis. Gloucester owed his +training to the liberal tendencies that about 1800 were still strong in +eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, and in 1810 took charge of the African +Presbyterian Church which in 1807 had been established in Philadelphia. +He was distinguished by a rich musical voice and the general dignity +of his life, and he himself became the father of four Presbyterian +ministers. Chavis had a very unusual career. After passing "through +a regular course of academic studies" at Washington Academy, now +Washington and Lee University, in 1801 he was commissioned by the +General Assembly of the Presbyterians as a missionary to the Negroes. He +worked with increasing reputation until Nat Turner's insurrection caused +the North Carolina legislature in 1832 to pass an act silencing all +Negro preachers. Then in Wake County and elsewhere he conducted schools +for white boys until his death in 1838. In these early years distinction +also attaches to Lemuel Haynes, a Revolutionary patriot and the first +Negro preacher of the Congregational denomination. In 1785 he became the +pastor of a white congregation in Torrington, Conn., and in 1818 began +to serve another in Manchester, N.H. + +After the church the strongest organization among Negroes has +undoubtedly been that of secret societies commonly known as "lodges." +The benefit societies were not necessarily secret and call for separate +consideration. On March 6, 1775, an army lodge attached to one of the +regiments stationed under General Gage in or near Boston initiated +Prince Hall and fourteen other colored men into the mysteries of +Freemasonry.[1] These fifteen men on March 2, 1784, applied to the Grand +Lodge of England for a warrant. This was issued to "African Lodge, No. +459," with Prince Hall as master, September 29, 1784. Various delays and +misadventures befell the warrant, however, so that it was not actually +received before April 29, 1787. The lodge was then duly organized May 6. +From this beginning developed the idea of Masonry among the Negroes of +America. As early as 1792 Hall was formally styled Grand Master, and in +1797 he issued a license to thirteen Negroes to "assemble and work" as +a lodge in Philadelphia; and there was also at this time a lodge in +Providence. Thus developed in 1808 the "African Grand Lodge" of Boston, +afterwards known as "Prince Hall Lodge of Massachusetts"; the second +Grand Lodge, called the "First Independent African Grand Lodge of North +America in and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," organized in 1815; +and the "Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania." + +[Footnote 1: William H. Upton: Negro Masonry, Cambridge, 1899, 10.] + +Something of the interest of the Masons in their people, and the calm +judgment that characterized their procedure, may be seen from the words +of their leader, Prince Hall.[1] Speaking in 1797, and having in mind +the revolution in Hayti and recent indignities inflicted upon the race +in Boston, he said: + +[Footnote 1: "A Charge Delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, 1797, at +Menotomy. By the Right Worshipful Prince Hall." (Boston?) 1797.] + + When we hear of the bloody wars which are now in the world, and + thousands of our fellowmen slain; fathers and mothers bewailing the + loss of their sons; wives for the loss of their husbands; towns and + cities burnt and destroyed; what must be the heartfelt sorrow and + distress of these poor and unhappy people! Though we can not help + them, the distance being so great, yet we may sympathize with them + in their troubles, and mingle a tear of sorrow with them, and do as + we are exhorted to--weep with those that weep.... + + Now, my brethren, as we see and experience that all things here are + frail and changeable and nothing here to be depended upon: Let us + seek those things which are above, which are sure and steadfast, + and unchangeable, and at the same time let us pray to Almighty God, + while we remain in the tabernacle, that he would give us the grace + and patience and strength to bear up under all our troubles, which + at this day God knows we have our share. Patience I say, for were we + not possessed of a great measure of it you could not bear up under + the daily insults you meet with in the streets of Boston; much more + on public days of recreation, how are you shamefully abused, and + that at such a degree, that you may truly be said to carry your + lives in your hands; and the arrows of death are flying about your + heads; helpless old women have their clothes torn off their backs, + even to the exposing of their nakedness; and by whom are these + disgraceful and abusive actions committed? Not by the men born and + bred in Boston, for they are better bred; but by a mob or horde of + shameless, low-lived, envious, spiteful persons, some of them not + long since, servants in gentlemen's kitchens, scouring knives, + tending horses, and driving chaise. 'Twas said by a gentleman who + saw that filthy behavior in the Common, that in all the places he + had been in he never saw so cruel behavior in all his life, and that + a slave in the West Indies, on Sundays or holidays, enjoys himself + and friends without molestation. Not only this man, but many in + town who have seen their behavior to you, and that without any + provocations twenty or thirty cowards fall upon one man, have + wondered at the patience of the blacks; 'tis not for want of courage + in you, for they know that they dare not face you man for man, but + in a mob, which we despise, and had rather suffer wrong than do + wrong, to the disturbance of the community and the disgrace of our + reputation; for every good citizen does honor to the laws of the + State where he resides.... + + My brethren, let us not be cast down under these and many other + abuses we at present labor under: for the darkest is before the + break of day. My brethren, let us remember what a dark day it was + with our African brethren six years ago, in the French West Indies. + Nothing but the snap of the whip was heard from morning to evening; + hanging, breaking on the wheel, burning, and all manner of tortures + inflicted on those unhappy people, for nothing else but to gratify + their masters' pride, wantonness, and cruelty: but blessed be God, + the scene is changed; they now confess that God hath no respect of + persons, and therefore receive them as their friends, and treat them + as brothers. Thus doth Ethiopia begin to stretch forth her hand, + from a sink of slavery to freedom and equality. + +An African Society was organized in New York in 1808 and chartered +in 1810, and out of it grew in course of time three or four other +organizations. Generally close to the social aim of the church and +sometimes directly fathered by the secret societies were the benefit +organizations, which even in the days of slavery existed for aid in +sickness or at death; in fact, it was the hopelessness of the general +situation coupled with the yearning for care when helpless that largely +called these societies into being. Their origin has been explained +somewhat as follows: + +Although it was unlawful for Negroes to assemble without the presence +of a white man, and so unlawful to allow a congregation of slaves on +a plantation without the consent of the master, these organizations +existed and held these meetings on the "lots" of some of the law-makers +themselves. The general plan seems to have been to select some one who +could read and write and make him the secretary. The meeting-place +having been selected, the members would come by ones and twos, make +their payments to the secretary, and quietly withdraw. The book of the +secretary was often kept covered up on the bed. In many of the societies +each member was known by number and in paying simply announced his +number. The president of such a society was usually a privileged slave +who had the confidence of his or her master and could go and come at +will. Thus a form of communication could be kept up between all members. +In event of death of a member, provision was made for decent burial, +and all the members as far as possible obtained permits to attend the +funeral. Here and again their plan of getting together was brought into +play. In Richmond they would go to the church by ones and twos and there +sit as near together as convenient. At the close of the service a line +of march would be formed when sufficiently far from the church to make +it safe to do so. It is reported that the members were faithful to each +other and that every obligation was faithfully carried out. This was +the first form of insurance known to the Negro from which his family +received a benefit.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Hampton Conference Report, No. 8] + +All along of course a determining factor in the Negro's social progress +was the service that he was able to render to any community in which he +found himself as well as to his own people. Sometimes he was called upon +to do very hard work, sometimes very unpleasant or dangerous work; +but if he answered the call of duty and met an actual human need, his +service had to receive recognition. An example of such work was found in +his conduct in the course of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia +in 1793. Knowing that fever in general was not quite as severe in +its ravages upon Negroes as upon white people, the daily papers of +Philadelphia called upon the colored people in the town to come forward +and assist with the sick. The Negroes consented, and Absalom Jones and +William Gray were appointed to superintend the operations, though as +usual it was upon Richard Allen that much of the real responsibility +fell. In September the fever increased and upon the Negroes devolved +also the duty of removing corpses. In the course of their work they +encountered much opposition; thus Jones said that a white man threatened +to shoot him if he passed his house with a corpse. This man himself the +Negroes had to bury three days afterwards. When the epidemic was over, +under date January 23, 1794, Matthew Clarkson, the mayor, wrote the +following testimonial: "Having, during the prevalence of the late +malignant disorder, had almost daily opportunities of seeing the conduct +of Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, and the people employed by them to +bury the dead, I with cheerfulness give this testimony of my approbation +of their proceedings, as far as the same came under my notice. Their +diligence, attention, and decency of deportment, afforded me, at the +time, much satisfaction." After the lapse of years it is with something +of the pathos of martyrdom that we are impressed by the service of +these struggling people, who by their self-abnegation and patriotism +endeavored to win and deserve the privileges of American citizenship. + +All the while, in one way or another, the Negro was making advance in +education. As early as 1704 we have seen that Neau opened a school +in New York; there was Benezet's school in Philadelphia before the +Revolutionary War, and in 1798 one for Negroes was established in +Boston. In the first part of the century, we remember also, some Negroes +were apprenticed in Virginia under the oversight of the church. In 1764 +the editor of a paper in Williamsburg, Va., established a school for +Negroes, and we have seen that as many as one-sixth of the members of +Andrew Bryan's congregation in the far Southern city of Savannah could +read by 1790. Exceptional men, like Gloucester and Chavis, of course +availed themselves of such opportunities as came their way. All told, +by 1800 the Negro had received much more education than is commonly +supposed. + +Two persons--one in science and one in literature--because of their +unusual attainments attracted much attention. The first was Benjamin +Banneker of Maryland, and the second Phillis Wheatley of Boston. +Banneker in 1770 constructed the first clock striking the hours that was +made in America, and from 1792 to 1806 published an almanac adapted to +Maryland and the neighboring states. He was thoroughly scholarly in +mathematics and astronomy, and by his achievements won a reputation +for himself in Europe as well as in America. Phillis Wheatley, after a +romantic girlhood of transition from Africa to a favorable environment +in Boston, in 1773 published her _Poems on Various Subjects_, which +volume she followed with several interesting occasional poems.[1] For +the summer of this year she was the guest in England of the Countess of +Huntingdon, whose patronage she had won by an elegiac poem on George +Whitefield; in conversation even more than in verse-making she exhibited +her refined taste and accomplishment, and presents were showered upon +her, one of them being a copy of the magnificent 1770 Glasgow folio +edition of _Paradise Lost_, which was given by Brook Watson, Lord +Mayor of London, and which is now preserved in the library of Harvard +University. In the earlier years of the next century her poems +found their way into the common school readers. One of those in her +representative volume was addressed to Scipio Moorhead, a young Negro of +Boston who had shown some talent for painting. Thus even in a dark day +there were those who were trying to struggle upward to the light. + +[Footnote 1: For a full study see Chapter II of _The Negro in Literature +and Art_.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE NEW WEST, THE SOUTH, AND THE WEST INDIES + + +The twenty years of the administrations of the first three presidents of +the United States--or, we might say, the three decades between 1790 +and 1820--constitute what might be considered the "Dark Ages" of Negro +history; and yet, as with most "Dark Ages," at even a glance below the +surface these years will be found to be throbbing with life, and we have +already seen that in them the Negro was doing what he could on his own +account to move forward. After the high moral stand of the Revolution, +however, the period seems quiescent, and it was indeed a time of +definite reaction. This was attributable to three great events: the +opening of the Southwest with the consequent demand for slaves, the +Haytian revolution beginning in 1791, and Gabriel's insurrection in +1800. + +In no way was the reaction to be seen more clearly than in the decline +of the work of the American Convention of Delegates from the Abolition +Societies. After 1798 neither Connecticut nor Rhode Island sent +delegates; the Southern states all fell away by 1803; and while from New +England came the excuse that local conditions hardly made aggressive +effort any longer necessary, the lack of zeal in this section was also +due to some extent to a growing question as to the wisdom of interfering +with slavery in the South. In Virginia, that just a few years before +had been so active, a statute was now passed imposing a penalty of one +hundred dollars on any person who assisted a slave in asserting his +freedom, provided he failed to establish the claim; and another +provision enjoined that no member of an abolition society should serve +as a juror in a freedom suit. Even the Pennsylvania society showed signs +of faintheartedness, and in 1806 the Convention decided upon triennial +rather than annual meetings. It did not again become really vigorous +until after the War of 1812. + + +1. _The Cotton-Gin, the New Southwest, and the First Fugitive Slave Law_ + +Of incalculable significance in the history of the Negro in America +was the series of inventions in England by Arkwright, Hargreaves, and +Crompton in the years 1768-79. In the same period came the discovery +of the power of steam by James Watt of Glasgow and its application to +cotton manufacture, and improvements followed quickly in printing and +bleaching. There yet remained one final invention of importance for the +cultivation of cotton on a large scale. Eli Whitney, a graduate of Yale, +went to Georgia and was employed as a teacher by the widow of General +Greene on her plantation. Seeing the need of some machine for the more +rapid separating of cotton-seed from the fiber, he labored until in 1793 +he succeeded in making his cotton-gin of practical value. The tradition +is persistent, however, that the real credit of the invention belongs +to a Negro on the plantation. The cotton-gin created great excitement +throughout the South and began to be utilized everywhere. The +cultivation and exporting of the staple grew by leaps and bounds. In +1791 only thirty-eight bales of standard size were exported from the +United States; in 1816, however, the cotton sent out of the country was +worth $24,106,000 and was by far the most valuable article of export. +The current price was 28 cents a pound. Thus at the very time that the +Northern states were abolishing slavery, an industry that had slumbered +became supreme, and the fate of hundreds of thousands of Negroes was +sealed. + +Meanwhile the opening of the West went forward, and from Maine and +Massachusetts, Carolina and Georgia journeyed the pioneers to lay the +foundations of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and Alabama and Mississippi. +It was an eager, restless caravan that moved, and sometimes more than a +hundred persons in a score of wagons were to be seen going from a single +town in the East--"Baptists and Methodists and Democrats." The careers +of Boone and Sevier and those who went with them, and the story of their +fights with the Indians, are now a part of the romance of American +history. In 1790 a cluster of log huts on the Ohio River was named in +honor of the Society of the Cincinnati. In 1792 Kentucky was admitted to +the Union, the article on slavery in her constitution encouraging the +system and discouraging emancipation, and Tennessee also entered as a +slave state in 1796. + +Of tremendous import to the Negro were the questions relating to the +Mississippi Territory. After the Revolution Georgia laid claim to great +tracts of land now comprising the states of Alabama and Mississippi, +with the exception of the strip along the coast claimed by Spain +in connection with Florida. This territory became a rich field for +speculation, and its history in its entirety makes a complicated story. +A series of sales to what were known as the Yazoo Companies, especially +in that part of the present states whose northern boundary would be a +line drawn from the mouth of the Yazoo to the Chattahoochee, resulted in +conflicting claims, the last grant sale being made in 1795 by a corrupt +legislature at the price of a cent and a half an acre. James Jackson +now raised the cry of bribery and corruption, resigned from the United +States Senate, secured a seat in the state legislature, and on February +13, 1796, carried through a bill rescinding the action of the previous +year,[1] and the legislature burned the documents concerned with the +Yazoo sale in token of its complete repudiation of them. The purchasers +to whom the companies had sold lands now began to bombard Congress with +petitions and President Adams helped to arrive at a settlement by which +Georgia transferred the lands in question to the Federal Government, +which undertook to form of them the Mississippi Territory and to pay +any damages involved. In 1802 Georgia threw the whole burden upon the +central government by transferring to it _all_ of her land beyond her +present boundaries, though for this she exacted an article favorable +to slavery. All was now made into the Mississippi Territory, to which +Congress held out the promise that it would be admitted as a state as +soon as its population numbered 60,000; but Alabama was separated from +Mississippi in 1816. The old matter of claims was not finally disposed +of until an act of 1814 appropriated $5,000,000 for the purpose. In +the same year Andrew Jackson's decisive victories over the Creeks at +Talladega and Horseshoe Bend--of which more must be said--resulted in +the cession of a vast tract of the land of that unhappy nation and thus +finally opened for settlement three-fourths of the present state of +Alabama. + +[Footnote 1: Phillips in _The South in the Building of the Nation_, II, +154.] + +It was in line with the advance that slavery was making in new territory +that there was passed the first Fugitive Slave Act (1793). This grew out +of the discussion incident to the seizure in 1791 at Washington, Penn., +of a Negro named John, who was taken to Virginia, and the correspondence +between the Governor of Pennsylvania and the Governor of Virginia with +reference to the case. The important third section of the act read as +follows: + + _And be it also enacted_, That when a person held to labor in any of + the United States, or in either of the territories on the northwest + or south of the river Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape + into any other of the said states or territory, the person to whom + such labor or service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby + empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labor, and to take + him or her before any judge of the circuit or district courts of the + United States, residing or being within the state, or before any + magistrate of a county, city or town corporate, wherein such seizure + or arrest shall be made, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such + judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit taken + before and certified by a magistrate of any such state or territory, + that the person so seized or arrested, doth, under the laws of the + state or territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor + to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such + judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, + his agent or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for + removing the said fugitive from labor, to the state or territory + from which he or she fled. + +It will be observed that by the terms of this enactment a master had +the right to recover a fugitive slave by proving his ownership before a +magistrate without a jury or any other of the ordinary forms of law. A +human being was thus placed at the disposal of the lowest of courts and +subjected to such procedure as was not allowed even in petty property +suits. A great field for the bribery of magistrates was opened up, and +opportunity was given for committing to slavery Negro men about whose +freedom there should have been no question. + +By the close of the decade 1790-1800 the fear occasioned by the Haytian +revolution had led to a general movement against the importation of +Negroes, especially of those from the West Indies. Even Georgia in 1798 +prohibited the importation of all slaves, and this provision, although +very loosely enforced, was never repealed. In South Carolina, however, +to the utter chagrin and dismay of the other states, importation, +prohibited in 1787, was again legalized in 1803; and in the four years +immediately following 39,075 Negroes were brought to Charleston, most of +these going to the territories.[1] When in 1803 Ohio was carved out of +the Northwest Territory as a free state, an attempt was made to +claim the rest of the territory for slavery, but this failed. In the +congressional session of 1804-5 the matter of slavery in the newly +acquired territory of Louisiana was brought up, and slaves were allowed +to be imported if they had come to the United States before 1798, the +purpose of this provision being to guard against the consequences of +South Carolina's recent act, although such a clause never received rigid +enforcement. The mention of Louisiana, however, brings us concretely to +Toussaint L'Ouverture, the greatest Negro in the New World in the period +and one of the greatest of all time. + +[Footnote 1: DuBois: _Suppression of the Slave-Trade_, 90.] + + +_2. Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louisiana, and the Formal Closing of the +Slave-Trade_ + +When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, it was not long before its +general effects were felt in the West Indies. Of special importance was +Santo Domingo because of the commercial interests centered there. The +eastern end of the island was Spanish, but the western portion was +French, and in this latter part was a population of 600,000, of which +number 50,000 were French Creoles, 50,000 mulattoes, and 500,000 pure +Negroes. All political and social privileges were monopolized by the +Creoles, while the Negroes were agricultural laborers and slaves; and +between the two groups floated the restless element of the free people +of color. + +When the General Assembly in France decreed equality of rights to +all citizens, the mulattoes of Santo Domingo made a petition for the +enjoyment of the same political privileges as the white people--to the +unbounded consternation of the latter. They were rewarded with a +decree which was so ambiguously worded that it was open to different +interpretations and which simply heightened the animosity that for years +had been smoldering. A new petition to the Assembly in 1791 primarily +for an interpretation brought forth on May 15 the explicit decree that +the people of color were to have all the rights and privileges of +citizens, provided they had been born of free parents on both sides. The +white people were enraged by the decision, turned royalist, and trampled +the national cockade underfoot; and throughout the summer armed strife +and conflagration were the rule. To add to the confusion the black +slaves struck for freedom and on the night of August 23, 1791, drenched +the island in blood. In the face of these events the Conventional +Assembly rescinded its order, then announced that the original decree +must be obeyed, and it sent three commissioners with troops to Santo +Domingo, real authority being invested in Santhonax and Polverel. + +On June 20, 1793, at Cape François trouble was renewed by a quarrel +between a mulatto and a white officer in the marines. The seamen came +ashore and loaned their assistance to the white people, and the Negroes +now joined forces with the mulattoes. In the battle of two days that +followed the arsenal was taken and plundered, thousands were killed +in the streets, and more than half of the town was burned. The French +commissioners were the unhappy witnesses of the scene, but they were +practically helpless, having only about a thousand troops. Santhonax, +however, issued a proclamation offering freedom to all slaves who were +willing to range themselves under the banner of the Republic. This was +the first proclamation for the freeing of slaves in Santo Domingo, and +as a result of it many of the Negroes came in and were enfranchised. + +Soon after this proclamation Polverel left his colleague at the Cape and +went to Port au Prince, the capital of the West. Here things were quiet +and the cultivation of the crops was going forward as usual. The slaves +were soon unsettled, however, by the news of what was being done +elsewhere, and Polverel was convinced that emancipation could not be +delayed and that for the safety of the planters themselves it was +necessary to extend it to the whole island. In September (1793) he set +in circulation from Aux Cayes a proclamation to this effect, and at the +same time he exhorted all the planters in the vicinity who concurred in +his work to register their names. This almost all of them did, as they +were convinced of the need of measures for their personal safety; and on +February 4, 1794, the Conventional Assembly in Paris formally approved +all that had been done by decreeing the abolition of slavery in all the +colonies of France. + +All the while the Spanish and the English had been looking on with +interest and had even come to the French part of the island as if to aid +in the restoration of order. Among the former, at first in charge of +a little royalist band, was the Negro, Toussaint, later called +L'Ouverture. He was then a man in the prime of life, forty-eight years +old, and already his experience had given him the wisdom that was needed +to bring peace in Santo Domingo. In April, 1794, impressed by the decree +of the Assembly, he returned to the jurisdiction of France and took +service under the Republic. In 1796 he became a general of brigade; in +1797 general-in-chief, with the military command of the whole colony. + +He at once compelled the surrender of the English who had invaded his +country. With the aid of a commercial agreement with the United States, +he next starved out the garrison of his rival, the mulatto Rigaud, whom +he forced to consent to leave the country. He then imprisoned Roume, the +agent of the Directory, and assumed civil as well as military authority. +He also seized the Spanish part of the island, which had been ceded to +France some years before but had not been actually surrendered. He then, +in May, 1801, gave to Santo Domingo a constitution by which he not only +assumed power for life but gave to himself the right of naming his +successor; and all the while he was awakening the admiration of the +world by his bravery, his moderation, and his genuine instinct for +government. + +Across the ocean, however, a jealous man was watching with interest the +career of the "gilded African." None knew better than Napoleon that +it was because he did not trust France that Toussaint had sought the +friendship of the United States, and none read better than he the logic +of events. As Adams says, "Bonaparte's acts as well as his professions +showed that he was bent on crushing democratic ideas, and that he +regarded St. Domingo as an outpost of American republicanism, although +Toussaint had made a rule as arbitrary as that of Bonaparte himself.... +By a strange confusion of events, Toussaint L'Ouverture, because he was +a Negro, became the champion of republican principles, with which he +had nothing but the instinct of personal freedom in common. Toussaint's +government was less republican than that of Bonaparte; he was doing +by necessity in St. Domingo what Bonaparte was doing by choice in +France."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _History of the United States_, I, 391-392.] + +This was the man to whom the United States ultimately owes the purchase +of Louisiana. On October 1, 1801, Bonaparte gave orders to General Le +Clerc for a great expedition against Santo Domingo. In January, 1802, Le +Clerc appeared and war followed. In the course of this, Toussaint--who +was ordinarily so wise and who certainly knew that from Napoleon he had +most to fear--made the great mistake of his life and permitted himself +to be led into a conference on a French vessel. He was betrayed and +taken to France, where within the year he died of pneumonia in the +dungeon of Joux. Immediately there was a proclamation annulling the +decree of 1794 giving freedom to the slaves. Bonaparte, however, had not +estimated the force of Toussaint's work, and to assist the Negroes in +their struggle now came a stalwart ally, yellow fever. By the end of the +summer only one-seventh of Le Clerc's army remained, and he himself died +in November. At once Bonaparte planned a new expedition. While he was +arranging for the leadership of this, however, the European war broke +out again. Meanwhile the treaty for the retrocession of the territory +of Louisiana had not yet received the signature of the Spanish king, +because Godoy, the Spanish representative, would not permit the +signature to be affixed until all the conditions were fulfilled; and +toward the end of 1802 the civil officer at New Orleans closed the +Mississippi to the United States. Jefferson, at length moved by the plea +of the South, sent a special envoy, no less a man than James Monroe, to +France to negotiate the purchase; Bonaparte, disgusted by the failure +of his Egyptian expedition and his project for reaching India, and +especially by his failure in Santo Domingo, in need also of ready money, +listened to the offer; and the people of the United States--who within +the last few years have witnessed the spoliation of Hayti--have not yet +realized how much they owe to the courage of 500,000 Haytian Negroes who +refused to be slaves. + +The slavery question in the new territory was a critical one. It was +on account of it that the Federalists had opposed the acquisition; the +American Convention endeavored to secure a provision like that of the +Northwest Ordinance; and the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends in +Philadelphia in 1805 prayed "that effectual measures may be adopted +by Congress to prevent the introduction of slavery into any of the +territories of the United States." Nevertheless the whole territory +without regard to latitude was thrown open to the system March 2, 1805. + +In spite of this victory for slavery, however, the general force of the +events in Hayti was such as to make more certain the formal closing +of the slave-trade at the end of the twenty-year period for which the +Constitution had permitted it to run. The conscience of the North had +been profoundly stirred, and in the far South was the ever-present fear +of a reproduction of the events in Hayti. The agitation in England +moreover was at last about to bear fruit in the act of 1807 forbidding +the slave-trade. In America it seems from the first to have been an +understood thing, especially by the Southern representatives, that even +if such an act passed it would be only irregularly enforced, and the +debates were concerned rather with the disposal of illegally imported +Africans and with the punishment of those concerned in the importation +than with the proper limitation of the traffic by water.[1] On March 2, +1807, the act was passed forbidding the slave-trade after the close of +the year. In course of time it came very near to being a dead letter, +as may be seen from presidential messages, reports of cabinet officers, +letters of collectors of revenue, letters of district attorneys, reports +of committees of Congress, reports of naval commanders, statements +on the floor of Congress, the testimony of eye-witnesses, and the +complaints of home and foreign anti-slavery societies. Fernandina and +Galveston were only two of the most notorious ports for smuggling. A +regular chain of posts was established from the head of St. Mary's River +to the upper country, and through the Indian nation, by means of which +the Negroes were transferred to every part of the country.[2] If dealers +wished to form a caravan they would give an Indian alarm, so that the +woods might be less frequented, and if pursued in Georgia they would +escape into Florida. One small schooner contained one hundred and thirty +souls. "They were almost packed into a small space, between a floor laid +over the water-casks and the deck--not near three feet--insufficient for +them to sit upright--and so close that chafing against each other their +bones pierced the skin and became galled and ulcerated by the motion +of the vessel." Many American vessels were engaged in the trade under +Spanish colors, and the traffic to Africa was pursued with uncommon +vigor at Havana, the crews of vessels being made up of men of all +nations, who were tempted by the high wages to be earned. Evidently +officials were negligent in the discharge of their duty, but even if +offenders were apprehended it did not necessarily follow that they +would receive effective punishment. President Madison in his message +of December 5, 1810, said, "It appears that American citizens are +instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in +violation of the laws of humanity, and in defiance of those of their own +country"; and on January 7, 1819, the Register of the Treasury made +to the House the amazing report that "it doth not appear, from an +examination of the records of this office, and particularly of the +accounts (to the date of their last settlement) of the collectors of +the customs, and of the several marshals of the United States, that any +forfeitures had been incurred under the said act." A supplementary and +compromising and ineffective act of 1818 sought to concentrate efforts +against smuggling by encouraging informers; and one of the following +year that authorized the President to "make such regulations and +arrangements as he may deem expedient for the safe keeping, support, and +removal beyond the limits of the United States" of recaptured Africans, +and that bore somewhat more fruit, was in large measure due to the +colonization movement and of importance in connection with the founding +of Liberia. + +[Footnote 1: See DuBois, 95, ff.] + +[Footnote 2: Niles's _Register_, XIV, 176 (May 2, 1818).] + +Thus, while the formal closing of the slave-trade might seem to be a +great step forward, the laxness with which the decree was enforced +places it definitely in the period of reaction. + + +3. _Gabriel's Insurrection and the Rise of the Negro Problem_ + +Gabriel's insurrection of 1800 was by no means the most formidable +revolt that the Southern states witnessed. In design it certainly did +not surpass the scope of the plot of Denmark Vesey twenty-two years +later, and in actual achievement it was insignificant when compared not +only with Nat Turner's insurrection but even with the uprisings sixty +years before. At the last moment in fact a great storm that came up made +the attempt to execute the plan a miserable failure. Nevertheless coming +as it did so soon after the revolution in Hayti, and giving evidence +of young and unselfish leadership, the plot was regarded as of +extraordinary significance. + +Gabriel himself[1] was an intelligent slave only twenty-four years old, +and his chief assistant was Jack Bowler, aged twenty-eight. Throughout +the summer of 1800 he matured his plan, holding meetings at which a +brother named Martin interpreted various texts from Scripture as bearing +on the situation of the Negroes. His insurrection was finally set for +the first day of September. It was well planned. The rendezvous was to +be a brook six miles from Richmond. Under cover of night the force of +1,100 was to march in three columns on the city, then a town of 8,000 +inhabitants, the right wing to seize the penitentiary building which had +just been converted into an arsenal, while the left took possession of +the powder-house. These two columns were to be armed with clubs, and +while they were doing their work the central force, armed with muskets, +knives, and pikes, was to begin the carnage, none being spared except +the French, whom it is significant that the Negroes favored. In Richmond +at the time there were not more than four or five hundred men with about +thirty muskets; but in the arsenal were several thousand guns, and the +powder-house was well stocked. Seizure of the mills was to guarantee the +insurrectionists a food supply; and meanwhile in the country districts +were the new harvests of corn, and flocks and herds were fat in the +fields. + +[Footnote 1: His full name was Gabriel Prosser.] + +On the day appointed for the uprising Virginia witnessed such a storm +as she had not seen in years. Bridges were carried away, and roads and +plantations completely submerged. Brook Swamp, the strategic point for +the Negroes, was inundated; and the country Negroes could not get +into the city, nor could those in the city get out to the place of +rendezvous. The force of more than a thousand dwindled to three hundred, +and these, almost paralyzed by fear and superstition, were dismissed. +Meanwhile a slave who did not wish to see his master killed divulged the +plot, and all Richmond was soon in arms. + +A troop of United States cavalry was ordered to the city and arrests +followed quickly. Three hundred dollars was offered by Governor Monroe +for the arrest of Gabriel, and as much more for Jack Bowler. Bowler +surrendered, but it took weeks to find Gabriel. Six men were convicted +and condemned to be executed on September 12, and five more on September +18. Gabriel was finally captured on September 24 at Norfolk on a vessel +that had come from Richmond; he was convicted on October 3 and executed +on October 7. He showed no disposition to dissemble as to his own plan; +at the same time he said not one word that incriminated anybody else. +After him twenty-four more men were executed; then it began to appear +that some "mistakes" had been made and the killing ceased. About the +time of this uprising some Negroes were also assembled for an outbreak +in Suffolk County; there were alarms in Petersburg and in the country +near Edenton, N.C.; and as far away as Charleston the excitement was +intense. + +There were at least three other Negro insurrections of importance in the +period 1790-1820. When news came of the uprising of the slaves in Santo +Domingo in 1791, the Negroes in Louisiana planned a similar effort.[1] +They might have succeeded better if they had not disagreed as to the +hour of the outbreak, when one of them informed the commandant. As a +punishment twenty-three of the slaves were hanged along the banks of the +river and their corpses left dangling for days; but three white men who +assisted them and who were really the most guilty of all, were simply +sent out of the colony. In Camden, S. C, on July 4, 1816, some other +Negroes risked all for independence.[2] On various pretexts men from the +country districts were invited to the town on the appointed night, and +different commands were assigned, all except that of commander-in-chief, +which position was to be given to him who first forced the gates of the +arsenal. Again the plot was divulged by "a favorite and confidential +slave," of whom we are told that the state legislature purchased the +freedom, settling upon him a pension for life. About six of the leaders +were executed. On or about May 1, 1819, there was a plot to destroy the +city of Augusta, Ga.[3] The insurrectionists were to assemble at Beach +Island, proceed to Augusta, set fire to the place, and then destroy the +inhabitants. Guards were posted, and a white man who did not answer when +hailed was shot and fatally wounded. A Negro named Coot was tried as +being at the head of the conspiracy and sentenced to be executed a few +days later. Other trials followed his. Not a muscle moved when the +verdict was pronounced upon him. + +[Footnote 1: Gayarré: _History of Louisiana_, III, 355.] + +[Footnote 2: Holland: _Refutation of Calumnies_.] + +[Footnote 3: Niles's _Register_, XVI, 213 (May 22, 1819).] + +The deeper meaning of such events as these could not escape the +discerning. More than one patriot had to wonder just whither the +country was drifting. Already it was evident that the ultimate problem +transcended the mere question of slavery, and many knew that human +beings could not always be confined to an artificial status. Throughout +the period the slave-trade seemed to flourish without any real check, +and it was even accentuated by the return to power of the old royalist +houses of Europe after the fall of Napoleon. Meanwhile it was observed +that slave labor was driving out of the South the white man of small +means, and antagonism between the men of the "up-country" and the +seaboard capitalists was brewing. The ordinary social life of the Negro +in the South left much to be desired, and conditions were not improved +by the rapid increase. As for slavery itself, no one could tell when or +where or how the system would end; all only knew that it was developing +apace: and meanwhile there was the sinister possibility of the alliance +of the Negro and the Indian. Sincere plans of gradual abolition were +advanced in the South as well as the North, but in the lower section +they seldom got more than a respectful hearing. In his "Dissertation on +Slavery, with a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of +Virginia," St. George Tucker, a professor of law in the University +of William and Mary, and one of the judges of the General Court of +Virginia, in 1796 advanced a plan by which he figured that after sixty +years there would be only one-third as many slaves as at first. At +this distance his proposal seems extremely conservative; at the time, +however, it was laid on the table by the Virginia House of Delegates, +and from the Senate the author received merely "a civil acknowledgment." + +Two men of the period--widely different in temper and tone, but +both earnest seekers after truth--looked forward to the future with +foreboding, one with the eye of the scientist, the other with the vision +of the seer. Hezekiah Niles had full sympathy with the groping and +striving of the South; but he insisted that slavery must ultimately be +abolished throughout the country, that the minds of the slaves should +be exalted, and that reasonable encouragement should be given free +Negroes.[1] Said he: "_We are ashamed of the thing we practice_;... +there is no attribute of heaven that takes part with us, and _we know +it_. And in the contest that must come and _will come_, there will be a +heap of sorrows such as the world has rarely seen."[2] + +[Footnote 1: _Register_, XVI, 177 (May 8, 1819).] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., XVI, 213 (May 22, 1819).] + +On the other hand rose Lorenzo Dow, the foremost itinerant preacher of +the time, the first Protestant who expounded the gospel in Alabama and +Mississippi, and a reformer who at the very moment that cotton was +beginning to be supreme, presumed to tell the South that slavery was +wrong.[1] Everywhere he arrested attention--with his long hair, his +harsh voice, and his wild gesticulation startling all conservative +hearers. But he was made in the mold of heroes. In his lifetime he +traveled not less than two hundred thousand miles, preaching to more +people than any other man of his time. Several times he went to Canada, +once to the West Indies, and three times to England, everywhere drawing +great crowds about him. In _A Cry from the Wilderness_ he more than +once clothed his thought in enigmatic garb, but the meaning was always +ultimately clear. At this distance, when slavery and the Civil War are +alike viewed in the perspective, the words of the oracle are almost +uncanny: "In the rest of the Southern states the influence of these +Foreigners will be known and felt in its time, and the seeds from the +HORY ALLIANCE and the DECAPIGANDI, who have a hand in those grades of +Generals, from the Inquisitor to the Vicar General and down...!!! The +STRUGGLE will be DREADFUL! the CUP will be BITTER! and when the agony is +over, those who survive may see better days! FAREWELL!" + +[Footnote 1: For full study see article "Lorenzo Dow," in _Methodist +Review_ and _Journal of Negro History_, July, 1916, the same being +included in _Africa and the War_, New York, 1918.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +INDIAN AND NEGRO + + +It is not the purpose of the present chapter to give a history of the +Seminole Wars, or even to trace fully the connection of the Negro with +these contests. We do hope to show at least, however, that the Negro was +more important than anything else as an immediate cause of controversy, +though the general pressure of the white man upon the Indian would +in time of course have made trouble in any case. Strange parallels +constantly present themselves, and incidentally it may be seen that the +policy of the Government in force in other and even later years with +reference to the Negro was at this time also very largely applied in the +case of the Indian. + + +1. _Creek, Seminole, and Negro to 1817: The War of 1812_ + +On August 7, 1786, the Continental Congress by a definite and +far-reaching ordinance sought to regulate for the future the whole +conduct of Indian affairs. Two great districts were formed, one +including the territory north of the Ohio and west of the Hudson, and +the other including that south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi; +and for anything pertaining to the Indian in each of these two great +tracts a superintendent was appointed. As affecting the Negro the +southern district was naturally of vastly more importance than the +northern. In the eastern portion of this, mainly in what are now +Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and eastern Alabama, were the Cherokees +and the great confederacy of the Creeks, while toward the west, in the +present Mississippi and western Alabama, were the Chickasaws and the +Choctaws. Of Muskhogean stock, and originally a part of the Creeks, were +the Seminoles ("runaways"), who about 1750, under the leadership of a +great chieftain, Secoffee, separated from the main confederacy, which +had its center in southwest Georgia just a little south of Columbus, and +overran the peninsula of Florida. In 1808 came another band under Micco +Hadjo to the present site of Tallahassee. The Mickasukie tribe was +already on the ground in the vicinity of this town, and at first its +members objected to the newcomers, who threatened to take their lands +from them; but at length all abode peaceably together under the general +name of Seminoles. About 1810 these people had twenty towns, the chief +ones being Mikasuki and Tallahassee. From the very first they had +received occasional additions from the Yemassee, who had been driven out +of South Carolina, and of fugitive Negroes. + +By the close of the eighteenth century all along the frontier the Indian +had begun to feel keenly the pressure of the white man, and in his +struggle with the invader he recognized in the oppressed Negro a natural +ally. Those Negroes who by any chance became free were welcomed by the +Indians, fugitives from bondage found refuge with them, and while +Indian chiefs commonly owned slaves, the variety of servitude was very +different from that under the white man. The Negroes were comparatively +free, and intermarriage was frequent; thus a mulatto woman who fled +from bondage married a chief and became the mother of a daughter who in +course of time became the wife of the famous Osceola. This very close +connection of the Negro with the family life of the Indian was the +determining factor in the resistance of the Seminoles to the demands of +the agents of the United States, and a reason, stronger even than his +love for his old hunting-ground, for his objection to removal to new +lands beyond the Mississippi. Very frequently the Indian could not give +up his Negroes without seeing his own wife and children led away into +bondage; and thus to native courage and pride was added the instinct of +a father for the preservation of his own. + +In the two wars between the Americans and the English it was but natural +that the Indian should side with the English, and it was in some measure +but a part of the game that he should receive little consideration at +the hands of the victor. In the politics played by the English and the +French, the English and the Spaniards, and finally between the Americans +and all Europeans, the Indian was ever the loser. In the very early +years of the Carolina colonies, some effort was made to enslave the +Indians; but such servants soon made their way to the Indian country, +and it was not long before they taught the Negroes to do likewise. This +constant escape of slaves, with its attendant difficulties, largely +accounted for the establishing of the free colony of Georgia between +South Carolina and the Spanish possession, Florida. It was soon evident, +however, that the problem had been aggravated rather than settled. When +Congress met in 1776 it received from Georgia a communication setting +forth the need of "preventing slaves from deserting their masters"; and +as soon as the Federal Government was organized in 1789 it received also +from Georgia an urgent request for protection from the Creeks, who were +charged with various ravages, and among other documents presented was +a list of one hundred and ten Negroes who were said to have left their +masters during the Revolution and to have found refuge among the Creeks. +Meanwhile by various treaties, written and unwritten, the Creeks were +being forced toward the western line of the state, and in any agreement +the outstanding stipulation was always for the return of fugitive +slaves. For a number of years the Creeks retreated without definitely +organized resistance. In the course of the War of 1812, however, moved +by the English and by a visit from Tecumseh, they suddenly rose, and on +August 30, 1813, under the leadership of Weathersford, they attacked +Fort Mims, a stockade thirty-five miles north of Mobile. The five +hundred and fifty-three men, women, and children in this place were +almost completely massacred. Only fifteen white persons escaped by +hiding in the woods, a number of Negroes being taken prisoner. This +occurrence spurred the whole Southwest to action. Volunteers were called +for, and the Tennessee legislature resolved to exterminate the whole +tribe. Andrew Jackson with Colonel Coffee administered decisive defeats +at Talladega and Tohopeka or Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River, and +the Creeks were forced to sue for peace. By the treaty of Fort Jackson +(August 9, 1814) the future president, now a major general in the +regular army and in command at Mobile, demanded that the unhappy nation +give up more than half of its land as indemnity for the cost of the war, +that it hold no communication with a Spanish garrison or town, that it +permit the necessary roads to be made or forts to be built in any part +of the territory, and that it surrender the prophets who had instigated +the war. This last demand was ridiculous, or only for moral effect, +for the so-called prophets had already been left dead on the field of +battle. The Creeks were quite broken, however, and Jackson passed on to +fame and destiny at the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. In April +of this year he was made commander-in-chief of the Southern Division.[1] +It soon developed that his chief task in this capacity was to reckon +with the Seminoles. + +[Footnote 1: In his official capacity Jackson issued two addresses which +have an important place in the history of the Negro soldier. From his +headquarters at Mobile, September 21, 1814, he issued an appeal "To the +Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana," offering them an honorable part +in the war, and this was later followed by a "Proclamation to the +Free People of Color" congratulating them on their achievement. Both +addresses are accessible in many books.] + +On the Appalachicola River the British had rebuilt an old fort, calling +it the British Post on the Appalachicola. Early in the summer of 1815 +the commander, Nicholls, had occasion to go to London, and he took with +him his troops, the chief Francis, and several Creeks, leaving in the +fort seven hundred and sixty-three barrels of cannon powder, twenty-five +hundred muskets, and numerous pistols and other weapons of war. The +Negroes from Georgia who had come to the vicinity, who numbered not less +than a thousand, and who had some well kept farms up and down the +banks of the river, now took charge of the fort and made it their +headquarters. They were joined by some Creeks, and the so-called Negro +Fort soon caused itself to be greatly feared by any white people +who happened to live near. Demands on the Spanish governor for its +suppression were followed by threats of the use of the soldiery of the +United States; and General Gaines, under orders in the section, wrote to +Jackson asking authority to build near the boundary another post that +might be used as the base for any movement that had as its aim to +overawe the Negroes. Jackson readily complied with the request, saying, +"I have no doubt that this fort has been established by some villains +for the purpose of murder, rapine, and plunder, and that it ought to be +blown up regardless of the ground it stands on. If you have come to the +same conclusion, destroy it, and restore the stolen Negroes and property +to their rightful owners." Gaines accordingly built Fort Scott not +far from where the Flint and the Chattahoochee join to form the +Appalachicola. It was necessary for Gaines to pass the Negro Fort in +bringing supplies to his own men; and on July 17, 1816, the boats of the +Americans were within range of the fort and opened fire. There was some +preliminary shooting, and then, since the walls were too stubborn to be +battered down by a light fire, "a ball made red-hot in the cook's +galley was put in the gun and sent screaming over the wall and into the +magazine. The roar, the shock, the scene that followed, may be imagined, +but not described. Seven hundred barrels of gunpowder tore the earth, +the fort, and all the wretched creatures in it to fragments. Two hundred +and seventy men, women, and children died on the spot. Of sixty-four +taken out alive, the greater number died soon after."[1] + +[Footnote 1: McMaster, IV, 431.] + +The Seminoles--in the West more and more identified with the +Creeks--were angered by their failure to recover the lands lost by the +treaty of Fort Jackson and also by the building of Fort Scott. One +settlement, Fowltown, fifteen miles east of Fort Scott, was especially +excited and in the fall of 1817 sent a warning to the Americans "not +to cross or cut a stick of timber on the east side of the Flint." The +warning was regarded as a challenge; Fowltown was taken on a morning in +November, and the Seminole Wars had begun. + + +2. _First Seminole War and the Treaties of Indian Spring and Fort +Moultrie_ + +In the course of the First Seminole War (1817-18) Jackson ruthlessly +laid waste the towns of the Indians; he also took Pensacola, and he +awakened international difficulties by his rather summary execution of +two British subjects, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who were traders to the +Indians and sustained generally pleasant relations with them. For his +conduct, especially in this last instance, he was severely criticized in +Congress, but it is significant of his rising popularity that no formal +vote of censure could pass against him. On the cession of Florida to the +United States he was appointed territorial governor; but he served for a +brief term only. As early as 1822 he was nominated for the presidency +by the legislature of Tennessee, and in 1823 he was sent to the United +States Senate. + +Of special importance in the history of the Creeks about this time was +the treaty of Indian Spring, of January 8, 1821, an iniquitous agreement +in the signing of which bribery and firewater were more than usually +present. By this the Creeks ceded to the United States, for the benefit +of Georgia, five million acres of their most valuable land. In cash they +were to receive $200,000, in payments extending over fourteen years. The +United States Government moreover was to hold $250,000 as a fund from +which the citizens of Georgia were to be reimbursed for any "claims" +(for runaway slaves of course) that the citizens of the state had +against the Creeks prior to the year 1802.[1] In the actual execution of +this agreement a slave was frequently estimated at two or three times +his real value, and the Creeks were expected to pay whether the fugitive +was with them or not. All possible claims, however, amounted to +$101,000. This left $149,000 of the money in the hands of the +Government. This sum was not turned over to the Indians, as one might +have expected, but retained until 1834, when the Georgia citizens +interested petitioned for a division. The request was referred to the +Commission on Indian Affairs, and the chairman, Gilmer of Georgia, was +in favor of dividing the money among the petitioners as compensation for +"the offspring which the slaves would have borne had they remained in +bondage." This suggestion was rejected at the time, but afterwards the +division was made nevertheless; and history records few more flagrant +violations of all principles of honor and justice. + +[Footnote 1: See J.R. Giddings: _The Exiles of Florida_, 63-66; also +speech in House of Representatives February 9, 1841.] + +The First Seminole War, while in some ways disastrous to the Indians, +was in fact not much more than the preliminary skirmish of a conflict +that was not to cease until 1842. In general the Indians, mindful of the +ravages of the War of 1812, did not fully commit themselves and bided +their time. They were in fact so much under cover that they led the +Americans to underestimate their real numbers. When the cession of +Florida was formally completed, however (July 17, 1821), they were found +to be on the very best spots of land in the territory. On May 20, 1822, +Colonel Gad Humphreys was appointed agent to them, William P. Duval as +governor of the territory being ex-officio superintendent of Indian +affairs. Altogether the Indians at this time, according to the official +count, numbered 1,594 men, 1,357 women, and 993 children, a total of +3,944, with 150 Negro men and 650 Negro women and children.[1] In the +interest of these people Humphreys labored faithfully for eight years, +and not a little of the comparative quiet in his period of service is to +be credited to his own sympathy, good sense, and patience. + +[Footnote 1: Sprague, 19.] + +In the spring of 1823 the Indians were surprised by the suggestion of a +treaty that would definitely limit their boundaries and outline their +future relations with the white man. The representative chiefs had +no desire for a conference, were exceedingly reluctant to meet the +commissioners, and finally came to the meeting prompted only by the hope +that such terms might be arrived at as would permanently guarantee them +in the peaceable possession of their homes. Over the very strong protest +of some of them a treaty was signed at Fort Moultrie, on the coast five +miles below St. Augustine, September 18, 1823, William P. Duval, James +Gadsden, and Bernard Segui being the representatives of the United +States. By this treaty we learn that the Indians, in view of the fact +that they have "thrown themselves on, and have promised to continue +under, the protection of the United States, and of no other nation, +power, or sovereignty; and in consideration of the promises and +stipulations hereinafter made, do cede and relinquish all claim or title +which they have to the whole territory of Florida, with the exception of +such district of country as shall herein be allotted to them." They are +to have restricted boundaries, the extreme point of which is nowhere to +be nearer than fifteen miles to the Gulf of Mexico. The United States +promises to distribute, as soon as the Indians are settled on their new +land, under the direction of their agent, "implements of husbandry, and +stock of cattle and hogs to the amount of six thousand dollars, and an +annual sum of five thousand dollars a year for twenty successive years"; +and "to restrain and prevent all white persons from hunting, settling, +or otherwise intruding" upon the land set apart for the Indians, though +any American citizen, lawfully authorized, is to pass and repass +within the said district and navigate the waters thereof "without any +hindrance, toll or exactions from said tribes." For facilitating removal +and as compensation for any losses or inconvenience sustained, the +United States is to furnish rations of corn, meat, and salt for twelve +months, with a special appropriation of $4,500 for those who have made +improvements, and $2,000 more for the facilitating of transportation. +The agent, sub-agent, and interpreter are to reside within the Indian +boundary "to watch over the interests of said tribes"; and the United +States further undertake "as an evidence of their humane policy +towards said tribes" to allow $1,000 a year for twenty years for the +establishment of a school and $1,000 a year for the same period for the +support of a gun- and blacksmith. Of supreme importance is Article 7: +"The chiefs and warriors aforesaid, for themselves and tribes, stipulate +to be active and vigilant in the preventing the retreating to, or +passing through, the district of country assigned them, of any +absconding slaves, or fugitives from justice; and further agree to use +all necessary exertions to apprehend and deliver the same to the agent, +who shall receive orders to compensate them agreeably to the trouble and +expense incurred." We have dwelt at length upon the provisions of this +treaty because it contained all the seeds of future trouble between the +white man and the Indian. Six prominent chiefs--Nea Mathla, John Blunt, +Tuski Hajo, Mulatto King, Emathlochee, and Econchattimico--refused +absolutely to sign, and their marks were not won until each was given +a special reservation of from two to four square miles outside the +Seminole boundaries. Old Nea Mathla in fact never did accept the treaty +in good faith, and when the time came for the execution of the agreement +he summoned his warriors to resistance. Governor Duval broke in upon his +war council, deposed the war leaders, and elevated those who favored +peaceful removal. The Seminoles now retired to their new lands, but Nea +Mathla was driven into practical exile. He retired to the Creeks, by +whom he was raised to the dignity of a chief. It was soon realized by +the Seminoles that they had been restricted to some pine woods by no +means as fertile as their old lands, nor were matters made better by one +or two seasons of drought. To allay their discontent twenty square miles +more, to the north, was given them, but to offset this new cession their +rations were immediately reduced. + + +3. _From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to the Treaty of Payne's Landing_ + +Now succeeded ten years of trespassing, of insult, and of increasing +enmity. Kidnapers constantly lurked near the Indian possessions, and +instances of injury unredressed increased the bitterness and rancor. +Under date May 20, 1825, Humphreys[1] wrote to the Indian Bureau that +the white settlers were already thronging to the vicinity of the Indian +reservation and were likely to become troublesome. As to some recent +disturbances, writing from St. Augustine February 9, 1825, he said: +"From all I can learn here there is little doubt that the disturbances +near Tallahassee, which have of late occasioned so much clamor, were +brought about by a course of unjustifiable conduct on the part of +the whites, similar to that which it appears to be the object of the +territorial legislature to legalize. In fact, it is stated that one +Indian had been so severely whipped by the head of the family which was +destroyed in these disturbances, as to cause his death; if such be the +fact, the subsequent act of the Indians, however lamentable, must be +considered as one of retaliation, and I can not but think it is to +be deplored that they were afterwards 'hunted' with so unrelenting a +revenge." The word _hunted_ was used advisedly by Humphreys, for, as +we shall see later, when war was renewed one of the common means of +fighting employed by the American officers was the use of bloodhounds. +Sometimes guns were taken from the Indians so that they had nothing with +which to pursue the chase. On one occasion, when some Indians were being +marched to headquarters, a woman far advanced in pregnancy was forced +onward with such precipitancy as to produce a premature delivery, which +almost terminated her life. More far-reaching than anything else, +however, was the constant denial of the rights of the Indian in court +in cases involving white men. As Humphreys said, the great disadvantage +under which the Seminoles labored as witnesses "destroyed everything +like equality of rights." Some of the Negroes that they had, had been +born among them, and some others had been purchased from white men +and duly paid for. No receipts were given, however, and efforts were +frequently made to recapture the Negroes by force. The Indian, conscious +of his rights, protested earnestly against such attempts and naturally +determined to resist all efforts to wrest from him his rightfully +acquired property. + +[Footnote 1: The correspondence is readily accessible in Sprague, +30-37.] + +By 1827, however, the territorial legislature had begun to memorialize +Congress and to ask for the complete removal of the Indians. Meanwhile +the Negro question was becoming more prominent, and orders from the +Department of War, increasingly peremptory, were made on Humphreys for +the return of definite Negroes. For Duval and Humphreys, however, who +had actually to execute the commissions, the task was not always so +easy. Under date March 20, 1827, the former wrote to the latter: "Many +of the slaves belonging to the whites are now in the possession of the +white people; these slaves can not be obtained for their Indian owners +without a lawsuit, and I see no reason why the Indians shall be +compelled to surrender all slaves claimed by our citizens when this +surrender is not mutual." Meanwhile the annuity began to be withheld +from the Indians in order to force them to return Negroes, and a +friendly chief, Hicks, constantly waited upon Humphreys only to find the +agent little more powerful than himself. Thus matters continued through +1829 and 1830. In violation of all legal procedure, the Indians were +constantly _required to relinquish beforehand property in their +possession to settle a question of claim_. On March 21, 1830, Humphreys +was informed that he was no longer agent for the Indians. He had been +honestly devoted to the interest of these people, but his efforts were +not in harmony with the policy of the new administration. + +Just what that policy was may be seen from Jackson's special message +on Indian affairs of February 22, 1831. The Senate had asked for +information as to the conduct of the Government in connection with the +act of March 30, 1802, "to regulate trade and intercourse with the +Indian tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers." The Nullification +controversy was in everybody's mind, and already friction had arisen +between the new President and the abolitionists. In spite of Jackson's +attitude toward South Carolina, his message in the present instance was +a careful defense of the whole theory of state rights. Nothing in the +conduct of the Federal Government toward the Indian tribes, he insisted, +had ever been intended to attack or even to call in question the rights +of a sovereign state. In one way the Southern states had seemed to be an +exception. "As early as 1784 the settlements within the limits of North +Carolina were advanced farther to the west than the authority of the +state to enforce an obedience of its laws." After the Revolution the +tribes desolated the frontiers. "Under these circumstances the first +treaties, in 1785 and 1790, with the Cherokees, were concluded by the +Government of the United States." Nothing of all this, said Jackson, had +in any way affected the relation of any Indians to the state in which +they happened to reside, and he concluded as follows: "Toward this race +of people I entertain the kindest feelings, and am not sensible that the +views which I have taken of their true interests are less favorable to +them than those which oppose their emigration to the West. Years since I +stated to them my belief that if the States chose to extend their laws +over them it would not be in the power of the Federal Government to +prevent it. My opinion remains the same, and I can see no alternative +for them but that of their removal to the West or a quiet submission to +the state laws. If they prefer to remove, the United States agree to +defray their expenses, to supply them the means of transportation and a +year's support after they reach their new homes--a provision too liberal +and kind to bear the stamp of injustice. Either course promises them +peace and happiness, whilst an obstinate perseverance in the effort to +maintain their possessions independent of the state authority can not +fail to render their condition still more helpless and miserable. Such +an effort ought, therefore, to be discountenanced by all who sincerely +sympathize in the fortunes of this peculiar people, and especially by +the political bodies of the Union, as calculated to disturb the harmony +of the two Governments and to endanger the safety of the many blessings +which they enable us to enjoy." + +The policy thus formally enunciated was already in practical operation. +In the closing days of the administration of John Quincy Adams a +delegation came to Washington to present to the administration the +grievances of the Cherokee nation. The formal reception of the +delegation fell to the lot of Eaton, the new Secretary of War. The +Cherokees asserted that not only did they have no rights in the Georgia +courts in cases involving white men, but that they had been notified by +Georgia that all laws, usages, and agreements in force in the Indian +country would be null and void after June 1, 1830; and naturally they +wanted the interposition of the Federal Government. Eaton replied at +great length, reminding the Cherokees that they had taken sides with +England in the War of 1812, that they were now on American soil only by +sufferance, and that the central government could not violate the rights +of the state of Georgia; and he strongly advised immediate removal to +the West. The Cherokees, quite broken, acted in accord with this advice; +and so in 1832 did the Creeks, to whom Jackson had sent a special talk +urging removal as the only basis of Federal protection. + +To the Seminoles as early as 1827 overtures for removal had been made; +but before the treaty of Fort Moultrie had really become effective they +had been intruded upon and they in turn had become more slow about +returning runaway slaves. From some of the clauses in the treaty of +Fort Moultrie, as some of the chiefs were quick to point out, the +understanding was that the same was to be in force for twenty years; and +they felt that any slowness on their part about the return of Negroes +was fully nullified by the efforts of the professional Negro stealers +with whom they had to deal. + +Early in 1832, however, Colonel James Gadsden of Florida was directed +by Lewis Cass, the Secretary of War, to enter into negotiation for the +removal of the Indians of Florida. There was great opposition to a +conference, but the Indians were finally brought together at Payne's +Landing on the Ocklawaha River just seventeen miles from Fort King. +Here on May 9, 1832, was wrested from them a treaty which is of supreme +importance in the history of the Seminoles. The full text was as +follows: + + +TREATY OF PAYNE'S LANDING, + +MAY 9, 1832 + + Whereas, a treaty between the United States and the Seminole nation + of Indians was made and concluded at Payne's Landing, on the + Ocklawaha River, on the 9th of May, one thousand eight hundred and + thirty-two, by James Gadsden, commissioner on the part of the United + States, and the chiefs and headmen of said Seminole nation of + Indians, on the part of said nation; which treaty is in the words + following, to wit: + + The Seminole Indians, regarding with just respect the solicitude + manifested by the President of the United States for the improvement + of their condition, by recommending a removal to the country more + suitable to their habits and wants than the one they at present + occupy in the territory of Florida, are willing that their + confidential chiefs, Jumper, Fuch-a-lus-to-had-jo, Charley Emathla, + Coi-had-jo, Holati-Emathla, Ya-ha-had-jo, Sam Jones, accompanied + by their agent, Major John Phagan, and their faithful interpreter, + Abraham, should be sent, at the expense of the United States, as + early as convenient, to examine the country assigned to the Creeks, + west of the Mississippi River, and should they be satisfied with the + character of the country, and of the favorable disposition of the + Creeks to re-unite with the Seminoles as one people; the articles of + the compact and agreement herein stipulated, at Payne's Landing, + on the Ocklawaha River, this ninth day of May, one thousand eight + hundred and thirty-two, between James Gadsden, for and in behalf of + the government of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs and + headmen, for and in behalf of the Seminole Indians, shall be binding + on the respective parties. + + Article I. The Seminole Indians relinquish to the United States + all claim to the land they at present occupy in the territory of + Florida, and agree to emigrate to the country assigned to the + Creeks, west of the Mississippi River, it being understood that an + additional extent of country, proportioned to their numbers, will + be added to the Creek territory, and that the Seminoles will be + received as a constituent part of the Creek nation, and be + re-admitted to all the privileges as a member of the same. + + Article II. For and in consideration of the relinquishment of claim + in the first article of this agreement, and in full compensation for + all the improvements which may have been made on the lands thereby + ceded, the United States stipulate to pay to the Seminole Indians + fifteen thousand four hundred ($15,400) dollars, to be divided + among the chiefs and warriors of the several towns, in a ratio + proportioned to their population, the respective proportions of each + to be paid on their arrival in the country they consent to remove + to; it being understood that their faithful interpreters, Abraham + and Cudjo, shall receive two hundred dollars each, of the above sum, + in full remuneration of the improvements to be abandoned on the + lands now cultivated by them. + + Article III. The United States agree to distribute, as they arrive + at their new homes in the Creek territory, west of the Mississippi + River, a blanket and a homespun frock to each of the warriors, women + and children, of the Seminole tribe of Indians. + + Article IV. The United States agree to extend the annuity for the + support of a blacksmith, provided for in the sixth article of the + treaty at Camp Moultrie, for ten (10) years beyond the period + therein stipulated, and in addition to the other annuities secured + under that treaty, the United States agree to pay the sum of three + thousand ($3,000) dollars a year for fifteen (15) years, commencing + after the removal of the whole tribe; these sums to be added to the + Creek annuities, and the whole amount to be so divided that the + chiefs and warriors of the Seminole Indians may receive their + equitable proportion of the same, as members of the Creek + confederation. + + Article V. The United States will take the cattle belonging to the + Seminoles, at the valuation of some discreet person, to be appointed + by the President, and the same shall be paid for in money to the + respective owners, after their arrival at their new homes; or other + cattle, such as may be desired, will be furnished them; notice being + given through their agent, of their wishes upon this subject, before + their removal, that time may be afforded to supply the demand. + + Article VI. The Seminoles being anxious to be relieved from the + repeated vexatious demands for slaves, and other property, alleged + to have been stolen and destroyed by them, so that they may remove + unembarrassed to their new homes, the United States stipulate to + have the same property (properly) investigated, and to liquidate + such as may be satisfactorily established, provided the amount does + not exceed seven thousand ($7,000) dollars. + + Article VII. The Seminole Indians will remove within three (3) years + after the ratification of this agreement, and the expenses of their + removal shall be defrayed by the United States, and such subsistence + shall also be furnished them, for a term not exceeding twelve (12) + months after their arrival at their new residence, as in the opinion + of the President their numbers and circumstances may require; the + emigration to commence as early as practicable in the year eighteen + hundred and thirty-three (1833), and with those Indians at present + occupying the Big Swamp, and other parts of the country beyond the + limits, as defined in the second article of the treaty concluded at + Camp Moultrie Creek, so that the whole of that proportion of + the Seminoles may be removed within the year aforesaid, and the + remainder of the tribe, in about equal proportions, during the + subsequent years of eighteen hundred and thirty-four and five (1834 + and 1835). + + In testimony whereof, the commissioner, James Gadsden, and the + undersigned chiefs and head-men of the Seminole Indians, have + hereunto subscribed their names and affixed their seals. + + Done at camp, at Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha River, in the + territory of Florida, on this ninth day of May, one thousand eight + hundred and thirty-two, and of the independence of the United States + of America, the fifty-sixth. + + (Signed) James Gadsden. L.S. + Holati Emathlar, his X mark. + Jumper, his X mark. + Cudjo, Interpreter, his X mark. + Erastus Rodgers. + B. Joscan. + Holati Emathlar, his X mark. + Jumper, his X mark. + Fuch-ta-lus-ta-Hadjo, his X mark. + Charley Emathla, his X mark. + Coi Hadjo, his X mark. + Ar-pi-uck-i, or Sam + Jones, his X mark. + Ya-ha-Hadjo, his X mark. + Mico-Noha, his X mark. + Tokose Emathla, or + John Hicks, his X mark. + Cat-sha-Tustenuggee, his X mark. + Holat-a-Micco, his X mark. + Hitch-it-i-Micco, his X mark. + E-na-hah, his X mark. + Ya-ha-Emathla-Chopco, his X mark. + Moki-his-she-lar-ni, his X mark. + + Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jackson, President of the + United States of America, having seen and considered said treaty, + do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as expressed + by their resolution of the eighth day of April, one thousand eight + hundred and thirty-four, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and + every clause and article thereof. + + In witness whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to + be hereunto affixed, having signed the same with my hand. Done at + the city of Washington, this twelfth day of April, in the year of + our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and of the + independence of the United States of America, the fifty-eighth. + + (Signed) ANDREW JACKSON. By the President, + LOUIS MCLANE, Secretary of State. + +It will be seen that by the terms of this document seven chiefs were to +go and examine the country assigned to the Creeks, and that they were to +be accompanied by Major John Phagan, the successor of Humphreys, and the +Negro interpreter Abraham. The character of Phagan may be seen from the +facts that he was soon in debt to different ones of the Indians and to +Abraham, and that he was found to be short in his accounts. While the +Indian chiefs were in the West, three United States commissioners +conferred with them as to the suitability of the country for a future +home, and at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, March 28, 1833, they were beguiled +into signing an additional treaty in which occurred the following +sentence: "And the undersigned Seminole chiefs, delegated as aforesaid, +on behalf of their nation, hereby declare themselves well satisfied with +the location provided for them by the commissioners, and agree that +their nation shall commence the removal to their new home as soon as the +government will make arrangements for their emigration, satisfactory to +the Seminole nation." They of course had no authority to act on their +own initiative, and when all returned in April, 1833, and Phagan +explained what had happened, the Seminoles expressed themselves in no +uncertain terms. The chiefs who had gone West denied strenuously that +they had signed away any rights to land, but they were nevertheless +upbraided as the agents of deception. Some of the old chiefs, of whom +Micanopy was the highest authority, resolved to resist the efforts to +dispossess them; and John Hicks, who seems to have been substituted for +Sam Jones on the commission, was killed because he argued too strongly +for migration. Meanwhile the treaty of Payne's Landing was ratified by +the Senate of the United States and proclaimed as in force by President +Jackson April 12, 1834, and in connection with it the supplementary +treaty of Fort Gibson was also ratified. The Seminoles, however, were +not showing any haste about removing, and ninety of the white citizens +of Alachua County sent a protest to the President alleging that the +Indians were not returning their fugitive slaves. Jackson was made +angry, and without even waiting for the formal ratification of the +treaties, he sent the document to the Secretary of War, with an +endorsement on the back directing him "to inquire into the alleged +facts, and if found to be true, to direct the Seminoles to prepare to +remove West and join the Creeks." General Wiley Thompson was appointed +to succeed Phagan as agent, and General Duncan L. Clinch was placed in +command of the troops whose services it was thought might be needed. It +was at this juncture that Osceola stepped forward as the leading spirit +of his people. + + +4. _Osceola and the Second Seminole War_ + +Osceola (Asseola, or As-se-he-ho-lar, sometimes called Powell because +after his father's death his mother married a white man of that name[1]) +was not more than thirty years of age. He was slender, of only +average height, and slightly round-shouldered; but he was also well +proportioned, muscular, and capable of enduring great fatigue. He had +light, deep, restless eyes, and a shrill voice, and he was a great +admirer of order and technique. He excelled in athletic contests and in +his earlier years had taken delight in engaging in military practice +with the white men. As he was neither by descent nor formal election a +chief, he was not expected to have a voice in important deliberations; +but he was a natural leader and he did more than any other man to +organize the Seminoles to resistance. It is hardly too much to say +that to his single influence was due a contest that ultimately cost +$10,000,000 and the loss of thousands of lives. Never did a patriot +fight more valiantly for his own, and it stands to the eternal disgrace +of the American arms that he was captured under a flag of truce. + +[Footnote 1: Hodge's _Handbook of American Indians_, II, 159.] + +It is well to pause for a moment and reflect upon some of the deeper +motives that entered into the impending contest. A distinguished +congressman,[1] speaking in the House of Representatives a few years +later, touched eloquently upon some of the events of these troublous +years. Let us remember that this was the time of the formation of +anti-slavery societies, of pronounced activity on the part of the +abolitionists, and recall also that Nat Turner's insurrection was still +fresh in the public mind. Giddings stated clearly the issue as it +appeared to the people of the North when he said, "I hold that if the +slaves of Georgia or any other state leave their masters, the Federal +Government has no constitutional authority to employ our army or navy +for their recapture, or to apply the national treasure to repurchase +them." There could be no question of the fact that the war was very +largely one over fugitive slaves. Under date October 28, 1834, General +Thompson wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: "There are many +very likely Negroes in this nation [the Seminole]. Some of the whites in +the adjacent settlements manifest a restless desire to obtain them, and +I have no doubt that Indian raised Negroes are now in the possession +of the whites." In a letter dated January 20, 1834, Governor Duval had +already said to the same official: "The slaves belonging to the Indians +have a controlling influence over the minds of their masters, and are +entirely opposed to any change of residence." Six days later he wrote: +"The slaves belonging to the Indians must be made to fear for themselves +before they will cease to influence the minds of their masters.... The +first step towards the emigration of these Indians must be the breaking +up of the runaway slaves and the outlaw Indians." And the New Orleans +_Courier_ of July 27, 1839, revealed all the fears of the period when it +said, "Every day's delay in subduing the Seminoles increases the danger +of a rising among the serviles." + +[Footnote 1: Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio. His exhaustive speech on the +Florida War was made February 9, 1841.] + +All the while injustice and injury to the Indians continued. +Econchattimico, well known as one of those chiefs to whom special +reservations had been given by the treaty of Fort Moultrie, was the +owner of twenty slaves valued at $15,000. Observing Negro stealers +hovering around his estate, he armed himself and his men. The kidnapers +then furthered their designs by circulating the report that the Indians +were arming themselves for union with the main body of Seminoles for the +general purpose of massacring the white people. Face to face with +this charge Econchattimico gave up his arms and threw himself on the +protection of the government; and his Negroes were at once taken and +sold into bondage. + +A similar case was that of John Walker, an Appalachicola chief, who +wrote to Thompson under date July 28, 1835: "I am induced to write you +in consequence of the depredations making and attempted to be made upon +my property, by a company of Negro stealers, some of whom are from +Columbus, Ga., and have connected themselves with Brown and Douglass.... +I should like your advice how I am to act. I dislike to make or to have +any difficulty with the white people. But if they trespass upon my +premises and my rights, I must defend myself the best way I can. If they +do make this attempt, and I have no doubt they will, they must bear the +consequences. _But is there no civil law to protect me_? Are the free +Negroes and the Negroes belonging to this town to be stolen away +publicly, and in the face of law and justice, carried off and sold to +fill the pockets of these worse than land pirates? Douglass and his +company hired a man who has two large trained dogs for the purpose to +come down and take Billy. He is from Mobile and follows for a livelihood +catching runaway Negroes." + +Such were the motives, fears and incidents in the years immediately +after the treaty of Payne's Landing. Beginning at the close of 1834 and +continuing through April, 1835, Thompson had a series of conferences +with the Seminole chiefs. At these meetings Micanopy, influenced by +Osceola and other young Seminoles, took a more definite stand than he +might otherwise have assumed. Especially did he insist with reference +to the treaty that he understood that the chiefs who went West were to +_examine_ the country, and for his part he knew that when they returned +they would report unfavorably. Thompson then, becoming angry, delivered +an ultimatum to the effect that if the treaty was not observed the +annuity from the great father in Washington would cease. To this, +Osceola, stepping forward, replied that he and his warriors did not care +if they never received another dollar from the great father, and drawing +his knife, he plunged it in the table and said, "The only treaty I will +execute is with this." Henceforward there was deadly enmity between the +young Seminole and Thompson. More and more Osceola made his personality +felt, constantly asserting to the men of his nation that whoever +recommended emigration was an enemy of the Seminoles, and he finally +arrived at an understanding with many of them that the treaty would be +resisted with their very lives. Thompson, however, on April 23, 1835, +had a sort of secret conference with sixteen of the chiefs who seemed +favorably disposed toward migration, and he persuaded them to sign a +document "freely and fully" assenting to the treaties of Payne's Landing +and Fort Gibson. The next day there was a formal meeting at which the +agent, backed up by Clinch and his soldiers, upbraided the Indians in a +very harsh manner. His words were met by groans, angry gesticulations, +and only half-muffled imprecations. Clinch endeavored to appeal to the +Indians and to advise them that resistance was both unwise and useless. +Thompson, however, with his usual lack of tact, rushed onward in his +course, and learning that five chiefs were unalterably opposed to the +treaty, he arbitrarily struck their names off the roll of chiefs, an +action the highhandedness of which was not lost on the Seminoles. +Immediately after the conference moreover he forbade the sale of +any more arms and powder to the Indians. To the friendly chiefs the +understanding had been given that the nation might have until January +1, 1836, to make preparation for removal, by which time all were to +assemble at Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, for emigration. + +About the first of June Osceola was one day on a quiet errand of trading +at Fort King. With him was his wife, the daughter of a mulatto slave +woman who had run away years before and married an Indian chief. By +Southern law this woman followed the condition of her mother, and +when the mother's former owner appeared on the scene and claimed the +daughter, Thompson, who desired to teach Occeola a lesson, readily +agreed that she should be remanded into captivity.[1] Osceola was highly +enraged, and this time it was his turn to upbraid the agent. Thompson +now had him overpowered and put in irons, in which situation he remained +for the better part of two days. In this period of captivity his soul +plotted revenge and at length he too planned a "_ruse de guerre_." +Feigning assent to the treaty he told Thompson that if he was released +not only would he sign himself but he would also bring his people to +sign. The agent was completely deceived by Osceola's tactics. "True to +his professions," wrote Thompson on June 3, "he this day appeared with +seventy-nine of his people, men, women, and children, including some who +had joined him since his conversion, and redeemed his promise. He told +me many of his friends were out hunting, whom he could and would bring +over on their return. I have now no doubt of his sincerity, and as +little, that the greatest difficulty is surmounted." + +[Footnote 1: This highly important incident, which was really the spark +that started the war, is absolutely ignored even by such well informed +writers as Drake and Sprague. Drake simply gives the impression that +the quarrel between Osceola and Thompson was over the old matter of +emigration, saying (413), "Remonstrance soon grew into altercation, +which ended in a _ruse de guerre_, by which Osceola was made prisoner by +the agent, and put in irons, in which situation he was kept one night +and part of two days." The story is told by McMaster, however. Also note +M.M. Cohen as quoted in _Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine_, Vol. II, p. +419 (July, 1837).] + +Osceola now rapidly urged forward preparations for war, which, however, +he did not wish actually started until after the crops were gathered. +By the fall he was ready, and one day in October when he and some other +warriors met Charley Emathla, who had upon him the gold and silver that +he had received from the sale of his cattle preparatory to migration, +they killed this chief, and Osceola threw the money in every direction, +saying that no one was to touch it, as it was the price of the red man's +blood. The true drift of events became even more apparent to Thompson +and Clinch in November, when five chiefs friendly to migration with five +hundred of their people suddenly appeared at Fort Brooke to ask for +protection. When in December Thompson sent final word to the Seminoles +that they must bring in their horses and cattle, the Indians did not +come on the appointed day; on the contrary they sent their women and +children to the interior and girded themselves for battle. To Osceola +late in the month a runner brought word that some troops under the +command of Major Dade were to leave Fort Brooke on the 25th and on the +night of the 27th were to be attacked by some Seminoles in the Wahoo +Swamp. Osceola himself, with some of his men, was meanwhile lying in the +woods near Fort King, waiting for an opportunity to kill Thompson. On +the afternoon of the 28th the agent dined not far from the fort at the +home of the sutler, a man named Rogers, and after dinner he walked +with Lieutenant Smith to the crest of a neighboring hill. Here he was +surprised by the Indians, and both he and Smith fell pierced by numerous +bullets. The Indians then pressed on to the home of the sutler and +killed Rogers, his two clerks, and a little boy. On the same day the +command of Major Dade, including seven officers and one hundred and ten +men, was almost completely annihilated, only three men escaping. Dade +and his horse were killed at the first onset. These two attacks began +the actual fighting of the Second Seminole War. That the Negroes were +working shoulder to shoulder with the Indians in these encounters may +be seen from the report of Captain Belton,[1] who said, "Lieut. Keays, +third artillery, had both arms broken from the first shot; was unable +to act, and was tomahawked the latter part of the second attack, by a +Negro"; and further: "A Negro named Harry controls the Pea Band of about +a hundred warriors, forty miles southeast of us, who have done most +of the mischief, and keep this post constantly observed." Osceola now +joined forces with those Indians who had attacked Dade, and in the +early morning of the last day of the year occurred the Battle of +Ouithlecoochee, a desperate encounter in which both Osceola and Clinch +gave good accounts of themselves. Clinch had two hundred regulars and +five or six hundred volunteers. The latter fled early in the contest and +looked on from a distance; and Clinch had to work desperately to keep +from duplicating the experience of Dade. Osceola himself was conspicuous +in a red belt and three long feathers, but although twice wounded he +seemed to bear a charmed life. He posted himself behind a tree, from +which station he constantly sallied forth to kill or wound an enemy with +almost infallible aim. + +[Footnote 1: Accessible in Drake, 416-418.] + +After these early encounters the fighting became more and more bitter +and the contest more prolonged. Early in the war the disbursing agent +reported that there were only three thousand Indians, including Negroes, +to be considered; but this was clearly an understatement. Within the +next year and a half the Indians were hard pressed, and before the end +of this period the notorious Thomas S. Jessup had appeared on the scene +as commanding major general. This man seems to have determined never to +use honorable means of warfare if some ignoble instrument could serve +his purpose. In a letter sent to Colonel Harvey from Tampa Bay under +date May 25, 1837, he said: "If you see Powell (Osceola), tell him I +shall send out and take all the Negroes who belong to the white people. +And he must not allow the Indian Negroes to mix with them. Tell him I +am sending to Cuba for bloodhounds to trail them; and I intend to hang +every one of them who does not come in." And it might be remarked that +for his bloodhounds Jessup spent--or said he spent--as much as $5,000, a +fact which thoroughly aroused Giddings and other persons from the North, +who by no means cared to see such an investment of public funds. By +order No. 160, dated August 3, 1837, Jessup invited his soldiers to +plunder and rapine, saying, "All Indian property captured from this date +will belong to the corps or detachment making it." From St. Augustine, +under date October 20, 1837, in a "confidential" communication he said +to one of his lieutenants: "Should Powell and his warriors come within +the fort, seize him and the whole party. It is important that he, Wild +Cat, John Cowagee, and Tustenuggee, be secured. Hold them until you have +my orders in relation to them."[1] Two days later he was able to write +to the Secretary of War that Osceola was actually taken. Said he: "That +chief came into the vicinity of Fort Peyton on the 20th, and sent a +messenger to General Hernandez, desiring to see and converse with him. +The sickly season being over, and there being no further necessity to +temporize, I sent a party of mounted men, and seized the entire body, +and now have them securely lodged in the fort." Osceola, Wild Cat, +and others thus captured were marched to St. Augustine; but Wild Cat +escaped. Osceola was ultimately taken to Fort Moultrie, in the harbor of +Charleston, where in January (1838) he died. + +[Footnote 1: This correspondence, and much more bearing on the point, +may be found in House Document 327 of the Second Session of the +Twenty-fifth Congress.] + +Important in this general connection was the fate of the deputation that +the influential John Ross, chief of the Cherokees, was persuaded to +send from his nation to induce the Seminoles to think more favorably of +migration. Micanopy, twelve other chieftains, and a number of warriors +accompanied the Cherokee deputation to the headquarters of the United +States Army at Fort Mellon, where they were to discuss the matter. These +warriors also Jessup seized, and Ross wrote to the Secretary of War +a dignified but bitter letter protesting against this "unprecedented +violation of that sacred rule which has ever been recognized by every +nation, civilized and uncivilized, of treating with all due respect +those who had ever presented themselves under a flag of truce before the +enemy, for the purpose of proposing the termination of warfare." He had +indeed been most basely used as the agent of deception. + +This chapter, we trust, has shown something of the real nature of the +points at issue in the Seminole Wars. In the course of these contests +the rights of Indian and Negro alike were ruthlessly disregarded. There +was redress for neither before the courts, and at the end in dealing +with them every honorable principle of men and nations was violated. It +is interesting that the three representatives of colored peoples who +in the course of the nineteenth century it was most difficult to +capture--Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Negro, Osceola, the Indian, and +Aguinaldo, the Filipino--were all taken through treachery; and on two of +the three occasions this treachery was practiced by responsible officers +of the United States Army. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EARLY APPROACH TO THE NEGRO PROBLEM + + +1. The Ultimate Problem and the Missouri Compromise + +In a previous chapter[1] we have already indicated the rise of the Negro +Problem in the last decade of the eighteenth and the first two decades +of the nineteenth century. And what was the Negro Problem? It was +certainly not merely a question of slavery; in the last analysis this +institution was hardly more than an incident. Slavery has ceased to +exist, but even to-day the Problem is with us. The question was rather +what was to be the final place in the American body politic of the +Negro population that was so rapidly increasing in the country. In the +answering of this question supreme importance attached to the Negro +himself; but the problem soon transcended the race. Ultimately it was +the destiny of the United States rather than of the Negro that was to be +considered, and all the ideals on which the country was based came to +the testing. If one studied those ideals he soon realized that they were +based on Teutonic or at least English foundations. By 1820, however, the +young American republic was already beginning to be the hope of all +of the oppressed people of Europe, and Greeks and Italians as well as +Germans and Swedes were turning their faces toward the Promised Land. +The whole background of Latin culture was different from the Teutonic, +and yet the people of Southern as well as of Northern Europe somehow +became a part of the life of the United States. In this life was it also +possible for the children of Africa to have a permanent and an honorable +place? With their special tradition and gifts, with their shortcomings, +above all with their distinctive color, could they, too, become genuine +American citizens? Some said No, but in taking this position they denied +not only the ideals on which the country was founded but also the +possibilities of human nature itself. In any case the answer to the +first question at once suggested another, What shall we do with the +Negro? About this there was very great difference of opinion, it not +always being supposed that the Negro himself had anything whatever to +say about the matter. Some said send the Negro away, get rid of him by +any means whatsoever; others said if he must stay, keep him in slavery; +still others said not to keep him permanently in slavery, but emancipate +him only gradually; and already there were beginning to be persons who +felt that the Negro should be emancipated everywhere immediately, and +that after this great event had taken place he and the nation together +should work out his salvation on the broadest possible plane. + +[Footnote 1: IV, Section 3.] + +Into the agitation was suddenly thrust the application of Missouri for +entrance into the Union as a slave state. The struggle that followed +for two years was primarily a political one, but in the course of the +discussion the evils of slavery were fully considered. Meanwhile, in +1819, Alabama and Maine also applied for admission. Alabama was allowed +to enter without much discussion, as she made equal the number of slave +and free states. Maine, however, brought forth more talk. The Southern +congressmen would have been perfectly willing to admit this as a free +state if Missouri had been admitted as a slave state; but the North felt +that this would have been to concede altogether too much, as Missouri +from the first gave promise of being unusually important. At length, +largely through the influence of Henry Clay, there was adopted a +compromise whose main provisions were (1) that Maine was to be admitted +as a free state; (2) that in Missouri there was to be no prohibition of +slavery; but (3) that slavery was to be prohibited in any other states +that might be formed out of the Louisiana Purchase north of the line of +36° 30'. + +By this agreement the strife was allayed for some years; but it is now +evident that the Missouri Compromise was only a postponement of the +ultimate contest and that the social questions involved were hardly +touched. Certainly the significance of the first clear drawing of the +line between the sections was not lost upon thoughtful men. Jefferson +wrote from Monticello in 1820: "This momentous question, like a +fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered +it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the +moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.... I can +say, with conscious truth, that there is not a man on earth who would +sacrifice more than I would to relieve us from this heavy reproach, in +any _practicable_ way. The cession of that kind of property, for so it +is misnamed, is a bagatelle that would not cost me a second thought, +if, in that way, a general emancipation and _expatriation_ could be +effected; and, gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it might +be."[1] For the time being, however, the South was concerned mainly +about immediate dangers; nor was this section placed more at ease by +Denmark Vesey's attempted insurrection in 1822.[2] A representative +South Carolinian,[3] writing after this event, said, "We regard our +Negroes as the _Jacobins_ of the country, against whom we should always +be upon our guard, and who, although we fear no permanent effects from +any insurrectionary movements on their part, should be watched with an +eye of steady and unremitted observation." Meanwhile from a ratio of +43.72 to 56.28 in 1790 the total Negro population in South Carolina had +by 1820 come to outnumber the white 52.77 to 47.23, and the tendency +was increasingly in favor of the Negro. The South, the whole country in +fact, was more and more being forced to consider not only slavery but +the ultimate reaches of the problem. + +[Footnote 1: _Writings_, XV, 249.] + +[Footnote 2: See Chapter VII, Section 1.] + +[Footnote 3: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 61.] + +Whatever one might think of the conclusion--and in this case the speaker +was pleading for colonization--no statement of the problem as it +impressed men about 1820 or 1830 was clearer than that of Rev. Dr. Nott, +President of Union College, at Albany in 1829.[1] The question, said he, +was by no means local. Slavery was once legalized in New England; and +New England built slave-ships and manned these with New England seamen. +In 1820 the slave population in the country amounted to 1,500,000. The +number doubled every twenty years, and it was easy to see how it would +progress from 1,500,000 to 3,000,000; to 6,000,000; to 12,000,000; to +24,000,000. "Twenty-four millions of slaves! What a drawback from our +strength; what a tax on our resources; what a hindrance to our growth; +what a stain on our character; and what an impediment to the fulfillment +of our destiny! Could our worst enemies or the worst enemies of +republics, wish us a severer judgment?" How could one know that wakeful +and sagacious enemies without would not discover the vulnerable point +and use it for the country's overthrow? Or was there not danger that +among a people goaded from age to age there might at length arise some +second Toussaint L'Ouverture, who, reckless of consequences, would array +a force and cause a movement throughout the zone of bondage, leaving +behind him plantations waste and mansions desolate? Who could believe +that such a tremendous physical force would remain forever spell-bound +and quiescent? After all, however, slavery was doomed; public opinion +had already pronounced upon it, and the moral energy of the nation would +sooner or later effect its overthrow. "But," continued Nott, "the solemn +question here arises--in what condition will this momentous change place +us? The freed men of other countries have long since disappeared, having +been amalgamated in the general mass. Here there can be no amalgamation. +Our manumitted bondmen have remained already to the third and fourth, as +they will to the thousandth generation--a distinct, a degraded, and a +wretched race." After this sweeping statement, which has certainly not +been justified by time, Nott proceeded to argue the expediency of his +organization. Gerrit Smith, who later drifted away from colonization, +said frankly on the same occasion that the ultimate solution was either +amalgamation or colonization, and that of the two courses he preferred +to choose the latter. Others felt as he did. We shall now accordingly +proceed to consider at somewhat greater length the two solutions that +about 1820 had the clearest advocates--Colonization and Slavery. + +[Footnote 1: See "African Colonization. Proceedings of the Formation of +the New York State Colonization Society." Albany, 1829.] + + +2. _Colonization_ + +Early in 1773, Rev. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, called on his friend, +Rev. Ezra Stiles, afterwards President of Yale College, and suggested +the possibility of educating Negro students, perhaps two at first, who +would later go as missionaries to Africa. Stiles thought that for the +plan to be worth while there should be a colony on the coast of Africa, +that at least thirty or forty persons should go, and that the enterprise +should not be private but should have the formal backing of a society +organized for the purpose. In harmony with the original plan two young +Negro men sailed from New York for Africa, November 12, 1774; but the +Revolutionary War followed and nothing more was done at the time. In +1784, however, and again in 1787, Hopkins tried to induce different +merchants to fit out a vessel to convey a few emigrants, and in the +latter year he talked with a young man from the West Indies, Dr. William +Thornton, who expressed a willingness to take charge of the company. +The enterprise failed for lack of funds, though Thornton kept up his +interest and afterwards became a member of the first Board of Managers +of the American Colonization Society. Hopkins in 1791 spoke before the +Connecticut Emancipation Society, which he wished to see incorporated as +a colonization society, and in a sermon before the Providence society in +1793 he reverted to his favorite theme. Meanwhile, as a result of the +efforts of Wilberforce, Clarkson, and Granville Sharp in England, in +May, 1787, some four hundred Negroes and sixty white persons were landed +at Sierra Leone. Some of the Negroes in England had gained their freedom +in consequence of Lord Mansfield's decision in 1772, others had been +discharged from the British Army after the American Revolution, and all +were leading in England a more or less precarious existence. The sixty +white persons sent along were abandoned women, and why Sierra Leone +should have had this weight placed upon it at the start history has not +yet told. It is not surprising to learn that "disease and disorder were +rife, and by 1791 a mere handful survived."[1] As early as in his _Notes +on Virginia_, privately printed in 1781, Thomas Jefferson had suggested +a colony for Negroes, perhaps in the new territory of Ohio. The +suggestion was not acted upon, but it is evident that by 1800 several +persons had thought of the possibility of removing the Negroes in the +South to some other place either within or without the country. + +[Footnote 1: McPherson, 15. (See bibliography on Liberia.)] + +Gabriel's insurrection in 1800 again forced the idea concretely forward. +Virginia was visibly disturbed by this outbreak, and _in secret +session_, on December 21, the House of Delegates passed the following +resolution: "That the Governor[1] be requested to correspond with the +President of the United States,[2] on the subject of purchasing land +without the limits of this state, whither persons obnoxious to the laws, +or dangerous to the peace of society may be removed." The real purpose +of this resolution was to get rid of those Negroes who had had some part +in the insurrection and had not been executed; but not in 1800, or in +1802 or 1804, was the General Assembly thus able to banish those whom +it was afraid to hang. Monroe, however, acted in accordance with his +instructions, and Jefferson replied to him under date November 24, 1801. +He was not now favorable to deportation to some place within the United +States, and thought that the West Indies, probably Santo Domingo, might +be better. There was little real danger that the exiles would stimulate +vindictive or predatory descents on the American coasts, and in any case +such a possibility was "overweighed by the humanity of the measures +proposed." "Africa would offer a last and undoubted resort," thought +Jefferson, "if all others more desirable should fail."[3] Six months +later, on July 13, 1802, the President wrote about the matter to Rufus +King, then minister in London. The course of events in the West Indies, +he said, had given an impulse to the minds of Negroes in the United +States; there was a disposition to insurgency, and it now seemed that if +there was to be colonization, Africa was by all means the best place. An +African company might also engage in commercial operations, and if there +was coöperation with Sierra Leone, there was the possibility of "one +strong, rather than two weak colonies." Would King accordingly enter +into conference with the English officials with reference to disposing +of any Negroes who might be sent? "It is material to observe," remarked +Jefferson, "that they are not felons, or common malefactors, but persons +guilty of what the safety of society, under actual circumstances, +obliges us to treat as a crime, but which their feelings may represent +in a far different shape. They are such as will be a valuable +acquisition to the settlement already existing there, and well +calculated to coöperate in the plan of civilization."[4] King +accordingly opened correspondence with Thornton and Wedderbourne, the +secretaries of the company having charge of Sierra Leone, but was +informed that the colony was in a languishing condition and that funds +were likely to fail, and that in no event would they be willing to +receive more people from the United States, as these were the very ones +who had already made most trouble in the settlement.[5] On January 22, +1805, the General Assembly of Virginia passed a resolution that embodied +a request to the United States Government to set aside a portion of +territory in the new Louisiana Purchase "to be appropriated to +the residence of such people of color as have been, or shall be, +emancipated, or may hereafter become dangerous to the public safety." +Nothing came of this. By the close then of Jefferson's second +administration the Northwest, the Southwest, the West Indies, and Sierra +Leone had all been thought of as possible fields for colonization, but +from the consideration nothing visible had resulted. + +[Footnote 1: Monroe.] + +[Footnote 2: Jefferson.] + +[Footnote 3: _Writings_, X, 297.] + +[Footnote 4: _Writings_, X, 327-328.] + +[Footnote 5: _Ibid_., XIII, 11.] + +Now followed the period of Southern expansion and of increasing +materialism, and before long came the War of 1812. By 1811 a note of +doubt had crept into Jefferson's dealing with the subject. Said he: +"Nothing is more to be wished than that the United States would +themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of +Africa ... But for this the national mind is not yet prepared. It may +perhaps be doubted whether many of these people would voluntarily +consent to such an exchange of situation, and very certain that few of +those advanced to a certain age in habits of slavery, would be capable +of self-government. This should not, however, discourage the experiment, +nor the early trial of it; and the proposition should be made with all +the prudent cautions and attentions requisite to reconcile it to the +interests, the safety, and the prejudices of all parties."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _Writings_, XIII, 11.] + +From an entirely different source, however, and prompted not by +expediency but the purest altruism, came an impulse that finally told in +the founding of Liberia. The heart of a young man reached out across +the sea. Samuel J. Mills, an undergraduate of Williams College, in 1808 +formed among his fellow-students a missionary society whose work later +told in the formation of the American Bible Society and the Board of +Foreign Missions. Mills continued his theological studies at Andover and +then at Princeton; and while at the latter place he established a school +for Negroes at Parsippany, thirty miles away. He also interested in +his work and hopes Rev. Robert Finley, of Basking Ridge, N.J., who +"succeeded in assembling at Princeton the first meeting ever called to +consider the project of sending Negro colonists to Africa,"[1] and who +in a letter to John P. Mumford, of New York, under date February 14, +1815, expressed his interest by saying, "We should send to Africa a +population partly civilized and christianized for its benefit; and our +blacks themselves would be put in a better condition." + +[Footnote 1: McPherson, 18.] + +In this same year, 1815, the country was startled by the unselfish +enterprise of a Negro who had long thought of the unfortunate situation +of his people in America and who himself shouldered the obligation to +do something definite in their behalf. Paul Cuffe had been born in May, +1759, on one of the Elizabeth Islands near New Bedford, Mass., the son +of a father who was once a slave from Africa and of an Indian mother.[1] +Interested in navigation, he made voyages to Russia, England, Africa, +the West Indies, and the South; and in time he commanded his own vessel, +became generally respected, and by his wisdom rose to a fair degree of +opulence. For twenty years he had thought especially about Africa, +and in 1815 he took to Sierra Leone a total of nine families and +thirty-eight persons at an expense to himself of nearly $4000. The +people that he brought were well received at Sierra Leone, and Cuffe +himself had greater and more far-reaching plans when he died September +7, 1817. He left an estate valued at $20,000. + +[Footnote 1: First Annual Report of American Colonization Society.] + +Dr. Finley's meeting at Princeton was not very well attended and hence +not a great success. Nevertheless he felt sufficiently encouraged to go +to Washington in December, 1816, to use his effort for the formation of +a national colonization society. It happened that in February of this +same year, 1816, General Charles Fenton Mercer, member of the House of +Delegates, came upon the secret journals of the legislature for the +period 1801-5 and saw the correspondence between Monroe and Jefferson. +Interested in the colonization project, on December 14 (Monroe +then being President-elect) he presented in the House of Delegates +resolutions embodying the previous enactments; and these passed 132 to +14. Finley was generally helped by the effort of Mercer, and on December +21, 1816, there was held in Washington a meeting of public men +and interested citizens, Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House of +Representatives, presiding. A constitution was adopted at an adjourned +meeting on December 28; and on January 1, 1817, were formally chosen +the officers of "The American Society for Colonizing the Free People +of Color of the United States." At this last meeting Henry Clay, again +presiding, spoke in glowing terms of the possibilities of the movement; +Elias B. Caldwell, a brother-in-law of Finley, made the leading +argument; and John Randolph, of Roanoke, Va., and Robert Wright, of +Maryland, spoke of the advantages to accrue from the removal of the free +Negroes from the country (which remarks were very soon to awaken +much discussion and criticism, especially on the part of the Negroes +themselves). It is interesting to note that Mercer had no part at all in +the meeting of January 1, not even being present; he did not feel that +any but Southern men should be enrolled in the organization. However, +Bushrod Washington, the president, was a Southern man; twelve of the +seventeen vice-presidents were Southern men, among them being Andrew +Jackson and William Crawford; and all of the twelve managers were +slaveholders. + +Membership in the American Colonization Society originally consisted, +first, of such as sincerely desired to afford the free Negroes an asylum +from oppression and who hoped through them to extend to Africa the +blessings of civilization and Christianity; second, of such as sought to +enhance the value of their own slaves by removing the free Negroes; and +third, of such as desired to be relieved of any responsibility whatever +for free Negroes. The movement was widely advertised as "an effort +for the benefit of the blacks in which all parts of the country could +unite," it being understood that it was "not to have the abolition of +slavery for its immediate object," nor was it to "aim directly at the +instruction of the great body of the blacks." Such points as the last +were to prove in course of time hardly less than a direct challenge to +the different abolitionist organizations in the North, and more and more +the Society was denounced as a movement on the part of slaveholders for +perpetuating their institutions by doing away with the free people of +color. It is not to be supposed, however, that the South, with its usual +religious fervor, did not put much genuine feeling into the colonization +scheme. One man in Georgia named Tubman freed his slaves, thirty in all, +and placed them in charge of the Society with a gift of $10,000; Thomas +Hunt, a young Virginian, afterwards a chaplain in the Union Army, sent +to Liberia the slaves he had inherited, paying the entire cost of the +journey; and others acted in a similar spirit of benevolence. It was +but natural, however, for the public to be somewhat uncertain as to the +tendencies of the organization when the utterances of representative +men were sometimes directly contradictory. On January 20, 1827, for +instance, Henry Clay, then Secretary of State, speaking in the hall of +the House of Representatives at the annual meeting of the Society, said: +"Of all classes of our population, the most vicious is that of the free +colored. It is the inevitable result of their moral, political, and +civil degradation. Contaminated themselves, they extend their vices to +all around them, to the slaves and to the whites." Just a moment later +he said: "Every emigrant to Africa is a missionary carrying with him +credentials in the holy cause of civilization, religion, and free +institutions." How persons contaminated and vicious could be +missionaries of civilization and religion was something possible only in +the logic of Henry Clay. In the course of the next month Robert Y. Hayne +gave a Southern criticism in two addresses on a memorial presented in +the United States Senate by the Colonization Society.[1] The first +of these speeches was a clever one characterized by much wit and +good-humored raillery; the second was a sober arraignment. Hayne +emphasized the tremendous cost involved and the physical impossibility +of the whole undertaking, estimating that at least sixty thousand +persons a year would have to be transported to accomplish anything like +the desired result. At the close of his brilliant attack, still making +a veiled plea for the continuance of slavery, he nevertheless rose to +genuine statesmanship in dealing with the problem of the Negro, saying, +"While this process is going on the colored classes are gradually +diffusing themselves throughout the country and are making steady +advances in intelligence and refinement, and if half the zeal were +displayed in bettering their condition that is now wasted in the vain +and fruitless effort of sending them abroad, their intellectual and +moral improvement would be steady and rapid." William Lloyd Garrison was +untiring and merciless in flaying the inconsistencies and selfishness of +the colonization organization. In an editorial in the _Liberator_, July +9, 1831, he charged the Society, first, with persecution in compelling +free people to emigrate against their will and in discouraging their +education at home; second, with falsehood in saying that the Negroes +were natives of Africa when they were no more so than white Americans +were natives of Great Britain; third, with cowardice in asserting that +the continuance of the Negro population in the country involved dangers; +and finally, with infidelity in denying that the Gospel has full power +to reach the hatred in the hearts of men. In _Thoughts on African +Colonisation_ (1832) he developed exhaustively ten points as follows: +That the American Colonization Society was pledged not to oppose the +system of slavery, that it apologized for slavery and slaveholders, that +it recognized slaves as property, that by deporting Negroes it increased +the value of slaves, that it was the enemy of immediate abolition, that +it was nourished by fear and selfishness, that it aimed at the utter +expulsion of the blacks, that it was the disparager of free Negroes, +that it denied the possibility of elevating the black people of the +country, and that it deceived and misled the nation. Other criticisms +were numerous. A broadside, "The Shields of American Slavery" ("Broad +enough to hide the wrongs of two millions of stolen men") placed side by +side conflicting utterances of members of the Society; and in August, +1830, Kendall, fourth auditor, in his report to the Secretary of the +Navy, wondered why the resources of the government should be used "to +colonize recaptured Africans, to build homes for them, to furnish them +with farming utensils, to pay instructors to teach them, to purchase +ships for their convenience, to build forts for their protection, to +supply them with arms and munitions of war, to enlist troops to guard +them, and to employ the army and navy in their defense."[2] Criticism of +the American Colonization Society was prompted by a variety of motives; +but the organization made itself vulnerable at many points. The movement +attracted extraordinary attention, but has had practically no effect +whatever on the position of the Negro in the United States. Its work +in connection with the founding of Liberia, however, is of the highest +importance, and must later receive detailed attention. + +[Footnote 1: See Jervey: _Robert Y. Hayne and His Times_, 207-8.] + +[Footnote 2: Cited by McPherson, 22.] + + +3. _Slavery_ + +We have seen that from the beginning there were liberal-minded men in +the South who opposed the system of slavery, and if we actually take +note of all the utterances of different men and of the proposals for +doing away with the system, we shall find that about the turn of the +century there was in this section considerable anti-slavery sentiment. +Between 1800 and 1820, however, the opening of new lands in the +Southwest, the increasing emphasis on cotton, and the rapidly growing +Negro population, gave force to the argument of expediency; and the +Missouri Compromise drew sharply the lines of the contest. The South now +came to regard slavery as its peculiar heritage; public men were forced +to defend the institution; and in general the best thought of the +section began to be obsessed and dominated by the Negro, just as it is +to-day in large measure. In taking this position the South deliberately +committed intellectual suicide. In such matters as freedom of speech and +literary achievement, and in genuine statesmanship if not for the time +being in political influence, this part of the country declined, and +before long the difference between it and New England was appalling. +Calhoun and Hayne were strong; but between 1820 and 1860 the South had +no names to compare with Longfellow and Emerson in literature, or with +Morse and Hoe in invention. The foremost college professor, Dew, of +William and Mary, and even the outstanding divines, Furman, the Baptist, +of South Carolina, in the twenties, and Palmer, the Presbyterian of New +Orleans, in the fifties, are all now remembered mainly because they +defended their section in keeping the Negro in bonds. William and Mary +College, and even the University of Virginia, as compared with Harvard +and Yale, became provincial institutions; and instead of the Washington +or Jefferson of an earlier day now began to be nourished such a leader +as "Bob" Toombs, who for all of his fire and eloquence was a demagogue. +In making its choice the South could not and did not blame the Negro +per se, for it was freely recognized that upon slave labor rested such +economic stability as the section possessed. The tragedy was simply that +thousands of intelligent Americans deliberately turned their faces to +the past, and preferred to read the novels of Walter Scott and live in +the Middle Ages rather than study the French Revolution and live in the +nineteenth century. One hundred years after we find that the chains are +still forged, that thought is not yet free. Thus the Negro Problem began +to be, and still is, very largely the problem of the white man of the +South. The era of capitalism had not yet dawned, and still far in the +future was the day when the poor white man and the Negro were slowly to +realize that their interests were largely identical. + +The argument with which the South came to support its position and to +defend slavery need not here detain us at length. It was formally stated +by Dew and others[1] and it was to be heard on every hand. One could +hardly go to church, to say nothing of going to a public meeting, +without hearing echoes of it. In general it was maintained that slavery +had made for the civilization of the world in that it had mitigated +the evils of war, had made labor profitable, had changed the nature of +savages, and elevated woman. The slave-trade was of course horrible and +unjust, but the great advantages of the system more than outweighed a +few attendant evils. Emancipation and deportation were alike impossible. +Even if practicable, they would not be expedient measures, for they +meant the loss to Virginia of one-third of her property. As for +morality, it was not to be expected that the Negro should have the +sensibilities of the white man. Moreover the system had the advantage of +cultivating a republican spirit among the white people. In short, said +Dew, the slaves, in both the economic and the moral point of view, were +"entirely unfit for a state of freedom among the whites." Holland, +already cited, in 1822 maintained five points, as follows: 1. That the +United States are one for national purposes, but separate for their +internal regulation and government; 2. That the people of the North and +East "always exhibited an unfriendly feeling on subjects affecting the +interests of the South and West"; 3. That the institution of slavery +was not an institution of the South's voluntary choosing; 4. That the +Southern sections of the Union, both before and after the Declaration +of Independence, "had uniformly exhibited a disposition to restrict +the extension of the evil--and had always manifested as cordial a +disposition to ameliorate it as those of the North and East"; and 5. +That the actual state and condition of the slave population "reflected +no disgrace whatever on the character of the country--as the slaves were +infinitely better provided for than the laboring poor of other countries +of the world, and were generally happier than millions of white people +in the world." Such arguments the clergy supported and endeavored to +reconcile with Christian precept. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman, president +of the Baptist Convention of South Carolina,[2] after much inquiry and +reasoning, arrived at the conclusion that "the holding of slaves is +justifiable by the doctrine and example contained in Holy Writ; and is, +therefore, consistent with Christian uprightness both in sentiment and +conduct." Said he further: "The Christian golden rule, of doing +to others as we would they should do to us, has been urged as an +unanswerable argument against holding slaves. But surely this rule +is never to be urged against that order of things which the Divine +government has established; nor do our desires become a standard to us, +under this rule, unless they have a due regard to justice, propriety, +and the general good.... A father may very naturally desire that his son +should be obedient to his orders: Is he therefore to obey the orders of +his son? A man might be pleased to be exonerated from his debts by the +generosity of his creditors; or that his rich neighbor should equally +divide his property with him; and in certain circumstances might desire +these to be done: Would the mere existence of this desire oblige him +to exonerate his debtors, and to make such division of his property?" +Calhoun in 1837 formally accepted slavery, saying that the South should +no longer apologize for it; and the whole argument from the standpoint +of expediency received eloquent expression in the Senate of the United +States from no less a man than Henry Clay, who more and more appears in +the perspective as a pro-Southern advocate. Said he: "I am no friend of +slavery. But I prefer the liberty of my own country to that of any other +people; and the liberty of my own race to that of any other race. +The liberty of the descendants of Africa in the United States is +incompatible with the safety and liberty of the European descendants. +Their slavery forms an exception--an exception resulting from a +stern and inexorable necessity--to the general liberty in the United +States."[3] After the lapse of years the pro-slavery argument is pitiful +in its numerous fallacies. It was in line with much of the discussion of +the day that questioned whether the Negro was actually a human being, +and but serves to show to what extremes economic interest will sometimes +drive men otherwise of high intelligence and honor. + +[Footnote 1: _The Pro-Slavery Argument_ (as maintained by the most +distinguished writers of the Southern states). Charleston, 1852.] + +[Footnote 2: "Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the Views of the +Baptists relative to the Coloured Population in the United States, in +a Communication to the Governor of South Carolina." Second edition, +Charleston, 1833 (letter bears original date, December 24, 1822).] + +[Footnote 3: Address "On Abolition," February 7, 1839.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE NEGRO REPLY, I: REVOLT + + +We have already seen that on several occasions in colonial times the +Negroes in bondage made a bid for freedom, many men risking their all +and losing their lives in consequence. In general these early attempts +failed completely to realize their aim, organization being feeble and +the leadership untrained and exerting only an emotional hold over +adherents. In Charleston, S.C., in 1822, however, there was planned an +insurrection about whose scope there could be no question. The leader, +Denmark Vesey, is interesting as an intellectual insurrectionist just as +the more famous Nat Turner is typical of the more fervent sort. It is +the purpose of the present chapter to study the attempts for freedom +made by these two men, and also those of two daring groups of captives +who revolted at sea. + + +1. _Denmark Vesey's Insurrection_ + +Denmark Vesey is first seen as one of the three hundred and ninety +slaves on the ship of Captain Vesey, who commanded a vessel trading +between St. Thomas and Cape François (Santo Domingo), and who was +engaged in supplying the French of the latter place with slaves. At the +time, the boy was fourteen years old, and of unusual personal beauty, +alertness, and magnetism. He was shown considerable favoritism, and +was called Télémaque (afterwards corrupted to _Telmak_, and then to +_Denmark_). On his arrival at Cape François, Denmark was sold with +others of the slaves to a planter who owned a considerable estate. On +his next trip, however, Captain Vesey learned that the boy was to be +returned to him as unsound and subject to epileptic fits. The laws of +the place permitted the return of a slave in such a case, and while it +has been thought that Denmark's fits may have been feigned in order that +he might have some change of estate, there was quite enough proof in the +matter to impress the king's physician. Captain Vesey never had reason +to regret having to take the boy back. They made several voyages +together, and Denmark served until 1800 as his faithful personal +attendant. In this year the young man, now thirty-three years of age and +living in Charleston, won $1,500 in an East Bay Street lottery, $600 of +which he devoted immediately to the purchase of his freedom. The sum was +much less than he was really worth, but Captain Vesey liked him and had +no reason to drive a hard bargain with him. + +In the early years of his full manhood accordingly Denmark Vesey found +himself a free man in his own right and possessed of the means for a +little real start in life. He improved his time and proceeded to win +greater standing and recognition by regular and industrious work at his +trade, that of a carpenter. Over the slaves he came to have unbounded +influence. Among them, in accordance with the standards of the day, he +had several wives and children (none of whom could he call his own), and +he understood perfectly the fervor and faith and superstition of the +Negroes with whom he had to deal. To his remarkable personal magnetism +moreover he added just the strong passion and the domineering temper +that were needed to make his conquest complete. + +Thus for twenty years he worked on. He already knew French as well +as English, but he now studied and reflected upon as wide a range of +subjects as possible. It was not expected at the time that there would +be religious classes or congregations of Negroes apart from the white +people; but the law was not strictly observed, and for a number of +years a Negro congregation had a church in Hampstead in the suburbs +of Charleston. At the meetings here and elsewhere Vesey found his +opportunity, and he drew interesting parallels between the experiences +of the Jews and the Negroes. He would rebuke a companion on the street +for bowing to a white person; and if such a man replied, "We are +slaves," he would say, "You deserve to be." If the man then asked +what he could do to better his condition, he would say, "Go and buy a +spelling-book and read the fable of Hercules and the wagoner."[1] At the +same time if he happened to engage in conversation with white people in +the presence of Negroes, he would often take occasion to introduce some +striking remark on slavery. He regularly held up to emulation the work +of the Negroes of Santo Domingo; and either he or one of his chief +lieutenants clandestinely sent a letter to the President of Santo +Domingo to ask if the people there would help the Negroes of Charleston +if the latter made an effort to free themselves.[2] About 1820 moreover, +when he heard of the African Colonization scheme and the opportunity +came to him to go, he put this by, waiting for something better. This +was the period of the Missouri Compromise. Reports of the agitation and +of the debates in Congress were eagerly scanned by those Negroes in +Charleston who could read; rumor exaggerated them; and some of the more +credulous of the slaves came to believe that the efforts of Northern +friends had actually emancipated them and that they were being illegally +held in bondage. Nor was the situation improved when the city marshal, +John J. Lafar, on January 15, 1821, reminded those ministers or other +persons who kept night and Sunday schools for Negroes that the law +forbade the education of such persons and would have to be enforced. +Meanwhile Vesey was very patient. After a few months, however, he ceased +to work at his trade in order that all the more he might devote +himself to the mission of his life. This was, as he conceived it, an +insurrection that would do nothing less than totally annihilate the +white population of Charleston. + +[Footnote 1: Official Report, 19.] + +[Footnote 2: Official Report, 96-97, and Higginson, 232-3.] + +In the prosecution of such a plan the greatest secrecy and faithfulness +were of course necessary, and Vesey waited until about Christmas, 1821, +to begin active recruiting. He first sounded Ned and Rolla Bennett, +slaves of Governor Thomas Bennett, and then Peter Poyas and Jack +Purcell. After Christmas he spoke to Gullah Jack and Monday Gell; +and Lot Forrester and Frank Ferguson became his chief agents for the +plantations outside of Charleston.[1] In the whole matter of the choice +of his chief assistants he showed remarkable judgment of character. His +penetration was almost uncanny. "Rolla was plausible, and possessed +uncommon self-possession; bold and ardent, he was not to be deterred +from his purpose by danger. Ned's appearance indicated that he was a man +of firm nerves and desperate courage. Peter was intrepid and resolute, +true to his engagements, and cautious in observing secrecy when it was +necessary; he was not to be daunted or impeded by difficulties, and +though confident of success, was careful in providing against any +obstacles or casualties which might arise, and intent upon discovering +every means which might be in their power if thought of beforehand. +Gullah Jack was regarded as a sorcerer, and as such feared by the +natives of Africa, who believe in witchcraft. He was not only considered +invulnerable, but that he could make others so by his charms; and that +he could and certainly would provide all his followers with arms.... +His influence amongst the Africans was inconceivable. Monday was firm, +resolute, discreet, and intelligent."[2] He was also daring and active, +a harness-maker in the prime of life, and he could read and write with +facility; but he was also the only man of prominence in the conspiracy +whose courage failed him in court and who turned traitor. To these names +must be added that of Batteau Bennett, who was only eighteen years old +and who brought to the plan all the ardor and devotion of youth. In +general Vesey sought to bring into the plan those Negroes, such as +stevedores and mechanics, who worked away from home and who had some +free time. He would not use men who were known to become intoxicated, +and one talkative man named George he excluded from his meetings. Nor +did he use women, not because he did not trust them, but because in case +of mishap he wanted the children to be properly cared for. "Take care," +said Peter Poyas, in speaking about the plan to one of the recruits, +"and don't mention it to those waiting men who receive presents of old +coats, etc., from their masters, or they'll betray us; I will speak to +them." + +[Footnote 1: Official Report, 20. Note that Higginson, who was so +untiring in his research, strangely confuses Jack Purcell and Gullah +Jack (p. 230). The men were quite distinct, as appears throughout the +report and from the list of those executed. The name of Gullah Jack's +owner was Pritchard.] + +[Footnote 2: Official Report, 24. Note that this remarkable +characterization was given by the judges, Kennedy and Parker, who +afterwards condemned the men to death.] + +With his lieutenants Vesey finally brought into the plan the Negroes for +seventy or eighty miles around Charleston. The second Monday in July, +1822, or Sunday, July 14, was the time originally set for the attack. +July was chosen because in midsummer many of the white people were +away at different resorts; and Sunday received favorable consideration +because on that day the slaves from the outlying plantations were +frequently permitted to come to the city. Lists of the recruits were +kept. Peter Poyas is said to have gathered as many as six hundred names, +chiefly from that part of Charleston known as South Bay in which he +lived; and it is a mark of his care and discretion that of all of those +afterwards arrested and tried, not one belonged to his company. Monday +Gell, who joined late and was very prudent, had forty-two names. All +such lists, however, were in course of time destroyed. "During the +period that these enlistments were carrying on, Vesey held frequent +meetings of the conspirators at his house; and as arms were necessary to +their success, each night a hat was handed round, and collections made, +for the purpose of purchasing them, and also to defray other necessary +expenses. A Negro who was a blacksmith and had been accustomed to make +edged tools, was employed to make pike-heads and bayonets with sockets, +to be fixed at the ends of long poles and used as pikes. Of these +pike-heads and bayonets, one hundred were said to have been made at an +early day, and by the 16th June as many as two or three hundred, and +between three and four hundred daggers."[1] A bundle containing some of +the poles, neatly trimmed and smoothed off, and nine or ten feet long, +was afterwards found concealed on a farm on Charleston Neck, where +several of the meetings were held, having been carried there to have the +pike-heads and bayonets fixed in place. Governor Bennett stated that the +number of poles thus found was thirteen, but so wary were the Negroes +that he and other prominent men underestimated the means of attack. It +was thought that the Negroes in Charleston might use their masters' +arms, while those from the country were to bring hoes, hatchets, and +axes. For their main supply of arms, however, Vesey and Peter Poyas +depended upon the magazines and storehouses in the city. They planned to +seize the Arsenal in Meeting Street opposite St. Michael's Church; it +was the key to the city, held the arms of the state, and had for some +time been neglected. Poyas at a given signal at midnight was to move +upon this point, killing the sentinel. Two large gun and powder stores +were by arrangement to be at the disposal of the insurrectionists; and +other leaders, coming from six different directions, were to seize +strategic points and thus aid the central work of Poyas. Meanwhile a +body of horse was to keep the streets clear. "Eat only dry food," said +Gullah Jack as the day approached, "parched corn and ground nuts, and +when you join us as we pass put this crab claw in your mouth and you +can't be wounded." + +[Footnote 1: Official Report, 31-32.] + +On May 25[1] a slave of Colonel Prioleau, while on an errand at the +wharf, was accosted by another slave, William Paul, who remarked: "I +have often seen a flag with the number 76, but never one with the number +96 upon it before." As this man showed no knowledge of what was going +on, Paul spoke to him further and quite frankly about the plot. The +slave afterwards spoke to a free man about what he had heard; this man +advised him to tell his master about it; and so he did on Prioleau's +return on May 30. Prioleau immediately informed the Intendant, or Mayor, +and by five o'clock in the afternoon both the slave and Paul were being +examined. Paul was placed in confinement, but not before his testimony +had implicated Peter Poyas and Mingo Harth, a man who had been appointed +to lead one of the companies of horse. Harth and Poyas were cool and +collected, however, they ridiculed the whole idea, and the wardens, +completely deceived, discharged them. In general at this time the +authorities were careful and endeavored not to act hastily. About June +8, however, Paul, greatly excited and fearing execution, confessed that +the plan was very extensive and said that it was led by an individual +who bore a charmed life. Ned Bennett, hearing that his name had been +mentioned, voluntarily went before the Intendant and asked to be +examined, thus again completely baffling the officials. All the while, +in the face of the greatest danger, Vesey continued to hold his +meetings. By Friday, June 14, however, another informant had spoken +to his master, and all too fully were Peter Poyas's fears about +"waiting-men" justified. This man said that the original plan had been +changed, for the night of Sunday, June 16, was now the time set for +the insurrection, and otherwise he was able to give all essential +information.[2] On Saturday night, June 15, Jesse Blackwood, an aid sent +into the country to prepare the slaves to enter the following day, while +he penetrated two lines of guards, was at the third line halted and sent +back into the city. Vesey now realized in a moment that all his plans +were disclosed, and immediately he destroyed any papers that might prove +to be incriminating. "On Sunday, June 16, at ten o'clock at night, +Captain Cattle's Corps of Hussars, Captain Miller's Light Infantry, +Captain Martindale's Neck Rangers, the Charleston Riflemen and the City +Guard were ordered to rendezvous for guard, the whole organized as a +detachment under command of Colonel R.Y. Hayne."[3] It was his work on +this occasion that gave Hayne that appeal to the public which was later +to help him to pass on to the governorship and then to the United States +Senate. On the fateful night twenty or thirty men from the outlying +districts who had not been able to get word of the progress of events, +came to the city in a small boat, but Vesey sent word to them to go back +as quickly as possible. + +[Footnote 1: Higginson, 215.] + +[Footnote 2: For reasons of policy the names of these informers were +withheld from publication, but they were well known, of course, to +the Negroes of Charleston. The published documents said of the chief +informer, "It would be a libel on the liberality and gratitude of this +community to suppose that this man can be overlooked among those who are +to be rewarded for their fidelity and principle." The author has been +informed that his reward for betraying his people was to be officially +and legally declared "a white man."] + +[Footnote 3: Jervey: _Robert Y. Hayne and His Times_, 131-2.] + +Two courts were formed for the trial of the conspirators. The first, +after a long session of five weeks, was dissolved July 20; a second was +convened, but after three days closed its investigation and adjourned +August 8.[1] All the while the public mind was greatly excited. The +first court, which speedily condemned thirty-four men to death, was +severely criticized. The New York _Daily Advertiser_ termed the +execution "a bloody sacrifice"; but Charleston replied with the reminder +of the Negroes who had been burned in New York in 1741.[2] Some of the +Negroes blamed the leaders for the trouble into which they had been +brought, but Vesey himself made no confession. He was by no means alone. +"Do not open your lips," said Poyas; "die silent as you shall see me +do." Something of the solicitude of owners for their slaves may be +seen from the request of Governor Bennett himself in behalf of Batteau +Bennett. He asked for a special review of the case of this young man, +who was among those condemned to death, "with a view to the mitigation +of his punishment." The court did review the case, but it did not change +its sentence. Throughout the proceedings the white people of Charleston +were impressed by the character of those who had taken part in the +insurrection; "many of them possessed the highest confidence of their +owners, and not one was of bad character."[3] + +[Footnote 1: Bennett letter.] + +[Footnote 2: See _City Gazette_, August 14, 1822, cited by Jervey.] + +[Footnote 3: Official Report, 44.] + +As a result of this effort for freedom one hundred and thirty-one +Negroes were arrested; thirty-five were executed and forty-three +banished.[1] Of those executed, Denmark Vesey, Peter Poyas, Ned Bennett, +Rolla Bennett, Batteau Bennett, and Jesse Blackwood were hanged July 2; +Gullah Jack and one more on July 12; twenty-two were hanged on a huge +gallows Friday, July 26; four more were hanged July 30, and one on +August 9. Of those banished, twelve had been sentenced for execution, +but were afterwards given banishment instead; twenty-one were to be +transported by their masters beyond the limits of the United States; +one, a free man, required to leave the state, satisfied the court by +offering to leave the United States, while nine others who were not +definitely sentenced were strongly recommended to their owners for +banishment. The others of the one hundred and thirty-one were acquitted. +The authorities at length felt that they had executed enough to teach +the Negroes a lesson, and the hanging ceased; but within the next +year or two Governor Bennett and others gave to the world most gloomy +reflections upon the whole proceeding and upon the grave problem at +their door. Thus closed the insurrection that for the ambitiousness of +its plan, the care with which it was matured, and the faithfulness of +the leaders to one another, was never equalled by a similar attempt for +freedom in the United States. + +[Footnote 1: The figure is sometimes given as 37, but the lists total +43.] + + +_2. Nat Turner's Insurrection_ + +About noon on Sunday, August 21, 1831, on the plantation of Joseph +Travis at Cross Keys, in Southampton County, in Southeastern Virginia, +were gathered four Negroes, Henry Porter, Hark Travis, Nelson Williams, +and Sam Francis, evidently preparing for a barbecue. They were soon +joined by a gigantic and athletic Negro named Will Francis, and by +another named Jack Reese. Two hours later came a short, strong-looking +man who had a face of great resolution and at whom one would not +have needed to glance a second time to know that he was to be the +master-spirit of the company. Seeing Will and his companion he raised a +question as to their being present, to which Will replied that life was +worth no more to him than the others and that liberty was as dear to +him. This answer satisfied the latest comer, and Nat Turner now went +into conference with his most trusted friends. One can only imagine the +purpose, the eagerness, and the firmness on those dark faces throughout +that long summer afternoon and evening. When at last in the night the +low whispering ceased, the doom of nearly three-score white persons--and +it might be added, of twice as many Negroes--was sealed. + +Cross Keys was seventy miles from Norfolk, just about as far from +Richmond, twenty-five miles from the Dismal Swamp, fifteen miles from +Murfreesboro in North Carolina, and also fifteen miles from Jerusalem, +the county seat of Southampton County. The community was settled +primarily by white people of modest means. Joseph Travis, the owner of +Nat Turner, had recently married the widow of one Putnam Moore. + +Nat Turner, who originally belonged to one Benjamin Turner, was born +October 2, 1800. He was mentally precocious and had marks on his head +and breast which were interpreted by the Negroes who knew him as marking +him for some high calling. In his mature years he also had on his right +arm a knot which was the result of a blow which he had received. He +experimented in paper, gunpowder, and pottery, and it is recorded of him +that he was never known to swear an oath, to drink a drop of spirits, +or to commit a theft. Instead he cultivated fasting and prayer and the +reading of the Bible. + +More and more Nat gave himself up to a life of the spirit and to +communion with the voices that he said he heard. He once ran away for +a month, but felt commanded by the spirit to return. About 1825 a +consciousness of his great mission came to him, and daily he labored +to make himself more worthy. As he worked in the field he saw drops +of blood on the corn, and he also saw white spirits and black spirits +contending in the skies. While he thus so largely lived in a religious +or mystical world and was immersed, he was not a professional Baptist +preacher. On May 12, 1828, he was left no longer in doubt. A great voice +said unto him that the Serpent was loosed, that Christ had laid down the +yoke, that he, Nat, was to take it up again, and that the time was fast +approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first. +An eclipse of the sun in February, 1831, was interpreted as the sign for +him to go forward. Yet he waited a little longer, until he had made sure +of his most important associates. It is worthy of note that when he +began his work, while he wanted the killing to be as effective and +widespread as possible, he commanded that no outrage be committed, and +he was obeyed. + +When on the Sunday in August Nat and his companions finished their +conference, they went to find Austin, a brother-spirit; and then all +went to the cider-press and drank except Nat. It was understood that he +as the leader was to spill the first blood, and that he was to begin +with his own master, Joseph Travis. Going to the house, Hark placed +a ladder against the chimney. On this Nat ascended; then he went +downstairs, unbarred the doors, and removed the guns from their places. +He and Will together entered Travis's chamber, and the first blow was +given to the master of the house. The hatchet glanced off and Travis +called to his wife; but this was with his last breath, for Will at once +despatched him with his ax. The wife and the three children of the house +were also killed immediately. Then followed a drill of the company, +after which all went to the home of Salathiel Francis six hundred yards +away. Sam and Will knocked, and Francis asked who was there. Sam replied +that he had a letter, for him. The man came to the door, where he was +seized and killed by repeated blows over the head. He was the only white +person in the house. In silence all passed on to the home of Mrs. +Reese, who was killed while asleep in bed. Her son awoke, but was also +immediately killed. A mile away the insurrectionists came to the home of +Mrs. Turner, which they reached about sunrise on Monday morning. Henry, +Austin, and Sam went to the still, where they found and killed the +overseer, Peebles, Austin shooting him. Then all went to the house. The +family saw them coming and shut the door--to no avail, however, as Will +with one stroke of his ax opened it and entered to find Mrs. Turner and +Mrs. Newsome in the middle of the room almost frightened to death. Will +killed Mrs. Turner with one blow of his ax, and after Nat had struck +Mrs. Newsome over the head with his sword, Will turned and killed her +also. By this time the company amounted to fifteen. Nine went mounted to +the home of Mrs. Whitehead and six others went along a byway to the home +of Henry Bryant. As they neared the first house Richard Whitehead, the +son of the family, was standing in the cotton-patch near the fence. +Will killed him with his ax immediately. In the house he killed Mrs. +Whitehead, almost severing her head from her body with one blow. +Margaret, a daughter, tried to conceal herself and ran, but was killed +by Turner with a fence-rail. The men in this first company were now +joined by those in the second, the six who had gone to the Bryant home, +who informed them that they had done the work assigned, which was to +kill Henry Bryant himself, his wife and child, and his wife's mother. By +this time the killing had become fast and furious. The company divided +again; some would go ahead, and Nat would come up to find work already +accomplished. Generally fifteen or twenty of the best mounted were put +in front to strike terror and prevent escape, and Nat himself frequently +did not get to the houses where killing was done. More and more the +Negroes, now about forty in number, were getting drunken and noisy. +The alarm was given, and by nine or ten o'clock on Monday morning one +Captain Harris and his family had escaped. Prominent among the events of +the morning, however, was the killing at the home of Mrs. Waller of ten +children who were gathering for school.[1] + +[Footnote 1: In "Horrid Massacre," or, to use the more formal title, +"Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical Scene which was +Witnessed in Southampton County (Virginia) on Monday the 22d of August +Last," the list below of the victims of Nat Turner's insurrection +is given. It must be said about this work, however, that it is not +altogether impeccable; it seems to have been prepared very hastily after +the event, its spelling of names is often arbitrary, and instead of the +fifty-five victims noted it appears that at least fifty-seven white +persons were killed: + + Joseph Travis, wife and three children 5 + Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, Hartwell Peebles, and Sarah Newsum 3 + Mrs. Piety Reese and son, William 2 + Trajan Doyal 1 + Henry Briant, wife and child, and wife's mother 4 + Mrs. Catherine Whitehead, her son Richard, four daughters + and a grandchild 7 + Salathael Francis 1 + Nathaniel Francis's overseer and two children 3 + John T. Barrow and George Vaughan 2 + Mrs. Levi Waller and ten children 11 + Mr. William Williams, wife and two boys 4 + Mrs. Caswell Worrell and child 2 + Mrs. Rebacca Vaughan, Ann Eliza Vaughan, and son Arthur 3 + Mrs. Jacob Williams and three children and Edwin Drewry 5 + __ + 55 ] + +As the men neared the home of James Parker, it was suggested that +they call there; but Turner objected, as this man had already gone to +Jerusalem and he himself wished to reach the county seat as soon as +possible. However, he and some of the men remained at the gate while +others went to the house half a mile away. This exploit proved to be the +turning-point of the events of the day. Uneasy at the delay of those who +went to the house, Turner went thither also. On his return he was met by +a company of white men who had fired on those Negroes left at the gate +and dispersed them. On discovering these men, Turner ordered his own men +to halt and form, as now they were beginning to be alarmed. The white +men, eighteen in number, approached and fired, but were forced to +retreat. Reënforcements for them from Jerusalem were already at hand, +however, and now the great pursuit of the Negro insurrectionists began. + +Hark's horse was shot under him and five or six of the men were wounded. +Turner's force was largely dispersed, but on Monday night he stopped at +the home of Major Ridley, and his company again increased to forty. He +tried to sleep a little, but a sentinel gave the alarm; all were soon up +and the number was again reduced to twenty. Final resistance was offered +at the home of Dr. Blunt, but here still more of the men were put to +flight and were never again seen by Turner. + +A little later, however, the leader found two of his men named Jacob and +Nat. These he sent with word to Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam to meet him +at the place where on Sunday they had taken dinner together. With what +thoughts Nat Turner returned alone to this place on Tuesday evening can +only be imagined. Throughout the night he remained, but no one joined +him and he presumed that his followers had all either been taken or had +deserted him. Nor did any one come on Wednesday, or on Thursday. On +Thursday night, having supplied himself with provisions from the Travis +home, he scratched a hole under a pile of fence-rails, and here he +remained for six weeks, leaving only at night to get water. All +the while of course he had no means of learning of the fate of his +companions or of anything else. Meanwhile not only the vicinity but +the whole South was being wrought up to an hysterical state of mind. A +reward of $500 for the capture of the man was offered by the Governor, +and other rewards were also offered. On September 30 a false account of +his capture appeared in the newspapers; on October 7 another; on October +8 still another. By this time Turner had begun to move about a little at +night, not speaking to any human being and returning always to his hole +before daybreak. Early on October 15 a dog smelt his provisions and led +thither two Negroes. Nat appealed to these men for protection, but they +at once began to run and excitedly spread the news. Turner fled in +another direction and for ten days more hid among the wheat-stacks on +the Francis plantation. All the while not less than five hundred men +were on the watch for him, and they found the stick that he had notched +from day to day. Once he thought of surrendering, and walked within two +miles of Jerusalem. Three times he tried to get away, and failed. On +October 25 he was discovered by Francis, who discharged at him a load of +buckshot, twelve of which passed through his hat, and he was at large +for five days more. On October 30 Benjamin Phipps, a member of the +patrol, passing a clearing in the woods noticed a motion among the +boughs. He paused, and gradually he saw Nat's head emerging from a hole +beneath. The fugitive now gave up as he knew that the woods were full of +men. He was taken to the nearest house, and the crowd was so great and +the excitement so intense that it was with difficulty that he was taken +to Jerusalem. For more than two months, from August 25 to October 30, he +had eluded his pursuers, remaining all the while in the vicinity of his +insurrection. + +While Nat Turner was in prison, Thomas C. Gray, his counsel, received +from him what are known as his "Confessions." This pamphlet is now +almost inaccessible,[1] but it was in great demand at the time it +was printed and it is now the chief source for information about the +progress of the insurrection. Turner was tried November 5 and sentenced +to be hanged six days later. Asked in court by Gray if he still believed +in the providential nature of his mission, he asked, "Was not Christ +crucified?" Of his execution itself we read: "Nat Turner was executed +according to sentence, on Friday, the 11th of November, 1831, at +Jerusalem, between the hours of 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. He exhibited the +utmost composure throughout the whole ceremony; and, although assured +that he might, if he thought proper, address the immense crowd assembled +on the occasion, declined availing himself of the privilege; and, being +asked if he had any further confessions to make, replied that he had +nothing more than he had communicated; and told the sheriff in a firm +voice that he was ready. Not a limb or muscle was observed to move. His +body, after death, was given over to the surgeons for dissection." + +[Footnote 1: The only copy that the author has seen is that in the +library of Harvard University.] + +Of fifty-three Negroes arraigned in connection with the insurrection +"seventeen were executed and twelve transported. The rest were +discharged, except ... four free Negroes sent on to the Superior Court. +Three of the four were executed." [1] Such figures as these, however, +give no conception of the number of those who lost their lives in +connection with the insurrection. In general, if slaves were convicted +by legal process and executed or transported, or if they escaped before +trial, they were paid for by the commonwealth; if killed, they were not +paid for, and a man like Phipps might naturally desire to protect his +prisoner in order to get his reward. In spite of this, the Negroes were +slaughtered without trial and sometimes under circumstances of the +greatest barbarity. One man proudly boasted that he had killed between +ten and fifteen. A party went from Richmond with the intention of +killing every Negro in Southampton County. Approaching the cabin of a +free Negro they asked, "Is this Southampton County?" "Yes, sir," came +the reply, "you have just crossed the line by yonder tree." They shot +him dead and rode on. In general the period was one of terror, with +voluntary patrols, frequently drunk, going in all directions. These men +tortured, burned, or maimed the Negroes practically at will. Said one +old woman [2] of them: "The patrols were low drunken whites, and in +Nat's time, if they heard any of the colored folks prayin' or singin' a +hymn, they would fall upon 'em and abuse 'em, and sometimes kill 'em.... +The brightest and best was killed in Nat's time. The whites always +suspect such ones. They killed a great many at a place called Duplon. +They killed Antonio, a slave of Mr. J. Stanley, whom they shot; then +they pointed their guns at him and told him to confess about +the insurrection. He told 'em he didn't know anything about any +insurrection. They shot several balls through him, quartered him, and +put his head on a pole at the fork of the road leading to the court.... +It was there but a short time. He had no trial. They never do. In Nat's +time, the patrols would tie up the free colored people, flog 'em, and +try to make 'em lie against one another, and often killed them before +anybody could interfere. Mr. James Cole, High Sheriff, said if any of +the patrols came on his plantation, he would lose his life in defense of +his people. One day he heard a patroller boasting how many Negroes +he had killed. Mr. Cole said, 'If you don't pack up, as quick as God +Almighty will let you, and get out of this town, and never be seen in +it again, I'll put you where dogs won't bark at you.' He went off, and +wasn't seen in them parts again." + +[Footnote 1: Drewry, 101.] + +[Footnote 2: Charity Bowery, who gave testimony to L.M. Child, quoted by +Higginson.] + +The immediate panic created by the Nat Turner insurrection in Virginia +and the other states of the South it would be impossible to exaggerate. +When the news of what was happening at Cross Keys spread, two companies, +on horse and foot, came from Murfreesboro as quickly as possible. On +the Wednesday after the memorable Sunday night there came from Fortress +Monroe three companies and a piece of artillery. These commands were +reënforced from various sources until not less than eight hundred men +were in arms. Many of the Negroes fled to the Dismal Swamp, and the +wildest rumors were afloat. One was that Wilmington had been burned, and +in Raleigh and Fayetteville the wildest excitement prevailed. In the +latter place scores of white women and children fled to the swamps, +coming out two days afterwards muddy, chilled, and half-starved. Slaves +were imprisoned wholesale. In Wilmington four men were shot without +trial and their heads placed on poles at the four corners of the town. +In Macon, Ga., a report was circulated that an armed band of Negroes was +only five miles away, and within an hour the women and children were +assembled in the largest building in the town, with a military force in +front for protection. + +The effects on legislation were immediate. Throughout the South the +slave codes became more harsh; and while it was clear that the uprising +had been one of slaves rather than of free Negroes, as usual special +disabilities fell upon the free people of color. Delaware, that only +recently had limited the franchise to white men, now forbade the use of +firearms by free Negroes and would not suffer any more to come within +the state. Tennessee also forbade such immigration, while Maryland +passed a law to the effect that all free Negroes must leave the state +and be colonized in Africa--a monstrous piece of legislation that it was +impossible to put into effect and that showed once for all the futility +of attempts at forcible emigration as a solution of the problem. In +general, however, the insurrection assisted the colonization scheme and +also made more certain the carrying out of the policy of the Jackson +administration to remove the Indians of the South to the West. It also +focussed the attention of the nation upon the status of the Negro, +crystallized opinion in the North, and thus helped with the formation of +anti-slavery organizations. By it for the time being the Negro lost; in +the long run he gained. + + +3. _The "Amistad" and "Creole" Cases_ + +On June 28, 1839, a schooner, the _Amistad_, sailed from Havana bound +for Guanaja in the vicinity of Puerto Principe. She was under the +command of her owner, Don Ramon Ferrer, was laden with merchandise, and +had on board fifty-three Negroes, forty-nine of whom supposedly belonged +to a Spaniard, Don Jose Ruiz, the other four belonging to Don Pedro +Montes. During the night of June 30 the slaves, under the lead of one +of their number named Cinque, rose upon the crew, killed the captain, a +slave of his, and two sailors, and while they permitted most of the crew +to escape, they took into close custody the two owners, Ruiz and Montes. +Montes, who had some knowledge of nautical affairs, was ordered to steer +the vessel back to Africa. So he did by day, when the Negroes would +watch him, but at night he tried to make his way to some land nearer at +hand. Other vessels passed from time to time, and from these the Negroes +bought provisions, but Montes and Ruiz were so closely watched that they +could not make known their plight. At length, on August 26, the schooner +reached Long Island Sound, where it was detained by the American +brig-of-war _Washington_, in command of Captain Gedney, who secured the +Negroes and took them to New London, Conn. It took a year and a half to +dispose of the issue thus raised. The case attracted the greatest amount +of attention, led to international complications, and was not really +disposed of until a former President had exhaustively argued the case +for the Negroes before the Supreme Court of the United States. + +In a letter of September 6, 1839, to John Forsyth, the American +Secretary of State, Calderon, the Spanish minister, formally made four +demands: 1. That the _Amistad_ be immediately delivered up to her owner, +together with every article on board at the time of her capture; 2. That +it be declared that no tribunal in the United States had the right to +institute proceedings against, or to impose penalties upon, the subjects +of Spain, for crimes committed on board a Spanish vessel, and in the +waters of Spanish territory; 3. That the Negroes be conveyed to Havana +or otherwise placed at the disposal of the representatives of Spain; and +4. That if, in consequence of the intervention of the authorities in +Connecticut, there should be any delay in the desired delivery of the +vessel and the slaves, the owners both of the latter and of the former +be indemnified for the injury that might accrue to them. In support of +his demands Calderon invoked "the law of nations, the stipulations +of existing treaties, and those good feelings so necessary in the +maintenance of the friendly relations that subsist between the two +countries, and are so interesting to both." Forsyth asked for any papers +bearing on the question, and Calderon replied that he had none except +"the declaration on oath of Montes and Ruiz." + +Meanwhile the abolitionists were insisting that protection had _not_ +been afforded the African strangers cast on American soil and that in +no case did the executive arm of the Government have any authority to +interfere with the regular administration of justice. "These Africans," +it was said, "are detained in jail, under process of the United States +courts, in a free state, after it has been decided by the District +Judge, on sufficient proof, that they are recently from Africa, were +never the lawful slaves of Ruiz and Montes," and "when it is clear as +noonday that there is no law or treaty stipulation that requires the +further detention of these Africans or their delivery to Spain or its +subjects." + +Writing on October 24 to the Spanish representative with reference to +the arrest of Ruiz and Montes, Forsyth informed him that the two Spanish +subjects had been arrested on process issuing from the superior court of +the city of New York upon affidavits of certain men, natives of Africa, +"for the purpose of securing their appearance before the proper +tribunal, to answer for wrongs alleged to have been inflicted by them +upon the persons of said Africans," that, consequently, the occurrence +constituted simply a "case of resort by individuals against others +to the judicial courts of the country, which are equally open to all +without distinction," and that the agency of the Government to obtain +the release of Messrs. Ruiz and Montes could not be afforded in the +manner requested. Further pressure was brought to bear by the Spanish +representative, however, and there was cited the case of Abraham +Wendell, captain of the brig _Franklin_, who was prosecuted at first by +Spanish officials for maltreatment of his mate, but with reference to +whom documents were afterwards sent from Havana to America. Much more +correspondence followed, and Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, Attorney +General of the United States, at length muddled everything by the +following opinion: "These Negroes deny that they are slaves; if they +should be delivered to the claimants, no opportunity may be afforded for +the assertion of their right to freedom. For these reasons, it seems to +me that a delivery to the Spanish minister is the only safe course for +this Government to pursue." The fallacy of all this was shown in a +letter dated November 18, 1839, from B.F. Butler, United States District +Attorney in New York, to Aaron Vail, acting Secretary of State. Said +Butler: "It does not appear to me that any question has yet arisen under +the treaty with Spain; because, although it is an admitted principle, +that neither the courts of this state, nor those of the United States, +can take jurisdiction of criminal offenses committed by foreigners +within the territory of a foreign state, yet it is equally settled in +this country, that our courts will take cognizance of _civil_ actions +between foreigners transiently within our jurisdiction, founded upon +contracts or other transactions made or had in a foreign state." +Southern influence was strong, however, and a few weeks afterwards an +order was given from the Department of State to have a vessel anchor +off New Haven, Conn., January 10, 1840, to receive the Negroes from +the United States marshal and take them to Cuba; and on January 7 the +President, Van Buren, issued the necessary warrant. + +The rights of humanity, however, were not to be handled in this summary +fashion. The executive order was stayed, and the case went further +on its progress to the highest tribunal in the land. Meanwhile the +anti-slavery people were teaching the Africans the rudiments of English +in order that they might be better able to tell their own story. From +the first a committee had been appointed to look out for their interests +and while they were awaiting the final decision in their case they +cultivated a garden of fifteen acres. + +The appearance of John Quincy Adams in behalf of these Negroes before +the Supreme Court of the United States February 24 and March 1, 1841, is +in every way one of the most beautiful acts in American history. In the +fullness of years, with his own administration as President twelve years +behind him, the "Old Man Eloquent" came once more to the tribunal that +he knew so well to make a last plea for the needy and oppressed. To the +task he brought all his talents--his profound knowledge of law, his +unrivaled experience, and his impressive personality; and his argument +covers 135 octavo pages. He gave an extended analysis of the demand of +the Spanish minister, who asked the President to do what he simply had +no constitutional right to do. "The President," said Adams, "has no +power to arrest either citizens or foreigners. But even that power is +almost insignificant compared with that of sending men beyond seas to +deliver them up to a foreign government." The Secretary of State had +"degraded the country, in the face of the whole civilized world, not +only by allowing these demands to remain unanswered, but by proceeding, +throughout the whole transaction, as if the Executive were earnestly +desirous to comply with every one of the demands." The Spanish minister +had naturally insisted in his demands because he had not been properly +met at first. The slave-trade was illegal by international agreement, +and the only thing to do under the circumstances was to release the +Negroes. Adams closed his plea with a magnificent review of his career +and of the labors of the distinguished jurists he had known in the court +for nearly forty years, and be it recorded wherever the name of Justice +is spoken, he won his case. + +Lewis Tappan now accompanied the Africans on a tour through the states +to raise money for their passage home. The first meeting was in Boston. +Several members of the company interested the audience by their readings +from the New Testament or by their descriptions of their own country +and of the horrors of the voyage. Cinque gave the impression of great +dignity and of extraordinary ability; and Kali, a boy only eleven years +of age, also attracted unusual attention. Near the close of 1841, +accompanied by five missionaries and teachers, the Africans set sail +from New York, to make their way first to Sierra Leone and then to their +own homes as well as they could. + +While this whole incident of the _Amistad_ was still engaging the +interest of the public, there occurred another that also occasioned +international friction and even more prolonged debate between the +slavery and anti-slavery forces. On October 25, 1841, the brig _Creole_, +Captain Ensor, of Richmond, Va., sailed from Richmond and on October 27 +from Hampton Roads, with a cargo of tobacco and one hundred and thirty +slaves bound for New Orleans. On the vessel also, aside from the crew, +were the captain's wife and child, and three or four passengers, who +were chiefly in charge of the slaves, one man, John R. Hewell, being +directly in charge of those belonging to an owner named McCargo. About +9.30 on the night of Sunday, November 7, while out at sea, nineteen of +the slaves rose, cowed the others, wounded the captain, and generally +took command of the vessel. Madison Washington began the uprising by an +attack on Gifford, the first mate, and Ben Blacksmith, one of the most +aggressive of his assistants, killed Hewell. The insurgents seized the +arms of the vessel, permitted no conversation between members of the +crew except in their hearing, demanded and obtained the manifests of +slaves, and threatened that if they were not taken to Abaco or some +other British port they would throw the officers and crew overboard. The +_Creole_ reached Nassau, New Providence, on Tuesday, November 9, and the +arrival of the vessel at once occasioned intense excitement. Gifford +went ashore and reported the matter, and the American consul, John F. +Bacon, contended to the English authorities that the slaves on board the +brig were as much a part of the cargo as the tobacco and entitled to +the same protection from loss to the owners. The governor, Sir Francis +Cockburn, however, was uncertain whether to interfere in the business at +all. He liberated those slaves who were not concerned in the uprising, +spoke of all of the slaves as "passengers," and guaranteed to the +nineteen who were shown by an investigation to have been connected with +the uprising all the rights of prisoners called before an English court. +He told them further that the British Government would be communicated +with before their case was finally passed upon, that if they wished +copies of the informations these would be furnished them, and that they +were privileged to have witnesses examined in refutation of the charges +against them. From time to time Negroes who were natives of the island +crowded about the brig in small boats and intimidated the American crew, +but when on the morning of November 12 the Attorney General questioned +them as to their intentions they replied with transparent good humor +that they intended no violence and had assembled only for the purpose +of conveying to shore such of the persons on the _Creole_ as might be +permitted to leave and might need their assistance. The Attorney General +required, however, that they throw overboard a dozen stout cudgels that +they had. Here the whole case really rested. Daniel Webster as Secretary +of State aroused the anti-slavery element by making a strong demand +for the return of the slaves, basing his argument on the sacredness of +vessels flying the American flag; but the English authorities at Nassau +never returned any of them. On March 21, 1842, Joshua R. Giddings, +untiring defender of the rights of the Negro, offered in the House of +Representatives resolutions to the effect that slavery could exist only +by positive law of the different states; that the states had delegated +no control over slavery to the Federal Government, which alone had +jurisdiction on the high seas, and that, therefore, slaves on the high +seas became free and the coastwise trade was unconstitutional. The +House, strongly pro-Southern, replied with a vote of censure and +Giddings resigned, but he was immediately reëlected by his Ohio +constituency. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE NEGRO REPLY, II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION + + +It is not the purpose of the present chapter primarily to consider +social progress on the part of the Negro. A little later we shall +endeavor to treat this interesting subject for the period between the +Missouri Compromise and the Civil War. Just now we are concerned with +the attitude of the Negro himself toward the problem that seemed to +present itself to America and for which such different solutions were +proposed. So far as slavery was concerned, we have seen that the remedy +suggested by Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner was insurrection. It is only +to state an historical fact, however, to say that the great heart of the +Negro people in the South did not believe in violence, but rather hoped +and prayed for a better day to come by some other means. But what was +the attitude of those people, progressive citizens and thinking leaders, +who were not satisfied with the condition of the race and who had to +take a stand on the issues that confronted them? If we study the matter +from this point of view, we shall find an amount of ferment and unrest +and honest difference of opinion that is sometimes overlooked or +completely forgotten in the questions of a later day. + + +1. _Walker's "Appeal_" + +The most widely discussed book written by a Negro in the period was one +that appeared in Boston in 1829. David Walker, the author, had been born +in North Carolina in 1785, of a free mother and a slave father, and he +was therefore free.[1] He received a fair education, traveled widely +over the United States, and by 1827 was living in Boston as the +proprietor of a second-hand clothing store on Brattle Street. He felt +very strongly on the subject of slavery and actually seems to have +contemplated leading an insurrection. In 1828 he addressed various +audiences of Negroes in Boston and elsewhere, and in 1829 he published +his _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_. The book was remarkably successful. +Appearing in September, by March of the following year it had reached +its third edition; and in each successive edition the language was more +bold and vigorous. Walker's projected insurrection did not take place, +and he himself died in 1830. While there was no real proof of the fact, +among the Negro people there was a strong belief that he met with foul +play. + +[Footnote 1: Adams: _Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery_, 93.] + +Article I Walker headed "Our Wretchedness in Consequence of Slavery." A +trip over the United States had convinced him that the Negroes of the +country were "the most degraded, wretched and abject set of beings that +ever lived since the world began." He quoted a South Carolina paper as +saying, "The Turks are the most barbarous people in the world--they +treat the Greeks more like brutes than human beings"; and then from the +same paper cited an advertisement of the sale of eight Negro men and +four women. "Are we men?" he exclaimed. "I ask you, O! my brothers, are +we men?... Have we any other master but Jesus Christ alone? Is He not +their master as well as ours? What right, then, have we to obey and call +any man master but Himself? How we could be so submissive to a gang of +men, whom we can not tell whether they are as good as ourselves, or not, +I never could conceive." "The whites," he asserted, "have always been an +unjust, jealous, unmerciful, avaricious and bloodthirsty set of beings, +always seeking after power and authority." As heathen the white people +had been cruel enough, but as Christians they were ten times more so. As +heathen "they were not quite so audacious as to go and take vessel loads +of men, women and children, and in cold blood, through devilishness, +throw them into the sea, and murder them in all kind of ways. But being +Christians, enlightened and sensible, they are completely prepared +for such hellish cruelties." Next was considered "Our Wretchedness in +Consequence of Ignorance." In general the writer maintained that his +people as a whole did not have intelligence enough to realize their own +degradation; even if boys studied books they did not master their texts, +nor did their information go sufficiently far to enable them actually to +meet the problems of life. If one would but go to the South or West, +he would see there a son take his mother, who bore almost the pains of +death to give him birth, and by the command of a tyrant, strip her as +naked as she came into the world and apply the cowhide to her until she +fell a victim to death in the road. He would see a husband take his dear +wife, not unfrequently in a pregnant state and perhaps far advanced, and +beat her for an unmerciful wretch, until her infant fell a lifeless lump +at her feet. Moreover, "there have been, and are this day, in Boston, +New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, colored men who are in league +with tyrants and who receive a great portion of their daily bread of +the moneys which they acquire from the blood and tears of their more +miserable brethren, whom they scandalously deliver into the hands of our +natural enemies." In Article III Walker considered "Our Wretchedness in +Consequence of the Preachers of the Religion of Jesus Christ." Here was +a fertile field, which was only partially developed. Walker evidently +did not have at hand the utterances of Furman and others to serve as a +definite point of attack. He did point out, however, the general failure +of Christian ministers to live up to the teachings of Christ. "Even here +in Boston," we are informed, "pride and prejudice have got to such a +pitch, that in the very houses erected to the Lord they have built +little places for the reception of colored people, where they must sit +during meeting, or keep away from the house of God." Hypocrisy could +hardly go further than that of preachers who could not see the evils +at their door but could "send out missionaries to convert the heathen, +notwithstanding." Article IV was headed "Our Wretchedness in Consequence +of the Colonizing Plan." This was a bitter arraignment, especially +directed against Henry Clay. "I appeal and ask every citizen of these +United States," said Walker, "and of the world, both white and black, +who has any knowledge of Mr. Clay's public labors for these states--I +want you candidly to answer the Lord, who sees the secrets of your +hearts, Do you believe that Mr. Henry Clay, late Secretary of State, and +now in Kentucky, is a friend to the blacks further than his personal +interest extends?... Does he care a pinch of snuff about Africa--whether +it remains a land of pagans and of blood, or of Christians, so long as +he gets enough of her sons and daughters to dig up gold and silver for +him?... Was he not made by the Creator to sit in the shade, and make the +blacks work without remuneration for their services, to support him +and his family? I have been for some time taking notice of this man's +speeches and public writings, but never to my knowledge have I seen +anything in his writings which insisted on the emancipation of slavery, +which has almost ruined his country." Walker then paid his compliments +to Elias B. Caldwell and John Randolph, the former of whom had said, +"The more you improve the condition of these people, the more you +cultivate their minds, the more miserable you make them in their present +state." "Here," the work continues, "is a demonstrative proof of a plan +got up, by a gang of slaveholders, to select the free people of color +from among the slaves, that our more miserable brethren may be the +better secured in ignorance and wretchedness, to work their farms and +dig their mines, and thus go on enriching the Christians with their +blood and groans. What our brethren could have been thinking about, who +have left their native land and gone away to Africa, I am unable to +say.... The Americans may say or do as they please, but they have to +raise us from the condition of brutes to that of respectable men, and to +make a national acknowledgment to us for the wrongs they have inflicted +on us.... You may doubt it, if you please. I know that thousands will +doubt--they think they have us so well secured in wretchedness, to them +and their children, that it is impossible for such things to occur. So +did the antediluvians doubt Noah, until the day in which the flood came +and swept them away. So did the Sodomites doubt, until Lot had got out +of the city, and God rained down fire and brimstone from heaven upon +them and burnt them up. So did the king of Egypt doubt the very +existence of God, saying, 'Who is the Lord, that I should let Israel +go?' ... So did the Romans doubt.... But they got dreadfully deceived." + +This document created the greatest consternation in the South. The Mayor +of Savannah wrote to Mayor Otis of Boston, demanding that Walker be +punished. Otis, in a widely published letter, replied expressing his +disapproval of the pamphlet, but saying that the author had done nothing +that made him "amenable" to the laws. In Virginia the legislature +considered passing an "extraordinary bill," not only forbidding the +circulation of such seditious publications but forbidding the education +of free Negroes. The bill passed the House of Delegates, but failed in +the Senate. The _Appeal_ even found its way to Louisiana, where there +were already rumors of an insurrection, and immediately a law was passed +expelling all free Negroes who had come to the state since 1825. + + +_2. The Convention Movement_ + +As may be inferred from Walker's attitude, the representative men of the +race were almost a unit in their opposition to colonization. They were +not always opposed to colonization itself, for some looked favorably +upon settlement in Canada, and a few hundred made their way to the West +Indies. They did object, however, to the plan offered by the American +Colonization Society, which more and more impressed them as a device on +the part of slaveholders to get free Negroes out of the country in order +that slave labor might be more valuable. Richard Allen, bishop of the +African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the foremost Negro of the +period, said: "We were stolen from our mother country and brought here. +We have tilled the ground and made fortunes for thousands, and still +they are not weary of our services. _But they who stay to till the +ground must be slaves_. Is there not land enough in America, or 'corn +enough in Egypt'? Why should they send us into a far country to die? See +the thousands of foreigners emigrating to America every year: and if +there be ground sufficient for them to cultivate, and bread for them to +eat, why would they wish to send the _first tillers_ of the land away? +Africans have made fortunes for thousands, who are yet unwilling to +part with their services; but the free must be sent away, and those who +remain must be slaves. I have no doubt that there are many good men who +do not see as I do, and who are sending us to Liberia; but they have not +duly considered the subject--they are not men of color. This land +which we have watered with our tears and our blood is now our _mother +country_, and we are well satisfied to stay where wisdom abounds and the +gospel is free."[1] This point of view received popular expression in +a song which bore the cumbersome title, "The Colored Man's Opinion of +Colonization," and which was sung to the tune of "Home, Sweet Home." The +first stanza was as follows: + +[Footnote 1: _Freedom's Journal_, November 2, 1827, quoted by Walker.] + + Great God, if the humble and weak are as dear + To thy love as the proud, to thy children give ear! + Our brethren would drive us in deserts to roam; + Forgive them, O Father, and keep us at home. + Home, sweet home! + We have no other; this, this is our home.[1] + +[Footnote 1: _Anti-Slavery Picknick_, 105-107.] + +To this sentiment formal expression was given in the measures adopted at +various Negro meetings in the North. In 1817 the greatest excitement +was occasioned by a report that through the efforts of the newly-formed +Colonization Society all free Negroes were forcibly to be deported from +the country. Resolutions of protest were adopted, and these were widely +circulated.[1] Of special importance was the meeting in Philadelphia in +January, presided over by James Forten. Of this the full report is as +follows: + +[Footnote 1: They are fully recorded in _Garrison's Thoughts on African +Colonization_.] + +At a numerous meeting of the people of color, convened at Bethel Church, +to take into consideration the propriety of remonstrating against the +contemplated measure that is to exile us from the land of our nativity, +James Forten was called to the chair, and Russell Parrott appointed +secretary. The intent of the meeting having been stated by the chairman, +the following resolutions were adopted without one dissenting voice: + + WHEREAS, Our ancestors (not of choice) were the first successful + cultivators of the wilds of America, we their descendants feel + ourselves entitled to participate in the blessings of her luxuriant + soil, which their blood and sweat manured; and that any measure or + system of measures, having a tendency to banish us from her bosom, + would not only be cruel, but in direct violation of those principles + which have been the boast of this republic, + + _Resolved_, That we view with deep abhorrence the unmerited stigma + attempted to be cast upon the reputation of the free people of + color, by the promoters of this measure, "that they are a + dangerous and useless part of the community," when in the state of + disfranchisement in which they live, in the hour of danger they + ceased to remember their wrongs, and rallied around the standard of + their country. + + _Resolved_, That we never will separate ourselves voluntarily from + the slave population of this country; they are our brethren by the + ties of consanguinity, of suffering, and of wrong; and we feel that + there is more virtue in suffering privations with them, than fancied + advantages for a season. + + _Resolved_, That without arts, without science, without a proper + knowledge of government to cast upon the savage wilds of Africa the + free people of color, seems to us the circuitous route through which + they must return to perpetual bondage. + + _Resolved_, That having the strongest confidence in the justice of + God, and philanthropy of the free states, we cheerfully submit our + destinies to the guidance of Him who suffers not a sparrow to fall + without his special providence. + + _Resolved_, That a committee of eleven persons be appointed to open + a correspondence with the honorable Joseph Hopkinson, member + of Congress from this city, and likewise to inform him of the + sentiments of this meeting, and that the following named persons + constitute the committee, and that they have power to call a general + meeting, when they, in their judgment, may deem it proper: Rev. + Absalom Jones, Rev. Richard Allen, James Forten, Robert Douglass, + Francis Perkins, Rev. John Gloucester, Robert Gorden, James Johnson, + Quamoney Clarkson, John Summersett, Randall Shepherd. + + JAMES FORTEN, Chairman. + + RUSSELL PARROTT, Secretary. + +In 1827, in New York, was begun the publication of _Freedom's Journal_, +the first Negro newspaper in the United States. The editors were John +B. Russwurm and Samuel E. Cornish. Russwurm was a recent graduate of +Bowdoin College and was later to become better known as the governor of +Maryland in Africa. By 1830 feeling was acute throughout the country, +especially in Ohio and Kentucky, and on the part of Negro men +had developed the conviction that the time had come for national +organization and protest. + +In the spring of 1830 Hezekiah Grice of Baltimore, who had become +personally acquainted with the work of Lundy and Garrison, sent a letter +to prominent Negroes in the free states bringing in question the general +policy of emigration.[1] received no immediate response, but in August +he received from Richard Allen an urgent request to come at once to +Philadelphia. Arriving there he found in session a meeting discussing +the wisdom of emigration to Canada, and Allen "showed him a printed +circular signed by Peter Williams, rector of St. Philip's Church, +New York, Peter Vogelsang and Thomas L. Jennings of the same place, +approving the plan of convention."[2] The Philadelphians now issued a +call for a convention of the Negroes of the United States to be held in +their city September 15, 1830. + +[Footnote 1: John W. Cromwell: _The Early Negro Convention Movement_.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 5.] + +This September meeting was held in Bethel A.M.E. Church. Bishop Richard +Allen was chosen president, Dr. Belfast Burton of Philadelphia and +Austin Steward of Rochester vice-presidents, Junius C. Morell of +Pennsylvania secretary, and Robert Cowley of Maryland assistant +secretary. There were accredited delegates from seven states. While this +meeting might really be considered the first national convention of +Negroes in the United States (aside of course from the gathering of +denominational bodies), it seems to have been regarded merely as +preliminary to a still more formal assembling, for the minutes of the +next year were printed as the "Minutes and Proceedings of the First +Annual Convention of the People of Color, held by adjournments in the +city of Philadelphia, from the sixth to the eleventh of June, inclusive, +1831. Philadelphia, 1831." The meetings of this convention were held in +the Wesleyan Church on Lombard Street. Richard Allen had died earlier in +the year and Grice was not present; not long afterwards he emigrated +to Hayti, where he became prominent as a contractor. Rev. James W.C. +Pennington of New York, however, now for the first time appeared on the +larger horizon of race affairs; and John Bowers of Philadelphia served +as president, Abraham D. Shadd of Delaware and William Duncan of +Virginia as vice-presidents, William Whipper of Philadelphia as +secretary, and Thomas L. Jennings of New York as assistant secretary. +Delegates from five states were present. The gathering was not large, +but it brought together some able men; moreover, the meeting had some +distinguished visitors, among them Benjamin Lundy, William Lloyd +Garrison, Rev. S.S. Jocelyn of New Haven, and Arthur Tappan of New York. + +The very first motion of the convention resolved "That a committee be +appointed to institute an inquiry into the condition of the free people +of color throughout the United States, and report their views upon the +subject at a subsequent meeting." As a result of its work this committee +recommended that the work of organizations interested in settlement in +Canada be continued; that the free people of color be annually called to +assemble by delegation; and it submitted "the necessity of deliberate +reflection on the dissolute, intemperate, and ignorant condition of a +large portion of the colored population of the United States." "And, +lastly, your Committee view with unfeigned regret, and respectfully +submit to the wisdom of this Convention, the operations and +misrepresentations of the American Colonization Society in these United +States.... We feel sorrowful to see such an immense and wanton waste +of lives and property, not doubting the benevolent feelings of some +individuals engaged in that cause. But we can not for a moment doubt +but that the cause of many of our unconstitutional, unchristian, and +unheard-of sufferings emanate from that unhallowed source; and we would +call on Christians of every denomination firmly to resist it." The +report was unanimously received and adopted. + +Jocelyn, Tappan, and Garrison addressed the convention with reference to +a proposed industrial college in New Haven, toward the $20,000 expense +of which one individual (Tappan himself) had subscribed $1000 with the +understanding that the remaining $19,000 be raised within a year; and +the convention approved the project, _provided_ the Negroes had a +majority of at least one on the board of trustees. An illuminating +address to the public called attention to the progress of emancipation +abroad, to the fact that it was American persecution that led to the +calling of the convention, and that it was this also that first induced +some members of the race to seek an asylum in Canada, where already +there were two hundred log houses, and five hundred acres under +cultivation. + +In 1832 eight states were represented by a total of thirty delegates. By +this time we learn that a total of eight hundred acres had been secured +in Canada, that two thousand Negroes had gone thither, but that +considerable hostility had been manifested on the part of the Canadians. +Hesitant, the convention appointed an agent to investigate the +situation. It expressed itself as strongly opposed to any national aid +to the American Colonization Society and urged the abolition of slavery +in the District of Columbia--all of which activity, it is well to +remember, was a year before the American Anti-Slavery Society was +organized. + +In 1833 there were fifty-eight delegates, and Abraham Shadd, now of +Washington, was chosen president. The convention again gave prominence +to the questions of Canada and colonization, and expressed itself with +reference to the new law in Connecticut prohibiting Negroes from other +states from attending schools within the state. The 1834 meeting was +held in New York. Prudence Crandall[1] was commended for her stand in +behalf of the race, and July 4 was set apart as a day for prayer and +addresses on the condition of the Negro throughout the country. By +this time we hear much of societies for temperance and moral reform, +especially of the so-called Phoenix Societies "for improvement in +general culture--literature, mechanic arts, and morals." Of these +organizations Rev. Christopher Rush, of the A.M.E. Zion Church, was +general president, and among the directors were Rev. Peter Williams, +Boston Crummell, the father of Alexander Crummell, and Rev. William Paul +Quinn, afterwards a well-known bishop of the A.M.E. Church. The 1835 +and 1836 meetings were held in Philadelphia, and especially were the +students of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati commended for their zeal in +the cause of abolition. A committee was appointed to look into the +dissatisfaction of some emigrants to Liberia and generally to review the +work of the Colonization Society. + +[Footnote 1: See Chapter X, Section 3.] + +In the decade 1837-1847 Frederick Douglass was outstanding as a leader, +and other men who were now prominent were Dr. James McCune Smith, Rev. +James W.C. Pennington, Alexander Crummell, William C. Nell, and Martin +R. Delany. These are important names in the history of the period. These +were the men who bore the brunt of the contest in the furious days of +Texas annexation and the Compromise of 1850. About 1853 and 1854 there +was renewed interest in the idea of an industrial college; steps were +taken for the registry of Negro mechanics and artisans who were in +search of employment, and of the names of persons who were willing to +give them work; and there was also a committee on historical records and +statistics that was not only to compile studies in Negro biography but +also to reply to any assaults of note.[1] + +[Footnote 1: We can not too much emphasize the fact that the leaders +of this period were by no means impractical theorists but men who were +scientifically approaching the social problem of their people. They not +only anticipated such ideas as those of industrial education and of the +National Urban League of the present day, but they also endeavored to +lay firmly the foundations of racial self-respect.] + +Immediately after the last of the conventions just mentioned, those who +were interested in emigration and had not been able to get a hearing +in the regular convention issued a call for a National Emigration +Convention of Colored Men to take place in Cleveland, Ohio, August +24-26, 1854. The preliminary announcement said: "No person will be +admitted to a seat in the Convention who would introduce the subject +of emigration to the Eastern Hemisphere--either to Asia, Africa, or +Europe--as our object and determination are to consider our claims +to the West Indies, Central and South America, and the Canadas. This +restriction has no reference to personal preference, or individual +enterprise, but to the great question of national claims to come before +the Convention."[1] Douglass pronounced the call "uncalled for, unwise, +unfortunate and premature," and his position led him into a wordy +discussion in the press with James M. Whitfield, of Buffalo, prominent +at the time as a writer. Delany explained the call as follows: "It was +a mere policy on the part of the authors of these documents, to confine +their scheme to America (including the West Indies), whilst they +were the leading advocates of the regeneration of Africa, lest they +compromised themselves and their people to the avowed enemies of their +race."[2] At the secret sessions, he informs us, Africa was the topic of +greatest interest. In order to account for this position it is important +to take note of the changes that had taken place between 1817 and 1854. +When James Forten and others in Philadelphia in 1817 protested +against the American Colonization Society as the plan of a "gang of +slaveholders" to drive free people from their homes, they had abundant +ground for the feeling. By 1839, however, not only had the personnel +of the organization changed, but, largely through the influence of +Garrison, the purpose and aim had also changed, and not Virginia and +Maryland, but New York and Pennsylvania were now dominant in influence. +Colonization had at first been regarded as a possible solution of the +race problem; money was now given, however, "rather as an aid to the +establishment of a model Negro republic in Africa, whose effort would +be to discourage the slave-trade, and encourage energy and thrift among +those free Negroes from the United States who chose to emigrate, and +to give native Africans a demonstration of the advantages of +civilization."[3] In view of the changed conditions, Delany and others +who disagreed with Douglass felt that for the good of the race in the +United States the whole matter of emigration might receive further +consideration; at the same time, remembering old discussions, they +did not wish to be put in the light of betrayers of their people. The +Pittsburgh _Daily Morning Post_ of October 18, 1854, sneered at the new +plan as follows: "If Dr. Delany drafted this report it certainly does +him much credit for learning and ability; and can not fail to establish +for him a reputation for vigor and brilliancy of imagination never yet +surpassed. It is a vast conception of impossible birth. The Committee +seem to have entirely overlooked the strength of the 'powers on earth' +that would oppose the Africanization of more than half the Western +Hemisphere. We have no motive in noticing this gorgeous dream of 'the +Committee' except to show its fallacy--its impracticability, in fact, +its absurdity. No sensible man, whatever his color, should be for a +moment deceived by such impracticable theories." However, in spite of +all opposition, the Emigration Convention met. Upon Delany fell the real +brunt of the work of the organization. In 1855 Bishop James Theodore +Holly was commissioned to Faustin Soulouque, Emperor of Hayti; and he +received in his visit of a month much official attention with some +inducement to emigrate. Delany himself planned to go to Africa as the +head of a "Niger Valley Exploring Party." Of the misrepresentation and +difficulties that he encountered he himself has best told. He did get to +Africa, however, and he had some interesting and satisfactory interviews +with representative chiefs. The Civil War put an end to his project, he +himself accepting a major's commission from President Lincoln. Through +the influence of Holly about two thousand persons went to Hayti, but not +more than a third of these remained. A plan fostered by Whitfield for a +colony in Central America came to naught when this leading spirit died +in San Francisco on his way thither.[4] + +[Footnote 1: Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party, by +M.R. Delany, Chief Commissioner to Africa, New York, 1861.] + +[Footnote 2: Delany, 8.] + +[Footnote 3: Fox: _The American Colonisation Society_, 177; also note +pp. 12, 120-2.] + +[Footnote 4: For the progress of all the plans offered to the convention +note important letter written by Holly and given by Cromwell, 20-21.] + + +3. _Sojourner Truth and Woman Suffrage_ + +With its challenge to the moral consciousness it was but natural that +anti-slavery should soon become allied with temperance, woman suffrage, +and other reform movements that were beginning to appeal to the heart +of America. Especially were representative women quick to see that the +arguments used for their cause were very largely identical with those +used for the Negro. When the woman suffrage movement was launched at +Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1848, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and +their co-workers issued a Declaration of Sentiments which like +many similar documents copied the phrasing of the Declaration of +Independence. This said in part: "The history of mankind is a history +of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man towards woman, +having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over +her.... He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to +the elective franchise.... He has made her, if married, in the eye of +the law civilly dead.... He has denied her the facilities for obtaining +a thorough education, all colleges being closed to her." It mattered +not at the time that male suffrage was by no means universal, or that +amelioration of the condition of woman had already begun; the movement +stated its case clearly and strongly in order that it might fully be +brought to the attention of the American people. In 1850 the first +formal National Woman's Rights Convention assembled in Worcester, Mass. +To this meeting came a young Quaker woman who was already listed in the +cause of temperance. In fact, wherever she went Susan B. Anthony entered +into "causes." She possessed great virtues and abilities, and at the +same time was capable of very great devotion. "She not only sympathized +with the Negro; when an opportunity offered she drank tea with him, to +her own 'unspeakable satisfaction.'"[1] Lucy Stone, an Oberlin graduate, +was representative of those who came into the agitation by the +anti-slavery path. Beginning in 1848 to speak as an agent of the +Anti-Slavery Society, almost from the first she began to introduce the +matter of woman's rights in her speeches. + +[Footnote 1: Ida M. Tarbell: "The American Woman: Her First Declaration +of Independence," _American Magazine_, February, 1910.] + +To the second National Woman's Suffrage Convention, held in Akron, Ohio, +in 1852, and presided over by Mrs. Frances D. Gage, came Sojourner +Truth. + +The "Libyan Sibyl" was then in the fullness of her powers. She had been +born of slave parents about 1798 in Ulster County, New York. In her +later years she remembered vividly the cold, damp cellar-room in which +slept the slaves of the family to which she belonged, and where she was +taught by her mother to repeat the Lord's Prayer and to trust in God. +When in the course of gradual emancipation she became legally free in +1827, her master refused to comply with the law and kept her in bondage. +She left, but was pursued and found. Rather than have her go back, a +friend paid for her services for the rest of the year. Then came an +evening when, searching for one of her children who had been stolen and +sold, she found herself a homeless wanderer. A Quaker family gave her +lodging for the night. Subsequently she went to New York City, joined +a Methodist church, and worked hard to improve her condition. Later, +having decided to leave New York for a lecture tour through the East, +she made a small bundle of her belongings and informed a friend that +her name was no longer _Isabella_ but _Sojourner_. She went on her +way, speaking to people wherever she found them assembled and being +entertained in many aristocratic homes. She was entirely untaught in the +schools, but was witty, original, and always suggestive. By her tact and +her gift of song she kept down ridicule, and by her fervor and faith she +won many friends for the anti-slavery cause. As to her name she said: +"And the Lord gave me _Sojourner_ because I was to travel up an' down +the land showin' the people their sins an' bein' a sign unto them. +Afterwards I told the Lord I wanted another name, 'cause everybody else +had two names, an' the Lord gave me _Truth_, because I was to declare +the truth to the people." + +On the second day of the convention in Akron, in a corner, crouched +against the wall, sat this woman of care, her elbows resting on her +knees, and her chin resting upon her broad, hard palms.[1] In the +intermission she was employed in selling "The Life of Sojourner Truth." +From time to time came to the presiding officer the request, "Don't let +her speak; it will ruin us. Every newspaper in the land will have +our cause mixed with abolition and niggers, and we shall be utterly +denounced." Gradually, however, the meeting waxed warm. Baptist, +Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Universalist preachers had +come to hear and discuss the resolutions presented. One argued the +superiority of the male intellect, another the sin of Eve, and the +women, most of whom did not "speak in meeting," were becoming filled +with dismay. Then slowly from her seat in the corner rose Sojourner +Truth, who till now had scarcely lifted her head. Slowly and solemnly +to the front she moved, laid her old bonnet at her feet, and turned +her great, speaking eyes upon the chair. Mrs. Gage, quite equal to the +occasion, stepped forward and announced "Sojourner Truth," and begged +the audience to be silent a few minutes. "The tumult subsided at once, +and every eye was fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly +six feet high, head erect, and eye piercing the upper air, like one in a +dream." At her first word there was a profound hush. She spoke in deep +tones, which, though not loud, reached every ear in the house, and even +the throng at the doors and windows. To one man who had ridiculed the +general helplessness of woman, her needing to be assisted into carriages +and to be given the best place everywhere, she said, "Nobody eber helped +me into carriages, or ober mud puddles, or gibs me any best place"; and +raising herself to her full height, with a voice pitched like rolling +thunder, she asked, "And a'n't I a woman? Look at me. Look at my arm." +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 man could head me--and a'n't I a woman? I could work as much and +eat as much as a man, when I could get it, and bear de lash as well--and +a'n't I a woman? I have borne five chilern and seen 'em mos' all sold +off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but +Jesus heard--and a'n't I a woman?... Dey talks 'bout dis ting in de +head--what dis dey call it?" "Intellect," said some one near. "Dat's it, +honey. What's dat got to do with women's rights or niggers' rights? If +my cup won't hold but a pint and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't ye be +mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" And she pointed +her significant finger and sent a keen glance at the minister who had +made the argument. The cheering was long and loud. "Den dat little man +in black dar, he say women can't have as much rights as man, 'cause +Christ wa'n't a woman. But whar did Christ come from?" Rolling thunder +could not have stilled that crowd as did those deep, wonderful tones as +the woman stood there with her outstretched arms and her eyes of fire. +Raising her voice she repeated, "Whar did Christ come from? From God and +a woman. Man had nothing to do with Him." Turning to another objector, +she took up the defense of Eve. She was pointed and witty, solemn and +serious at will, and at almost every sentence awoke deafening applause; +and she ended by asserting, "If de fust woman God made was strong enough +to turn the world upside down, all alone, dese togedder,"--and she +glanced over the audience--"ought to be able to turn it back and get it +right side up again, and now dey is askin' to do it, de men better let +'em." + +[Footnote 1: Reminiscences of the president, Mrs. Frances D. Gage, cited +by Tarbell.] + +"Amid roars of applause," wrote Mrs. Gage, "she returned to her corner, +leaving more than one of us with streaming eyes and hearts beating with +gratitude." Thus, as so frequently happened, Sojourner Truth turned a +difficult situation into splendid victory. She not only made an eloquent +plea for the slave, but placing herself upon the broadest principles of +humanity, she saved the day for woman suffrage as well. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +LIBERIA + + +In a former chapter we have traced the early development of the American +Colonization Society, whose efforts culminated in the founding of the +colony of Liberia. The recent world war, with Africa as its prize, fixed +attention anew upon the little republic. This comparatively small tract +of land, just slightly more than one-three hundredth part of the surface +of Africa, is now of interest and strategic importance not only because +(if we except Abyssinia, which claims slightly different race origin, +and Hayti, which is now really under the government of the United +States) it represents the one distinctively Negro government in the +world, but also because it is the only tract of land on the great West +Coast of the continent that has survived, even through the war, the +aggression of great European powers. It is just at the bend of the +shoulder of Africa, and its history is as romantic as its situation is +unique. + +Liberia has frequently been referred to as an outstanding example of +the incapacity of the Negro for self-government. Such a judgment is not +necessarily correct. It is indeed an open question if, in view of the +nature of its beginning, the history of the country proves anything one +way or the other with reference to the capacity of the race. The early +settlers were frequently only recently out of bondage, but upon them +were thrust all the problems of maintenance and government, and they +brought with them, moreover, the false ideas of life and work that +obtained in the Old South. Sometimes they suffered from neglect, +sometimes from excessive solicitude; never were they really left alone. +In spite of all, however, more than a score of native tribes have been +subdued by only a few thousand civilized men, the republic has preserved +its integrity, and there has been handed down through the years a +tradition of constitutional government. + + + +1. _The Place and the People_ + +The resources of Liberia are as yet imperfectly known. There is no +question, however, about the fertility of the interior, or of its +capacity when properly developed. There are no rivers of the first rank, +but the longest streams are about three hundred miles in length, and at +convenient distances apart flow down to a coastline somewhat more than +three hundred miles long. Here in a tract of land only slightly larger +than our own state of Ohio are a civilized population between 30,000 and +100,000 in number, and a native population estimated at 2,000,000. Of +the civilized population the smaller figure, 30,000, is the more nearly +correct if we consider only those persons who are fully civilized, and +this number would be about evenly divided between Americo-Liberians and +natives. Especially in the towns along the coast, however, there are +many people who have received only some degree of civilization, and +most of the households in the larger towns have several native children +living in them. If all such elements are considered, the total might +approach 100,000. The natives in their different tribes fall into three +or four large divisions. In general they follow their native customs, +and the foremost tribes exhibit remarkable intelligence and skill in +industry. Outstanding are the dignified Mandingo, with a Mohammedan +tradition, and the Vai, distinguished for skill in the arts and with a +culture similar to that of the Mandingo. Also easily recognized are +the Kpwessi, skillful in weaving and ironwork; the Kru, intelligent, +sea-faring, and eager for learning; the Grebo, ambitious and aggressive, +and in language connection close to the Kru; the Bassa, with +characteristics somewhat similar to those of the Kru, but in general +not quite so ambitious; the Buzi, wild and highly tattooed; and the +cannibalistic Mano. By reason of numbers if nothing else, Liberia's +chief asset for the future consists in her native population. + + +2. _History_ + +(a) _Colonization and Settlement_ + +In pursuance of its plans for the founding of a permanent colony on the +coast of Africa, the American Colonization Society in November, 1817, +sent out two men, Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess, who were +authorized to find a suitable place for a settlement. Going by way +of England, these men were cordially received by the officers of the +African Institution and given letters to responsible persons in Sierra +Leone. Arriving at the latter place in March, 1818, they met John +Kizell, a native and a man of influence, who had received some training +in America and had returned to his people, built a house of worship, and +become a preacher. Kizell undertook to accompany them on their journey +down the coast and led the way to Sherbro Island, a place long in +disputed territory but since included within the limits of Sierra Leone. +Here the agents were hospitably received; they fixed upon the island as +a permanent site, and in May turned their faces homeward. Mills died on +the voyage in June and was buried at sea; but Burgess made a favorable +report, though the island was afterwards to prove by no means healthy. +The Society was impressed, but efforts might have languished at this +important stage if Monroe, now President, had not found it possible to +bring the resources of the United States Government to assist in +the project. Smuggling, with the accompanying evil of the sale of +"recaptured Africans," had by 1818 become a national disgrace, and on +March 3, 1819, a bill designed to do away with the practice became a +law. This said in part: "The President of the United States is hereby +authorized to make such regulations and arrangements as he may deem +expedient for the safe-keeping, support, and removal beyond the limits +of the United States, of all such Negroes, mulattoes, or persons of +color as may be so delivered and brought within their jurisdiction; and +to appoint a proper person or persons residing upon the coast of Africa +as agent or agents for receiving the Negroes, mulattoes, or persons of +color, delivered from on board vessels seized in the prosecution of the +slave-trade by commanders of the United States armed vessels." For the +carrying out of the purpose of this act $100,000 was appropriated, and +Monroe was disposed to construe as broadly as necessary the powers given +him under it. In his message of December 20, he informed Congress +that he had appointed Rev. Samuel Bacon, of the American Colonization +Society, with John Bankson as assistant, to charter a vessel and take +the first group of emigrants to Africa, the understanding being that +he was to go to the place fixed upon by Mills and Burgess. Thus the +National Government and the Colonization Society, while technically +separate, began to work in practical coöperation. The ship _Elizabeth_ +was made ready for the voyage; the Government informed the Society that +it would "receive on board such free blacks recommended by the Society +as might be required for the purpose of the agency"; $33,000 was placed +in the hands of Mr. Bacon; Rev. Samuel A. Crozer was appointed as the +Society's official representative; 88 emigrants were brought together +(33 men and 18 women, the rest being children); and on February 5, 1820, +convoyed by the war-sloop _Cyane_, the expedition set forth. + +An interesting record of the voyage--important for the sidelights it +gives--was left by Daniel Coker, the respected minister of a large +Methodist congregation in Baltimore who was persuaded to accompany the +expedition for the sake of the moral influence that he might be able to +exert.[1] There was much bad weather at the start, and it was the icy +sea that on February 4 made it impossible to get under way until the +next day. On board, moreover, there was much distrust of the agents in +charge, with much questioning of their motives; nor were matters made +better by a fight between one of the emigrants and the captain of the +vessel. It was a restless company, uncertain as to the future, and +dissatisfied and peevish from day to day. Kizell afterwards remarked +that "some would not be governed by white men, and some would not be +governed by black men, and some would not be governed by mulattoes; but +the truth was they did not want to be governed by anybody." On March 3, +however, the ship sighted the Cape Verde Islands and six days afterwards +was anchored at Sierra Leone; and Coker rejoiced that at last he had +seen Africa. Kizell, however, whom the agents had counted on seeing, +was found to be away at Sherbro; accordingly, six days after their +arrival[2] they too were making efforts to go on to Sherbro, for they +were allowed at anchor only fifteen days and time was passing rapidly. +Meanwhile Bankson went to find Kizell. Captain Sebor was at first +decidedly unwilling to go further; but his reluctance was at length +overcome; Bacon purchased for $3,000 a British schooner that had +formerly been engaged in the slave-trade; and on March 17 both ship and +schooner got under way for Sherbro. The next day they met Bankson, who +informed them that he had seen Kizell. This man, although he had not +heard from America since the departure of Mills and Burgess, had already +erected some temporary houses against the rainy season. He permitted the +newcomers to stay in his little town until land could be obtained; sent +them twelve fowls and a bushel of rice; but he also, with both dignity +and pathos, warned Bankson that if he and his companions came with +Christ in their hearts, it was well that they had come; if not, it would +have been better if they had stayed in America. + +[Footnote 1: "Journal of Daniel Coker, a descendant of Africa, from the +time of leaving New York, in the ship _Elizabeth_, Capt. Sebor, on a +voyage for Sherbro, in Africa. Baltimore, 1820."] + +[Footnote 2: March 15. The narrative, page 26, says February 15, but +this is obviously a typographical error.] + +Now followed much fruitless bargaining with the native chiefs, in all of +which Coker regretted that the slave-traders had so ruined the people +that it seemed impossible to make any progress in a "palaver" without +the offering of rum. Meanwhile a report was circulated through the +country that a number of Americans had come and turned Kizell out of his +own town and put some of his people in the hold of their ship. Disaster +followed disaster. The marsh, the bad water, and the malaria played +havoc with the colonists, and all three of the responsible agents died. +The few persons who remained alive made their way back to Sierra Leone. + +Thus the first expedition failed. One year later, in March, 1821, a new +company of twenty-one emigrants, in charge of J.B. Winn and Ephraim +Bacon, arrived at Freetown in the brig _Nautilus_. It had been the +understanding that in return for their passage the members of the first +expedition would clear the way for others; but when the agents of the +new company saw the plight of those who remained alive, they brought all +of the colonists together at Fourah Bay, and Bacon went farther down the +coast to seek a more favorable site. A few persons who did not wish to +go to Fourah Bay remained in Sierra Leone and became British subjects. +Bacon found a promising tract about two hundred and fifty miles down the +coast at Cape Montserado; but the natives were not especially eager to +sell, as they did not wish to break up the slave traffic. Meanwhile Winn +and several more of the colonists died; and Bacon now returned to the +United States. The second expedition had thus proved to be little more +successful than the first; but the future site of Monrovia had at least +been suggested. + +In November came Dr. Eli Ayres as agent of the Society, and in December +Captain Robert F. Stockton of the _Alligator_ with instructions to +coöperate. These two men explored the coast and on December 11 arrived +at Mesurado Bay. Through the jungle they made their way to a village and +engaged in a palaver with King Peter and five of his associates. The +negotiations were conducted in the presence of an excited crowd and with +imminent danger; but Stockton had great tact and at length, for the +equivalent of $300, he and Ayres purchased the mouth of the Mesurado +River, Cape Montserado, and the land for some distance in the interior. +There was also an understanding (for half a dozen gallons of rum and +some trade-cloth and tobacco) with King George, who "resided on the Cape +and claimed a sort of jurisdiction over the northern district of the +peninsula of Montserado, by virtue of which the settlers were permitted +to pass across the river and commence the laborious task of clearing +away the heavy forest which covered the site of their intended town."[1] +Then the agent returned to effect the removal of the colonists from +Fourah Bay, leaving a very small company as a sort of guard on +Perseverance (or Providence) Island at the mouth of the river. Some +of the colonists refused to leave, remained, and thus became British +subjects. For those who had remained on the island there was trouble at +once. A small vessel, the prize of an English cruiser, bound to Sierra +Leone with thirty liberated Africans, put into the roads for water, and +had the misfortune to part her cable and come ashore. "The natives claim +to a prescriptive right, which interest never fails to enforce to its +fullest extent, to seize and appropriate the wrecks and cargoes of +vessels stranded, under whatever circumstances, on their coast."[2] The +vessel in question drifted to the mainland one mile from the cape, a +small distance below George's town, and the natives proceeded to act in +accordance with tradition. They were fired on by the prize master and +forced to desist, and the captain appealed to the few colonists on the +island for assistance. They brought into play a brass field piece, and +two of the natives were killed and several more wounded. The English +officer, his crew, and the captured Africans escaped, though the small +vessel was lost; but the next day the Deys (the natives), feeling +outraged, made another attack, in the course of which some of them +and one of the colonists were killed. In the course of the operations +moreover, through the carelessness of some of the settlers themselves, +fire was communicated to the storehouse and $3000 worth of property +destroyed, though the powder and some of the provisions were saved. Thus +at the very beginning, by accident though it happened, the shadow of +England fell across the young colony, involving it in difficulties with +the natives. When then Ayres returned with the main crowd of settlers on +January 7, 1822--which arrival was the first real landing of settlers on +what is now Liberian soil--he found that the Deys wished to annul the +agreement previously made and to give back the articles paid. He himself +was seized in the course of a palaver, and he was able to arrive at no +better understanding than that the colonists might remain only until +they could make a new purchase elsewhere. Now appeared on the scene +Boatswain, a prominent chief from the interior who sometimes exercised +jurisdiction over the coast tribes and who, hearing that there was +trouble in the bay, had come hither, bringing with him a sufficient +following to enforce his decrees. Through this man shone something of +the high moral principle so often to be observed in responsible African +chiefs, and to him Ayres appealed. Hearing the story he decided in +favor of the colonists, saying to Peter, "Having sold your country and +accepted payment, you must take the consequences. Let the Americans +have their land immediately." To the agent he said, "I promise you +protection. If these people give you further disturbance, send for me; +and I swear, if they oblige me to come again to quiet them, I will do +it to purpose, by taking their heads from their shoulders, as I did old +king George's on my last visit to the coast to settle disputes." Thus on +the word of a native chief was the foundation of Liberia assured. + +[Footnote 1: Ashmun: _History of the American Colony in Liberia, from +1821 to 1823_, 8.] + +[Footnote 2: Ashmun, 9.] + +By the end of April all of the colonists who were willing to move had +been brought from Sierra Leone to their new home. It was now decided +to remove from the low and unhealthy island to the higher land of +Cape Montserado only a few hundred feet away; on April 28 there was a +ceremony of possession and the American flag was raised. The advantages +of the new position were obvious, to the natives as well as the +colonists, and the removal was attended with great excitement. By July +the island was completely abandoned. Meanwhile, however, things had not +been going well. The Deys had been rendered very hostile, and from them +there was constant danger of attack. The rainy season moreover had set +in, shelter was inadequate, supplies were low, and the fever continually +claimed its victims. Ayres at length became discouraged. He proposed +that the enterprise be abandoned and that the settlers return to Sierra +Leone, and on June 4 he did actually leave with a few of them. It was +at this juncture that Elijah Johnson, one of the most heroic of the +colonists, stepped forth to fame. + +The early life of the man is a blank. In 1789 he was taken to New +Jersey. He received some instruction and studied for the Methodist +ministry, took part in the War of 1812, and eagerly embraced the +opportunity to be among the first to come to the new colony. To the +suggestion that the enterprise be abandoned he replied, "Two years long +have I sought a home; here I have found it; here I remain." To him the +great heart of the colonists responded. Among the natives he was known +and respected as a valiant fighter. He lived until March 23, 1849. + +Closely associated with Johnson, his colleague in many an effort and +the pioneer in mission work, was the Baptist minister, Lott Cary, +from Richmond, Va., who also had become one of the first permanent +settlers.[1] He was a man of most unusual versatility and force of +character. He died November 8, 1828, as the result of a powder explosion +that occurred while he was acting in defense of the colony against the +Deys. + +[Footnote 1: See Chapter III, Section 5.] + +July (1822) was a hard month for the settlers. Not only were their +supplies almost exhausted, but they were on a rocky cape and the natives +would not permit any food to be brought to them. On August 8, however, +arrived Jehudi Ashmun, a young man from Vermont who had worked as a +teacher and as the editor of a religious publication for some years +before coming on this mission. He brought with him a company of +liberated Africans and emigrants to the number of fifty-five, and as he +did not intend to remain permanently he had yielded to the entreaty of +his wife and permitted her to accompany him on the voyage. He held no +formal commission from the American Colonization Society, but seeing the +situation he felt that it was his duty to do what he could to relieve +the distress; and he faced difficulties from the very first. On the day +after his arrival his own brig, the _Strong_, was in danger of being +lost; the vessel parted its cable, and on the following morning broke it +again and drifted until it was landlocked between Cape Montserado and +Cape Mount. A small anchor was found, however, and the brig was again +moored, but five miles from the settlement. The rainy season was now on +in full force; there was no proper place for the storing of provisions; +and even with the newcomers it soon developed that there were in the +colony only thirty-five men capable of bearing arms, so great had been +the number of deaths from the fever. Sometimes almost all of these +were sick; on September 10 only two were in condition for any kind of +service. Ashmun tried to make terms with the native chiefs, but their +malignity was only partially concealed. His wife languished before +his eyes and died September 15, just five weeks after her arrival. He +himself was incapacitated for several months, nor at the height of his +illness was he made better by the ministrations of a French charlatan. +He never really recovered from the great inroads made upon his strength +at this time. + +As a protection from sudden attack a clearing around the settlement was +made. Defenses had to be erected without tools, and so great was the +anxiety that throughout the months of September and October a nightly +watch of twenty men was kept. On Sunday, November 10, the report was +circulated that the Deys were crossing the Mesurado River, and at night +it became known that seven or eight hundred were on the peninsula only +half a mile to the west. The attack came at early dawn on the 11th and +the colonists might have been annihilated if they had not brought +a field-piece into play. When this was turned against the natives +advancing in compact array, it literally tore through masses of living +flesh until scores of men were killed. Even so the Deys might have won +the engagement if they had not stopped too soon to gather plunder. As +it was, they were forced to retreat. Of the settlers three men and one +woman were killed, two men and two women injured, and several children +taken captive, though these were afterwards returned. At this time +the colonists suffered greatly from the lack of any supplies for the +treatment of wounds. Only medicines for the fever were on hand, and in +the hot climate those whose flesh had been torn by bullets suffered +terribly. In this first encounter, as often in these early years, the +real burden of conflict fell upon Cary and Johnson. After the battle +these men found that they had on hand ammunition sufficient for only one +hour's defense. All were placed on a special allowance of provisions and +November 23 was observed as a day of prayer. A passing vessel furnished +additional supplies and happily delayed for some days the inevitable +attack. This came from two sides very early in the morning of December +2. There was a desperate battle. Three bullets passed through Ashmun's +clothes, one of the gunners was killed, and repeated attacks were +resisted only with the most dogged determination. An accident, or, as +the colonists regarded it, a miracle, saved them from destruction. A +guard, hearing a noise, discharged a large gun and several muskets. +The schooner _Prince Regent_ was passing, with Major Laing, Midshipman +Gordon, and eleven specially trained men on board. The officers, hearing +the sound of guns, came ashore to see what was the trouble. Major Laing +offered assistance if ground was given for the erection of a British +flag, and generally attempted to bring about an adjustment of +difficulties on the basis of submitting these to the governor of Sierra +Leone. To these propositions Elijah Johnson replied, "We want no +flagstaff put up here that it will cost more to get down than it will +to whip the natives." However, Gordon and the men under him were left +behind for the protection of the colony until further help could arrive. +Within one month he and seven of the eleven were dead. He himself had +found a ready place in the hearts of the settlers, and to him and his +men Liberia owes much. They came in a needy hour and gave their lives +for the cause of freedom. + +An American steamer passing in December, 1822, gave some temporary +relief. On March 31, 1823, the _Cyane_, with Capt. R.T. Spence in +charge, arrived from America with supplies. As many members of his crew +became ill after only a few days, Spence soon deemed it advisable to +leave. His chief clerk, however, Richard Seaton, heroically volunteered +to help with the work, remained behind, and died after only three +months. On May 24 came the _Oswego_ with sixty-one new colonists and +Dr. Ayres, who, already the Society's agent, now returned with the +additional authority of Government agent and surgeon. He made a survey +and attempted a new allotment of land, only to find that the colony was +soon in ferment, because some of those who possessed the best holdings +or who had already made the beginnings of homes, were now required to +give these up. There was so much rebellion that in December Ayres +again deemed it advisable to leave. The year 1823 was in fact chiefly +noteworthy for the misunderstandings that arose between the colonists +and Ashmun. This man had been placed in a most embarrassing situation by +the arrival of Dr. Ayres.[1] He not only found himself superseded in the +government, but had the additional misfortune to learn that his drafts +had been dishonored and that no provision had been made to remunerate +him for his past services or provide for his present needs. Finding his +services undervalued, and even the confidence of the Society withheld, +he was naturally indignant, though his attachment to the cause remained +steadfast. Seeing the authorized agent leaving the colony, and the +settlers themselves in a state of insubordination, with no formal +authority behind him he yet resolved to forget his own wrongs and to do +what he could to save from destruction that for which he had already +suffered so much. He was young and perhaps not always as tactful as he +might have been. On the other hand, the colonists had not yet learned +fully to appreciate the real greatness of the man with whom they were +dealing. As for the Society at home, not even so much can be said. The +real reason for the withholding of confidence from Ashmun was that many +of the members objected to his persistent attacks on the slave-trade. + +[Footnote 1: Stockwell, 73.] + +By the regulations that governed the colony at the time, each man who +received rations was required to contribute to the general welfare +two days of labor a week. Early in December twelve men cast off all +restraint, and on the 13th Ashmun published a notice in which he said: +"There are in the colony more than a dozen healthy persons who will +receive no more provisions out of the public store until they earn +them." On the 19th, in accordance with this notice, the provisions of +the recalcitrants were stopped. The next morning, however, the men went +to the storehouse, and while provisions were being issued, each seized +a portion and went to his home. Ashmun now issued a circular, reminding +the colonists of all of their struggles together and generally pointing +out to them how such a breach of discipline struck at the very heart of +the settlement. The colonists rallied to his support and the twelve men +returned to duty. The trouble, however, was not yet over. On March 19, +1824, Ashmun found it necessary to order a cut in provisions. He had +previously declared to the Board that in his opinion the evil was +"incurable by any of the remedies which fall within the existing +provisions"; and counter remonstrances had been sent by the colonists, +who charged him with oppression, neglect of duty, and the seizure of +public property. He now, seeing that his latest order was especially +unpopular, prepared new despatches, on March 22 reviewed the whole +course of his conduct in a strong and lengthy address, and by the last +of the month had left the colony. + +Meanwhile the Society, having learned that things were not going well +with the colony, had appointed its secretary, Rev. R.R. Gurley, to +investigate conditions. Gurley met Ashmun at the Cape Verde Islands and +urgently requested that he return to Monrovia.[1] This Ashmun was not +unwilling to do, as he desired the fullest possible investigation into +his conduct. Gurley was in Liberia from August 13 to August 22, 1824, +only; but from the time of his visit conditions improved. Ashmun was +fully vindicated and remained for four years more until his strength +was all but spent. There was adopted what was known as the Gurley +Constitution. According to this the agent in charge was to have supreme +charge and preside at all public meetings. He was to be assisted, +however, by eleven officers annually chosen, the most important of whom +he was to appoint on nomination by the colonists. Among these were +a vice-agent, two councilors, two justices of the peace, and two +constables. There was to be a guard of twelve privates, two corporals, +and one sergeant. + +[Footnote 1: This name, in honor of President Monroe, had recently been +adopted by the Society at the suggestion of Robert Goodloe Harper, of +Maryland, who also suggested the name _Liberia_ for the country. Harper +himself was afterwards honored by having the chief town in Maryland in +Africa named after him.] + +For a long time it was the custom of the American Colonization Society +to send out two main shipments of settlers a year, one in the spring +and one in the fall. On February 13, 1824, arrived a little more than +a hundred emigrants, mainly from Petersburg, Va. These people were +unusually intelligent and industrious and received a hearty welcome. +Within a month practically all of them were sick with the fever. On +this occasion, as on many others, Lott Cary served as physician, and so +successful was he that only three of the sufferers died. Another company +of unusual interest was that which arrived early in 1826. It brought +along a printer, a press with the necessary supplies, and books sent by +friends in Boston. Unfortunately the printer was soon disabled by the +fever. + +Sickness, however, and wars with the natives were not the only handicaps +that engaged the attention of the colony in these years. "At this period +the slave-trade was carried on extensively within sight of Monrovia. +Fifteen vessels were engaged in it at the same time, almost under the +guns of the settlement; and in July of this year a contract was existing +for eight hundred slaves to be furnished, in the short space of four +months, within eight miles of the cape. Four hundred of these were to be +purchased for two American traders."[1] Ashmun attacked the Spaniards +engaged in the traffic, and labored generally to break up slave +factories. On one occasion he received as many as one hundred and +sixteen slaves into the colony as freemen. He also adopted an attitude +of justice toward the native Krus. Of special importance was the attack +on Trade Town, a stronghold of French and Spanish traders about one +hundred miles below Monrovia. Here there were not less than three large +factories. On the day of the battle, April 10, there were three hundred +and fifty natives on shore under the direction of the traders, but the +colonists had the assistance of some American vessels, and a Liberian +officer, Captain Barbour, was of outstanding courage and ability. The +town was fired after eighty slaves had been surrendered. The flames +reached the ammunition of the enemy and over two hundred and fifty casks +of gunpowder exploded. By July, however, the traders had built a battery +at Trade Town and were prepared to give more trouble. All the same a +severe blow had been dealt to their work. + +[Footnote 1: Stockwell, 79.] + +In his report rendered at the close of 1825 Ashmun showed that the +settlers were living in neatness and comfort; two chapels had been +built, and the militia was well organized, equipped, and disciplined. +The need of some place for the temporary housing of immigrants having +more and more impressed itself upon the colony, before the end of 1826 +a "receptacle" capable of holding one hundred and fifty persons was +erected. Ashmun himself served on until 1828, by which time his strength +was completely spent. He sailed for America early in the summer and +succeeded in reaching New Haven, only to die after a few weeks. No man +had given more for the founding of Liberia. The principal street in +Monrovia is named after him. + +Aside from wars with the natives, the most noteworthy being the Dey-Gola +war of 1832, the most important feature of Liberian history in +the decade 1828-1838 was the development along the coast of other +settlements than Monrovia. These were largely the outgrowth of the +activity of local branch organizations of the American Colonization +Society, and they were originally supposed to have the oversight of the +central organization and of the colony of Monrovia. The circumstances +under which they were founded, however, gave them something of a feeling +of independence which did much to influence their history. Thus arose, +about seventy-five miles farther down the coast, under the auspices +especially of the New York and Pennsylvania societies, the Grand Bassa +settlements at the mouth of the St. John's River, the town Edina being +outstanding. Nearly a hundred miles farther south, at the mouth of +the Sino River, another colony developed as its most important town +Greenville; and as most of the settlers in this vicinity came from +Mississippi, their province became known as Mississippi in Africa. A +hundred miles farther, on Cape Palmas, just about twenty miles from the +Cavalla River marking the boundary of the French possessions, developed +the town of Harper in what became known as Maryland in Africa. This +colony was even more aloof than others from the parent settlement of +the American Colonization Society. When the first colonists arrived at +Monrovia in 1831, they were not very cordially received, there being +trouble about the allotment of land. They waited for some months for +reënforcements and then sailed down the coast to the vicinity of the +Cavalla River, where they secured land for their future home and where +their distance from the other colonists from America made it all the +more easy for them to cultivate their tradition of independence.[1] +These four ports are now popularly known as Monrovia, Grand Bassa, Sino, +and Cape Palmas; and to them for general prominence might now be added +Cape Mount, about fifty miles from Monrovia higher up the coast and just +a few miles from the Mano River, which now marks the boundary between +Sierra Leone and Liberia. In 1838, on a constitution drawn up by +Professor Greenleaf, of Harvard College, was organized the "Commonwealth +of Liberia," the government of which was vested in a Board of Directors +composed of delegates from the state societies, and which included all +the settlements except Maryland. This remote colony, whose seaport is +Cape Palmas, did not join with the others until 1857, ten years after +Liberia had become an independent republic. When a special company +of settlers arrived from Baltimore and formally occupied Cape Palmas +(1834), Dr. James Hall was governor and he served in this capacity +until 1836, when failing health forced him to return to America. He was +succeeded by John B. Russwurm, a young Negro who had come to Liberia +in 1829 for the purpose of superintending the system of education. The +country, however, was not yet ready for the kind of work he wanted +to do, and in course of time he went into politics. He served very +efficiently as Governor of Maryland from 1836 to 1851, especially +exerting himself to standardize the currency and to stabilize the +revenues. Five years after his death Maryland suffered greatly from an +attack by the Greboes, twenty-six colonists being killed. An appeal to +Monrovia for help led to the sending of a company of men and later to +the incorporation of the colony in the Republic. + +[Footnote 1: McPherson is especially valuable for his study of the +Maryland colony.] + +Of the events of the period special interest attaches to the murder of +I.F.C. Finley, Governor of Mississippi in Africa, to whose father, Rev. +Robert Finley, the organization of the American Colonization Society +had been very largely due. In September, 1838, Governor Finley left his +colony to go to Monrovia on business, and making a landing at Bassa +Cove, he was robbed and killed by the Krus. This unfortunate murder +led to a bitter conflict between the settlers in the vicinity and the +natives. This is sometimes known as the Fish War (from being waged +around Fishpoint) and did not really cease for a year. + +(b) The Commonwealth of Liberia + +The first governor of the newly formed Commonwealth was Thomas H. +Buchanan, a man of singular energy who represented the New York and +Pennsylvania societies and who had come in 1836 especially to take +charge of the Grand Bassa settlements. Becoming governor in 1838, he +found it necessary to proceed vigorously against the slave dealers at +Trade Town. He was also victorious in 1840 in a contest with the Gola +tribe led by Chief Gatumba. The Golas had defeated the Dey tribe so +severely that a mere remnant of the latter had taken refuge with the +colonists at Millsburg, a station a few miles up the St. Paul's River. +Thus, as happened more than once, a tribal war in time involved the very +existence of the new American colonies. Governor Buchanan's victory +greatly increased his prestige and made it possible for him to negotiate +more and more favorable treaties with the natives. A contest of +different sort was that with a Methodist missionary, John Seyes, who +held that all goods used by missionaries, including those sold to the +natives, should be admitted free of duty. The governor contended that +such privilege should be extended only to goods intended for the +personal use of missionaries; and the Colonization Society stood behind +him in this opinion. As early as 1840 moreover some shadow of future +events was cast by trouble made by English traders on the Mano River, +the Sierra Leone boundary. Buchanan sent an agent to England to +represent him in an inquiry into the matter; but in the midst of his +vigorous work he died in 1841. He was the last white man formally under +any auspices at the head of Liberian affairs. Happily his period of +service had given opportunity and training to an efficient helper, upon +whom now the burden fell and of whom it is hardly too much to say that +he is the foremost figure in Liberian history. + +Joseph Jenkin Roberts was a mulatto born in Virginia in 1809. At the +age of twenty, with his widowed mother and younger brothers, he went to +Liberia and engaged in trade. In course of time he proved to be a man of +unusual tact and graciousness of manner, moving with ease among people +of widely different rank. His abilities soon demanded recognition, and +he was at the head of the force that defeated Gatumba. As governor he +realized the need of cultivating more far-reaching diplomacy than the +Commonwealth had yet known. He had the coöperation of the Maryland +governor, Russwurm, in such a matter as that of uniform customs duties; +and he visited the United States, where he made a very good impression. +He soon understood that he had to reckon primarily with the English and +the French. England had indeed assumed an attitude of opposition to +the slave-trade; but her traders did not scruple to sell rum to slave +dealers, and especially were they interested in the palm oil of Liberia. +When the Commonwealth sought to impose customs duties, England took the +position that as Liberia was not an independent government, she had no +right to do so; and the English attitude had some show of strength +from the fact that the American Colonization Society, an outside +organization, had a veto power over whatever Liberia might do. When in +1845 the Liberian Government seized the _Little Ben_, an English trading +vessel whose captain acted in defiance of the revenue laws, the British +in turn seized the _John Seyes_, belonging to a Liberian named Benson, +and sold the vessel for £8000. Liberia appealed to the United States; +but the Oregon boundary question as well as slavery had given the +American Government problems enough at home; and the Secretary of State, +Edward Everett, finally replied to Lord Aberdeen (1845) that America +was not "presuming to settle differences arising between Liberian and +British subjects, the Liberians being responsible for their own acts." +The Colonization Society, powerless to act except through its own +government, in January, 1846, resolved that "the time had arrived when +it was expedient for the people of the Commonwealth of Liberia to take +into their own hands the whole work of self-government including the +management of all their foreign relations." Forced to act for herself +Liberia called a constitutional convention and on July 26, 1847, issued +a Declaration of Independence and adopted the Constitution of the +Liberian Republic. In October, Joseph Jenkin Roberts, Governor of the +Commonwealth, was elected the first President of the Republic. + +It may well be questioned if by 1847 Liberia had developed sufficiently +internally to be able to assume the duties and responsibilities of an +independent power. There were at the time not more than 4,500 civilized +people of American origin in the country; these were largely illiterate +and scattered along a coastline more than three hundred miles in length. +It is not to be supposed, however, that this consummation had been +attained without much yearning and heart-beat and high spiritual fervor. +There was something pathetic in the effort of this small company, most +of whose members had never seen Africa but for the sake of their race +had made their way back to the fatherland. The new seal of the Republic +bore the motto: THE LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US HERE. The flag, modeled +on that of the United States, had six red and five white stripes for +the eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence, and in the upper +corner next to the staff a lone white star in a field of blue. The +Declaration itself said in part: + + We, the people of the Republic of Liberia, were originally + inhabitants of the United States of North America. + + In some parts of that country we were debarred by law from all the + rights and privileges of men; in other parts public sentiment, more + powerful than law, frowned us down. + + We were everywhere shut out from all civil office. + + We were excluded from all participation in the government. + + We were taxed without our consent. + + We were compelled to contribute to the resources of a country which + gave us no protection. + + We were made a separate and distinct class, and against us every + avenue of improvement was effectually closed. Strangers from all + lands of a color different from ours were preferred before us. + + We uttered our complaints, but they were unattended to, or met only + by alleging the peculiar institution of the country. + + All hope of a favorable change in our country was thus wholly + extinguished in our bosom, and we looked with anxiety abroad for + some asylum from the deep degradation. + + The Western coast of Africa was the place selected by American + benevolence and philanthropy for our future home. Removed beyond + those influences which depressed us in our native land, it was + hoped we would be enabled to enjoy those rights and privileges, and + exercise and improve those faculties, which the God of nature had + given us in common with the rest of mankind. + +(c) _The Republic of Liberia_ + +With the adoption of its constitution the Republic of Liberia formally +asked to be considered in the family of nations; and since 1847 +the history of the country has naturally been very largely that of +international relations. In fact, preoccupation with the questions +raised by powerful neighbors has been at least one strong reason for the +comparatively slow internal development of the country. The Republic +was officially recognized by England in 1848, by France in 1852, but on +account of slavery not by the United States until 1862. Continuously +there has been an observance of the forms of order, and only one +president has been deposed. For a long time the presidential term was +two years in length; but by an act of 1907 it was lengthened to four +years. From time to time there have been two political parties, but not +always has such a division been emphasized. + +It is well to pause and note exactly what was the task set before the +little country. A company of American Negroes suddenly found themselves +placed on an unhealthy and uncultivated coast which was thenceforth to +be their home. If we compare them with the Pilgrim Fathers, we find that +as the Pilgrims had to subdue the Indians, so they had to hold their own +against a score of aggressive tribes. The Pilgrims had the advantage of +a thousand years of culture and experience in government; the Negroes, +only recently out of bondage, had been deprived of any opportunity for +improvement whatsoever. Not only, however, did they have to contend +against native tribes and labor to improve their own shortcomings; on +every hand they had to meet the designs of nations supposedly more +enlightened and Christian. On the coast Spanish traders defied +international law; on one side the English, and on the other the French, +from the beginning showed a tendency toward arrogance and encroachment. +To crown the difficulty, the American Government, under whose auspices +the colony had largely been founded, became more and more halfhearted +in its efforts for protection and at length abandoned the enterprise +altogether. It did not cease, however, to regard the colony as the +dumping-ground of its own troubles, and whenever a vessel with slaves +from the Congo was captured on the high seas, it did not hesitate to +take these people to the Liberian coast and leave them there, nearly +dead though they might be from exposure or cramping. It is well for +one to remember such facts as these before he is quick to belittle or +criticize. To the credit of the "Congo men" be it said that from the +first they labored to make themselves a quiet and industrious element in +the body politic. + +The early administrations of President Roberts (four terms, 1848-1855) +were mainly devoted to the quelling of the native tribes that continued +to give trouble and to the cultivating of friendly relations with +foreign powers. Soon after his inauguration Roberts made a visit to +England, the power from which there was most to fear; and on this +occasion as on several others England varied her arrogance with a rather +excessive friendliness toward the little republic. She presented to +Roberts the _Lark_, a ship with four guns, and sent the President home +on a war-vessel. Some years afteryards, when the _Lark_ was out of +repair, England sent instead a schooner, the _Quail_. Roberts made a +second visit to England in 1852 to adjust disputes with traders on the +western boundary. He also visited France, and Louis Napoleon, not to be +outdone by England, presented to him a vessel, the _Hirondelle_, and +also guns and uniforms for his soldiers. In general the administrations +of Roberts (we might better say his first series of administrations, for +he was later to be called again to office) made a period of constructive +statesmanship and solid development, and not a little of the respect +that the young republic won was due to the personal influence of its +first president. Roberts, however, happened to be very fair, and +generally successful though his administrations were, the desire on the +part of the people that the highest office in the country be held by a +black man seems to have been a determining factor in the choice of his +successor. There was an interesting campaign toward the close of his +last term. "There were about this time two political parties in the +country--the old Republicans and the 'True Liberians,' a party which had +been formed in opposition to Roberts's foreign policies. But during the +canvass the platform of this new party lost ground; the result was in +favor of the Republican candidate."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Karnga, 28.] + +Stephen Allen Benson (four terms, 1856-1863) was forced to meet in one +way or another almost all of the difficulties that have since played a +part in the life of the Liberian people. He had come to the country in +1822 at the age of six and had developed into a practical and efficient +merchant. To his high office he brought the same principles of sobriety +and good sense that had characterized him in business. On February 28, +1857, the independent colony of Maryland formally became a part of the +republic. This action followed immediately upon the struggle with the +Greboes in the vicinity of Cape Palmas in which assistance was rendered +by the Liberians under Ex-President Roberts. In 1858 an incident that +threatened complications with France but that was soon happily closed +arose from the fact that a French vessel which sought to carry away some +Kru laborers to the West Indies was attacked by these men when they had +reason to fear that they might be sold into slavery and not have to work +simply along the coast, as they at first supposed. The ship was seized +and all but one of the crew, the physician, were killed. Trouble +meanwhile continued with British smugglers in the West, and to this +whole matter we shall have to give further and special attention. In +1858 and a year or two thereafter the numerous arrivals from America, +especially of Congo men captured on the high seas, were such as to +present a serious social problem. Flagrant violation by the South of the +laws against the slave-trade led to the seizure by the United States +Government of many Africans. Hundreds of these people were detained at a +time at such a port as Key West. The Government then adopted the policy +of ordering commanders who seized slave-ships at sea to land the +Africans directly upon the coast of Liberia without first bringing them +to America, and appropriated $250,000 for the removal and care of those +at Key West. The suffering of many of these people is one of the most +tragic stories in the history of slavery. To Liberia came at one time +619, at another 867, and within two months as many as 4000. There was +very naturally consternation on the part of the people at this sudden +immigration, especially as many of the Africans arrived cramped or +paralyzed or otherwise ill from the conditions under which they had been +forced to travel. President Benson stated the problem to the American +Government; the United States sent some money to Liberia, the people of +the Republic helped in every way they could, and the whole situation was +finally adjusted without any permanently bad effects, though it is well +for students to remember just what Liberia had to face at this time. +Important toward the close of Benson's terms was the completion of the +building of the Liberia College, of which Joseph Jenkin Roberts became +the first president. + +The administrations of Daniel Bashiel Warner (two terms, 1864-1867) and +the earlier one of James Spriggs Payne (1868-1869) were comparatively +uneventful. Both of these men were Republicans, but Warner represented +something of the shifting of political parties at the time. At first +a Republican, he went over to the Whig party devoted to the policy of +preserving Liberia from white invasion. Moved to distrust of English +merchants, who delighted in defrauding the little republic, he +established an important Ports-of-Entry Law in 1865, which it is hardly +necessary to say was very unpopular with the foreigners. Commerce was +restricted to six ports and a circle six miles in diameter around each +port. On account of the Civil War and the hopes that emancipation held +out to the Negroes in the United States, immigration from America ceased +rapidly; but a company of 346 came from Barbadoes at this time. The +Liberian Government assisted these people with $4000, set apart for each +man an allotment of twenty-five rather than the customary ten acres; the +Colonization Society appropriated $10,000, and after a pleasant voyage +of thirty-three days they arrived without the loss of a single life. In +the company was a little boy, Arthur Barclay, who was later to be known +as the President of the Republic. At the semi-centennial of the American +Colonization Society held in Washington in January, 1867, it was shown +that the Society and its auxiliaries had been directly responsible for +the sending of more than 12,000 persons to Africa. Of these 4541 +had been born free, 344 had purchased their freedom, 5957 had been +emancipated to go to Africa, and 1227 had been settled by the Maryland +Society. In addition, 5722 captured Africans had been sent to Liberia. +The need of adequate study of the interior having more and more +impressed itself, Benjamin Anderson, an adventurous explorer, assisted +with funds by a citizen of New York, in 1869 studied the country for two +hundred miles from the coast. He found the land constantly rising, and +made his way to Musardu, the chief city of the western Mandingoes. He +summed up his work in his _Narrative of a Journey to Musardo_ and made +another journey of exploration in 1874. + +Edward James Roye (1870-October 26, 1871), a Whig whose party was formed +out of the elements of the old True Liberian party, attracts attention +by reason of a notorious British loan to which further reference must +be made. Of the whole amount of £100,000 sums were wasted or +misappropriated until it has been estimated that the country really +reaped the benefit of little more than a quarter of the whole amount. +President Roye added to other difficulties by his seizure of a bank +building belonging to an Industrial Society of the St. Paul's River +settlements, and by attempting by proclamation to lengthen his term +of office. Twice a constitutional amendment for lengthening the +presidential term from two years to four had been considered and voted +down. Roye contested the last vote, insisted that his term ran to +January, 1874, and issued a proclamation forbidding the coming biennial +election. He was deposed, his house sacked, some of his cabinet officers +tried before a court of impeachment,[1] and he himself was drowned as he +was pursued while attempting to escape to a British ship in the harbor. +A committee of three was appointed to govern the country until a new +election could be held; and in this hour of storm and stress the people +turned once more to the guidance of their old leader, Joseph J. Roberts +(two terms, 1872-1875). His efforts were mainly devoted to restoring +order and confidence, though there was a new war with the Greboes to be +waged.[2] He was succeeded by another trusted leader, James S. Payne +(1876-1877), whose second administration was as devoid as the first of +striking incident. In fact, the whole generation succeeding the loan +of 1871 was a period of depression. The country not only suffered +financially, but faith in it was shaken both at home and abroad. Coffee +grown in Liberia fell as that produced at Brazil grew in favor, the +farmer witnessing a drop in value from 24 to 4 cents a pound. Farms were +abandoned, immigration from the United States ceased, and the country +entered upon a period of stagnation from which it has not yet fully +recovered. + +[Footnote 1: But not Hilary R.W. Johnson, the efficient Secretary of +State, later President.] + +[Footnote 2: President Roberts died February 21, 1876, barely two months +after giving up office. He was caught in the rain while attending a +funeral, took a severe chill, and was not able to recover.] + +Within just a few years after 1871, however, conditions in the United +States led to an interesting revival of the whole idea of colonization, +and to noteworthy effort on the part of the Negroes themselves to better +their condition. The withdrawal of Federal troops from the South, +and all the evils of the aftermath of reconstruction, led to such a +terrorizing of the Negroes and such a denial of civil rights that there +set in the movement that culminated in the great exodus from the South +in 1879. The movement extended all the way from North Carolina to +Louisiana and Arkansas. Insofar as it led to migration to Kansas and +other states in the West, it belongs to American history. However, there +was also interest in going to Africa. Applications by the thousands +poured in upon the American Colonization Society, and one organization +in Arkansas sent hundreds of its members to seek the help of the New +York State Colonization Society. In all such endeavor Negro Baptists +and Methodists joined hands, and especially prominent was Bishop H.M. +Turner, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1877 there was +organized in South Carolina the Liberian Exodus and Joint Stock Company; +in North Carolina there was the Freedmen's Emigration Aid Society; and +there were similar organizations in other states. The South Carolina +organization had the threefold purpose of emigration, missionary +activity, and commercial enterprise, and to these ends it purchased a +vessel, the _Azor_, at a cost of $7000. The white people of Charleston +unfortunately embarrassed the enterprise in every possible way, among +other things insisting when the _Azor_ was ready to sail that it was not +seaworthy and needed a new copper bottom (to cost $2000). The vessel at +length made one or two trips, however, on one voyage carrying as many as +274 emigrants. It was then stolen and sold in Liverpool, and one gets an +interesting sidelight on Southern conditions in the period when he knows +that even the United States Circuit Court in South Carolina refused to +entertain the suit brought by the Negroes. + +In the administration of Anthony W. Gardiner (three terms, 1878-1883) +difficulties with England and Germany reached a crisis. Territory in +the northwest was seized; the British made a formal show of force at +Monrovia; and the looting of a German vessel along the Kru Coast and +personal indignities inflicted by the natives upon the shipwrecked +Germans, led to the bombardment of Nana Kru by a German warship and the +presentation at Monrovia of a claim for damages, payment of which was +forced by the threat of the bombardment of the capital. To the Liberian +people the outlook was seldom darker than in this period of calamities. +President Gardiner, very ill, resigned office in January of his last +year of service, being succeeded by the vice-president, Alfred F. +Russell. More and more was pressure brought to bear upon Liberian +officials for the granting of monopolies and concessions, especially to +Englishmen; and in his message of 1883 President Russell said, "Recent +events admonish us as to the serious responsibility of claims held +against us by foreigners, and we cannot tell what complications may +arise." In the midst of all this, however, Russell did not forget the +natives and the need of guarding them against liquor and exploitation. + +Hilary Richard Wright Johnson (four terms, 1884-1891), the next +president, was a son of the distinguished Elijah Johnson and the first +man born in Liberia who had risen to the highest place in the republic. +Whigs and Republicans united in his election. Much of his time had +necessarily to be given to complications arising from the loan of 1871; +but the western boundary was adjusted (with great loss) with Great +Britain at the Mano River, though new difficulties arose with the +French, who were pressing their claim to territory as far as the Cavalla +River. In the course of the last term of President Johnson there was an +interesting grant (by act approved January 21, 1890) to F.F. Whittekin, +of Pennsylvania, of the right to "construct, maintain, and operate a +system of railroads, telegraph and telephone lines." Whittekin bought up +in England stock to the value of half a million dollars, but died on the +way to Liberia to fulfil his contract. His nephew, F.F. Whittekin, asked +for an extension of time, which was granted, but after a while the whole +project languished.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Liberia_, Bulletin No. 5, November, 1894.] + +Joseph James Cheeseman (1892-November 15, 1896) was a Whig. He conducted +what was known as the third Grebo War and labored especially for a sound +currency. He was a man of unusual ability and his devotion to his task +undoubtedly contributed toward his death in office near the middle +of his third term. As up to this time there had been no internal +improvement and little agricultural or industrial development in the +country, O.F. Cook, the agent of the New York State Colonization +Society, in 1894 signified to the legislature a desire to establish +a station where experiments could be made as to the best means of +introducing, receiving, and propagating beasts of burden, commercial +plants, etc. His request was approved and one thousand acres of land +granted for the purpose by act of January 20, 1894. Results, however, +were neither permanent nor far-reaching. In fact, by the close of the +century immigration had practically ceased and the activities of the +American Colonization Society had also ceased, many of the state +organizations having gone out of existence. In 1893 Julius C. Stevens, +of Goldsboro, N.C., went to Liberia and served for a nominal salary as +agent of the American Colonization Society, becoming also a teacher in +the Liberia College and in time Commissioner of Education, in connection +with which post he edited his _Liberian School Reader_; but he died in +1903.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Interest in Liberia by no means completely died. +Contributions for education were sometimes made by the representative +organizations, and individual students came to America from time +to time. When, however, the important commission representing the +Government came to America in 1908, the public was slightly startled as +having heard from something half-forgotten.] + +William D. Coleman as vice-president finished the incomplete term of +President Cheeseman (to the end of 1897) and later was elected for +two terms in his own right. In the course of his last administration, +however, his interior policy became very unpopular, as he was thought to +be harsh in his dealing with the natives, and he resigned in December, +1900. As there was at the time no vice-president, he was succeeded +by the Secretary of State, Garretson W. Gibson, a man of scholarly +attainments, who was afterwards elected for a whole term (1902-1903). +The feature of this term was the discussion that arose over the proposal +to grant a concession to an English concern known as the West African +Gold Concessions, Ltd. This offered to the legislators a bonus of £1500, +and for this bribe it asked for the sole right to prospect for and +obtain gold, precious stones, and all other minerals over more than half +of Liberia. Specifically it asked for the right to acquire freehold +land and to take up leases for eighty years, in blocks of from ten to +a thousand acres; to import all mining machinery and all other things +necessary free of duty; to establish banks in connection with the mining +enterprises, these to have the power to issue notes; to construct +telegraphs and telephones; to organize auxiliary syndicates; and to +establish its own police. It would seem that English impudence could +hardly go further, though time was to prove that there were still other +things to be borne. The proposal was indignantly rejected. + +Arthur Barclay (1904-1911) had already served in three cabinet positions +before coming to the presidency; he had also been a professor in the +Liberia College and for some years had been known as the leader of the +bar in Monrovia. It was near the close of his second term that the +president's term of office was lengthened from two to four years, and +he was the first incumbent to serve for the longer period. In his first +inaugural address President Barclay emphasized the need of developing +the resources of the hinterland and of attaching the native tribes to +the interests of the state. In his foreign policy he was generally +enlightened and broad-minded, but he had to deal with the arrogance of +England. In 1906 a new British loan was negotiated. This also was for +£100,000, more than two-thirds of which amount was to be turned over to +the Liberian Development Company, an English scheme for the development +of the interior. The Company was to work in coöperation with the +Liberian Government, and as security for the loan British officials were +to have charge of the customs revenue, the chief inspector acting as +financial adviser to the Republic. It afterwards developed that the +Company never had any resources except those it had raised on the credit +of the Republic, and the country was forced to realize that it had been +cheated a second time. Meanwhile the English officials who, on various +pretexts of reform, had taken charge of the barracks and the customs +in Monrovia, were carrying things with a high hand. The Liberian force +appeared with English insignia on the uniforms, and in various other +ways the commander sought to overawe the populace. At the climax of the +difficulties, on February 13, 1909, a British warship _happened_ to +appear in the waters of Monrovia, and a calamity was averted only by the +skillful diplomacy of the Liberians. Already, however, in 1908, Liberia +had sent a special commission to ask the aid of the United States. +This consisted of Garretson W. Gibson, former president; J.J. Dossen, +vice-president at the time, and Charles B. Dunbar. The commission was +received by President Roosevelt and by Secretary Taft just before the +latter was nominated for the presidency. On May 8, 1909, a return +commission consisting of Roland P. Falkner, George Sale, and Emmett J. +Scott, arrived in Monrovia. The work of this commission must receive +further and special attention. + +President Barclay was succeeded by Daniel Edward Howard (two long +terms, 1912-1919), who at his inauguration began the policy of giving +prominence to the native chiefs. The feature of President Howard's +administrations was of course Liberia's connection with the Great War +in Europe. War against Germany having been declared, on the morning +of April 10, 1918, a submarine came to Monrovia and demanded that the +French wireless station be torn down. The request being refused, the +town was bombarded. The excitement of the day was such as has never been +duplicated in the history of Liberia. In one house two young girls were +instantly killed and an elderly woman and a little boy fatally wounded; +but except in this one home the actual damage was comparatively slight, +though there might have been more if a passing British steamer had not +put the submarine to flight. Suffering of another and more far-reaching +sort was that due to the economic situation. The comparative scarcity of +food in the world and the profiteering of foreign merchants in Liberia +by the summer of 1919 brought about a condition that threatened +starvation; nor was the situation better early in 1920, when butter +retailed at $1.25 a pound, sugar at 72 cents a pound, and oil at $1.00 a +gallon. + +President Howard was succeeded by Charles Dunbar Burgess King, who as +president-elect had visited Europe and America, and who was inaugurated +January 5, 1920. His address on this occasion was a comprehensive +presentation of the needs of Liberia, especially along the lines of +agriculture and education. He made a plea also for an enlightened native +policy. Said he: "We cannot afford to destroy the native institutions of +the country. Our true mission lies not in the building here in Africa +of a Negro state based solely on Western ideas, but rather a Negro +nationality indigenous to the soil, having its foundation rooted in the +institutions of Africa and purified by Western thought and development." + + +3. _International Relations_ + +Our study of the history of Liberia has suggested two or three matters +that call for special attention. Of prime importance is the country's +connection with world politics. Any consideration of Liberia's +international relations falls into three divisions: first, that of +titles to land; second, that of foreign loans; and third, that of +so-called internal reform. + +In the very early years of the colony the raids of slave-traders gave +some excuse for the first aggression on the part of a European power. +"Driven from the Pongo Regions northwest of Sierra Leone, Pedro Blanco +settled in the Gallinhas territory northwest of the Liberian frontier, +and established elaborate headquarters for his mammoth slave-trading +operations in West Africa, with slave-trading sub-stations at Cape +Mount, St. Paul River, Bassa, and at other points of the Liberian coast, +employing numerous police, watchers, spies, and servants. To obtain +jurisdiction the colony of Liberia began to purchase from the lords of +the soil as early as 1824 the lands of the St. Paul Basin and the Grain +Coast from the Mafa River on the west to the Grand Sesters River on the +east; so that by 1845, twenty-four years after the establishment of the +colony, Liberia with the aid of Great Britain had destroyed throughout +these regions the baneful traffic in slaves and the slave barracoons, +and had driven the slave-trading leaders from the Liberian coast."[1] +The trade continued to flourish, however, in the Gallinhas territory, +and in course of time, as we have seen, the colony had also to reckon +with British merchants in this section, the Declaration of Independence +in 1847 being very largely a result of the defiance of Liberian +revenue-laws by Englishmen. While President Roberts was in England +not long after his inauguration, Lord Ashley, moved by motives of +philanthropy, undertook to raise £2000 with which he (Roberts) might +purchase the Gallinhas territory; and by 1856 Roberts had secured the +title and deeds to all of this territory from the Mafa River to Sherbro +Island. The whole transaction was thoroughly honorable, Roberts informed +England of his acquisition, and his right to the territory was not then +called in question. Trouble, however, developed out of the attitude of +John M. Harris, a British merchant, and in 1862, while President Benson +was in England, he was officially informed that the right of Liberia was +recognized _only_ to the land "east of Turner's Peninsula to the River +San Pedro." Harris now worked up a native war against the Vais; the +Liberians defended themselves; and in the end the British Government +demanded £8878.9.3 as damages for losses sustained by Harris, and +arbitrarily extended its territory from Sherbro Island to Cape Mount. In +the course of the discussion claims mounted up to £18,000. Great Britain +promised to submit this boundary question to the arbitration of the +United States, but when the time arrived at the meeting of one of the +commissions in Sierra Leone she firmly declined to do so. After this, +whenever she was ready to take more land she made a plausible pretext +and was ready to back up her demands with force. On March 20, 1882, four +British men-of-war came to Monrovia and Sir A.E. Havelock, Governor of +Sierra Leone, came ashore; and President Gardiner was forced to submit +to an agreement by which, in exchange for £4750 and the abandonment of +all further claims, the Liberian Government gave up all right to +the Gallinhas territory from Sherbro Island to the Mafa River. This +agreement was repudiated by the Liberian Senate, but when Havelock was +so informed he replied, "Her Majesty's Government can not in any case +recognize any rights on the part of Liberia to any portions of the +territories in dispute." Liberia now issued a protest to other great +powers; but this was without avail, even the United States counseling +acquiescence, though through the offices of America the agreement was +slightly modified and the boundary fixed at the Mano River. Trouble next +arose on the east. In 1846 the Maryland Colonization Society purchased +the lands of the Ivory Coast east of Cape Palmas as far as the San Pedro +River. These lands were formally transferred to Liberia in 1857, and +remained in the undisputed possession of the Republic for forty years. +France now, not to be outdone by England, on the pretext of title deeds +obtained by French naval commanders who visited the coast in 1890, in +1891 put forth a claim not only to the Ivory Coast, but to land as far +away as Grand Bassa and Cape Mount. The next year, under threat of +force, she compelled Liberia to accept a treaty which, for 25,000 francs +and the relinquishment of all other claims, permitted her to take all +the territory east of the Cavalla River. In 1904 Great Britain asked +permission to advance her troops into Liberian territory to suppress a +native war threatening her interests. She occupied at this time what +is known as the Kaure-Lahun section, which is very fertile and of easy +access to the Sierra Leone railway. This land she never gave up; instead +she offered Liberia £6000 or some poorer land for it. France after 1892 +made no endeavor to delimit her boundary, and, roused by the action +of Great Britain, she made great advances in the hinterland, claiming +tracts of Maryland and Sino; and now France and England each threatened +to take more land if the other was not stopped. President Barclay +visited both countries; but by a treaty of 1907 his commission was +forced to permit France to occupy all the territory seized by force; and +as soon as this agreement was reached France began to move on to other +land in the basin of the St. Paul's and St. John's rivers. This is all +then simply one more story of the oppression of the weak by the strong. +For eighty years England has not ceased to intermeddle in Liberian +affairs, cajoling or browbeating as at the moment seemed advisable; and +France has been only less bad. Certainly no country on earth now has +better reason than Liberia to know that "they should get who have the +power, and they should keep who can." + +[Footnote 1: Ellis in _Journal of Race Development_, January, 1911.] + +The international loans and the attempts at reform must be considered +together. In 1871, at the rate of 7 per cent, there was authorized a +British loan of £100,000. _For their services_ the British negotiators +retained £30,000, and £20,000 more was deducted as the interest for +three years. President Roye ordered Mr. Chinery, a British subject and +the Liberian consul general in London, to supply the Liberian Secretary +of Treasury with goods and merchandise to the value of £10,000; and +other sums were misappropriated until the country itself actually +received the benefit of not more than £27,000, if so much. This whole +unfortunate matter was an embarrassment to Liberia for years; but in +1899 the Republic assumed responsibility for £80,000, the interest being +made a first charge on the customs revenue. In 1906, not yet having +learned the lesson of "Cavete Graecos dona ferentes," and moved by the +representations of Sir Harry H. Johnston, the country negotiated a +new loan of £100,000. £30,000 of this amount was to satisfy pressing +obligations; but the greater portion was to be turned over to the +Liberian Development Company, a great scheme by which the Government +and the company were to work hand in hand for the development of the +country. As security for the loan, British officials were to have charge +of the customs revenue, the chief inspector acting as financial adviser +to the Republic. When the Company had made a road of fifteen miles +in one district and made one or two other slight improvements, it +represented to the Liberian Government that its funds were exhausted. +When President Barclay asked for an accounting the managing director +expressed surprise that such a demand should be made upon him. The +Liberian people were chagrined, and at length they realized that they +had been cheated a second time, with all the bitter experiences of the +past to guide them. Meanwhile the English representatives in the country +were demanding that the judiciary be reformed, that the frontier force +be under British officers, and that Inspector Lamont as financial +adviser have a seat in the Liberian cabinet and a veto power over all +expenditures; and the independence of the country was threatened if +these demands were not complied with. Meanwhile also the construction +of barracks went forward under Major Cadell, a British officer, and the +organization of the frontier force was begun. Not less than a third of +this force was brought from Sierra Leone, and the whole Cadell fitted +out with suits and caps stamped with the emblems of His Britannic +Majesty's service. He also persuaded the Monrovia city government to let +him act without compensation as chief of police, and he likewise became +street commissioner, tax collector, and city treasurer. The Liberian +people naturally objected to the usurping of all these prerogatives, but +Cadell refused to resign and presented a large bill for his services. He +also threatened violence to the President if his demands were not met +within twenty-four hours. Then it was that the British warship, the +_Mutiny_, suddenly appeared at Monrovia (February 12, 1909). Happily +the Liberians rose to the emergency. They requested that any British +soldiers at the barracks be withdrawn in order that they might be free +to deal with the insurrectionary movement said to be there on the +part of Liberian soldiers; and thus tactfully they brought about the +withdrawal of Major Cadell. + +By this time, however, the Liberian commission to the United States +had done its work, and just three months after Cadell's retirement the +return American commission came. After studying the situation it made +the following recommendations: That the United States extend its aid to +Liberia in the prompt settlement of pending boundary disputes; that +the United States enable Liberia to refund its debt by assuming as a +guarantee for the payment of obligations under such arrangement the +control and collection of the Liberian customs; that the United States +lend its assistance to the Liberian Government in the reform of its +internal finances; that the United States lend its aid to Liberia in +organizing and drilling an adequate constabulary or frontier police +force; that the United States establish and maintain a research +station at Liberia; and that the United States reopen the question of +establishing a coaling-station in Liberia. Under the fourth of these +recommendations Major (now Colonel) Charles Young went to Liberia, +where from time to time since he has rendered most efficient service. +Arrangements were also made for a new loan, one of $1,700,000, which was +to be floated by banking institutions in the United States, Germany, +France, and England; and in 1912 an American General Receiver of Customs +and Financial Adviser to the Republic of Liberia (with an assistant +from each of the other three countries mentioned) opened his office +in Monrovia. It will be observed that a complicated and expensive +receivership was imposed on the Liberian people when an arrangement +much more simple would have served. The loan of $1,700,000 soon proving +inadequate for any large development of the country, negotiations were +begun in 1918 for a new loan, one of $5,000,000. Among the things +proposed were improvements on the harbor of Monrovia, some good roads +through the country, a hospital, and the broadening of the work of +education. About the loan two facts were outstanding: first, any money +to be spent would be spent wholly under American and not under Liberian +auspices; and, second, to the Liberians acceptance of the terms +suggested meant practically a surrender of their sovereignty, as +American appointees were to be in most of the important positions in the +country, at the same time that upon themselves would fall the ultimate +burden of the interest of the loan. By the spring of 1920 (in Liberia, +the commencement of the rainy season) it was interesting to note that +although the necessary measures of approval had not yet been passed by +the Liberian Congress, perhaps as many as fifteen American officials had +come out to the country to begin work in education, engineering, and +sanitation. Just a little later in the year President King called an +extra session of the legislature to consider amendments. While it was in +session a cablegram from the United States was received saying that no +amendments to the plan would be accepted and that it must be accepted as +submitted, "or the friendly interest which has heretofore existed would +become lessened." The Liberians were not frightened, however, and stood +firm. Meanwhile a new presidential election took place in the United +States; there was to be a radical change in the government; and the +Liberians were disposed to try further to see if some changes could not +be made in the proposed arrangements. Most watchfully from month to +month, let it be remembered, England and France were waiting; and in +any case it could easily be seen that as the Republic approached its +centennial it was face to face with political problems of the very first +magnitude.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Early in 1921 President King headed a new commission to the +United States to take up the whole matter of Liberia with the incoming +Republican administration.] + + +4. _Economic and Social Conditions_ + +From what has been said, it is evident that there is still much to be +done in Liberia along economic lines. There has been some beginning +in coöperative effort; thus the Bassa Trading Association is an +organization for mutual betterment of perhaps as many as fifty +responsible merchants and farmers. The country has as yet (1921), +however, no railroads, no street cars, no public schools, and no genuine +newspapers; nor are there any manufacturing or other enterprises for +the employment of young men on a large scale. The most promising youth +accordingly look too largely to an outlet in politics; some come to +America to be educated and not always do they return. A few become +clerks in the stores, and a very few assistants in the customs offices. +There is some excellent agriculture in the interior, but as yet no means +of getting produce to market on a large scale. In 1919 the total customs +revenue at Monrovia, the largest port, amounted to $196,913.21. For the +whole country the figure has recently been just about half a million +dollars a year. Much of this amount goes to the maintenance of the +frontier force. Within the last few years also the annual income for +the city of Monrovia--for the payment of the mayor, the police, and all +other city officers--has averaged $6000. + +In any consideration of social conditions the first question of all of +course is that of the character of the people themselves. Unfortunately +Liberia was begun with faulty ideals of life and work. The early +settlers, frequently only recently out of bondage, too often felt that +in a state of freedom they did not have to work, and accordingly they +imitated the habits of the old master class of the South. The real +burden of life then fell upon the native. There is still considerable +feeling between the native and the Americo-Liberian; but more and more +the wisest men of the country realize that the good of one is the good +of all, and they are endeavoring to make the native chiefs work for the +common welfare. From time to time the people of Liberia have given to +visitors an impression of arrogance, and perhaps no one thing had led to +more unfriendly criticism of this country than this. The fact is that +the Liberians, knowing that their country has various shortcomings +according to Western standards, are quick to assume the defensive, and +one method of protecting themselves is by erecting a barrier of dignity +and reserve. One has only to go beyond this, however, to find the real +heartbeat of the people. The comparative isolation of the Republic +moreover, and the general stress of living conditions have together +given to the everyday life an undue seriousness of tone, with a rather +excessive emphasis on the church, on politics, and on secret societies. +In such an atmosphere boys and girls too soon became mature, and for +them especially one might wish to see a little more wholesome outdoor +amusement. In school or college catalogues one still sees much of +jurisprudence and moral philosophy, but little of physics or biology. +Interestingly enough, this whole system of education and life has not +been without some elements of very genuine culture. Literature has been +mainly in the diction of Shakespeare and Milton; but Shakespeare and +Milton, though not of the twentieth century, are still good models, +and because the officials have had to compose many state documents and +deliver many formal addresses, there has been developed in the country +a tradition of good English speech. A service in any one of the +representative churches is dignified and impressive. + +The churches and schools of Liberia have been most largely in the hands +of the Methodists and the Episcopalians, though the Baptists, the +Presbyterians, and the Lutherans are well represented. The Lutherans +have penetrated to a point in the interior beyond that attained by any +other denomination. The Episcopalians have excelled others, even the +Methodists, by having more constant and efficient oversight of their +work. The Episcopalians have in Liberia a little more than 40 schools, +nearly half of these being boarding-schools, with a total attendance +of 2000. The Methodists have slightly more than 30 schools, with 2500 +pupils. The Lutherans in their five mission stations have 20 American +workers and 300 pupils. While it seems from these figures that the +number of those reached is small in proportion to the outlay, it must be +remembered that a mission school becomes a center from which influence +radiates in all directions. + +While the enterprise of the denominational institutions can not be +doubted, it may well be asked if, in so largely relieving the people +of the burden of the education of their children, they are not unduly +cultivating a spirit of dependence rather than of self-help. Something +of this point of view was emphasized by the Secretary of Public +Instruction, Mr. Walter F. Walker, in an address, "Liberia and Her +Educational Problems," delivered in Chicago in 1916. Said he of the day +schools maintained by the churches: "These day schools did invaluable +service in the days of the Colony and Commonwealth, and, indeed, in the +early days of the Republic; but to their continuation must undoubtedly +be ascribed the tardy recognition of the government and people of the +fact that no agency for the education of the masses is as effective as +the public school.... There is not one public school building owned by +the government or by any city or township." + +It might further be said that just now in Liberia there is no +institution that is primarily doing college work. Two schools in +Monrovia, however, call for special remark. The College of West Africa, +formerly Monrovia Seminary, was founded by the Methodist Church in 1839. +The institution does elementary and lower high school work, though some +years ago it placed a little more emphasis on college work than it has +been able to do within recent years. It was of this college that the +late Bishop A.P. Camphor served so ably as president for twelve years. +Within recent years it has recognized the importance of industrial work +and has had in all departments an average annual enrollment of 300. Not +quite so prominent within the last few years, but with more tradition +and theoretically at the head of the educational system of the Republic +is the Liberia College. In 1848 Simon Greenleaf of Boston, received from +John Payne, a missionary at Cape Palmas, a request for his assistance in +building a theological school. Out of this suggestion grew the Board +of Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia incorporated in +Massachusetts in March, 1850. The next year the Liberia legislature +incorporated the Liberia College, it being understood that the +institution would emphasize academic as well as theological subjects. In +1857 Ex-President J.J. Roberts was elected president; he superintended +the erection of a large building; and in 1862 the college was opened +for work. Since then it has had a very uneven existence, sometimes +enrolling, aside from its preparatory department, twenty or thirty +college students, then again having no college students at all. Within +the last few years, as the old building was completely out of repair, +the school has had to seek temporary quarters. It is too vital to the +country to be allowed to languish, however, and it is to be hoped that +it may soon be well started upon a new career of usefulness. In the +course of its history the Liberia College has had connected with it some +very distinguished men. Famous as teacher and lecturer, and president +from 1881 to 1885, was Edward Wilmot Blyden, generally regarded as the +foremost scholar that Western Africa has given to the world. Closely +associated with him in the early years, and well known in America as in +Africa, was Alexander Crummell, who brought to his teaching the richness +of English university training. A trustee for a number of years was +Samuel David Ferguson, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who served +with great dignity and resource as missionary bishop of the country +from 1884 until his death in 1916. A new president of the college, Rev. +Nathaniel H.B. Cassell, was elected in 1918, and it is expected that +under his efficient direction the school will go forward to still +greater years of service. + +Important in connection with the study of the social conditions in +Liberia is that of health and living conditions. One who lives in +America and knows that Africa is a land of unbounded riches can hardly +understand the extent to which the West Coast has been exploited, or +the suffering that is there just now. The distress is most acute in the +English colonies, and as Liberia is so close to Sierra Leone and the +Gold Coast, much of the same situation prevails there. In Monrovia the +only bank is the branch of the Bank of British West Africa. In the +branches of this great institution all along the coast, as a result of +the war, gold disappeared, silver became very scarce, and the common +form of currency became paper notes, issued in denominations as low as +one and two shillings. These the natives have refused to accept. They go +even further: rather than bring their produce to the towns and receive +paper for it they will not come at all. In Monrovia an effort was made +to introduce the British West African paper currency, and while this +failed, more and more the merchants insisted on being paid in silver, +nor in an ordinary purchase would silver be given in change on an +English ten-shilling note. Prices accordingly became exorbitant; +children were not properly nourished and the infant mortality grew to +astonishing proportions. Nor were conditions made better by the lack of +sanitation and by the prevalence of disease. Happily relief for these +conditions--for some of them at least--seems to be in sight, and it is +expected that before very long a hospital will be erected in Monrovia. + +One or two reflections suggest themselves. It has been said that the +circumstances under which Liberia was founded led to a despising of +industrial effort. The country is now quite awake, however, to the +advantages of industrial and agricultural enterprise. A matter of +supreme importance is that of the relation of the Americo-Liberian to +the native; this will work itself out, for the native is the country's +chief asset for the future. In general the Republic needs a few visible +evidences of twentieth century standards of progress; two or three high +schools and hospitals built on the American plan would work wonders. +Finally let it not be forgotten that upon the American Negro rests the +obligation to do whatever he can to help to develop the country. If he +will but firmly clasp hands with his brother across the sea, a new day +will dawn for American Negro and Liberian alike. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NEGRO A NATIONAL ISSUE + + +1. _Current Tendencies_ + +It is evident from what has been said already that the idea of the Negro +current about 1830 in the United States was not very exalted. It was +seriously questioned if he was really a human being, and doctors of +divinity learnedly expounded the "Cursed be Canaan" passage as applying +to him. A prominent physician of Mobile[1] gave it as his opinion that +"the brain of the Negro, when compared with the Caucasian, is smaller by +a tenth ... and the intellect is wanting in the same proportion," and +finally asserted that Negroes could not live in the North because "a +cold climate so freezes their brains as to make them insane." About +mulattoes, like many others, he stretched his imagination marvelously. +They were incapable of undergoing fatigue; the women were very delicate +and subject to all sorts of diseases, and they did not beget children +as readily as either black women or white women. In fact, said Nott, +between the ages of twenty-five and forty mulattoes died ten times as +fast as either white or black people; between forty and fifty-five fifty +times as fast, and between fifty-five and seventy one hundred times as +fast. + +[Footnote 1: See "Two Lectures on the Natural History of the Caucasian +and Negro Races. By Josiah C. Nott, M.D., Mobile, 1844."] + +To such opinions was now added one of the greatest misfortunes that have +befallen the Negro race in its entire history in America--burlesque on +the stage. When in 1696 Thomas Southerne adapted _Oroonoko_ from the +novel of Mrs. Aphra Behn and presented in London the story of the +African prince who was stolen from his native Angola, no one saw any +reason why the Negro should not be a subject for serious treatment on +the stage, and the play was a great success, lasting for decades. In +1768, however, was presented at Drury Lane a comic opera, _The Padlock_, +and a very prominent character was Mungo, the slave of a West Indian +planter, who got drunk in the second act and was profane throughout the +performance. In the course of the evening Mungo entertained the audience +with such lines as the following: + + Dear heart, what a terrible life I am led! + A dog has a better, that's sheltered and fed. + Night and day 'tis the same; + My pain is deir game: + Me wish to de Lord me was dead! + Whate'er's to be done, + Poor black must run. + Mungo here, Mungo dere, + Mungo everywhere: + Above and below, + Sirrah, come; sirrah, go; + Do so, and do so, + Oh! oh! + Me wish to de Lord me was dead! + +The depreciation of the race that Mungo started continued, and when in +1781 _Robinson Crusoe_ was given as a pantomime at Drury Lane, Friday +was represented as a Negro. The exact origins of Negro minstrelsy +are not altogether clear; there have been many claimants, and it is +interesting to note in passing that there was an "African Company" +playing in New York in the early twenties, though this was probably +nothing more than a small group of amateurs. Whatever may have been +the beginning, it was Thomas D. Rice who brought the form to genuine +popularity. In Louisville in the summer of 1828, looking from one of the +back windows of a theater, he was attracted by an old and decrepit slave +who did odd jobs about a livery stable. The slave's master was named +Crow and he called himself Jim Crow. His right shoulder was drawn up +high and his left leg was stiff at the knee, but he took his deformity +lightly, singing as he worked. He had one favorite tune to which he +had fitted words of his own, and at the end of each verse he made a +ludicrous step which in time came to be known as "rocking the heel." His +refrain consisted of the words: + + Wheel about, turn about, + Do jis so, + An' ebery time I wheel about + I jump Jim Crow. + +Rice, who was a clever and versatile performer, caught the air, made up +like the Negro, and in the course of the next season introduced Jim Crow +and his step to the stage, and so successful was he in his performance +that on his first night in the part he was encored twenty times.[1] Rice +had many imitators among the white comedians of the country, some of +whom indeed claimed priority in opening up the new field, and along with +their burlesque these men actually touched upon the possibilities of +plaintive Negro melodies, which they of course capitalized. In New York +late in 1842 four men--"Dan" Emmett, Frank Brower, "Billy" Whitlock, and +"Dick" Pelham--practiced together with fiddle and banjo, "bones" +and tambourine, and thus was born the first company, the "Virginia +Minstrels," which made its formal debut in New York February 17, 1843. +Its members produced in connection with their work all sorts of popular +songs, one of Emmett's being "Dixie," which, introduced by Mrs. John +Wood in a burlesque in New Orleans at the outbreak of the Civil War, +leaped into popularity and became the war-song of the Confederacy. +Companies multipled apace. "Christy's Minstrels" claimed priority to the +company already mentioned, but did not actually enter upon its New York +career until 1846. "Bryant's Minstrels" and Buckley's "New Orleans +Serenaders" were only two others of the most popular aggregations +featuring and burlesquing the Negro. In a social history of the Negro in +America, however, it is important to observe in passing that already, +even in burlesque, the Negro element was beginning to enthrall the +popular mind. About the same time as minstrelsy also developed the habit +of belittling the race by making the name of some prominent and worthy +Negro a term of contempt; thus "cuffy" (corrupted from Paul Cuffe) now +came into widespread use. + +[Footnote 1: See Laurence Hutton: "The Negro on the Stage," in _Harper's +Magazine_, 79:137 (June, 1889), referring to article by Edmon S. Conner +in _New York Times_, June 5, 1881.] + +This was not all. It was now that the sinister crime of lynching raised +its head in defiance of all law. At first used as a form of punishment +for outlaws and gamblers, it soon came to be applied especially to +Negroes. One was burned alive near Greenville, S.C., in 1825; in May, +1835, two were burned near Mobile for the murder of two children; and +for the years between 1823 and 1860 not less than fifty-six cases of the +lynching of Negroes have been ascertained, though no one will ever know +how many lost their lives without leaving any record. Certainly more men +were executed illegally than legally; thus of forty-six recorded murders +by Negroes of owners or overseers between 1850 and 1860 twenty resulted +in legal execution and twenty-six in lynching. Violent crimes against +white women were not relatively any more numerous than now; but those +that occurred or were attempted received swift punishment; thus of +seventeen cases of rape in the ten years last mentioned Negroes were +legally executed in five and lynched in twelve.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See Hart: _Slavery and Abolition_, 11 and 117, citing +Cutler: _Lynch Law_, 98-100 and 126-128.] + +Extraordinary attention was attracted by the burning in St. Louis in +1835 of a man named McIntosh, who had killed an officer who was trying +to arrest him.[1] This event came in the midst of a period of great +agitation, and it was for denouncing this lynching that Elijah P. +Lovejoy had his printing-office destroyed in St. Louis and was forced +to remove to Alton, Ill., where his press was three times destroyed and +where he finally met death at the hands of a mob while trying to protect +his property November 7, 1837. Judge Lawless defended the lynching and +even William Ellery Channing took a compromising view. Abraham Lincoln, +however, then a very young man, in an address on "The Perpetuation of +Our Political Institutions" at Springfield, January 27, 1837, said: +"Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the everyday news of the +times. They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana; +they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former nor the +burning suns of the latter; they are not the creatures of climate, +neither are they confined to the slaveholding or the nonslaveholding +states.... Turn to that horror-striking scene at St. Louis. A single +victim only was sacrificed there. This story is very short, and is +perhaps the most highly tragic of anything that has ever been witnessed +in real life. A mulatto man by the name of McIntosh was seized in the +street, dragged to the suburbs of the city, chained to a tree, and +actually burned to death; and all within a single hour from the time he +had been a free man attending to his own business and at peace with +the world.... Such are the effects of mob law, and such are the scenes +becoming more and more frequent in this land so lately famed for love of +law and order, and the stories of which have even now grown too familiar +to attract anything more than an idle remark." + +[Footnote 1: Cutler: _Lynch Law_, 109, citing Niles's _Register_, June +4, 1836.] + +All the while flagrant crimes were committed against Negro women and +girls, and free men in the border states were constantly being +dragged into slavery by kidnapers. Two typical cases will serve for +illustration. George Jones, a respectable man of New York, was in 1836 +arrested on Broadway on the pretext that he had committed assault and +battery. He refused to go with his captors, for he knew that he had +done nothing to warrant such a charge; but he finally yielded on the +assurance of his employer that everything possible would be done for +him. He was placed in the Bridewell and a few minutes afterwards taken +before a magistrate, to whose satisfaction he was proved to be a slave. +Thus, in less than two hours after his arrest he was hurried away by the +kidnapers, whose word had been accepted as sufficient evidence, and he +had not been permitted to secure a single friendly witness. Solomon +Northrup, who afterwards wrote an account of his experiences, was a +free man who lived in Saratoga and made his living by working about the +hotels, where in the evenings he often played the violin at parties. One +day two men, supposedly managers of a traveling circus company, met him +and offered him good pay if he would go with them as a violinist to +Washington. He consented, and some mornings afterwards awoke to find +himself in a slave pen in the capital. How he got there was ever a +mystery to him, but evidently he had been drugged. He was taken South +and sold to a hard master, with whom he remained twelve years before +he was able to effect his release.[1] In the South any free Negro who +entertained a runaway might himself become a slave; thus in South +Carolina in 1827 a free woman with her three children suffered this +penalty because she gave succor to two homeless and fugitive children +six and nine years old. + +[Footnote 1: McDougall: Fugitive Slaves, 36-37.] + +Day by day, moreover, from the capital of the nation went on the +internal slave-trade. "When by one means and another a dealer had +gathered twenty or more likely young Negro men and girls, he would bring +them forth from their cells; would huddle the women and young children +into a cart or wagon; would handcuff the men in pairs, the right hand of +one to the left hand of another; make the handcuffs fast to a long chain +which passed between each pair of slaves, and would start his procession +southward."[1] It is not strange that several of the unfortunate people +committed suicide. One distracted mother, about to be separated from her +loved ones, dumbfounded the nation by hurling herself from the window +of a prison in the capital on the Sabbath day and dying in the street +below. + +[Footnote 1: McMaster, V, 219-220.] + +Meanwhile even in the free states the disabilities of the Negro +continued. In general he was denied the elective franchise, the right of +petition, the right to enter public conveyances or places of amusement, +and he was driven into a status of contempt by being shut out from the +army and the militia. He had to face all sorts of impediments in getting +education or in pursuing honest industry; he had nothing whatever to +do with the administration of justice; and generally he was subject to +insult and outrage. + +One might have supposed that on all this proscription and denial of the +ordinary rights of human beings the Christian Church would have taken a +positive stand. Unfortunately, as so often happens, it was on the side +of property and vested interest rather than on that of the oppressed. We +have already seen that Southern divines held slaves and countenanced +the system; and by 1840 James G. Birney had abundant material for his +indictment, "The American Churches the Bulwarks of American Slavery." +He showed among other things that while in 1780 the Methodist Episcopal +Church had opposed slavery and in 1784 had given a slaveholder one month +to repent or withdraw from its conferences, by 1836 it had so drifted +away from its original position as to disclaim "any right, wish, or +intention to interfere in the civil and political relation between +master and slave, as it existed in the slaveholding states of the +union." Meanwhile in the churches of the North there was the most +insulting discrimination; in the Baptist Church in Hartford the pews for +Negroes were boarded up in front, and in Stonington, Conn., the floor +was cut out of a Negro's pew by order of the church authorities. In +Boston, in a church that did not welcome and that made little provision +for Negroes, a consecrated deacon invited into his own pew some Negro +people, whereupon he lost the right to hold a pew in his church. He +decided that there should be some place where there might be more +freedom of thought and genuine Christianity, he brought others into the +plan, and the effort that he put forth resulted in what has since become +the Tremont Temple Baptist Church. + +Into all this proscription, burlesque, and crime, and denial of the +fundamental principles of Christianity, suddenly came the program of the +Abolitionists; and it spoke with tongues of fire, and had all the vigor +and force of a crusade. + + +2. _The Challenge of the Abolitionists_ + +The great difference between the early abolition societies which +resulted in the American Convention and the later anti-slavery movement +of which Garrison was the representative figure was the difference +between a humanitarian impulse tempered by expediency and one that had +all the power of a direct challenge. Before 1831 "in the South the +societies were more numerous, the members no less earnest, and the +hatred of slavery no less bitter,... yet the conciliation and persuasion +so noticeable in the earlier period in twenty years accomplished +practically nothing either in legislation or in the education of public +sentiment; while gradual changes in economic conditions at the South +caused the question to grow more difficult."[1] Moreover, "the evidence +of open-mindedness can not stand against the many instances of absolute +refusal to permit argument against slavery. In the Colonial Congress, +in the Confederation, in the Constitutional Convention, in the state +ratifying conventions, in the early Congresses, there were many vehement +denunciations of anything which seemed to have an anti-slavery tendency, +and wholesale suspicion of the North at all times when the subject was +opened."[2] One can not forget the effort of James G. Birney, or that +Benjamin Lundy's work was most largely done in what we should now call +the South, or that between 1815 and 1828 at least four journals which +avowed the extinction of slavery as one, if not the chief one, of +their objects were published in the Southern states.[3] Only gradual +emancipation, however, found any real support in the South; and, as +compared with the work of Garrison, even that of Lundy appears in the +distance with something of the mildness of "sweetness and light." Even +before the rise of Garrison, Robert James Turnbull of South Carolina, +under the name of "Brutus," wrote a virulent attack on anti-slavery; and +Representative Drayton of the same state, speaking in Congress in 1828, +said, "Much as we love our country, we would rather see our cities in +flames, our plains drenched in blood--rather endure all the calamities +of civil war, than parley for an instant upon the right of any power, +than our own to interfere with the regulation of our slaves."[4] More +and more this was to be the real sentiment of the South, and in the +face of this kind of eloquence and passion mere academic discussion was +powerless. + +[Footnote 1: Adams: _The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery, 1808-1831_, +250-251.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 110.] + +[Footnote 3: William Birney: _James G. Birney and His Times_, 85-86.] + +[Footnote 4: Register of Debates, _4,975_, cited by Adams, 112-3.] + +The _Liberator_ was begun January 1, 1831. The next year Garrison was +the leading spirit in the formation of the New England Anti-Slavery +Society; and in December, 1833, in Philadelphia, the American +Anti-Slavery Society was organized. In large measure these organizations +were an outgrowth of the great liberal and humanitarian spirit that by +1830 had become manifest in both Europe and America. Hugo and Mazzini, +Byron and Macaulay had all now appeared upon the scene, and romanticism +was regnant. James Montgomery and William Faber wrote their hymns, +and Reginald Heber went as a missionary bishop to India. Forty years +afterwards the French Revolution was bearing fruit. France herself had a +new revolution in 1830, and in this same year the kingdom of Belgium was +born. In England there was the remarkable reign of William IV, which +within the short space of seven years summed up in legislation reforms +that had been agitated for decades. In 1832 came the great Reform Bill, +in 1833 the abolition of slavery in English dominions, and in 1834 a +revision of factory legislation and the poor law. Charles Dickens and +Elizabeth Barrett Browning began to be heard, and in 1834 came to +America George Thompson, a powerful and refined speaker who had had much +to do with the English agitation against slavery. The young republic +of the United States, lusty and self-confident, was seething with new +thought. In New England the humanitarian movement that so largely began +with the Unitarianism of Channing "ran through its later phase in +transcendentalism, and spent its last strength in the anti-slavery +agitation and the enthusiasms of the Civil War."[1] The movement was +contemporary with the preaching of many novel gospels in religion, in +sociology, in science, education, and medicine. New sects were formed, +like the Universalists, the Spiritualists, the Second Adventists, +the Mormons, and the Shakers, some of which believed in trances and +miracles, others in the quick coming of Christ, and still others in the +reorganization of society; and the pseudo-sciences, like mesmerism and +phrenology, had numerous followers. The ferment has long since subsided, +and much that was then seething has since gone off in vapor; but when +all that was spurious has been rejected, we find that the +general impulse was but a new baptism of the old Puritan spirit. +Transcendentalism appealed to the private consciousness as the sole +standard of truth and right. With kindred movements it served to quicken +the ethical sense of a nation that was fast becoming materialistic and +to nerve it for the conflict that sooner or later had to come. + +[Footnote 1: Henry A. Beers: _Initial Studies in American Letters_, +95-98 passim.] + +In his salutatory editorial Garrison said with reference to his +position: "In Park Street Church, on the Fourth of July, 1829, in +an address on slavery, I unreflectingly assented to the popular but +pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition. I seize this opportunity to +make a full and unequivocal recantation, and thus publicly to ask pardon +of my God, of my country, and of my brethren, the poor slaves, for +having uttered a sentiment so full of timidity, injustice, and +absurdity.... I am aware that many object to the severity of my +language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as +truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish +to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose +house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately +rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to +gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; +but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present! I am in +earnest. I will not equivocate--I will not excuse--I will not retreat a +single inch--AND I WILL BE HEARD." With something of the egotism +that comes of courage in a holy cause, he said: "On this question my +influence, humble as it is, is felt at this moment to a considerable +extent, and shall be felt in coming years--not perniciously, but +beneficially--not as a curse, but as a blessing; and POSTERITY WILL BEAR +TESTIMONY THAT I WAS RIGHT." + +All the while, in speaking to the Negro people themselves, Garrison +endeavored to beckon them to the highest possible ground of personal and +racial self-respect. Especially did he advise them to seek the virtues +of education and coöperation. Said he to them:[1] "Support each +other.... When I say 'support each other,' I mean, sell to each other, +and buy of each other, in preference to the whites. This is a duty: the +whites do not trade with you; why should you give them your patronage? +If one of your number opens a little shop, do not pass it by to give +your money to a white shopkeeper. If any has a trade, employ him as +often as possible. If any is a good teacher, send your children to him, +and be proud that he is one of your color.... Maintain your rights, in +all cases, and at whatever expense.... Wherever you are allowed to vote, +see that your names are put on the lists of voters, and go to the polls. +If you are not strong enough to choose a man of your own color, give +your votes to those who are friendly to your cause; but, if possible, +elect intelligent and respectable colored men. I do not despair of +seeing the time when our State and National Assemblies will contain a +fair proportion of colored representatives--especially if the proposed +college at New Haven goes into successful operation. Will you despair +now so many champions are coming to your help, and the trump of jubilee +is sounding long and loud; when is heard a voice from the East, a voice +from the West, a voice from the North, a voice from the South, crying, +_Liberty and Equality now, Liberty and Equality forever_! Will you +despair, seeing Truth, and Justice, and Mercy, and God, and Christ, and +the Holy Ghost, are on your side? Oh, no--never, never despair of the +complete attainment of your rights!" + +[Footnote 1: "An Address delivered before the Free People of Color in +Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, during the month of June, +1831, by Wm. Lloyd Garrison. Boston, 1831," pp. 14-18.] + +To second such sentiments rose a remarkable group of men and women, +among them Elijah P. Lovejoy, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, John +Greenleaf Whittier, Lydia Maria Child, Samuel J. May, William Jay, +Charles Sumner, Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John +Brown. Phillips, the "Plumed Knight" of the cause, closed his law +office because he was not willing to swear that he would support the +Constitution; he relinquished the franchise because he did not wish to +have any responsibility for a government that countenanced slavery; and +he lost sympathy with the Christian Church because of its compromising +attitude. Garrison himself termed the Constitution "a covenant with +death and an agreement with hell." Lydia Maria Child in 1833 published +an _Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans_, +and wrote or edited numerous other books for the cause, while the +anti-slavery poems of Whittier are now a part of the main stream of +American literature. The Abolitionists repelled many conservative men by +their refusal to countenance any laws that recognized slavery; but they +gained force when Congress denied them the right of petition and when +President Jackson refused them the use of the mails. + +There could be no question as to the directness of their attack. They +held up the slaveholder to scorn. They gave thousands of examples of the +inhumanity of the system of slavery, publishing scores and even hundreds +of tracts and pamphlets. They called the attention of America to the +slave who for running away was for five days buried in the ground up +to his chin with his arms tied behind him; to women who were whipped +because they did not breed fast enough or would not yield to the lust of +planters or overseers; to men who were tied to be whipped and then left +bleeding, or who were branded with hot irons, or forced to wear iron +yokes and clogs and bells; to the Presbyterian preacher in Georgia who +tortured a slave until he died; to a woman in New Jersey who was "bound +to a log, and scored with a knife, in a shocking manner, across her +back, and the gashes stuffed with salt, after which she was tied to +a post in a cellar, where, after suffering three days, death kindly +terminated her misery"; and finally to the fact that even when slaves +were dead they were not left in peace, as the South Carolina Medical +College in Charleston advertised that the bodies were used for +dissection.[1] In the face of such an indictment the South appeared more +injured and innocent than ever, and said that evils had been greatly +exaggerated. Perhaps in some instances they were; but the South and +everybody also knew that no pen could nearly do justice to some of the +things that were possible under the iniquitous and abominable system of +American slavery. + +[Footnote 1: See "American Slavery as it is: Testimony of a Thousand +Witnesses. By Theodore Dwight Weld. Published by the American +Anti-Slavery Society, New York, 1839"; but the account of the New Jersey +woman is from "A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery in the United States, +by Jesse Torrey, Ballston Spa, Penn., 1917," p. 67.] + +The Abolitionists, however, did not stop with a mere attack on +slavery. Not satisfied with the mere enumeration of examples of Negro +achievement, they made even higher claims in behalf of the people now +oppressed. Said Alexander H. Everett:[1] "We are sometimes told that all +these efforts will be unavailing--that the African is a degraded member +of the human family--that a man with a dark skin and curled hair is +necessarily, as such, incapable of improvement and civilization, and +condemned by the vice of his physical conformation to vegetate forever +in a state of hopeless barbarism. I reject with contempt and indignation +this miserable heresy. In replying to it the friends of truth and +humanity have not hitherto done justice to the argument. In order to +prove that the blacks were capable of intellectual efforts, they have +painfully collected a few specimens of what some of them have done in +this way, even in the degraded condition which they occupy at present +in Christendom. This is not the way to treat the subject. Go back to an +earlier period in the history of our race. See what the blacks were and +what they did three thousand years ago, in the period of their +greatness and glory, when they occupied the forefront in the march of +civilization--when they constituted in fact the whole civilized world of +their time. Trace this very civilization, of which we are so proud, to +its origin, and see where you will find it. We received it from our +European ancestors: they had it from the Greeks and Romans, and the +Jews. But, sir, where did the Greeks and the Romans and the Jews get it? +They derived it from Ethiopia and Egypt--in one word, from Africa.[2] +... The ruins of the Egyptian temples laugh to scorn the architectural +monuments of any other part of the world. They will be what they are +now, the delight and admiration of travelers from all quarters, when the +grass is growing on the sites of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, the present +pride of Rome and London.... It seems, therefore, that for this very +civilization of which we are so proud, and which is the only ground of +our present claim of superiority, we are indebted to the ancestors +of these very blacks, whom we are pleased to consider as naturally +incapable of civilization." + +[Footnote 1: See "The Anti-Slavery Picknick: a collection of Speeches, +Poems, Dialogues, and Songs, intended for use in schools and +anti-slavery meetings. By John A. Collins, Boston, 1842," 10-12.] + +[Footnote 2: It is worthy of note that this argument, which was long +thought to be fallacious, is more and more coming to be substantiated by +the researches of scholars, and that not only as affecting Northern +but also Negro Africa. Note Lady Lugard (Flora L. Shaw): _A Tropical +Dependency_, London, 1906, pp. 16-18.] + +In adherence to their convictions the Abolitionists were now to give +a demonstration of faith in humanity such as has never been surpassed +except by Jesus Christ himself. They believed in the Negro even before +the Negro had learned to believe in himself. Acting on their doctrine of +equal rights, they traveled with their Negro friends, "sat upon the same +platforms with them, ate with them, and one enthusiastic abolitionist +white couple adopted a Negro child."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Hart: _Slavery and Abolition_, 245-6.] + +Garrison appealed to posterity. He has most certainly been justified by +time. Compared with his high stand for the right, the opportunism of +such a man as Clay shrivels into nothingness. Within recent years a +distinguished American scholar,[1] writing of the principles for which +he and his co-workers stood, has said: "The race question transcends any +academic inquiry as to what ought to have been done in 1866. It affects +the North as well as the South; it touches the daily life of all of +our citizens, individually, politically, humanly. It molds the child's +conception of democracy. It tests the faith of the adult. It is by no +means an American problem only. What is going on in our states, North +and South, is only a local phase of a world-problem.... Now, Whittier's +opinions upon that world-problem are unmistakable. He believed, quite +literally, that all men are brothers; that oppression of one man or +one race degrades the whole human family; and that there should be the +fullest equality of opportunity. That a mere difference in color should +close the door of civil, industrial, and political hope upon any +individual was a hateful thing to the Quaker poet. The whole body of +his verse is a protest against the assertion of race pride, against the +emphasis upon racial differences. To Whittier there was no such thing +as a 'white man's civilization.' The only distinction was between +civilization and barbarism. He had faith in education, in equality +before the law, in freedom of opportunity, and in the ultimate triumph +of brotherhood. + + 'They are rising,-- + All are rising, + The black and white together.' + +This faith is at once too sentimental and too dogmatic to suit those +persons who have exalted economic efficiency into a fetish and who +have talked loudly at times--though rather less loudly since the +Russo-Japanese War--about the white man's task of governing the backward +races. _But whatever progress has been made by the American Negro since +the Civil War, in self-respect, in moral and intellectual development, +and--for that matter--in economic efficiency, has been due to fidelity +to those principles which Whittier and other like-minded men and women +long ago enunciated_.[2] The immense tasks which still remain, alike for +'higher' as for 'lower' races, can be worked out by following Whittier's +program, if they can be worked out at all." + +[Footnote 1: Bliss Perry: "Whittier for To-Day," _Atlantic Monthly_, +Vol. 100, 851-859 (December, 1907).] + +[Footnote 2: The italics are our own.] + + +3. The Contest + +Even before the Abolitionists became aggressive a test law had been +passed, the discussion of which did much to prepare for their coming. +Immediately after the Denmark Vesey insurrection the South Carolina +legislature voted that the moment that a vessel entered a port in the +state with a free Negro or person of color on board he should be seized, +even if he was the cook, the steward, or a mariner, or if he was a +citizen of another state or country.[1] The sheriff was to board the +vessel, take the Negro to jail and detain him there until the vessel was +actually ready to leave. The master of the ship was then to pay for the +detention of the Negro and take him away, or pay a fine of $1,000 and +see the Negro sold as a slave. Within a short time after this enactment +was passed, as many as forty-one vessels were deprived of one or more +hands, from one British trading vessel almost the entire crew being +taken. The captains appealed to the judge of the United States District +Court, who with alacrity turned the matter over to the state courts. Now +followed much legal proceeding, with an appeal to higher authorities, in +the course of which both Canning and Adams were forced to consider the +question, and it was generally recognized that the act violated both the +treaty with Great Britain and the power of Congress to regulate trade. +To all of this South Carolina replied that as a sovereign state she had +the right to interdict the entry of foreigners, that in fact she had +been a sovereign state at the time of her entrance into the Union and +that she never had surrendered the right to exclude free Negroes. +Finally she asserted that if a dissolution of the Union must be the +alternative she was quite prepared to abide by the result. Unusual +excitement arose soon afterwards when four free Negroes on a British +ship were seized by the sheriff and dragged from the deck. The captain +had to go to heavy expense to have these men released, and on reaching +Liverpool he appealed to the Board of Trade. The British minister now +sent a more vigorous protest, Adams referred the same to Wirt, the +Attorney General, and Wirt was forced to declare South Carolina's act +unconstitutional and void. His opinion with a copy of the British +protest Adams sent to the Governor of the state, who immediately +transmitted the same to the legislature. Each branch of the legislature +passed resolutions which the other would not accept, but neither voted +to repeal the law. In fact, it remained technically in force until the +Civil War. In 1844 Massachusetts sent Samuel Hoar as a commissioner to +Charleston to make a test case of a Negro who had been deprived of his +rights. Hoar cited Article II, Section 2, of the National Constitution +("The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and +immunities of citizens in the several states"), intending ultimately to +bring a case before the United States Supreme Court. When he appeared, +however, the South Carolina legislature voted that "this agent comes +here not as a citizen of the United States, but as an emissary of a +foreign Government hostile to our domestic institutions and with the +sole purpose of subverting our internal police." Hoar was at length +notified that his life was in danger and he was forced to leave the +state. Meanwhile Southern sentiment against the American Colonization +Society had crystallized, and the excitement raised by David Walker's +_Appeal_ was exceeded only by that occasioned by Nat Turner's +insurrection. + +[Footnote 1: Note McMaster, V, 200-204.] + +When, then, the Abolitionists began their campaign the country was +already ripe for a struggle, and in the North as well as the South there +was plenty of sentiment unfavorable to the Negro. In July, 1831, when an +attempt was made to start a manual training school for Negro youth in +New Haven, the citizens at a public meeting declared that "the founding +of colleges for educating colored people is an unwarrantable and +dangerous interference with the internal concerns of other states, and +ought to be discouraged"; and they ultimately forced the project to be +abandoned. At Canterbury in the same state Prudence Crandall, a young +Quaker woman twenty-nine years of age, was brought face to face with the +problem when she admitted a Negro girl, Sarah Harris, to her school.[1] +When she was boycotted she announced that she would receive Negro girls +only if no others would attend, and she advertised accordingly in the +Liberator. She was subjected to various indignities and efforts were +made to arrest her pupils as vagrants. As she was still undaunted, her +opponents, on May 24, 1833, procured a special act of the legislature +forbidding, under severe penalties, the instruction of any Negro from +outside the state without the consent of the town authorities. Under +this act Miss Crandall was arrested and imprisoned, being confined to a +cell which had just been vacated by a murderer. The Abolitionists came +to her defense, but she was convicted, and though the higher courts +quashed the proceedings on technicalities, the village shopkeepers +refused to sell her food, manure was thrown into her well, her house +was pelted with rotten eggs and at last demolished, and even the +meeting-house in the town was closed to her. The attempt to continue the +school was then abandoned. In 1834 an academy was built by subscription +in Canaan, N.H.; it was granted a charter by the legislature, and the +proprietors determined to admit all applicants having "suitable moral +and intellectual recommendations, without other distinctions." The +town-meeting "viewed with abhorrence" the attempt to establish the +school, but when it was opened twenty-eight white and fourteen Negro +scholars attended. The town-meeting then ordered that the academy be +forcibly removed and appointed a committee to execute the mandate. +Accordingly on August 10 three hundred men with two hundred oxen +assembled, took the edifice from its place, dragged it for some distance +and left it a ruin. From 1834 to 1836, in fact, throughout the country, +from east to west, swept a wave of violence. Not less than twenty-five +attempts were made to break up anti-slavery meetings. In New York in +October, 1833, there was a riot in Clinton Hall, and from July 7 to 11 +of the next year a succession of riots led to the sacking of the house +of Lewis Tappan and the destruction of other houses and churches. When +George Thompson arrived from England in September, 1834, his meetings +were constantly disturbed, and Garrison himself was mobbed in Boston in +1835, being dragged through the streets with a rope around his body. + +[Footnote 1: Note especially "Connecticut's Canterbury Tale; its +Heroine, Prudence Crandall, and its Moral for To-Day, by John C. +Kimball," Hartford (1886).] + +In general the Abolitionists were charged by the South with promoting +both insurrection and the amalgamation of the races. There was no clear +proof of these charges; nevertheless, May said, "If we do not emancipate +our slaves by our own moral energy, they will emancipate themselves and +that by a process too horrible to contemplate";[1] and Channing said, +"Allowing that amalgamation is to be anticipated, then, I maintain, we +have no right to resist it. Then it is not unnatural."[2] While the +South grew hysterical at the thought, it was, as Hart remarks, a fair +inquiry, which the Abolitionists did not hesitate to put--Who was +responsible for the only amalgamation that had so far taken place? After +a few years there was a cleavage among the Abolitionists. Some of the +more practical men, like Birney, Gerrit Smith, and the Tappans, who +believed in fighting through governmental machinery, in 1838 broke away +from the others and prepared to take a part in Federal politics. This +was the beginning of the Liberty party, which nominated Birney for the +presidency in 1840 and again in 1844. In 1848 it became merged in the +Free Soil party and ultimately in the Republican party. + +[Footnote 1: Hart, 221, citing _Liberator_, V, 59.] + +[Footnote 2: Hart, 216, citing Channing, _Works_, V. 57.] + +With the forties came division in the Church--a sort of prelude to the +great events that were to thunder through the country within the next +two decades. Could the Church really countenance slavery? Could a bishop +hold a slave? These were to become burning questions. In 1844-5 the +Baptists of the North and East refused to approve the sending out of +missionaries who owned slaves, and the Southern Baptist Convention +resulted. In 1844, when James O. Andrew came into the possession of +slaves by his marriage to a widow who had these as a legacy from her +former husband, the Northern Methodists refused to grant that one of +their bishops might hold a slave, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, +South, was formally organized in Louisville the following year. The +Presbyterians and the Episcopalians, more aristocratic in tone, did not +divide. + +The great events of the annexation of Texas, with the Mexican War that +resulted, the Compromise of 1850, with the Fugitive Slave Law, the +Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854, and the Dred Scott decision of 1857 +were all regarded in the North as successive steps in the campaign of +slavery, though now in the perspective they appear as vain efforts to +beat back a resistless tide. In the Mexican War it was freely urged by +the Mexicans that, should the American line break, their host would soon +find itself among the rich cities of the South, where perhaps it could +not only exact money, but free two million slaves as well, call to its +assistance the Indians, and even draw aid from the Abolitionists in the +North.[1] Nothing of all this was to be. Out of the academic shades +of Harvard, however, at last came a tongue of flame. In "The Present +Crisis" James Russell Lowell produced lines whose tremendous beat was +like a stern call of the whole country to duty: + +[Footnote 1: Justin H. Smith: _The War with Mexico_, I, 107.] + + Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, + In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; + Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, + Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, + And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light. + + * * * * * + + Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust, + Ere her cause bring fame and profit and 'tis prosperous to be just; + Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, + Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified, + And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied. + + * * * * * + + New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth; + They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth; + Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must Pilgrims be, + Launch our _Mayflower_, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea, + Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's blood-rusted key. + +As "The Present Crisis" came after the Mexican War, so after the new +Fugitive Slave Law appeared _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ (1852). "When despairing +Hungarian fugitives make their way, against all the search-warrants and +authorities of their lawful governments, to America, press and political +cabinet ring with applause and welcome. When despairing African +fugitives do the same thing--it is--what _is_ it?" asked Harriet Beecher +Stowe; and in her remarkable book she proceeded to show the injustice of +the national position. _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ has frequently been termed +a piece of propaganda that gave an overdrawn picture of Southern +conditions. The author, however, had abundant proof for her incidents, +and she was quite aware of the fact that the problem of the Negro, North +as well as South, transcended the question of slavery. Said St. Clair +to Ophelia: "If we emancipate, are you willing to educate? How many +families of your town would take in a Negro man or woman, teach them, +bear with them, and seek to make them Christians? How many merchants +would take Adolph, if I wanted to make him a clerk; or mechanics, if I +wanted to teach him a trade? If I wanted to put Jane and Rosa to school, +how many schools are there in the Northern states that would take them +in?... We are in a bad position. We are the more _obvious_ oppressors of +the Negro; but the unchristian prejudice of the North is an oppressor +almost equally severe." + +Meanwhile the thrilling work of the Underground Railroad was answered +by a practical reopening of the slave-trade. From 1820 to 1840, as the +result of the repressive measure of 1819, the traffic had declined; +between 1850 and 1860, however, it was greatly revived, and Southern +conventions resolved that all laws, state or Federal, prohibiting the +slave-trade, should be repealed. The traffic became more and more open +and defiant until, as Stephen A. Douglas computed, as many as 15,000 +slaves were brought into the country in 1859. It was not until the +Lincoln government in 1862 hanged the first trader who ever suffered +the extreme penalty of the law, and made with Great Britain a treaty +embodying the principle of international right of search, that the +trade was effectually checked. By the end of the war it was entirely +suppressed, though as late as 1866 a squadron of ships patrolled the +slave coast. + +The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, repealing the Missouri Compromise and +providing for "squatter sovereignty" in the territories in question, +outraged the North and led immediately to the forming of the Republican +party. It was not long before public sentiment began to make itself +felt, and the first demonstration took place in Boston. Anthony Burns +was a slave who escaped from Virginia and made his way to Boston, where +he was at work in the winter of 1853-4. He was discovered by a United +States marshal who presented a writ for his arrest just at the time +of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in May, 1854. Public feeling +became greatly aroused. Wendell Phillips and Theodore Parker delivered +strong addresses at a meeting in Faneuil Hall while an unsuccessful +attempt to rescue Burns from the Court House was made under the +leadership of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who with others of the +attacking party was wounded. It was finally decided in court that Burns +must be returned to his master. The law was obeyed; but Boston had been +made very angry, and generally her feeling had counted for something in +the history of the country. The people draped their houses in mourning, +hissed the procession that took Burns to his ship and at the wharf a +riot was averted only by a minister's call to prayer. This incident did +more to crystallize Northern sentiment against slavery than any other +except the exploit of John Brown, and this was the last time that a +fugitive slave was taken out of Boston. Burns himself was afterwards +bought by popular subscription, and ultimately became a Baptist minister +in Canada. + +In 1834 Dr. Emerson, an army officer stationed in Missouri, removed to +Illinois, taking with him his slave, Dred Scott. Two years later, again +accompanied by Scott, he went to Minnesota. In Illinois slavery was +prohibited by state law and Minnesota was a free territory. In 1838 +Emerson returned with Scott to Missouri. After a while the slave raised +the important question: Had not his residence outside of a slave state +made him a free man? Beaten by his master in 1848, with the aid of +anti-slavery lawyers Scott brought a suit against him for assault and +battery, the circuit court of St. Louis rendering a decision in his +favor. Emerson appealed and in 1852 the Supreme Court of the state +reversed the decision of the lower court. Not long after this Emerson +sold Scott to a citizen of New York named Sandford. Scott now brought +suit against Sandford, on the ground that they were citizens of +different states. The case finally reached the Supreme Court of the +United States, which in 1857 handed down the decision that Scott was not +a citizen of Missouri and had no standing in the Federal courts, that +a slave was only a piece of property, and that a master might take his +property with impunity to any place within the jurisdiction of the +United States. The ownership of Scott and his family soon passed to a +Massachusetts family by whom they were liberated; but the important +decision that the case had called forth aroused the most intense +excitement throughout the country, and somehow out of it all people +remembered more than anything else the amazing declaration of Chief +Justice Taney that "the Negroes were so far inferior that they had +no rights which the white man was bound to respect." The extra-legal +character and the general fallacy of his position were exposed by +Justice Curtis in a masterly dissenting opinion. + +No one incident of the period showed more clearly the tension under +which the country was laboring than the assault on Charles Sumner by +Preston S. Brooks, a congressional representative from South Carolina. +As a result of this regrettable occurrence splendid canes with such +inscriptions as "Hit him again" and "Use knock-down arguments" were sent +to Brooks from different parts of the South and he was triumphantly +reëlected by his constituency, while on the other hand resolutions +denouncing him were passed all over the North, in Canada, and even in +Europe. More than ever the South was thrown on the defensive, and in +impassioned speeches Robert Toombs now glorified his state and his +section. Speaking at Emory College in 1853 he had already made an +extended apology for slavery;[1] speaking in the Georgia legislature on +the eve of secession he contended that the South had been driven to bay +by the Abolitionists and must now "expand or perish." A writer in the +_Southern Literary Messenger_,[2] in an article "The Black Race in North +America," made the astonishing statement that "the slavery of the black +race on this continent is the price America has paid for her liberty, +civil and religious, and, humanly speaking, these blessings would +have been unattainable without their aid." Benjamin M. Palmer, a +distinguished minister of New Orleans, in a widely quoted sermon in 1860 +spoke of the peculiar trust that had been given to the South--to be the +guardians of the slaves, the conservers of the world's industry, and the +defenders of the cause of religion.[3] "The blooms upon Southern fields +gathered by black hands have fed the spindles and looms of Manchester +and Birmingham not less than of Lawrence and Lowell. Strike now a blow +at this system of labor and the world itself totters at the stroke. +Shall we permit that blow to fall? Do we not owe it to civilized man to +stand in the breach and stay the uplifted arm?... This trust we will +discharge in the face of the worst possible peril. Though war be the +aggregation of all evils, yet, should the madness of the hour appeal to +the arbitration of the sword, we will not shrink even from the baptism +of fire.... The position of the South is at this moment sublime. If +she has grace given her to know her hour, she will save herself, the +country, and the world." + +[Footnote 1: See "An Oration delivered before the Few and Phi Gamma +Societies of Emory College: Slavery in the United States; its +consistency with republican institutions, and its effects upon the slave +and society. Augusta, Ga., 1853."] + +[Footnote 2: November, 1855.] + +[Footnote 3: "The Rights of the South defended in the Pulpits, by B.M. +Palmer, D.D., and W.T. Leacock, D.D., Mobile, 1860."] + +All of this was very earnest and very eloquent, but also very mistaken, +and the general fallacy of the South's position was shown by no less a +man than he who afterwards became vice-president of the Confederacy. +Speaking in the Georgia legislature in opposition to the motion for +secession, Stephens said that the South had no reason to feel aggrieved, +for all along she had received more than her share of the nation's +privileges, and had almost always won in the main that which was +demanded. She had had sixty years of presidents to the North's +twenty-four; two-thirds of the clerkships and other appointments +although the white population in the section was only one-third that +of the country; fourteen attorneys general to the North's five; +and eighteen Supreme Court judges to the North's eleven, although +four-fifths of the business of the court originated in the free states. +"This," said Stephens in an astonishing declaration, "we have required +so as to guard against any interpretation of the Constitution +unfavorable to us." + +Still another voice from the South, in a slightly different key, +attacked the tendencies in the section. _The Impending Crisis_ (1857), +by Hinton Rowan Helper, of North Carolina, was surpassed in sensational +interest by no other book of the period except _Uncle Tom's Cabin_. The +author did not place himself upon the broadest principles of humanity +and statesmanship; he had no concern for the Negro, and the great +planters of the South were to him simply the "whelps" and "curs" of +slavery. He spoke merely as the voice of the non-slaveholding white men +in the South. He set forth such unpleasant truths as that the personal +and real property, including slaves, of Virginia, North Carolina, +Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, taken all together, +was less than the real and personal estate in the single state of New +York; that representation in Southern legislatures was unfair; that in +Congress a Southern planter was twice as powerful as a Northern man; +that slavery was to blame for the migration from the South to the West; +and that in short the system was in every way harmful to the man of +limited means. All of this was decidedly unpleasant to the ears of the +property owners of the South; Helper's book was proscribed, and the +author himself found it more advisable to live in New York than in his +native state. _The Impending Crisis_ was eagerly read, however, and it +succeeded as a book because it attempted to attack with some degree of +honesty a great economic problem. + +The time for speeches and books, however, was over, and the time for +action had come. For years the slave had chanted, "I've been listenin' +all the night long"; and his prayer had reached the throne. On October +16, 1859, John Brown made his raid on Harper's Ferry and took his place +with the immortals. In the long and bitter contest on American slavery +the Abolitionists had won. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOCIAL PROGRESS, 1820-1860[1] + + +[Footnote 1: This chapter follows closely upon Chapter III, Section 5, +and is largely complementary to Chapter VIII.] + +So far in our study we have seen the Negro as the object of interest +on the part of the American people. Some were disposed to give him a +helping hand, some to keep him in bondage, and some thought that it +might be possible to dispose of any problem by sending him out of the +country. In all this period of agitation and ferment, aside from the +efforts of friends in his behalf, just what was the Negro doing to work +out his own salvation? If for the time being we can look primarily at +constructive effort rather than disabilities, just what do we find that +on his own account he was doing to rise to the full stature of manhood? + +Naturally in the answer to such a question we shall have to be concerned +with those people who had already attained unto nominal freedom. We +shall indeed find many examples of industrious slaves who, working in +agreement with their owners, managed sometimes to purchase themselves +and even to secure ownership of their families. Such cases, while +considerable in the aggregate, were after all exceptional, and for the +ordinary slave on the plantation the outlook was hopeless enough. +In 1860 the free persons formed just one-ninth of the total Negro +population in the country, there being 487,970 of them to 3,953,760 +slaves. It is a commonplace to remark the progress that the race has +made since emancipation. A study of the facts, however, will show that +with all their disadvantages less than half a million people had before +1860 not only made such progress as amasses a surprising total, but that +they had already entered every large field of endeavor in which the race +is engaged to-day. + +When in course of time the status of the Negro in the American body +politic became a live issue, the possibility and the danger of an +_imperium in imperio_ were perceived; and Rev. James W.C. Pennington, +undoubtedly a leader, said in his lectures in London and Glasgow: "The +colored population of the United States have no destiny separate from +that of the nation in which they form an integral part. Our destiny is +bound up with that of America. Her ship is ours; her pilot is ours; her +storms are ours; her calms are ours. If she breaks upon any rock, we +break with her. If we, born in America, can not live upon the same soil +upon terms of equality with the descendants of Scotchmen, Englishmen, +Irishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Hungarians, Greeks, and Poles, then the +fundamental theory of America fails and falls to the ground."[1] While +everybody was practically agreed upon this fundamental matter of the +relation of the race to the Federal Government, more and more there +developed two lines of thought, equally honest, as to the means by which +the race itself was to attain unto the highest things that American +civilization had to offer. The leader of one school of thought was +Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. When +this man and his friends found that in white churches they were not +treated with courtesy, they said, We shall have our own church; we shall +have our own bishop; we shall build up our own enterprises in any line +whatsoever; and even to-day the church that Allen founded remains as +the greatest single effort of the race in organization. The foremost +representative of the opposing line of thought was undoubtedly Frederick +Douglass, who in a speech in Rochester in 1848 said: "I am well aware of +the anti-Christian prejudices which have excluded many colored persons +from white churches, and the consequent necessity for erecting their own +places of worship. This evil I would charge upon its originators, and +not the colored people. But such a necessity does not now exist to the +extent of former years. There are societies where color is not regarded +as a test of membership, and such places I deem more appropriate for +colored persons than exclusive or isolated organizations." There is much +more difference between these two positions than can be accounted for by +the mere lapse of forty years between the height of the work of Allen +and that of Douglass. Allen certainly did not sanction segregation under +the law, and no man worked harder than he to relieve his people from +proscription. Douglass moreover, who did not formally approve of +organizations that represented any such distinction as that of race, +again and again presided over gatherings of Negro men. In the last +analysis, however, it was Allen who was foremost in laying the basis +of distinctively Negro enterprise, and Douglass who felt that the real +solution of any difficulty was for the race to lose itself as quickly as +possible in the general body politic. + +[Footnote 1: Nell: _Colored Patriots of the American Revolution_, 356.] + +We have seen that the Church was from the first the race's foremost form +of social organization, and that sometimes in very close touch with +it developed the early lodges of such a body as the Masons. By 1800 +emancipation was well under way; then began emigration from the South +to the central West; emigration brought into being the Underground +Railroad; and finally all forces worked together for the development of +Negro business, the press, conventions, and other forms of activity. It +was natural that states so close to the border as Pennsylvania and Ohio +should be important in this early development. + +The Church continued the growth that it had begun several decades +before. The A.M.E. denomination advanced rapidly from 7 churches and 400 +members in 1816 to 286 churches and 73,000 members by the close of the +Civil War. Naturally such a distinctively Negro organization could +make little progress in the South before the war, but there were small +congregations in Charleston and New Orleans, and William Paul Quinn +blazed a path in the West, going from Pittsburgh to St. Louis. + +In 1847 the Prince Hall Lodge of the Masons in Massachusetts, the First +Independent African Grand Lodge in Pennsylvania, and the Hiram Grand +Lodge of Pennsylvania formed a National Grand Lodge, and from one or +another of these all other Grand Lodges among Negroes have descended. In +1842 the members of the Philomathean Institute of New York and of the +Philadelphia Library Company and Debating Society applied for admission +to the International Order of Odd Fellows. They were refused on account +of their race. Thereupon Peter Ogden, a Negro, who had already joined +the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows of England, secured a charter for +the first Negro American lodge, Philomathean, No. 646, of New York, +which was set up March 1, 1843. It was followed within the next two +years by lodges in New York, Philadelphia, Albany, and Poughkeepsie. The +Knights of Pythias were not organized until 1864 in Washington; but the +Grand Order of Galilean Fishermen started on its career in Baltimore in +1856. + +The benefit societies developed apace. At first they were small and +confined to a group of persons well known to each other, thus being +genuinely fraternal. Simple in form, they imposed an initiation fee of +hardly less than $2.50 or more than $5.00, a monthly fee of about 50 +cents, and gave sick dues ranging from $1.50 to $5.00 a month, with +guarantee of payment of one's funeral expenses and subsequent help to +the widow. By 1838 there were in Philadelphia alone 100 such groups with +7,448 members. As bringing together spirits supposedly congenial, these +organizations largely took the place of clubs, and the meetings were +relished accordingly. Some drifted into secret societies, and after the +Civil War some that had not cultivated the idea of insurance were forced +to add this feature to their work. + +In the sphere of civil rights the Negroes, in spite of circumstances, +were making progress, and that by their own efforts as well as those +of their friends the Abolitionists. Their papers helped decidedly. The +_Journal of Freedom_ (commonly known as _Freedom's Journal_), begun +March 30, 1827, ran for three years. It had numerous successors, but +no one of outstanding strength before the _North Star_ (later known as +_Frederick Douglass' Paper_) began publication in 1847, continuing +until the Civil War. Largely through the effort of Paul Cuffe for the +franchise, New Bedford, Mass., was generally prominent in all that made +for racial prosperity. Here even by 1850 the Negro voters held the +balance of power and accordingly exerted a potent influence on Election +day.[1] Under date March 6, 1840, there was brought up for repeal so +much of the Massachusetts Statutes as forbade intermarriage between +white persons and Negroes, mulattoes, or Indians, as "contrary to the +principles of Christianity and republicanism." The committee said that +it did not recommend a repeal in the expectation that the number of +connections, legal or illegal, between the races would be thereupon +increased; but its object rather was that wherever such connections were +found the usual civil liabilities and obligations should not fail to +attach to the contracting parties. The enactment was repealed. In the +same state, by January, 1843, an act forbidding discrimination +on railroads was passed. This grew out of separate petitions or +remonstrances from Francis Jackson and Joseph Nunn, each man being +supported by friends, and the petitioners based their request "not on +the supposition that the colored man is not as well treated as his white +fellow-citizen, but on the broad principle that the constitution allows +no distinction in public privileges among the different classes of +citizens in this commonwealth."[2] In New York City an interesting +case arose over the question of public conveyances. When about 1852 +horse-cars began to supersede omnibuses on the streets, the Negro was +excluded from the use of them, and he continued to be excluded until +1855, when a decision of Judge Rockwell gave him the right to enter +them. The decision was ignored and the Negro continued to be excluded as +before. One Sunday in May, however, Rev. James W.C. Pennington, after +service, reminded his hearers of Judge Rockwell's decision, urged them +to stand up for their rights, and especially to inform any friends who +might visit the city during the coming anniversary week that Negroes +were no longer excluded from the street cars. He himself then boarded a +car on Sixth Avenue, refused to leave when requested to do so, and was +forcibly ejected. He brought suit against the company and won his case; +and thus the Negro made further advance toward full citizenship in New +York.[3] + +[Footnote 1: Nell, III.] + +[Footnote 2: Senate document 63 of 1842.] + +[Footnote 3: McMaster, VIII, 74.] + +Thus was the Negro developing in religious organization, in his benefit +societies, and toward his rights as a citizen. When we look at the +economic life upon which so much depended, we find that rather amazing +progress had been made. Doors were so often closed to the Negro, +competing white artisans were so often openly hostile, and he himself +labored under so many disadvantages generally that it has often been +thought that his economic advance before 1860 was negligible; but +nothing could be farther from the truth. It must not be forgotten that +for decades the South had depended upon Negro men for whatever was to +be done in all ordinary trades; some brick-masons, carpenters, and +shoemakers had served a long apprenticeship and were thoroughly +accomplished; and when some of the more enterprising of these men +removed to the North or West they took their training with them. Very +few persons became paupers. Certainly many were destitute, especially +those who had most recently made their way from slavery; and in general +the colored people cared for their own poor. In 1852, of 3500 Negroes in +Cincinnati, 200 were holders of property who paid taxes on their real +estate.[1] In 1855 the Negro per capita ownership of property compared +most favorably with that of the white people. Altogether the Negroes +owned $800,000 worth of property in the city and $5,000,000 worth in the +state. In the city there were among other workers three bank tellers, +a landscape artist who had visited Rome to complete his education, and +nine daguerreotypists, one of whom was the best in the entire West.[2] +Of 1696 Negroes at work in Philadelphia in 1856, some of the more +important occupations numbered workers as follows: tailors, dressmakers, +and shirtmakers, 615; barbers, 248; shoemakers, 66; brickmakers, 53; +carpenters, 49; milliners, 45; tanners, 24; cake-bakers, pastry-cooks, +or confectioners, 22; blacksmiths, 22. There were also 15 musicians or +music-teachers, 6 physicians, and 16 school-teachers.[3] The foremost +and the most wealthy man of business of the race in the country about +1850 was Stephen Smith, of the firm of Smith and Whipper, of Columbia, +Pa.[4] He and his partner were lumber merchants. Smith was a man of wide +interests. He invested his capital judiciously, engaging in real estate +and spending much of his time in Philadelphia, where he owned more than +fifty brick houses, while Whipper, a relative, attended to the business +of the firm. Together these men gave employment to a large number of +persons. Of similar quality was Samuel T. Wilcox, of Cincinnati, the +owner of a large grocery business who also engaged in real estate. Henry +Boyd, of Cincinnati, was the proprietor of a bedstead manufactory that +filled numerous orders from the South and West and that sometimes +employed as many as twenty-five men, half of whom were white. Sometimes +through an humble occupation a Negro rose to competence; thus one of the +eighteen hucksters in Cincinnati became the owner of $20,000 worth of +property. Here and there several caterers and tailors became known as +having the best places in their line of business in their respective +towns. John Julius, of Pittsburgh, was the proprietor of a brilliant +place known as Concert Hall. When President-elect William Henry Harrison +in 1840 visited the city it was here that his chief reception was held. +Cordovell became widely known as the name of the leading tailor and +originator of fashions in New Orleans. After several years of success in +business this merchant removed to France, where he enjoyed the fortune +that he had accumulated. + +[Footnote 1: Clarke: _Condition of the Free Colored People of the United +States_.] + +[Footnote 2: Nell, 285.] + +[Footnote 3: Bacon: _Statistics_, 13.] + +[Footnote 4: Delany.] + +Cordovell was representative of the advance of the people of mixed blood +in the South. The general status of these people was better in Louisiana +than anywhere else in the country, North or South; at the same time +their situation was such as to call for special consideration. In +Louisiana the "F.M.C." (Free Man of Color) formed a distinct and +anomalous class in society.[1] As a free man he had certain rights, and +sometimes his property holdings were very large.[2] In fact, in New +Orleans a few years before the Civil War not less than one-fifth of the +taxable property was in the hands of free people of color. At the same +time the lot of these people was one of endless humiliation. Among some +of them irregular household establishments were regularly maintained by +white men, and there were held the "quadroon balls" which in course of +time gave the city a distinct notoriety. Above the people of this group, +however, was a genuine aristocracy of free people of color who had a +long tradition of freedom, being descended from the early colonists, +and whose family life was most exemplary. In general they lived to +themselves. In fact, it was difficult for them to do otherwise. They +were often compelled to have papers filled out by white guardians, and +they were not allowed to be visited by slaves or to have companionship +with them, even when attending church or walking along the roads. +Sometimes free colored men owned their women and children in order that +the latter might escape the invidious law against Negroes recently +emancipated; or the situation was sometimes turned around, as in +Norfolk, Va., where several women owned their husbands. When the name +of a free man of color had to appear on any formal document--a deed of +conveyance, a marriage-license, a certificate of birth or death, or +even in a newspaper report--the initials F.M.C. had to be appended. In +Louisiana these people petitioned in vain for the suffrage, and at the +outbreak of the Civil War organized and splendidly equipped for the +Confederacy two battalions of five hundred men. For these they chose +two distinguished white commanders, and the governor accepted their +services, only to have to inform them later that the Confederacy +objected to the enrolling of Negro soldiers. In Charleston thirty-seven +men in a remarkable petition also formally offered their services to the +Confederacy.[3] What most readily found illustration in New Orleans or +Charleston was also true to some extent of other centers of free people +of color such as Mobile and Baltimore. In general the F.M.C.'s +were industrious and they almost monopolized one or two avenues of +employment; but as a group they had not yet learned to place themselves +upon the broad basis of racial aspiration. + +[Footnote 1: See "The F.M.C.'s of Louisiana," by P.F. de Gournay, +_Lippincott's Magazine_, April, 1894; and "Black Masters," by Calvin +Dill Wilson, _North American Review_, November, 1905.] + +[Footnote 2: See Stone: "The Negro in the South," in _The South in the +Building of the Nation_, X, 180.] + +[Footnote 3: Note broadside (Charleston, 1861) accessible in Special +Library of Boston Public Library as Document No. 9 in 20th Cab. 3. 7.] + +Whatever may have been the situation of special groups, however, it can +readily be seen that there were at least some Negroes in the country--a +good many in the aggregate--who by 1860 were maintaining a high standard +in their ordinary social life. It must not be forgotten that we are +dealing with a period when the general standard of American culture was +by no means what it is to-day. "Four-fifths of the people of the United +States of 1860 lived in the country, and it is perhaps fair to say that +half of these dwelt in log houses of one or two rooms. Comforts such +as most of us enjoy daily were as good as unknown.... For the workaday +world shirtsleeves, heavy brogan boots and shoes, and rough wool hats +were the rule."[1] In Philadelphia, a fairly representative city, +there were at this time a considerable number of Negroes of means or +professional standing. These people were regularly hospitable; they +visited frequently; and they entertained in well furnished parlors with +music and refreshments. In a day when many of their people had not +yet learned to get beyond showiness in dress, they were temperate and +self-restrained, they lived within their incomes, and they retired at a +seasonable hour.[2] + +[Footnote 1: W.E. Dodd: _Expansion and Conflict_, Volume 3 of "Riverside +History of the United States," Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915, p. +208.] + +[Footnote 2: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 140.] + +In spite moreover of all the laws and disadvantages that they had to +meet the Negroes also made general advance in education. In the South +efforts were of course sporadic, but Negroes received some teaching +through private or clandestine sources.[1] More than one slave learned +the alphabet while entertaining the son of his master. In Charleston +for a long time before the Civil War free Negroes could attend schools +especially designed for their benefit and kept by white people or other +Negroes. The course of study not infrequently embraced such subjects as +physiology, physics, and plane geometry. After John Brown's raid the +order went forth that no longer should any colored person teach Negroes. +This resulted in a white person's being brought to sit in the classroom, +though at the outbreak of the war schools were closed altogether. In the +North, in spite of all proscription, conditions were somewhat better. As +early as 1850 there were in the public schools in New York 3,393 Negro +children, these sustaining about the same proportion to the Negro +population that white children sustained to the total white population. +Two institutions for the higher education of the Negro were established +before the Civil War, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (1854) and +Wilberforce University in Ohio (1856). Oberlin moreover was founded in +1833. In 1835 Professor Asa Mahan, of Lane Seminary, was offered the +presidency. As he was an Abolitionist he said that he would accept only +if Negroes were admitted on equal terms with other students. After a +warm session of the trustees the vote was in his favor. Though, before +this, individual Negroes had found their way into Northern institutions, +it was here at Oberlin that they first received a real welcome. By the +outbreak of the war nearly one-third of the students were of the Negro +race, and one of the graduates, John M. Langston, was soon to be +generally prominent in the affairs of the country. + +[Footnote 1: For interesting examples see C.G. Woodson: _The Education +of the Negro prior to 1861_.] + +It has been maintained that in their emphasis on education and on the +highest culture possible for the Negro the Abolitionists were mere +visionaries who had no practical knowledge whatever of the race's real +needs. This was neither true nor just. It was absolutely necessary first +of all to establish the Negro's right to enter any field occupied by any +other man, and time has vindicated this position. Even in 1850, however, +the needs of the majority of the Negro people for advance in their +economic life were not overlooked either by the Abolitionists or the +Negroes themselves. Said Martin V. Delany: "Our elevation must be the +result of _self-efforts_, and work of our _own hands_. No other human +power can accomplish it.... Let our young men and young women prepare +themselves for usefulness and business; that the men may enter into +merchandise, trading, and other things of importance; the young women +may become teachers of various kinds, and otherwise fill places of +usefulness. Parents must turn their attention more to the education of +their children. We mean, to educate them for useful practical business +purposes. Educate them for the store and counting-house--to do everyday +practical business. Consult the children's propensities, and direct +their education according to their inclinations. It may be that there +is too great a desire on the part of parents to give their children a +professional education, before the body of the people are ready for it. +A people must be a business people and have more to depend upon than +mere help in people's houses and hotels, before they are either able to +support or capable of properly appreciating the services of professional +men among them. This has been one of our great mistakes--we have gone +in advance of ourselves. We have commenced at the superstructure of the +building, instead of the foundation--at the top instead of the bottom. +We should first be mechanics and common tradesmen, and professions as a +matter of course would grow out of the wealth made thereby."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of +the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered_, +Philadelphia, 1852, P. 45.] + +In professional life the Negro had by 1860 made a noteworthy beginning. +Already he had been forced to give attention to the law, though as yet +little by way of actual practice had been done. In this field Robert +Morris, Jr., of Boston, was probably foremost. William C. Nell, of +Rochester and Boston, at the time prominent in newspaper work and +politics, is now best remembered for his study of the Negro in the early +wars of the country. About the middle of the century Samuel Ringgold +Ward, author of the _Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro_, and one of the +most eloquent men of the time, was for several years pastor of a white +Congregational church in Courtlandville, N.Y.; and Henry Highland +Garnett was the pastor of a white congregation in Troy, and well known +as a public-spirited citizen as well. Upon James W.C. Pennington the +degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred by Heidelberg, and generally +this man had a reputation in England and on the continent of Europe as +well as in America. About the same time Bishops Daniel A. Payne and +William Paul Quinn were adding to the dignity of the African Methodist +Episcopal Church. + +Special interest attaches to the Negro physician. Even in colonial +times, though there was much emphasis on the control of diseases by +roots or charms, there was at least a beginning in work genuinely +scientific. As early as 1792 a Negro named Cæsar had gained such +distinction by his knowledge of curative herbs that the Assembly of +South Carolina purchased his freedom and gave him an annuity. In the +earlier years of the last century James Derham, of New Orleans, became +the first regularly recognized Negro physician of whom there is +a complete record. Born in Philadelphia in 1762, as a boy he was +transferred to a physician for whom he learned to perform minor duties. +Afterwards he was sold to a physician in New Orleans who used him as +an assistant. Two or three years later he won his freedom, he became +familiar with French and Spanish as well as English, and he soon +commanded general respect by his learning and skill. About the middle +of the century, in New York, James McCune Smith, a graduate of the +University of Glasgow, was prominent. He was the author of several +scientific papers, a man of wide interests, and universally held in high +esteem. "The first real impetus to bring Negroes in considerable numbers +into the professional world came from the American Colonization Society, +which in the early years flourished in the South as well as the North +... and undertook to prepare professional leaders of their race for the +Liberian colony. 'To execute this scheme, leaders of the colonization +movement endeavored to educate Negroes in mechanic arts, agriculture, +science, and Biblical literature. Especially bright or promising youths +were to be given special training as catechists, teachers, preachers, +and physicians. Not much was said about what they were doing, but now +and then appeared notices of Negroes who had been prepared privately in +the South or publicly in the North for service in Liberia. Dr. William +Taylor and Dr. Fleet were thus educated in the District of Columbia. In +the same way John V. De Grasse, of New York, and Thomas J. White, of +Brooklyn, were allowed to complete the medical course at Bowdoin +in 1849. In 1854 Dr. De Grasse was admitted as a member of the +Massachusetts Medical Society.'"[1] Martin V. Delany, more than once +referred to in these pages, after being refused admission at a number of +institutions, was admitted to the medical school at Harvard. He became +distinguished for his work in a cholera epidemic in Pittsburgh in 1854. +It was of course not until after the Civil War that medical departments +were established in connection with some of the new higher institutions +of learning for Negro students. + +[Footnote 1: Kelly Miller: "The Background of the Negro Physician," +_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1916, quoting in part Woodson: _The +Education of the Negro prior to 1861_.] + +Before 1860 a situation that arose more than once took from Negroes the +real credit for inventions. If a slave made an invention he was not +permitted to take out a patent, for no slave could make a contract. At +the same time the slave's master could not take out a patent for him, +for the Government would not recognize the slave as having the legal +right to make the assignment to his master. It is certain that Negroes, +who did most of the mechanical work in the South before the Civil War, +made more than one suggestion for the improvement of machinery. We have +already referred to the strong claim put forth by a member of the race +for the real credit of the cotton-gin. The honor of being the first +Negro to be granted a patent belongs to Henry Blair, of Maryland, who in +1834 received official protection for a corn harvester. + +Throughout the century there were numerous attempts at poetical +composition, and several booklets were published. Perhaps the most +promising was George Horton's _The Hope of Liberty_, which appeared in +1829. Unfortunately, Horton could not get the encouragement that he +needed and in course of time settled down to the life of a janitor at +the University of North Carolina.[1] Six years before the war Frances +Ellen Watkins (later Mrs. Harper) struck the popular note by readings +from her _Miscellaneous Poems_, which ran through several editions. +About the same time William Wells Brown was prominent, though he also +worked for several years after the war. He was a man of decided talent +and had traveled considerably. He wrote several books dealing with Negro +history and biography; and he also treated racial subjects in a novel, +_Clotel_, and in a drama, _The Escape_. The latter suffers from an +excess of moralizing, but several times it flashes out with the quality +of genuine drama, especially when it deals with the jealousy of a +mistress for a favorite slave and the escape of the latter with her +husband. In 1841 the first Negro magazine began to appear, this being +issued by the A.M.E. Church. There were numerous autobiographies, that +of Frederick Douglass, first appearing in 1845, running through edition +after edition. On the stage there was the astonishing success of Ira +Aldridge, a tragedian who in his earlier years went to Europe, where he +had the advantage of association with Edmund Kean. About 1857 he was +commonly regarded as one of the two or three greatest actors in the +world. He became a member of several of the continental academies of +arts and science, and received many decorations of crosses and medals, +the Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia being among +those who honored him. In the great field of music there was much +excellent work both in composition and in the performance on different +instruments. Among the free people of color in Louisiana there were +several distinguished musicians, some of whom removed to Europe for the +sake of greater freedom.[2] The highest individual achievement was that +of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, of Philadelphia. This singer was of the +very first rank. Her voice was of remarkable sweetness and had a compass +of twenty-seven notes. She sang before many distinguished audiences in +both Europe and America and was frequently compared with Jenny Lind, +then at the height of her fame. + +[Footnote 1: See "George Moses Horton: Slave Poet," by Stephen B. Weeks, +_Southern Workman_, October, 1914.] + +[Footnote 2: See Washington: _The Story of the Negro_, II, 276-7.] + +It is thus evident that honorable achievement on the part of Negroes +and general advance in social welfare by no means began with the +Emancipation Proclamation. In 1860 eight-ninths of the members of the +race were still slaves, but in the face of every possible handicap the +one-ninth that was free had entered practically every great field of +human endeavor. Many were respected citizens in their communities, and a +few had even laid the foundations of wealth. While there was as yet +no book of unquestioned genius or scholarship, there was considerable +intellectual activity, and only time and a little more freedom from +economic pressure were needed for the production of works of the first +order of merit. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION + + +At the outbreak of the Civil War two great questions affecting the Negro +overshadowed all others--his freedom and his employment as a soldier. +The North as a whole had no special enthusiasm about the Negro and +responded only to Lincoln's call to the duty of saving the Union. Among +both officers and men moreover there was great prejudice against the use +of the Negro as a soldier, the feeling being that he was disqualified +by slavery and ignorance. Privates objected to meeting black men on the +same footing as themselves and also felt that the arming of slaves to +fight for their former masters would increase the bitterness of the +conflict. If many men in the North felt thus, the South was furious at +the thought of the Negro as a possible opponent in arms. + +The human problem, however, was not long in presenting itself and +forcing attention. As soon as the Northern soldiers appeared in the +South, thousands of Negroes--men, women, and children--flocked to their +camps, feeling only that they were going to their friends. In May, 1861, +while in command at Fortress Monroe, Major-General Benjamin F. Butler +came into national prominence by his policy of putting to work the men +who came within his lines and justifying their retention on the ground +that, being of service to the enemy for purposes of war, they were like +guns, powder, etc., "contraband of war," and could not be reclaimed. On +August 30th of this same year Major-General John C. Fremont, in command +in Missouri, placed the state under martial law and declared the slaves +there emancipated. The administration was embarrassed, Fremont's order +was annulled, and he was relieved of his command. On May 9, 1862, +Major-General David Hunter, in charge of the Department of the South +(South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) issued his famous order freeing +the slaves in his department, and thus brought to general attention the +matter of the employment of Negro soldiers in the Union armies. The +Confederate government outlawed Hunter, Lincoln annulled his order, +and the grace of the nation was again saved; but in the meantime a new +situation had arisen. While Brigadier-General John W. Phelps was taking +part in the expedition against New Orleans, a large sugar-planter near +the city, disgusted with Federal interference with affairs on his +plantation, drove all his slaves away, telling them to go to their +friends, the Yankees. The Negroes came to Phelps in great numbers, and +for the sake of discipline he attempted to organize them into troops. +Accordingly he, too, was outlawed by the Confederates, and his act was +disavowed by the Union, that was not ready to take this step. + +Meanwhile President Lincoln was debating the Emancipation Proclamation. +Pressure from radical anti-slavery sources was constantly being brought +to bear upon him, and Horace Greeley in his famous editorial, "The +Prayer of Twenty Millions," was only one of those who criticized what +seemed to be his lack of strength in handling the situation. After +McClellan's unsuccessful campaign against Richmond, however, he felt +that the freedom of the slaves was a military and moral necessity for +its effects upon both the North and the South; and Lee's defeat at +Antietam, September 17, 1862, furnished the opportunity for which he +had been waiting. Accordingly on September 22nd he issued a preliminary +declaration giving notice that on January 1, 1865, he would free all +slaves in the states still in rebellion, and asserting as before that +the object of the war was the preservation of the Union. + +The Proclamation as finally issued January 1st is one of the most +important public documents in the history of the United States, ranking +only below the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution itself. +It full text is as follows: + + 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 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 date 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, + Plaquemine, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, + Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, 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 Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, + York, Princess Anne, 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 testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name, 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 the eighty-seventh. + + By the President, + ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + + WILLIAM H. SEWARD, + Secretary of State. + +It will be observed that the Proclamation was merely a war measure +resting on the constitutional power of the President. Its effects on the +legal status of the slaves gave rise to much discussion; and it is to +be noted that it did not apply to what is now West Virginia, to seven +counties in Virginia, and to thirteen parishes in Louisiana, which +districts had already come under Federal jurisdiction. All questions +raised by the measure, however, were finally settled by the Thirteenth +Amendment to the Constitution, and as a matter of fact freedom actually +followed the progress of the Union arms from 1863 to 1865. + +Meanwhile from the very beginning of the war Negroes were used by the +Confederates in making redoubts and in doing other rough work, and even +before the Emancipation Proclamation there were many Northern officers +who said that definite enlistment was advisable. They felt that such a +course would help to destroy slavery and that as the Negroes had so much +at stake they should have some share in the overthrow of the rebellion. +They said also that the men would be proud to wear the national uniform. +Individuals moreover as officers' servants saw much of fighting and won +confidence in their ability; and as the war advanced and more and more +men were killed the conviction grew that a Negro could stop a bullet as +well as a white man and that in any case the use of Negroes for fatigue +work would release numbers of other men for the actual fighting. + +At last--after a great many men had been killed and the Emancipation +Proclamation had changed the status of the Negro--enlistment was decided +on. The policy was that Negroes might be non-commissioned men while +white men who had seen service would be field and line officers. In +general it was expected that only those who had kindly feeling toward +the Negro would be used as officers, but in the pressure of military +routine this distinction was not always observed. Opinion for the race +gained force after the Draft Riot in New York (July, 1863), when Negroes +in the city were persecuted by the opponents of conscription. Soon a +distinct bureau was established in Washington for the recording of +all matters pertaining to Negro troops, a board was organized for the +examination of candidates, and recruiting stations were set up in +Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee. The Confederates were indignant at +the thought of having to meet black men on equal footing, and refused +to exchange Negro soldiers for white men. How such action was met by +Stanton, Secretary of War, may be seen from the fact that when he +learned that three Negro prisoners had been placed in close confinement, +he ordered three South Carolina men to be treated likewise, and the +Confederate leaders to be informed of his policy. + +The economic advantage of enlistment was apparent. It gave work to +187,000 men who had been cast adrift by the war and who had found no +place of independent labor. It gave them food, clothing, wages, and +protection, but most of all the feeling of self-respect that comes from +profitable employment. To the men themselves the year of jubilee had +come. At one great step they had crossed the gulf that separates +chattels from men and they now had a chance to vindicate their manhood. +A common poster of the day represented a Negro soldier bearing the +flag, the shackles of a slave being broken, a young Negro boy reading +a newspaper, and several children going into a public school. Over +all were the words: "All Slaves were made Freemen by Abraham Lincoln, +President of the United States, January 1st, 1863. Come, then, +able-bodied Colored Men, to the nearest United States Camp, and fight +for the Stars and Stripes." + +To the credit of the men be it said that in their new position they +acted with dignity and sobriety. When they picketed lines through which +Southern citizens passed, they acted with courtesy at the same time that +they did their duty. They captured Southern men without insulting them, +and by their own self-respect won the respect of others. Meanwhile their +brothers in the South went about the day's work, caring for the widow +and the orphan; and a nation that still lynches the Negro has to +remember that in all these troublous years deeds of violence against +white women and girls were absolutely unknown. + +Throughout the country the behavior of the black men under fire was +watched with the most intense interest. More and more in the baptism of +blood they justified the faith for which their friends had fought for +years. At Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, Fort Pillow, and Petersburg their +courage was most distinguished. Said the New York _Times_ of the battle +at Port Hudson (1863): "General Dwight, at least, must have had the idea +not only that they (the Negro troops) were men, but something more than +men, from the terrific test to which he put their valor.... Their colors +are torn to pieces by shot, and literally bespattered by blood and +brains." This was the occasion on which Color-Sergeant Anselmas +Planciancois said before a shell blew off his head, "Colonel, I will +bring back these colors to you on honor, or report to God the reason +why." On June 6 the Negroes again distinguished themselves and +won friends by their bravery at Milliken's Bend. The Fifty-fourth +Massachusetts, commanded by Robert Gould Shaw, was conspicuous in the +attempt to take Fort Wagner, on Morris Island near Charleston, July 18, +1863. The regiment had marched two days and two nights through swamps +and drenching rains in order to be in time for the assault. In the +engagement nearly all the officers of the regiment were killed, among +them Colonel Shaw. The picturesque deed was that of Sergeant William H. +Carney, who seized the regiment's colors from the hands of a falling +comrade, planted the flag on the works, and said when borne bleeding and +mangled from the field, "Boys, the old flag never touched the ground." +Fort Pillow, a position on the Mississippi, about fifty miles above +Memphis, was garrisoned by 557 men, 262 of whom were Negroes, when +it was attacked April 13, 1864. The fort was finally taken by the +Confederates, but the feature of the engagement was the stubborn +resistance offered by the Union troops in the face of great odds. In the +Mississippi Valley, and in the Department of the South, the Negro had +now done excellent work as a soldier. In the spring of 1864 he made his +appearance in the Army of the Potomac. In July there was around Richmond +and Petersburg considerable skirmishing between the Federal and the +Confederate forces. Burnside, commanding a corps composed partly of +Negroes, dug under a Confederate fort a trench a hundred and fifty yards +long. This was filled with explosives, and on July 30 the match was +applied and the famous crater formed. Just before the explosion the +Negroes had figured in a gallant charge on the Confederates. The plan +was to follow the eruption by a still more formidable assault, in which +Burnside wanted to give his Negro troops the lead. A dispute about this +and a settlement by lot resulted in the awarding of precedence to a New +Hampshire regiment. Said General Grant later of the whole unfortunate +episode: "General Burnside wanted to put his colored division in front; +I believe if he had done so it would have been a success." After the men +of a Negro regiment had charged and taken a battery at Decatur, Ala., in +October, 1864, and shown exceptional gallantry under fire, they received +an ovation from their white comrades "who by thousands sprang upon the +parapets and cheered the regiment as it reëntered the lines."[1] + +[Footnote 1: General Thomas J. Morgan: "The Negroes in the Civil War," +in the _Baptist Home Mission Monthly_, quoted in _Liberia_, Bulletin 12, +February, 1898. General Morgan in October, 1863, became a major in the +Fourteenth United States Colored Infantry. He organized the regiment and +became its colonel. He also organized the Forty-second and Forty-fourth +regiments of colored infantry.] + +When all was over there was in the North a spontaneous recognition of +the right of such men to honorable and generous treatment at the hands +of the nation, and in Congress there was the feeling that if the South +could come back to the Union with its autonomy unimpaired, certainly +the Negro soldier should have the rights of citizenship. Before the war +closed, however, there was held in Syracuse, N.Y., a convention of Negro +men that threw interesting light on the problems and the feeling of +the period.[1] At this gathering John Mercer Langston was temporary +chairman, Frederick Douglass, president, and Henry Highland Garnett, of +Washington; James W.C. Pennington, of New York; George L. Ruffin, of +Boston, and Ebenezer D. Bassett, of Philadelphia, were among the more +prominent delegates. There was at the meeting a fear that some of the +things that seemed to have been gained by the war might not actually be +realized; and as Congress had not yet altered the Constitution so as to +abolish slavery, grave question was raised by a recent speech in which +no less a man than Seward, Secretary of State, had said: "When the +insurgents shall have abandoned their armies and laid down their arms, +the war will instantly cease; and all the war measures then existing, +including those which affect slavery, will cease also." The convention +thanked the President and the Thirty-Seventh Congress for revoking a +prohibitory law in regard to the carrying of mails by Negroes, for +abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, for recognizing Hayti +and Liberia, and for the military order retaliating for the unmilitary +treatment accorded Negro soldiers by the Confederate officers; and +especially it thanked Senator Sumner "for his noble efforts to cleanse +the statute-books of the nation from every stain of inequality against +colored men," and General Butler for the stand he had taken early in the +war. At the same time it resolved to send a petition to Congress to +ask that the rights of the country's Negro patriots in the field be +respected, and that the Government cease to set an example to those in +arms against it by making invidious distinctions, based upon color, as +to pay, labor, and promotion. It begged especially to be saved from +supposed friends: "When the _Anti-Slavery Standard_, representing the +American Anti-Slavery Society, denies that the society asks for the +enfranchisement of colored men, and the _Liberator_ apologizes for +excluding the colored men of Louisiana from the ballot-box, they injure +us more vitally than all the ribald jests of the whole pro-slavery +press." Finally the convention insisted that any such things as the +right to own real estate, to testify in courts of law, and to sue and +be sued, were mere privileges so long as general political liberty +was withheld, and asked frankly not only for the formal and complete +abolition of slavery in the United States, but also for the elective +franchise in all the states then in the Union and in all that might come +into the Union thereafter. On the whole this representative gathering +showed a very clear conception of the problems facing the Negro and the +country in 1864. Its reference to well-known anti-slavery publications +shows not only the increasing race consciousness that came through this +as through all other wars in which the country has engaged, but also the +great drift toward conservatism that had taken place in the North within +thirty years. + +[Footnote 1: See Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men, +held in the city of Syracuse, N.Y., October 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1864, with +the Bill of Wrongs and Rights, and the Address to the American People. +Boston, 1864.] + +Whatever might be the questions of the moment, however, about the +supreme blessing of freedom there could at last be no doubt. It had been +long delayed and had finally come merely as an incident to the war; +nevertheless a whole race of people had passed from death unto life. +Then, as before and since, they found a parallel for their experiences +in the story of the Jews in the Old Testament. They, too, had sojourned +in Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. What they could not then see, or only +dimly realize, was that they needed faith--faith in God and faith in +themselves--for the forty years in the wilderness. They did not yet +fully know that He who guided the children of Israel and drove out +before them the Amorite and the Hittite, would bring them also to the +Promised Land. + + * * * * * + +To those who led the Negro in these wonderful years--to Robert Gould +Shaw, the young colonel of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, who +died leading his men at Fort Wagner; to Norwood Penrose Hallowell, +lieutenant-colonel of the Fifty-Fourth and then colonel of the +Fifty-Fifth; to his brother, Edward N. Hallowell, who succeeded Shaw +when he fell; and to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who commanded the first +regiment of freed slaves--no ordinary eulogy can apply. Their names are +written in letters of flame and their deeds live after them. On the Shaw +Monument in Boston are written these words: + + The White Officers + + Taking Life and Honor in their Hands--Cast their lot with Men of a + Despised Race Unproved in War--and Risked Death as Inciters of a + Servile Insurrection if Taken Prisoners, Besides Encountering all + the Common Perils of Camp, March, and Battle. + + The Black Rank and File + + Volunteered when Disaster Clouded the Union Cause--Served without + Pay for Eighteen Months till Given that of White Troops--Faced + Threatened Enslavement if Captured--Were Brave in Action--Patient + under Dangerous and Heavy Labors and Cheerful amid Hardships and + Privations. + + Together + + They Gave to the Nation Undying Proof that Americans of African + Descent Possess the Pride, Courage, and Devotion of the Patriot + Soldier--One Hundred and Eighty Thousand Such Americans Enlisted + under the Union Flag in MDCCCLXIII-MDCCCLXV. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE ERA OF ENFRANCHISEMENT + + +1. _The Problem_ + + +At the close of the Civil War the United States found itself face to +face with one of the gravest social problems of modern times. More and +more it became apparent that it was not only the technical question of +the restoration of the states to the Union that had to be considered, +but the whole adjustment for the future of the lives of three and a half +million Negroes and five and a half million white people in the South. +In its final analysis the question was one of race, and to add to the +difficulties of this problem it is to be regretted that there should +have been actually upon the scene politicians and speculators who sought +to capitalize for their own gain the public distress. + +The South was thoroughly demoralized, and the women who had borne the +burden of the war at home were especially bitter. Slave property to the +amount of two billions of dollars had been swept away; several of the +chief cities had suffered bombardment; the railroads had largely run +down; and the confiscation of property was such as to lead to the +indemnification of thousands of claimants afterwards. The Negro was not +yet settled in new places of abode, and his death rate was appalling. +Throughout the first winter after the war the whole South was on the +verge of starvation. + +Here undoubtedly was a difficult situation--one calling for the highest +quality of statesmanship, and of sportsmanship on the part of the +vanquished. Many Negroes, freed from the tradition of two hundred and +fifty years of slavery, took a holiday; some resolved not to work any +more as long as they lived, and some even appropriated to their own use +the produce of their neighbors. If they remained on the old plantations, +they feared that they might still be considered slaves; on the other +hand, if they took to the high road, they might be considered vagrants. +If one returned from a Federal camp to claim his wife and children, +he might be driven away. "Freedom cried out," and undoubtedly some +individuals did foolish things; but serious crime was noticeably absent. +On the whole the race bore the blessing of emancipation with remarkable +good sense and temper. Returning soldiers paraded, there were some +meetings and processions, sometimes a little regalia--and even a little +noise; then everybody went home. Unfortunately even so much the white +South regarded as insolence. + +The example of how the South _might_ have met the situation was afforded +by no less a man than Robert E. Lee, about whose unselfishness and +standard of conduct as a gentleman there could be no question. One day +in Richmond a Negro from the street, intent on asserting his rights, +entered a representative church, pushed his way to the communion altar +and knelt. The congregation paused, and all fully realized the factors +that entered into the situation. Then General Lee rose and knelt beside +the Negro; the congregation did likewise, and the tension was over. +Furthermore, every one went home spiritually uplifted. + +Could the handling of this incident have been multipled a thousand +times--could men have realized that mere accidents are fleeting but +that principles are eternal--both races would have been spared years +of agony, and our Southland would be a far different place to-day. The +Negro was at the heart of the problem, but to that problem the South +undoubtedly held the key. Of course the cry of "social equality" might +have been raised; _anything_ might have been said to keep the right +thing from being done. In this instance, as in many others, the final +question was not what somebody else did, but how one himself could act +most nobly. + +Unfortunately Lee's method of approach was not to prevail. Passion and +prejudice and demagoguery were to have their day, and conservative and +broadly patriotic men were to be made to follow leaders whom they could +not possibly approve. Sixty years afterwards we still suffer from the +KuKlux solution of the problem. + + +2. _Meeting the Problem_ + +The story of reconstruction has been many times told, and it is not +our intention to tell that story again. We must content ourselves by +touching upon some of the salient points in the discussion. + +Even before the close of the war the National Government had undertaken +to handle officially the thousands of Negroes who had crowded to the +Federal lines and not less than a million of whom were in the spring of +1865 dependent upon the National Government for support. The Bureau of +Refugee Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, created in connection with the +War Department by an act of March 3, 1865, was to remain in existence +throughout the war and for one year thereafter. Its powers were enlarged +July 16, 1866, and its chief work did not end until January 1, 1869, its +educational work continuing for a year and a half longer. The Freedmen's +Bureau was to have "the supervision and management of all abandoned +lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and +freedmen." Of special importance was the provision in the creating act +that gave the freedmen to understand that each male refugee was to be +given forty acres with the guarantee of possession for three years. +Throughout the existence of the Bureau its chief commissioner was +General O.O. Howard. While the principal officers were undoubtedly men +of noble purpose, many of the minor officials were just as undoubtedly +corrupt and self-seeking. In the winter of 1865-6 one-third of its aid +was given to the white people of the South. For Negro pupils the Bureau +established altogether 4,239 schools, and these had 9,307 teachers and +247,333 students. Its real achievement has been thus ably summed up: +"The greatest success of the Freedmen's Bureau lay in the planting of +the free school among Negroes, and the idea of free elementary education +among all classes in the South.... For some fifteen million dollars, +beside the sum spent before 1865, and the dole of benevolent societies, +this bureau set going a system of free labor, established a beginning of +peasant proprietorship, secured the recognition of black freedmen before +courts of law, and founded the free common school in the South. On the +other hand, it failed to begin the establishment of good will between +ex-masters and freedmen, to guard its work wholly from paternalistic +methods, which discouraged self-reliance, and to carry out to any +considerable extent its implied promises to furnish the freedmen with +land."[1] To this tale of its shortcomings must be added also the +management of the Freedmen's Bank, which "was morally and practically +part of the Freedmen's Bureau, although it had no legal connection with +it." This institution made a really remarkable start in the development +of thrift among the Negroes, and its failure, involving the loss of the +first savings of hundreds of ex-slaves, was as disastrous in its moral +as in its immediate financial consequences. + +[Footnote 1: DuBois: _The Souls of Black Folk_, 32-37.] + +When the Freedmen's Bureau came to an end, it turned its educational +interests and some money over to the religious and benevolent societies +which had coöperated with it, especially to the American Missionary +Association. This society had been organized before the Civil War on +an interdenominational and strong anti-slavery basis; but with the +withdrawal of general interest the body passed in 1881 into the hands of +the Congregational Church. Other prominent agencies were the American +Baptist Home Mission Society (also the American Baptist Publication +Society), the Freedmen's Aid Society (representing the Northern +Methodists), and the Presbyterian Board of Missions. Actual work was +begun by the American Missionary Association. In 1861 Lewis Tappan, +treasurer of the organization, wrote to General Butler to ask just +what aid could be given. The result of the correspondence was that on +September 3 of this year Rev. L.C. Lockwood reached Hampton and on +September 17 opened the first day school among the freedmen. This school +was taught by Mrs. Mary S. Peake, a woman of the race who had had the +advantage of a free mother, and whose devotion to the work was such that +she soon died. However, she had helped to lay the foundations of Hampton +Institute. Soon there was a school at Norfolk, there were two at Newport +News, and by January schools at Hilton Head and Beaufort, S.C. Then came +the Emancipation Proclamation, throwing wide open the door of the great +need. Rev. John Eaton, army chaplain from Ohio, afterwards United States +Commissioner of Education, was placed in charge of the instruction of +the Negroes, and in one way or another by the close of the war probably +as many as one million in the South had learned to read and write. The +83 missionaries and teachers of the Association in 1863 increased to 250 +in 1864. At the first day session of the school in Norfolk after the +Proclamation there were 350 scholars, with 300 others in the evening. +On the third day there were 550 in the day school and 500 others in the +evening. The school had to be divided, a part going to another church; +the assistants increased in number, and soon the day attendance was +1,200. For such schools the houses on abandoned plantations were used, +and even public buildings were called into commission. Afterwards arose +the higher institutions, Atlanta, Berea, Fisk, Talladega, Straight, with +numerous secondary schools. Similarly the Baptists founded the colleges +which, with some changes of name, have become Virginia Union, Hartshorn, +Shaw, Benedict, Morehouse, Spelman, Jackson, and Bishop, with numerous +affiliated institutions. The Methodists began to operate Clark (in South +Atlanta), Claflin, Rust, Wiley, and others; and the Presbyterians, +having already founded Lincoln in 1854, now founded Biddle and several +seminaries for young women; while the United Presbyterians founded +Knoxville. In course of time the distinctively Negro denominations--the +A.M.E., the A.M.E.Z., and the C.M.E. (which last represented a +withdrawal from the Southern Methodists in 1870)--also helped in +the work, and thus, in addition to Wilberforce in Ohio, arose such +institutions as Morris Brown University, Livingstone College, and Lane +College. In 1867, moreover, the Federal Government crowned its work for +the education of the Negro by the establishment at Washington of Howard +University. + +As these institutions have grown they have naturally developed some +differences or special emphasis. Hampton and Atlanta University are +now independent; and Berea has had a peculiar history, legislation in +Kentucky in 1903 restricting the privileges of the institution to white +students. Hampton, in the hands of General Armstrong, placed emphasis on +the idea of industrial and practical education which has since become +world-famous. In 1871 the Fisk Jubilee Singers began their memorable +progress through America and Europe, meeting at first with scorn and +sneers, but before long touching the heart of the world with their +strange music. Their later success was as remarkable as their mission +was unique. Meanwhile Spelman Seminary, in the record of her graduates +who have gone as missionaries to Africa, has also developed a glorious +tradition. + +To those heroic men and women who represented this idea of education at +its best, too much credit can not be given. Cravath at Fisk, Ware at +Atlanta, Armstrong at Hampton, Graves at Morehouse, Tupper at Shaw, and +Packard and Giles at Spelman, are names that should ever be recalled +with thanksgiving. These people had no enviable task. They were +ostracized and persecuted, and some of their co-workers even killed. It +is true that their idea of education founded on the New England college +was not very elastic; but their theory was that the young men and women +whom they taught, before they were Negroes, were human beings. They had +the key to the eternal verities, and time will more and more justify +their position. + +To the Freedmen's Bureau the South objected because of the political +activity of some of its officials. To the schools founded by missionary +endeavor it objected primarily on the score of social equality. To both +the provisional Southern governments of 1865 replied with the so-called +Black Codes. The theory of these remarkable ordinances--most harsh in +Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana--was that even if the Negro +was nominally free he was by no means able to take care of himself and +needed the tutelage and oversight of the white man. Hence developed what +was to be known as a system of "apprenticeship." South Carolina in her +act of December 21, 1865, said, "A child, over the age of two years, +born of a colored parent, may be bound by the father if he be living in +the district, or in case of his death or absence from the district, by +the mother, as an apprentice to any respectable white or colored person +who is competent to make a contract; a male until he shall attain the +age of twenty-one years, and a female until she shall attain the age of +eighteen.... Males of the age of twelve years, and females of the age +of ten years, shall sign the indenture of apprenticeship, and be bound +thereby.... The master shall receive to his own use the profits of the +labor of his apprentice." To this Mississippi added: "If any apprentice +shall leave the employment of his or her master or mistress, said master +or mistress may pursue and recapture said apprentice, and bring him or +her before any justice of peace of the county, whose duty it shall be to +remand said apprentice to the service of his or her master or mistress; +and in the event of a refusal on the part of said apprentice so to +return, then said justice shall commit said apprentice to the jail of +said county," etc., etc. In general by such legislation the Negro was +given the right to sue and be sued, to testify in court concerning +Negroes, and to have marriage and the responsibility for children +recognized. On the other hand, he could not serve on juries, could +not serve in the militia, and could not vote or hold office. He was +virtually forbidden to assemble, and his freedom of movement was +restricted. Within recent years the Black Codes have been more than once +defended as an honest effort to meet a difficult situation, but the old +slavery attitude peered through them and gave the impression that those +who framed them did not yet know that the old order had passed away. + +Meanwhile the South was in a state of panic, and the provisional +governor of Mississippi asked of President Johnson permission to +organize the local militia. The request was granted and the patrols +immediately began to show their hostility to Northern people and the +freedmen. In the spring of 1866 there was a serious race riot in +Memphis. On July 30, while some Negroes were marching to a political +convention in New Orleans, they became engaged in brawls with the +white spectators. Shots were exchanged; the police, assisted by the +spectators, undertook to arrest the Negroes; the Negroes took refuge in +the convention hall; and their pursuers stormed the building and shot +down without mercy the Negroes and their white supporters. Altogether +not less than forty were killed and not less than one hundred wounded; +but not more than a dozen men were killed on the side of the police and +the white citizens. General Sheridan, who was in command at New Orleans, +characterized the affair as "an absolute massacre ... a murder which +the mayor and police of the city perpetrated without the shadow of a +necessity." + +In the face of such events and tendencies, and influenced to some extent +by a careful and illuminating but much criticized report of Carl Schurz, +Congress, led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens, proceeded to pass +legislation designed to protect the freedmen and to guarantee to +the country the fruits of the war. The Thirteenth Amendment to the +Constitution formally abolishing slavery was passed December 18, 1865. +In the following March Congress passed over the President's veto the +first Civil Rights Bill, guaranteeing to the freedmen all the ordinary +rights of citizenship, and it was about the same time that it enlarged +the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau. The Fourteenth Amendment (July +28, 1868) denied to the states the power to abridge the privileges or +immunities of citizens of the United States; and the Fifteenth Amendment +(March 30, 1870) sought to protect the Negro by giving to him the right +of suffrage instead of military protection. In 1875 was passed the +second Civil Rights act, designed to give Negroes equality of treatment +in theaters, railway cars, hotels, etc.; but this the Supreme Court +declared unconstitutional in 1883. + +As a result of this legislation the Negro was placed in positions of +responsibility; within the next few years the race sent two senators +and thirteen representatives to Congress, and in some of the state +legislatures, as in South Carolina, Negroes were decidedly in the +majority. The attainments of some of these men were undoubtedly +remarkable; the two United States senators, Hiram R. Revels and Blanche +K. Bruce, both from Mississippi, were of unquestioned intelligence and +ability, and Robert B. Elliott, one of the representatives from South +Carolina, attracted unusual attention by his speech in reply to +Alexander Stephens on the constitutionality of the Civil Rights bill. At +the same time among the Negro legislators there was also considerable +ignorance, and there set in an era of extravagance and corruption from +which the "carpet-baggers" and the "scalawags" rather than the Negroes +themselves reaped the benefit. Accordingly within recent years it has +become more and more the fashion to lament the ills of the period, and +no representative American historian can now write of reconstruction +without a tone of apology. A few points, however, are to be observed. +In the first place the ignorance was by no means so vast as has been +supposed. Within the four years from 1861 to 1865, thanks to the army +schools and missionary agencies, not less than half a million Negroes in +the South had learned to read and write. Furthermore, the suffrage was +not immediately given to the emancipated Negroes; this was the +last rather than the first step in reconstruction. The provisional +legislatures formed at the close of the war were composed of white men +only; but the experiment failed because of the short-sighted laws that +were enacted. If the fruit of the Civil War was not to be lost, if all +the sacrifice was not to prove in vain, it became necessary for Congress +to see that the overthrow of slavery was final and complete. By the +Fourteenth Amendment the Negro was invested with the ordinary rights and +dignity of a citizen of the United States. He was not enfranchised, but +he could no longer be made the victim of state laws designed merely to +keep him in servile subjection. If the Southern states had accepted +this amendment, they might undoubtedly have reëntered the Union without +further conditions. They refused to do so; they refused to help the +National Government in any way whatsoever in its effort to guarantee +to the Negro the rights of manhood. Achilles sulked in his tent, and +whenever he sulks the world moves on--without him. The alternative +finally presented to Congress, if it was not to make an absolute +surrender, was either to hold the South indefinitely under military +subjection or to place the ballot in the hands of the Negro. The former +course was impossible; the latter was chosen, and the Union was really +restored--was really saved--by the force of the ballot in the hands of +black men. + +It has been held that the Negro was primarily to blame for the +corruption of the day. Here again it is well to recall the tendencies of +the period. The decade succeeding the war was throughout the country +one of unparalleled political corruption. The Tweed ring, the Crédit +Mobilier, and the "salary grab" were only some of the more outstanding +signs of the times. In the South the Negroes were not the real leaders +in corruption; they simply followed the men who they supposed were their +friends. Surely in the face of such facts as these it is not just to fix +upon a people groping to the light the peculiar odium of the corruption +that followed in the wake of the war. + +And we shall have to leave it to those better informed than we to say to +just what extent city and state politics in the South have been cleaned +up since the Negro ceased to be a factor. Many of the constitutions +framed by the reconstruction governments were really excellent models, +and the fact that they were overthrown seems to indicate that some other +spoilsmen were abroad. Take North Carolina, for example. In this state +in 1868 the reconstruction government by its new constitution introduced +the township system so favorably known in the North and West. When in +1875 the South regained control, with all the corruption it found as +excellent a form of republican state government as was to be found in +any state in the Union. "Every provision which any state enjoyed for the +protection of public society from its bad members and bad impulses was +either provided or easily procurable under the Constitution of the +state."[1] Yet within a year, in order to annul the power of their +opponents in every county in the state, the new party so amended +the Constitution as to take away from every county the power of +self-government and centralize everything in the legislature. Now was +realized an extent of power over elections and election returns so +great that no party could wholly clear itself of the idea of corrupt +intentions. + +[Footnote 1: George W. Cable: _The Southern Struggle for Pure +Government_: An Address. Boston, 1890, included in _The Negro Question_, +New York, 1890.] + +At the heart of the whole question of course was race. As a matter of +fact much work of genuine statesmanship was accomplished or attempted by +the reconstruction governments. For one thing the idea of common school +education for all people was now for the first time fully impressed upon +the South. The Charleston _News and Courier_ of July 11, 1876, formally +granted that in the administration of Governor Chamberlain of South +Carolina the abuse of the pardoning power had been corrected; the +character of the officers appointed by the Executive had improved; the +floating indebtedness of the state had been provided for in such a way +that the rejection of fraudulent claims was assured and that valid +claims were scaled one-half; the tax laws had been so amended as to +secure substantial equality in the assessment of property; taxes had +been reduced to eleven mills on the dollar; the contingent fund of +the executive department had been reduced at a saving in two years of +$101,200; legislative expenses had also been reduced so as to save +in two years $350,000; legislative contingent expenses had also been +handled so as to save $355,000; and the public printing reduced from +$300,000 to $50,000 a year. There were, undoubtedly, at first, many +corrupt officials, white and black. Before they were through, however, +after only a few years of experimenting, the reconstruction governments +began to show signs of being quite able to handle the situation; and it +seems to have been primarily the fear on the part of the white South +_that they might not fail_ that prompted the determination to regain +power at whatever cost. Just how this was done we are now to see. + + +3. _Reaction: The KuKlux Klan_ + +Even before the Civil War a secret organization, the Knights of the +Golden Circle, had been formed to advance Southern interests. After the +war there were various organizations--Men of Justice, Home Guards, Pale +Faces, White Brotherhood, White Boys, Council of Safety, etc., and, with +headquarters at New Orleans, the thoroughly organized Knights of the +White Camelia. All of these had for their general aim the restoration +of power to the white men of the South, which aim they endeavored to +accomplish by regulating the conduct of the Negroes and their leaders +in the Republican organization, the Union League, especially by playing +upon the fears and superstitions of the Negroes. In general, especially +in the Southeast, everything else was surpassed or superseded by the +KuKlux Klan, which originated in Tennessee in the fall of 1865 as an +association of young men for amusement, but which soon developed into a +union for the purpose of whipping, banishing, terrorizing, and murdering +Negroes and Northern white men who encouraged them in the exercise of +their political rights. No Republican, no member of the Union League, +and no G.A.R. man could become a member. The costume of the Klan +was especially designed to strike terror in the uneducated Negroes. +Loose-flowing sleeves, hoods in which were apertures for the eyes, nose, +and mouth trimmed with red material, horns made of cotton-stuff standing +out on the front and sides, high cardboard hats covered with white +cloth decorated with stars or pictures of animals, long tongues of red +flannel, were all used as occasion demanded. The KuKlux Klan finally +extended over the whole South and greatly increased its operations on +the cessation of martial law in 1870. As it worked generally at night, +with its members in disguise, it was difficult for a grand jury to get +evidence on which to frame a bill, and almost impossible to get a jury +that would return a verdict for the state. Repeated measures against +the order were of little effect until an act of 1870 extended the +jurisdiction of the United States courts to all KuKlux cases. Even then +for some time the organization continued active. + +Naturally there were serious clashes before government was restored to +the white South, especially as the KuKlux Klan grew bolder. At Colfax, +Grant Parish, Louisiana, in April, 1873, there was a pitched battle in +which several white men and more than fifty Negroes were killed; and +violence increased as the "red shirt" campaign of 1876 approached. + +In connection with the events of this fateful year, and with reference +to South Carolina, where the Negro seemed most solidly in power, we +recall one episode, that of the Hamburg Massacre. We desire to give this +as fully as possible in all its incidents, because we know of nothing +that better illustrates the temper of the times, and because a most +important matter is regularly ignored or minimized by historians.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Fleming, in his latest and most mature account of +reconstruction, _The Sequel of Appomattox_, has not one word to say +about the matter. Dunning, in _Reconstruction Political and Economic_ +(306), speaks as follows: "July 6, 1876, an armed collision between +whites and blacks at Hamburg, Aiken County, resulted in the usual +slaughter of the blacks. Whether the original cause of the trouble +was the insolence and threats of a Negro militia company, or the +aggressiveness and violence of some young white men, was much discussed +throughout the state, and, indeed, the country at large. Chamberlain +took frankly and strongly the ground that the whites were at fault." +Such a statement we believe simply does not do justice to the facts. +The account given herewith is based upon the report of the matter in a +letter published in a Washington paper and submitted in connection with +the debate in the United States House of Representatives, July 15th and +18th, 1876, on the Massacre of Six Colored Citizens at Hamburg, S.C., +July 4, 1876; and on "An Address to the People of the United States, +adopted at a Conference of Colored Citizens, held at Columbia, S.C., +July 20th and 21st, 1876" (Republican Printing Co., Columbia, S.C., +1876). The Address, a document most important for the Negro's side of +the story, was signed by no less than sixty representative men, among +them R.B. Elliott, R.H. Gleaves, F.L. Cardozo, D.A. Straker, T. McC. +Stewart, and H.N. Bouey.] + +In South Carolina an act providing for the enrollment of the male +citizens of the state, who were by the terms of the said act made +subject to the performance of militia duty, was passed by the General +Assembly and approved by the Governor March 16, 1869. By virtue of this +act Negro citizens were regularly enrolled as a part of the National +Guard of the State of South Carolina, and as the white men, with very +few exceptions, failed or refused to become a part of the said force, +the active militia was composed almost wholly of Negro men. The County +of Edgefield, of which Hamburg was a part, was one of the military +districts of the state under the apportionment of the Adjutant-General, +one regiment being allotted to the district. One company of this +regiment was in Hamburg. In 1876 it had recently been reorganized with +Doc Adams as captain, Lewis Cartledge as first lieutenant, and A.T. +Attaway as second lieutenant. The ranks were recruited to the requisite +number of men, to whom arms and equipment were duly issued. + +On Tuesday, July 4, the militia company assembled for drill and while +thus engaged paraded through one of the least frequented streets of the +town. This street was unusually wide, but while marching four abreast +the men were interrupted by a horse and buggy driven _into their ranks_ +by Thomas Butler and Henry Getzen, white men who resided about two +miles from the town. At the time of this interference the company was +occupying a space covering a width of not more than eight feet, so that +on either side there was abundant room for vehicles. At the interruption +Captain Adams commanded a halt and, stepping to the head of his column, +said, "Mr. Getzen, I did not think that you would treat me this way; I +would not so act towards you." To this Getzen replied with curses, +and after a few more remarks on either side, Adams, in order to avoid +further trouble, commanded his men to break ranks and permit the buggy +to pass through. The company was then marched to the drill rooms and +dismissed. + +On Wednesday, July 5, Robert J. Butler, father of Thomas Butler and +father-in-law of Getzen, appeared before P.R. Rivers, colored trial +justice, and made complaint that the militia company had on the previous +day obstructed one of the public streets of Hamburg and prevented his +son and son-in-law from passing through. Rivers accordingly issued a +summons for the officers to appear the next day, July 6. When Adams and +his two lieutenants appeared on Thursday, they found present Robert J. +Butler and several other white men heavily armed with revolvers. On the +calling of the case it was announced that the defendants were present +and that Henry Sparnick, a member of the circuit bar of the county, had +been retained to represent them. Butler angrily protested against such +representation and demanded that the hearing be postponed until he +could procure counsel from the city of Augusta; whereupon Adams and his +lieutenants, after consultation with their attorney, who informed them +that there were no legal grounds on which the case could be decided +against them, waived their constitutional right to be represented by +counsel and consented to go to trial. On this basis the case was opened +and proceeded with for some time, when on account of some disturbance +its progress was arrested, and it was adjourned for further hearing on +the following Saturday, July 8, at four o'clock in the afternoon. + +On Saturday, between two and three o'clock, General M.C. Butler, of +Edgefield, formerly an officer in the Confederate army, arrived in +Hamburg, and he was followed by mounted men in squads of ten or fifteen +until the number was more than two hundred, the last to arrive being +Colonel A.P. Butler at the head of threescore men. Immediately after his +arrival General Butler sent for Attorney Sparnick, who was charged with +the request to Rivers and the officers of the militia company to confer +with him at once. There was more passing of messengers back and forth, +and it was at length deemed best for the men to confer with Butler. To +this two of the officers objected on the ground that the whole plan was +nothing more than a plot for their assassination. They sent to ask if +General Butler would meet them without the presence of his armed force. +He replied Yes, but before arrangements could be made for the interview +another messenger came to say that the hour for the trial had arrived, +that General Butler was at the court, and that he requested the presence +of the trial justice, Rivers. Rivers proceeded to court alone and found +Butler there waiting for him. He was about to proceed with the case when +Butler asked for more time, which request was granted. He went away and +never returned to the court. Instead he went to the council chamber, +being surrounded now by greater and greater numbers of armed men, and he +sent a committee to the officers asking that they come to the council +chamber to see him. The men again declined for the same reason as +before. Butler now sent an ultimatum demanding that the officers +apologize for what took place on July 4 and that they surrender to him +their arms, threatening that if the surrender was not made at once he +would take their guns and officers by force. Adams and his men now awoke +to a full sense of their danger, and they asked Rivers, who was not only +trial justice but also Major General of the division of the militia to +which they belonged, if he demanded their arms of them. Rivers replied +that he did not. Thereupon the officers refused the request of Butler on +the ground that he had no legal right to demand their arms or to receive +them if surrendered. At this point Butler let it be known that he +demanded the surrender of the arms within half an hour and that if he +did not receive them he would "lay the d---- town in ashes." Asked in an +interview whether, if his terms were complied with, he would guarantee +protection to the people of the town he answered that he did not know +and that that would depend altogether upon how they behaved themselves. + +Butler now went with a companion to Augusta, returning in about thirty +minutes. A committee called upon him as soon as he got back. He had only +to say that he demanded the arms immediately. Asked if he would accept +the boxing up of the arms and the sending of them to the Governor, he +said, "D---- the Governor. I am not here to consult him, but am here as +Colonel Butler, and this won't stop until after November." Asked again +if he would guarantee general protection if the arms were surrendered, +he said, "I guarantee nothing." + +All the while scores of mounted men were about the streets. Such members +of the militia company as were in town and their friends to the number +of thirty-eight repaired to their armory--a large brick building +about two hundred yards from the river--and barricaded themselves for +protection. Firing upon the armory was begun by the mounted men, and +after half an hour there were occasional shots from within. After a +while the men in the building heard an order to bring cannon from +Augusta, and they began to leave the building from the rear, concealing +themselves as well as they could in a cornfield. The cannon was brought +and discharged three or four times, those firing it not knowing that the +building had been evacuated. When they realized their mistake they made +a general search through lots and yards for the members of the company +and finally captured twenty-seven of them, after two had been killed. +The men, none of whom now had arms, were marched to a place near the +railroad station, where the sergeant of the company was ordered to call +the roll. Allan T. Attaway, whose name was first, was called out +and shot in cold blood. Twelve men fired upon him and he was killed +instantly. The men whose names were second, third, and fourth on the +list were called out and treated likewise. The fifth man made a dash for +liberty and escaped with a slight wound in the leg. All the others were +then required to hold up their right hands and swear that they would +never bear arms against the white people or give in court any testimony +whatsoever regarding the occurrence. They were then marched off two by +two and dispersed, but stray shots were fired after them as they went +away. In another portion of the town the chief of police, James Cook, +was taken from his home and brutally murdered. A marshal of the town was +shot through the body and mortally wounded. One of the men killed was +found with his tongue cut out. The members of Butler's party finally +entered the homes of most of the prominent Negroes in the town, smashed +the furniture, tore books to pieces, and cut pictures from their frames, +all amid the most heartrending distress on the part of the women and +children. That night the town was desolate, for all who could do so fled +to Aiken or Columbia. + +Upon all of which our only comment is that while such a process might +seem for a time to give the white man power, it makes no progress +whatever toward the ultimate solution of the problem. + + +4. _Counter-Reaction: The Negro Exodus_ + +The Negro Exodus of 1879 was partially considered in connection with our +study of Liberia; but a few facts are in place here. + +After the withdrawal of Federal troops conditions in the South were +changed so much that, especially in South Carolina, Mississippi, +Louisiana, and Texas, the state of affairs was no longer tolerable. +Between 1866 and 1879 more than three thousand Negroes were summarily +killed.[1] The race began to feel that a new slavery in the horrible +form of peonage was approaching, and that the disposition of the men in +power was to reduce the laborer to the minimum of advantages as a free +man and to none at all as a citizen. The fear, which soon developed into +a panic, rose especially in consequence of the work of political mobs +in 1874 and 1875, and it soon developed organization. About this the +outstanding fact was that the political leaders of the last few years +were regularly distrusted and ignored, the movement being secret in its +origin and committed either to the plantation laborers themselves or +their direct representatives. In North Carolina circulars about Nebraska +were distributed. In Tennessee Benjamin ("Pap") Singleton began about +1869 to induce Negroes to go to Kansas, and he really founded two +colonies with a total of 7432 Negroes from his state, paying of his own +money over $600 for circulars. In Louisiana alone 70,000 names were +taken of those who wished to better their condition by removal; and by +1878 98,000 persons in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas were +ready to go elsewhere. A convention to consider the whole matter of +migration was held in Nashville in 1879. At this the politician managed +to put in an appearance and there was much wordy discussion. At the same +time much of the difference of opinion was honest; the meeting was +on the whole constructive; and it expressed itself as favorable to +"reasonable migration." Already, however, thousands of Negroes were +leaving their homes in the South and going in greatest numbers to +Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana. Within twenty months Kansas alone +received in this way an addition to her population of 40,000 persons. +Many of these people arrived at their destination practically penniless +and without prospect of immediate employment; but help was afforded by +relief agencies in the North, and they themselves showed remarkable +sturdiness in adapting themselves to the new conditions. + +[Footnote 1: Emmett J. Scott: Negro Migration during the War (in +Preliminary Economic Studies of the War--Carnegie Endowment for +International Peace: Division of Economics and History). Oxford +University Press, American Branch, New York, 1920.] + +Many of the stories that the Negroes told were pathetic.[1] Sometimes +boats would not take them on, and they suffered from long exposure on +the river banks. Sometimes, while they were thus waiting, agents of +their own people employed by the planters tried to induce them to +remain. Frequently they were clubbed or whipped. Said one: "I saw nine +put in one pile, that had been killed, and the colored people had to +bury them; eight others were found killed in the woods.... It is done +this way: they arrest them for breach of contract and carry them to +jail. Their money is taken from them by the jailer and it is not +returned when they are let go." Said another: "If a colored man stays +away from the polls and does not vote, they spot him and make him vote. +If he votes their way, they treat him no better in business. They hire +the colored people to vote, and then take their pay away. I know a +man to whom they gave a cow and a calf for voting their ticket. After +election they came and told him that if he kept the cow he must pay for +it; and they took the cow and calf away." Another: "One man shook his +fist in my face and said, 'D---- you, sir, you are my property.' He said +that I owed him. He could not show it and then said, 'You sha'n't go +anyhow.' All we want is a living chance." Another: "There is a general +talk among the whites and colored people that Jeff Davis will run for +president of the Southern states, and the colored people are afraid they +will be made slaves again. They are already trying to prevent them from +going from one plantation to another without a pass." Another: "The +deputy sheriff came and took away from me a pair of mules. He had a +constable and twenty-five men with guns to back him." Another: "Last +year, after settling with my landlord, my share was four bales of +cotton. I shipped it to Richardson and May, 38 and 40 Perdido Street, +New Orleans, through W.E. Ringo & Co., merchants, at Mound Landing, +Miss. I lived four miles back of this landing. I received from Ringo a +ticket showing that my cotton was sold at nine and three-eighths cents, +but I could never get a settlement. He kept putting me off by saying +that the bill of lading had not come. Those bales averaged over four +hundred pounds. I did not owe him over twenty-five dollars. A man may +work there from Monday morning to Saturday night, and be as economical +as he pleases, and he will come out in debt. I am a close man, and I +work hard. I want to be honest in getting through the world. I came away +and left a crop of corn and cotton growing up. I left it because I did +not want to work twelve months for nothing. I have been trying it for +fifteen years, thinking every year that it would get better, and it gets +worse." Said still another: "I learned about Kansas from the newspapers +that I got hold of. They were Southern papers. I got a map, and found +out where Kansas was; and I got a History of the United States, and read +about it." + +[Footnote 1: See _Negro Exodus_ (Report of Colonel Frank H. Fletcher).] + +Query: Was it genuine statesmanship that permitted these people to feel +that they must leave the South? + + * * * * * + +5. _A Postscript on the War and Reconstruction_ + +Of all of the stories of these epoch-making years we have chosen one--an +idyl of a woman with an alabaster box, of one who had a clear conception +of the human problem presented and who gave her life in the endeavor to +meet it. + +In the fall of 1862 a young woman who was destined to be a great +missionary entered the Seminary at Rockford, Illinois. There was little +to distinguish her from the other students except that she was very +plainly dressed and seemed forced to spend most of her spare time at +work. Yes, there was one other difference. She was older than most of +the girls--already thirty, and rich in experience. When not yet fifteen +she had taught a country school in Pennsylvania. At twenty she was +considered capable of managing an unusually turbulent crowd of boys and +girls. When she was twenty-seven her father died, leaving upon her very +largely the care of her mother. At twenty-eight she already looked back +upon fourteen years as a teacher, upon some work for Christ incidentally +accomplished, but also upon a fading youth of wasted hopes and +unfulfilled desires. + +Then came a great decision--not the first, not the last, but one of the +most important that marked her long career. Her education was by no +means complete, and, at whatever cost, she would go to school. That she +had no money, that her clothes were shabby, that her mother needed her, +made no difference; now or never she would realize her ambition. She +would do anything, however menial, if it was honest and would give her +food while she continued her studies. For one long day she walked the +streets of Belvidere looking for a home. Could any one use a young woman +who wanted to work for her board? Always the same reply. Nightfall +brought her to a farmhouse in the suburbs of the town. She timidly +knocked on the door. "No, we do not need any one," said the woman who +greeted her, "but wait until I see my husband." The man of the house +was very unwilling, but decided to give shelter for the night. The +next morning he thought differently about the matter, and a few days +afterwards the young woman entered school. The work was hard; fires +had to be made, breakfasts on cold mornings had to be prepared, and +sometimes the washing was heavy. Naturally the time for lessons was +frequently cut short or extended far into the night. But the woman of +the house was kind, and her daughter a helpful fellow-student. + +The next summer came another season at school-teaching, and then the +term at Rockford. 1862! a great year that in American history, one more +famous for the defeat of the Union arms than for their success. But in +September came Antietam, and the heart of the North took courage. Then +with the new year came the Emancipation Proclamation. + +The girls at Rockford, like the people everywhere, were interested +in the tremendous events that were shaking the nation. A new note of +seriousness crept into their work. Embroidery was laid aside; instead, +socks were knit and bandages prepared. On the night of January 1 a +jubilee meeting was held in the town. + +To Joanna P. Moore, however, the news of freedom brought a strange +undertone of sadness. She could not help thinking of the spiritual and +intellectual condition of the millions now emancipated. Strange that she +should be possessed by this problem! She had thought of work in China, +or India, or even in Africa--but of this, never! + +In February a man who had been on Island No. 10 came to the Seminary and +told the girls of the distress of the women and children there. Cabins +and tents were everywhere. As many as three families, with eight or +ten children each, cooked their food in the same pot on the same fire. +Sometimes the women were peevish or quarrelsome; always the children +were dirty. "What can a man do to help such a suffering mass of +humanity?" asked the speaker. "Nothing. A woman is needed; nobody else +will do." For the student listening so intently the cheery schoolrooms +with their sweet associations faded; the vision of foreign missions also +vanished; and in their stead stood only a pitiful black woman with a +baby in her arms. + +She reached Island No. 10 in November. The outlook was dismal enough. +The Sunday school at Belvidere had pledged four dollars a month toward +her support, and this was all the money in sight, though the Government +provided transportation and soldiers' rations. That was in 1863, sixty +years ago; but every year since then, until 1916, in summer and winter, +in sunshine and rain, in the home and the church, with teaching and +praying, feeding and clothing, nursing and hoping and loving, Joanna P. +Moore in one way or another ministered to the Negro people of the South. + +In April, 1864, her whole colony was removed to Helena, Arkansas. The +Home Farm was three miles from Helena. Here was gathered a great crowd +of women and children and helpless old men, all under the guard of a +company of soldiers in a fort nearby. Thither went the missionary alone, +except for her faith in God. She made an arbor with some rude seats, +nailed a blackboard to a tree, divided the people into four groups, +and began to teach school. In the twilight every evening a great crowd +gathered around her cabin for prayers. A verse of the Bible was read and +explained, petitions were offered, one of the sorrow-songs was chanted, +and then the service was over. + +Some Quaker workers were her friends in Helena, and in 1868 she went to +Lauderdale, Mississippi, to help the Friends in an orphan asylum. Six +weeks after her arrival the superintendent's daughter died, and the +parents left to take their child back to their Indiana home to rest. The +lone woman was left in charge of the asylum. Cholera broke out. Eleven +children died within one week. Still she stood by her post. Often, she +said, those who were well and happy when they retired, ere daylight came +were in the grave, for they were buried the same hour they died. Night +after night she prayed to God in the dark, and at length the fury of the +plague was abated. + +From time to time the failing health of her mother called her home, and +from 1870 to 1873 she once more taught school near Belvidere. The first +winter the school was in the country. "You can never have a Sunday +school in the winter," they told her. But she did; in spite of the snow, +the house was crowded every Sunday, whole families coming in sleighs. +Even at that the real work of the teacher was with the Negroes of the +South. In her prayers and public addresses they were always with her, +and in 1873 friends in Chicago made it possible for her to return to the +work of her choice. In 1877 the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society +honored itself by giving to her its first commission. + +Nine years she spent in the vicinity of New Orleans. Near Leland +University she found a small, one-room house. After buying a bed, a +table, two chairs, and a few cooking utensils, she began housekeeping. +Often she started out at six in the morning, not to return until +dark. Most frequently she read the Bible to those who could not read. +Sometimes she gave cheer to mothers busy over the washtub. Sometimes +she would teach the children to read or to sew. Often she would write +letters for those who had been separated from friends or kindred in the +dark days. She wrote hundreds and hundreds of such letters; and once in +a while, a very long while, came a response. + +Most pitiful of all the objects she found in New Orleans were the old +women worn out with years of slavery. They were usually rag-pickers who +ate at night the scraps for which they had begged during the day. There +was in the city an Old Ladies' Home; but this was not for Negroes. +A house was secured and the women taken in, Joanna Moore and her +associates moving into the second story. Sometimes, very often, there +was real need; but sometimes, too, provisions came when it was not known +who sent them; money or boxes came from Northern friends who had never +seen the workers; and the little Negro children in the Sunday schools in +the city gave their pennies. + +In 1878 the laborer in the Southwest started on a journey of +exploration. In Atlanta Dr. Robert at Atlanta Baptist Seminary (now +Morehouse College) gave her cheer; so did President Ware at Atlanta +University. At Benedict in Columbia she saw Dr. Goodspeed, President +Tupper at Shaw in Raleigh, and Dr. Corey in Richmond. In May she +appeared at the Baptist anniversaries, with fifteen years of missionary +achievement already behind her. + +But each year brought its own sorrows and disappointments. She wanted +the Society to establish a training school for women; but to this +objection was raised. In Louisiana also it was not without danger that a +white woman attended a Negro association in 1877; and there were always +sneers and jeers. At length, however, a training school for mothers was +opened in Baton Rouge. All went well for two years; and then a notice +with skull and crossbones was placed on the gate. The woman who had +worked through the cholera still stood firm; but the students had gone. +Sick at heart and worn out with waiting, she at last left Baton Rouge +and the state in which so many of her best years had been spent. + +"Bible Band" work was started in 1884, and _Hope_ in 1885. The little +paper, beginning with a circulation of five hundred, has now reached a +monthly issue of twenty thousand copies, and daily it brings its +lesson of cheer to thousands of mothers and children in the South. In +connection with it all has developed the Fireside School, than which few +agencies have been more potent in the salvation and uplift of the humble +Negro home. + +What wisdom was gathered from the passing of fourscore years! On almost +every page of her tracts, her letters, her account of her life, one +finds quotations of proverbial pith: + +The love of God gave me courage for myself and the rest of mankind; +therefore I concluded to invest in human souls. They surely are worth +more than anything else in the world. + +Beloved friends, be hopeful, be courageous. God can not use discouraged +people. + +The good news spread, not by telling what we were going to do but by +praising God for what had been done. + +So much singing in all our churches leaves too little time for the Bible +lesson. Do not misunderstand me. I do love music that impresses the +meaning of words. But no one climbs to heaven on musical scales. + +I thoroughly believe that the only way to succeed with any vocation is +to make it a part of your very self and weave it into your every thought +and prayer. + +You must love before you can comfort and help. + +There is no place too lowly or dark for our feet to enter, and no place +so high and bright but it needs the touch of the light that we carry +from the Cross. + +How shall we measure such a life? Who can weigh love and hope and +service, and the joy of answered prayer? "An annual report of what?" she +once asked the secretary of her organization. "Report of tears shed, +prayers offered, smiles scattered, lessons taught, steps taken, cheering +words, warning words--tender, patient words for the little ones, stern +but loving tones for the wayward--songs of hope and songs of sorrow, +wounded hearts healed, light and love poured into dark sad homes? Oh, +Miss Burdette, you might as well ask me to gather up the raindrops of +last year or the petals that fall from the flowers that bloomed. It is +true that I can send you a little stagnant water from the cistern, and a +few dried flowers; but if you want to know the freshness, the sweetness, +the glory, the grandeur, of our God-given work, then you must come +and keep step with us from early morn to night for three hundred and +sixty-five days in the year." + +Until the very last she was on the roll of the active workers of the +Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society. In the fall of 1915 she +decided that she must once more see the schools in the South that meant +so much to her. In December she came again to her beloved Spelman. While +in Atlanta she met with an accident that still further weakened her. +After a few weeks, however, she went on to Jacksonville, and then to +Selma. There she passed. + + * * * * * + +When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels +with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.... Then shall +the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, +and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a +stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we +thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer +and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it +unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW SOUTH + + +1. _Political Life: Disfranchisement_ + +By 1876 the reconstruction governments had all but passed. A few days +after his inauguration in 1877 President Hayes sent to Louisiana a +commission to investigate the claims of rival governments there. The +decision was in favor of the Democrats. On April 9 the President ordered +the removal of Federal troops from public buildings in the South; and +in Columbia, S.C., within a few days the Democratic administration of +Governor Wade Hampton was formally recognized. The new governments at +once set about the abrogation of the election laws that had protected +the Negro in the exercise of suffrage, and, having by 1877 obtained +a majority in the national House of Representatives, the Democrats +resorted to the practice of attaching their repeal measures to +appropriation bills in the hope of compelling the President to sign +them. Men who had been prominently connected with the Confederacy were +being returned to Congress in increasing numbers, but in general the +Democrats were not able to carry their measures over the President's +veto. From the Supreme Court, however, they received practical +assistance, for while this body did not formally grant that the states +had full powers over elections, it nevertheless nullified many of the +most objectionable sections of the laws. Before the close of the decade, +by intimidation, the theft, suppression or exchange of the ballot boxes, +the removal of the polls to unknown places, false certifications, and +illegal arrests on the day before an election, the Negro vote had been +rendered ineffectual in every state of the South. + +When Cleveland was elected in 1884 the Negroes of the South naturally +felt that the darkest hour of their political fortunes had come. It had, +for among many other things this election said that after twenty years +of discussion and tumult the Negro question was to be relegated to the +rear, and that the country was now to give main attention to other +problems. For the Negro the new era was signalized by one of the most +effective speeches ever delivered in this or any other country, all +the more forceful because the orator was a man of unusual nobility of +spirit. In 1886 Henry W. Grady, of Georgia, addressed the New England +Club in New York on "The New South." He spoke to practical men and he +knew his ground. He asked his hearers to bring their "full faith in +American fairness and frankness" to judgment upon what he had to say. +He pictured in brilliant language the Confederate soldier, "ragged, +half-starved, heavy-hearted, who wended his way homeward to find his +house in ruins and his farm devastated." He also spoke kindly of the +Negro: "Whenever he struck a blow for his own liberty he fought in open +battle, and when at last he raised his black and humble hands that the +shackles might be struck off, those hands were innocent of wrong against +his helpless charges." But Grady also implied that the Negro had +received too much attention and sympathy from the North. Said he: "To +liberty and enfranchisement is as far as law can carry the Negro. +The rest must be left to conscience and common sense." Hence on this +occasion and others he asked that the South be left alone in the +handling of her grave problem. The North, a little tired of the Negro +question, a little uncertain also as to the wisdom of the reconstruction +policy that it had forced on the South, and if concerned with this +section at all, interested primarily in such investments as it had +there, assented to this request; and in general the South now felt that +it might order its political life in its own way. + +As yet, however, the Negro was not technically disfranchised, and at any +moment a sudden turn of events might call him into prominence. Formal +legislation really followed the rise of the Populist party, which +about 1890 in many places in the South waged an even contest with the +Democrats. It was evident that in such a struggle the Negro might still +hold the balance of power, and within the next few years a fusion of the +Republicans and the Populists in North Carolina sent a Negro, George H. +White, to Congress. This event finally served only to strengthen the +movement for disfranchisement which had already begun. In 1890 the +constitution of Mississippi was so amended as to exclude from the +suffrage any person who had not paid his poll-tax or who was unable to +read any section of the constitution, or understand it when read to +him, or to give a reasonable interpretation of it. The effect of the +administration of this provision was that in 1890 only 8615 Negroes out +of 147,000 of voting age became registered. South Carolina amended her +constitution with similar effect in 1895. In this state the population +was almost three-fifths Negro and two-fifths white. The franchise of +the Negro was already in practical abeyance; but the problem now was +to devise a means for the perpetuity of a government of white men. +Education was not popular as a test, for by it many white illiterates +would be disfranchised and in any case it would only postpone the race +issue. For some years the dominant party had been engaged in factional +controversies, with the populist wing led by Benjamin R. Tillman +prevailing over the conservatives. It was understood, however, that each +side would be given half of the membership of the convention, which +would exclude all Negro and Republican representation, and that the +constitution would go into effect without being submitted to the people. +Said the most important provision: "Any person who shall apply for +registration after January 1, 1898, if otherwise qualified, shall be +registered; provided that he can both read and write any section of this +constitution submitted to him by the registration officer or can show +that he owns and has paid all taxes collectible during the previous +year on property in this state assessed at three hundred dollars or +more"--clauses which it is hardly necessary to say the registrars +regularly interpreted in favor of white men and against the Negro. In +1898 Louisiana passed an amendment inventing the so-called "grandfather +clause." This excused from the operation of her disfranchising act all +descendants of men who had voted before the Civil War, thus admitting +to the suffrage all white men who were illiterate and without property. +North Carolina in 1900, Virginia and Alabama in 1901, Georgia in 1907, +and Oklahoma in 1910 in one way or another practically disfranchised the +Negro, care being taken in every instance to avoid any definite clash +with the Fifteenth Amendment. In Maryland there have been several +attempts to disfranchise the Negro by constitutional amendments, one in +1905, another in 1909, and still another in 1911, but all have failed. +About the intention of its disfranchising legislation the South, as +represented by more than one spokesman, was very frank. Unfortunately +the new order called forth a group of leaders--represented by Tillman +in South Carolina, Hoke Smith in Georgia, and James K. Vardaman in +Mississippi--who made a direct appeal to prejudice and thus capitalized +the racial feeling that already had been brought to too high tension. + +Naturally all such legislation as that suggested had ultimately to be +brought before the highest tribunal in the country. The test came +over the following section from the Oklahoma law: "No person shall be +registered as an elector of this state or be allowed to vote in any +election herein unless he shall be able to read and write any section +of the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma; but no person who was on +January 1, 1866, or at any time prior thereto, entitled to vote under +any form of government, or who at any time resided in some foreign +nation, and no lineal descendant of such person shall be denied the +right to register and vote because of his inability to so read and +write sections of such Constitution." This enactment the Supreme Court +declared unconstitutional in 1915. The decision exerted no great and +immediate effect on political conditions in the South; nevertheless as +the official recognition by the nation of the fact that the Negro +was not accorded his full political rights, it was destined to have +far-reaching effect on the whole political fabric of the section. + +When the era of disfranchisement began it was in large measure expected +by the South that with the practical elimination of the Negro from +politics this section would become wider in its outlook and divide on +national issues. Such has not proved to be the case. Except for the +noteworthy deflection of Tennessee in the presidential election of 1920, +and Republican gains in some counties in other states, this section +remains just as "solid" as it was forty years ago, largely of course +because the Negro, through education and the acquisition of property, is +becoming more and more a potential factor in politics. Meanwhile it is +to be observed that the Negro is not wholly without a vote, even in the +South, and sometimes his power is used with telling effect, as in the +city of Atlanta in the spring of 1919, when he decided in the negative +the question of a bond issue. In the North moreover--especially in +Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York--he +has on more than one occasion proved the deciding factor in political +affairs. Even when not voting, however, he involuntarily wields +tremendous influence on the destinies of the nation, for even though men +may be disfranchised, all are nevertheless counted in the allotment of +congressmen to Southern states. This anomalous situation means that in +actual practice the vote of one white man in the South is four or six +or even eight times as strong as that of a man in the North;[1] and it +directly accounted for the victory of President Wilson and the Democrats +over the Republicans led by Charles E. Hughes in 1916. For remedying +it by the enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment bills have been +frequently presented in Congress, but on these no action has been taken. + +[Footnote 1: In 1914 Kansas and Mississippi each elected eight members +of the House of Representatives, but Kansas cast 483,683 votes for +her members, while Mississippi cast only 37,185 for hers, less than +one-twelfth as many.] + + +2. _Economic Life: Peonage_ + +Within fifteen years after the close of the war it was clear that the +Emancipation Proclamation was a blessing to the poor white man of the +South as well as to the Negro. The break-up of the great plantation +system was ultimately to prove good for all men whose slender means had +given them little chance before the war. At the same time came also the +development of cotton-mills throughout the South, in which as early as +1880 not less than 16,000 white people were employed. With the decay of +the old system the average acreage of holdings in the South Atlantic +states decreased from 352.8 in 1860 to 108.4 in 1900. It was still +not easy for an independent Negro to own land on his own account; +nevertheless by as early a year as 1874 the Negro farmers had acquired +338,769 acres. After the war the planters first tried the wage system +for the Negroes. This was not satisfactory--from the planter's +standpoint because the Negro had not yet developed stability as a +laborer; from the Negro's standpoint because while the planter might +advance rations, he frequently postponed the payment of wages and +sometimes did not pay at all. Then land came to be rented; but +frequently the rental was from 80 to 100 pounds of lint cotton an acre +for land that produced only 200 to 400 pounds. In course of time +the share system came to be most widely used. Under this the tenant +frequently took his whole family into the cotton-field, and when the +crop was gathered and he and the landlord rode together to the nearest +town to sell it, he received one-third, one-half, or two-thirds of the +money according as he had or had not furnished his own food, implements, +and horses or mules. This system might have proved successful if he had +not had to pay exorbitant prices for his rations. As it was, if +the landlord did not directly furnish foodstuffs he might have an +understanding with the keeper of the country store, who frequently +charged for a commodity twice what it was worth in the open market. At +the close of the summer there was regularly a huge bill waiting for the +Negro at the store; this had to be disposed of first, _and he always +came out just a few dollars behind_. However, the landlord did not mind +such a small matter and in the joy of the harvest might even advance a +few dollars; but the understanding was always that the tenant was to +remain on the land the next year. Thus were the chains of peonage forged +about him. + +At the same time there developed a still more vicious system. +Immediately after the war legislation enacted in the South made severe +provision with reference to vagrancy. Negroes were arrested on the +slightest pretexts and their labor as that of convicts leased to +landowners or other business men. When, a few years later, Negroes, +dissatisfied with the returns from their labor on the farms, began a +movement to the cities, there arose a tendency to make the vagrancy +legislation still more harsh, so that at last a man could not stop work +without technically committing a crime. Thus in all its hideousness +developed the convict lease system. + +This institution and the accompanying chain-gang were at variance with +all the humanitarian impulses of the nineteenth century. Sometimes +prisoners were worked in remote parts of a state altogether away from +the oversight of responsible officials; if they stayed in a prison the +department for women was frequently in plain view and hearing of +the male convicts, and the number of cubic feet in a cell was only +one-fourth of what a scientific test would have required. Sometimes +there was no place for the dressing of the dead except in the presence +of the living. The system was worst when the lessee was given the entire +charge of the custody and discipline of the convicts, and even of their +medical or surgical care. Of real attention there frequently was none, +and reports had numerous blank spaces to indicate deaths from unknown +causes. The sturdiest man could hardly survive such conditions for more +than ten years. In Alabama in 1880 only three of the convicts had been +in confinement for eight years, and only one for nine. In Texas, from +1875 to 1880, the total number of prisoners discharged was 1651, while +the number of deaths and escapes for the same period totalled 1608. In +North Carolina the mortality was eight times as great as in Sing Sing. + +At last the conscience of the nation began to be heard, and after 1883 +there were remedial measures. However, the care of the prisoner still +left much to be desired; and as the Negro is greatly in the majority +among prisoners in the South, and as he is still sometimes arrested +illegally or on flimsy pretexts, the whole matter of judicial and penal +procedure becomes one of the first points of consideration in any final +settlement of the Negro Problem.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Within recent years it has been thought that the convict +lease system and peonage had practically passed in the South. That this +was by no means the case was shown by the astonishing revelations from +Jasper County, Georgia, early in 1921, it being demonstrated in court +that a white farmer, John S. Williams, who had "bought out" Negroes from +the prisons of Atlanta and Macon, had not only held these people in +peonage, but had been directly responsible for the killing of not less +than eleven of them. + +However, as the present work passes through the press, word comes of the +remarkable efforts of Governor Hugh M. Dorsey for a more enlightened +public conscience in his state. In addition to special endeavor for +justice in the Williams case, he has issued a booklet citing with detail +one hundred and thirty-five cases in which Negroes have suffered grave +wrong. He divides his cases into four divisions: (1) The Negro lynched, +(2) The Negro held in peonage, (3) The Negro driven out by organized +lawlessness, and (4) The Negro subject to individual acts of cruelty. +"In some counties," he says, "the Negro is being driven out as though he +were a wild beast. In others he is being held as a slave. In others no +Negroes remain.... In only two of the 135 cases cited is crime against +white women involved." + +For the more recent history of peonage see pp. 306, 329, 344, 360-363.] + + +3. _Social Life: Proscription, Lynching_ + +Meanwhile proscription went forward. Separate and inferior traveling +accommodations, meager provision for the education of Negro children, +inadequate street, lighting and water facilities in most cities and +towns, and the general lack of protection of life and property, made +living increasingly harder for a struggling people. For the Negro of +aspiration or culture every day became a long train of indignities and +insults. On street cars he was crowded into a few seats, generally in +the rear; he entered a railway station by a side door; in a theater he +might occupy only a side, or more commonly the extreme rear, of the +second balcony; a house of ill fame might flourish next to his own +little home; and from public libraries he was shut out altogether, +except where a little branch was sometimes provided. Every opportunity +for such self-improvement as a city might be expected to afford him was +either denied him, or given on such terms as his self-respect forced him +to refuse. + +Meanwhile--and worst of all--he failed to get justice in the courts. +Formally called before the bar he knew beforehand that the case was +probably already decided against him. A white boy might insult and pick +a quarrel with his son, but if the case reached the court room the white +boy would be freed and the Negro boy fined $25 or sent to jail for three +months. Some trivial incident involving no moral responsibility whatever +on the Negro's part might yet cost him his life. + +Lynching grew apace. Generally this was said to be for the protection +of white womanhood; but statistics certainly did not give rape the +prominence that it held in the popular mind. Any cause of controversy, +however slight, that forced a Negro to defend himself against a white +man might result in a lynching, and possibly in a burning. In the period +of 1871-73 the number of Negroes lynched in the South is said to have +been not more than 11 a year. Between 1885 and 1915, however, the number +of persons lynched in the country amounted to 3500, the great majority +being Negroes in the South. For the year 1892 alone the figure was 235. + +One fact was outstanding: astonishing progress was being made by the +Negro people, but in the face of increasing education and culture on +their part, there was no diminution of race feeling. Most Southerners +preferred still to deal with a Negro of the old type rather than with +one who was neatly dressed, simple and unaffected in manner, and +ambitious to have a good home. In any case, however, it was clear that +since the white man held the power, upon him rested primarily the +responsibility of any adjustment. Old schemes for deportation or +colonization in a separate state having proved ineffective or +chimerical, it was necessary to find a new platform on which both races +could stand. The Negro was still the outstanding factor in agriculture +and industry; in large numbers he had to live, and will live, in Georgia +and South Carolina, Mississippi and Texas; and there should have been +some plane on which he could reside in the South not only serviceably +but with justice to his self-respect. The wealth of the New South, it is +to be remembered, was won not only by the labor of black hands but also +that of little white boys and girls. As laborers and citizens, real or +potential, both of these groups deserved the most earnest solicitude of +the state, for it is not upon the riches of the few but the happiness of +the many that a nation's greatness depends. Moreover no state can build +permanently or surely by denying to a half or a third of those governed +any voice whatever in the government. If the Negro was ignorant, he was +also economically defenseless; and it is neither just nor wise to deny +to any man, however humble, any real power for his legal protection. If +these principles hold--and we think they are in line with enlightened +conceptions of society--the prosperity of the New South was by no means +as genuine as it appeared to be, and the disfranchisement of the Negro, +morally and politically, was nothing less than a crime. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"THE VALE OF TEARS," 1890-1910 + + +1. _Current Opinion and Tendencies_ + +In the two decades that we are now to consider we find the working +out of all the large forces mentioned in our last chapter. After a +generation of striving the white South was once more thoroughly in +control, and the new program well under way. Predictions for both a +broader outlook for the section as a whole and greater care for the +Negro's moral and intellectual advancement were destined not to be +fulfilled; and the period became one of bitter social and economic +antagonism. + +All of this was primarily due to the one great fallacy on which the +prosperity of the New South was built, and that was that the labor of +the Negro existed only for the good of the white man. To this one source +may be traced most of the ills borne by both white man and Negro during +the period. If the Negro's labor was to be exploited, it was necessary +that he be without the protection of political power and that he be +denied justice in court. If he was to be reduced to a peon, certainly +socially he must be given a peon's place. Accordingly there developed +everywhere--in schools, in places of public accommodation, in the +facilities of city life--the idea of inferior service for Negroes; +and an unenlightened prison system flourished in all its hideousness. +Furthermore, as a result of the vicious economic system, arose the +sinister form of the Negro criminal. Here again the South begged the +question, representative writers lamenting the passing of the dear dead +days of slavery, and pointing cynically to the effects of freedom on the +Negro. They failed to remember in the case of the Negro criminal that +from childhood to manhood--in education, in economic chance, in legal +power--they had by their own system deprived a human being of every +privilege that was due him, ruining him body and soul; and then they +stood aghast at the thing their hands had made. More than that, they +blamed the race itself for the character that now sometimes appeared, +and called upon thrifty, aspiring Negroes to find the criminal and give +him up to the law. Thrifty, aspiring Negroes wondered what was the +business of the police. + +It was this pitiful failure to get down to fundamentals that +characterized the period and that made life all the more hard for those +Negroes who strove to advance. Every effort was made to brutalize a man, +and then he was blamed for not being a St. Bernard. Fortunately before +the period was over there arose not only clear-thinking men of the race +but also a few white men who realized that such a social order could not +last forever. + +Early in the nineties, however, the pendulum had swung fully backward, +and the years from 1890 to 1895 were in some ways the darkest that the +race has experienced since emancipation. When in 1892 Cleveland was +elected for a second term and the Democrats were once more in power, it +seemed to the Southern rural Negro that the conditions of slavery had +all but come again. More and more the South formulated its creed; it +glorified the old aristocracy that had flourished and departed, and +definitely it began to ask the North if it had not been right after all. +It followed of course that if the Old South had the real key to the +problem, the proper place of the Negro was that of a slave. + +Within two or three years there were so many important articles on the +Negro in prominent magazines and these were by such representative men +that taken together they formed a symposium. In December, 1891, James +Bryce wrote in the _North American Review_, pointing out that the +situation in the South was a standing breach of the Constitution, that +it suspended the growth of political parties and accustomed the section +to fraudulent evasions, and he emphasized education as a possible +remedy; he had quite made up his mind that the Negro had little or no +place in politics. In January, 1892, a distinguished classical scholar, +Basil L. Gildersleeve, turned aside from linguistics to write in the +_Atlantic_ "The Creed of the Old South," which article he afterwards +published as a special brochure, saying that it had been more widely +read than anything else he had ever written. In April, Thomas Nelson +Page in the _North American_ contended that in spite of the $5,000,000 +spent on the education of the Negro in Virginia between 1870 and 1890 +the race had retrograded or not greatly improved, and in fact that the +Negro "did not possess the qualities to raise himself above slavery." +Later in the same year he published _The Old South_. In the same month +Frederick L. Hoffman, writing in the _Arena_, contended that in view of +its mortality statistics the Negro race would soon die out.[1] Also in +April, 1892, Henry Watterson wrote of the Negro in the _Chautauquan_, +recalling the facts that the era of political turmoil had been succeeded +by one of reaction and violence, and that by one of exhaustion and +peace; but with all his insight he ventured no constructive suggestion, +thinking it best for everybody "simply to be quiet for a time." Early in +1893 John C. Wycliffe, a prominent lawyer of New Orleans, writing in +the _Forum_, voiced the desires of many in asking for a repeal of the +Fifteenth Amendment; and in October, Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, writing +in the same periodical of a recent and notorious lynching, said, "It +was horrible to torture the guilty wretch; the burning was an act of +insanity. But had the dismembered form of his victim been the dishonored +body of my baby, I might also have gone into an insanity that might have +ended never." Again and again was there the lament that the Negroes of +forty years after were both morally and intellectually inferior to +their antebellum ancestors; and if college professors and lawyers and +ministers of the Gospel wrote in this fashion one could not wonder that +the politician made capital of choice propaganda. + +[Footnote 1: In 1896 this paper entered into an elaborate study, _Race +Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro_, a publication of the +American Economic Association. In this Hoffman contended at length that +the race was not only not holding its own in population, but that it was +also astonishingly criminal and was steadily losing economically. His +work was critically studied and its fallacies exposed in the _Nation_, +April 1, 1897.] + +In this chorus of dispraise truth struggled for a hearing, but then as +now traveled more slowly than error. In the _North American_ for July, +1892, Frederick Douglass wrote vigorously of "Lynch Law in the South." +In the same month George W. Cable answered affirmatively and with +emphasis the question, "Does the Negro pay for his education?" He showed +that in Georgia in 1889-90 the colored schools did not really cost the +white citizens a cent, and that in the other Southern states the Negro +was also contributing his full share to the maintenance of the schools. +In June of the same year William T. Harris, Commissioner of Education, +wrote in truly statesmanlike fashion in the _Atlantic_ of "The Education +of the Negro." Said he: "With the colored people all educated in schools +and become a reading people interested in the daily newspaper; with all +forms of industrial training accessible to them, and the opportunity so +improved that every form of mechanical and manufacturing skill has its +quota of colored working men and women; with a colored ministry educated +in a Christian theology interpreted in a missionary spirit, and finding +its auxiliaries in modern science and modern literature; with these +educational essentials the Negro problem for the South will be solved +without recourse to violent measures of any kind, whether migration, +or disfranchisement, or ostracism." In December, 1893, Walter H. Page, +writing in the _Forum_ of lynching under the title, "The Last Hold of +the Southern Bully," said that "the great danger is not in the first +violation of law, nor in the crime itself, but in the danger that +Southern public sentiment under the stress of this phase of the race +problem will lose the true perspective of civilization"; and L.E. +Bleckley, Chief Justice of Georgia, spoke in similar vein. On the whole, +however, the country, while occasionally indignant at some atrocity, had +quite decided not to touch the Negro question for a while; and when in +the spring of 1892 some representative Negroes protested without avail +to President Harrison against the work of mobs, the _Review of Reviews_ +but voiced the drift of current opinion when it said: "As for the +colored men themselves, their wisest course would be to cultivate the +best possible relations with the most upright and intelligent of their +white neighbors, and for some time to come to forget all about politics +and to strive mightily for industrial and educational progress."[1] + +[Footnote 1: June, 1892, p. 526.] + +It is not strange that under the circumstances we have now to record +such discrimination, crime, and mob violence as can hardly be paralleled +in the whole of American history. The Negro was already down; he was now +to be trampled upon. When in the spring of 1892 some members of the race +in the lowlands of Mississippi lost all they had by the floods and the +Federal Government was disposed to send relief, the state government +protested against such action on the ground that it would keep the +Negroes from accepting the terms offered by the white planters. In +Louisiana in 1895 a Negro presiding elder reported to the _Southwestern +Christian Advocate_ that he had lost a membership of a hundred souls, +the people being compelled to leave their crops and move away within ten +days. + +In 1891 the jail at Omaha was entered and a Negro taken out and hanged +to a lamp-post. On February 27, 1892, at Jackson, La., where there was +a pound party for the minister at the Negro Baptist church, a crowd of +white men gathered, shooting revolvers and halting the Negroes as they +passed. Most of the people were allowed to go on, but after a while the +sport became furious and two men were fatally shot. About the same time, +and in the same state, at Rayville, a Negro girl of fifteen was taken +from a jail by a mob and hanged to a tree. In Texarkana, Ark., a Negro +who had outraged a farmer's wife was captured and burned alive, the +injured woman herself being compelled to light the fire. Just a few days +later, in March, a constable in Memphis in attempting to arrest a Negro +was killed. Numerous arrests followed, and at night a mob went to the +jail, gained easy access, and, having seized three well-known Negroes +who were thought to have been leaders in the killing, lynched them, the +whole proceeding being such a flagrant violation of law that it has not +yet been forgotten by the older Negro citizens of this important city. +On February 1, 1893, at Paris, Texas, after one of the most brutal +crimes occurred one of the most horrible lynchings on record. Henry +Smith, the Negro, who seems to have harbored a resentment against a +policeman of the town because of ill-treatment that he had received, +seized the officer's three-year-old child, outraged her, and then tore +her body to pieces. He was tortured by the child's father, her uncles, +and her fifteen-year-old brother, his eyes being put out with hot irons +before he was burned. His stepson, who had refused to tell where he +could be found, was hanged and his body riddled with bullets. Thus the +lynchings went on, the victims sometimes being guilty of the gravest +crimes, but often also perfectly innocent people. In February, 1893, the +average was very nearly one a day. At the same time injuries inflicted +on the Negro were commonly disregarded altogether. Thus at Dickson, +Tenn., a young white man lost forty dollars. A fortune-teller told him +that the money had been taken by a woman and gave a description that +seemed to fit a young colored woman who had worked in the home of a +relative. Half a dozen men then went to the home of the young woman and +outraged her, her mother, and also another woman who was in the house. +At the very close of 1894, in Brooks County, Ga., after a Negro named +Pike had killed a white man with whom he had a quarrel, seven Negroes +were lynched after the real murderer had escaped. Any relative or other +Negro who, questioned, refused to tell of the whereabouts of Pike, +whether he knew of the same or not, was shot in his tracks, one man +being shot before he had chance to say anything at all. Meanwhile the +White Caps or "Regulators" took charge of the neighboring counties, +terrifying the Negroes everywhere; and in the trials that resulted the +state courts broke down altogether, one judge in despair giving up the +holding of court as useless. + +Meanwhile discrimination of all sorts went forward. On May 29, 1895, +moved by the situation at the Orange Park Academy, the state of Florida +approved "An Act to Prohibit White and Colored Youth from being Taught +in the same Schools." Said one section: "It shall be a penal offense +for any individual body of inhabitants, corporation, or association to +conduct within this State any school of any grade, public, private, or +parochial, wherein white persons and Negroes shall be instructed or +boarded within the same building, or taught in the same class or at the +same time by the same teacher." Religious organizations were not to be +left behind in such action; and when before the meeting of the Baptist +Young People's Union in Baltimore a letter was sent to the secretary of +the organization and the editor of the _Baptist Union_, in behalf of the +Negroes, who the year before had not been well treated at Toronto, he +sent back an evasive answer, saying that the policy of his society was +to encourage local unions to affiliate with their own churches. + +More grave than anything else was the formal denial of the Negro's +political rights. As we have seen, South Carolina in 1895 followed +Mississippi in the disfranchising program and within the next fifteen +years most of the other Southern states did likewise. With the Negro +thus deprived of any genuine political voice, all sorts of social and +economic injustice found greater license. + +2. _Industrial Education: Booker T. Washington_ + +Such were the tendencies of life in the South as affecting the Negro +thirty years after emancipation. In September, 1895, a rising educator +of the race attracted national attention by a remarkable speech that +he made at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta. Said Booker T. +Washington: "To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition +in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of cultivating +friendly relations with the Southern white man who is their next door +neighbor, I would say, 'Cast down your bucket where you are'--cast it +down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by +whom we are surrounded.... To those of the white race who look to the +incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the +prosperity of the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to +my own race, 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' Cast it down among +8,000,000 Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you +have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of +your fire-sides.... In all things that are purely social we can be as +separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to +mutual progress." + +The message that Dr. Washington thus enunciated he had already given in +substance the previous spring in an address at Fisk University, and even +before then his work at Tuskegee Institute had attracted attention.[1] +The Atlanta Exposition simply gave him the great occasion that he +needed; and he was now to proclaim the new word throughout the length +and breadth of the land. Among the hundreds of addresses that he +afterwards delivered, especially important were those at Harvard +University in 1896, at the Chicago Peace Jubilee in 1898, and before the +National Education Association in St. Louis in 1904. Again and again in +these speeches one comes upon such striking sentences as the following: +"Freedom can never be given. It must be purchased."[2] "The race, like +the individual, that makes itself indispensable, has solved most of its +problems."[3] "As a race there are two things we must learn to do--one +is to put brains into the common occupations of life, and the other is +to dignify common labor."[4] "Ignorant and inexperienced, it is not +strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the +top instead of at the bottom; that a seat in Congress or the State +Legislature was worth more than real estate or industrial skill."[5] +"The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth +infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera +house."[6] "One of the most vital questions that touch our American life +is how to bring the strong, wealthy, and learned into helpful contact +with the poorest, most ignorant, and humblest, and at the same time +make the one appreciate the vitalizing, strengthening influence of the +other."[7] "There is no defense or security for any of us except in the +highest intelligence and development of all."[8] + +[Footnote 1: See article by Albert Shaw, "Negro Progress on the Tuskegee +Plan," in _Review of Reviews_, April, 1894.] + +[Footnote 2,3: Speech before N.E.A., in St. Louis, June 30, 1904.] + +[Footnote 4: Speech at Fisk University, 1805.] + +[Footnote 5,6,8: Speech at Atlanta Exposition, September 18, 1895.] + +[Footnote 7: Speech at Harvard University, June 24, 1896.] + +The time was ripe for a new leader. Frederick Douglass had died in +February, 1895. In his later years he had more than once lost hold on +the heart of his people, as when he opposed the Negro Exodus or seemed +not fully in sympathy with the religious convictions of those who looked +to him. At his passing, however, the race remembered only his early +service and his old magnificence, and to a striving people his death +seemed to make still darker the gathering gloom. Coming when he did, +Booker T. Washington was thoroughly in line with the materialism of his +age; he answered both an economic and an educational crisis. He also +satisfied the South of the new day by what he had to say about social +equality. + +The story of his work reads like a romance, and he himself has told it +better than any one else ever can. He did not claim the credit for +the original idea of industrial education; that he gave to General +Armstrong, and it was at Hampton that he himself had been nurtured. What +was needed, however, was for some one to take the Hampton idea down to +the cotton belt, interpret the lesson for the men and women digging in +the ground, and generally to put the race in line with the country's +industrial development. This was what Booker T. Washington undertook to +do. + +He reached Tuskegee early in June, 1881. July 4 was the date set for the +opening of the school in the little shanty and church which had been +secured for its accommodation. On the morning of this day thirty +students reported for admission. The greater number were school-teachers +and some were nearly forty years of age. Just about three months +after the opening of the school there was offered for sale an old and +abandoned plantation a mile from Tuskegee on which the mansion had been +burned. All told the place seemed to be just the location needed to +make the work effective and permanent. The price asked was five hundred +dollars, the owner requiring the immediate payment of two hundred and +fifty dollars, the remaining two hundred and fifty to be paid within a +year. In his difficulty Mr. Washington wrote to General J.F.B. Marshall, +treasurer of Hampton Institute, placing the matter before him and asking +for the loan of two hundred and fifty dollars. General Marshall replied +that he had no authority to lend money belonging to Hampton Institute, +but that he would gladly advance the amount needed from his personal +funds. Toward the paying of this sum the assisting teacher, Olivia A. +Davidson (afterwards Mrs. Washington), helped heroically. Her first +effort was made by holding festivals and suppers, but she also canvassed +the families in the town of Tuskegee, and the white people as well as +the Negroes helped her. "It was often pathetic," said the principal, "to +note the gifts of the older colored people, many of whom had spent their +best days in slavery. Sometimes they would give five cents, sometimes +twenty-five cents. Sometimes the contribution was a quilt, or a quantity +of sugarcane. I recall one old colored woman, who was about seventy +years of age, who came to see me when we were raising money to pay for +the farm. She hobbled into the room where I was, leaning on a cane. She +was clad in rags, but they were clean. She said, 'Mr. Washington, God +knows I spent de bes' days of my life in slavery. God knows I's ignorant +an' poor; but I knows what you an' Miss Davidson is tryin' to do. I +knows you is tryin' to make better men an' better women for de colored +race. I ain't got no money, but I wants you to take dese six eggs, +what I's been savin' up, an' I wants you to put dese six eggs into de +eddication of dese boys an' gals.' Since the work at Tuskegee started," +added the speaker, "it has been my privilege to receive many gifts for +the benefit of the institution, but never any, I think, that touched me +as deeply as this one." + +It was early in the history of the school that Mr. Washington conceived +the idea of extension work. The Tuskegee Conferences began in February, +1892. To the first meeting came five hundred men, mainly farmers, and +many woman. Outstanding was the discussion of the actual terms on which +most of the men were living from year to year. A mortgage was given on +the cotton crop before it was planted, and to the mortgage was attached +a note which waived all right to exemptions under the constitution and +laws of the state of Alabama or of any other state to which the tenant +might move. Said one: "The mortgage ties you tighter than any rope and a +waive note is a consuming fire." Said another: "The waive note is good +for twenty years and when you sign one you must either pay out or die +out." Another: "When you sign a waive note you just cross your hands +behind you and go to the merchant and say, 'Here, tie me and take +all I've got.'" All agreed that the people mortgaged more than was +necessary, to buy sewing machines (which sometimes were not used), +expensive clocks, great family Bibles, or other things easily dispensed +with. Said one man: "My people want all they can get on credit, not +thinking of the day of settlement. We must learn to bore with a small +augur first. The black man totes a heavy bundle, and when he puts it +down there is a plow, a hoe, and ignorance." + +It was to people such as these that Booker T. Washington brought hope, +and serving them he passed on to fame. Within a few years schools on the +plan of Tuskegee began to spring up all over the South, at Denmark, at +Snow Hill, at Utica, and elsewhere. In 1900 the National Negro Business +League began its sessions, giving great impetus to the establishment of +banks, stores, and industrial enterprises throughout the country, and +especially in the South. Much of this progress would certainly have been +realized if the Business League had never been organized; but every one +granted that in all the development the genius of the leader at +Tuskegee was the chief force. About his greatness and his very definite +contribution there could be no question. + +3. _Individual Achievement: The Spanish-American War_ + +It happened that just at the time that Booker T. Washington was +advancing to great distinction, three or four other individuals were +reflecting special credit on the race. One of these was a young scholar, +W.E. Burghardt DuBois, who after a college career at Fisk continued +his studies at Harvard and Berlin and finally took the Ph.D. degree +at Harvard in 1895. There had been sound scholars in the race before +DuBois, but generally these had rested on attainment in the languages or +mathematics, and most frequently they had expressed themselves in rather +philosophical disquisition. Here, however, was a thorough student of +economics, and one who was able to attack the problems of his people and +meet opponents on the basis of modern science. He was destined to do +great good, and the race was proud of him. + +In 1896 also an authentic young poet who had wrestled with poverty and +doubt at last gained a hearing. After completing the course at a high +school in Dayton, Paul Laurence Dunbar ran an elevator for four dollars +a week, and then he peddled from door to door two little volumes of +verse that had been privately printed. William Dean Howells at length +gave him a helping hand, and Dodd, Mead & Co. published _Lyrics of Lowly +Life_. Dunbar wrote both in classic English and in the dialect that +voiced the humor and the pathos of the life of those for whom he spoke. +What was not at the time especially observed was that in numerous poems +he suggested the discontent with the age in which he lived and thus +struck what later years were to prove an important keynote. After he had +waited and struggled so long, his success was so great that it became a +vogue, and imitators sprang up everywhere. He touched the heart of his +people and the race loved him. + +By 1896 also word began to come of a Negro American painter, Henry O. +Tanner, who was winning laurels in Paris. At the same time a beautiful +singer, Mme. Sissieretta Jones, on the concert stage was giving new +proof of the possibilities of the Negro as an artist in song. In the +previous decade Mme. Marie Selika, a cultured vocalist of the first +rank, had delighted audiences in both America and Europe, and in 1887 +had appeared Flora Batson, a ballad singer whose work at its best was of +the sort that sends an audience into the wildest enthusiasm. In 1894, +moreover, Harry T. Burleigh, competing against sixty candidates, became +baritone soloist at St. Georges's Episcopal Church, New York, and just a +few years later he was to be employed also at Temple Emanu-El, the Fifth +Avenue Jewish synagogue. From abroad also came word of a brilliant +musician, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who by his "Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast" +in 1898 leaped into the rank of the foremost living English composers. +On the more popular stage appeared light musical comedy, intermediate +between the old Negro minstrelsy and a genuine Negro drama, the +representative companies becoming within the next few years those of +Cole and Johnson, and Williams and Walker. + +Especially outstanding in the course of the decade, however, was the +work of the Negro soldier in the Spanish-American War. There were at +the time four regiments of colored regulars in the Army of the United +States, the Twenty-fourth Infantry, the Twenty-fifth Infantry, the +Ninth Cavalry, and the Tenth Cavalry. When the war broke out President +McKinley sent to Congress a message recommending the enlistment of more +regiments of Negroes. Congress failed to act; nevertheless colored +troops enlisted in the volunteer service in Massachusetts, Indiana, +Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The +Eighth Illinois was officered throughout by Negroes, J.R. Marshall +commanding; and Major Charles E. Young, a West Point graduate, was in +charge of the Ohio battalion. The very first regiment ordered to the +front when the war broke out was the Twenty-fourth Infantry; and Negro +troops were conspicuous in the fighting around Santiago. They figured in +a brilliant charge at Las Quasimas on June 24, and in an attack on July +1 upon a garrison at El Caney (a position of importance for securing +possession of a line of hills along the San Juan River, a mile and a +half from Santiago) the First Volunteer Cavalry (Colonel Roosevelt's +"Rough Riders") was practically saved from annihilation by the gallant +work of the men of the Tenth Cavalry. Fully as patriotic, though in +another way, was a deed of the Twenty-fourth Infantry. Learning that +General Miles desired a regiment for the cleaning of a yellow +fever hospital and the nursing of some victims of the disease, the +Twenty-fourth volunteered its services and by one day's work so cleared +away the rubbish and cleaned the camp that the number of cases was +greatly reduced. Said the _Review of Reviews_ in editorial comment:[1] +"One of the most gratifying incidents of the Spanish War has been the +enthusiasm that the colored regiments of the regular army have +aroused throughout the whole country. Their fighting at Santiago was +magnificent. The Negro soldiers showed excellent discipline, the highest +qualities of personal bravery, very superior physical endurance, +unfailing good temper, and the most generous disposition toward all +comrades in arms, whether white or black. Roosevelt's Rough Riders have +come back singing the praises of the colored troops. There is not a +dissenting voice in the chorus of praise.... Men who can fight for their +country as did these colored troops ought to have their full share of +gratitude and honor." + +[Footnote 1: October, 1898, p. 387.] + + +4. _Mob Violence; Election Troubles; The Atlanta Massacre_ + +After two or three years of comparative quiet--but only _comparative_ +quiet--mob violence burst forth about the turn of the century with +redoubled intensity. In a large way this was simply a result of the +campaigns for disfranchisement that in some of the Southern states were +just now getting under way; but charges of assault and questions of +labor also played a part. In some places people who were innocent of any +charge whatever were attacked, and so many were killed that sometimes +it seemed that the law had broken down altogether. Not the least +interesting development of these troublous years was that in some cases +as never before Negroes began to fight with their backs to the wall, and +thus at the very close of the century--at the end of a bitter decade and +the beginning of one still more bitter--a new factor entered into the +problem, one that was destined more and more to demand consideration. + +On one Sunday toward the close of October, 1898, the country recorded +two race wars, one lynching, two murders, one of which was expected to +lead to a lynching, with a total of ten Negroes killed and four wounded +and four white men killed and seven wounded. The most serious outbreak +was in the state of Mississippi, and it is worthy of note that in not +one single case was there any question of rape. + +November was made red by election troubles in both North and South +Carolina. In the latter state, at Phoenix, in Greenwood County, on +November 8 and for some days thereafter, the Tolberts, a well-known +family of white Republicans, were attacked by mobs and barely escaped +alive. R.R. Tolbert was a candidate for Congress and also chairman of +the Republican state committee. John R. Tolbert, his father, collector +of the port of Charleston, had come home to vote and was at one of the +polling-places in the county. Thomas Tolbert at Phoenix was taking the +affidavits of the Negroes who were not permitted to vote for his brother +in order that later there might be ground on which to contest the +election. While thus engaged he was attacked by Etheridge, the +Democratic manager of another precinct. The Negroes came to Tolbert's +defense, and in the fight that followed Etheridge was killed and Tolbert +wounded. John Tolbert, coming up, was filled with buckshot, and a +younger member of the family was also hurt. The Negroes were at length +overpowered and the Tolberts forced to flee. All told it appears that +two white men and about twelve Negroes lost their lives in connection +with the trouble, six of the latter being lynched on account of the +death of Etheridge. + +In North Carolina in 1894 the Republicans by combining with the +Populists had secured control of the state legislature. In 1896 the +Democrats were again outvoted, Governor Russell being elected by a +plurality of 9000. A considerable number of local offices was in the +hands of Negroes, who had the backing of the Governor, the legislature, +and the Supreme Court as well. Before the November elections in 1898 the +Democrats in Wilmington announced their determination to prevent Negroes +from holding office in the city. Especially had they been made angry by +an editorial in a local Negro paper, the _Record_, in which, under date +August 18, the editor, Alex. L. Manly, starting with a reference to a +speaker from Georgia, who at the Agricultural Society meeting at Tybee +had advocated lynching as an extreme measure, said that she "lost sight +of the basic principle of the religion of Christ in her plea for one +class of people as against another," and continued: "The papers are +filled with reports of rapes of white women, and the subsequent lynching +of the alleged rapists. The editors pour forth volleys of aspersions +against all Negroes because of the few who may be guilty. If the papers +and speakers of the other race would condemn the commission of crime +because it is crime and not try to make it appear that the Negroes +were the only criminals, they would find their strongest allies in the +intelligent Negroes themselves, and together the whites and blacks would +root the evil out of both races.... Our experience among poor white +people in the country teaches us that the women of that race are not any +more particular in the matter of clandestine meetings with colored men +than are the white men with colored women. Meetings of this kind go on +for some time until the woman's infatuation or the man's boldness brings +attention to them and the man is lynched for rape." In reply to this +the speaker quoted in a signed statement said: "When the Negro Manly +attributed the crime of rape to intimacy between Negro men and white +women of the South, the slanderer should be made to fear a lyncher's +rope rather than occupy a place in New York newspapers"--a method of +argument that was unfortunately all too common in the South. As election +day approached the Democrats sought generally to intimidate the Negroes, +the streets and roads being patrolled by men wearing red shirts. +Election day, however, passed without any disturbance; but on the next +day there was a mass meeting of white citizens, at which there were +adopted resolutions to employ white labor instead of Negro, to banish +the editor of the _Record_, and to send away from the city the +printing-press in the office of that paper; and a committee of +twenty-five was appointed to see that these resolutions were carried +into effect within twenty-four hours. In the course of the terrible +day that followed the printing office was destroyed, several white +Republicans were driven from the city, and nine Negroes were killed at +once, though no one could say with accuracy just how many more lost +their lives or were seriously wounded before the trouble was over. + +Charles W. Chesnutt, in _The Marrow of Tradition_, has given a faithful +portrayal of these disgraceful events, the Wellington of the story being +Wilmington. Perhaps the best commentary on those who thus sought power +was afforded by their apologist, a Presbyterian minister and editor, +A.J. McKelway, who on this occasion and others wrote articles in the +_Independent_ and the _Outlook_ justifying the proceedings. Said he: "It +is difficult to speak of the Red Shirts without a smile. They victimized +the Negroes with a huge practical joke.... A dozen men would meet at a +crossroad, on horseback, clad in red shirts or calico, flannel or silk, +according to the taste of the owner and the enthusiasm of his womankind. +They would gallop through the country, and the Negro would quietly make +up his mind that his interest in political affairs was not a large one, +anyhow. It would be wise not to vote, and wiser not to register to +prevent being dragooned into voting on election day." It thus appears +that the forcible seizure of the political rights of people, the killing +and wounding of many, and the compelling of scores to leave their homes +amount in the end to not more than a "practical joke." + +One part of the new program was the most intense opposition to Federal +Negro appointees anywhere in the South. On the morning of February 22, +1898, Frazer B. Baker, the colored postmaster at Lake City, S.C., awoke +to find his house in flames. Attempting to escape, he and his baby boy +were shot and killed and their bodies consumed in the burning house. +His wife and the other children were wounded but escaped. The +Postmaster-General was quite disposed to see that justice was done in +this case; but the men charged with the crime gave the most trivial +alibis, and on Saturday, April 22, 1899, the jury in the United States +Circuit Court at Charleston reported its failure to agree on a verdict. +Three years later the whole problem was presented strongly to President +Roosevelt. When Mrs. Minne Cox, who was serving efficiently as +postmistress at Indianola, Miss., was forced to resign because of +threats, he closed the office; and when there was protest against +the appointment of Dr. William D. Crum as collector of the port of +Charleston, he said, "I do not intend to appoint any unfit man to +office. So far as I legitimately can, I shall always endeavor to pay +regard to the wishes and feelings of the people of each locality; but I +can not consent to take the position that the door of hope--the door of +opportunity--is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely +upon the grounds of race or color. Such an attitude would, according to +my convictions, be fundamentally wrong." These memorable words, coming +in a day of compromise and expediency in high places, greatly cheered +the heart of the race. Just the year before, the importance of the +incident of Booker T. Washington's taking lunch with President Roosevelt +was rather unnecessarily magnified by the South into all sorts of +discussion of social equality. + +On Tuesday, January 24, 1899, a fire in the center of the town of +Palmetto, Ga., destroyed a hotel, two stores, and a storehouse, on which +property there was little insurance. The next Saturday there was another +fire and this destroyed a considerable part of the town. For some weeks +there was no clue as to the origin of these fires; but about the middle +of March something overheard by a white citizen led to the implicating +of nine Negroes. These men were arrested and confined for the night of +March 15 in a warehouse to await trial the next morning, a dummy guard +of six men being placed before the door. About midnight a mob came, +pushed open the door, and fired two volleys at the Negroes, killing four +immediately and fatally wounding four more. The circumstances of this +atrocious crime oppressed the Negro people of the state as few things +had done since the Civil War. That it did no good was evident, for in +its underlying psychology it was closely associated with a double crime +that was now to be committed. In April, Sam Hose, a Negro who had +brooded on the happenings at Palmetto, not many miles from the scene +killed a farmer, Alfred Cranford, who had been a leader of the mob, and +outraged his wife. For two weeks he was hunted like an animal, the white +people of the state meanwhile being almost unnerved and the Negroes +sickened by the pursuit. At last, however, he was found, and on Sunday, +April 23, at Newnan, Ga., he was burned, his execution being accompanied +by unspeakable mutilation; and on the same day Lige Strickland, a Negro +preacher whom Hose had accused of complicity in his crime, was hanged +near Palmetto. The nation stood aghast, for the recent events in Georgia +had shaken the very foundations of American civilization. Said the +_Charleston News and Courier_: "The chains which bound the citizen, Sam +Hose, to the stake at Newnan mean more for us and for his race than the +chains or bonds of slavery, which they supplanted. The flames that lit +the scene of his torture shed their baleful light throughout every +corner of our land, and exposed a state of things, actual and potential, +among us that should rouse the dullest mind to a sharp sense of our true +condition, and of our unchanged and unchangeable relations to the whole +race whom the tortured wretch represented." + +Violence breeds violence, and two or three outstanding events are yet to +be recorded. On August 23, 1899, at Darien, Ga., hundreds of Negroes, +who for days had been aroused by rumors of a threatened lynching, +assembled at the ringing of the bell of a church opposite the jail and +by their presence prevented the removal of a prisoner. They were later +tried for insurrection and twenty-one sent to the convict farms for a +year. The general circumstances of the uprising excited great interest +throughout the country. In May, 1900, in Augusta, Ga., an unfortunate +street car incident resulted in the death of the aggressor, a young +white man named Whitney, and in the lynching of the colored man, Wilson, +who killed him. In this instance the victim was tortured and mutilated, +parts of his body and of the rope by which he was hanged being passed +around as souvenirs. A Negro organization at length recovered the body, +and so great was the excitement at the funeral that the coffin was not +allowed to be opened. Two months later, in New Orleans, there was a most +extraordinary occurrence, the same being important because the leading +figure was very frankly regarded by the Negroes as a hero and his fight +in his own defense a sign that the men of the race would not always be +shot down without some effort to protect themselves. + +One night in July, an hour before midnight, two Negroes Robert Charles +and Leonard Pierce, who had recently come into the city from Mississippi +and whose movements had interested the police, were found by three +officers on the front steps of a house in Dryades Street. Being +questioned they replied that they had been in the town two or three days +and had secured work. In the course of the questioning the larger of +the Negroes, Charles, rose to his feet; he was seized by one of the +officers, Mora, who began to use his billet; and in the struggle that +resulted Charles escaped and Mora was wounded in each hand and the hip. +Charles now took refuge in a small house on Fourth Street, and when he +was surrounded, with deadly aim he shot and instantly killed the first +two officers who appeared.[1] The other men advancing, retreated and +waited until daylight for reënforcement, and Charles himself withdrew to +other quarters, and for some days his whereabouts were unknown. With the +new day, however, the city was wild with excitement and thousands of men +joined in the search, the newspapers all the while stirring the crowd +to greater fury. Mobs rushed up and down the streets assaulting Negroes +wherever they could be found, no effort to check them being made by the +police. On the second night a crowd of nearly a thousand was addressed +at the Lee Monument by a man from Kenner, a town a few miles above the +city. Said he: "Gentlemen, I am from Kenner, and I have come down here +to-night to assist you in teaching the blacks a lesson. I have killed a +Negro before and in revenge of the wrong wrought upon you and yours I am +willing to kill again. The only way you can teach these niggers a lesson +and put them in their place is to go out and lynch a few of them as +an object lesson. String up a few of them. That is the only thing to +do--kill them, string them up, lynch them. I will lead you. On to the +parish prison and lynch Pierce." The mob now rushed to the prison, +stores and pawnshops being plundered on the way. Within the next few +hours a Negro was taken from a street car on Canal Street, killed, and +his body thrown into the gutter. An old man of seventy going to work in +the morning was fatally shot. On Rousseau Street the mob fired into a +little cabin; the inmates were asleep and an old woman was killed in +bed. Another old woman who looked out from her home was beaten into +insensibility. A man sitting at his door was shot, beaten, and left for +dead. Such were the scenes that were enacted almost hourly from Monday +until Friday evening. One night the excellent school building given by +Thomy Lafon, a member of the race and a philanthropist, was burned. + +[Footnote 1: From this time forth the wildest rumors were afloat and +the number of men that Charles had killed was greatly exaggerated. Some +reports said scores or even hundreds, and it is quite possible that any +figures given herewith are an understatement.] + +About three o'clock on Friday afternoon Charles was found to be in +a two-story house at the corner of Saratoga and Clio Streets. Two +officers, Porteus and Lally, entered a lower room. The first fell dead +at the first shot, and the second was mortally wounded by the next. A +third, Bloomfield, waiting with gun in hand, was wounded at the first +shot and killed at the second. The crowd retreated, but bullets rained +upon the house, Charles all the while keeping watch in every direction +from four different windows. Every now and then he thrust his rifle +through one of the shattered windowpanes and fired, working with +incredible rapidity. He succeeded in killing two more of his assailants +and wounding two. At last he realized that the house was on fire, and +knowing that the end had come he rushed forth upon his foes, fired one +shot more and fell dead. He had killed eight men and mortally wounded +two or three more. His body was mutilated. In his room there was +afterwards found a copy of a religious publication, and it was known +that he had resented disfranchisement in Louisiana and had distributed +pamphlets to further a colonization scheme. No incriminating evidence, +however, was found. + +In the same memorable year, 1900, on the night of Wednesday, August +15, there were serious riots in the city of New York. On the preceding +Sunday a policeman named Thorpe in attempting to arrest a colored woman +was stabbed by a Negro, Arthur Harris, so fatally that he died on +Monday. On Wednesday evening Negroes were dragged from the street cars +and beaten, and by midnight there were thousands of rioters between +25th and 35th Streets. On the next night the trouble was resumed. These +events were followed almost immediately by riots in Akron, Ohio. On the +last Sunday in October, 1901, while some Negroes were holding their +usual fall camp-meeting in a grove in Washington Parish, Louisiana, they +were attacked, and a number of people, not less than ten and perhaps +several more, were killed; and hundreds of men, women, and children felt +forced to move away from the vicinity. In the first week of March, 1904, +there was in Mississippi a lynching that exceeded even others of +the period in its horror and that became notorious for its use of a +corkscrew. A white planter of Doddsville was murdered, and a Negro, +Luther Holbert, was charged with the crime. Holbert fled, and his +innocent wife went with him. Further report we read in the Democratic +_Evening Post_ of Vicksburg as follows: "When the two Negroes were +captured, they were tied to trees, and while the funeral pyres were +being prepared they were forced to suffer the most fiendish tortures. +The blacks were forced to hold out their hands while one finger at a +time was chopped off. The fingers were distributed as souvenirs. The +ears of the murderers were cut off. Holbert was beaten severely, his +skull was fractured, and one of his eyes, knocked out with a stick, hung +by a shred from the socket.... The most excruciating form of punishment +consisted in the use of a large corkscrew in the hands of some of the +mob. This instrument was bored into the flesh of the man and the woman, +in the arms, legs, and body, and then pulled out, the spirals tearing +out big pieces of raw, quivering flesh every time it was withdrawn." +In the summer of this same year Georgia was once more the scene of a +horrible lynching, two Negroes, Paul Reed and Will Cato--because of the +murder of the Hodges family six miles from the town on July 20--being +burned at the stake at Statesville under unusually depressing +circumstances. In August, 1908, there were in Springfield, Illinois, +race riots of such a serious nature that a force of six thousand +soldiers was required to quell them. These riots were significant +not only because of the attitude of Northern laborers toward Negro +competition, but also because of the indiscriminate killing of Negroes +by people in the North, this indicating a genuine nationalization of the +Negro Problem. The real climax of violence within the period, however, +was the Atlanta Massacre of Saturday, September 22, 1906. + +Throughout the summer the heated campaign of Hoke Smith for +the governorship capitalized the gathering sentiment for the +disfranchisement of the Negro in the state and at length raised the race +issue to such a high pitch that it leaped into flame. The feeling was +intensified by the report of assaults and attempted assaults by Negroes, +particularly as these were detailed and magnified or even invented by an +evening paper, the _Atlanta News_, against which the Fulton County Grand +Jury afterwards brought in an indictment as largely responsible for the +riot, and which was forced to suspend publication when the business men +of the city withdrew their support. Just how much foundation there was +to the rumors may be seen from the following report of the investigator: +"Three, charged to white men, attracted comparatively little attention +in the newspapers, although one, the offense of a man named Turnadge, +was shocking in its details. Of twelve such charges against Negroes in +the six months preceding the riot, two were cases of rape, horrible in +their details, three were aggravated attempts at rape, three may have +been attempts, three were pure cases of fright on the part of white +women, and in one the white woman, first asserting that a Negro had +assaulted her, finally confessed attempted suicide."[1] On Friday, +September 21, while a Negro was on trial, the father of the girl +concerned asked the recorder for permission to deal with the Negro with +his own hand, and an outbreak was barely averted in the open court. +On Saturday evening, however, some elements in the city and from +neighboring towns, heated by liquor and newspaper extras, became openly +riotous and until midnight defied all law and authority. Negroes +were assaulted wherever they appeared, for the most part being found +unsuspecting, as in the case of those who happened to be going home from +work and were on street cars passing through the heart of the city. +In one barber shop two workers were beaten to death and their bodies +mangled. A lame bootblack, innocent and industrious, was dragged from +his work and kicked and beaten to death. Another young Negro was stabbed +with jack-knives. Altogether very nearly a score of persons lost their +lives and two or three times as many were injured. After some time +Governor Terrell mobilized the militia, but the crowd did not take this +move seriously, and the real feeling of the Mayor, who turned on the +hose of the fire department, was shown by his statement that just so +long as the Negroes committed certain crimes just so long would they be +unceremoniously dealt with. Sunday dawned upon a city of astounded white +people and outraged and sullen Negroes. Throughout Monday and Tuesday +the tension continued, the Negroes endeavoring to defend themselves as +well as they could. On Monday night the union of some citizens with +policemen who were advancing in a suburb in which most of the homes were +those of Negroes, resulted in the death of James Heard, an officer, and +in the wounding of some of those who accompanied him. More Negroes were +also killed, and a white woman to whose front porch two men were chased +died of fright at seeing them shot to death. It was the disposition, +however, on the part of the Negroes to make armed resistance that really +put an end to the massacre. Now followed a procedure that is best +described in the words of the prominent apologist for such outbreaks. +Said A.J. McKelway: "Tuesday every house in the town (i.e., the suburb +referred to above) was entered by the soldiers, and some two hundred +and fifty Negroes temporarily held, while the search was proceeding and +inquiries being made. They were all disarmed, and those with concealed +weapons, or under suspicion of having been in the party firing on the +police, were sent to jail."[2] It is thus evident that in this case, as +in many others, the Negroes who had suffered most, not the white men who +killed a score of them, were disarmed, and that for the time being their +terrified women and children were left defenseless. McKelway also says +in this general connection: "Any Southern man would protect an innocent +Negro who appealed to him for help, with his own life if necessary." +This sounds like chivalry, but it is really the survival of the old +slavery attitude that begs the whole question. The Negro does not feel +that he should ask any other man to protect him. He has quite made up +his mind that he will defend his own home himself. He stands as a man +before the bar, and the one thing he wants to know is if the law and the +courts of America are able to give him justice--simple justice, nothing +more. + +[Footnote 1: R.S. Baker: _Following the Colour Line_, 3.] + +[Footnote 2: _Outlook_, November 3, 1906, p. 561.] + + +5. _The Question of Labor_ + +From time to time, in connection with cases of violence, we have +referred to the matter of labor. Riots such as we have described are +primarily social in character, the call of race invariably being the +final appeal. The economic motive has accompanied this, however, and +has been found to be of increasing importance. Says DuBois: "The fatal +campaign in Georgia which culminated in the Atlanta Massacre was +an attempt, fathered by conscienceless politicians, to arouse the +prejudices of the rank and file of white laborers and farmers against +the growing competition of black men, so that black men by law could be +forced back to subserviency and serfdom."[1] The question was indeed +constantly recurrent, but even by the end of the period policies had +not yet been definitely decided upon, and for the time being there were +frequent armed clashes between the Negro and the white laborer. Both +capital and common sense were making it clear, however, that the +Negro was undoubtedly a labor asset and would have to be given place +accordingly. + +[Footnote 1: _The Negro in the South_, 115.] + +In March, 1895, there were bloody riots in New Orleans, these growing +out of the fact that white laborers who were beginning to be organized +objected to the employment Of Negro workers by the shipowners for the +unloading of vessels. When the trouble was at its height volley after +volley was poured upon the Negroes, and in turn two white men were +killed and several wounded. The commercial bodies of the city met, +blamed the Governor and the Mayor for the series of outbreaks, and +demanded that the outrages cease. Said they: "Forbearance has ceased to +be a virtue. We can no longer treat with men who, with arms in their +hands, are shooting down an inoffensive people because they will not +think and act with them. For these reasons we say to these people that, +cost what it may, we are determined that the commerce of this city must +and shall be protected; that every man who desires to perform honest +labor must and shall be permitted to do so regardless of race, color, or +previous condition." About August I of this same year, 1895, there were +sharp conflicts between the white and the black miners at Birmingham, +a number being killed on both sides before military authority could +intervene. Three years later, moreover, the invasion of the North by +Negro labor had begun, and about November 17, 1898, there was serious +trouble in the mines at Pana and Virden, Illinois. In the same month +the convention of railroad brotherhoods in Norfolk expressed strong +hostility to Negro labor, Grand Master Frank P. Sargent of the +Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen saying that one of the chief purposes +of the meeting of the brotherhoods was "to begin a campaign in advocacy +of white supremacy in the railway service." This November, it will be +recalled, was the fateful month of the election riots in North and South +Carolina. _The People_, the Socialist-Labor publication, commenting upon +a Negro indignation meeting at Cooper Union and upon the problem in +general, said that the Negro was essentially a wage-slave, that it was +the capitalism of the North and not humanity that in the first place had +demanded the freedom of the slave, that in the new day capital demanded +the subjugation of the working class--Negro or otherwise; and it blamed +the Negroes for not seeing the real issues at stake. It continued with +emphasis: "It is not the _Negro_ that was massacred in the Carolinas; +it was Carolina _workingmen_, Carolina _wage-slaves_ who happened to +be colored men. Not as Negroes must the race rise;... it is as +_workingmen_, as a branch of the _working class_, that the Negro must +denounce the Carolina felonies. Only by touching that chord can he +denounce to a purpose, because only then does he place himself upon that +elevation that will enable him to perceive the source of the specific +wrong complained of now." This point of view was destined more and more +to stimulate those interested in the problem, whether they accepted +it in its entirety or not. Another opinion, very different and also +important, was that given in 1899 by the editor of _Dixie_, a magazine +published in Atlanta and devoted to Southern industrial interests. Said +he: "The manufacturing center of the United States will one day be +located in the South; and this will come about, strange as it may seem, +for the reason that the Negro is a fixture here.... Organized labor, +as it exists to-day, is a menace to industry. The Negro stands as +a permanent and positive barrier against labor organization in the +South.... So the Negro, all unwittingly, is playing an important part in +the drama of Southern industrial development. His good nature defies the +Socialist." At the time this opinion seemed plausible, and yet the very +next two decades were to raise the question if it was not founded on +fallacious assumptions. + +The real climax of labor trouble as of mob violence within the period +came in Georgia and in Atlanta, a city that now assumed outstanding +importance as a battleground of the problems of the New South. In April, +1909, it happened that ten white workers on the Georgia Railroad who had +been placed on the "extra list" were replaced by Negroes at lower wages. +Against this there was violent protest all along the route. A little +more than a month later the white Firemen's Union started a strike that +was intended to be the beginning of an effort to drive all Negro firemen +from Southern roads, and it was soon apparent that the real contest was +one occasioned by the progress in the South of organized labor on the +one hand and the progress of the Negro in efficiency on the other. The +essential motives that entered into the struggle were in fact the same +as those that characterized the trouble in New Orleans in 1895. Said +E.A. Ball, second vice-president of the Firemen's Union, in an address +to the public: "It will be up to you to determine whether the white +firemen now employed on the Georgia Railroad shall be accorded rights +and privileges over the Negro, or whether he shall be placed on the same +equality with the Negro. Also, it will be for you to determine whether +or not white firemen, supporting families in and around Atlanta on a pay +of $1.75 a day, shall be compelled to vacate their positions in Atlanta +joint terminals for Negroes, who are willing to do the same work for +$1.25." Some papers, like the Augusta _Herald_, said that it was a +mistaken policy to give preference to Negroes when white men would +ultimately have to be put in charge of trains and engines; but others, +like the Baltimore _News_, said, "If the Negro can be driven from one +skilled employment, he can be driven from another; but a country that +tries to do it is flying in the face of every economic law, and must +feel the evil effects of its policy if it could be carried out." At any +rate feeling ran very high; for a whole week about June I there were +very few trains between Atlanta and Augusta, and there were some acts of +violence; but in the face of the capital at stake and the fundamental +issues involved it was simply impossible for the railroad to give way. +The matter was at length referred to a board of arbitration which +decided that the Georgia Railroad was still to employ Negroes whenever +they were found qualified and that they were to receive the same wages +as white workers. Some thought that this decision would ultimately tell +against the Negro, but such was not the immediate effect at least, and +to all intents and purposes the white firemen had lost in the strike. +The whole matter was in fact fundamentally one of the most pathetic that +we have had to record. Humble white workers, desirous of improving the +economic condition of themselves and their families, instead of assuming +a statesmanlike and truly patriotic attitude toward their problem, +turned aside into the wilderness of racial hatred and were lost. + +This review naturally prompts reflection as to the whole function of the +Negro laborer in the South. In the first place, what is he worth, and +especially what is he worth in honest Southern opinion? It was said +after the Civil War that he would not work except under compulsion; just +how had he come to be regarded in the industry of the New South? In 1894 +a number of large employers were asked about this point. 50 per cent +said that in skilled labor they considered the Negro inferior to the +white worker, 46 per cent said that he was fairly equal, and 4 per cent +said that, all things considered, he was superior. As to common labor 54 +per cent said that he was equal, 29 per cent superior, and 17 per cent +inferior to the white worker. At the time it appeared that wages +paid Negroes averaged 80 per cent of those paid white men. A similar +investigation by the Chattanooga _Tradesman_ in 1902 brought forth five +hundred replies. These were summarized as follows: "We find the Negro +more useful and skilled in the cotton-seed oil-mills, the lumber-mills, +the foundries, brick kilns, mines, and blast-furnaces. He is superior +to white labor and possibly superior to any other labor in these +establishments, but not in the capacity of skillful and ingenious +artisans." In this opinion, it is to be remembered, the Negro was +subjected to a severe test in which nothing whatever was given to him, +and at least it appears that in many lines of labor he is not less than +indispensable to the progress of the South. The question then arises: +Just what is the relation that he is finally to sustain to other +workingmen? It would seem that white worker and black worker would long +ago have realized their identity of interest and have come together. The +unions, however, have been slow to admit Negroes and give them the same +footing and backing as white men. Under the circumstances accordingly +there remained nothing else for the Negro to do except to work wherever +his services were desired and on the best terms that he was able to +obtain. + + +6. _Defamation: Brownsville_ + +Crime demands justification, and it is not surprising that after such +violence as that which we have described, and after several states had +passed disfranchising acts, there appeared in the first years of the new +century several publications especially defamatory of the race. Some +books unfortunately descended to a coarseness in vilification such as +had not been reached since the Civil War. From a Bible House in St. +Louis in 1902 came _The Negro a Beast, or In the Image of God_, a book +that was destined to have an enormous circulation among the white people +of the poorer class in the South, and that of course promoted the +mob spirit.[1] Contemporary and of the same general tenor were R.W. +Shufeldt's _The Negro_ and W.B. Smith's _The Color Line_, while a member +of the race itself, William Hannibal Thomas, published a book, _The +American Negro_, that was without either faith or ideal and as a +denunciation of the Negro in America unparalleled in its vindictiveness +and exaggeration.[2] + +[Footnote 1: Its fundamental assumptions were ably refuted by Edward +Atkinson in the _North American Review_, August, 1905.] + +[Footnote 2: It was reviewed in the _Dial_, April 16, 1901, by W.E.B. +DuBois, who said in part: "Mr. Thomas's book is a sinister symptom--a +growth and development under American conditions of life which +illustrates peculiarly the anomalous position of black men, and the +terrific stress under which they struggle. And the struggle and the +fight of human beings against hard conditions of life always tends +to develop the criminal or the hypocrite, the cynic or the radical. +Wherever among a hard-pressed people these types begin to appear, it +is a visible sign of a burden that is threatening to overtax their +strength, and the foreshadowing of the age of revolt."] + +In January, 1904, the new governor of Mississippi, J.K. Vardaman, in his +inaugural address went to the extreme of voicing the opinion of those +who were now contending that the education of the Negro was only +complicating the problem and intensifying its dangerous features. Said +he of the Negro people: "As a race, they are deteriorating morally every +day. Time has demonstrated that they are more criminal as freemen than +as slaves; that they are increasing in criminality with frightful +rapidity, being one-third more criminal in 1890 than in 1880." A +few weeks later Bishop Brown of Arkansas in a widely quoted address +contended that the Southern Negro was going backward both morally and +intellectually and could never be expected to take a helpful part in the +Government; and he also justified lynching. In the same year one of the +more advanced thinkers of the South, Edgar Gardner Murphy, in _Problems +of the Present South_ was not yet quite willing to receive the Negro on +the basis of citizenship; and Thomas Nelson Page, who had belittled the +Negro in such a collection of stories as _In Ole Virginia_ and in such a +novel as _Red Rock_[1] formally stated his theories in _The Negro: The +Southerner's Problem_. The worst, however--if there could be a worst in +such an array--was yet to appear. In 1905 Thomas Dixon added to a series +of high-keyed novels _The Clansman_, a glorification of the KuKlux Klan +that gave a malignant portrayal of the Negro and that was of such a +quality as to arouse the most intense prejudice and hatred. Within a +few months the work was put on the stage and again and again it threw +audiences into the wildest excitement. The production was to some +extent held to blame for the Atlanta Massacre. In several cities it was +proscribed. In Philadelphia on October 23, 1906, after the Negro +people had made an unavailing protest, three thousand of them made a +demonstration before the Walnut Street theater where the performance +was given, while the conduct of some within the playhouse almost +precipitated a riot; and in this city the play was suppressed the next +day. Throughout the South, however, and sometimes elsewhere it continued +to do its deadly work, and it was later to furnish the basis of "The +Birth of a Nation," an elaborate motion picture of the same general +tendency. + +[Footnote 1: For a general treatment of the matter of the Negro as dealt +with in American Literature, especially fiction, note "The Negro in +American Fiction," in the _Dial_, May 11, 1916, a paper included in +_The Negro in Literature and Art_. The thesis there is that imaginative +treatment of the Negro is still governed by outworn antebellum types, +or that in the search for burlesque some types of young and uncultured +Negroes of the present day are deliberately overdrawn, but that there is +not an honest or a serious facing of the characters and the situations +in the life of the Negro people in the United States to-day. Since the +paper first appeared it has received much further point; witness the +stories by E.K. Means and Octavius Roy Cohen.] + +Still another line of attack was now to attempt to deprive the Negro of +any credit for initiative or for any independent achievement whatsoever. +In May, 1903, Alfred H. Stone contributed to the _Atlantic_ a paper, +"The Mulatto in the Negro Problem," which contended at the same time +that whatever meritorious work the race had accomplished was due to the +infusion of white blood and that it was the mulatto that was constantly +poisoning the mind of the Negro with "radical teachings and destructive +doctrines." These points found frequent iteration throughout the period, +and years afterwards, in 1917, the first found formal statement in the +_American Journal of Sociology_ in an article by Edward Byron Reuter, +"The Superiority of the Mulatto," which the next year was elaborated +into a volume, _The Mulatto in the United States_. To argue the +superiority of the mulatto of course is simply to argue once more the +inferiority of the Negro to the white man. + +All of this dispraise together presented a formidable case and one from +which the race suffered immeasurably; nor was it entirely offset in the +same years by the appearance even of DuBois's remarkable book, _The +Souls of Black Folk_, or by the several uplift publications of Booker T. +Washington. In passing we wish to refer to three points: (1) The effect +of education on the Negro; (2) the matter of the Negro criminal (and of +mortality), and (3) the quality and function of the mulatto. + +Education could certainly not be blamed for the difficulties of the +problem in the new day until it had been properly tried. In no one of +the Southern states within the period did the Negro child receive a fair +chance. He was frequently subjected to inferior teaching, dilapidated +accommodations, and short terms. In the representative city of Atlanta +in 1903 the white school population numbered 14,465 and the colored +8,118. The Negroes, however, while numbering 35 per cent of the whole, +received but 12 per cent of the school funds. The average white teacher +received $745 a year, and the Negro teacher $450. In the great reduction +of the percentage of illiteracy in the race from 70 in 1880 to 30.4 +in 1910 the missionary colleges--those of the American Missionary +Association, the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and the +Freedmen's Aid Society--played a much larger part than they are +ordinarily given credit for; and it is a very, very rare occurrence that +a graduate of one of the institutions sustained by these agencies, +or even one who has attended them for any length of time, has to be +summoned before the courts. Their influence has most decidedly been on +the side of law and order. Undoubtedly some of those who have gone forth +from these schools have not been very practical, and some have not +gained a very firm sense of relative values in life--it would be a +miracle if all had; but as a group the young people who have attended +the colleges have most abundantly justified the expenditures made in +their behalf, expenditures for which their respective states were not +responsible but of which they reaped the benefit. From one standpoint, +however, the so-called higher education did most undoubtedly complicate +the problem. Those critics of the race who felt that the only function +of Negroes in life was that of hewers of wood and drawers of water quite +fully realized that Negroes who had been to college did not care to work +longer as field laborers. Some were to prove scientific students of +agriculture, but as a group they were out of the class of peons. In this +they were just like white people and all other people. No one who has +once seen the light chooses to live always on the plane of the "man with +the hoe." Nor need it be thought that these students are unduly crowding +into professional pursuits. While, for instance, the number of Negro +physicians and dentists has greatly increased within recent years, the +number would still have to be four or five times as great to sustain +to the total Negro population the same proportion as that borne by +the whole number of white physicians and dentists to the total white +population. + +The subjects of the criminality and the mortality of the race are in +their ultimate reaches closely related, both being mainly due, as we +have suggested, to the conditions under which Negroes have been forced +to live. In the country districts, until 1900 at least, there was little +provision for improvements in methods of cooking or in sanitation, while +in cities the effects of inferior housing, poor and unlighted streets, +and of the segregation of vice in Negro neighborhoods could not be +otherwise than obvious. Thus it happened in such a year as 1898 that in +Baltimore the Negro death rate was somewhat more and in Nashville just +a little less than twice that of the white people. Legal procedure, +moreover, emphasized a vicious circle; living conditions sent the +Negroes to the courts in increasing numbers, and the courts sent them +still farther down in the scale. There were undoubtedly some Negro +thieves, some Negro murderers, and some Negroes who were incontinent; +no race has yet appeared on the face of the earth that did not contain +members having such propensities, and all such people should be dealt +with justly by law. Our present contention is that throughout the period +of which we are now speaking the dominant social system was not only +such as to accentuate criminal elements but also such as even sought +to discourage aspiring men. A few illustrations, drawn from widely +different phases of life, must suffice. In the spring of 1903, and again +in 1904, Jackson W. Giles, of Montgomery County, Alabama, contended +before the Supreme Court of the United States that he and other Negroes +in his county were wrongfully excluded from the franchise by the new +Alabama constitution. Twice was his case thrown out on technicalities, +the first time it was said because he was petitioning for the right to +vote under a constitution whose validity he denied, and the second time +because the Federal right that he claimed had not been passed on in the +state court from whose decision he appealed. Thus the supreme tribunal +in the United States evaded at the time any formal judgment as to the +real validity of the new suffrage provisions. In 1903, moreover, in +Alabama, Negroes charged with petty offenses and sometimes with no +offense at all were still sent to convict farms or turned over to +contractors. They were sometimes compelled to work as peons for a length +of time; and they were flogged, starved, hunted with bloodhounds, and +sold from one contractor to another in direct violation of law. One +Joseph Patterson borrowed $1 on a Saturday, promising to pay the +amount on the following Tuesday morning. He did not get to town at the +appointed time, and he was arrested and carried before a justice of the +peace, who found him guilty of obtaining money under false pretenses. No +time whatever was given to the Negro to get witnesses or a lawyer, or to +get money with which to pay his fine and the costs of court. He was sold +for $25 to a man named Hardy, who worked him for a year and then sold +him for $40 to another man named Pace. Patterson tried to escape, but +was recaptured and given a sentence of six months more. He was then +required to serve for an additional year to pay a doctor's bill. When +the case at last attracted attention, it appeared that for $1 borrowed +in 1903 he was not finally to be released before 1906. Another case of +interest and importance was set in New York. In the spring of 1909 +a pullman porter was arrested on the charge of stealing a card-case +containing $20. The next day he was discharged as innocent. He then +entered against his accuser a suit for $10,000 damages. The jury awarded +him $2,500, which amount the court reduced to $300, Justice P.H. Dugro +saying that a Negro when falsely imprisoned did not suffer the same +amount of injury that a white man would suffer--an opinion which the New +York _Age_ very naturally characterized as "one of the basest and most +offensive ever handed down by a New York judge." + +In the history of the question of the mulatto two facts are outstanding. +One is that before the Civil War, as was very natural under the +circumstances, mulattoes became free much faster than pure Negroes; +thus the census of 1850 showed that 581 of every 1000 free Negroes +were mulattoes and only 83 of every 1000 slaves. Since the Civil War, +moreover, the mulatto element has rapidly increased, advancing from 11.2 +per cent of the Negro population in 1850 to 20.9 per cent in 1910, or +from 126 to 264 per 1000. On the whole question of the function of this +mixed element the elaborate study, that of Reuter, is immediately thrown +out of court by its lack of accuracy. The fundamental facts on which +it rests its case are not always true, and if premises are false +conclusions are worthless. No work on the Negro that calls Toussaint +L'Ouverture and Sojourner Truth mulattoes and that will not give the +race credit for several well-known pure Negroes of the present day, +can long command the attention of scholars. This whole argument on the +mulatto goes back to the fallacy of degrading human beings by slavery +for two hundred years and then arguing that they have not the capacity +or the inclination to rise. In a country predominantly white the +quadroon has frequently been given some advantage that his black friend +did not have, from the time that one was a house-servant and the other a +field-hand; but no scientific test has ever demonstrated that the black +boy is intellectually inferior to the fair one. In America, however, it +is the fashion to place upon the Negro any blame or deficiency and +to claim for the white race any merit that an individual may show. +Furthermore--and this is a point not often remarked in discussions of +the problem--the element of genius that distinguishes the Negro artist +of mixed blood is most frequently one characteristically Negro rather +than Anglo-Saxon. Much has been made of the fact that within the society +of the race itself there have been lines of cleavage, a comparatively +few people, very fair in color, sometimes drawing off to themselves. +This is a fact, and it is simply one more heritage from slavery, most +tenacious in some conservative cities along the coast. Even there, +however, old lines are vanishing and the fusion of different groups +within the race rapidly going forward. Undoubtedly there has been some +snobbery, as there always is, and a few quadroons and octoroons have +crossed the color line and been lost to the race; but these cases are +after all comparatively few in number, and the younger generation is +more and more emphasizing the ideals of racial solidarity. In the future +there may continue to be lines of cleavage in society within the race, +but the standards governing these will primarily be character and merit. +On the whole, then, the mulatto has placed himself squarely on the side +of the difficulties, aspirations, and achievements of the Negro people +and it is simply an accident and not inherent quality that accounts for +the fact that he has been so prominent in the leadership of the race. + +The final refutation of defamation, however, is to be found in the +actual achievement of members of the race themselves. The progress in +spite of handicaps continued to be amazing. Said the New York _Sun_ +early in 1907 (copied by the _Times_) of "Negroes Who Have Made Good": +"Junius C. Groves of Kansas produces 75,000 bushels of potatoes every +year, the world's record. Alfred Smith received the blue ribbon at the +World's Fair and first prize in England for his Oklahoma-raised cotton. +Some of the thirty-five patented devices of Granville T. Woods, the +electrician, form part of the systems of the New York elevated railways +and the Bell Telephone Company. W. Sidney Pittman drew the design of +the Collis P. Huntington memorial building, the largest and finest at +Tuskegee. Daniel H. Williams, M.D., of Chicago, was the first surgeon to +sew up and heal a wounded human heart. Mary Church Terrell addressed in +three languages at Berlin recently the International Association for the +Advancement of Women. Edward H. Morris won his suit between Cook County +and the city of Chicago, and has a law practice worth $20,000 a year." + +In one department of effort, that of sport, the Negro was especially +prominent. In pugilism, a diversion that has always been noteworthy for +its popular appeal, Peter Jackson was well known as a contemporary of +John L. Sullivan. George Dixon was, with the exception of one year, +either bantamweight or featherweight champion for the whole of the +period from 1890 to 1900; and Joe Gans was lightweight champion from +1902 to 1908. Joe Walcott was welterweight champion from 1901 to 1904, +and was succeeded by Dixie Kid, who held his place from 1904 to 1908. In +1908, to the chagrin of thousands and with a victory that occasioned +a score of racial conflicts throughout the South and West and that +resulted in several deaths, Jack Johnson became the heavyweight champion +of America, a position that he was destined to hold for seven years. In +professional baseball the Negro was proscribed, though occasionally +a member of the race played on teams of the second group. Of +semi-professional teams the American Giants and the Leland Giants of +Chicago, and the Lincoln Giants of New York, were popular favorites, +and frequently numbered on their rolls players of the first order of +ability. In intercollegiate baseball W.C. Matthews of Harvard was +outstanding for several years about 1904. In intercollegiate football +Lewis at Harvard in the earlier nineties and Bullock at Dartmouth a +decade later were unusually prominent, while Marshall of Minnesota in +1905 became an All-American end. Pollard of Brown, a half-back, in 1916, +and Robeson of Rutgers, an end, in 1918, also won All-American honors. +About the turn of the century Major Taylor was a champion bicycle rider, +and John B. Taylor of Pennsylvania was an intercollegiate champion in +track athletics. Similarly fifteen years later Binga Dismond of Howard +and Chicago, Sol Butler of Dubuque, and Howard P. Drew of Southern +California were destined to win national and even international honors +in track work. Drew broke numerous records as a runner and Butler was +the winner in the broad jump at the Inter-Allied Games in the Pershing +Stadium in Paris. In 1920 E. Gourdin of Harvard came prominently forward +as one of the best track athletes that institution had ever had. + +In the face, then, of the Negro's unquestionable physical ability and +prowess the supreme criticism that he was called on to face within the +period was all the more hard to bear. In all nations and in all ages +courage under fire as a soldier has been regarded as the sterling test +of manhood, and by this standard we have seen that in war the Negro had +more than vindicated himself. His very honor as a soldier was now to be +attacked. + +In August, 1906, Companies B, C, and D of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, +United States Infantry, were stationed at Fort Brown, Brownsville, +Texas, where they were forced to exercise very great self-restraint in +the face of daily insults from the citizens. On the night of the 13th +occurred a riot in which one citizen of the town was killed, another +wounded, and the chief of police injured. The people of the town +accused the soldiers of causing the riot and demanded their removal. +Brigadier-General E.A. Garlington, Inspector General, was sent to find +the guilty men, and, failing in his mission, he recommended dishonorable +discharge for the regiment. On this recommendation President Roosevelt +on November 9 dismissed "without honor" the entire battalion, +disqualifying its members for service thereafter in either the military +or the civil employ of the United States. When Congress met in December +Senator J.B. Foraker of Ohio placed himself at the head of the critics +of the President's action, and in a ringing speech said of the +discharged men that "they asked no favors because they were Negroes, but +only justice because they were men." On January 22 the Senate authorized +a general investigation of the whole matter, a special message from +the President on the 14th having revoked the civil disability of the +discharged soldiers. The case was finally disposed of by a congressional +act approved March 3, 1909, which appointed a court of inquiry before +which any discharged man who wished to reënlist had the burden of +establishing his innocence--a procedure which clearly violated the +fundamental principle in law that a man is to be accounted innocent +until he is proved guilty. + +In connection with the dishonored soldier of Brownsville, and indeed +with reference to the Negro throughout the period, we recall Edwin +Markham's poem, "Dreyfus,"[1] written for a far different occasion but +with fundamental principles of justice that are eternal: + +[Footnote 1: It is here quoted with the permission of the author and +in the form in which it originally appeared in _McClure's Magazine_, +September, 1899.] + + I + + A man stood stained; France was one Alp of hate, + Pressing upon him with the whole world's weight; + In all the circle of the ancient sun + There was no voice to speak for him--not one; + In all the world of men there was no sound + But of a sword flung broken to the ground. + + Hell laughed its little hour; and then behold + How one by one the guarded gates unfold! + Swiftly a sword by Unseen Forces hurled, + And now a man rising against the world! + + II + + Oh, import deep as life is, deep as time! + There is a Something sacred and sublime + Moving behind the worlds, beyond our ken, + Weighing the stars, weighing the deeds of men. + + Take heart, O soul of sorrow, and be strong! + There is one greater than the whole world's wrong. + Be hushed before the high Benignant Power + That moves wool-shod through sepulcher and tower! + No truth so low but He will give it crown; + No wrong so high but He will hurl it down. + O men that forge the fetter, it is vain; + There is a Still Hand stronger than your chain. + 'Tis no avail to bargain, sneer, and nod, + And shrug the shoulder for reply to God. + + +7. The Dawn of a To-morrow + +The bitter period that we have been considering was not wholly without +its bright features, and with the new century new voices began to be +articulate. In May, 1900, there was in Montgomery a conference in +which Southern men undertook as never before to make a study of their +problems. That some who came had yet no real conception of the task and +its difficulties may be seen from the suggestion of one man that the +Negroes be deported to the West or to the islands of the sea. Several +men advocated the repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment. The position +outstanding for its statesmanship was that of ex-Governor William A. +McCorkle of West Virginia, who asserted that the right of franchise was +the vital and underlying principle of the life of the people of the +United States and must not be violated, that the remedy for present +conditions was an "honest and inflexible educational and property basis, +administered fairly for black and white," and finally that the Negro +Problem was not a local problem but one to be settled by the hearty +coöperation of all of the people of the United States. + +Meanwhile the Southern Educational Congress continued its sittings from +year to year, and about 1901 there developed new and great interest in +education, the Southern Education Board acting in close coöperation with +the General Education Board, the medium of the philanthropy of John D. +Rockefeller, and frequently also with the Peabody and Slater funds.[1] +In 1907 came the announcement of the Jeanes Fund, established by Anna T. +Jeanes, a Quaker of Philadelphia, for the education of the Negro in the +rural districts of the South; and in 1911 that of the Phelps-Stokes +Fund, established by Caroline Phelps-Stokes with emphasis on the +education of the Negro in Africa and America. More and more these +agencies were to work in harmony and coöperation with the officials in +the different states concerned. In 1900 J.L.M. Curry, a Southern man of +great breadth of culture, was still in charge of the Peabody and Slater +funds, but he was soon to pass from the scene and in the work now to +be done were prominent Robert C. Ogden, Hollis B. Frissell, Wallace +Buttrick, George Foster Peabody, and James H. Dillard. + +[Footnote 1: In 1867 George Peabody, an American merchant and patriot, +established the Peabody Educational Fund for the purpose of promoting +"intellectual, moral, and industrial education in the most destitute +portion of the Southern states." The John F. Slater Fund was established +in 1882 especially for the encouragement of the industrial education of +Negroes.] + +Along with the mob violence, moreover, that disgraced the opening years +of the century was an increasing number of officers who were disposed +to do their duty even under trying circumstances. Less than two +months after his notorious inaugural Governor Vardaman of Mississippi +interested the reading public by ordering out a company of militia when +a lynching was practically announced to take place, and by boarding a +special train to the scene to save the Negro. In this same state +in 1909, when the legislature passed a law levying a tax for the +establishment of agricultural schools for white students, and levied +this on the property of white people and Negroes alike, though only the +white people were to have schools, a Jasper County Negro contested +the matter before the Chancery Court, which declared the law +unconstitutional, and he was further supported by the Supreme Court of +the state. Such a decision was inspiring, but it was not the rule, and +already the problems of another decade were being foreshadowed. Already +also under the stress of conditions in the South many Negroes were +seeking a haven in the North. By 1900 there were as many Negroes in +Pennsylvania as in Missouri, whereas twenty years before there had been +twice as many in the latter state. There were in Massachusetts more than +in Delaware, whereas twenty years before Delaware had had 50 per cent +more than Massachusetts. Within twenty years Virginia gained 312,000 +white people and only 29,000 Negroes, the latter having begun a steady +movement to New York. North Carolina gained 400,000 white people and +only 93,000 Negroes. South Carolina and Mississippi, however, were not +yet affected in large measure by the movement. + +The race indeed was beginning to be possessed by a new consciousness. +After 1895 Booker T. Washington was a very genuine leader. From the +first, however, there was a distinct group of Negro men who honestly +questioned the ultimate wisdom of the so-called Atlanta Compromise, +and who felt that in seeming to be willing temporarily to accept +proscription and to waive political rights Dr. Washington had given up +too much. Sometimes also there was something in his illustrations of the +effects of current methods of education that provoked reply. Those +who were of the opposition, however, were not at first united and +constructive, and in their utterances they sometimes offended by +harshness of tone. Dr. Washington himself said of the extremists in this +group that they frequently understood theories but not things; that in +college they gave little thought to preparing for any definite task in +the world, but started out with the idea of preparing themselves to +solve the race problem; and that many of them made a business of keeping +the troubles, wrongs, and hardships of the Negro race before the +public.[1] There was ample ground for this criticism. More and more, +however, the opposition gained force; the _Guardian_, a weekly paper +edited in Boston by Monroe Trotter, was particularly outspoken, and in +Boston the real climax came in 1903 in an endeavor to break up a meeting +at which Dr. Washington was to speak. Then, beginning in January, 1904, +the _Voice of the Negro_, a magazine published in Atlanta for three +years, definitely helped toward the cultivation of racial ideals. +Publication of the periodical became irregular after the Atlanta +Massacre, and it finally expired in 1907. Some of the articles dealt +with older and more philosophical themes, but there were also bright and +illuminating studies in education and other social topics, as well as a +strong stand on political issues. The _Colored American_, published in +Boston just a few years before the _Voice_ began to appear, also did +inspiring work. Various local or state organizations, moreover, from +time to time showed the virtue of coöperation; thus the Georgia Equal +Rights Convention, assembled in Macon in February, 1906, at the call of +William J. White, the veteran editor of the _Georgia Baptist_, brought +together representative men from all over the state and considered such +topics as the unequal division of school taxes, the deprivation of the +jury rights of Negroes, the peonage system, and the penal system. In +1905 twenty-nine men of the race launched what was known as the Niagara +Movement. The aims of this organization were freedom of speech and +criticism, an unlettered and unsubsidized press, manhood suffrage, the +abolition of all caste distinctions based simply on race and color, the +recognition of the principle of human brotherhood as a practical present +creed, the recognition of the highest and best training as the monopoly +of no class or race, a belief in the dignity of labor, and united effort +to realize these ideals under wise and courageous leadership. The time +was not yet quite propitious, and the Niagara Movement as such died +after three or four years. Its principles lived on, however, and it +greatly helped toward the formation of a stronger and more permanent +organization. + +[Footnote 1: See chapter "The Intellectuals," in _My Larger Education_.] + +In 1909 a number of people who were interested in the general effect +of the Negro Problem on democracy in America organized in New York the +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.[1] It was +felt that the situation had become so bad that the time had come for +a simple declaration of human rights. In 1910 Moorfield Storey, a +distinguished lawyer of Boston, became national president, and W.E. +Burghardt DuBois director of publicity and research, and editor of the +_Crisis_, which periodical began publication in November of this year. +The organization was successful from the first, and local branches were +formed all over the country, some years elapsing, however, before the +South was penetrated. Said the Director: "Of two things we Negroes have +dreamed for many years: An organization so effective and so powerful +that when discrimination and injustice touched one Negro, it would touch +12,000,000. We have not got this yet, but we have taken a great step +toward it. We have dreamed, too, of an organization that would work +ceaselessly to make Americans know that the so-called 'Negro problem' is +simply one phase of the vaster problem of democracy in America, and that +those who wish freedom and justice for their country must wish it for +every black citizen. This is the great and insistent message of the +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People." + +[Footnote 1: For detailed statement of origin see pamphlet, "How the +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Began," by +Mary White Ovington, published by the Association.] + +This organization is outstanding as an effort in coöperation between +the races for the improvement of the condition of the Negro. Of special +interest along the line of economic betterment has been the National +League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, now known as the National +Urban League, which also has numerous branches with headquarters in New +York and through whose offices thousands of Negroes have been placed +in honorable employment. The National Urban League was also formally +organized in 1910; it represented a merging of the different agencies +working in New York City in behalf of the social betterment of the Negro +population, especially of the National League for the Protection +of Colored Women and of the Committee for Improving the Industrial +Conditions among Negroes in New York, both of which agencies had been +organized in 1906. As we shall see, the work of the League was to be +greatly expanded within the next decade by the conditions brought about +by the war; and under the direction of the executive secretary, Eugene +Kinckle Jones, with the assistance of alert and patriotic officers, its +work was to prove one of genuinely national service. + +Interesting also was a new concern on the part of the young Southern +college man about the problems at his door. Within just a few years +after the close of the period now considered, Phelps-Stokes fellowships +for the study of problems relating to the Negro were founded at the +Universities of Virginia and Georgia; it was expected that similar +fellowships would be founded in other institutions; and there was +interest in the annual meetings of the Southern Sociological Congress +and the University Commission on Southern Race Questions. + +Thus from one direction and another at length broke upon a "vale of +tears" a new day of effort and of hope. For the real contest the forces +were gathering. The next decade was to be one of unending bitterness and +violence, but also one in which the Negro was to rise as never before to +the dignity of self-reliant and courageous manhood. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW AGE + + +1. _Character of the Period_ + +The decade 1910-1920, momentous in the history of the world, in the +history of the Negro race in America must finally be regarded as the +period of a great spiritual uprising against the proscription, the +defamation, and the violence of the preceding twenty years. As never +before the Negro began to realize that the ultimate burden of his +salvation rested upon himself, and he learned to respect and to depend +upon himself accordingly. + +The decade naturally divides into two parts, that before and that after +the beginning of the Great War in Europe. Even in the earlier years, +however, the tendencies that later were dominant were beginning to be +manifest. The greater part of the ten years was consumed by the two +administrations of President Woodrow Wilson; and not only did the +National Government in the course of these administrations discriminate +openly against persons of Negro descent in the Federal service and fail +to protect those who happened to live in the capital, but its policy +also gave encouragement to outrage in places technically said to be +beyond its jurisdiction. A great war was to give new occasion and +new opportunity for discrimination, defamatory propaganda was to be +circulated on a scale undreamed of before, and the close of the war was +to witness attempts for a new reign of terror in the South. Even beyond +the bounds of continental America the race was now to suffer by reason +of the national policy, and the little republic of Hayti to lift its +bleeding hands to the calm judgment of the world. + +Both a cause and a result of the struggle through which the race was now +to pass was its astonishing progress. The fiftieth anniversary of the +Emancipation Proclamation--January 1, 1913--called to mind as did +nothing else the proscription and the mistakes, but also the successes +and the hopes of the Negro people in America. Throughout the South +disfranchisement seemed almost complete; and yet, after many attempts, +the movement finally failed in Maryland in 1911 and in Arkansas in 1912. +In 1915, moreover, the disfranchising act of Oklahoma was declared +unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, and henceforth the +Negro could feel that the highest legal authority was no longer on the +side of those who sought to deprive him of all political voice. Eleven +years before, the Court had taken refuge in technicalities. The year +1911 was also marked by the appointment of the first Negro policeman in +New York, by the election of the first Negro legislator in Pennsylvania, +and by the appointment of a man of the race, William H. Lewis, as +Assistant Attorney General of the United States; and several civil +rights suits were won in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Banks, +insurance companies, and commercial and industrial enterprises were +constantly being capitalized; churches erected more and more stately +edifices; and fraternal organizations constantly increased in membership +and wealth. By 1913 the Odd Fellows numbered very nearly half a million +members and owned property worth two and a half million dollars; in +1920 the Dunbar Amusement Corporation of Philadelphia erected a theater +costing $400,000; and the foremost business woman of the race in the +decade, Mme. C.J. Walker, on the simple business of toilet articles and +hair preparations built up an enterprise of national scope and conducted +in accordance with the principles regularly governing great American +commercial organizations. Fifty years after emancipation, moreover, very +nearly one-fourth of all the Negroes in the Southern states were living +in homes that they themselves owned; thus 430,449 of 1,917,391 houses +occupied in these states were reported in 1910 as owned, and 314,340 +were free of all encumbrance. The percentage of illiteracy decreased +from 70 in 1880 to 30.4 in 1910, and movements were under way for the +still more rapid spread of elementary knowledge. Excellent high schools, +such as those in St. Louis, Washington, Kansas City (both cities of this +name), Louisville, Baltimore, and other cities and towns in the border +states and sometimes as far away as Texas, were setting a standard such +as was in accord with the best in the country; and in one year, 1917, +455 young people of the race received the degree of bachelor of arts, +while throughout the decade different ones received honors and took the +highest graduate degrees at the foremost institutions of learning in the +country. Early in the decade the General Education Board began actively +to assist in the work of the higher educational institutions, and an +outstanding gift was that of half a million dollars to Fisk University +in 1920. Meanwhile, through the National Urban League and hundreds of +local clubs and welfare organizations, social betterment went forward, +much impetus being given to the work by the National Association of +Colored Women's Clubs organized in 1896. + +Along with its progress, throughout the decade the race had to meet +increasing bitterness and opposition, and this was intensified by the +motion picture, "The Birth of a Nation," built on lines similar to those +of _The Clansman_. Negro men standing high on civil service lists were +sometimes set aside; in 1913 the white railway mail clerks of the +South began an open campaign against Negroes in the service in direct +violation of the rules; and a little later in the same year segregation +in the different departments became notorious. In 1911 the American Bar +Association raised the question of the color-line; and efforts for the +restriction of Negroes to certain neighborhoods in different prominent +cities sometimes resulted in violence, as in the dynamiting of the homes +of Negroes in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1911. When the Progressive party +was organized in 1912 the Negro was given to understand that his support +was not sought, and in 1911 a strike of firemen on the Queen and +Crescent Railroad was in its main outlines similar to the trouble on +the Georgia Railroad two years before. Meanwhile in the South the race +received only 18 per cent of the total expenditures for education, +although it constituted more than 30 per cent of the population. + +Worse than anything else, however, was the matter of lynching. In each +year the total number of victims of illegal execution continued to +number three- or fourscore; but no one could ever be sure that every +instance had been recorded. Between the opening of the decade and the +time of the entrance of the United States into the war, five cases were +attended by such unusual circumstances that the public could not soon +forget them. At Coatesville, Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia, on +August 12, 1911, a Negro laborer, Zach Walker, while drunk, fatally shot +a night watchman. He was pursued and attempted suicide. Wounded, he was +brought to town and placed in the hospital. From this place he was taken +chained to his cot, dragged for some miles, and then tortured and burned +to death in the presence of a great crowd of people, including many +women, and his bones and the links of the chain which bound him +distributed as souvenirs. At Monticello, Georgia, in January, 1915, when +a Negro family resisted an officer who was making an arrest, the father, +Dan Barbour, his young son, and his two daughters were all hanged to a +tree and their bodies riddled with bullets. Before the close of the year +there was serious trouble in the southwestern portion of the state, and +behind this lay all the evils of the system of peonage in the black +belt. Driven to desperation by the mistreatment accorded them in the +raising of cotton, the Negroes at last killed an overseer who had +whipped a Negro boy. A reign of terror was then instituted; churches, +society halls, and homes were burnt, and several individuals shot. On +December 30 there was a wholesale lynching of six Negroes in Early +County. Less than three weeks afterwards a sheriff who attempted to +arrest some more Negroes and who was accompanied by a mob was killed. +Then (January 20, 1916) five Negroes who had been taken from the jail in +Worth County were rushed in automobiles into Lee County adjoining, and +hanged and shot. On May 15, 1916, at Waco, Texas, Jesse Washington, a +sullen and overgrown boy of seventeen, who worked for a white farmer +named Fryar at the town of Robinson, six miles away, and who one week +before had criminally assaulted and killed Mrs. Fryar, after unspeakable +mutilation was burned in the heart of the town. A part of the torture +consisted in stabbing with knives and the cutting off of the boy's +fingers as he grabbed the chain by which he was bound. Finally, on +October 21, 1916, Anthony Crawford, a Negro farmer of Abbeville, South +Carolina, who owned four hundred and twenty-seven acres of the best +cotton land in his county and who was reported to be worth $20,000, was +lynched. He had come to town to the store of W.D. Barksdale to sell a +load of cotton-seed, and the two men had quarreled about the price, +although no blow was struck on either side. A little later, however, +Crawford was arrested by a local policeman and a crowd of idlers from +the public square rushed to give him a whipping for his "impudence." He +promptly knocked down the ringleader with a hammer. The mob then set +upon him, nearly killed him, and at length threw him into the jail. A +few hours later, fearing that the sheriff would secretly remove the +prisoner, it returned, dragged the wounded man forth, and then hanged +and shot him, after which proceedings warning was sent to his family to +leave the county by the middle of the next month. + +It will be observed that in these five noteworthy occurrences, in only +one case was there any question of criminal assault. On the other hand, +in one case two young women were included among the victims; another was +really a series of lynchings emphasizing the lot of some Negroes under +a vicious economic system; and the last simply grew out of the jealousy +and hatred aroused by a Negro of independent means who knew how to stand +up for his rights. + +Such was the progress, such also the violence that the Negro witnessed +during the decade. Along with his problems at home he now began to have +a new interest in those of his kin across the sea, and this feeling was +intensified by the world war. It raises questions of such far-reaching +importance, however, that it must receive separate and distinct +treatment. + + +2. _Migration; East St. Louis_ + +Very soon after the beginning of the Great War in Europe there began +what will ultimately be known as the most remarkable migratory movement +in the history of the Negro in America. Migration had indeed at no time +ceased since the great movement of 1879, but for the most part it had +been merely personal and not in response to any great emergency. The +sudden ceasing of the stream of immigration from Europe, however, +created an unprecedented demand for labor in the great industrial +centers of the North, and business men were not long in realizing +the possibilities of a source that had as yet been used in only the +slightest degree. Special agents undoubtedly worked in some measure; but +the outstanding feature of the new migration was that it was primarily a +mass movement and not one organized or encouraged by any special group +of leaders. Labor was needed in railroad construction, in the steel +mills, in the tobacco farms of Connecticut, and in the packing-houses, +foundries, and automobile plants. In 1915 the New England tobacco +growers hastily got together in New York two hundred girls; but these +proved to be unsatisfactory, and it was realized that the labor supply +would have to be more carefully supervised. In January, 1916, the +management of the Continental Tobacco Corporation definitely decided on +the policy of importing workers from the South, and within the next year +not less than three thousand Negroes came to Hartford, several hundred +being students from the schools and colleges who went North to work for +the summer. In the same summer came also train-loads of Negroes from +Jacksonville and other points to work for the Erie and Pennsylvania +Railroads. + +Those who left their homes in the South to find new ones in the North +thus worked first of all in response to a new economic demand. +Prominent in their thought to urge them on, however, were the generally +unsatisfactory conditions in the South from which they had so long +suffered and from which all too often there had seemed to be no escape. +As it was, they were sometimes greatly embarrassed in leaving. In +Jacksonville the city council passed an ordinance requiring that agents +who wished to recruit labor to be sent out of the state should pay +$1,000 for a license or suffer a fine of $600 and spend sixty days in +jail. Macon, Ga., raised the license fee to $25,000. In Savannah the +excitement was intense. When two trains did not move as it was expected +that they would, three hundred Negroes paid their own fares and went +North. Later, when the leaders of the movement could not be found, the +police arrested one hundred of the Negroes and sent them to the police +barracks, charging them with loitering. Similar scenes were enacted +elsewhere, the South being then as ever unwilling to be deprived of its +labor supply. Meanwhile wages for some men in such an industrial center +as Birmingham leaped to $9 and $10 a day. All told, hardly less than +three-fourths of a million Negroes went North within the four years +1915-1918. + +Naturally such a great shifting of population did not take place without +some inconvenience and hardship. Among the thousands who changed their +place of residence were many ignorant and improvident persons; but +sometimes it was the most skilled artisans and the most substantial +owners of homes in different communities who sold their property +and moved away. In the North they at once met congestion in housing +facilities. In Philadelphia and Pittsburgh this condition became so bad +as to demand immediate attention. In more than one place there were +outbreaks in which lives were lost. In East St. Louis, Ill., all of the +social problems raised by the movement were seen in their baldest guise. +The original population of this city had come for the most part from +Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It had long been an +important industrial center. It was also a very rough place, the scene +of prize-fights and cock-fights and a haven for escaped prisoners; and +there was very close connection between the saloons and politics. For +years the managers of the industrial plants had recruited their labor +supply from Ellis Island. When this failed they turned to the Negroes of +the South; and difficulties were aggravated by a series of strikes on +the part of the white workers. By the spring of 1917 not less than ten +thousand Negroes had recently arrived in the city, and the housing +situation was so acute that these people were more and more being forced +into the white localities. Sometimes Negroes who had recently arrived +wandered aimlessly about the streets, where they met the rougher +elements of the city; there were frequent fights and also much trouble +on the street cars. The Negroes interested themselves in politics and +even succeeded in placing in office several men of their choice. In +February, 1917, there was a strike of the white workers at the Aluminum +Ore Works. This was adjusted at the time, but the settlement was not +permanent, and meanwhile there were almost daily arrivals from the +South, and the East St. Louis _Journal_ was demanding: "Make East St. +Louis a Lily White Town." There were preliminary riots on May 27-30. On +the night of July I men in automobiles rode through the Negro section +and began firing promiscuously. The next day the massacre broke forth in +all its fury, and before it was over hundreds of thousands of dollars in +property had been destroyed, six thousand Negroes had been driven from +their homes, and about one hundred and fifty shot, burned, hanged, or +maimed for life. Officers of the law failed to do their duty, and the +testimony of victims as to the torture inflicted upon them was such as +to send a thrill of horror through the heart of the American people. +Later there was a congressional investigation, but from this nothing +very material resulted. In the last week of this same month, July, 1917, +there were also serious outbreaks in both Chester and Philadelphia, +Penn., the fundamental issues being the same as in East St. Louis. + +Meanwhile welfare organizations earnestly labored to adjust the Negro in +his new environment. In Chicago the different state clubs helped nobly. +Greater than any other one agency, however, was the National Urban +League, whose work now witnessed an unprecedented expansion. +Representative was the work of the Detroit branch, which was not content +merely with finding vacant positions, but approached manufacturers of +all kinds through distribution of literature and by personal visits, +and within twelve months was successful in placing not less than one +thousand Negroes in employment other than unskilled labor. It also +established a bureau of investigation and information regarding housing +conditions, and generally aimed at the proper moral and social care of +those who needed its service. The whole problem of the Negro was of such +commanding importance after the United States entered the war as to lead +to the creation of a special Division of Negro Economics in the office +of the Secretary of Labor, to the directorship of which Dr. George E. +Haynes was called. + +In January, 1918, a Conference of Migration was called in New York under +the auspices of the National Urban League, and this placed before the +American Federation of Labor resolutions asking that Negro labor be +considered on the same basis as white. The Federation had long been +debating the whole question of the Negro, and it had not seemed to be +able to arrive at a clearcut policy though its general attitude was +unfavorable. In 1919, however, it voted to take steps to recognize and +admit Negro unions. At last it seemed to realize the necessity of making +allies of Negro workers, and of course any such change of front on the +part of white workmen would menace some of the foundations of racial +strife in the South and indeed in the country at large. Just how +effective the new decision was to be in actual practice remained to be +seen, especially as the whole labor movement was thrown on the defensive +by the end of 1920. However, special interest attached to the events +in Bogalusa, La., in November, 1919. Here were the headquarters of the +Great Southern Lumber Company, whose sawmill in the place was said to be +the largest in the world. For some time it had made use of unorganized +Negro labor as against the white labor unions. The forces of labor, +however, began to organize the Negroes in the employ of the Company, +which held political as well as capitalistic control in the community. +The Company then began to have Negroes arrested on charges of vagrancy, +taking them before the city court and having them fined and turned over +to the Company to work out the fines under the guard of gunmen. In the +troubles that came to a head on November 22, three white men were shot +and killed, one of them being the district president of the American +Federation of Labor, who was helping to give protection to a colored +organizer. The full significance of this incident remained also to be +seen; but it is quite possible that in the final history of the Negro +problem the skirmish at Bogalusa will mark the beginning of the end of +the exploiting of Negro labor and the first recognition of the identity +of interest between white and black workmen in the South. + + +3. _The Great War_ + +Just on the eve of America's entrance into the war in Europe occurred +an incident that from the standpoint of the Negro at least must finally +appear simply as the prelude to the great contest to come. Once more, +at an unexpected moment, ten years after Brownsville, the loyalty +and heroism of the Negro soldier impressed the American people. The +expedition of the American forces into Mexico in 1916, with the +political events attending this, is a long story. The outstanding +incident, however, was that in which two troops of the Tenth Cavalry +engaged. About eighty men had been sent a long distance from the main +line of the American army, their errand being supposedly the pursuit of +a deserter. At or near the town of Carrizal the Americans seem to have +chosen to go through the town rather than around it, and the result was +a clash in which Captain Boyd, who commanded the detachment, and some +twenty of his men were killed, twenty-two others being captured by the +Mexicans. Under the circumstances the whole venture was rather imprudent +in the first place. As to the engagement itself, the Mexicans said that +the American troops made the attack, while the latter said that the +Mexicans themselves first opened fire. However this may have been, +all other phases of the Mexican problem seemed for the moment to be +forgotten at Washington in the demand for the release of the twenty-two +men who had been taken. There was no reason for holding them, and they +were brought up to El Paso within a few days and sent across the line. +Thus, though "some one had blundered," these Negro soldiers did their +duty; "theirs not to make reply; theirs but to do and die." So in the +face of odds they fought like heroes and twenty died beneath the Mexican +stars. + +When the United States entered the war in Europe in April, 1917, the +question of overwhelming importance to the Negro people was naturally +that of their relation to the great conflict in which their country +had become engaged. Their response to the draft call set a noteworthy +example of loyalty to all other elements in the country. At the very +outset the race faced a terrible dilemma: If there were to be special +training camps for officers, and if the National Government would make +no provision otherwise, did it wish to have a special camp for Negroes, +such as would give formal approval to a policy of segregation, or did it +wish to have no camp at all on such terms and thus lose the opportunity +to have any men of the race specially trained as officers? The camp was +secured--Camp Dodge, near Des Moines, Iowa; and throughout the summer +of 1917 the work of training went forward, the heart of a harassed and +burdened people responding more and more with pride to the work of their +men. On October 15, 625 became commissioned officers, and all told 1200 +received commissions. To the fighting forces of the United States the +race furnished altogether very nearly 400,000 men, of whom just a little +more than half actually saw service in Europe. + +Negro men served in all branches of the military establishment and also +as surveyors and draftsmen. For the handling of many of the questions +relating to them Emmett J. Scott was on October 1, 1917, appointed +Special Assistant to the Secretary of War. Mr. Scott had for a number +of years assisted Dr. Booker T. Washington as secretary at Tuskegee +Institute, and in 1909 he was one of the three members of the special +commission appointed by President Taft for the investigation of Liberian +affairs. Negro nurses were authorized by the War Department for service +in base hospitals at six army camps, and women served also as canteen +workers in France and in charge of hostess houses in the United States. +Sixty Negro men served as chaplains; 350 as Y.M.C.A. secretaries; and +others in special capacities. Service of exceptional value was rendered +by Negro women in industry, and very largely also they maintained and +promoted the food supply through agriculture at the same time that they +released men for service at the front. Meanwhile the race invested +millions of dollars in Liberty Bonds and War Savings stamps and +contributed generously to the Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., and other relief +agencies. In the summer of 1918 interest naturally centered upon +the actual performance of Negro soldiers in France and upon the +establishment of units of the Students' Army Training Corps in twenty +leading educational institutions. When these units were demobilized in +December, 1918, provision was made in a number of the schools for the +formation of units of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. + +The remarkable record made by the Negro in the previous wars of the +country was fully equaled by that in the Great War. Negro soldiers +fought with special distinction in the Argonne Forest, at +Château-Thierry, in Belleau Wood, in the St. Mihiel district, in the +Champagne sector, at Vosges and Metz, winning often very high praise +from their commanders. Entire regiments of Negro troops were cited for +exceptional valor and decorated with the Croix de Guerre--the 369th, the +371st, and the 372nd; while groups of officers and men of the 365th, the +366th, the 368th, the 370th, and the first battalion of the 367th were +also decorated. At the close of the war the highest Negro officers in +the army were Lieutenant Colonel Otis B. Duncan, commander of the third +battalion of the 370th, formerly the Eighth Illinois, and the highest +ranking Negro officer in the American Expeditionary Forces; Colonel +Charles Young (retired), on special duty at Camp Grant, Ill.; Colonel +Franklin A. Dennison, of the 370th Infantry, and Lieutenant Colonel +Benjamin O. Davis, of the Ninth Cavalry. The 370th was the first +American regiment stationed in the St. Mihiel sector; it was one of the +three that occupied a sector at Verdun when a penetration there would +have been disastrous to the Allied cause; and it went direct from the +training camp to the firing-line. Noteworthy also was the record of +the 369th infantry, formerly the Fifteenth Regiment, New York National +Guard. This organization was under shellfire for 191 days, and it held +one trench for 91 days without relief. It was the first unit of Allied +fighters to reach the Rhine, going down as an advance guard of the +French army of occupation. A prominent hero in this regiment was +Sergeant Henry Johnson, who returned with the Croix de Guerre with one +star and one palm. He is credited with routing a party of Germans at +Bois-Hanzey in the Argonne on May 5, 1918, with singularly heavy losses +to the enemy. Many other men acted with similar bravery. Hardly less +heroic was the service of the stevedore regiments, or the thousands of +men in the army who did not go to France but who did their duty as they +were commanded at home. General Vincenden said of the men of the 370th: +"Fired by a noble ardor, they go at times even beyond the objectives +given them by the higher command; they have always wished to be in the +front line"; and General Coybet said of the 371st and 372nd: "The most +powerful defenses, the most strongly organized machine gun nests, the +heaviest artillery barrages--nothing could stop them. These crack +regiments overcame every obstacle with a most complete contempt for +danger.... They have shown us the way to victory." + +In spite of his noble record--perhaps in some measure because of it--and +in the face of his loyal response to the call to duty, the Negro +unhappily became in the course of the war the victim of proscription and +propaganda probably without parallel in the history of the country. No +effort seems to have been spared to discredit him both as a man and as +a soldier. In both France and America the apparent object of the forces +working against him was the intention to prevent any feeling that the +war would make any change in the condition of the race at home. In the +South Negroes were sometimes forced into peonage and restrained in their +efforts to go North; and generally they had no representation on local +boards, the draft was frequently operated so as to be unfair to them, +and every man who registered found special provision for the indication +of his race in the corner of his card. Accordingly in many localities +Negroes contributed more than their quota, this being the result +of favoritism shown to white draftees. The first report of the +Provost-Marshal General showed that of every 100 Negroes called 36 were +certified for service, while of every 100 white men called only 25 were +certified. Of those summoned in Class I Negroes contributed 51.65 per +cent of their registrants as against 32.53 per cent of the white. In +France the work of defamation was manifest and flagrant. Slanders about +the Negro soldiers were deliberately circulated among the French people, +sometimes on very high authority, much of this propaganda growing out of +a jealous fear of any acquaintance whatsoever of the Negro men with the +French women. Especially insolent and sometimes brutal were the men +of the military police, who at times shot and killed on the slightest +provocation. Proprietors who sold to Negro soldiers were sometimes +boycotted, and offenses were magnified which in the case of white men +never saw publication. Negro officers were discriminated against in +hotel and traveling accommodations, while upon the ordinary men in +the service fell unduly any specially unpleasant duty such as that +of re-burying the dead. White women engaged in "Y" work, especially +Southern women, showed a disposition not to serve Negroes, though the +Red Cross and Salvation Army organizations were much better in this +respect; and finally the Negro soldier was not given any place in the +great victory parade in Paris. About the close of the war moreover a +great picture, or series of pictures, the "Pantheon de la Guerre," that +was on a mammoth scale and that attracted extraordinary attention, was +noteworthy as giving representation to all of the forces and divisions +of the Allied armies except the Negroes in the forces from the United +States.[1] Not unnaturally the Germans endeavored--though without +success--to capitalize the situation by circulating among the Negroes +insidious literature that sometimes made very strong points. All of +these things are to be considered by those people in the United States +who think that the Negro suffers unduly from a grievance. + +[Footnote 1: On the whole subject of the actual life of the Negro +soldier unusual interest attaches to the forthcoming and authoritative +"Sidelights on Negro Soldiers," by Charles H. Williams, who as a special +and official investigator had unequaled opportunity to study the Negro +in camp and on the battle-line both in the United States and in France.] + +While the Negro soldier abroad was thus facing unusual pressure in +addition to the ordinary hardships of war, at home occurred an incident +that was doubly depressing coming as it did just a few weeks after +the massacre at East St. Louis. In August, 1917, a battalion of the +Twenty-fourth Infantry, stationed at Houston, Texas, to assist in the +work of concentrating soldiers for the war in Europe, encountered the +ill-will of the town, and between the city police and the Negro military +police there was constant friction. At last when one of the Negroes had +been beaten, word was circulated among his comrades that he had been +shot, and a number of them set out for revenge. In the riot that +followed (August 23) two of the Negroes and seventeen white people of +the town were killed, the latter number including five policemen. As +a result of this encounter sixty-three members of the battalion were +court-martialed at Fort Sam Houston. Thirteen were hanged on December +11, 1917, five more were executed on September 13, 1918, fifty-one were +sentenced to life imprisonment and five to briefer terms; and the Negro +people of the country felt very keenly the fact that the condemned +men were hanged like common criminals rather than given the death of +soldiers. Thus for one reason or another the whole matter of the war and +the incidents connected therewith simply made the Negro question more +bitterly than ever the real disposition toward him of the government +under which he lived and which he had striven so long to serve. + + +4. _High Tension: Washington, Chicago, Elaine_ + +Such incidents abroad and such feeling at home as we have recorded not +only agitated the Negro people, but gave thousands of other citizens +concern, and when the armistice suddenly came on November 11, 1918, not +only in the South but in localities elsewhere in the country racial +feeling had been raised to the highest point. About the same time there +began to be spread abroad sinister rumors that the old KuKlux were +riding again; and within a few months parades at night in representative +cities in Alabama and Georgia left no doubt that the rumors were well +founded. The Negro people fully realized the significance of the new +movement, and they felt full well the pressure being brought to bear +upon them in view of the shortage of domestic servants in the South. +Still more did they sense the situation that would face their sons and +brothers when they returned from France. But they were not afraid; and +in all of the riots of the period the noteworthy fact stands out that +in some of the cities in which the situation was most tense--notably +Atlanta and Birmingham--no great race trouble was permitted to start. + +In general, however, the violence that had characterized the year 1917 +continued through 1918 and 1919. In the one state of Tennessee, within +less than a year and on separate occasions, three Negroes were burned at +the stake. On May 22, 1917, near Memphis, Ell T. Person, nearly fifty +years of age, was burned for the alleged assault and murder of a young +woman; and in this case the word "alleged" is used advisedly, for the +whole matter of the fixing of the blame for the crime and the fact that +the man was denied a legal trial left grave doubt as to the extent of +his guilt. On Sunday, December 2, 1917, at Dyersburg, immediately after +the adjournment of services in the churches of the town, Lation Scott, +guilty of criminal assault, was burned; his eyes were put out with +red-hot irons, a hot poker was rammed down his throat, and he was +mutilated in unmentionable ways. Two months later, on February 12, 1918, +at Estill Springs, Jim McIlheron, who had shot and killed two young +white men, was also burned at the stake. In Estill Springs it had for +some time been the sport of young white men in the community to throw +rocks at single Negroes and make them run. Late one afternoon McIlheron +went into a store to buy some candy. As he passed out, a remark was made +by one of three young men about his eating his candy. The rest of the +story is obvious. + +As horrible as these burnings were, it is certain that they did not +grind the iron into the Negro's soul any more surely than the three +stories that follow. Hampton Smith was known as one of the harshest +employers of Negro labor in Brooks County, Ga. As it was difficult for +him to get help otherwise, he would go into the courts and whenever a +Negro was convicted and was unable to pay his fine or was sentenced to +a term on the chain-gang, he would pay the fine and secure the man for +work on his plantation. He thus secured the services of Sidney Johnson, +fined thirty dollars for gambling. After Johnson had more than worked +out the thirty dollars he asked pay for the additional time he served. +Smith refused to give this and a quarrel resulted. A few mornings later, +when Johnson, sick, did not come to work, Smith found him in his cabin +and beat him. A few evenings later, while Smith was sitting in his home, +he was shot through a window and killed instantly, and his wife was +wounded. As a result of this occurrence the Negroes of both Brooks and +Lowndes counties were terrorized for the week May 17-24, 1918, and not +less than eleven of them lynched. Into the bodies of two men lynched +together not less than seven hundred bullets are said to have been +fired. Johnson himself had been shot dead when he was found; but his +body was mutilated, dragged through the streets of Valdosta, and burned. +Mary Turner, the wife of one of the victims, said that her husband had +been unjustly treated and that if she knew who had killed him she would +have warrants sworn out against them. For saying this she too was +lynched, although she was in an advanced state of pregnancy. Her ankles +were tied together and she was hung to a tree, head downward. Gasoline +and oil from the automobiles near were thrown on her clothing and a +match applied. While she was yet alive her abdomen was cut open with a +large knife and her unborn babe fell to the ground. It gave two feeble +cries and then its head was crushed by a member of the mob with his +heel. Hundreds of bullets were then fired into the woman's body. As +a result of these events not less than five hundred Negroes left the +immediate vicinity of Valdosta immediately, and hundreds of others +prepared to leave as soon as they could dispose of their land, and +this they proceeded to do in the face of the threat that any Negro who +attempted to leave would be regarded as implicated in the murder of +Smith and dealt with accordingly. At the end of this same year--on +December 20, 1918--four young Negroes--Major Clark, aged twenty; Andrew +Clark, aged fifteen; Maggie Howze, aged twenty, and Alma Howze, aged +sixteen--were taken from the little jail at Shubuta, Mississippi, and +lynched on a bridge near the town. They were accused of the murder of +E.L. Johnston, a white dentist, though all protested their innocence. +The situation that preceded the lynching was significant. Major Clark +was in love with Maggie Howze and planned to marry her. This thought +enraged Johnston, who was soon to become the father of a child by the +young woman, and who told Clark to leave her alone. As the two sisters +were about to be killed, Maggie screamed and fought, crying, "I ain't +guilty of killing the doctor and you oughtn't to kill me"; and to +silence her cries one member of the mob struck her in the mouth with +a monkey wrench, knocking her teeth out. On May 24, 1919, at Milan, +Telfair County, Georgia, two young white men, Jim Dowdy and Lewis Evans, +went drunk late at night to the Negro section of the town and to the +home of a widow who had two daughters. They were refused admittance and +then fired into the house. The girls, frightened, ran to another home. +They were pursued, and Berry Washington, a respectable Negro seventy-two +years of age, seized a shotgun, intending to give them protection; and +in the course of the shooting that followed Dowdy was killed. The next +night, Saturday the 25th, Washington was taken to the place where Dowdy +was killed and his body shot to pieces. + +It remained for the capital of the nation, however, largely to show the +real situation of the race in the aftermath of a great war conducted +by a Democratic administration. Heretofore the Federal Government had +declared itself powerless to act in the case of lawlessness in an +individual state; but it was now to have an opportunity to deal with +violence in Washington itself. On July 19, 1919, a series of lurid and +exaggerated stories in the daily papers of attempted assaults of Negroes +on white women resulted in an outbreak that was intended to terrorize +the popular Northwest section, in which lived a large proportion of +the Negroes in the District of Columbia. For three days the violence +continued intermittently, and as the constituted police authority did +practically nothing for the defense of the Negro citizens, the loss of +life might have been infinitely greater than it was if the colored men +of the city had not assumed their own defense. As it was they saved the +capital and earned the gratitude of the race and the nation. It appeared +that Negroes--educated, law-abiding Negroes--would not now run when +their lives and their homes were at stake, and before such determination +the mob retreated ingloriously. + +Just a week afterwards--before the country had really caught its breath +after the events in Washington--there burst into flame in Chicago a race +war of the greatest bitterness and fierceness. For a number of years the +Western metropolis had been known as that city offering to the Negro +the best industrial and political opportunity in the country. When the +migration caused by the war was at its height, tens of thousands of +Negroes from the South passed through the city going elsewhere, but +thousands also remained to work in the stockyards or other places. With +all of the coming and going, the Negroes in the city must at any time in +1918 or 1919 have numbered not less than 150,000; and banks, coöperative +societies, and race newspapers flourished. There were also abundant +social problems awakened by the saloons and gambling dens, and by the +seamy side of politics. Those who had been longest in the city, however, +rallied to the needs of the newcomers, and in their homes, their +churches, and their places of work endeavored to get them adjusted in +their environment. The housing situation, in spite of all such effort, +became more and more acute, and when some Negroes were forced beyond the +bounds of the old "black belt" there were attempts to dynamite their new +residences. Meanwhile hundreds of young men who had gone to France or to +cantonments--1850 from the district of one draft board at State and 35th +Streets--returned to find again a place in the life of Chicago; and +daily from Washington or from the South came the great waves of social +unrest. Said Arnold Hill, secretary of the Chicago branch of the +National Urban League: "Every time a lynching takes place in a community +down South you can depend on it that colored people from that community +will arrive in Chicago inside of two weeks; we have seen it happen so +often that whenever we read newspaper dispatches of a public hanging +or burning in a Texas or a Mississippi town, we get ready to extend +greetings to the people from the immediate vicinity of the lynching." +Before the armistice was signed the League was each month finding work +for 1700 or 1800 men and women; in the following April the number fell +to 500, but with the coming of summer it rapidly rose again. Unskilled +work was plentiful, and jobs in foundries and steel mills, in building +and construction work, and in light factories and packing-houses kept up +a steady demand for laborers. Meanwhile trouble was brewing, and on the +streets there were occasional encounters. + +Such was the situation when on a Sunday at the end of July a Negro boy +at a bathing beach near Twenty-sixth Street swam across an imaginary +segregation line. White boys threw rocks at him, knocked him off a raft, +and he was drowned. Colored people rushed to a policeman and asked him +to arrest the boys who threw the stones. He refused to do so, and as the +dead body of the Negro boy was being handled, more rocks were thrown +on both sides. The trouble thus engendered spread through the Negro +district on the South Side, and for a week it was impossible or +dangerous for people to go to work. Some employed at the stockyards +could not get to their work for some days further. At the end of three +days twenty Negroes were reported as dead, fourteen white men were dead, +scores of people were injured, and a number of houses of Negroes burned. + +In the face of this disaster the great soul of Chicago rose above its +materialism. There were many conferences between representative people; +out of all the effort grew the determination to work for a nobler city; +and the sincerity was such as to give one hope not only for Chicago but +also for a new and better America. + +The riots in Washington and Chicago were followed within a few weeks by +outbreaks in Knoxville and Omaha. In the latter place the fundamental +cause of the trouble was social and political corruption, and because he +strongly opposed the lynching of William Brown, the Negro, the mayor of +the city, Edward P. Smith, very nearly lost his life. As it was, the +county court house was burned, one man more was killed, and perhaps +as many as forty injured. More important even than this, however--and +indeed one of the two or three most far-reaching instances of racial +trouble in the history of the Negro in America--was the reign of terror +in and near Elaine, Phillips County, Arkansas, in the first week of +October, 1919. The causes of this were fundamental and reached the very +heart of the race problem and of the daily life of tens of thousands of +Negroes. + +Many Negro tenants in eastern Arkansas, as in other states, were still +living under a share system by which the owner furnished the land +and the Negro the labor, and by which at the end of the year the two +supposedly got equal parts of the crop. Meanwhile throughout the +year the tenant would get his food, clothing, and other supplies at +exorbitant prices from a "commissary" operated by the planter or his +agent; and in actual practice the landowner and the tenant did not go +together to a city to dispose of the crop when it was gathered, as was +sometimes done elsewhere, but the landowner alone sold the crop and +settled with the tenant whenever and however he pleased; nor at the time +of settlement was any itemized statement of supplies given, only the +total amount owed being stated. Obviously the planter could regularly +pad his accounts, keep the Negro in debt, and be assured of his labor +supply from year to year. + +In 1918 the price of cotton was constantly rising and at length reached +forty cents a pound. Even with the cheating to which the Negroes were +subjected, it became difficult to keep them in debt, and they became +more and more insistent in their demands for itemized statements. +Nevertheless some of those whose cotton was sold in October, 1918, did +not get any statement of any sort before July of the next year. + +Seeing no other way out of their difficulty, sixty-eight of the Negroes +got together and decided to hire a lawyer who would help them to get +statements of their accounts and settlement at the right figures. +Feeling that the life of any Negro lawyer who took such a case would be +endangered, they employed the firm of Bratton and Bratton, of Little +Rock. They made contracts with this firm to handle the sixty-eight cases +at fifty dollars each in cash and a percentage of the moneys collected +from the white planters. Some of the Negroes also planned to go before +the Federal Grand Jury and charge certain planters with peonage. They +had secret meetings from time to time in order to collect the money to +be paid in advance and to collect the evidence which would enable them +successfully to prosecute their cases. Some Negro cotton-pickers about +the same time organized a union; and at Elaine many Negroes who worked +in the sawmills and who desired to protect their wives and daughters +from insult, refused to allow them to pick cotton or to work for a white +man at any price. + +Such was the sentiment out of which developed the Progressive Farmers +and Household Union of America, which was an effort by legal means to +secure protection from unscrupulous landlords, but which did use the +form of a fraternal order with passwords and grips and insignia so as +the more forcefully to appeal to some of its members. About the first of +October the report was spread abroad in Phillips County that the Negroes +were plotting an insurrection and that they were rapidly preparing to +massacre the white people on a great scale. When the situation had +become tense, one Sunday John Clem, a white man from Helena, drunk, came +to Elaine and proceeded to terrorize the Negro population by gun play. +The colored people kept off the streets in order to avoid trouble and +telephoned the sheriff at Helena. This man failed to act. The next day +Clem was abroad again, but the Negroes still avoided trouble, thinking +that his acts were simply designed to start a race riot. On Tuesday +evening, October 1, however, W.D. Adkins, a special agent of the +Missouri Pacific Railroad, in company with Charles Pratt, a deputy +sheriff, was riding past a Negro church near Hoop Spur, a small +community just a few miles from Elaine. According to Pratt, persons in +the church fired without cause on the party, killing Adkins and wounding +himself. According to the Negroes, Adkins and Pratt fired into the +church, evidently to frighten the people there assembled. At any rate +word spread through the county that the massacre had started, and for +days there was murder and rioting, in the course of which not less +than five white men and twenty-five Negroes were killed, though some +estimates placed the number of fatalities a great deal higher. Negroes +were arrested and disarmed; some were shot on the highways; homes were +fired into; and at one time hundreds of men and women were in a stockade +under heavy guard and under the most unwholesome conditions, while +hundreds of white men, armed to the teeth, rushed to the vicinity from +neighboring cities and towns. Governor Charles H. Brough telegraphed to +Camp Pike for Federal troops, and five hundred were mobilized at once +"to repel the attack of the black army." Worse than any other feature +was the wanton slaying of the four Johnston brothers, whose father had +been a prominent Presbyterian minister and whose mother was formerly a +school-teacher. Dr. D.A.E. Johnston was a successful dentist and owned a +three-story building in Helena. Dr. Louis Johnston was a physician who +lived in Oklahoma and who had come home on a visit. A third brother had +served in France and been wounded and gassed at Château-Thierry. + +Altogether one thousand Negroes were arrested and one hundred and +twenty-two indicted. A special committee of seven gathered evidence and +is charged with having used electric connections on the witness chair +in order to frighten the Negroes. Twelve men were sentenced to death +(though up to the end of 1920 execution had been stayed), and fifty-four +to penitentiary terms. The trials lasted from five to ten minutes each. +No witnesses for the defense were called; no Negroes were on the juries; +no change of venue was given. Meanwhile lawyers at Helena were preparing +to reap further harvest from Negroes who would be indicted and against +whom there was no evidence, but who had saved money and Liberty Bonds. + +Governor Brough in a statement to the press blamed the _Crisis_ and the +Chicago _Defender_ for the trouble. He had served for a number of years +as a professor of economics before becoming governor and had even +identified himself with the forward-looking University Commission on +Southern Race Questions; and it is true that he postponed the executions +in order to allow appeals to be filed in behalf of the condemned men. +That he should thus attempt to shift the burden of blame and overlook +the facts when in a position of grave responsibility was a keen +disappointment to the lovers of progress. + +Reference to the monthly periodical and the weekly paper just mentioned, +however, brings us to still another matter--the feeling on the part of +the Negro that, in addition to the outrages visited on the race, the +Government was now, under the cloak of wartime legislation, formally to +attempt to curtail its freedom of speech. For some days the issue of +the _Crisis_ for May, 1919, was held up in the mail; a South Carolina +representative in Congress quoted by way of denunciation from the +editorial "Returning Soldiers" in the same number of the periodical; +and a little later in the year the Department of Justice devoted +twenty-seven pages of the report of the investigation against "Persons +Advising Anarchy, Sedition, and the Forcible Overthrow of the +Government" to a report on "Radicalism and Sedition among the Negroes +as Reflected in Their Publications." Among other periodicals and papers +mentioned were the _Messenger_ and the _Negro World_ of New York; and by +the _Messenger_ indeed, frankly radical in its attitude not only on the +race question but also on fundamental economic principles, even the +_Crisis_ was regarded as conservative in tone. There could be no doubt +that a great spiritual change had come over the Negro people of the +United States. At the very time that their sons and brothers were making +the supreme sacrifice in France they were witnessing such events as +those at East St. Louis or Houston, or reading of three burnings within +a year in Tennessee. A new determination closely akin to consecration +possessed them. Fully to understand the new spirit one would read not +only such publications as those that have been mentioned, but also those +issued in the heart of the South. "Good-by, Black Mammy," said the +_Southwestern Christian Advocate_, taking as its theme the story of four +Southern white men who acted as honorary pallbearers at an old Negro +woman's funeral, but who under no circumstances would thus have served +for a thrifty, intelligent, well-educated man of the race. Said the +Houston _Informer_, voicing the feeling of thousands, "The black man +fought to make the world safe for democracy; he now demands that America +be made and maintained safe for black Americans." With hypocrisy in +the practice of the Christian religion there ceased to be any patience +whatsoever, as was shown by the treatment accorded a Y.M.C.A. "Call on +behalf of the young men and boys of the two great sister Anglo-Saxon +nations." "Read! Read! Read!" said the _Challenge Magazine_, "then +when the mob comes, whether with torch or with gun, let us stand at +Armageddon and battle for the Lord." "Protect your home," said the +gentle _Christian Recorder_, "protect your wife and children, with your +life if necessary. If a man crosses your threshold after you and your +family, the law allows you to protect your home even if you have to kill +the intruder." Perhaps nothing, however, better summed up the new spirit +than the following sonnet by Claude McKay: + + If we must die, let it not be like hogs + Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, + While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, + Making their mock at our accursed lot. + If we must die, let it not be like hogs + So that our precious blood may not be shed + In vain; then even the monsters we defy + Shall be constrained to honor us, though dead! + Oh, kinsman! We must meet the common foe; + Though far outnumbered, let us still be brave, + And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow! + What though before us lies the open grave? + Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack + Pressed to the wall, dying, but--fighting back! + + +5. _The Widening Problem_ + +In view of the world war and the important part taken in it by French +colonial troops, especially those from Senegal, it is not surprising +that the heart of the Negro people in the United States broadened in a +new sympathy with the problems of their brothers the world over. Even +early in the decade that we are now considering, however, there was some +indication of this tendency, and the First Universal Races Congress in +London in 1911 attracted wide attention. In February, 1919, largely +through the personal effort of Dr. DuBois, a Pan-African Congress was +held in Paris, the chief aims of which were the hearing of statements +on the condition of Negroes throughout the world, the obtaining of +authoritative statements of policy toward the Negro race from the Great +Powers, the making of strong representations to the Peace Conference +then sitting in Paris in behalf of the Negroes throughout the world, and +the laying down of principles on which the future development of the +race must take place. Meanwhile the cession of the Virgin Islands had +fixed attention upon an interesting colored population at the very door +of the United States; and the American occupation of Hayti culminating +in the killing of many of the people in the course of President Wilson's +second administration gave a new feeling of kinship for the land of +Toussaint L'Ouverture. Among other things the evidence showed that on +June 12, 1918, under military pressure a new constitution was forced on +the Haytian people, one favoring the white man and the foreigner; +that by force and brutality innocent men and women, including native +preachers and members of their churches, had been taken, roped together, +and marched as slave-gangs to prison; and that in large numbers Haytians +had been taken from their homes and farms and made to work on new roads +for twenty cents a week, without being properly furnished with food--all +of this being done under the pretense of improving the social and +political condition of the country. The whole world now realized that +the Negro problem was no longer local in the United States or South +Africa, or the West Indies, but international in its scope and +possibilities. + +Very early in the course of the conflict in Europe it was pointed out +that Africa was the real prize of the war, and it is now simply a +commonplace to say that the bases of the struggle were economic. Nothing +did Germany regret more than the forcible seizure of her African +possessions. One can not fail to observe, moreover, a tendency of +discussion of problems resultant from the war to shift the consideration +from that of pure politics to that of racial relations, and early in the +conflict students of society the world over realized that it was nothing +less than suicide on the part of the white race. After the close of the +war many books dealing with the issues at stake were written, and in the +year 1920 alone several of these appeared in the United States. Of all +of these publications, because of their different points of view, four +might call for special consideration--_The Republic of Liberia_, by +R.C.F. Maugham; _The Rising Tide of Color_, by Lothrop Stoddard; +_Darkwater_, by W.E. Burghardt DuBois, and _Empire and Commerce in +Africa: A Study in Economic Imperialism_, by Leonard Woolf. The position +of each of these books is clear and all bear directly upon the central +theme. + +The _Republic of Liberia_ was written by one who some years ago was the +English consul at Monrovia and who afterwards was appointed to Dakar. +The supplementary preface also gives the information that the book was +really written two years before it appeared, publication being delayed +on account of the difficulties of printing at the time. Even up to 1918, +however, the account is incomplete, and the failure to touch upon recent +developments becomes serious; but it is of course impossible to record +the history of Liberia from 1847 to the present and reflect credit upon +England. There are some pages of value in the book, especially those in +which the author speaks of the labor situation in the little African +republic; but these are obviously intended primarily for consumption by +business men in London. "Liberians," we are informed, "tell you that, +whatever may be said to the contrary, the republic's most uncomfortable +neighbor has always been France." This is hardly true. France has +indeed on more than one occasion tried to equal her great rival in +aggrandizement, but she has never quite succeeded in so doing. As we +have already shown in connection with Liberia in the present work, from +the very first the shadow of Great Britain fell across the country. In +more recent years, by loans that were no more than clever plans for +thievery, by the forceful occupation of large tracts of land, and by +interference in the internal affairs of the country, England has again +and again proved herself the arch-enemy of the republic. The book so +recently written in the last analysis appears to be little more than the +basis of effort toward still further exploitation. + +The very merit of _The Rising Tide of Color_ depends on its bias, and it +is significant that the book closes with a quotation from Kipling's "The +Heritage." To Dr. Stoddard the most disquieting feature of the recent +situation was not the war but the peace. Says he, "The white world's +inability to frame a constructive settlement, the perpetuation of +intestine hatreds and the menace of fresh civil wars complicated by the +specter of social revolution, evoke the dread thought that the late +war may be merely the first stage in a cycle of ruin." As for the war +itself, "As colored men realized the significance of it all, they looked +into each other's eyes and there saw the light of undreamed-of hopes. +The white world was tearing itself to pieces. White solidarity was +riven and shattered. And--fear of white power and respect for white +civilization together dropped away like garments outworn. Through the +bazaars of Asia ran the sibilant whisper: 'The East will see the West +to bed.'" At last comes the inevitable conclusion pleading for a better +understanding between England and Germany and for everything else that +would make for racial solidarity. The pitiful thing about this book +is that it is so thoroughly representative of the thing for which it +pleads. It is the very essence of jingoism; civilization does not exist +in and of itself, it is "white"; and the conclusions are directly at +variance with the ideals that have been supposed to guide England +and America. Incidentally the work speaks of the Negro and negroid +population of Africa as "estimated at about 120,000,000." This low +estimate has proved a common pitfall for writers. If we remember that +Africa is three and a half times as large as the United States, and that +while there are no cities as large as New York and Chicago, there are +many centers of very dense population; if we omit entirely from the +consideration the Desert of Sahara and make due allowance for some +heavily wooded tracts in which live no people at all; and if we then +take some fairly well-known region like Nigeria or Sierra Leone as the +basis of estimate, we shall arrive at some such figure as 450,000,000. +In order to satisfy any other points that might possibly be made, let us +reduce this by as much as a third, and we shall still have 300,000,000, +which figure we feel justified in advancing as the lowest possible +estimate for the population of Africa; and yet most books tell us that +there are only 140,000,000 people on the whole continent. + +_Darkwater_ may be regarded as the reply to such a position as that +taken by Dr. Stoddard. If the white world conceives it to be its destiny +to exploit the darker races of mankind, then it simply remains for the +darker races to gird their loins for the contest. "What of the darker +world that watches? Most men belong to this world. With Negro and +Negroid, East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese they form two-thirds of the +population of the world. A belief in humanity is a belief in colored +men. If the uplift of mankind must be done by men, then the destinies of +this world will rest ultimately in the hands of darker nations. What, +then, is this dark world thinking? It is thinking that as wild and awful +as this shameful war was, it is nothing to compare with that fight for +freedom which black and brown and yellow men must and will make unless +their oppression and humiliation and insult at the hands of the White +World cease. The Dark World is going to submit to its present treatment +just as long as it must and not one moment longer." + +Both of these books are strong, and both are materialistic; and +materialism, it must be granted, is a very important factor in the world +just now. Somewhat different in outlook, however, is the book that +labors under an economic subject, _Empire and Commerce in Africa_. In +general the inquiry is concerned with the question, What do we desire +to attain, particularly economically, in Africa, and how far is it +attainable through policy? The discussion is mainly confined to the +three powers: England, France, and Germany; and special merit attaches +to the chapter on Abyssinia, probably the best brief account of this +country ever written. Mr. Woolf announces such fundamental principles as +that the land in Africa should be reserved for the natives; that there +should be systematic education of the natives with a view to training +them to take part in, and eventually control, the government of the +country; that there should be a gradual expatriation of all Europeans +and their capitalistic enterprises; that all revenue raised in Africa +should be applied to the development of the country and the education +and health of the inhabitants; that alcohol should be absolutely +prohibited; and that Africa should be completely neutralized, that is, +in no case should any military operations between European states be +allowed. The difficulties of the enforcement of such a program are of +course apparent to the author; but with other such volumes as this to +guide and mold opinion, the time may indeed come at no distant date when +Africa will cease to exist solely for exploitation and no longer be the +rebuke of Christendom. + +These four books then express fairly well the different opinions and +hopes with which Africa and the world problem that the continent raises +have recently been regarded. It remains simply to mention a conception +that after the close of the war found many adherents in the United +States and elsewhere, and whose operation was on a scale that forced +recognition. This was the idea of the Provisional Republic of Africa, +the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities +League of the World, the Black Star Line of steamships, and the Negro +Factories Corporation, all of which activities were centered in New +York, had as their organ the _Negro World_, and as their president and +leading spirit Marcus Garvey, who was originally from Jamaica. The +central thought that appealed to great crowds of people and won their +support was that of freedom for the race in every sense of the word. +Such freedom, it was declared, transcended the mere demand for the +enforcement of certain political and social rights and could finally be +realised only under a vast super-government guiding the destinies of the +race in Africa, the United States, the West Indies, and everywhere else +in the world. This was to control its people "just as the Pope and the +Catholic Church control its millions in every land." The related ideas +and activities were sometimes termed grandiose and they awakened +much opposition on the part of the old leaders, the clergy, while +conservative business stood aloof. At the same time the conception is +one that deserves to be considered on its merits. + +It is quite possible that if promoted on a scale vast enough such a +Negro super-government as that proposed could be realized. It is true +that England and France seem to-day to have a firm grip on the continent +of Africa, but the experience of Germany has shown that even the mailèd +fist may lose its strength overnight. With England beset with problems +in Ireland and the West Indies, in India and Egypt, it is easy for the +millions in equatorial Africa to be made to know that even this great +power is not invincible and in time might rest with Nineveh and Tyre. +There are things in Africa that will forever baffle all Europeans, and +no foreign governor will ever know all that is at the back of the black +man's mind. Even now, without the aid of modern science, information +travels in a few hours throughout the length and breadth of the +continent; and those that slept are beginning to be awake and restless. +Let this restlessness increase, let intelligence also increase, let the +natives be aided by their fever, and all the armies of Europe could be +lost in Africa and this ancient mother still rise bloody but unbowed. +The realization of the vision, however, would call for capital on a +scale as vast as that of a modern war or an international industrial +enterprise. At the very outset it would engage England in nothing less +than a death-grapple, especially as regards the shipping on the West +Coast. If ships can not go from Liverpool to Seccondee and Lagos, then +England herself is doomed. The possible contest appalls the imagination. +At the same time the exploiting that now goes on in the world can not go +on forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE NEGRO PROBLEM + + +It is probably clear from our study in the preceding pages that the +history of the Negro people in the United States falls into well defined +periods or epochs. First of all there was the colonial era, extending +from the time of the first coming of Negroes to the English colonies to +that of the Revolutionary War. This divides into two parts, with a line +coming at the year 1705. Before this date the exact status of the Negro +was more or less undefined; the system of servitude was only gradually +passing into the sterner one of slavery; and especially in the middle +colonies there was considerable intermixture of the races. By the year +1705, however, it had become generally established that the Negro was to +be regarded not as a person but as a thing; and the next seventy years +were a time of increasing numbers, but of no racial coherence or +spiritual outlook, only a spasmodic insurrection here and there +indicating the yearning for a better day. With the Revolution there came +a change, and the second period extends from this war to the Civil War. +This also divides into two parts, with a line at the year 1830. In the +years immediately succeeding the Revolution there was put forth +the first effective effort toward racial organization, this being +represented by the work of such men as Richard Allen and Prince Hall; +but, in spite of a new racial consciousness, the great mass of the Negro +people remained in much the same situation as before, the increase in +numbers incident to the invention of the cotton-gin only intensifying +the ultimate problem. About the year 1830, however, the very hatred and +ignominy that began to be visited upon the Negro indicated that at least +he was no longer a thing but a person. Lynching began to grow apace, +burlesque on the stage tended to depreciate and humiliate the race, +and the South became definitely united in its defense of the system of +slavery. On the other hand, the Abolitionists challenged the attitude +that was becoming popular; the Negroes themselves began to be prosperous +and to hold conventions; and Nat Turner's insurrection thrust baldly +before the American people the great moral and economic problem with +which they had to deal. With such divergent opinions, in spite of feeble +attempts at compromise, there could be no peace until the issue of +slavery at least was definitely settled. The third great period extends +from the Civil War to the opening of the Great War in Europe. Like the +others it also falls into two parts, the division coming at the year +1895. The thirty years from 1865 to 1895 may be regarded as an era +in which the race, now emancipated, was mainly under the guidance of +political ideals. Several men went to Congress and popular education +began to be emphasized; but the difficulties of Reconstruction and the +outrages of the KuKlux Klan were succeeded by an enveloping system of +peonage, and by 1890-1895 the pendulum had swung fully backward and in +the South disfranchisement had been arrived at as the concrete solution +of the political phase of the problem. The twenty years from 1895 to +1915 formed a period of unrest and violence, but also of solid economic +and social progress, the dominant influence being the work of Booker T. +Washington. With the world war the Negro people came face to face with +new and vast problems of economic adjustment and passed into an entirely +different period of their racial history in America. + +This is not all, however. The race is not to be regarded simply as +existent unto itself. The most casual glance at any such account as we +have given emphasizes the importance of the Negro in the general history +of the United States. Other races have come, sometimes with great gifts +or in great numbers, but it is upon this one that the country's history +has turned as on a pivot. It is true that it has been despised and +rejected, but more and more it seems destined to give new proof that the +stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. +In the colonial era it was the economic advantage of slavery over +servitude that caused it to displace this institution as a system of +labor. In the preliminary draft of the Declaration of Independence a +noteworthy passage arraigned the king of England for his insistence upon +the slave-trade, but this was later suppressed for reasons of policy. +The war itself revealed clearly the fallacy of the position of the +patriots, who fought for their rights as Englishmen but not for the +fundamental rights of man; and their attitude received formal expression +in the compromises that entered into the Constitution. The expansion of +the Southwest depended on the labor of the Negro, whose history became +inextricably bound up with that of the cotton-gin; and the question or +the excuse of fugitives was the real key to the Seminole Wars. The long +struggle culminating in the Civil War was simply to settle the status of +the Negro in the Republic; and the legislation after the war determined +for a generation the history not only of the South but very largely of +the nation as well. The later disfranchising acts have had overwhelming +importance, the unfair system of national representation controlling the +election of 1916 and thus the attitude of America in the world war. + +This is an astonishing phenomenon--this vast influence of a people +oppressed, proscribed, and scorned. The Negro is so dominant in American +history not only because he tests the real meaning of democracy, not +only because he challenges the conscience of the nation, but also +because he calls in question one's final attitude toward human nature +itself. As we have seen, it is not necessarily the worker, not even +the criminal, who makes the ultimate problem, but the simple Negro of +whatever quality. If this man did not have to work at all, and if his +race did not include a single criminal, in American opinion he would +still raise a question. It is accordingly from the social standpoint +that we must finally consider the problem. Before we can do this we need +to study the race as an actual living factor in American life; and even +before we do that it might be in order to observe the general importance +of the Negro to-day in any discussion of the racial problems of the +world. + + +1. _World Aspect_ + +Any consideration of the Negro Problem in its world aspect at the +present time must necessarily be very largely concerned with Africa as +the center of the Negro population. This in turn directs attention to +the great colonizing powers of Europe, and especially to Great Britain +as the chief of these; and the questions that result are of far-reaching +importance for the whole fabric of modern civilization. No one can +gainsay the tremendous contribution that England has made to the world; +every one must respect a nation that produced Wycliffe and Shakespeare +and Darwin, and that, standing for democratic principles, has so often +stayed the tide of absolutism and anarchy; and it is not without desert +that for three hundred years this country has held the moral leadership +of mankind. It may now not unreasonably be asked, however, if it has not +lost some of its old ideals, and if further insistence upon some of its +policies would not constitute a menace to all that the heart of humanity +holds dear. + +As a preliminary to our discussion let us remark two men by way of +contrast. A little more than seventy years ago a great traveler set +out upon the first of three long journeys through central and southern +Africa. He was a renowned explorer, and yet to him "the end of the +geographical feat was only the beginning of the enterprise." Said Henry +Drummond of him: "Wherever David Livingstone's footsteps are crossed in +Africa the fragrance of his memory seems to remain." On one occasion +a hunter was impaled on the horn of a rhinoceros, and a messenger ran +eight miles for the physician. Although he himself had been wounded for +life by a lion and his friends said that he should not ride at night +through a wood infested with beasts, Livingstone insisted on his +Christian duty to go, only to find that the man had died and to be +obliged to retrace his footsteps. Again and again his party would +have been destroyed if it had not been for his own unbounded tact and +courage, and after his death at Chitambo's village Susi and Chuma +journeyed for nine months and over eight hundred miles to take his body +to the coast. "We work for a glorious future," said he, "which we are +not destined to see--the golden age which has not been, but will yet be. +We are only morning-stars shining in the dark, but the glorious morn +will break, the good time coming yet. For this time we work; may God +accept our imperfect service." + +About the time that Livingstone was passing off the scene another strong +man, one of England's "empire builders," began his famous career. Going +first to South Africa as a young man in quest of health, Cecil Rhodes +soon made a huge fortune out of Kimberley diamonds and Transvaal gold, +and by 1890 had become the Prime Minister of Cape Colony. In the pursuit +of his aims he was absolutely unscrupulous. He refused to recognize any +rights of the Portuguese in Matabeleland and Mashonaland; he drove hard +bargains with the Germans and the French; he defied the Boers; and to +him the native Africans were simply so many tools for the heaping up of +gold. Nobody ever said of him that he left a "fragrant memory" behind +him; but thousands of bruised bodies and broken hearts bore witness to +his policy. According to the ideals of modern England, however, he was +a great man. What the Negro in the last analysis wonders is: Who was +right, Livingstone or Rhodes? And which is the world to choose, Christ +or Mammon? + +There are two fundamental assumptions upon which all so-called Western +civilization is based--that of racial and that of religious superiority. +Sight has been lost of the fact that there is really no such thing as a +superior race, that only individuals are superior one to another, and a +popular English poet has sung of "the white man's burden" and of "lesser +breeds without the law." These two assumptions have accounted for all of +the misunderstanding that has arisen between the West and the East, for +China and Japan, India and Egypt can not see by what divine right men +from the West suppose that they have the only correct ancestry or by +what conceit they presume to have the only true faith. Let them but be +accepted, however, let a nation be led by them as guiding-stars, and +England becomes justified in forcing her system upon India, she finds it +necessary to send missionaries to Japan, and the lion's paw pounces upon +the very islands of the sea. + +The whole world, however, is now rising as never before against any +semblance of selfishness on the part of great powers, and it is more +than ever clear that before there can be any genuine progress toward the +brotherhood of man, or toward comity among nations, one man will have +to give some consideration to the other man's point of view. One people +will have to respect another people's tradition. The Russo-Japanese War +gave men a new vision. The whole world gazed upon a new power in the +East--one that could be dealt with only upon equal terms. Meanwhile +there was unrest in India, and in Africa there were insurrections +of increasing bitterness and fierceness. Africa especially had been +misrepresented. The people were all said to be savages and cannibals, +almost hopelessly degraded. The traders and the politicians knew better. +They knew that there were tribes and tribes in Africa, that many of the +chiefs were upright and wise and proud of their tradition, and that the +land could not be seized any too quickly. Hence they made haste to get +into the game. + +It is increasingly evident also that the real leadership of the world is +a matter not of race, not even of professed religion, but of principle. +Within the last hundred years, as science has flourished and +colonization grown, we have been led astray by materialism. The worship +of the dollar has become a fetish, and the man or the nation that had +the money felt that it was ordained of God to rule the universe. Germany +was led astray by this belief, but it is England, not Germany, that has +most thoroughly mastered the _Art of Colonization_. Crown colonies are +to be operated in the interest of the owners. Jingoism is king. It +matters not that the people in India and Africa, in Hayti and the +Philippines, object to our benevolence; _we_ know what is good for them +and therefore they should be satisfied. + +In Jamaica to-day the poorer people can not get employment; and yet, +rather than accept the supply at hand, the powers of privilege import +"coolie" labor, a still cheaper supply. In Sierra Leone, where certainly +there has been time to see the working of the principle, native young +men crowd about the wharves and seize any chance to earn a penny, simply +because there is no work at hand to do--nothing that would genuinely +nourish independence and self-respect. + +It is not strange that the worship of industrialism, with its attendant +competition, finally brought about the most disastrous war in history +and such a breakdown of all principles of morality as made the whole +world stand aghast. Womanhood was no longer sacred; old ideas of ethics +vanished; Christ himself was crucified again--everything holy and lovely +was given to the grasping demon of Wealth. + +Suddenly men realized that England had lost the moral leadership of the +world. Lured by the ideals of Rhodes, the country that gave to mankind +_Magna Charta_ seemed now bent only on its own aggrandizement and +preservation. Germany's colonies were seized, and anything that +threatened the permanence of the dominant system, especially unrest on +the part of the native African, was throttled. Briton and Boer began +to feel an identity of interest, and especially was it made known that +American Negroes were not wanted. + +Just what the situation is to-day may be illustrated by the simple +matter of foreign missions, the policy of missionary organizations in +both England and America being dictated by the political policy of the +empire. The appointing of Negroes by the great American denominations +for service in Africa has practically ceased, for American Negroes are +not to be admitted to any portion of the continent except Liberia, +which, after all, is a very small part of the whole. For the time being +the little republic seems to receive countenance from the great powers +as a sort of safety-valve through which the aspiration of the Negro +people might spend itself; but it is evident that the present +understanding is purely artificial and can not last. Even the Roman +Empire declined, and Germany lost her hold in Africa overnight. Of +course it may be contended that the British Empire to-day is not +decadent but stronger than ever. At the same time there can be no doubt +that Englishman and Boer alike regard these teeming millions of prolific +black people always with concern and sometimes with dismay. Natives of +the Congo still bear the marks of mutilation, and men in South Africa +chafe under unjust land acts and constant indignities in their daily +life. + +Here rises the question for our own country. To the United States at +last has come that moral leadership--that obligation to do the right +thing--that opportunity to exhibit the highest honor in all affairs +foreign or domestic--that is the ultimate test of greatness. Is America +to view this great problem in Africa sympathetically and find some place +for the groping for freedom of millions of human beings, or is she to be +simply a pawn in the game of English colonization? Is she to abide by +the principles that guided her in 1776, or simply seize her share of +the booty? The Negro either at home or abroad is only one of many +moral problems with which she has to deal. At the close of the war +extravagance reigned, crime was rampant, and against any one of three or +four races there was insidious propaganda. To add to the difficulties, +the government was still so dominated by politics and officialdom that +it was almost always impossible to get things done at the time they +needed to be done. At the same time every patriot knows that America is +truly the hope of the world. Into her civilization and her glory have +entered not one but many races. All go forth against a common enemy; all +should share the duties and the privileges of citizenship. In such +a country the law can know no difference of race or class or creed, +provided all are devoted to the general welfare. Such is the obligation +resting upon the United States--such the challenge of social, economic, +and moral questions such as never before faced the children of men. That +she be worthy of her opportunity all would pray; to the fulfilment of +her destiny all should help. The eyes of the world are upon her; the +scepter of the ages is in her hand. + + +2. _The Negro in American Life_ + +If now we come to the Negro in the United States, it is hardly an +exaggeration to say that no other race in the American body politic, not +even the Anglo-Saxon, has been studied more critically than this one, +and treatment has varied all the way from the celebration of virtues +to the bitterest hostility and malignity. It is clearly fundamentally +necessary to pay some attention to racial characteristics and gifts. +In recent years there has been much discussion from the standpoint +of biology, and special emphasis has been placed on the emotional +temperament of the race. The Negro, however, submits that in the United +States he has not been chiefly responsible for such miscegenation as has +taken place; but he is not content to rest simply upon a _tu quoque_. +He calls attention to the fact that whereas it has been charged that +lynchings find their excuse in rape, it has been shown again and again +that this crime is the excuse for only one-fourth or one-fifth of +the cases of violence. If for the moment we suppose that there is +no question about guilt in a fourth or a fifth of the cases, the +overwhelming fraction that remains indicates that there are other +factors of the highest importance that have to be considered in any +ultimate adjustment of the situation. In every case accordingly the +Negro asks only for a fair trial in court--not too hurried; and he knows +that in many instances a calm study of the facts will reveal nothing +more than fright or hysteria on the part of a woman or even other +circumstances not more incriminating. + +Unfortunately the whole question of the Negro has been beclouded by +misrepresentation as has no other social question before the American +people, and the race asks simply first of all that the tissue of +depreciation raised by prejudice be done away with in order that it may +be judged and estimated for its quality. America can make no charges +against any element of her population while she denies the fundamental +right of citizenships--the protection of the individual person. Too +often mistakes are made, and no man is so humble or so low that he +should be deprived of his life without due process of law. The Negro +undoubtedly has faults. At the same time, in order that his gifts may +receive just consideration, the tradition of burlesque must for the time +being be forgotten. All stories about razors, chickens, and watermelons +must be relegated to the rear; and even the revered and beloved "black +mammy" must receive an affectionate but a long farewell. + +The fact is that the Negro has such a contagious brand of humor that +many people never realize that this plays only on the surface. The real +background of the race is one of tragedy. It is not in current jest but +in the wail of the old melodies that the soul of this people is found. +There is something elemental about the heart of the race, something that +finds its origin in the forest and in the falling of the stars. There is +something grim about it too, something that speaks of the lash, of the +child torn from its mother's bosom, of the dead body swinging at night +by the roadside. The race has suffered, and in its suffering lies its +destiny and its contribution to America; and hereby hangs a tale. + +If we study the real quality of the Negro we shall find that two things +are observable. One is that any distinction so far won by a member of +the race in America has been almost always in some one of the arts; and +the other is that any influence so far exerted by the Negro on American +civilization has been primarily in the field of æsthetics. The reason +is not far to seek, and is to be found in the artistic striving even of +untutored Negroes. The instinct for beauty insists upon an outlet, and +if one can find no better picture he will paste a circus poster or a +flaring advertisement on the wall. Very few homes have not at least a +geranium on the windowsill or a rosebush in the garden. If we look at +the matter conversely we shall find that those things which are most +picturesque make to the Negro the readiest appeal. Red is his favorite +color simply because it is the most pronounced of all colors. The +principle holds in the sphere of religion. In some of our communities +Negroes are known to "get happy" in church. It is, however, seldom a +sermon on the rule of faith or the plan of salvation that awakens such +ecstasy, but rather a vivid portrayal of the beauties of heaven, with +the walls of jasper, the feast of milk and honey, and the angels with +palms in their hands. The appeal is primarily sensuous, and it is hardly +too much to say that the Negro is thrilled not so much by the moral as +by the artistic and pictorial elements in religion. Every member of the +race is an incipient poet, and all are enthralled by music and oratory. + +Illustrations are abundant. We might refer to the oratory of Douglass, +to the poetry of Dunbar, to the picturesque style of DuBois, to the +mysticism of the paintings of Tanner, to the tragic sculpture of Meta +Warrick Fuller, and to a long line of singers and musicians. Even +Booker Washington, most practical of Americans, proves the point, the +distinguishing qualities of his speeches being anecdote and vivid +illustration. It is best, however, to consider members of the race who +were entirely untaught in the schools. On one occasion Harriet Tubman, +famous for her work in the Underground Railroad, was addressing an +audience and describing a great battle in the Civil War. "And then," +said she, "we saw the lightning, and that was the guns; and then we +heard the thunder, and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain +falling, and that was drops of blood falling; and when we came to git in +the craps, it was dead men that we reaped." Two decades after the war +John Jasper, of Richmond, Virginia, astonished the most intelligent +hearers by the power of his imagery. He preached not only that the "sun +do move," but also of "dry bones in the valley," the glories of the New +Jerusalem, and on many similar subjects that have been used by other +preachers, sometimes with hardly less effect, throughout the South. In +his own way Jasper was an artist. He was eminently imaginative; and it +is with this imaginative--this artistic--quality that America has yet to +reckon. + +The importance of the influence has begun to be recognized, and on the +principle that to him that hath shall be given, in increasing measure +the Negro is being blamed for the ills of American life, a ready excuse +being found in the perversion and debasement of Negro music. We have +seen discussions whose reasoning, condensed, was somewhat as follows: +The Negro element is daily becoming more potent in American society; +American society is daily becoming more immoral; therefore at the door +of the Negro may be laid the increase in divorce and all the other +evils of society. The most serious charge brought against the Negro +intellectually is that he has not yet developed the great creative or +organizing mind that points the way of civilization. He most certainly +has not, and in this he is not very unlike all the other people in +America. The whole country is still in only the earlier years of its +striving. While the United States has made great advance in applied +science, she has as yet produced no Shakespeare or Beethoven. If America +has not yet reached her height after three hundred years of striving, +she ought not to be impatient with the Negro after only sixty years +of opportunity. But all signs go to prove the assumption of limited +intellectual ability fundamentally false. Already some of the younger +men of the race have given the highest possible promise. + +If all of this, however, is granted, and if the Negro's exemplification +of the principle of self-help is also recognized, the question still +remains: Just what is the race worth as a constructive factor in +American civilization? Is it finally to be an agency for the upbuilding +of the nation, or simply one of the forces that retard? What is its real +promise in American life? + +In reply to this it might be worth while to consider first of all +the country's industrial life. The South, and very largely the whole +country, depends upon Negro men and women as the stable labor supply in +such occupations as farming, saw-milling, mining, cooking, and washing. +All of this is hard work, and necessary work. In 1910, of 3,178,554 +Negro men at work, 981,922 were listed as farm laborers and 798,509 as +farmers. That is to say, 56 per cent of the whole number were engaged in +raising farm products either on their own account or by way of assisting +somebody else, and the great staples of course were the cotton and corn +of the Southern states. If along with the farmers we take those engaged +in the occupations employing the next greatest numbers of men--those of +the building and hand trades, saw and planing mills, as well as those +of railway firemen and porters, draymen, teamsters, and coal mine +operatives--we shall find a total of 71.2 per cent engaged in such work +as represents the very foundation of American industry. Of the women at +work, 1,047,146, or 52 per cent, were either farm laborers or farmers, +and 28 per cent more were either cooks or washerwomen. In other words, a +total of exactly 80 per cent were engaged in some of the hardest and at +the same time some of the most vital labor in our home and industrial +life. The new emphasis on the Negro as an industrial factor in the +course of the recent war is well known. When immigration ceased, upon +his shoulders very largely fell the task of keeping the country and the +army alive. Since the war closed he has been on the defensive in the +North; but a country that wishes to consider all of the factors that +enter into its gravest social problem could never forget his valiant +service in 1918. Let any one ask, moreover, even the most prejudiced +observer, if he would like to see every Negro in the country out of it, +and he will then decide whether economically the Negro is a liability or +an asset. + +Again, consider the Negro soldier. In all our history there are no pages +more heroic, more pathetic, than those detailing the exploits of black +men. We remember the Negro, three thousand strong, fighting for the +liberties of America when his own race was still held in bondage. We +remember the deeds at Port Hudson, Fort Pillow, and Fort Wagner. We +remember Santiago and San Juan Hill, not only how Negro men went +gallantly to the charge, but how a black regiment faced pestilence that +the ranks of their white comrades might not be decimated. And then +Carrizal. Once more, at an unexpected moment, the heart of the nation +was thrilled by the troopers of the Tenth Cavalry. Once more, despite +Brownsville, the tradition of Fort Wagner was preserved and passed on. +And then came the greatest of all wars. Again was the Negro summoned to +the colors--summoned out of all proportion to his numbers. Others might +desert, but not he; others might be spies or strikers, but not he--not +he in the time of peril. In peace or war, in victory or danger, he has +always been loyal to the Stars and Stripes. + +Not only, however, does the Negro give promise by reason of his economic +worth; not only does he deserve the fullest rights of citizenship on +the basis of his work as a soldier; he brings nothing less than a great +spiritual contribution to civilization in America. His is a race of +enthusiasm, imagination, and spiritual fervor; and after all the doubt +and fear through which it has passed there still rests with it an +abiding faith in God. Around us everywhere are commercialism, politics, +graft--sordidness, selfishness, cynicism. We need hope and love, a new +birth of idealism, a new faith in the unseen. Already the work of some +members of the race has pointed the way to great things in the realm of +conscious art; but above even art soars the great world of the spirit. +This it is that America most sadly needs; this it is that her most +fiercely persecuted children bring to her. + +Obviously now if the Negro, if any race, is to make to America the +contribution of which it is capable, it must be free; and this raises +the whole question of relation to the rest of the body politic. One of +the interesting phenomena of society in America is that the more foreign +elements enter into the "melting pot" and advance in culture, the more +do they cling to their racial identity. Incorporation into American +life, instead of making the Greek or the Pole or the Irishman forget his +native country, makes him all the more jealous of its traditions. The +more a center of any one of these nationalities develops, the more +wealthy and cultured its members become, the more do we find them proud +of the source from which they sprang. The Irishman is now so much an +American that he controls whole wards in our large cities, and sometimes +the cities themselves. All the same he clings more tenaciously than ever +to the celebration of March 17. When an isolated Greek came years ago, +poor and friendless, nobody thought very much about him, and he +effaced himself as much as possible, taking advantage, however, of any +opportunity that offered for self-improvement or economic advance. When +thousands came and the newcomers could take inspiration from those of +their brothers who had preceded them and achieved success, nationality +asserted itself. Larger groups now talked about Venizelos and a greater +Greece; their chests expanded at the thought of Marathon and Plato; and +companies paraded amid applause as they went to fight in the Balkans. In +every case, with increasing intelligence and wealth, race pride asserted +itself. At the same time no one would think of denying to the Greek or +the Irishman or the Italian his full rights as an American citizen. + +It is a paradox indeed, this thing of a race's holding its identity +at the same time that it is supposed to lose this in the larger +civilization. Apply the principle to the Negro. Very soon after the +Civil War, when conditions were chaotic and ignorance was rampant, the +ideals constantly held before the race were those of white people. Some +leaders indeed measured success primarily by the extent to which they +became merged in the white man's life. At the time this was very +natural. A struggling people wished to show that it could be judged by +the standards of the highest civilization within sight, and it did so. +To-day the tide has changed. The race now numbers a few millionaires. In +almost every city there are beautiful homes owned by Negroes. Some men +have reached high attainment in scholarship, and the promise grows +greater and greater in art and science. Accordingly the Negro now loves +his own, cherishes his own, teaches his boys about black heroes, and +honors and glorifies his own black women. Schools and churches and all +sorts of coöperative enterprises testify to the new racial self-respect, +while a genuine Negro drama has begun to flourish. A whole people has +been reborn; a whole race has found its soul. + + +3. _Face to Face_ + +Even when all that has been said is granted, it is still sometimes +maintained that the Negro is the one race that can not and will not +be permitted to enter into the full promise of American life. Other +elements, it is said, even if difficult to assimilate, may gradually be +brought into the body politic, but the Negro is the one element that +may be tolerated but not assimilated, utilized but not welcomed to the +fullness of the country's glory. + +However, the Negro has no reason to be discouraged. If one will but +remember that after all slavery was but an incident and recall the +status of the Negro even in the free states ten years before the Civil +War, he will be able to see a steady line of progress forward. After the +great moral and economic awakening that gave the race its freedom, the +pendulum swung backward, and finally it reached its farthest point of +proscription, of lawlessness, and inhumanity. No obscuring of the vision +for the time being should blind us to the reading of the great movement +of history. + +To-day in the whole question of the Negro problem there are some matters +of pressing and general importance. One that is constantly thrust +forward is that of the Negro criminal. On this the answer is clear. If a +man--Negro or otherwise--is a criminal, he is an enemy of society, and +society demands that he be placed where he will do the least harm. If +execution is necessary, this should take place in private; and in no +case should the criminal be so handled as to corrupt the morals or +arouse the morbid sensibilities of the populace. At the same time simple +patriotism would demand that by uplifting home surroundings, good +schools, and wholesome recreation everything possible be done for Negro +children as for other children of the Republic, so that just as few of +them as possible may graduate into the criminal class. + +Another matter, closely akin to this, is that of the astonishing lust +for torture that more and more is actuating the American people. When in +1835 McIntosh was burned in St. Louis for the murder of an officer, the +American people stood aghast, and Abraham Lincoln, just coming into +local prominence, spoke as if the very foundations of the young republic +had been shaken. After the Civil War, however, horrible lynchings became +frequent; and within the last decade we have seen a Negro boy stabbed in +numberless places while on his way to the stake, we have seen the eyes +of a Negro man burned out with hot irons and pieces of his flesh cut +off, and a Negro woman--whose only offense was a word of protest against +the lynching of her husband--while in the state of advanced pregnancy +hanged head downwards, her clothing burned from her body, and herself so +disemboweled that her unborn babe fell to the ground. We submit that +any citizens who commit such deeds as these are deserving of the most +serious concern of their country; and when they bring their little +children to behold their acts--when baby fingers handle mutilated flesh +and baby eyes behold such pictures as we have suggested--a crime has +been committed against the very name of childhood. Most frequently it +will be found that the men who do these things have had only the most +meager educational advantages, and that generally--but not always--they +live in remote communities, away from centers of enlightenment, so that +their whole course of life is such as to cultivate provincialism. With +not the slightest touch of irony whatever we suggest that these men need +a crusade of education in books and in the fundamental obligations of +citizenship. At present their ignorance, their prejudice, and their lack +of moral sense constitute a national menace. + +It is full time to pause. We have already gone too far. The Negro +problem is only an index to the ills of society in America. In our haste +to get rich or to meet new conditions we are in danger of losing all of +our old standards of conduct, of training, and of morality. Our courts +need to summon a new respect for themselves. The average citizen knows +only this about them, that he wants to keep away from them. So far we +have not been assured of justice. The poor man has not stood an equal +chance with the rich, nor the black with the white. Money has been +freely used, even for the changing of laws if need be; and the +sentencing of a man of means generally means only that he will have a +new trial. The murders in any American city average each year fifteen or +twenty times as many as in an English or French city of the same size. +Our churches need a new baptism; they have lost the faith. The same +principle applies in our home-life, in education, in literature. The +family altar is almost extinct; learning is more easy than sound; and +in literature as in other forms of art any passing fad is able to gain +followers and pose as worthy achievement. All along the line we need +more uprightness--more strength. Even when a man has committed a crime, +he must receive justice in court. Within recent years we have heard too +much about "speedy trials," which are often nothing more than legalized +lynchings. If it has been decreed that a man is to wait for a trial one +week or one year, the mob has nothing to do with the matter, and, if +need be, all the soldiery of the United States must be called forth to +prevent the storming of a jail. Fortunately the last few years have +shown us several sheriffs who had this conception of their duty. + +In the last analysis this may mean that more responsibility and more +force will have to be lodged in the Federal Government. Within recent +years the dignity of the United States has been seriously impaired. +The time seems now to have come when the Government must make a new +assertion of its integrity and its authority. No power in the country +can be stronger than that of the United States of America. + +For the time being, then, this is what we need--a stern adherence to +law. If men will not be good, they must at least be made to behave. No +one will pretend, however, that an adjustment on such a basis is finally +satisfactory. Above the law of the state--above all law of man--is the +law of God. It was given at Sinai thousands of years ago. It received +new meaning at Calvary. To it we must all yet come. The way may be hard, +and in the strife of the present the time may seem far distant; but some +day the Messiah will reign and man to man the world over shall brothers +be "for a' that." + + + + +SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +Unless an adequate volume is to be devoted to the work, any bibliography +of the history of the Negro Problem in the United States must be +selective. No comprehensive work is in existence. Importance attaches to +_Select List of References on the Negro Question_, compiled under the +direction of A.P.C. Griffin, Library of Congress, Washington, 1903; _A +Select Bibliography of the Negro American_, edited by W.E.B. DuBois, +Atlanta, 1905, and _The Negro Problem: a Bibliography_, edited by Vera +Sieg, Free Library Commission, Madison, Wis., 1908; but all such lists +have to be supplemented for more recent years. Compilations on the +Abolition Movement, the early education of the Negro, and the literary +and artistic production of the race are to be found respectively in +Hart's _Slavery and Abolition_, Woodson's _The Education of the Negro +prior to 1861_, and Brawley's _The Negro in Literature and Art_, and the +_Journal of Negro History_ is constantly suggestive of good material. + +The bibliography that follows is confined to the main question. First of +all are given general references, and then follows a list of individual +authors and books. Finally, there are special lists on topics on which +the study in the present work is most intensive. In a few instances +books that are superficial in method or prejudiced in tone have been +mentioned as it has seemed necessary to try to consider all shades of +opinion even if the expression was not always adequate. On the other +hand, not every source mentioned in the footnotes is included, for +sometimes these references are merely incidental; and especially does +this apply in the case of lectures or magazine articles, some of which +were later included in books. Nor is there any reference to works of +fiction. These are frequently important, and books of unusual interest +are sometimes considered in the body of the work; but in such a study as +the present imaginative literature can be hardly more than a secondary +and a debatable source of information. + + + + +SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +I. General References + +(Mainly in Collections, Sets, or Series) + +Statutes at Large, being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia from +the first session of the Legislature, in the year 1619, by William +Waller Hening. Richmond, 1819-20. + +Laws of the State of North Carolina, compiled by Henry Potter, J.L. +Taylor, and Bart. Yancey. Raleigh, 1821. + +The Statutes at Large of South Carolina, edited by Thomas Cooper. +Columbia, 1837. + +The Pro-Slavery Argument (as maintained by the most distinguished +writers of the Southern states). Charleston, 1852. + +Files of such publications as Niles's _Weekly Register_, the _Genius +of Universal Emancipation_, the _Liberator_, and DeBow's _Commercial +Review_, in the period before the Civil War; and of the _Crisis_, +the _Journal of Negro History_, the _Negro Year-Book_, the _Virginia +Magazine of History_, the _Review of Reviews_, the _Literary Digest_, +the _Independent_, the _Outlook_, as well as representative newspapers +North and South and weekly Negro newspapers in later years. + +Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science +(some numbers important for the present work noted below). + +Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law edited by the Faculty of +Political Science of Columbia University (some numbers important for the +present work noted below). + +Atlanta University Studies of Negro Problems (for unusually important +numbers note DuBois, editor, below, also Bigham). + +Occasional Papers of the American Negro Academy (especially note +Cromwell in special list No. 1 below and Grimké in No. 3). + +Census Reports of the United States; also Publications of the Bureau of +Education. + +Annual Reports of the General Education Board, the John F. Slater Fund, +the Jeanes Fund; reports and pamphlets issued by American Missionary +Association, American Baptist Home Mission Society, Freedmen's Aid +Society, etc.; catalogues of representative educational institutions; +and a volume "From Servitude to Service" (the Old South lectures on +representative educational institutions for the Negro), Boston, 1905. + +Pamphlets and reports of National Association for the Advancement of +Colored People, the National Urban League, the Southern Sociological +Congress, the University Commission on Southern Race Questions, Hampton +Conference reports, 1897-1907, and Proceedings of the National Negro +Business League, annual since 1900. + +The American Nation: A History from Original Sources by Associated +Scholars, edited by Albert Bushnell Hart. 27 vols. Harper & Bros., New +York, 1907. (Volumes important for the present work specially noted +below.) + +The Chronicles of America. A Series of Historical Narratives edited +by Allen Johnson. 50 vols. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1918--. +(Volumes important for the present work specially noted below.) + +The South in the Building of the Nation. 12 vols. The Southern +Publication Society. Richmond, Va., 1909. + +Studies in Southern History and Politics. Columbia University Press, New +York, 1914. + +New International and Americana Encyclopedias (especially on such topics +as Africa, the Negro, and Negro Education). + + +II. INDIVIDUAL WORKS + +(Note pamphlets at end of list; also special lists under III below.) + +Adams, Alice Dana: The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery in +America (1808-1831), Radcliffe College Monograph No. 14. +Boston, 1908 (now handled by Harvard University Press). + +Adams, Henry: History of the United States from 1801 to 1817. 9 +vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1889-90. + +Alexander, William T.: History of the Colored Race in America. +Palmetto Publishing Co., New Orleans, 1887. + +Armistead, Wilson: A Tribute for the Negro, being a Vindication +of the Moral, Intellectual, and Religious Capabilities of the Colored +Portion of Mankind, with particular reference to the African +race, illustrated by numerous biographical sketches, facts, +anecdotes, etc., and many superior portraits and engravings. +Manchester, 1848. + +Baker, Ray Stannard: Following the Color Line. Doubleday, Page +& Co., New York, 1908. + +Ballagh, James Curtis: A History of Slavery in Virginia. Johns +Hopkins Studies, extra volume 24. Baltimore, 1902. + + White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia. Johns Hopkins Studies, + Thirteenth Series, Nos. 6 and 7. Baltimore, 1895. + +Bassett, John Spencer: Anti-Slavery Leaders of North Carolina. +Sixth Series, No. 6. Baltimore, 1898. + + Slavery and Servitude in the Colony of North Carolina. Johns Hopkins + Studies, Fourteenth Series, Nos. 4 and 5. Baltimore, 1896. + + Slavery in the State of North Carolina. Johns Hopkins Studies, XIV: + 179; XVII: 323. + +Bigham, John Alvin (editor): Select Discussions of Race Problems, +No. 20, of Atlanta University Publications. Atlanta, 1916. + +Birney, William: James G. Birney and His Times. D. Appleton & +Co., New York, 1890. + +Blake, W.O.: The History of Slavery and the Slave-Trade. Columbus, +O., 1861. + +Blyden, Edward W.: Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race. London, +1887. + +Bogart, Ernest Ludlow: The Economic History of the United States. +Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1918 edition. + +Bourne, Edward Gaylord: Spain in America, 1450-1580. Vol. 3 of +American Nation Series. + +Brackett, Jeffrey Richardson: The Negro in Maryland: A Study of +the Institution of Slavery. Johns Hopkins Studies, extra volume +6. Baltimore, 1889. + +Bradford, Sarah H.: Harriet, the Moses of Her People. New York, +1886. + +Brawley, Benjamin: A Short History of the American Negro. The +Macmillan Co., New York, 1913, revised 1919. + + History of Morehouse College. Atlanta, 1917. + + The Negro in Literature and Art. Duffield & Co., New York, 1918. + + Your Negro Neighbor (in Our National Problems series). The + Macmillan Co., New York, 1918. + + Africa and the War. Duffield & Co., New York, 1918. + + Women of Achievement (written for the Fireside Schools under + the auspices of the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission + Society). Chicago and New York, 1919. + +Brawley, Edward M.: The Negro Baptist Pulpit. American Baptist +Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1890. + +Bruce, Philip Alexander: Economic History of Virginia in the +Seventeenth Century. 2 vols. The Macmillan Co., New York, +1896. + +Cable, George Washington: The Negro Question. Charles Scribner's +Sons, New York, 1890. + +Calhoun, William Patrick: The Caucasian and the Negro in the +United States. R.L. Bryan Co., Columbia, S. C, 1902. + +Chamberlain, D.H.: Present Phases of Our So-Called Negro Problem +(open letter to the Rt. Hon. James Bryce of England), reprinted +from _News and Courier_, Charleston, of August 1, 1904. + +Cheyney, Edward Potts: European Background of American History. +Vol. I of American Nation Series. + +Child, Lydia Maria: An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans +Called Africans. Boston, 1833. + + The Oasis (edited). Boston, 1834. + +Clayton, V.V.: White and Black under the Old Regimé. Milwaukee, +1899. + +Clowes, W. Laird: Black America: A Study of the Ex-Slave and +His Late Master. Cassell & Co., London, 1891. + +Coffin, Joshua: An Account of Some of the Principal Slave Insurrections, +and others, which have occurred, or been attempted, in the +United States and elsewhere, during the last two centuries, +with various remarks. American Anti-Slavery Society, New +York, 1860. + +Collins, Winfield H.: The Domestic Slave Trade of the Southern +States. Broadway Publishing Co., New York, 1904. + +Coman, Katherine: The Industrial History of the United States. +The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918 edition. + + The Negro as a Peasant Farmer. American Statistical Association + Publications, 1904:39. + +Commons, John R.: Races and Immigrants in America. The Macmillan +Co., 1907. + +Coolidge, Archibald Cary: The United States as a World Power. +The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918. + +Cooper, Anna Julia: A Voice from the South, by a black woman +of the South. Xenia, O., 1892. + +Corey, Charles H.: A History of the Richmond Theological Seminary. +Richmond, 1895. + +Cornish, Samuel E., and Wright, T.S.: The Colonization Scheme +Considered in Its Rejection by the Colored People. Newark, +1840. + +Cromwell, John W.: The Negro in American History. The American +Negro Academy, Washington, 1914. + +Culp, Daniel W. (editor): Twentieth Century Negro Literature. +Nichols & Co., Toronto, 1902. + +Cutler, James E.: Lynch Law, an Investigation into the History of +Lynching in the United States. Longmans, Green & Co., New +York, 1905. + +Daniels, John: In Freedom's Birthplace: A Study of the Boston +Negroes. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, 1914. + +Dewey, Davis Rich: National Problems, 1885-1897. Vol. 24 in +American Nation Series. + +Dill, Augustus Granville. See DuBois, editor Atlanta University +Publications. + +Dodd, William E.: The Cotton Kingdom. Vol. 27 of Chronicles of +America. + + Expansion and Conflict. Vol. 3 of Riverside History of the United + States. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915. + +Dow, Lorenzo ("Cosmopolite, a Listener"): A Cry from the Wilderness! +A Voice from the East, A Reply from the West--Trouble in the +North, Exemplifying in the South. Intended as a timely and +solemn warning to the People of the United States. Printed +for the Purchaser and the Public. United States, 1830. + +DuBois, W.E. Burghardt: Suppression of the African Slave-Trade. +Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1896 (now handled by Harvard +University Press). + +DuBois, W.E. Burghardt: The Philadelphia Negro. University of +Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1899. + + The Souls of Black Folk. A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1903. + The Negro in the South (Booker T. Washington, co-author). + + George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907. + + John Brown (in American Crisis Biographies). George W. Jacobs + & Co., Philadelphia, 1909. + + The Negro (in Home University Library Series). Henry Holt & + Co., New York, 1915. + + Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil. Harcourt, Brace & + Co., New York, 1920. + + (Editor Atlanta University Publications). + + The Negro Church, No. 8. + + The Health and Physique of the Negro American, No. II. + + Economic Co-operation among Negro Americans, No. 12. + + The Negro American Family, No. 13. + + Efforts for Social Betterment among Negro Americans, No. 14. + The College-Bred Negro American, No. 15. (A.G. Dill, co-editor.) + + The Negro American Artisan, No. 17. (A.G. Dill, co-editor.) + + Morals and Manners among Negro Americans, No. 18. (A.G. + Dill, co-editor.) + +Dunbar, Alice Ruth Moore: Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence. The +Bookery Publishing Co., New York, 1914. + +Dunbar, Paul Laurence: Complete Poems. Dodd, Mead & Co., New +York, 1913. + +Dunning, William Archibald: Reconstruction, Political and Economic. +Vol. 22 of American Nation Series. + +Earnest, Joseph B., Jr.: The Religious Development of the Negro +in Virginia (Ph.D. thesis, Virginia). Charlottesville, 1914. + +Eckenrode, Hamilton James: The Political History of Virginia +during the Reconstruction. Johns Hopkins Studies. Twenty-second +Series, Nos. 6, 7, and 8. Baltimore, 1904. + +Ellis, George W.: Negro Culture in West Africa. The Neale Publishing +Co., New York, 1914. + +Ellwood, Charles A.: Sociology and Modern Social Problems. American +Book Co., New York, 1910. + +Elwang, William W.: The Negroes of Columbia, Mo. (A.M. thesis, +Missouri), 1904. + +Epstein, Abraham: The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh (in publications +of School of Economics of the University of Pittsburgh). +1918. + +Evans, Maurice S.: Black and White in the Southern States: A +Study of the Race Problem in the United States from a South +African Point of View. Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1915. + +Ferris, William Henry: The African Abroad. 2 vols. New Haven, +1913. + +Fleming, Walter L.: Documentary History of Reconstruction. 2 +vols. Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland, O., 1906. + + The Sequel of Appomattox. Vol. 32 of Chronicles of America. + +Fletcher, Frank H.: Negro Exodus. Report of agent appointed by +the St. Louis Commission to visit Kansas for the purpose of +obtaining information in regard to colored emigration. No +imprint. + +Furman, Richard: Exposition of the Views of the Baptists Relative +to the Colored Population in the United States, in a communication +to the Governor of South Carolina. Second edition, Charleston, +1833. (Letter bears original date December 24, 1822; Furman +was president of State Baptist Convention.) + +Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Garrison, Francis Jackson: William +Lloyd Garrison; Story of His Life Told by His Children. 4 +vols. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1894. + +Garrison, William Lloyd: Thoughts on African Colonization: or +An Impartial Exhibition of the Doctrines, Principles, and Purposes +of the American Colonization Society, together with the +Resolutions, Addresses, and Remonstrances of the Free People +of Color. Boston, 1832. + +Gayarré, Charles E.A.: History of Louisiana. 4 vols. New Orleans, +1885 edition. + +Grady, Henry W.: The New South and Other Addresses, with +biography, etc., by Edna H.L. Turpin. Maynard, Merrill & Co., +New York, 1904. + +Graham, Stephen: The Soul of John Brown. The Macmillan Co., +New York, 1920. + +Hallowell, Richard P.: Why the Negro was Enfranchised--Negro +Suffrage Justified. Boston, 1903. (Reprint of two letters in the +_Boston Herald_, March 11 and 26, 1903.) + +Hammond, Lily Hardy: In Black and White: An Interpretation of +Southern Life. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1914. + +Harris, Norman Dwight: Intervention and Colonization in Africa. +Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914. + +Hart, Albert Bushnell: National Ideals Historically Traced. Vol. +26 in American Nation Series. + + Slavery and Abolition. Vol. 16 in American Nation Series. + + The Southern South. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1910. + +Hartshorn, W.N., and Penniman, George W.: An Era of Progress +and Promise, 1863-1910. The Priscilla Publishing Co., Boston, +1910. + +Haworth, Paul Leland: America in Ferment. Bobbs-Merrill Co., +Indianapolis, 1915. + +Haynes, George E.: The Negro at Work in New York City Vol +49, No. 3, of Columbia Studies, 1912. + +Helper, Hinton Rowan: The Impending Crisis of the South: How +to Meet It. New York, 1857. + +Hickok, Charles T.: The Negro in Ohio, 1802-1870. (Western +Reserve thesis.) Cleveland, 1896. + +Higginson, Thomas Wentworth: Army Life in a Black Regiment +Boston, 1870. (Latest edition, Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1900.) + +Hoffman, Frederick L.: Race Traits and Tendencies of the American +Negro. American Economics Association Publications, XI, +Nos. 1-3, 1896. + +Hodge, Frederick W. (editor): Spanish Explorers in the Southern +United States, 1528-1543 (in Original Narratives of Early American +History), esp. The Narrative of Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca. +Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1907. + +Holland, Edwin C.: A Refutation of the Calumnies circulated +against the Southern and Western States, respecting the institution +and existence of slavery among them; to which is added a minute +and particular account of the actual condition and state of +their Negro Population, together with Historical Notices of +all the Insurrections that have taken place since the settlement +of the country. By a South Carolinian. Charleston, 1822. + +Horsemanden, Daniel (Judge): A Journal of the Proceedings in +the Detection of the Conspiracy Formed by Some White People, +in conjunction with Negro and Other Slaves, for Burning the +City of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants. +New York, 1744. + +Hosmer, James K.: The History of the Louisiana Purchase. D. +Appleton & Co., New York, 1902. + +Hurd, John C.: The Law of Freedom and Bondage. 2 vols. Boston, +1858-1862. + +Jay, William: Inquiry into the Character and Tendency of the American +Colonization and Anti-Slavery Societies. New York, 1835. + +Jefferson, Thomas: Writings, issued under the auspices of the +Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association. 20 vols. Washington, +1903. + +Jervey, Theodore D.: Robert Y. Hayne and His Times. The Macmillan +Co., New York, 1909. + +Johnson, Allen: Union and Democracy. Vol. 2 of Riverside History +of the United States. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915. + +Johnson, James W.: Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (published +anonymously). Sherman, French & Co., Boston, 1912. + + Fifty Years and Other Poems. The Cornhill Co., Boston, 1917. + + Hayti. Four articles reprinted from the _Nation_, New York, 1920. + +Johnston, Sir Harry Hamilton: The Negro in the New World. The +Macmillan Co., New York, 1910. + +Kelsey, Carl: The Negro Farmer (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania). +Jennings & Pye, Chicago, 1903. + +Kemble, Frances A.: Journal of Residence on a Georgia Plantation, +1838-1839. Harper & Bros., 1863. + +Kerlin, Robert T. (editor): The Voice of the Negro, 1919. E.P. +Dutton & Co., New York, 1920. + +Kimball, John C.: Connecticut's Canterbury Tale; Its Heroine Prudence +Crandall, and Its Moral for To-Day. Hartford, Conn. (1886). + +Krehbiel, Henry E.: Afro-American Folk-Songs. G. Schirmer, New +York and London, 1914. + +Lauber, Almon Wheeler: Indian Slavery in Colonial Times within +the Present Limits of the United States. Vol. 54, No. 3, of +Columbia University Studies, 1913. + +Livermore, George: An Historical Research Respecting the Opinions +of the Founders of the Republic on Negroes as Slaves, as +Citizens, and as Soldiers. Boston, 1863. + +Locke, Mary Stoughton: Anti-Slavery in America from the Introduction +of African Slaves to the Prohibition of the Slave-Trade, +1619-1808. Radcliffe College Monograph No. 11. Boston, 1901 +(now handled by Harvard University Press). + +Lonn, Ella: Reconstruction in Louisiana. G.P. Putnam's Sons, +New York, 1919. + +Lugard, Lady (Flora L. Shaw): A Tropical Dependency. James +Nisbet & Co., Ltd., London, 1906. + +Lynch, John R.: The Facts of Reconstruction: The Neale Publishing +Co., New York, 1913. + +McConnell, John Preston: Negroes and Their Treatment in Virginia +from 1865 to 1867 (Ph.D. thesis, Virginia, 1905). Printed by +B.D. Smith & Bros., Pulaski, Va., 1910. + +MacCorkle, William A.: Some Southern Questions. G.P. Putnam's +Sons, New York, 1908. + +McCormac, E.I.: White Servitude in Maryland. Johns Hopkins +Studies, XXII, 119. + +McDougall, Marion Gleason: Fugitive Slaves, 1619-1865. Fay +House (Radcliffe College) Monograph, No. 3. Boston, 1891 +(now handled by Harvard University Press). + +McLaughlin, Andrew Cunningham: The Confederation and the +Constitution, 1783-1789. Vol. 10 in American Nation Series. + +McMaster, John Bach: A History of the People of the United States, +from the Revolution to the Civil War. 8 vols. D. Appleton & +Co., New York, 1883-1913. + +Macy, Jesse: The Anti-Slavery Crusade. Vol. 28 in Chronicles of +America. + +Marsh, J.B.T.: The Story of the Jubilee Singers, with their songs. +Boston, 1880. + +Miller, Kelly: Race Adjustment. The Neale Publishing Co., New +York and Washington, 1908. + + Out of the House of Bondage. The Neale Publishing Co., New + York, 1914. + + Appeal to Conscience (in Our National Problems Series). The + Macmillan Co., New York, 1913. + +Moore, G.H.: Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in +the American Army of the Revolution. New York, 1862. + +Morgan, Thomas J.: Reminiscences of Service with Colored Troops +in the Army of the Cumberland, 1863-65. Providence, 1885. + +Moton, Robert Russa: Finding a Way Out: An Autobiography. +Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1920. + +Murphy, Edgar Gardner: The Basis of Ascendency. Longmans, +Green & Co., London, 1909. + +Murray, Freeman H.M.: Emancipation and the Freed in American +Sculpture. Published by the author, 1733 Seventh St., N.W., +Washington, 1916. + +Odum, Howard W.: Social and Mental Traits of the Negro. Columbia +University Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3. New York, 1910. + +Olmsted, Frederick Law: The Cotton Kingdom. 2 vols. New York, +1861. + + A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States. New York, 1856. + +Page, Thomas Nelson: The Old South. Charles Scribner's Sons, +New York, 1892. + + The Negro: the Southerner's Problem. Charles Scribner's Sons, + New York, 1904. + +Palmer, B.M. (with W.T. Leacock): The Rights of the South +Defended in the Pulpits. Mobile, 1860. + +Penniman, George W. See Hartshorn, W.N. + +Phillips, Ulrich B.: American Negro Slavery. D. Appleton & Co., +New York, 1918. + + Plantation and Frontier. Vols. I and II of Documentary History + of American Industrial Society. Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland, + 1910. + +Pike, G.D.: The Jubilee Singers and Their Campaign for $20,000. +Boston, 1873. + +Pike, J.S.: The Prostrate State: South Carolina under Negro Government. +New York, 1874. + +Pipkin, James Jefferson: The Negro in Revelation, in History, and +in Citizenship. N.D. Thompson Publishing Co., St. Louis, 1902. + +Platt, O.H.: Negro Governors. Papers of the New Haven Colony +Historical Society, Vol. 6. New Haven, 1900. + +Reese, David M.: A Brief Review of the First Annual Report of +the American Anti-Slavery Society. New York, 1834. + +Rhodes, James Ford: History of the United States from the Compromise +of 1850 (1850-1877 and 1877-1896). 8 vols. The Macmillan +Co., New York, 1893-1919. + +Roman, Charles Victor: American Civilization and the Negro. F.A. +Davis Co., Philadelphia, 1916. + +Russell, John H.: The Free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865. Johns +Hopkins Studies, Series XXXI, No. 3. Baltimore, 1913. + +Sandburg, Carl: The Chicago Race Riots, July, 1919. Harcourt, +Brace & Howe, New York, 1919. + +Schurz, Carl: Speeches, Correspondence, and Political Papers, selected +and edited by Frederic Bancroft. 6 vols. G.P. Putnam's Sons, +New York and London, 1913. + +Scott, Emmett J.: Negro Migration during the War (in Preliminary +Economic Studies of the War--Carnegie Endowment for International +Peace: Division of Economics and History). Oxford University +Press, American Branch. New York, 1920. + + Official History of the American Negro in the World War. Washington, + 1919. + +Seligman, Herbert J.: The Negro Faces America. Harper Bros., +New York, 1920. + +Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate: The Neighbor: the Natural History +of Human Contacts. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1904. + +Siebert, Wilbur H.: The Underground Railroad from Slavery to +Freedom. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1898. + +Sinclair, William A.: The Aftermath of Slavery. Small, Maynard +& Co., Boston, 1905. + +Smith, Justin H.: The War with Mexico. 2 vols. The Macmillan +Co., New York, 1919. + +Smith, Theodore Clarke: Parties and Slavery. Vol. 18 of American +Nation Series. + +Smith, T.W.: The Slave in Canada. Vol. 10 in Collections of the +Nova Scotia Historical Society. Halifax, N.S., 1889. + +Stephenson, Gilbert Thomas: Race Distinctions in American Law. +D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1910. + +Steward, T.G.: The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804. Thomas Y. +Crowell Co., New York, 1914. + +Stoddard, Lothrop: The Rising Tide of Color against White World-Supremacy, +with an Introduction by Madison Grant. Charles Scribner's Sons. +New York, 1920. + +Stone, Alfred H.: Studies in the American Race Problem. Doubleday, +Page & Co., New York, 1908. + +Storey, Moorfield: The Negro Question. An Address delivered +before the Wisconsin Bar Association. Boston, 1918. Problems +of To-Day. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1920. + +Thompson, Holland: The New South. Vol. 42 in Chronicles of +America. + +Tillinghast, Joseph Alexander: The Negro in Africa and America. +Publications of American Economics Association, Series 3 Vol 3, +No. 2. New York, 1902. + +Toombs, Robert: Speech on The Crisis, delivered before the Georgia +Legislature, Dec. 7, 1860. Washington, 1860. + +Tucker, St. George: A Dissertation on Slavery, with a Proposal for +the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of Virginia. Philadelphia, +1796. + +Turner, Frederick Jackson: The Rise of the New West. Vol. 14 +in American Nation Series. + +Turner, Edward Raymond: The Negro in Pennsylvania, 1639-1861 +(Justin Winsor Prize of American Historical Association, 1910). +Washington, 1911. + +Washington, Booker T.: The Future of the American Negro. Small, +Maynard & Co., Boston, 1899. + + The Story of My Life and Work. Nichols & Co., Naperville, Ill., + 1900. + + Up from Slavery: An Autobiography. Doubleday, Page & Co., + New York, 1901. + + Character Building. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1902. + + Working with the Hands. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, + 1904. + + Putting the Most into Life. Crowell & Co., New York, 1906. + + Frederick Douglass (in American Crisis Biographies). George W. + Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1906. + + The Negro in the South (with W.E.B. DuBois). George W. + Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907. + + The Negro in Business. Hertel, Jenkins & Co., Chicago, 1907. + + The Story of the Negro. 2 vols. Doubleday, Page & Co., New + York, 1909. + + My Larger Education. Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., + 1911. + + The Man Farthest Down (with Robert Emory Park). Doubleday, + Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1912. + +Weale, B.L. Putnam: The Conflict of Color. The Macmillan Co., +New York, 1910. + +Weatherford, W.D.: Present Forces in Negro Progress. Association +Press, New York, 1912. + +Weld, Theodore Dwight: American Slavery as It Is: Testimony +of a Thousand Witnesses. Published by the American Anti-Slavery +Society, New York, 1839. + +Wiener, Leo: Africa and the Discovery of America, Vol. I. Innes +& Sons, Philadelphia, 1920. + +Williams, George Washington: History of the Negro Race in America +from 1619 to 1880. 2 vols. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, +1883. + +Wise, John S.: The End of an Era. Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1899. +Woodson, Carter G.: The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861. +G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1915. + + A Century of Negro Migration. Association for the Study of + Negro Life and History, Washington, 1918. + +Woolf, Leonard: Empire and Commerce in Africa: A Study in +Economic Imperialism. London, 1920. The Macmillan Co., New +York. + +Wright, Richard R.: Negro Companions of the Spanish Explorers. +(Reprinted from the _American Anthropologist_, Vol. 4, April-June, +1902.) + +Wright, Richard R., Jr.: The Negro in Pennsylvania: A Study in +Economic History. (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania.) A.M.E. Book +Concern, Philadelphia. + +Wright, T.S. See Cornish, Samuel E. + +Zabriskie, Luther K.: The Virgin Islands of the United States of +America. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1918. + + * * * * * + +An Address to the People of the United States, adopted at a Conference +of Colored Citizens, held at Columbia, S.C., July 20 and +21, 1876. Republican Printing Co., Columbia, S.C., 1876. + +Paper (letter published in a Washington paper) submitted in connection +with the Debate in the United States House of Representatives, +July 15th and 18th, 1776, on the Massacre of Six Colored Citizens +at Hamburg, S.C., July 4, 1876. + +Proceedings of the National Conference of Colored Men of the +United States, held in the State Capitol at Nashville, Tenn., May +6, 7, 8, and 9, 1879. Washington, D.C., 1879. + +Story of the Riot. Persecution of Negroes by roughs and policemen +in the City of New York, August, 1900. Statement and Proofs +written and compiled by Frank Moss and issued by the Citizens' +Protective League. New York, 1900. + +The Voice of the Carpet Bagger. Reconstruction Review No. 1, published +by the Anti-Lynching Bureau. Chicago, 1901. + + +III. Special Lists + +1. On Chapter II, Section 3; Chapter III, Section 5; Chapter +VIII and Chapter XI, the general topic being the social +progress of the Negro before 1860. Titles are mainly in +the order of appearance of works. + +Mather, Cotton: Rules for the Society of Negroes, 1693. Reprinted +by George H. Moore, Lenox Library, New York, 1888. + + The Negro Christianized. An Essay to excite and assist that good + work, the instruction of Negro-servants in Christianity. Boston, + 1706. + +Allen, Richard. The Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. +Rev. Richard Allen, written by himself. Philadelphia, 1793. + +Hall, Prince. A Charge delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, +1797, at Menotomy, by the Right Worshipful Prince Hall. (Boston) +1797. + +To the Free Africans and Other Free People of Color in the United +States. (Broadside) Philadelphia, 1797. + +Walker, David: Appeal, in four articles, together with a Preamble +to the Colored Citizens of the World. Boston, 1829. + +Garrison, William Lloyd: An Address delivered before the Free +People of Color in Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, +during the month of June, 1831. Boston, 1831. + + Thoughts on African Colonization (see list above). + +Minutes and Proceedings of the First Annual Convention of the +People of Color, held by adjournments in the City of Philadelphia, +from the sixth to the eleventh of June, inclusive, 1831. +Philadelphia, 1831. + +College for Colored Youth. An Account of the New Haven City +Meeting and Resolutions with Recommendations of the College, +and Strictures upon the Doings of New Haven. New York, 1831. + +On the Condition of the Free People of Color in the United States. +New York, 1839. (_The Anti-Slavery Examiner_, No. 13.) + +Condition of the People of Color in the State of Ohio, with interesting +anecdotes. Boston, 1839. + +Armistead, Wilson: Memoir of Paul Cuffe. London, 1840. + +Wilson, Joseph: Sketches of the Higher Classes of Colored Society +in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1841. + +National Convention of Colored Men and Their Friends. Troy, +N.Y., 1847. + +Garnet, Henry Highland: The Past and Present Condition and the +Destiny of the Colored Race. Troy, 1848. + +Delany, Martin R.: The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny +of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered. +Philadelphia, 1852. + +Cincinnati Convention of Colored Freedmen of Ohio. Proceedings, +Jan. 14-19, 1852. Cincinnati, 1852. + +Proceedings of the Colored National Convention, held in Rochester, +July 6, 7, and 8, 1853. Rochester, 1853. + +Cleveland National Emigration Convention of Colored People. Proceedings, +Aug. 22-24, 1854. Pittsburg, 1854. + +Nell, William C.: The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, +with sketches of several Distinguished Colored Persons: to which +is added a brief survey of the Condition and Prospects of Colored +Americans, with an Introduction by Harriet Beecher Stowe. +Boston, 1855. + +Stevens, Charles E.: Anthony Burns, a History. Boston, 1856. + +Catto, William T.: A Semi-Centenary Discourse, delivered in the +First African Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, with a History +of the church from its first organization, including a brief notice +of Rev. John Gloucester, its first pastor. Philadelphia, 1857. + +Bacon, Benjamin C.: Statistics of the Colored People of Philadelphia. +Philadelphia, 1856. Second edition, with statistics of crime, +Philadelphia, 1857. + +Condition of the Free Colored People of the United States, by James +Freeman Clarke, in _Christian Examiner_, March, 1859, 246-265. +Reprinted as pamphlet by American Anti-Slavery Society, New +York, 1859. + +Brown, William Wells: Clotel, or The President's Daughter (a narrative +of slave life in the United States). London, 1853. + + The Escape; or A Leap for Freedom, a Drama in five acts. Boston, + 1858. + + The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements. + New York, 1863. + + The Rising Son; or The Antecedents and Advancement of the + Colored Race. Boston, 1874. + +To Thomas J. Gantt, Esq. (Broadside), Charleston, 1861. + +Douglass, William: Annals of St. Thomas's First African Church. +Philadelphia, 1862. + +Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men, held in the city +of Syracuse, N.Y., October 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1864, with the Bill of Wrongs +and Rights and the Address to the American People. Boston, 1864. + +The Budget, containing the Annual Reports of the General Officers of the +African M.E. Church of the United States of America, edited by Benjamin +W. Arnett. Xenia, O., 1881. Same for later years. + +Simms, James M.: The First Colored Baptist Church in North America. +Printed by J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1888. + +Upton, William H.: Negro Masonry, being a Critical Examination of +objections to the legitimacy of the Masonry existing among the Negroes +of America. Cambridge, 1899; second edition, 1902. + +Brooks, Charles H.: The Official History and Manual of the Grand United +Order of Odd Fellows in America. Philadelphia, 1902. + +Cromwell, John W.: The Early Convention Movement. Occasional Paper No. 9 +of American Negro Academy, Washington, D.C., 1904. + +Brooks, Walter H.: The Silver Bluff Church, Washington, 1910. + +Crawford, George W.: Prince Hall and His Followers. New Haven, 1915. + +Wright, Richard R., Jr. (Editor-in-Chief): Centennial Encyclopædia +of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A.M.E. Book Concern, +Philadelphia, 1916. + +Also note narratives or autobiographies of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner +Truth, Samuel Ringgold Ward, Solomon Northrup, Lunsford Lane, etc.; the +poems of Phillis Wheatley (first edition, London, 1773), and George M. +Horton; Williams's History for study of some more prominent characters; +Woodson's bibliography for the special subject of education; and +periodical literature, especially the articles remarked in Chapter XI in +connection with the free people of color in Louisiana. + + +2. On Chapter V (Indian and Negro) + +A standard work on the Second Seminole War is The Origin, Progress, and +Conclusion of the Florida War, by John T. Sprague, D. Appleton & Co., +New York, 1848; but also important as touching upon the topics of the +chapter are The Exiles of Florida, by Joshua R. Giddings, Columbus, +Ohio, 1858, and a speech by Giddings in the House of Representatives +February 9, 1841. Note also House Document No. 128 of the 1st session +of the 20th Congress, and Document 327 of the 2nd session of the 25th +Congress. The Aboriginal Races of North America, by Samuel G. Drake, +fifteenth edition, New York, 1880, is interesting and suggestive though +formless; and McMaster in different chapters gives careful brief +accounts of the general course of the Indian wars. + + +3. On Chapter VII (Insurrections) + +(For insurrections before that of Denmark Vesey note especially Coffin, +Holland, and Horsemanden above. On Gabriel's Insurrection see article by +Higginson (_Atlantic_, X. 337), afterwards included in Travellers and +Outlaws.) + +Denmark Vesey + +1. An Official Report of the Trials of Sundry Negroes, charged with an +attempt to raise an Insurrection in the State of South Carolina. By +Lionel H. Kennedy and Thomas Parker (members of the Charleston Bar and +the Presiding Magistrates of the Court). Charleston, 1822. + +2. An Account of the Late Intended Insurrection among a Portion of the +Black of this City. Published by the Authority of the Corporation of +Charleston. Charleston, 1822 (reprinted Boston, 1822, and again in +Boston and Charleston). + +The above accounts, now exceedingly rare, are the real sources of all +later study of Vesey's insurrection. The two accounts are sometimes +identical; thus the list of those executed or banished is the same. The +first has a good introduction. The second was written by James Hamilton, +Intendant of Charleston. + +3. Letter of Governor William Bennett, dated August 10, 1822. (This was +evidently a circular letter to the press. References are to Lundy's +_Genius of Universal Emancipation_, II, 42, Ninth month, 1822, and there +are reviews in the following issues, pages 81, 131, and 142. Higginson +notes letter as also in _Columbian Sentinel_, August 31, 1822; +_Connecticut Courant_, September 3, 1822; and _Worcester Spy_, September +18, 1822.) + +Three secondary accounts in later years are important: + +1. Article on Denmark Vesey by Higginson (_Atlantic_, VII. 728) included +in Travellers and Outlaws: Episodes in American History. Lee and +Shepard, Boston, 1889. + +2. Right on the Scaffold, or the Martyrs of 1822, by Archibald H. +Grimké. No. 7 of the Papers of the American Negro Academy, Washington. + +3. Book I, Chapter XII, "Denmark Vesey's Insurrection," in Robert Y. +Hayne and His Times, by Theodore D. Jervey, The Macmillan Co., New York, +1909. + +Various pamphlets were written immediately after the insurrection not so +much to give detailed accounts as to discuss the general problem of the +Negro and the reaction of the white citizens of Charleston to the event. +Of these we may note the following: + +1. Holland, Edwin C.: A Refutation of the Calumnies Circulated against +the Southern and Western States. (See main list above.) + +2. Achates (General Thomas Pinckney): Reflections Occasioned by the Late +Disturbances in Charleston. Charleston, 1822. + +3. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the Views of the Baptists +Relative to the Colored Population in the United States. (See main list +above.) + +4. Practical Considerations Founded on the Scriptures Relative to the +Slave Population of South Carolina. By a South Carolinian. Charleston, +1823. + +Nat Turner + +1. The Confessions of Nat Turner, Leader of the Late Insurrection in +Southampton, Va., as fully and voluntarily made to Thos. C. Gray, in the +prison where he was confined--and acknowledged by him to be such, when +read before the court at Southampton, convened at Jerusalem November 5, +1831, for his trial. (This is the main source. Thousands of copies of +the pamphlet are said to have been circulated, but it is now exceedingly +rare. Neither the Congressional Library nor the Boston Public has a +copy, and Cromwell notes that there is not even one in the State Library +in Richmond. The copy used by the author is in the library of Harvard +University.) + +2. Horrid Massacre. Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical +Scene which was witnessed in Southampton County (Virginia) on Monday the +22nd of August last. New York, 1831. (This gives a table of victims and +has the advantage of nearness to the event. This very nearness, however, +has given credence to much hearsay and accounted for several instances +of inaccuracy.) + +To the above may be added the periodicals of the day, such as the +Richmond _Enquirer_ and the _Liberator_; note _Genius of Universal +Emancipation_, September, 1831. Secondary accounts or studies would +include the following: + +1. Nat Turner's Insurrection, exhaustive article by Higginson +(_Atlantic_, VIII. 173) later included in Travellers and Outlaws. + +2. Drewry, William Sidney: Slave Insurrections in Virginia (1830-1865). +A Dissertation presented to the Board of University Studies of the Johns +Hopkins University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The Neale +Company, Washington, 1900. (Unfortunately marred by a partisan tone.) + +3. The Aftermath of Nat Turner's Insurrection, by John W. Cromwell, in +_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1920. + +_Amistad and Creole_ Cases + +1. Argument of John Quincy Adams before the Supreme Court of the United +States, in the case of the United States, Apellants, vs. Cinque, and +others, Africans, captured in the Schooner _Amistad_, by Lieut. Gedney, +delivered on the 24th of February and 1st of March, 1841. New York, +1841. + +2. Africans Taken in the _Amistad_. Document No. 185 of the 1st session +of the 26th Congress, containing the correspondence in relation to the +captured Africans. (Reprinted by Anti-Slavery Depository, New York, +1840.) + +3. Senate Document 51 of the 2nd session of the 27th Congress. + +4. On Chapter IX (Liberia) + +Much has been written about Liberia, but the books and pamphlets have +been very uneven in quality. Original sources include the reports of +the American Colonization Society to 1825; _The African Repository_, +a compendium issued sometimes monthly, sometimes quarterly, by the +American Colonization Society from 1825 to 1892, and succeeded by the +periodical known as _Liberia_; the reports of the different state +organizations; J. Ashmun's History of the American Colony in Liberia +from December, 1821 to 1823, compiled from the authentic records of the +colony, Washington, 1826; Ralph Randolph Gurley's Life of Jehudi Ashmun, +Washington, 1835, second edition, New York, 1839; Gurley's report +on Liberia (a United States state paper), Washington, 1850; and the +Memorial of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the American Colonization +Society, celebrated at Washington, January 15, 1867, with documents +concerning Liberia, Washington, 1867; to all of which might be added +Journal of Daniel Coker, a descendant of Africa, from the time of +leaving New York, in the ship _Elisabeth_, Capt. Sebor, on a voyage for +Sherbro, in Africa, Baltimore, 1820. J.H.B. Latrobe, a president of the +American Colonization Society, is prominent in the Memorial volume of +1867, and after this date are credited to him Liberia: its Origin, +Rise, Progress, and Results, an address delivered before the American +Colonization Society, January 20, 1880, Washington, 1880, and Maryland +in Liberia, Baltimore, 1885. An early and interesting compilation is +G.S. Stockwell's The Republic of Liberia: Its Geography, Climate, Soil, +and Productions, with a history of its early settlement, New York, 1868; +a good handbook is Frederick Starr's Liberia, Chicago, 1913; mention +might also be made of T. McCants Stewart's Liberia, New York, 1886; and +George W. Ellis's Negro Culture in West Africa, Neale Publishing Co., +New York, 1914, is outstanding in its special field. Two Johns Hopkins +theses have been written: John H.T. McPherson's History of Liberia +(Studies, IX, No. 10), 1891, and E.L. Fox's The American Colonization +Society 1817-1840 (Studies, XXXVII, 9-226), 1919; the first of these is +brief and clearcut and especially valuable for its study of the Maryland +colony. Magazine articles of unusual importance are George W. Ellis's +Dynamic Factors in the Liberian Situation and Emmett J. Scott's Is +Liberia Worth Saving? both in _Journal of Race Development_, January, +1911. Of English or continental works outstanding is the monumental but +not altogether unimpeachable Liberia, by Sir Harry H. Johnston, with an +appendix on the Flora of Liberia by Dr. Otto Stapf, 2 vols., Hutchinson +& Co., London, 1906; while with a strong English bias and incomplete and +unsatisfactory as a general treatise is R.C.F. Maughan's The Republic of +Liberia, London (1920?), Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Mention must +also be made of the following publications by residents of Liberia: The +Negro Republic on West Africa, by Abayomi Wilfrid Karnga, Monrovia, +1909; New National Fourth Reader, edited by Julius C. Stevens, Monrovia, +1903; Liberia and Her Educational Problems, by Walter F. Walker, an +address delivered before the Chicago Historical Society, October +23, 1916; and Catalogue of Liberia College for 1916, and Historical +Register, printed at the Riverdale Press, Brookline, Mass., 1919; while +Edward Wilmot Blyden's Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race is +representative of the best of the more philosophical dissertations. + +Abbeville, S.C. +Aberdeen, Lord +Abolition, Abolitionists +Abraham, Negro interpreter +Abyssinia +Adams, Doc +Adams, Henry +Adams, John +Adams, John Quincy +Africa +African Methodist Episcopal Church, and schools +African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and schools +_Age, The New York_ +Aguinaldo +Akron, Ohio +Alabama +Aldridge, Ira +Allen, Richard +Alton, Ill. +Ambrister, Robert +Amendments to Constitution of United States +American Anti-Slavery Society +American Baptist Home Mission Society +American Baptist Publication Society +American Bar Association +American Colonization Society +American Convention of Abolition Societies +American Federation of Labor +American Giants +American Missionary Association +Amistad Case +Anderson, Benjamin +Andrew, John O. +Andrew, William +Anthony, Susan B. +Anti-Slavery societies +_Appeal_, David Walker's +Arbuthnot, Alexander +Arkansas +Arkwright, Richard +Armstrong, Samuel C. +Asbury, Bishop +Ashley, Lord +Ashmun, Jehudi +Assiento Contract +Atlanta, Ga. +Atlanta Compromise +Atlanta Massacre +Atlanta University +Attaway, A.T. +Attucks, Crispus +Augusta, Ga. +Ayres, Eli + +Bacon, Ephraim +Bacon, John F. +Bacon, Samuel +Baker, F.B. +Balboa +Baltimore +Banbaras +Bankson, John +Banneker, Benjamin +Baptists, churches and schools +Baptist Young People s Union +Barbadoes +Barbour, Capt. +Barbour, Dan +Barclay, Arthur +Barlow, Joel +Bassa Trading Association +Bassa tribe +Bassett, Ebenezer +Batson, Flora +Baxter, Richard +Beecher, Henry Ward +Behn, Aphra +Belleau Wood +Benedict College +Benefit societies +Benezet, Anthony +Bennett, Batteau +Bennett, Gov., of South Carolina +Bennett, Ned +Bennett, Rolla +Benson, Stephen Allen +Berea College +Bethel Church, A.M.E., of Philadelphia +Birmingham, Ala. +Birney, James G. +"Birth of a Nation" +Bishop College +Black Codes +Black Star Line +Blacksmith, Ben +Blackwood, Jesse +Blair, Henry +Blanco, Pedro +Bleckley, L.E. +Blunt, John +Blyden, Edward Wilmot +Boatswain, African chief +Bogalusa, La. +Boston, Mass. +Boston Massacre +Boston, Samuel +Bouey, H.N. +Bourne, E.G. +Bowers, John +Bowler, Jack +Boyd, Henry +Brooks, Preston S. +Brooks County, Ga. +Brough, Charles H. +Brown, Bishop, of Arkansas +Brown, John +Brown, William +Brown, William Wells +Browning, Elizabeth Barrett +Brownsville, Texas +Bruce, Blanche K. +Bryan, Andrew +Bryce, James +Buchanan, Thomas H. +Bull, Gov., of South Carolina +Bullock, M.W. +Burgess, Ebenezer +Burleigh, Harry T. +Burning of Negroes +Burns, Anthony +Burnside, Gen. +Burton, Belfast +Burton, Mary +Business, Negro +Butler, B.F., District Attorney in New York +Butler, B.F., Gen. +Butler, M.C. +Butler, Sol +Buttrick, Wallace +Buzi tribe +Byron, Lord + +Cable, George W. +Cadell, Major +Cæsar, in New York +Calderon, Spanish minister +Caldwell, Elias B. +Calhoun, John C. +Calvert, George, Lord Baltimore +Camp Dodge +Camp Grant +Camphor, A.P. +Canaan, N.H., school at +Canada +Canning, George +Cape Palmas +Cardozo, F.L. +Carmantee tribe +Carney, William H. +Carranza, Andrés Dorantes de +Carrizal +Cartledge, Lewis +Cary, Lott +Cass, Lewis +Cassell, Nathaniel H.B. +Catholics +Cato, insurrectionist +Cato, Will +Chain-gang +_Challenge Magazine_ +Chamberlain, Gov., of South Carolina +Champion, James +Channing, William Ellery +Charles V +Charles, Robert +Charleston, S.C. +Château Thierry +Chavis, John +Cheeseman, Joseph James +Cherokees +Chesnutt, Charles W. +Chester, Penn. +Chicago riot +Chickasaws +Child, Lydia Maria +China +Choctaws, +Christianity +_Christian Recorder_ +Chuma +Cincinnati +Cinque, Joseph +Civil Rights +Civil War +Claflin University +_Clansman, The_ +Clark, Andrew +Clark, Major +Clark University +Clarkson, Matthew +Clarkson, Quamoney +Clarkson, Thomas +Clay, Henry +Cleveland, Grover +Cleveland, Ohio +Clinch, Duncan L. +Clinton, Sir Henry +Coatesville, Penn. +Cockburn, Sir Francis +Coker, Daniel +Cole and Johnson Company +Cole, James +Coleman, William D. +Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel +College graduates +College of West Africa +Colonization +Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, and schools +Compromise of 1850 +Congregationalists +Connecticut +Constitution of the United States +Continental Congress +Conventions +Convict Lease system. _See_ Peonage. +Cook, James +Cook, O.F. +Coot, insurrectionist +Cope, Thomas P. +Cordovell, of New Orleans +Corey, C.H. +"Corkscrew" lynching +Cornish, Samuel E. +Cotton-gin +Cowagee, John +Cowley, Robert +Cowper, William +Cox, Minnie +Coybet, Gen. +Cranchell, Cæsar +Crandall, Prudence +Cravath, E.M. +Crawford, Anthony +Crawford, William +Creeks +Creole Case +Criminal, Negro +_Crisis, The_ +Crompton, Samuel +Cross Keys, Va. +Crozer, Samuel A. +Crucifixion +Crum, William D. +Crummell, Alexander +Cuba +Cuffe, Paul +Cuffe, Peter +Cuffee, in New York +Curry, J.L.M. +Curtis, Justice +Cutler, Manasseh + +Dade, Major +Darien, Ga. +_Darkwater_ +Davis, Benjamin O. +Declaration of Independence +Declaration of Independence (Liberian) +_Defender, The_ +De Grasse, John V. +Delany, Martin R. +Delaware +Democrats +Denmark +Dennison, Franklin A. +Derham, James +Dew, T.R. +Deys, in Africa +Dickens, Charles +Dillard, James H. +Disfranchisement +Dismond, Binga +District of Columbia +Dixie Kid +Dixon, George +Dixon, Thomas +Dorsey, Hugh M. +Dossen, J.J. +Douglas, Stephen A. +Douglass, Frederick +Douglass, Robert +Dow, Lorenzo +Dowdy, Jim +Draft Riot in New York +Drake, Francis +Drayton, Congressman from South Carolina +Dred Scott Decision +Drew, Howard P. +"Dreyfus," poem by Edwin Markham +DuBois, W.E. Burghardt +Dugro, Justice P.H. +Dunbar, Charles B. +Dunbar, Paul L. +Dunbar Theater, in Philadelphia +Duncan, Otis B. +Duncan, William +Dunmore, Lord +Dunning, W.A. +Durham, Clayton +Duties on importation of slaves +Duval, William P. +Dwight, Gen. +Dyersburg, Tenn. + +Early County, Ga. +East St. Louis +Eaton, John, Comm. of Education +Eaton, John H., Secretary of War +Econchattimico +Education +Egypt +Elaine, Ark. +El Caney +Eliot, John +Elizabeth, Queen +Elliott, Robert B. +Emancipation +Emathla, Charley +Emathlochee +Emerson, Dr. +_Empire and Commerce in Africa_ +England (or Great Britain) +Episcopalians +Erie Railroad +Estevanico +Estill Springs, Tenn. +Etheridge, at Phoenix, S.C. +Ethiopians +Evans, Lewis +Everett, Alexander H. +Everett, Edward +Exodus, Negro. _See also_ Migration. + +Faber, F.W. +Factories, slave +Falkner, Roland P. +Federalists +Ferguson, Frank +Ferguson, Samuel D. +Fernandina, Fla. +Finley, I.F.C. +Finley, Robert +First African Baptist Church, in Savannah +First Bryan Baptist Church, in Savannah +Fish War +Fisk Jubilee Singers +Fisk University +Fleet, Dr. +Fleming, W.L. +Florida +F.M.C.'s +Foraker, J.B. +Forrester, Lot +Forsyth, John +Fort Brooke +Fort Gibson, Ark. +Fort Jackson, treaty of +Fort King +Fort Mims +Fort Moultrie (near St. Augustine), treaty of +Fort Moultrie (near Charleston) +Fort Pillow +Fort Sam Houston +Fort Wagner +Forten, James +Fortress Monroe +Foster, Theodore +Fowltown +France +Francis, Sam +Francis, Will +Franklin, Benjamin +Free African Society +Freedmen's Aid Society +Freedmen's Bank +Freedmen's Bureau +_Freedom's Journal_ +Freeman, Cato +Free Negroes +Free-Soil Party +Fremont, John C. +Friends, Society of. _See_ Quakers. +Frissell, Hollis B. +Fugitive Slave Laws +Fuller, Meta Warrick +Furman, Richard + +Gabriel, insurrectionist +Gadsden, James +Gage, Frances D. +Gailliard, Nicholas +Gaines, Gen. +Galilean Fishermen +Galveston +Gans, Joe +Gardiner, Anthony W. +Garlington, E.A. +Garnett, H.H. +Garrison, William Lloyd +Garvey, Marcus +Gatumba, Chief +Geaween, John +Gell, Monday +General Education Board +Georgia +_Georgia Baptist_ +Georgia Railroad labor trouble +Georgia, University of +Germans, Germany +Germantown protest +Gibbes, Gov., of South Carolina +Gibson, Garretson W. +Giddings, Joshua R. +Gildersleeve, Basil L. +Giles, Harriet E. +Giles, Jackson W. +Gilmer, Congressman, of Georgia +Gleaves, R.H. +Gloucester, John +Gola tribe +Gold Coast +Gonzales +Goodspeed, Dr., of Benedict College +Gorden, Robert +Gordon, Midshipman +Gourdin, E. +Gradual Emancipation +Grady, Henry W. +Graeff, Abraham Op den +Graeff, Dirck Op den +Grand Bassa +"Grandfather Clause," +Grant, U.S. +Graves, Samuel +Gray, Thomas C. +Gray, William +Great War +Grebo tribe +Greeley, Horace +Greene, Col. +Greenfield, Elizabeth Taylor +Greenleaf, Prof. +Greenville, in Liberia +Grice, Hezekiah +Groves, Junius C. +Grundy, Felix +_Guardian, The_ +Guerra, Christóbal de la +Guerra, Luís de la +Guinea Coast +Gullah Jack +Gurley, R.R. + +Hadjo, Micco +Hajo, Tuski +Hall, James +Hall, Prince +Hallowell, Edward N. +Hallowell, N.P. +Hamburg Massacre +Hampton Institute +Hampton, Wade +Harden, Henry +Hargreaves, James +Harper, in Liberia +Harper, F.E.W. +Harper's Ferry +Harris, Arthur +Harris, John M. +Harris, William T. +Harrison, Benjamin +Harrison, William Henry +Harrison St. Baptist Church, of Petersburg, Va. +Harry, Negro in Seminole Wars +Hart, A.B. +Hartford, Conn. +Harth, Mingo +Hartshorn Memorial College +Harvard University +Haussas +Havana +Havelock, A.E. +Hawkins, John +Hawkins, William +Hayes, R.B. +Haygood, Atticus G. +Hayne, Robert Y. +Haynes, George E. +Haynes, Lemuel +Hayti +Heber, Reginald +Helper, Hinton Rowan +Hendericks, Garret +Henry, Prince, of Portugal +Henry, Patrick +Hewell, John R. +Hicks, John +Higginson, Thomas Wentworth +Hill, Arnold +Hill, Stephen +Hoar, Samuel +Hodge, F.W. +Hoffman, Frederick L. +Hogg, Robert, and Mrs. Hogg +Holbert, Luther +Holland +Holland, Edwin C. +Holly, James Theodore +Homer +Hopkins, Samuel +Horsemanden, Judge +Horseshoe Bend +Horton, George M. +Hose, Sam +Houston, Texas +Howard, Daniel Edward +Howard, O.O. +Howard University +Howells, William Dean +Howze, Alma +Howze, Maggie +Hughes, Charles E. +Hughson, John +Hughson, Sarah +Hugo, Victor +Humphreys, Gad +Hunter, David + +Illinois +_Impending Crisis, The_ +Indenture. _See_ Servitude. +Indiana +Indians +Indian Spring, treaty of +_Informer_, The Houston +Insurrections +Intermarriage, Racial intermixture + +Jackson, Andrew +Jackson College +Jackson, Edward +Jackson, Francis +Jackson, James +Jackson, Peter +Jacksonville, Fla. +Jamaica +James, David +James, Duke of York +Jamestown +Japan +Jasper, John +Jay, John +Jay, William +Jeanes, Anna T. +Jeanes Fund +Jefferson, Thomas +Jennings, Thomas L. +Jessup, Thomas S. +"Jim Crow," origin of +Jocelyn, S.S. +John, in Fugitive Slave case +Johnson, Andrew +Johnson, Elijah +Johnson, Henry +Johnson, H.R.W. +Johnson, Jack +Johnson, James +Johnson, Joseph +Johnston brothers, of Arkansas +Johnston, E.L. +Johnston, Sir Harry H. +Jones, Abraham +Jones, Eugene K. +Jones, George +Jones, Sam +Jones, Sissieretta +Julius, John + +Kali, in Amistad case +Kansas +Kansas City, dynamiting of homes in +Kansas-Nebraska Bill +Kean, Edmund +Kentucky +Kerry, Margaret +King, C.D.B. +King, Mulatto +King, Rufus +Kizell, John +Knights of Pythias +Knights of the Golden Circle +Knoxville College +Knoxville riot +Kpwessi tribe +Kru tribe +KuKlux Klan + +Labor +Lafar, John J. +Laing, Major +Lake City, S.C. +Lane College +Lane Seminary +Langston, John Mercer +Las Quasimas +Laurens, Henry +Laurens, John +Law, John +Lawless, Judge +Le Clerc, Gen. +Lee, Robert E. +Lee County, Ga. +Leicester, Earl of +Leland Giants +Lewis, William H. +_Liberator, The_ +Liberia +Liberia College +Liberian Exodus and Joint Stock Company +Liberty Party +Liele, George +Lincoln, Abraham +Lincoln Giants +Lincoln University +Livingstone College +Livingstone, David +Lockwood, L.C. +London Company +Louisiana +Louis Napoleon +Lovejoy, Elijah P. +Lowell, James R. +Lugard, Lady +Lundy, Benjamin +Lutherans +Lynching + +Macaulay, T.B. +Macon, Ga. +Madagascar +Madison, James +Mahan, Asa +Maine +Malays +Maldonado, Alonzo del Castillo +Mandingoes +Manly, Alex. L. +Mano tribe +Mansfield, Lord +Marcos, Fray +Markham, Edwin +Marriage +_Marrow of Tradition, The_ +Marshall, J.F.B. +Marshall, J.R. +Marshall, of Univ. of Minnesota +Martin, Luther +Maryland +Mason, George +Masons, Negro +Massachusetts +Mather, Cotton +Matthews, W.C. +May, Samuel J. +Mazzini, G. +McCorkle, William A. +McIlheron, Jim +McIntosh, burned +McKay, Claude +McKelway, A.J. +Medicine, Negro in +Memphis, Tenn. +Mercer, Charles F. +_Messenger, The_ +Methodists, churches and schools. _See also_ African Methodist. +Mexican War +Metz +Micanopy +Mickasukie tribe +Migration. _See also_ Exodus. +Milan, Ga. +Milliken's Bend +Mills, Samuel J. +Minstrelsy +Miscegenation. _See_ Intermarriage, Racial intermixture. +Mississippi +Mississippi Company +Missouri +Missouri Compromise +Mobile +Mohammedans +Monroe, James +Monrovia +Montes, Pedro +Montgomery, Ala. +Montgomery, James +Monticello, Ga. +Montserado, Cape +Moore, Joanna P. +Moorhead, Scipio +Moors +Morehouse College +Morell, Junius C. +Morgan, Thomas J. +Morris Brown University +Morris, Edward H. +Morris, Gouverneur +Morris, Robert, Jr. +Mortality +Mott, Lucretia +Mulattoes +Mumford, John P. +"Mungo," in The Padlock +Murphy, Edgar G. + +Napoleon Bonaparte +Narvaez, Pamfilo de +Nashville, Tenn. +Nassau +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People +National Urban League +Navigation Ordinance +Nea Mathla +Neau, Elias +_Negro_, the word +Negro Union +_Negro World, The_ +Nell, William C. +New Bedford, Mass. +New England Anti-Slavery Society +New Hampshire +New Jersey +New Orleans +New Mexico +New York (city) +New York (state) +_News and Courier_, of Charleston, S.C. +Niagara Movement +Niles, Hezekiah +Niño, Pedro Alonso +Norfolk, Va. +North Carolina +Northrup, Solomon +_North Star_ +Northwest Territory +Nott, Josiah C. +Nott, Dr., of Union College +Nullification +Nunn, Joseph + +Oberlin College +Odd Fellows +Ogden, Peter +Ogden, Robert C. +Oglethorpe, James +Ohio +Oklahoma +Omaha +Orange Park Academy +Osceola +Otis, James +Otis, Mayor, of Boston +Ouithlecoochee, Battle of +Ovando + +Packard, Sophia B. +Page, Thomas Nelson +Page, Walter H. +Palmer, B.M. +Palmetto, Ga. +Pan-African Congress +Pappa tribe +Parker, Theodore +Parrott, Russell +Pastorius, Francis Daniel +Patterson, Joseph +Paul, William +Payne, Daniel A. +Payne, James Spriggs +Payne's Landing, treaty of +Peabody Educational Fund +Peabody, George Foster +Pembroke, Earl of +Pennington, James W.C. +Pennsylvania +Pennsylvania Railroad +Pensacola +Peonage +Perkins, Francis +Perry, Bliss +Person, Ell T. +Petersburg, Va. +Phagan, John +Phelps, John W. +Phelps-Stokes Fellowships +Philadelphia +Phillips, Wendell +Phipps, Benjamin +Phoenix societies +Pierce, Leonard +Pike, in Brooks County, Ga. +Pittman, W. Sydney +Pittsburgh, Penn. +Plançiancois, Anselmas +Pleasants, Robert +Pollard, F. +Poor, Samuel +Poor white man, as related to Negro +Population, Negro +Populist Party +Port Hudson +Porter, Henry +Portugal +Potter, James +Powell. See Osceola. +Poyas, Peter +Presbyterians +Price, Arthur +Prince +Princeton +Problem, Negro. See Table of Contents. +Progressive Party +Punishment. See also Lynching, Burning. +Purcell, Jack +Puritans + +Quack, in New York +Quakers +Queen and Crescent Railroad trouble +Quinn, William Paul + +Randolph, John +Reconstruction +Reed, Paul +Reese, Jack +_Republic of Liberia, The_ +Republican Party +Reuter, E.B. +Revels, Hiram R. +_Review of Reviews_, quoted +Revolutionary War +Revolution, French +Rhode Island +Rhodes, Cecil +Rice, Thomas D. +Richmond, Va. +Rigaud +_Rising Tide of Color, The_ +Rivers, P.R. +Robert, Joseph T. +Roberts, Joseph Jenkin +Robeson, P.L. +Rockefeller, John D. +Romanticism +Romme, John +Roosevelt, Theodore +Ross, John +Royal African Company +Roye, Edward James +Ruffin, George L. +Ruiz, José +Rush, Christopher +Russell, Alfred F. +Russwurm, John B. +Rust University +Rutledge, John + +St. Augustine, Fla. +St. Louis, Mo. +St. Mihiel +St. Philip's Church, in New York +St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia +Sale, George +Salem, Peter +Samba, insurrectionist +Sandford (in Dred Scott Case) +San Juan Hill +Santiago +Santo Domingo +Sargent, Frank P. +Savannah, Ga. +Schurz, Carl +Scott, Emmett J. +Scott, Lation +Scott, Walter +Seaton, Richard +Sebastian +Sebor, Capt +Secoffee +Secret societies +Segui, Bernard +Selika, Mme +Seminole Wars +Servitude +Seward, William H. +Seyes, John +Shadd, Abraham +Sharp, Granville +Shaw, Robert Gould +Shaw Monument +Shaw University +Shepherd, Randall +Sheridan, Philip +Shubuta, Miss. +Shufeldt, R.W. +Sierra Leone +Silver Bluff Church +Simon +Singleton, Benjamin +Sino, in Liberia +Slater Fund +Slavery. _See_ Table of Contents. +Slave Ships +Smith, Adam +Smith, Alfred +Smith, Edward P. +Smith, Gerrit +Smith, Hampton +Smith, Henry +Smith, Hoke +Smith, James McCune +Smith, Stephen +Smith, W.B. +Social Progress +Socialism +Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts +Soldier, Negro +Somerset, James +Soulouque, Faustin +_Souls of Black Folk, The_ +South Carolina +South Carolina Medical College +Southern Education Board +Southern Educational Congress +Southern Sociological Congress +Southerne, Thomas +_Southwestern Christian Advocate_ +Spain +Spaniards +Spanish-American War +Spanish Exploration +Spelman Seminary +Spence, R.T. +Spencer, Peter +Sport +Springfield, Ill. +Stanton, Elizabeth Cady +Statesville, Ga. +Stephens, Alexander +Stevens, Julius C. +Stevens, Thaddeus +Steward, Austin +Stewart, Charles +Stewart, T. McC. +Stiles, Ezra +Stoddard, Lothrop +Stone, Lucy +Stockton, Robert F. +Stone, Alfred H. +Storey, Moorfield +Stowe, Harriet Beecher +Straight University +Straker, D.A. +Students' Army Training Corps +Summersett, John +Sumner, Charles +Supreme Court +Susi + +Taft, W.H. +Talladega, Ala. +Talladega College +Tallahassee, Fla. +Taney, R.B. +Tanner, Henry O. +Tappan, Arthur +Tappan, Lewis +Tapsico, Jacob +Taney, Chief Justice +Taylor, John B. +Taylor, Major +Taylor, William +Tecumseh +Tennessee +Terrell, Mary Church +Terrell, J.M. +Texas +Thomas, Charles +Thomas, W.H. +Thompson, George +Thompson, Wiley +Thornton, William +_Thoughts on African Colonisation_ +Tillman, Benjamin R. +Tithables, defined +Tolbert, John R. +Tolbert, R.R. +Tolbert, Thomas +Toombs, Robert +Toussaint L'Ouverture +Travis, Hark +Travis, Joseph +Tremont Temple Baptist Church +Trotter, Monroe +Truth, Sojourner +Tubman, Harriet +Tucker, St. George +Tupper, Pres., of Shaw University +Turnbull, Robert James +Turner, H.M. +Turner, Mary +Turner, Nat, and his insurrection +Tuskegee Institute +Tustenuggee, 114 + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_ +Underground Railroad +Universal Negro Improvement Association +Universal Races Congress +University Commission on Southern Race Questions +Ury, John +Utrecht, Peace of + +Vaca, Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de +Vail, Aaron +Vai tribe +Valdosta, Ga. +Valladolid, Juan de +Van Buren, Martin +Vardaman, James K. +Varick, James +Vermont +Vesey, Denmark, and his insurrection +Vincenden, Gen. +Virginia +Virginia Union University +Virginia, University of +Virgin Islands +Vogelsang, Peter +_Voice of the Negro, The_ +Vosges + +Waco, Texas +Walcott, Joe +Walker, John +Walker, Mme. C.J. +Walker, David +Walker, Walter F. +Walker, Zach +War of 1812 +Ward, Samuel Ringgold +Ware, Asa +Warner, Daniel Bashiel +Washington, Berry +Washington, Booker T. +Washington, Bushrod +Washington, George +Washington, Jesse +Washington, Madison +Washington, D.C. +Watson, Brook +Watt, James +Watterson, Henry +Weathersford +Webster, Daniel +Webster, Thomas +Wendell, Abraham +Wesley, John +West Virginia +Wheatley, Phillis +Whipper, of Pennsylvania +Whipper, William +White, George H. +White, Thomas J. +White, William +White, William J. +Whitfield, James M. +Whittekin, F.F. +Whitney, Eli +Whittier, John G. +Wiener, Leo +Wilberforce University +Wilberforce, William +Wilcox, Samuel T. +Wild Cat +Wiley University +Will +William and Mary College +Williams and Walker Company +Williams, Charles H. +Williams, Daniel H. +Williams, George W. +Williams, Nelson +Williams, Peter +Williams, Richard +Williamsburg, Va. +Williamson, Edward +Wilmington, N.C. +Wilson, James +Wilson, Woodrow +Winn, J.B. +Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society +Woman Suffrage +Woods, Granville T. +Woodson, Carter G. +Woolf, Leonard +Woolman, John +Wright, Robert +Wycliffe, John C. + +Yellow fever, in Philadelphia; +in Hayti +Yemassee +Y.M.C.A. +Young, Charles E. + +Zuñi Indians + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Social History of the American Negro +by Benjamin Brawley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN NEGRO *** + +***** This file should be named 12101-8.txt or 12101-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/0/12101/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Leonard D Johnson and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/old/12101-8.zip b/old/old/12101-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f432bf --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/12101-8.zip diff --git a/old/old/12101.txt b/old/old/12101.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3706a47 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/12101.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16787 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Social History of the American Negro +by Benjamin Brawley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Social History of the American Negro + Being a History of the Negro Problem in the United States. Including + A History And Study Of The Republic Of Liberia + + +Author: Benjamin Brawley + +Release Date: April 21, 2004 [EBook #12101] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN NEGRO *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Leonard D Johnson and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +A SOCIAL HISTORY +OF THE +American Negro + + +BEING +A HISTORY OF THE NEGRO PROBLEM +IN THE UNITED STATES + +INCLUDING +A HISTORY AND STUDY OF THE +REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA + +by BENJAMIN BRAWLEY +1921 + + + + + +TO THE MEMORY OF +NORWOOD PENROSE HALLOWELL + +PATRIOT +1839-1914 + + * * * * * + + _These all died in faith, not having received + the promises, but having seen them afar off_. + +Norwood Penrose Hallowell was born in Philadelphia April 13, 1839. He +inherited the tradition of the Quakers and grew to manhood in a +strong anti-slavery atmosphere. The home of his father, Morris L. +Hallowell--the "House called Beautiful," in the phrase of Oliver Wendell +Holmes--was a haven of rest and refreshment for wounded soldiers of the +Union Army, and hither also, after the assault upon him in the Senate, +Charles Sumner had come for succor and peace. Three brothers in one +way or another served the cause of the Union, one of them, Edward +N. Hallowell, succeeding Robert Gould Shaw in the Command of the +Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. Norwood Penrose +Hallowell himself, a natural leader of men, was Harvard class orator in +1861; twenty-five years later he was the marshal of his class; and in +1896 he delivered the Memorial Day address in Sanders Theater. Entering +the Union Army with promptness in April, 1861, he served first in +the New England Guards, then as First Lieutenant in the Twentieth +Massachusetts, won a Captain's commission in November, and within the +next year took part in numerous engagements, being wounded at Glendale +and even more severely at Antietam. On April 17, 1863, he became +Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, and on May 30 +Colonel of the newly organized Fifty-Fifth. Serving in the investment +of Fort Wagner, he was one of the first to enter the fort after its +evacuation. His wounds ultimately forced him to resign his commission, +and in November, 1863, he retired from the service. He engaged in +business in New York, but after a few years removed to Boston, where he +became eminent for his public spirit. He was one of God's noblemen, and +to the last he preserved his faith in the Negro whom he had been among +the first to lead toward the full heritage of American citizenship. He +died April 11, 1914. + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I + +THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA +1. African Origins +2. The Negro in Spanish Exploration +3. Development of the Slave-Trade +4. Planting of Slavery in the Colonies +5. The Wake of the Slave-Ship + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NEGRO IN THE COLONIES +1. Servitude and Slavery +2. The Indian, the Mulatto, and the Free Negro +3. First Effort toward Social Betterment +4. Early Insurrections + + +CHAPTER III + +THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA +1. Sentiment in England and America +2. The Negro in the War +3. The Northwest Territory and the Constitution +4. Early Steps toward Abolition +5. Beginning of Racial Consciousness + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE NEW WEST, THE SOUTH, AND THE WEST INDIES +1. The Cotton-Gin, the New Southwest, and the First Fugitive Slave Law +2. Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louisiana, and the Formal Closing of the + Slave-Trade +3. Gabriel's Insurrection and the Rise of the Negro Problem + + +CHAPTER V + +INDIAN AND NEGRO +1. Creek, Seminole, and Negro to 1817: The War of 1812 +2. First Seminole War and the Treaties of Indian Spring and Fort Moultrie +3. From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to the Treaty of Payne's Landing +4. Osceola and the Second Seminole War + + +CHAPTER VI + +EARLY APPROACH TO THE NEGRO PROBLEM +1. The Ultimate Problem and the Missouri Compromise +2. Colonization +3. Slavery + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE NEGRO REPLY--I: REVOLT +1. Denmark Vesey's Insurrection +2. Nat Turner's Insurrection +3. The _Amistad_ and _Creole_ Cases + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE NEGRO REPLY--II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION +1. Walker's "Appeal" +2. The Convention Movement +3. Sojourner Truth and Woman Suffrage + + +CHAPTER IX + +LIBERIA +1. The Place and the People +2. History + (a) Colonization and Settlement + (b) The Commonwealth of Liberia + (c) The Republic of Liberia +3. International Relations +4. Economic and Social Conditions + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NEGRO A NATIONAL ISSUE +1. Current Tendencies +2. The Challenge of the Abolitionists +3. The Contest + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOCIAL PROGRESS, 1820-1860 + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE ERA OF ENFRANCHISEMENT +1. The Problem +2. Meeting the Problem +3. Reaction: The Ku-Klux Klan +4. Counter-Reaction: The Negro Exodus +5. A Postscript on the War and Reconstruction + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW SOUTH +1. Political Life: Disfranchisement +2. Economic Life: Peonage +3. Social Life: Proscription, Lynching + + +CHAPTER XV + +"THE VALE OF TEARS," 1890-1910 +1. Current Opinion and Tendencies +2. Industrial Education: Booker T. Washington +3. Individual Achievement: The Spanish-American War +4. Mob Violence; Election Troubles; The Atlanta Massacre +5. The Question of Labor +6. Defamation; Brownsville +7. The Dawn of a To-morrow + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW AGE +1. Character of the Period +2. Migration; East St. Louis +3. The Great War +4. High Tension: Washington, Chicago, Elaine +5. The Widening Problem + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE NEGRO PROBLEM +1. World Aspect +2. The Negro in American Life +3. Face to Face + + + + +PREFACE + +In the following pages an effort is made to give fresh treatment to the +history of the Negro people in the United States, and to present this +from a distinct point of view, the social. It is now forty years since +George W. Williams completed his _History of the Negro Race in America_, +and while there have been many brilliant studies of periods or episodes +since that important work appeared, no one book has again attempted to +treat the subject comprehensively, and meanwhile the race has passed +through some of its most critical years in America. The more outstanding +political phases of the subject, especially in the period before the +Civil War, have been frequently considered; and in any account of +the Negro people themselves the emphasis has almost always been upon +political and military features. Williams emphasizes this point of view, +and his study of legal aspects is not likely soon to be superseded. A +noteworthy point about the history of the Negro, however, is that laws +on the statute-books have not necessarily been regarded, public opinion +and sentiment almost always insisting on being considered. It is +necessary accordingly to study the actual life of the Negro people in +itself and in connection with that of the nation, and something like +this the present work endeavors to do. It thus becomes not only a Social +History of the race, but also the first formal effort toward a History +of the Negro Problem in America. + +With this aim in mind, in view of the enormous amount of material, +we have found it necessary to confine ourselves within very definite +limits. A thorough study of all the questions relating to the Negro in +the United States would fill volumes, for sooner or later it would touch +upon all the great problems of American life. No attempt is made to +perform such a task; rather is it intended to fix attention upon the +race itself as definitely as possible. Even with this limitation there +are some topics that might be treated at length, but that have already +been studied so thoroughly that no very great modification is now likely +to be made of the results obtained. Such are many of the questions +revolving around the general subject of slavery. Wars are studied not so +much to take note of the achievement of Negro soldiers, vital as that +is, as to record the effect of these events on the life of the great +body of people. Both wars and slavery thus become not more than +incidents in the history of the ultimate problem. + +In view of what has been said, it is natural that the method of +treatment should vary with the different chapters. Sometimes it is +general, as when we touch upon the highways of American history. +Sometimes it is intensive, as in the consideration of insurrections and +early effort for social progress; and Liberia, as a distinct and much +criticized experiment in government by American Negroes, receives very +special attention. For the first time also an effort is now made to +treat consecutively the life of the Negro people in America for the last +fifty years. + +This work is the result of studies on which I have been engaged for +a number of years and which have already seen some light in _A Short +History of the American Negro_ and _The Negro in Literature and Art_; +and acquaintance with the elementary facts contained in such books as +these is in the present work very largely taken for granted. I feel +under a special debt of gratitude to the New York State Colonization +Society, which, cooeperating with the American Colonization Society and +the Board of Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia, in 1920 +gave me opportunity for some study at first hand of educational and +social conditions on the West Coast of Africa; and most of all do I +remember the courtesy and helpfulness of Dr. E.C. Sage and Dr. J.H. +Dillard in this connection. In general I have worked independently +of Williams, but any student of the subject must be grateful to that +pioneer, as well as to Dr. W.E.B. DuBois, who has made contributions in +so many ways. My obligations to such scholarly dissertations as those +by Turner and Russell are manifest, while to Mary Stoughton Locke's +_Anti-Slavery in America_--a model monograph--I feel indebted more than +to any other thesis. Within the last few years, of course, the _Crisis_, +the _Journal of Negro History_, and the _Negro Year-Book_ have in their +special fields become indispensable, and to Dr. Carter G. Woodson and +Professor M.N. Work much credit is due for the faith which has prompted +their respective ventures. I take this occasion also to thank Professor +W.E. Dodd, of the University of Chicago, who from the time of my +entrance upon this field has generously placed at my disposal his +unrivaled knowledge of the history of the South; and as always I must +be grateful to my father, Rev. E.M. Brawley, for that stimulation and +criticism which all my life have been most valuable to me. Finally, the +work has been dedicated to the memory of a distinguished soldier, who, +in his youth, in the nation's darkest hour, helped to lead a struggling +people to freedom and his country to victory. It is now submitted to the +consideration of all who are interested in the nation's problems, and +indeed in any effort that tries to keep in mind the highest welfare of +the country itself. + +BENJAMIN BRAWLEY. Cambridge, January 1, 1921. + + + + +SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE COMING OF NEGROES TO AMERICA + + +1. _African Origins_ + +An outstanding characteristic of recent years has been an increasing +recognition of the cultural importance of Africa to the world. From all +that has been written three facts are prominent: (1) That at some time +early in the Middle Ages, perhaps about the seventh century, there was +a considerable infiltration of Arabian culture into the tribes living +below the Sahara, something of which may to-day most easily be seen +among such people as the Haussas in the Soudan and the Mandingoes along +the West Coast; (2) That, whatever influences came in from the outside, +there developed in Africa an independent culture which must not be +underestimated; and (3) That, perhaps vastly more than has been +supposed, this African culture had to do with early exploration and +colonization in America. The first of these three facts is very +important, but is now generally accepted and need not here detain us. +For the present purpose the second and third demand more attention. + +The development of native African art is a theme of never-ending +fascination for the ethnologist. Especially have striking resemblances +between Negro and Oceanian culture been pointed out. In political +organization as well as certain forms of artistic endeavor the Negro +people have achieved creditable results, and especially have they been +honored as the originators of the iron technique.[1] It has further been +shown that fetichism, which is especially well developed along the +West Coast and its hinterland, is at heart not very different from the +manitou beliefs of the American Indians; and it is this connection that +furnishes the key to some of the most striking results of the researches +of the latest and most profound student of this and related problems.[2] + +[Footnote 1: Note article "Africa" in _New International Encyclopedia_, +referring especially to the studies of Von Luschan.] + +[Footnote 2: Leo Wiener: _Africa and the Discovery of America_, Vol. I, +Innes & Sons, Philadelphia, 1920.] + +From the Soudan radiated a culture that was destined to affect Europe +and in course of time to extend its influence even beyond the Atlantic +Ocean. It is important to remember that throughout the early history of +Europe and up to the close of the fifteenth century the approach to the +home of the Negro was by land. The Soudan was thought to be the edge of +the then known world; Homer speaks of the Ethiopians as "the farthest +removed of men, and separated into two divisions." Later Greek writers +carry the description still further and speak of the two divisions as +Eastern and Western--the Eastern occupying the countries eastward of the +Nile, and the Western stretching from the western shores of that river +to the Atlantic Coast. "One of these divisions," says Lady Lugard, "we +have to acknowledge, was perhaps itself the original source of the +civilization which has through Egypt permeated the Western world.... +When the history of Negroland comes to be written in detail, it may be +found that the kingdoms lying toward the eastern end of the Soudan were +the home of races who inspired, rather than of races who received, the +traditions of civilization associated for us with the name of ancient +Egypt."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _A Tropical Dependency_, James Nisbet & Co., Ltd., London, +1906, p. 17.] + +If now we come to America, we find the Negro influence upon the Indian +to be so strong as to call in question all current conceptions of +American archaeology and so early as to suggest the coming of men from +the Guinea Coast perhaps even before the coming of Columbus.[1] The +first natives of Africa to come were Mandingoes; many of the words +used by the Indians in their daily life appear to be not more than +corruptions or adaptations of words used by the tribes of Africa; and +the more we study the remains of those who lived in America before 1492, +and the far-reaching influence of African products and habits, the more +must we acknowledge the strength of the position of the latest thesis. +This whole subject will doubtless receive much more attention from +scholars, but in any case it is evident that the demands of Negro +culture can no longer be lightly regarded or brushed aside, and that as +a scholarly contribution to the subject Wiener's work is of the very +highest importance. + +[Footnote 1: See Wiener, I, 178.] + + +2. _The Negro in Spanish Exploration_ + +When we come to Columbus himself, the accuracy of whose accounts has so +recently been questioned, we find a Negro, Pedro Alonso Nino, as the +pilot of one of the famous three vessels. In 1496 Nino sailed to Santo +Domingo and he was also with Columbus on his third voyage. With two men, +Cristobal de la Guerra, who served as pilot, and Luis de la Guerra, +a Spanish merchant, in 1499 he planned what proved to be the first +successful commercial voyage to the New World. + +The revival of slavery at the close of the Middle Ages and the beginning +of the system of Negro slavery were due to the commercial expansion of +Portugal in the fifteenth century. The very word _Negro_ is the modern +Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin _niger_. In 1441 Prince Henry +sent out one Gonzales, who captured three Moors on the African coast. +These men offered as ransom ten Negroes whom they had taken. The Negroes +were taken to Lisbon in 1442, and in 1444 Prince Henry regularly began +the European trade from the Guinea Coast. For fifty years his country +enjoyed a monopoly of the traffic. By 1474 Negroes were numerous in +Spain, and special interest attaches to Juan de Valladolid, probably the +first of many Negroes who in time came to have influence and power over +their people under the authority of a greater state. He was addressed as +"judge of all the Negroes and mulattoes, free or slaves, which are in +the very loyal and noble city of Seville, and throughout the whole +archbishopric thereof." After 1500 there are frequent references to +Negroes, especially in the Spanish West Indies. Instructions to Ovando, +governor of Hispaniola, in 1501, prohibited the passage to the Indies of +Jews, Moors, or recent converts, but authorized him to take over Negro +slaves who had been born in the power of Christians. These orders were +actually put in force the next year. Even the restricted importation +Ovando found inadvisable, and he very soon requested that Negroes be not +sent, as they ran away to the Indians, with whom they soon made friends. +Isabella accordingly withdrew her permission, but after her death +Ferdinand reverted to the old plan and in 1505 sent to Ovando seventeen +Negro slaves for work in the copper-mines, where the severity of the +labor was rapidly destroying the Indians. In 1510 Ferdinand directed +that fifty Negroes be sent immediately, and that more be sent later; and +in April of this year over a hundred were bought in the Lisbon market. +This, says Bourne,[1] was the real beginning of the African slave-trade +to America. Already, however, as early as 1504, a considerable number +of Negroes had been introduced from Guinea because, as we are informed, +"the work of one Negro was worth more than that of four Indians." In +1513 thirty Negroes assisted Balboa in building the first ships made on +the Pacific Coast of America. In 1517 Spain formally entered upon the +traffic, Charles V on his accession to the throne granting "license +for the introduction of Negroes to the number of four hundred," and +thereafter importation to the West Indies became a thriving industry. +Those who came in these early years were sometimes men of considerable +intelligence, having been trained as Mohammedans or Catholics. By 1518 +Negroes were at work in the sugar-mills in Hispaniola, where they seem +to have suffered from indulgence in drinks made from sugarcane. In 1521 +it was ordered that Negro slaves should not be employed on errands as +in general these tended to cultivate too close acquaintance with the +Indians. In 1522 there was a rebellion on the sugar plantations in +Hispaniola, primarily because the services of certain Indians were +discontinued. Twenty Negroes from the Admiral's mill, uniting with +twenty others who spoke the same language, killed a number of +Christians. They fled and nine leagues away they killed another Spaniard +and sacked a house. One Negro, assisted by twelve Indian slaves, also +killed nine other Christians. After much trouble the Negroes were +apprehended and several of them hanged. It was about 1526 that Negroes +were first introduced within the present limits of the United States, +being brought to a colony near what later became Jamestown, Va. Here the +Negroes were harshly treated and in course of time they rose against +their oppressors and fired their houses. The settlement was broken up, +and the Negroes and their Spanish companions returned to Hispaniola, +whence they had come. In 1540, in Quivira, in Mexico, there was a +Negro who had taken holy orders; and in 1542 there were established at +Guamanga three brotherhoods of the True Cross of Spaniards, one being +for Indians and one for Negroes. + +[Footnote 1: _Spain in America_, Vol. 3 in American Nation Series, p. +270.] + +The outstanding instance of a Negro's heading in exploration is that of +Estevanico (or Estevanillo, or Estevan, that is, Stephen), one of the +four survivors of the ill-fated expedition of De Narvaez, who sailed +from Spain, June 17, 1527. Having returned to Spain after many years of +service in the New World, Pamfilo de Narvaez petitioned for a grant, and +accordingly the right to conquer and colonize the country between the +Rio de las Palmas, in eastern Mexico, and Florida was accorded him.[1] +His force originally consisted of six hundred soldiers and +colonists. The whole conduct of the expedition--incompetent in the +extreme--furnished one of the most appalling tragedies of early +exploration in America. The original number of men was reduced by half +by storms and hurricanes and desertions in Santo Domingo and Cuba, and +those who were left landed in April, 1528, near the entrance to Tampa +Bay, on the west coast of Florida. One disaster followed another in the +vicinity of Pensacola Bay and the mouth of the Mississippi until at +length only four men survived. These were Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca; +Andres Dorantes de Carranza, a captain of infantry; Alonzo del Castillo +Maldonado; and Estevanico, who had originally come from the west +coast of Morocco and who was a slave of Dorantes. These men had most +remarkable adventures in the years between 1528 and 1536, and as a +narrative of suffering and privation Cabeza de Vaca's _Journal_ has +hardly an equal in the annals of the continent. Both Dorantes and +Estevanico were captured, and indeed for a season or two all four men +were forced to sojourn among the Indians. They treated the sick, and +with such success did they work that their fame spread far and wide +among the tribes. Crowds followed them from place to place, showering +presents upon them. With Alonzo de Castillo, Estevanico sojourned for +a while with the Yguazes, a very savage tribe that killed its own male +children and bought those of strangers. He at length escaped from these +people and spent several months with the Avavares. He afterwards went +with De Vaca to the Maliacones, only a short distance from the Avavares, +and still later he accompanied Alonzo de Castillo in exploring the +country toward the Rio Grande. He was unexcelled as a guide who could +make his way through new territory. In 1539 he went with Fray Marcos of +Nice, the Father Provincial of the Franciscan order in New Spain, as a +guide to the Seven Cities of Cibola, the villages of the ancestors of +the present Zuni Indians in western New Mexico. Preceding Fray Marcos +by a few days and accompanied by natives who joined him on the way, he +reached Hawikuh, the southern-most of the seven towns. Here he and all +but three of his Indian followers were killed. + +[Footnote 1: Frederick W. Hodge, 3, in _Spanish Explorers in the +Southern United States_, 1528-1543, in "Original Narratives of Early +American History," Scribner's, New York, 1907. Both the Narrative of +Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and the Narrative of the Expedition of +Coronado, by Pedro de Castenada, are edited by Hodge, with illuminating +introductions.] + + +3. _Development of the Slave-Trade_ + +Portugal and Spain having demonstrated that the slave-trade was +profitable, England also determined to engage in the traffic; and as +early as 1530 William Hawkins, a merchant of Plymouth, visited the +Guinea Coast and took away a few slaves. England really entered the +field, however, with the voyage in 1562 of Captain John Hawkins, son of +William, who in October of this year also went to the coast of Guinea. +He had a fleet of three ships and one hundred men, and partly by the +sword and partly by other means he took three hundred or more Negroes, +whom he took to Santo Domingo and sold profitably.[1] He was richly +laden going homeward and some of his stores were seized by Spanish +vessels. Hawkins made two other voyages, one in 1564, and another, +with Drake, in 1567. On his second voyage he had four armed ships, the +largest being the _Jesus_, a vessel of seven hundred tons, and a force +of one hundred and seventy men. December and January (1564-5) he spent +in picking up freight, and by sickness and fights with the Negroes he +lost many of his men. Then at the end of January he set out for the +West Indies. He was becalmed for twenty-one days, but he arrived at the +Island of Dominica March 9. He traded along the Spanish coasts and on +his return to England he touched at various points in the West Indies +and sailed along the coast of Florida. On his third voyage he had five +ships. He himself was again in command of the _Jesus_, while Drake +was in charge of the _Judith_, a little vessel of fifty tons. He got +together between four and five hundred Negroes and again went to +Dominica. He had various adventures and at last was thrown by a storm on +the coast of Mexico. Here after three days he was attacked by a Spanish +fleet of twelve vessels, and all of his ships were destroyed except the +_Judith_ and another small vessel, the _Minion_, which was so crowded +that one hundred men risked the dangers on land rather than go to +sea with her. On this last voyage Hawkins and Drake had among their +companions the Earls of Pembroke and Leicester, who were then, like +other young Elizabethans, seeking fame and fortune. It is noteworthy +that in all that he did Hawkins seems to have had no sense of cruelty or +wrong. He held religious services morning and evening, and in the spirit +of the later Cromwell he enjoined upon his men to "serve God daily, love +one another, preserve their victuals, beware of fire, and keep good +company." Queen Elizabeth evidently regarded the opening of the +slave-trade as a worthy achievement, for after his second voyage she +made Hawkins a knight, giving him for a crest the device of a Negro's +head and bust with the arms securely bound. + +[Footnote 1: Edward E. Hale in Justin Winsor's _Narrative and Critical +History of America_, III, 60.] + +France joined in the traffic in 1624, and then Holland and Denmark, and +the rivalry soon became intense. England, with her usual aggressiveness, +assumed a commanding position, and, much more than has commonly been +supposed, the Navigation Ordinance of 1651 and the two wars with the +Dutch in the seventeenth century had as their basis the struggle for +supremacy in the slave-trade. The English trade proper began with the +granting of rights to special companies, to one in 1618, to another in +1631, and in 1662 to the "Company of Royal Adventurers," rechartered +in 1672 as the "Royal African Company," to which in 1687 was given the +exclusive right to trade between the Gold Coast and the British colonies +in America. James, Duke of York, was interested in this last company, +and it agreed to supply the West Indies with three thousand slaves +annually. In 1698, on account of the incessant clamor of English +merchants, the trade was opened generally, and any vessel carrying the +British flag was by act of Parliament permitted to engage in it on +payment of a duty of 10 per cent on English goods exported to Africa. +New England immediately engaged in the traffic, and vessels from Boston +and Newport went forth to the Gold Coast laden with hogsheads of rum. In +course of time there developed a three-cornered trade by which molasses +was brought from the West Indies to New England, made into rum to be +taken to Africa and exchanged for slaves, the slaves in turn being +brought to the West Indies or the Southern colonies.[1] A slave +purchased for one hundred gallons of rum worth L10 brought from L20 to +L50 when offered for sale in America.[2] Newport soon had twenty-two +still houses, and even these could not satisfy the demand. England +regarded the slave-trade as of such importance that when in 1713 she +accepted the Peace of Utrecht she insisted on having awarded to her for +thirty years the exclusive right to transport slaves to the Spanish +colonies in America. When in the course of the eighteenth century the +trade became fully developed, scores of vessels went forth each year +to engage in it; but just how many slaves were brought to the present +United States and how many were taken to the West Indies or South +America, it is impossible to say. In 1726 the three cities of London, +Bristol, and Liverpool alone had 171 ships engaged in the traffic, and +the profits were said to warrant a thousand more, though such a number +was probably never reached so far as England alone was concerned.[3] + +[Footnote 1: Bogart: _Economic History_, 72.] + +[Footnote 2: Coman: _Industrial History_, 78.] + +[Footnote 3: Ballagh: _Slavery in Virginia, 12_.] + + +4. _Planting of Slavery in the Colonies_ + +It is only for Virginia that we can state with definiteness the year +in which Negro slaves were first brought to an English colony on the +mainland. When legislation on the subject of slavery first appears +elsewhere, slaves are already present. "About the last of August +(1619)," says John Rolfe in John Smith's _Generall Historie_, "came in a +Dutch man of warre, that sold us twenty Negars." These Negroes were +sold into servitude, and Virginia did not give statutory recognition to +slavery as a system until 1661, the importations being too small to make +the matter one of importance. In this year, however, an act of assembly +stated that Negroes were "incapable of making satisfaction for the time +lost in running away by addition of time"; [1] and thus slavery gained a +firm place in the oldest of the colonies. + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, II, _26_.] + +Negroes were first imported into Massachusetts from Barbadoes a year or +two before 1638, but in John Winthrop's _Journal_, under date February +26 of this year, we have positive evidence on the subject as follows: +"Mr. Pierce in the Salem ship, the _Desire_, returned from the West +Indies after seven months. He had been at Providence, and brought some +cotton, and tobacco, and Negroes, etc., from thence, and salt from +Tertugos. Dry fish and strong liquors are the only commodities for those +parts. He met there two men-of-war, sent forth by the lords, etc., of +Providence with letters of mart, who had taken divers prizes from the +Spaniard and many Negroes." It was in 1641 that there was passed in +Massachusetts the first act on the subject of slavery, and this was the +first positive statement in any of the colonies with reference to +the matter. Said this act: "There shall never be any bond slavery, +villeinage, nor captivity among us, unless it be lawful captives, taken +in just wars, and such strangers as willingly sell themselves or are +sold to us, and these shall have all the liberties and Christian usages +which the law of God established in Israel requires." This article +clearly sanctioned slavery. Of the three classes of persons referred to, +the first was made up of Indians, the second of white people under the +system of indenture, and the third of Negroes. In this whole matter, as +in many others, Massachusetts moved in advance of the other colonies. +The first definitely to legalize slavery, in course of time she became +also the foremost representative of sentiment against the system. In +1646 one John Smith brought home two Negroes from the Guinea Coast, +where we are told he "had been the means of killing near a hundred +more." The General Court, "conceiving themselves bound by the first +opportunity to bear witness against the heinous and crying sin of +man-stealing," ordered that the Negroes be sent at public expense to +their native country.[1] In later cases, however, Massachusetts did not +find herself able to follow this precedent. In general in these early +years New England was more concerned about Indians than about Negroes, +as the presence of the former in large numbers was a constant menace, +while Negro slavery had not yet assumed its most serious aspects. + +[Footnote 1: Coffin: _Slave Insurrections_, 8.] + +In New York slavery began under the Dutch rule and continued under the +English. Before or about 1650 the Dutch West India Company brought some +Negroes to New Netherland. Most of these continued to belong to the +company, though after a period of labor (under the common system of +indenture) some of the more trusty were permitted to have small farms, +from the produce of which they made return to the company. Their +children, however, continued to be slaves. In 1664 New Netherland became +New York. The next year, in the code of English laws that was drawn +up, it was enacted that "no Christian shall be kept in bond slavery, +villeinage, or captivity, except who shall be judged thereunto by +authority, or such as willingly have sold or shall sell themselves." As +at first there was some hesitancy about making Negroes Christians, this +act, like the one in Massachusetts, by implication permitted slavery. + +It was in 1632 that the grant including what is now the states of +Maryland and Delaware was made to George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore. +Though slaves are mentioned earlier, it was in 1663-4 that the Maryland +Legislature passed its first enactment on the subject of slavery. It was +declared that "all Negroes and other slaves within this province, and +all Negroes and other slaves to be hereinafter imported into this +province, shall serve during life; and all children born of any Negro +or other slave, shall be slaves as their fathers were, for the term of +their lives." + +In Delaware and New Jersey the real beginnings of slavery are unusually +hazy. The Dutch introduced the system in both of these colonies. In the +laws of New Jersey the word _slaves_ occurs as early as 1664, and acts +for the regulation of the conduct of those in bondage began with the +practical union of the colony with New York in 1702. The lot of the +slave was somewhat better here than in most of the colonies. Although +the system was in existence in Delaware almost from the beginning of the +colony, it did not receive legal recognition until 1721, when there was +passed an act providing for the trial of slaves in a special court with +two justices and six freeholders. + +As early as 1639 there are incidental reference to Negroes in +Pennsylvania, and there are frequent references after this date.[1] In +this colony there were strong objections to the importing of Negroes in +spite of the demand for them. Penn in his charter to the Free Society of +Traders in 1682 enjoined upon the members of this company that if they +held black slaves these should be free at the end of fourteen years, +the Negroes then to become the company's tenants.[2] In 1688 there +originated in Germantown a protest against Negro slavery that was "the +first formal action ever taken against the barter in human flesh within +the boundaries of the United States." [3] Here a small company of +Germans was assembled April 18, 1688, and there was drawn up a document +signed by Garret Hendericks, Franz Daniel Pastorius, Dirck Op den +Graeff, and Abraham Op den Graeff. The protest was addressed to the +monthly meeting of the Quakers about to take place in Lower Dublin. +The monthly meeting on April 30 felt that it could not pretend to take +action on such an important matter and referred it to the quarterly +meeting in June. This in turn passed it on to the yearly meeting, the +highest tribunal of the Quakers. Here it was laid on the table, and +for the next few years nothing resulted from it. About 1696, however, +opposition to slavery on the part of the Quakers began to be active. In +the colony at large before 1700 the lot of the Negro was regularly +one of servitude. Laws were made for servants, white or black, and +regulations and restrictions were largely identical. In 1700, however, +legislation began more definitely to fix the status of the slave. In +this year an act of the legislature forbade the selling of Negroes out +of the province without their consent, but in other ways it denied the +personality of the slave. This act met further formal approval in 1705, +when special courts were ordained for the trial and punishment of +slaves, and when importation from Carolina was forbidden on the ground +that it made trouble with the Indians nearer home. In 1700 a maximum +duty of 20s. was placed on each Negro imported, and in 1705 this was +doubled, there being already some competition with white labor. In 1712 +the Assembly sought to prevent importation altogether by a duty of L20 +a head. This act was repealed in England, and a duty of L5 in 1715 was +also repealed. In 1729, however, the duty was fixed at L2, at which +figure it remained for a generation. + +[Footnote 1: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 1.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 21.] + +[Footnote 3: Faust: _The German Element in the United States_, Boston, +1909, I, 45.] + +It was almost by accident that slavery was officially recognized in +Connecticut in 1650. The code of laws compiled for the colony in this +year was especially harsh on the Indians. It was enacted that certain of +them who incurred the displeasure of the colony might be made to serve +the person injured or "be shipped out and exchanged for Negroes." In +1680 the governor of the colony informed the Board of Trade that "as for +blacks there came sometimes three or four in a year from Barbadoes, and +they are usually sold at the rate of L22 apiece." These people were +regarded rather as servants than as slaves, and early legislation was +mainly in the line of police regulations designed to prevent their +running away. + +In 1652 it was enacted in Rhode Island that all slaves brought into the +colony should be set free after ten years of service. This law was not +designed, as might be supposed, to restrict slavery. It was really a +step in the evolution of the system, and the limit of ten years was by +no means observed. "The only legal recognition of the law was in the +series of acts beginning January 4, 1703, to control the wandering of +African slaves and servants, and another beginning in April, 1708, in +which the slave-trade was indirectly legalized by being taxed."[1] "In +course of time Rhode Island became the greatest slave-trader in the +country, becoming a sort of clearing-house for the other colonies."[2] + +[Footnote 1: William T. Alexander: History of the Colored Race in +America, New Orleans, 1887, p. 136.] + +[Footnote 2: DuBois: Suppression of the Slave-Trade, 34.] + +New Hampshire, profiting by the experience of the neighboring colony of +Massachusetts, deemed it best from the beginning to discourage +slavery. There were so few Negroes in the colony as to form a quantity +practically negligible. The system was recognized, however, an act being +passed in 1714 to regulate the conduct of slaves, and another four years +later to regulate that of masters. + +In North Carolina, even more than in most of the colonies, the system +of Negro slavery was long controlled by custom rather than by legal +enactment. It was recognized by law in 1715, however, and police +regulations to govern the slaves were enacted. In South Carolina the +history of slavery is particularly noteworthy. The natural resources +of this colony offered a ready home for the system, and the laws here +formulated were as explicit as any ever enacted. Slaves were first +imported from Barbadoes, and their status received official confirmation +in 1682. By 1720 the number had increased to 12,000, the white people +numbering only 9,000. By 1698 such was the fear from the preponderance +of the Negro population that a special act was passed to encourage white +immigration. Legislation "for the better ordering of slaves" was passed +in 1690, and in 1712 the first regular slave law was enacted. Once +before 1713, the year of the Assiento Contract of the Peace of Utrecht, +and several times after this date, prohibitive duties were placed on +Negroes to guard against their too rapid increase. By 1734, however, +importation had again reached large proportions; and in 1740, in +consequence of recent insurrectionary efforts, a prohibitive duty +several times larger than the previous one was placed upon Negroes +brought into the province. + +The colony of Georgia was chartered in 1732 and actually founded the +next year. Oglethorpe's idea was that the colony should be a refuge for +persecuted Christians and the debtor classes of England. Slavery was +forbidden on the ground that Georgia was to defend the other English +colonies from the Spaniards on the South, and that it would not be able +to do this if like South Carolina it dissipated its energies in guarding +Negro slaves. For years the development of Georgia was slow, and the +prosperous condition of South Carolina constantly suggested to the +planters that "the one thing needful" for their highest welfare was +slavery. Again and again were petitions addressed to the trustees, +George Whitefield being among those who most urgently advocated the +innovation. Moreover, Negroes from South Carolina were sometimes hired +for life, and purchases were openly made in Savannah. It was not until +1749, however, that the trustees yielded to the request. In 1755 the +legislature passed an act that regulated the conduct of the slaves, and +in 1765 a more regular code was adopted. Thus did slavery finally gain a +foothold in what was destined to become one of the most important of the +Southern states. + +For the first fifty or sixty years of the life of the colonies the +introduction of Negroes was slow; the system of white servitude +furnished most of the labor needed, and England had not yet won +supremacy in the slave-trade. It was in the last quarter of the +seventeenth century that importations began to be large, and in the +course of the eighteenth century the numbers grew by leaps and bounds. +In 1625, six years after the first Negroes were brought to the colony, +there were in Virginia only 23 Negroes, 12 male, 11 female. [1] In 1659 +there were 300; but in 1683 there were 3,000 and in 1708, 12,000. In +1680 Governor Simon Bradstreet reported to England with reference to +Massachusetts that "no company of blacks or slaves" had been brought +into the province since its beginning, for the space of fifty years, +with the exception of a small vessel that two years previously, after a +twenty months' voyage to Madagascar, had brought hither between forty +and fifty Negroes, mainly women and children, who were sold for L10, +L15, and L20 apiece; occasionally two or three Negroes were brought from +Barbadoes or other islands, and altogether there were in Massachusetts +at the time not more than 100 or 120. + +[Footnote 1: _Virginia Magazine of History_, VII, 364.] + +The colonists were at first largely opposed to the introduction of +slavery, and numerous acts were passed prohibiting it in Virginia, +Massachusetts, and elsewhere; and in Georgia, as we have seen, it had at +first been expressly forbidden. English business men, however, had no +scruples about the matter. About 1663 a British Committee on +Foreign Plantations declared that "black slaves are the most useful +appurtenances of a plantation," [1] and twenty years later the Lords +Commissioners of Trade stated that "the colonists could not possibly +subsist" without an adequate supply of slaves. Laws passed in the +colonies were regularly disallowed by the crown, and royal governors +were warned that the colonists would not be permitted to "discourage a +traffic so beneficial to the nation." Before 1772 Virginia passed not +less than thirty-three acts looking toward the prohibition of the +importation of slaves, but in every instance the act was annulled by +England. In the far South, especially in South Carolina, we have seen +that there were increasingly heavy duties. In spite of all such efforts +for restriction, however, the system of Negro slavery, once well +started, developed apace. + +[Footnote 1: Bogart: _Economic History_, 73.] + +In two colonies not among the original thirteen but important in the +later history of the United States, Negroes were present at a very early +date, in the Spanish colony of Florida from the very first, and in the +French colony of Louisiana as soon as New Orleans really began to grow. +Negroes accompanied the Spaniards in their voyages along the South +Atlantic coast early in the sixteenth century, and specially trained +Spanish slaves assisted in the founding of St. Augustine in 1565. The +ambitious schemes in France of the great adventurer, John Law, and +especially the design of the Mississippi Company (chartered 1717) +included an agreement for the importation into Louisiana of six thousand +white persons and three thousand Negroes, the Company having secured +among other privileges the exclusive right to trade with the colony for +twenty-five years and the absolute ownership of all mines in it. The +sufferings of some of the white emigrants from France--the kidnapping, +the revenge, and the chicanery that played so large a part--all make +a story complete in itself. As for the Negroes, it was definitely +stipulated that these should not come from another French colony without +the consent of the governor of that colony. The contract had only begun +to be carried out when Law's bubble burst. However, in June, 1721, there +were 600 Negroes in Louisiana; in 1745 the number had increased to +2020. The stories connected with these people are as tragic and wildly +romantic as are most of the stories in the history of Louisiana. In +fact, this colony from the very first owed not a little of its abandon +and its fascination to the mysticism that the Negroes themselves brought +from Africa. In the midst of much that is apocryphal one or two events +or episodes stand out with distinctness. In 1729, Perier, governor at +the time, testified with reference to a small company of Negroes who +had been sent against the Indians as follows: "Fifteen Negroes in whose +hands we had put weapons, performed prodigies of valor. If the blacks +did not cost so much, and if their labors were not so necessary to the +colony, it would be better to turn them into soldiers, and to dismiss +those we have, who are so bad and so cowardly that they seem to have +been manufactured purposely for this colony[1]." Not always, however, +did the Negroes fight against the Indians. In 1730 some representatives +of the powerful Banbaras had an understanding with the Chickasaws by +which the latter were to help them in exterminating all the white people +and in setting up an independent republic[2]. They were led by a strong +and desperate Negro named Samba. As a result of this effort for freedom +Samba and seven of his companions were broken on the wheel and a woman +was hanged. Already, however, there had been given the suggestion of the +possible alliance in the future of the Indian and the Negro. From the +very first also, because of the freedom from restraint of all the +elements of population that entered into the life of the colony, there +was the beginning of that mixture of the races which was later to tell +so vitally on the social life of Louisiana and whose effects are so +readily apparent even to-day. + +[Footnote 1: Gayarre: _History of Louisiana_, I, 435.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., I, 440.] + + +5. The Wake of the Slave-Ship + +Thus it was that Negroes came to America. Thus it was also, we might +say, that the Negro Problem came, though it was not for decades, not +until the budding years of American nationality, that the ultimate +reaches of the problem were realized. Those who came were by no means +all of exactly the same race stock and language. Plantations frequently +exhibited a variety of customs, and sometimes traditional enemies became +brothers in servitude. The center of the colonial slave-trade was the +African coast for about two hundred miles east of the great Niger River. +From this comparatively small region came as many slaves as from all the +rest of Africa together. A number of those who came were of entirely +different race stock from the Negroes; some were Moors, and a very few +were Malays from Madagascar. + +The actual procuring of the slaves was by no means as easy a process as +is sometimes supposed. In general the slave mart brought out the most +vicious passions of all who were in any way connected with the traffic. +The captain of a vessel had to resort to various expedients to get his +cargo. His commonest method was to bring with him a variety of gay +cloth, cheap ornaments, and whiskey, which he would give in exchange for +slaves brought to him. His task was most simple when a chieftain of +one tribe brought to him several hundred prisoners of war. Ordinarily, +however, the work was more toilsome, and kidnapping a favorite method, +though individuals were sometimes enticed on vessels. The work was +always dangerous, for the natives along the slave-coast soon became +suspicious. After they had seen some of their tribesmen taken away, they +learned not to go unarmed while a slave-vessel was on the coast, and +very often there were hand-to-hand encounters. It was not long before it +began to be impressed upon those interested in the trade that it was not +good business to place upon the captain of a vessel the responsibility +of getting together three or four hundred slaves, and that it would be +better if he could find his cargo waiting for him when he came. Thus +arose the so-called factories, which were nothing more than warehouses. +Along the coast were placed small settlements of Europeans, whose +business it was to stimulate slave-hunting expeditions, negotiate for +slaves brought in, and see that they were kept until the arrival of the +ships. Practically every nation engaged in the traffic planted factories +of this kind along the West Coast from Cape Verde to the equator; and +thus it was that this part of Africa began to be the most flagrantly +exploited region in the world; thus whiskey and all the other vices of +civilization began to come to a simple and home-loving people. + +Once on board the slaves were put in chains two by two. When the ship +was ready to start, the hold of the vessel was crowded with moody and +unhappy wretches who most often were made to crouch so that their knees +touched their chins, but who also were frequently made to lie on their +sides "spoon-fashion." Sometimes the space between floor and ceiling +was still further diminished by the water-barrels; on the top of these +barrels boards were placed, on the boards the slaves had to lie, and +in the little space that remained they had to subsist as well as they +could. There was generally only one entrance to the hold, and provision +for only the smallest amount of air through the gratings on the sides. +The clothing of a captive, if there was any at all, consisted of only +a rag about the loins. The food was half-rotten rice, yams, beans, or +soup, and sometimes bread and meat; the cooking was not good, nor was +any care taken to see that all were fed. Water was always limited, a +pint a day being a generous allowance; frequently no more than a gill +could be had. The rule was to bring the slaves from the hold twice a +day for an airing, about eight o'clock in the morning and four in the +afternoon; but this plan was not always followed. On deck they were made +to dance by the lash, and they were also forced to sing. Thus were born +the sorrow-songs, the last cry of those who saw their homeland vanish +behind them--forever. + +Sometimes there were stern fights on board. Sometimes food was refused +in order that death might be hastened. When opportunity served, some +leaped overboard in the hope of being taken back to Africa. Throughout +the night the hold resounded with the moans of those who awoke from +dreams of home to find themselves in bonds. Women became hysterical, and +both men and women became insane. Fearful and contagious diseases broke +out. Smallpox was one of these. More common was ophthalmia, a frightful +inflammation of the eyes. A blind, and hence a worthless, slave was +thrown to the sharks. The putrid atmosphere, the melancholy, and the +sudden transition from heat to cold greatly increased the mortality, +and frequently when morning came a dead and a living slave were found +shackled together. A captain always counted on losing one-fourth of his +cargo. Sometimes he lost a great deal more. + +Back on the shore a gray figure with strained gaze watched the ship fade +away--an old woman sadly typical of the great African mother. With her +vision she better than any one else perceived the meaning of it all. The +men with hard faces who came to buy and sell might deceive others, but +not her. In a great vague way she felt that something wrong had attacked +the very heart of her people. She saw men wild with the whiskey of the +Christian nations commit crimes undreamed of before. She did not like +the coast towns; the girl who went thither came not home again, and a +young man was lost to all that Africa held dear. In course of time she +saw every native craft despised, and instead of the fabric that her own +fingers wove her children yearned for the tinsel and the gewgaws of the +trader. She cursed this man, and she called upon all her spirits +to banish the evil. But when at last all was of no avail--when the +strongest youth or the dearest maiden had gone--she went back to her hut +and ate her heart out in the darkness. She wept for her children and +would not be comforted because they were not. Then slowly to the +untutored mind somehow came the promise: "These are they which came out +of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in +the blood of the Lamb.... They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any +more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb +which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them +unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from +their eyes." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NEGRO IN THE COLONIES + + +The Negroes who were brought from Africa to America were brought hither +to work, and to work under compulsion; hence any study of their social +life in the colonial era must be primarily a study of their life under +the system of slavery, and of the efforts of individuals to break away +from the same. + + +1. _Servitude and Slavery_ + +For the antecedents of Negro slavery in America one must go back to the +system of indentured labor known as servitude. This has been defined +as "a legalized status of Indian, white, and Negro servants preceding +slavery in most, if not all, of the English mainland colonies."[1] A +study of servitude will explain many of the acts with reference to +Negroes, especially those about intermarriage with white people. For the +origins of the system one must go back to social conditions in England +in the seventeenth century. While villeinage had been formally abolished +in England at the middle of the fourteenth century, it still lingered in +remote places, and even if men were not technically villeins they might +be subjected to long periods of service. By the middle of the fifteenth +century the demand for wool had led to the enclosure of many farms +for sheep-raising, and accordingly to distress on the part of many +agricultural laborers. Conditions were not improved early in the +sixteenth century, and they were in fact made more acute, the abolition +of the monasteries doing away with many of the sources of relief. Men +out of work were thrown upon the highways and thus became a menace to +society. In 1564 the price of wheat was 19s. a quarter and wages were +7d. a day. The situation steadily grew worse, and in 1610, while wages +were still the same, wheat was 35s. a quarter. Rents were constantly +rising, moreover, and many persons died from starvation. In the course +of the seventeenth century paupers and dissolute persons more and more +filled the jails and workhouses. + +[Footnote 1: _New International Encyclopaedia_, Article "Slavery."] + +Meanwhile in the young colonies across the sea labor was scarce, and it +seemed to many an act of benevolence to bring from England persons who +could not possibly make a living at home and give them some chance in +the New World. From the very first, children, and especially young +people between the ages of twelve and twenty, were the most desired. The +London Company undertook to meet half of the cost of the transportation +and maintenance of children sent out by parish authorities, the +understanding being that it would have the service of the same until +they were of age.[1] The Company was to teach each boy a trade and when +his freedom year arrived was to give to each one fifty acres, a cow, +some seed corn, tools, and firearms. He then became the Company's +tenant, for seven years more giving to it one-half of his produce, at +the end of which time he came into full possession of twenty-five acres. +After the Company collapsed individuals took up the idea. Children under +twelve years of age might be bound for seven years, and persons over +twenty-one for no more than four; but the common term was five years. + +[Footnote 1: Coman: _Industrial History_, 42.] + +Under this system fell servants voluntary and involuntary. Hundreds of +people, too poor to pay for their transportation, sold themselves for +a number of years to pay for the transfer. Some who were known as +"freewillers" had some days in which to dispose of themselves to the +best advantage in America; if they could not make satisfactory terms, +they too were sold to pay for the passage. More important from the +standpoint of the system itself, however, was the number of involuntary +servants brought hither. Political offenders, vagrants, and other +criminals were thus sent to the colonies, and many persons, especially +boys and girls, were kidnapped in the streets of London and "spirited" +away. Thus came Irishmen or Scotchmen who had incurred the ire of the +crown, Cavaliers or Roundheads according as one party or the other was +out of power, and farmers who had engaged in Monmouth's rebellion; and +in the year 1680 alone it was estimated that not less than ten thousand +persons were "spirited" away from England. It is easy to see how such +a system became a highly profitable one for shipmasters and those in +connivance with them. Virginia objected to the criminals, and in 1671 +the House of Burgesses passed a law against the importing of such +persons, and the same was approved by the governor. Seven years later, +however, it was set aside for the transportation of political offenders. + +As having the status of an apprentice the servant could sue in court and +he was regularly allowed "freedom dues" at the expiration of his term. +He could not vote, however, could not bear weapons, and of course +could not hold office. In some cases, especially where the system was +voluntary, servants sustained kindly relations with their masters, a few +even becoming secretaries or tutors. More commonly, however, the lot of +the indentured laborer was a hard one, his food often being only coarse +Indian meal, and water mixed with molasses. The moral effect of the +system was bad in the fate to which it subjected woman and in the +evils resulting from the sale of the labor of children. In this whole +connection, however, it is to be remembered that the standards of the +day were very different from those of our own. The modern humanitarian +impulse had not yet moved the heart of England, and flogging was still +common for soldiers and sailors, criminals and children alike. + +The first Negroes brought to the colonies were technically servants, and +generally as Negro slavery advanced white servitude declined. James II, +in fact, did whatever he could to hasten the end of servitude in order +that slavery might become more profitable. Economic forces were with +him, for while a slave varied in price from L10 to L50, the mere cost +of transporting a servant was from L6 to L10. "Servitude became slavery +when to such incidents as alienation, disfranchisement, whipping, and +limited marriage were added those of perpetual service and a denial of +civil, juridical, marital and property rights as well as the denial of +the possession of children."[1] Even after slavery was well established, +however, white men and women were frequently retained as domestic +servants, and the system of servitude did not finally pass in all of its +phases before the beginning of the Revolutionary War. + +[Footnote 1: _New International Encyclopaedia_, Article "Slavery."] + +Negro slavery was thus distinctively an evolution. As the first Negroes +were taken by pirates, the rights of ownership could not legally be +given to those who purchased them; hence slavery by custom preceded +slavery by statute. Little by little the colonies drifted into the +sterner system. The transition was marked by such an act as that in +Rhode Island, which in 1652 permitted a Negro to be bound for ten years. +We have already referred to the Act of Assembly in Virginia in 1661 to +the effect that Negroes were incapable of making satisfaction for time +lost in running away by addition of time. Even before it had become +generally enacted or understood in the colonies, however, that a child +born of slave parents should serve for life, a new question had arisen, +that of the issue of a free person and a slave. This led Virginia in +1662 to lead the way with an act declaring that the status of a child +should be determined by that of the mother,[1] which act both gave to +slavery the sanction of law and made it hereditary. From this time +forth Virginia took a commanding lead in legislation; and it is to be +remembered that when we refer to this province we by no means have +reference to the comparatively small state of to-day, but to the richest +and most populous of the colonies. This position Virginia maintained +until after the Revolutionary War, and not only the present West +Virginia but the great Northwest Territory were included in her domain. + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, II, 170.] + +The slave had none of the ordinary rights of citizenship; in a criminal +case he could be arrested, tried, and condemned with but one witness +against him, and he could be sentenced without a jury. In Virginia +in 1630 one Hugh Davis was ordered to be "soundly whipped before an +assembly of Negroes and others, for abusing himself to the dishonor of +God and the shame of Christians, by defiling his body in lying with a +Negro."[1] Just ten years afterwards, in 1640, one Robert Sweet was +ordered "to do penance in church, according to the laws of England, for +getting a Negro woman with child, and the woman to be whipped."[2] Thus +from the very beginning the intermixture of the races was frowned upon +and went on all the same. By the time, moreover, that the important acts +of 1661 and 1662 had formally sanctioned slavery, doubt had arisen +in the minds of some Virginians as to whether one Christian could +legitimately hold another in bondage; and in 1667 it was definitely +stated that the conferring of baptism did not alter the condition of a +person as to his bondage or freedom, so that masters, freed from +this doubt, could now "more carefully endeavor the propagation of +Christianity." In 1669 an "act about the casual killing of slaves" +provided that if any slave resisted his master and under the extremity +of punishment chanced to die, his death was not to be considered a +felony and the master was to be acquitted. In 1670 it was made clear +that none but freeholders and housekeepers should vote in the election +of burgesses, and in the same year provision was taken against the +possible ownership of a white servant by a free Negro, who nevertheless +"was not debarred from buying any of his own nation." In 1692 there +was legislation "for the more speedy prosecution of slaves committing +capital crimes"; and this was reenacted in 1705, when some provision was +made for the compensation of owners and when it was further declared +that Negro, mulatto, and Indian slaves within the dominion were "real +estate" and "incapable in law to be witnesses in any cases whatsoever"; +and in 1723 there was an elaborate and detailed act "directing the +trial of slaves committing capital crimes, and for the more effectual +punishing conspiracies and insurrections of them, and for the better +government of Negroes, mulattoes, and Indians, bond or free." This +last act specifically stated that no slave should be set free upon +any pretense whatsoever "except for some meritorious services, to be +adjudged and allowed by the governor and council." All this legislation +was soon found to be too drastic and too difficult to enforce, and +modification was inevitable. This came in 1732, when it was made +possible for a slave to be a witness when another slave was on trial +for a capital offense, and in 1744 this provision was extended to civil +cases as well. In 1748 there was a general revision of all existing +legislation, with special provision against attempted insurrections. + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, I, 146.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., I, 552.] + +Thus did Virginia pave the way, and more and more slave codes took on +some degree of definiteness and uniformity. Very important was the +act of 1705, which provided that a slave might be inventoried as real +estate. As property henceforth there was nothing to prevent his being +separated from his family. Before the law he was no longer a person but +a thing. + + +2. 737 _The Indian, the Mulatto, and the Free Negro_ + +All along, it is to be observed, the problem of the Negro was +complicated by that of the Indian. At first there was a feeling that +Indians were to be treated not as Negroes but as on the same basis as +Englishmen. An act in Virginia of 1661-2 summed up this feeling in the +provision that they were not to be sold as servants for any longer time +than English people of the same age, and injuries done to them were to +be duly remedied by the laws of England. About the same time a Powhatan +Indian sold for life was ordered to be set free. An interesting +enactment of 1670 attempted to give the Indian an intermediate status +between that of the Englishman and the Negro slave, as "servants not +being Christians, imported into the colony by shipping" (i.e., Negroes) +were to be slaves for their lives, but those that came by land were to +serve "if boys or girls until thirty years of age; if men or women, +twelve years and no longer." All such legislation, however, was +radically changed as a result of Nathaniel Bacon's rebellion of 1676, in +which the aid of the natives was invoked against the English governor. +Henceforth Indians taken in war became the slaves for life of their +captors. An elaborate act of 1682 summed up the new status, and Indians +sold by other Indians were to be "adjudged, deemed, and taken to be +slaves, to all intents and purposes, any law, usage, or custom to the +contrary notwithstanding." Indian women were to be "tithables,"[1] and +they were required to pay levies just as Negro women. From this time +forth enactments generally included Indians along with Negroes, but of +course the laws placed on the statute books did not always bear close +relation to what was actually enforced, and in general the Indian was +destined to be a vanishing rather than a growing problem. Very early in +the eighteenth century, in connection with the wars between the English +and the Spanish in Florida, hundreds of Indians were shipped to the West +Indies and some to New England. Massachusetts in 1712 prohibited +such importation, as the Indians were "malicious, surly, and very +ungovernable," and she was followed to similar effect by Pennsylvania in +1712, by New Hampshire in 1714, and by Connecticut and Rhode Island in +1715. + +[Footnote 1: Hurd, commenting on an act of 1649 declaring all imported +male servants to be tithables, speaks as follows (230): "_Tithables_ +were persons assessed for a poll-tax, otherwise called the 'county +levies.' At first, only free white persons were tithable. The law of +1645 provided for a tax on property and tithable persons. By 1648 +property was released and taxes levied only on the tithables, at +a specified poll-tax. Therefore by classing servants or slaves as +tithables, the law attributes to them legal personality, or a membership +in the social state inconsistent with the condition of a chattel or +property."] + +If the Indian was destined to be a vanishing factor, the mulatto and the +free Negro most certainly were not. In spite of all the laws to prevent +it, the intermixture of the races increased, and manumission somehow +also increased. Sometimes a master in his will provided that several of +his slaves should be given their freedom. Occasionally a slave became +free by reason of what was regarded as an act of service to the +commonwealth, as in the case of one Will, slave belonging to Robert +Ruffin, of the county of Surry in Virginia, who in 1710 divulged a +conspiracy.[1] There is, moreover, on record a case of an indentured +Negro servant, John Geaween, who by his unusual thrift in the matter of +some hogs which he raised on the share system with his master, was able +as early as 1641 to purchase his own son from another master, to the +perfect satisfaction of all concerned.[2] Of special importance for +some years were those persons who were descendants of Negro fathers and +indentured white mothers, and who at first were of course legally free. +By 1691 the problem had become acute in Virginia. In this year "for +prevention of that abominable mixture and spurious issue, which +hereafter may increase in this dominion, as well by Negroes, mulattoes +and Indians intermarrying with English or other white women, as by their +unlawful accompanying with one another," it was enacted that "for the +time to come whatsoever English or other white man or woman being free +shall intermarry with a Negro, mulatto, or Indian man or woman, bond +or free, shall within three months after such marriage be banished +and removed from this dominion forever, and that the justices of each +respective county within this dominion make it their particular care +that this act be put in effectual execution."[3] A white woman who +became the mother of a child by a Negro or mulatto was to be fined L15 +sterling, in default of payment was to be sold for five years, while the +child was to be bound in servitude to the church wardens until thirty +years of age. It was further provided that if any Negro or mulatto was +set free, he was to be transported from the country within six months +of his manumission (which enactment is typical of those that it was +difficult to enforce and that after a while were only irregularly +observed). In 1705 it was enacted that no "Negro, mulatto, or Indian +shall from and after the publication of this act bear any office +ecclesiastical, civil or military, or be in any place of public trust or +power, within this her majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia"; and +to clear any doubt that might arise as to who should be accounted a +mulatto, it was provided that "the child of an Indian, and the child, +grandchild, or great-grandchild of a Negro shall be deemed, accounted, +held, and taken to be a mulatto." It will be observed that while the act +of 1670 said that "none but freeholders and housekeepers" could vote, +this act of 1705 did not specifically legislate against voting by a +mulatto or a free Negro, and that some such privilege was exercised for +a while appears from the definite provision in 1723 that "no free Negro, +mulatto, or Indian, whatsoever, shall hereafter have any vote at the +election of burgesses, or any other election whatsoever." In the same +year it was provided that free Negroes and mulattoes might be employed +as drummers or trumpeters in servile labor, but that they were not to +bear arms; and all free Negroes above sixteen years of age were declared +tithable. In 1769, however, all free Negro and mulatto women were +exempted from levies as tithables, such levies having proved to be +burdensome and "derogatory to the rights of freeborn subjects." + +[Footnote 1: Hening: _Statutes_, III, 537.] + +[Footnote 2: _Virginia Magazine of History_, X, 281.] + +[Footnote 3: The penalty was so ineffective that in 1705 it was changed +simply to imprisonment for six months "without bail or mainprise."] + +More than other colonies Maryland seems to have been troubled about the +intermixture of the races; certainly no other phase of slavery here +received so much attention. This was due to the unusual emphasis on +white servitude in the colony. In 1663 it was enacted that any freeborn +woman intermarrying with a slave should serve the master of the slave +during the life of her husband and that any children resulting from +the union were also to be slaves. This act was evidently intended to +frighten the indentured woman from such a marriage. It had a very +different effect. Many masters, in order to prolong the indenture of +their white female servants, encouraged them to marry Negro slaves. +Accordingly a new law in 1681 threw the responsibility not on the +indentured woman but on the master or mistress; in case a marriage took +place between a white woman-servant and a slave, the woman was to be +free at once, any possible issue was to be free, and the minister +performing the ceremony and the master or mistress were to be fined ten +thousand pounds of tobacco. This did not finally dispose of the problem, +however, and in 1715, in response to a slightly different situation, it +was enacted that a white woman who became the mother of a child by a +free Negro father should become a servant for seven years, the father +also a servant for seven years, and the child a servant until thirty-one +years of age. Any white man who begot a Negro woman with child, whether +a free woman or a slave, was to undergo the same penalty as a white +woman--a provision that in course of time was notoriously disregarded. +In 1717 the problem was still unsettled, and in this year it was enacted +that Negroes or mulattoes of either sex intermarrying with white people +were to be slaves for life, except mulattoes born of white women, who +were to serve for seven years, and the white person so intermarrying +also for seven years. It is needless to say that with all these changing +and contradictory provisions many servants and Negroes did not even +know what the law was. In 1728, however, free mulatto women having +illegitimate children by Negroes and other slaves, and free Negro +women having illegitimate children by white men, and their issue, were +subjected to the same penalties as in the former act were provided +against white women. Thus vainly did the colony of Maryland struggle +with the problem of race intermixture. Generally throughout the South +the rule in the matter of the child of the Negro father and the +indentured white mother was that the child should be bound in servitude +for thirty or thirty-one years. + +In the North as well as in the South the intermingling of the blood of +the races was discountenanced. In Pennsylvania as early as 1677 a white +servant was indicted for cohabiting with a Negro. In 1698 the Chester +County court laid it down as a principle that the mingling of the races +was not to be allowed. In 1722 a woman was punished for promoting a +secret marriage between a white woman and a Negro; a little later the +Assembly received from the inhabitants of the province a petition +inveighing against cohabiting; and in 1725-6 a law was passed positively +forbidding the mixture of the races.[1] In Massachusetts as early as +1705 and 1708 restraining acts to prevent a "spurious and mixt issue" +ordered the sale of offending Negroes and mulattoes out of the colony's +jurisdiction, and punished Christians who intermarried with them by a +fine of L50. After the Revolutionary War such marriages were declared +void and the penalty of L50 was still exacted, and not until 1843 was +this act repealed. Thus was the color-line, with its social and legal +distinctions, extended beyond the conditions of servitude and slavery, +and thus early was an important phase of the ultimate Negro Problem +foreshadowed. + +[Footnote 1: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 29-30.] + +Generally then, in the South, in the colonial period, the free Negro +could not vote, could not hold civil office, could not give testimony in +cases involving white men, and could be employed only for fatigue +duty in the militia. He could not purchase white servants, could not +intermarry with white people, and had to be very circumspect in his +relations with slaves. No deprivation of privilege, however, relieved +him of the obligation to pay taxes. Such advantages as he possessed were +mainly economic. The money gained from his labor was his own; he might +become skilled at a trade; he might buy land; he might buy slaves;[1] he +might even buy his wife and child if, as most frequently happened, +they were slaves; and he might have one gun with which to protect his +home.[2] Once in a long while he might even find some opportunity +for education, as when the church became the legal warden of Negro +apprentices. Frequently he found a place in such a trade as that of +the barber or in other personal service, and such work accounted very +largely for the fact that he was generally permitted to remain in +communities where technically he had no right to be. In the North his +situation was little better than in the South, and along economic lines +even harder. Everywhere his position was a difficult one. He was most +frequently regarded as idle and shiftless, and as a breeder of mischief; +but if he showed unusual thrift he might even be forced to leave his +home and go elsewhere. Liberty, the boon of every citizen, the free +Negro did not possess. For all the finer things of life--the things that +make life worth living--the lot that was his was only less hard than +that of the slave. + +[Footnote 1: Russell: _The Free Negro in Virginia_, 32-33, cites from +the court records of Northampton County, 1651-1654 and 1655-1658, the +noteworthy case of a free negro, Anthony Johnson, who had come to +Virginia not later than 1622 and who by 1650 owned a large tract of land +on the Eastern Shore. To him belonged a Negro, John Casor. After several +years of labor Casor demanded his freedom on the ground that from the +first he had been an indentured servant and not a slave. When the case +came up in court, however, not only did Johnson win the verdict that +Casor was his slave, but he also won his suit against Robert Parker, a +white man, who he asserted had illegally detained Casor.] + +[Footnote 2: Hening: _Statutes_, IV, 131.] + + +3. _First Effort for Social Betterment_ + +If now we turn aside from laws and statutes and consider the ordinary +life and social intercourse of the Negro, we shall find more than one +contradiction, for in the colonial era codes affecting slaves and free +Negroes had to grope their way to uniformity. Especially is it necessary +to distinguish between the earlier and the later years of the period, +for as early as 1760 the liberalism of the Revolutionary era began to be +felt. If we consider what was strictly the colonial epoch, we may find +it necessary to make a division about the year 1705. Before this date +the status of the Negro was complicated by the incidents of the system +of servitude; after it, however, in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and +Massachusetts alike, special discrimination against him on account of +race was given formal recognition. + +By 1715 there were in Virginia 23,000 Negroes, and in all the colonies +58,850, or 14 per cent of the total population.[1] By 1756, however, +the Negroes in Virginia numbered 120,156 and the white people but +173,316.[2] Thirty-eight of the forty-nine counties had more Negro than +white tithables, and eleven of the counties had a Negro population +varying from one-fourth to one-half more than the white. A great many of +the Negroes had only recently been imported from Africa, and they were +especially baffling to their masters of course when they conversed in +their native tongues. At first only men were brought, but soon women +came also, and the treatment accorded these people varied all the way +from occasional indulgence to the utmost cruelty. The hours of work +regularly extended from sunrise to sunset, though corn-husking and +rice-beating were sometimes continued after dark, and overseers were +almost invariably ruthless, often having a share in the crops. Those who +were house-servants would go about only partially clad, and the slave +might be marked or branded like one of the lower animals; he was not +thought to have a soul, and the law sought to deprive him of all human +attributes. Holiday amusement consisted largely of the dances that the +Negroes had brought with them, these being accompanied by the beating of +drums and the blowing of horns; and funeral ceremonies featured African +mummeries. For those who were criminal offenders simple execution was +not always considered severe enough; the right hand might first be +amputated, the criminal then hanged and his head cut off, and his body +quartered and the parts suspended in public places. Sometimes the +hanging was in chains, and several instances of burning are on record. +A master was regularly reimbursed by the government for a slave legally +executed, and in 1714 there was a complaint in South Carolina that +the treasury had become almost exhausted by such reimbursements. In +Massachusetts hanging was the worst legal penalty, but the obsolete +common-law punishment was revived in 1755 to burn alive a slave-woman +who had killed her master in Cambridge.[3] + +[Footnote 1: Blake: _History of Slavery and the Slave-Trade_, 378.] + +[Footnote 2: Ballagh: _Slavery in Virginia_, 12.] + +[Footnote 3: Edward Eggleston: "Social Conditions in the Colonies," in +_Century Magazine_, October, 1884, p. 863.] + +The relations between the free Negro and the slave might well have given +cause for concern. Above what was after all only an artificial barrier +spoke the call of race and frequently of kindred. Sometimes at a later +date jealousy arose when a master employed a free Negro to work with +his slaves, the one receiving pay and the others laboring without +compensation. In general, however, the two groups worked like brothers, +each giving the other the benefit of any temporary advantage that it +possessed. Sometimes the free Negro could serve by reason of the greater +freedom of movement that he had, and if no one would employ him, or if, +as frequently happened, he was browbeaten and cheated out of the reward +of his labor, the slave might somehow see that he got something to eat. +In a state of society in which the relation of master and slave was the +rule, there was of course little place for either the free Negro or the +poor white man. When the pressure became too great the white man moved +away; the Negro, finding himself everywhere buffeted, in the colonial +era at least had little choice but to work out his salvation at home as +well as he could. More and more character told, and if a man had made +himself known for his industry and usefulness, a legislative act might +even be passed permitting him to remain in the face of a hostile law. +Even before 1700 there were in Virginia families in which both parents +were free colored persons and in which every effort was made to bring up +the children in honesty and morality. When some prosperous Negroes found +themselves able to do so, they occasionally purchased Negroes, who might +be their own children or brothers, in order to give them that protection +without which on account of recent manumission they might be required to +leave the colony in which they were born. Thus, whatever the motive, the +tie that bound the free Negro and the slave was a strong one; and in +spite of the fact that Negroes who owned slaves were generally known +as hard masters, as soon as any men of the race began to be really +prominent their best endeavor was devoted to the advancement of their +people. It was not until immediately after the Revolutionary War, +however, that leaders of vision and statesmanship began to be developed. + +It was only the materialism of the eighteenth century that accounted for +the amazing development of the system of Negro slavery, and only this +that defeated the benevolence of Oglethorpe's scheme for the founding +of Georgia. As yet there was no united protest--no general movement for +freedom; and as Von Holst said long afterwards, "If the agitation had +been wholly left to the churches, it would have been long before men +could have rightly spoken of 'a slavery question.'" The Puritans, +however, were not wholly unmindful of the evil, and the Quakers were +untiring in their opposition, though it was Roger Williams who in 1637 +made the first protest that appears in the colonies.[1] Both John Eliot +and Cotton Mather were somewhat generally concerned about the harsh +treatment of the Negro and the neglect of his spiritual welfare. +Somewhat more to the point was Richard Baxter, the eminent English +nonconformist, who was a contemporary of both of these men. "Remember," +said he, in speaking of Negroes and other slaves, "that they are of as +good a kind as you; that is, they are reasonable creatures as well as +you, and born to as much natural liberty. If their sin have enslaved +them to you, yet Nature made them your equals." On the subject of +man-stealing he is even stronger: "To go as pirates and catch up poor +Negroes or people of another land, that never forfeited life or liberty, +and to make them slaves, and sell them, is one of the worst kinds of +thievery in the world." Such statements, however, were not more than the +voice of individual opinion. The principles of the Quakers carried them +far beyond the Puritans, and their history shows what might have been +accomplished if other denominations had been as sincere and as unselfish +as the Society of Friends. The Germantown protest of 1688 has already +been remarked. In 1693 George Keith, in speaking of fugitives, quoted +with telling effect the text, "Thou shalt not deliver unto his master +the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee" (Deut. 23.15). +In 1696 the Yearly Meeting in Pennsylvania first took definite action +in giving as its advice "that Friends be careful not to encourage the +bringing in of any more Negroes; and that such that have Negroes, be +careful of them, bring them to meetings, have meetings with them in +their families, and restrain them from loose and lewd living as much as +in them lies, and from rambling abroad on First-days or other times."[2] +As early as 1713 the Quakers had in mind a scheme for freeing the +Negroes and returning them to Africa, and by 1715 their efforts +against importation had seriously impaired the market for slaves +in Philadelphia. Within a century after the Germantown protest the +abolition of slavery among the Quakers was practically accomplished. + +[Footnote 1: For this and the references immediately following note +Locke: _Anti-Slavery in America_, 11-45.] + +[Footnote 2: _Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of the +Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends against Slavery and the +Slave-Trade_, 8.] + +In the very early period there seems to have been little objection to +giving a free Negro not only religious but also secular instruction; +indeed he might be entitled to this, as in Virginia, where in 1691 the +church became the agency through which the laws of Negro apprenticeship +were carried out; thus in 1727 it was ordered that David James, a free +Negro boy, be bound to Mr. James Isdel, who was to "teach him to read +the Bible distinctly, also the trade of a gunsmith" and "carry him to +the clerk's office and take indenture to that purpose."[1] In general +the English church did a good deal to provide for the religious +instruction of the free Negro; "the reports made in 1724 to the English +bishop by the Virginia parish ministers are evidence that the few free +Negroes in the parishes were permitted to be baptized, and were received +into the church when they had been taught the catechism."[2] Among +Negroes, moreover, as well as others in the colonies the Society for the +Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts was active. As early as 1705, +in Goose Creek Parish in South Carolina, among a population largely +recently imported from Africa, a missionary had among his communicants +twenty blacks who well understood the English tongue.[3] The most +effective work of the Society, however, was in New York, where as early +as 1704 a school was opened by Elias Neau, a Frenchman who after several +years of imprisonment because of his Protestant faith had come to New +York to try his fortune as a trader. In 1703 he had called the attention +of the Society to the Negroes who were "without God in the world, and of +whose souls there was no manner of care taken," and had suggested the +appointment of a catechist. He himself was prevailed upon to take up the +work and he accordingly resigned his position as an elder in the French +church and conformed to the Church of England. He worked with success +for a number of years, but in 1712 was embarrassed by the charge that +his school fomented the insurrection that was planned in that year. He +finally showed, however, that only one of his students was in any way +connected with the uprising. + +[Footnote 1: Russell: _The Free Negro in Virginia_, 138-9.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 138.] + +[Footnote 3: C.E. Pierre, in _Journal of Negro History_, October, 1916, +p. 350.] + +From slave advertisements of the eighteenth century[1] we may gain many +sidelights not only on the education of Negroes in the colonial era, +but on their environment and suffering as well. One slave "can write a +pretty good hand; plays on the fife extremely well." Another "can both +read and write and is a good fiddler." Still others speak "Dutch and +good English," "good English and High Dutch," or "Swede and English +well." Charles Thomas of Delaware bore the following remarkable +characterization: "Very black, has white teeth ... has had his left leg +broke ... speaks both French and English, and is a very great rogue." +One man who came from the West Indies "was born in Dominica and speaks +French, but very little English; he is a very ill-natured fellow and has +been much cut in his back by often whipping." A Negro named Simon who in +1740 ran away in Pennsylvania "could bleed and draw teeth pretending to +be a great doctor." Worst of all the incidents of slavery, however, was +the lack of regard for home ties, and this situation of course obtained +in the North as well as the South. In the early part of the eighteenth +century marriages in New York were by mutual consent only, without the +blessing of the church, and burial was in a common field without any +Christian office. In Massachusetts in 1710 Rev. Samuel Phillips drew up +a marriage formulary especially designed for slaves and concluding as +follows: "For you must both of you bear in mind that you remain still, +as really and truly as ever, your master's property, and therefore +it will be justly expected, both by God and man, that you behave +and conduct yourselves as obedient and faithful servants."[2] In +Massachusetts, however, as in New York, marriage was most often by +common consent simply, without the office of ministers. + +[Footnote 1: See documents, "Eighteenth Century Slave Advertisements," +_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1916, 163-216.] + +[Footnote 2: Quoted from Williams: Centennial Oration, "The American +Negro from 1776 to 1876," 10.] + +As yet there was no racial consciousness, no church, no business +organization, and the chief cooeperative effort was in insurrection. +Until the great chain of slavery was thrown off, little independent +effort could be put forth. Even in the state of servitude or slavery, +however, the social spirit of the race yearned to assert itself, and +such an event as a funeral was attractive primarily because of the +social features that it developed. As early as 1693 there is record of +the formation of a distinct society by Negroes. In one of his manuscript +diaries, preserved in the library of the Massachusetts Historical +Society,[1] Cotton Mather in October of this year wrote as follows: +"Besides the other praying and pious meetings which I have been +continually serving in our neighborhood, a little after this period +a company of poor Negroes, of their own accord, addressed me, for my +countenance to a design which they had, of erecting such a meeting for +the welfare of their miserable nation, that were servants among us. I +allowed their design and went one evening and prayed and preached (on +Ps. 68.31) with them; and gave them the following orders, which I insert +duly for the curiosity of the occasion." The Rules to which Mather here +refers are noteworthy as containing not one suggestion of anti-slavery +sentiment, and as portraying the altogether abject situation of the +Negro at the time he wrote; nevertheless the text used was an inspiring +one, and in any case the document must have historical importance as +the earliest thing that has come down to us in the nature of the +constitution or by-laws for a distinctively Negro organization. It is +herewith given entire: + + Rules for the Society of Negroes. 1693. + + We the Miserable Children of Adam, and of Noah, thankfully Admiring + and Accepting the Free-Grace of GOD, that Offers to Save us from our + Miseries, by the Lord Jesus Christ, freely Resolve, with His Help, + to become the Servants of that Glorious LORD. + + And that we may be Assisted in the Service of our Heavenly Master, + we now join together in a SOCIETY, wherein the following RULES are + to be observed. + + I. It shall be our Endeavor, to Meet in the _Evening_ after the + _Sabbath_; and Pray together by Turns, one to Begin, and another to + Conclude the Meeting; And between the two _Prayers_, a _Psalm_ shall + be sung, and a _Sermon_ Repeated. + + II. Our coming to the Meeting, shall never be without the _Leave_ of + such as have Power over us: And we will be Careful, that our Meeting + may Begin and Conclude between the Hours of _Seven_ and _Nine_; and + that we may not be _unseasonably Absent_ from the Families whereto + we pertain. + + III. As we will, with the help of God, at all Times avoid all + _Wicked Company_, so we will Receive none into our Meeting, but + such as have sensibly _Reformed_ their lives from all manner of + Wickedness. And, therefore, None shall be Admitted, without the + Knowledge and Consent of the _Minister_ of God in this place; unto + whom we will also carry every Person, that seeks for _Admission_ + among us; to be by Him Examined, Instructed and Exhorted. + + IV. We will, as often as may be, Obtain some Wise and Good Man, of + the English in the Neighborhood, and especially the Officers of the + Church, to look in upon us, and by their Presence and Counsel, do + what they think fitting for us. + + V. If any of our Number fall into the Sin of _Drunkenness_, or + _Swearing_, or _Cursing_, or _Lying_, or _Stealing_, or notorious + _Disobedience_ or _Unfaithfulness_ unto their Masters, we will + Admonish him of his Miscarriage, and Forbid his coming to the + Meeting, for at least _one Fortnight_; And except he then come with + great Signs and Hopes of his _Repentance_, we will utterly Exclude + him, with Blotting his _Name_ out of our list. + + VI. If any of our Society Defile himself with _Fornication_, we will + give him our _Admonition_; and so, debar him from the Meeting, at + least half a Year: Nor shall he Return to it, ever any more, without + Exemplary Testimonies of his becoming a _New Creature_. + + VII. We will, as we have Opportunity, set ourselves to do all the + Good we can, to the other _Negro-Servants_ in the Town; And if any + of them should, at unfit Hours, be _Abroad_, much more, if any of + them should _Run away_ from their Masters, we will afford them + _no Shelter_: But we will do what in us lies, that they may be + discovered, and punished. And if any of _us_ are found Faulty in + this matter, they shall be no longer of _us_. + + VIII. None of our Society shall be _Absent_ from our Meeting, + without giving a Reason of the Absence; and if it be found, that any + have pretended unto their _Owners_, that they came unto the Meeting, + when they were otherwise and elsewhere Employed, we will faithfully + _Inform_ their Owners, and also do what we can to Reclaim such + Person from all such Evil Courses for the Future: + + IX. It shall be expected from every one in the Society, that he + learn the Catechism; And therefore, it shall be one of our usual + Exercises, for one of us, to ask the _Questions_, and for all the + rest in their Order, to say the _Answers_ in the Catechism; Either, + The _New English_ Catechism, or the _Assemblies_ Catechism, or the + Catechism in the _Negro Christianised_. + +[Footnote 1: See _Rules for the Society of Negroes_, 1693, by Cotton +Mather, reprinted, New York, 1888, by George H. Moore.] + + +4. Early Insurrections + +The Negroes who came to America directly from Africa in the eighteenth +century were strikingly different from those whom generations of +servitude later made comparatively docile. They were wild and turbulent +in disposition and were likely at any moment to take revenge for the +great wrong that had been inflicted upon them. The planters in the South +knew this and lived in constant fear of uprisings. When the situation +became too threatening, they placed prohibitive duties on importations, +and they also sought to keep their slaves in subjection by barbarous and +cruel modes of punishment, both crucifixion and burning being legalized +in some early codes. On sea as well as on land Negroes frequently rose +upon those who held them in bondage, and sometimes they actually +won their freedom. More and more, however, in any study of Negro +insurrections it becomes difficult to distinguish between a clearly +organized revolt and what might be regarded as simply a personal crime, +so that those uprisings considered in the following discussion can only +be construed as the more representative of the many attempts for freedom +made by Negro slaves in the colonial era. + +In 1687 there was in Virginia a conspiracy among the Negroes in the +Northern Neck that was detected just in time to prevent slaughter, and +in Surry County in 1710 there was a similar plot, betrayed by one of the +conspirators. In 1711, in South Carolina, several Negroes ran away from +their masters and "kept out, armed, robbing and plundering houses and +plantations, and putting the inhabitants of the province in great +fear and terror";[1] and Governor Gibbes more than once wrote to the +legislature about amending the Negro Act, as the one already in +force did "not reach up to some of the crimes" that were daily being +committed. For one Sebastian, "a Spanish Negro," alive or dead, a reward +of L50 was offered, and he was at length brought in by the Indians and +taken in triumph to Charleston. In 1712 in New York occurred an outbreak +that occasioned greater excitement than any uprising that had preceded +it in the colonies. Early in the morning of April 7 some slaves of the +Carmantee and Pappa tribes who had suffered ill-usage, set on fire the +house of Peter van Tilburgh, and, armed with guns and knives, killed and +wounded several persons who came to extinguish the flames. They fled, +however, when the Governor ordered the cannon to be fired to alarm the +town, and they got away to the woods as well as they could, but +not before they had killed several more of the citizens. Some shot +themselves in the woods and others were captured. Altogether eight or +ten white persons were killed, and, aside from those Negroes who had +committed suicide, eighteen or more were executed, several others being +transported. Of those executed one was hanged alive in chains, some were +burned at the stake, and one was left to die a lingering death before +the gaze of the town. + +[Footnote 1: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 63.] + +In May, 1720, some Negroes in South Carolina were fairly well organized +and killed a man named Benjamin Cattle, one white woman, and a little +Negro boy. They were pursued and twenty-three taken and six convicted. +Three of the latter were executed, the other three escaping. In October, +1722, the Negroes near the mouth of the Rappahannock in Virginia +undertook to kill the white people while the latter were assembled in +church, but were discovered and put to flight. On this occasion, as on +most others, Sunday was the day chosen for the outbreak, the Negroes +then being best able to get together. In April, 1723, it was thought +that some fires in Boston had been started by Negroes, and the selectmen +recommended that if more than two Negroes were found "lurking together" +on the streets they should be put in the house of correction. In 1728 +there was a well organized attempt in Savannah, then a place of three +thousand white people and two thousand seven hundred Negroes. The plan +to kill all the white people failed because of disagreement as to the +exact method; but the body of Negroes had to be, fired on more than +once before it dispersed. In 1730 there was in Williamsburg, Va., an +insurrection that grew out of a report that Colonel Spotswood had orders +from the king to free all baptized persons on his arrival; men from all +the surrounding counties had to be called in before it could be put +down. + +The first open rebellion in South Carolina in which Negroes were +"actually armed and embodied"[1] took place in 1730. The plan was for +each Negro to kill his master in the dead of night, then for all to +assemble supposedly for a dancing-bout, rush upon the heart of the city, +take possession of the arms, and kill any white man they saw. The plot +was discovered and the leaders executed. In this same colony three +formidable insurrections broke out within the one year 1739--one in St. +Paul's Parish, one in St. John's, and one in Charleston. To some extent +these seem to have been fomented by the Spaniards in the South, and in +one of them six houses were burned and as many as twenty-five white +people killed. The Negroes were pursued and fourteen killed. Within two +days "twenty more were killed, and forty were taken, some of whom +were shot, some hanged, and some gibbeted alive."[2] This "examplary +punishment," as Governor Gibbes called it, was by no means effective, +for in the very next year, 1740, there broke out what might be +considered the most formidable insurrection in the South in the whole +colonial period. A number of Negroes, having assembled at Stono, first +surprised, and killed two young men in a warehouse, from which they then +took guns and ammunition.[3] They then elected as captain one of their +own number named Cato, whom they agreed to follow, and they marched +towards the southwest, with drums beating and colors flying, like a +disciplined company. They entered the home of a man named Godfrey, and +having murdered him and his wife and children, they took all the arms he +had, set fire to the house, and proceeded towards Jonesboro. On their +way they plundered and burned every house to which they came, killing +every white person they found and compelling the Negroes to join them. +Governor Bull, who happened to be returning to Charleston from the +southward, met them, and observing them armed, spread the alarm, which +soon reached the Presbyterian Church at Wilton, where a number of +planters was assembled. The women were left in the church trembling with +fear, while the militia formed and marched in quest of the Negroes, who +by this time had become formidable from the number that had joined them. +They had marched twelve miles and spread desolation through all the +plantations on their way. They had then halted in an open field and too +soon had begun to sing and drink and dance by way of triumph. During +these rejoicings the militia discovered them and stationed themselves +in different places around them to prevent their escape. One party then +advanced into the open field and attacked the Negroes. Some were +killed and the others were forced to the woods. Many ran back to the +plantations, hoping thus to avoid suspicion, but most of them were taken +and tried. Such as had been forced to join the uprising against their +will were pardoned, but all of the chosen leaders and the first +insurgents were put to death. All Carolina, we are told, was struck with +terror and consternation by this insurrection, in which more than twenty +white persons were killed. It was followed immediately by the famous and +severe Negro Act of 1740, which among other provisions imposed a duty of +L100 on Africans and L150 on colonial Negroes. This remained technically +in force until 1822, and yet as soon as security and confidence were +restored, there was a relaxation in the execution of the provisions +of the act and the Negroes little by little regained confidence in +themselves and again began to plan and act in concert. + +[Footnote 1: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 68.] + +[Footnote 2: Coffin.] + +[Footnote 3: The following account follows mainly Holland, quoting +Hewitt.] + +About the time of Cato's insurrection there were also several uprisings +at sea. In 1731, on a ship returning to Rhode Island from Guinea with a +cargo of slaves, the Negroes rose and killed three of the crew, all the +members of which died soon afterwards with the exception of the captain +and his boy. The next year Captain John Major of Portsmouth, N.H., was +murdered with all his crew, his schooner and cargo being seized by the +slaves. In 1735 the captives on the _Dolphin_ of London, while still on +the coast of Africa, overpowered the crew, broke into the powder room, +and finally in the course of their effort for freedom blew up both +themselves and the crew. + +A most remarkable design--as an insurrection perhaps not as formidable +as that of Cato, but in some ways the most important single event in the +history of the Negro in the colonial period--was the plot in the city +of New York in 1741. New York was at the time a thriving town of +twelve thousand inhabitants, and the calamity that now befell it was +unfortunate in every way. It was not only a Negro insurrection, though +the Negro finally suffered most bitterly. It was also a strange compound +of the effects of whiskey and gambling, of the designs of abandoned +white people, and of prejudice against the Catholics. + +Prominent in the remarkable drama were John Hughson, a shoemaker and +alehouse keeper; Sarah Hughson, his wife; John Romme, also a shoemaker +and alehouse keeper; Margaret Kerry, alias Salinburgh, commonly known +as Peggy; John Ury, a priest; and a number of Negroes, chief among whom +were Caesar, Prince, Cuffee, and Quack.[1] Prominent among those who +helped to work out the plot were Mary Burton, a white servant of +Hughson's, sixteen years of age; Arthur Price, a young white man who +at the time of the proceedings happened to be in prison on a charge of +stealing; a young seaman named Wilson; and two white women, Mrs. Earle +and Mrs. Hogg, the latter of whom assisted in the store kept by her +husband, Robert Hogg. Hughson's house on the outskirts of the town was a +resort for Negroes, and Hughson himself aided and abetted the Negro men +in any crime that they might commit. Romme was of similar quality. Peggy +was a prostitute, and it was Caesar who paid for her board with the +Hughsons. In the previous summer she had found lodging with these +people, a little later she had removed to Romme's, and just before +Christmas she had come back to Hughson's, and a few weeks thereafter she +became a mother. At both the public houses the Negroes would engage in +drinking and gambling; and importance also attaches to an organization +of theirs known as the Geneva Society, which had angered some of the +white citizens by its imitation of the rites and forms of freemasonry. + +[Footnote 1: The sole authority on the plot is "A Journal of the +Proceedings in the Detection of the Conspiracy formed by Some White +People, in Conjunction with Negro and other Slaves, for Burning the City +of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants (by Judge Daniel +Horsemanden). New York, 1744."] + +Events really began on the night of Saturday, February 28, 1741, with +a robbery in the house of Hogg, the merchant, from which were taken +various pieces of linen and other goods, several silver coins, chiefly +Spanish, and medals, to the value of about L60. On the day before, in +the course of a simple purchase by Wilson, Mrs. Hogg had revealed to the +young seaman her treasure. He soon spoke of the same to Caesar, Prince, +and Cuffee, with whom he was acquainted; he gave them the plan of the +house, and they in turn spoke of the matter to Hughson. Wilson, however, +when later told of the robbery by Mrs. Hogg, at once turned suspicion +upon the Negroes, especially Caesar; and Mary Burton testified that she +saw some of the speckled linen in question in Peggy's room after Caesar +had gone thither. + +On Wednesday, March 18, a fire broke out on the roof of His Majesty's +House at Fort George. One week later, on March 25, there was a fire at +the home of Captain Warren in the southwest end of the city, and the +circumstances pointed to incendiary origin. One week later, on April +1, there was a fire in the storehouse of a man named Van Zant; on the +following Saturday evening there was another fire, and while the people +were returning from this there was still another; and on the next day, +Sunday, there was another alarm, and by this time the whole town had +been worked up to the highest pitch of excitement. As yet there was +nothing to point to any connection between the stealing and the fires. +On the day of the last one, however, Mrs. Earle happened to overhear +remarks by three Negroes that caused suspicion to light upon them; Mary +Burton was insisting that stolen goods had been brought by Prince and +Caesar to the house of her master; and although a search of the home of +Hughson failed to produce a great deal, arrests were made right and +left. The case was finally taken to the Supreme Court, and because of +the white persons implicated, the summary methods ordinarily used in +dealing with Negroes were waived for the time being. + +Peggy at first withstood all questioning, denying any knowledge of the +events that had taken place. One day in prison, however, she remarked +to Arthur Price that she was afraid the Negroes would tell but that she +would not forswear herself unless they brought her into the matter. "How +forswear?" asked Price. "There are fourteen sworn," she said. "What, +is it about Mr. Hogg's goods?" he asked. "No," she replied, "about the +fire." "What, Peggy," asked Price, "were you going to set the town on +fire?" "No," she replied, "but since I knew of it they made me swear." +She also remarked that she had faith in Prince, Cuff, and Caesar. All +the while she used the vilest possible language, and at last, thinking +suddenly that she had revealed too much, she turned upon Price and with +an oath warned him that he had better keep his counsel. That afternoon +she said further to him that she could not eat because Mary had brought +her into the case. + +A little later Peggy, much afraid, voluntarily confessed that early in +May she was at the home of John Romme, where in the course of December +the Negroes had had several meetings; among other things they had +conspired to burn the fort first of all, then the city, then to get all +the goods they could and kill anybody who had money. One evening just +about Christmas, she said, Romme and his wife and ten or eleven Negroes +had been together in a room. Romme had talked about how rich some people +were, gradually working on the feelings of the Negroes and promising +them that if they did not succeed in their designs he would take them +to a strange country and set them free, meanwhile giving them the +impression that he bore a charmed life. A little later, it appeared, +Caesar gave to Hughson L12; Hughson was then absent for three days, +and when he came again he brought with him seven or eight guns, some +pistols, and some swords. + +As a result of these and other disclosures it was seen that not only +Hughson and Romme but also Ury, who was not so much a priest as an +adventurer, had instigated the plots of the Negroes; and Quack testified +that Hughson was the first contriver of the plot to burn the houses of +the town and kill the people, though he himself, he confessed, did fire +the fort with a lighted stick. The punishment was terrible. Quack and +Cuffee, the first to be executed, were burned at the stake on May +30. All through the summer the trials and the executions continued, +harassing New York and indeed the whole country. Altogether twenty white +persons were arrested; four--Hughson, his wife, Peggy, and Ury--were +executed, and some of their acquaintances were forced to leave the +province. One hundred and fifty-four Negroes were arrested. Thirteen +were burned, eighteen were hanged, and seventy-one transported. + + * * * * * + +It is evident from these events and from the legislation of the era +that, except for the earnest work of such a sect as the Quakers, there +was little genuine effort for the improvement of the social condition +of the Negro people in the colonies. They were not even regarded as +potential citizens, and both in and out of the system of slavery were +subjected to the harshest regulations. Towards amicable relations with +the other racial elements that were coming to build up a new country +only the slightest measure of progress was made. Instead, insurrection +after insurrection revealed the sharpest antagonism, and any outbreak +promptly called forth the severest and frequently the most cruel +punishment. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA + + +1. _Sentiment in England and America_ + +The materialism of the eighteenth century, with all of its evils, at +length produced a liberalism of thought that was to shake to their very +foundations old systems of life in both Europe and America. The progress +of the cause of the Negro in this period is to be explained by the +general diffusion of ideas that made for the rights of man everywhere. +Cowper wrote his humanitarian poems; in close association with the +romanticism of the day the missionary movement in religion began to +gather force; and the same impulse which in England began the agitation +for a free press and for parliamentary reform, and which in France +accounted for the French Revolution, in America led to the revolt from +Great Britain. No patriot could come under the influence of any one +of these movements without having his heart and his sense of justice +stirred to some degree in behalf of the slave. At the same time it must +be remembered that the contest of the Americans was primarily for the +definite legal rights of Englishmen rather than for the more abstract +rights of mankind which formed the platform of the French Revolution; +hence arose the great inconsistency in the position of men who were +engaged in a stern struggle for liberty at the same time that they +themselves were holding human beings in bondage. + +In England the new era was formally signalized by an epoch-making +decision. In November, 1769, Charles Stewart, once a merchant in Norfolk +and later receiver general of the customs of North America, took to +England his Negro slave, James Somerset, who, being sick, was turned +adrift by his master. Later Somerset recovered and Stewart seized him, +intending to have him borne out of the country and sold in Jamaica. +Somerset objected to this and in so doing raised the important legal +question, Did a slave by being brought to England become free? The case +received an extraordinary amount of attention, for everybody realized +that the decision would be far-reaching in its consequences. After it +was argued at three different sittings, Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of +England, in 1772 handed down from the Court of King's Bench the judgment +that as soon as ever any slave set his foot upon the soil of England he +became free. + +This decision may be taken as fairly representative of the general +advance that the cause of the Negro was making in England at the time. +Early in the century sentiment against the slave-trade had begun to +develop, many pamphlets on the evils of slavery were circulated, and as +early as 1776 a motion for the abolition of the trade was made in the +House of Commons. John Wesley preached against the system, Adam Smith +showed its ultimate expensiveness, and Burke declared that the slavery +endured by the Negroes in the English settlements was worse than that +ever suffered by any other people. Foremost in the work of protest were +Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, the one being the leader in +investigation and in the organization of the movement against slavery +while the other was the parliamentary champion of the cause. For +years, assisted by such debaters as Burke, Fox, and the younger Pitt, +Wilberforce worked until on March 25, 1807, the bill for the abolition +of the slave-trade received the royal assent, and still later until +slavery itself was abolished in the English dominions (1833). + +This high thought in England necessarily found some reflection in +America, where the logic of the position of the patriots frequently +forced them to take up the cause of the slave. As early as 1751 Benjamin +Franklin, in his _Observations concerning the Increase of Mankind_, +pointed out the evil effects of slavery upon population and the +production of wealth; and in 1761 James Otis, in his argument against +the Writs of Assistance, spoke so vigorously of the rights of black men +as to leave no doubt as to his own position. To Patrick Henry slavery +was a practice "totally repugnant to the first impressions of right and +wrong," and in 1777 he was interested in a plan for gradual emancipation +received from his friend, Robert Pleasants. Washington desired nothing +more than "to see some plan adopted by which slavery might be abolished +by law"; while Joel Barlow in his _Columbiad_ gave significant warning +to Columbia of the ills that she was heaping up for herself. + +Two of the expressions of sentiment of the day, by reason of their deep +yearning and philosophic calm, somehow stand apart from others. Thomas +Jefferson in his _Notes on Virginia_ wrote: "The whole commerce between +master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous +passions; the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading +submission on the other.... The man must be a prodigy who can retain his +manners and morals undepraved by such circumstances.... I tremble for my +country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice can not sleep +forever; that considering numbers, nature, and natural means only, a +revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is +among possible events; that it may become probable by supernatural +interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us +in such a contest."[1] Henry Laurens, that fine patriot whose business +sense was excelled only by his idealism, was harassed by the problem and +wrote to his son, Colonel John Laurens, as follows: "You know, my dear +son, I abhor slavery. I was born in a country where slavery had been +established by British kings and parliaments, as well as by the laws of +that country ages before my existence. I found the Christian religion +and slavery growing under the same authority and cultivation. I +nevertheless disliked it. In former days there was no combating the +prejudices of men supported by interest; the day I hope is approaching +when, from principles of gratitude as well as justice, every man will +strive to be foremost in showing his readiness to comply with the golden +rule. Not less than twenty thousand pounds sterling would all my Negroes +produce if sold at public auction to-morrow. I am not the man who +enslaved them; they are indebted to Englishmen for that favor; +nevertheless I am devising means for manumitting many of them, and for +cutting off the entail of slavery. Great powers oppose me--the laws and +customs of my country, my own and the avarice of my countrymen. What +will my children say if I deprive them of so much estate? These are +difficulties, but not insuperable. I will do as much as I can in my +time, and leave the rest to a better hand."[2] Stronger than all else, +however, were the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence: "We +hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; +that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; +that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." +Within the years to come these words were to be denied and assailed as +perhaps no others in the language; but in spite of all they were to +stand firm and justify the faith of 1776 before Jefferson himself and +others had become submerged in a gilded opportunism. + +[Footnote 1: "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, issued under the +auspices of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association," 20 vols., +Washington, 1903, II, 226-227.] + +[Footnote 2: "A South Carolina Protest against Slavery (being a letter +written from Henry Laurens, second president of the Continental +Congress, to his son, Colonel John Laurens; dated Charleston, S.C., +August 14th, 1776)." Reprinted by G.P. Putnam, New York, 1861.] + +It is not to be supposed that such sentiments were by any means general; +nevertheless these instances alone show that some men at least in +the colonies were willing to carry their principles to their logical +conclusion. Naturally opinion crystallized in formal resolutions or +enactments. Unfortunately most of these were in one way or another +rendered ineffectual after the war; nevertheless the main impulse that +they represented continued to live. In 1769 Virginia declared that the +discriminatory tax levied on free Negroes and mulattoes since 1668 was +"derogatory to the rights of freeborn subjects" and accordingly should +be repealed. In October, 1774, the First Continental Congress declared +in its Articles of Association that the united colonies would "neither +import nor purchase any slave imported after the first day of December +next" and that they would "wholly discontinue the trade." On April 16, +1776, the Congress further resolved that "no slaves be imported into any +of the thirteen colonies"; and the first draft of the Declaration of +Independence contained a strong passage censuring the King of England +for bringing slaves into the country and then inciting them to rise +against their masters. On April 14, 1775, the first abolition society in +the country was organized in Pennsylvania; in 1778 Virginia once more +passed an act prohibiting the slave-trade; and the Methodist Conference +in Baltimore in 1780 strongly expressed its disapproval of slavery. + + +2. _The Negro in the War_ + +As in all the greater wars in which the country has engaged, the +position of the Negro was generally improved by the American Revolution. +It was not by reason of any definite plan that this was so, for in +general the disposition of the government was to keep him out of the +conflict. Nevertheless between the hesitating policy of America and the +overtures of England the Negro made considerable advance. + +The American cause in truth presented a strange and embarrassing +dilemma, as we have remarked. In the war itself, moreover, began the +stern cleavage between the North and the South. At the moment the rift +was not clearly discerned, but afterwards it was to widen into a chasm. +Massachusetts bore more than her share of the struggle, and in the South +the combination of Tory sentiment and the aristocratic social system +made enlistment especially difficult. In this latter section, moreover, +there was always the lurking fear of an uprising of the slaves, and +before the end of the war came South Carolina and Georgia were very +nearly demoralized. In the course of the conflict South Carolina lost +not less than 25,000 slaves,[1] about one-fifth of all she had. Georgia +did not lose so many, but proportionally suffered even more. Some of the +Negroes went into the British army, some went away with the loyalists, +and some took advantage of the confusion and escaped to the Indians. +In Virginia, until they were stopped at least, some slaves entered the +Continental Army as free Negroes. + +[Footnote 1: Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in the +American Army of the Revolution, by G.H. Moore, New York, 1862, p. 15.] + +Three or four facts are outstanding. The formal policy of Congress and +of Washington and his officers was against the enlistment of Negroes and +especially of slaves; nevertheless, while things were still uncertain, +some Negroes entered the regular units. The inducements offered by the +English, moreover, forced a modification of the American policy in +actual operation; and before the war was over the colonists were so hard +pressed that in more ways than one they were willing to receive the +assistance of Negroes. Throughout the North Negroes served in the +regular units; but while in the South especially there was much thought +given to the training of slaves, in only one of all the colonies was +there a distinctively Negro military organization, and that one was +Rhode Island. In general it was understood that if a slave served in the +war he was to be given his freedom, and it is worthy of note that many +slaves served in the field instead of their masters. + +In Massachusetts on May 29, 1775, the Committee of Safety passed an act +against the enlistment of slaves as "inconsistent with the principles +that are to be supported." Another resolution of June 6 dealing with the +same matter was laid on the table. Washington took command of the forces +in and about Boston July 3, 1775, and on July 10 issued instructions +to the recruiting officers in Massachusetts against the enlisting of +Negroes. Toward the end of September there was a spirited debate in +Congress over a letter to go to Washington, the Southern delegates, led +by Rutledge of South Carolina, endeavoring to force instructions to the +commander-in-chief to discharge all slaves and free Negroes in the +army. A motion to this effect failed to win a majority; nevertheless, a +council of Washington and his generals on October 8 "agreed unanimously +to reject all slaves, and, by a great majority, to reject Negroes +altogether," and in his general orders of November 12 Washington acted +on this understanding. Meanwhile, however, Lord Dunmore issued his +proclamation declaring free those indentured servants and Negroes who +would join the English army, and in great numbers the slaves in Virginia +flocked to the British standard. Then on December 14--somewhat to the +amusement of both the Negroes and the English--the Virginia Convention +issued a proclamation offering pardon to those slaves who returned to +their duty within ten days. On December 30 Washington gave instructions +for the enlistment of free Negroes, promising later to lay the matter +before Congress; and a congressional committee on January 16, 1776, +reported that those free Negroes who had already served faithfully in +the army at Cambridge might reenlist but no others, the debate in this +connection having drawn very sharply the line between the North and the +South. Henceforth for all practical purposes the matter was left in the +hands of the individual colonies. Massachusetts on January 6, 1777, +passed a resolution drafting every seventh man to complete her quota +"without any exception, save the people called Quakers," and this was as +near as she came at any time in the war to the formal recognition of the +Negro. The Rhode Island Assembly in 1778 resolved to raise a regiment +of slaves, who were to be freed at enlistment, their owners in no case +being paid more than L120. In the Battle of Rhode Island August 29, +1778, the Negro regiment under Colonel Greene distinguished itself by +deeds of desperate valor, repelling three times the assaults of an +overwhelming force of Hessian troops. A little later, when Greene was +about to be murdered, some of these same soldiers had to be cut to +pieces before he could be secured. Maryland employed Negroes as soldiers +and sent them into regiments along with white men, and it is to be +remembered that at the time the Negro population of Maryland was +exceeded only by that of Virginia and South Carolina. For the far South +there was the famous Laurens plan for the raising of Negro regiments. + +In a letter to Washington of March 16, 1779, Henry Laurens suggested +the raising and training of three thousand Negroes in South Carolina. +Washington was rather conservative about the plan, having in mind the +ever-present fear of the arming of Negroes and wondering about the +effect on those slaves who were not given a chance for freedom. On June +30, 1779, however, Sir Henry Clinton issued a proclamation only less +far-reaching than Dunmore's, threatening Negroes if they joined the +"rebel" army and offering them security if they came within the British +lines. This was effective; assistance of any kind that the Continental +Army could now get was acceptable; and the plan for the raising of +several battalions of Negroes in the South was entrusted to Colonel John +Laurens, a member of Washington's staff. In his own way Colonel Laurens +was a man of parts quite as well as his father; he was thoroughly +devoted to the American cause and Washington said of him that his only +fault was a courage that bordered on rashness. He eagerly pursued his +favorite project; able-bodied slaves were to be paid for by Congress at +the rate of $1,000 each, and one who served to the end of the war was +to receive his freedom and $50 in addition. In South Carolina, however, +Laurens received little encouragement, and in 1780 he was called upon +to go to France on a patriotic mission. He had not forgotten the matter +when he returned in 1782; but by that time Cornwallis had surrendered +and the country had entered upon the critical period of adjustment to +the new conditions. Washington now wrote to Laurens: "I must confess +that I am not at all astonished at the failure of your plan. That spirit +of freedom which, at the commencement of this contest, would have gladly +sacrificed everything to the attainment of its object, has long since +subsided, and every selfish passion has taken its place. It is not the +public but private interest which influences the generality of mankind; +nor can the Americans any longer boast an exception. Under these +circumstances, it would rather have been surprising if you had +succeeded; nor will you, I fear, have better success in Georgia."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Sparks's _Washington_, VIII, 322-323.] + +From this brief survey we may at least see something of the anomalous +position occupied by the Negro in the American Revolution. Altogether +not less than three thousand, and probably more, members of the race +served in the Continental army. At the close of the conflict New York, +Rhode Island, and Virginia freed their slave soldiers. In general, +however, the system of slavery was not affected, and the English were +bound by the treaty of peace not to carry away any Negroes. As late as +1786, it is nevertheless interesting to note, a band of Negroes calling +themselves "The King of England's soldiers" harassed and alarmed the +people on both sides of the Savannah River. + +Slavery remained; but people could not forget the valor of the Negro +regiment in Rhode Island, or the courage of individual soldiers. They +could not forget that it was a Negro, Crispus Attucks, who had been the +patriot leader in the Boston Massacre, or the scene when he and one of +his companions, Jonas Caldwell, lay in Faneuil Hall. Those who were at +Bunker Hill could not fail to remember Peter Salem, who, when Major +Pitcairn of the British army was exulting in his expected triumph, +rushed forward, shot him in the breast, and killed him; or Samuel Poor, +whose officers testified that he performed so many brave deeds that "to +set forth particulars of his conduct would be tedious." These and many +more, some with very humble names, in a dark day worked for a better +country. They died in faith, not having received the promises, but +having seen them afar off. + +3. _The Northwest Territory and the Constitution_ + +The materialism and selfishness which rose in the course of the war to +oppose the liberal tendencies of the period, and which Washington felt +did so much to embarrass the government, became pronounced in the +debates on the Northwest Territory and the Constitution. At the outbreak +of the Revolutionary War the region west of Pennsylvania, east of the +Mississippi River, north of the Ohio River, and south of Canada, was +claimed by Virginia, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. This +territory afforded to these states a source of revenue not possessed by +the others for the payment of debts incurred in the war, and Maryland +and other seaboard states insisted that in order to equalize matters +these claimants should cede their rights to the general government. The +formal cessions were made and accepted in the years 1782-6. In April, +1784, after Virginia had made her cession, the most important, Congress +adopted a temporary form of government drawn up by Thomas Jefferson for +the territory south as well as north of the Ohio River. Jefferson's most +significant provision, however, was rejected. This declared that "after +the year 1800 there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude +in any of the said states other than in the punishment of crimes whereof +the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally +guilty." This early ordinance, although it did not go into effect, is +interesting as an attempt to exclude slavery from the great West that +was beginning to be opened up. On March 3, 1786, moreover, the Ohio +Company was formed in Boston by a group of New England business men for +the purpose of purchasing land in the West and promoting settlement; and +early in June, 1787, Dr. Manasseh Cutler, one of the chief promoters of +the company, appeared in New York, where the last Continental Congress +was sitting, for the concrete purpose of buying land. He doubtless +did much to hasten action by Congress, and on July 13 was passed "An +Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, +Northwest of the Ohio," the Southern states not having ceded the area +south of the river. It was declared that "There shall be neither slavery +nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in +punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall be duly convicted." To +this was added the stipulation (soon afterwards embodied in the Federal +Constitution) for the return of any person escaping into the territory +from whom labor or service was "lawfully claimed in any one of the +original states." In this shape the ordinance was adopted, even South +Carolina and Georgia concurring; and thus was paved the way for the +first fugitive slave law. + +Slavery, already looming up as a dominating issue, was the cause of +two of the three great compromises that entered into the making of the +Constitution of the United States (the third, which was the first made, +being the concession to the smaller states of equal representation in +the Senate). These were the first but not the last of the compromises +that were to mark the history of the subject; and, as some clear-headed +men of the time perceived, it would have been better and cheaper to +settle the question at once on the high plane of right rather than to +leave it indefinitely to the future. South Carolina, however, with able +representation, largely controlled the thought of the convention, and +she and Georgia made the most extreme demands, threatening not to accept +the Constitution if there was not compliance with them. An important +question was that of representation, the Southern states advocating +representation according to numbers, slave and free, while the Northern +states were in favor of the representation of free persons only. +Williamson of North Carolina advocated the counting of three-fifths of +the slaves, but this motion was at first defeated, and there was little +real progress until Gouverneur Morris suggested that representation be +according to the principle of wealth. Mason of Virginia pointed out +practical difficulties which caused the resolution to be made to apply +to direct taxation only, and in this form it began to be generally +acceptable. By this time, however, the deeper feelings of the delegates +on the subject of slavery had been stirred, and they began to speak +plainly. Davie of North Carolina declared that his state would never +enter the Union on any terms that did not provide for counting at least +three-fifths of the slaves and that "if the Eastern states meant to +exclude them altogether the business was at an end." It was finally +agreed to reckon three-fifths of the slaves in estimating taxes and to +make taxation the basis of representation. The whole discussion was +renewed, however, in connection with the question of importation. There +were more threats from the far South, and some of the men from New +England, prompted by commercial interest, even if they did not favor +the sentiments expressed, were at least disposed to give them passive +acquiescence. From Maryland and Virginia, however, came earnest protest. +Luther Martin declared unqualifiedly that to have a clause in the +Constitution permitting the importation of slaves was inconsistent +with the principles of the Revolution and dishonorable to the American +character, and George Mason could foresee only a future in which a just +Providence would punish such a national sin as slavery by national +calamities. Such utterances were not to dominate the convention, +however; it was a day of expediency, not of morality. A bargain was made +between the commercial interests of the North and the slave-holding +interests of the South, the granting to Congress of unrestricted power +to enact navigation laws being conceded in exchange for twenty years' +continuance of the slave-trade. The main agreements on the subject +of slavery were thus finally expressed in the Constitution: +"Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several +states which may be included within this Union, according to their +respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole +number of free persons, including those bound to servitude for a term +of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other +persons" (Art. I, Sec. 2); "The migration or importation of such persons +as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not +be prohibited by the congress prior to the year 1808; but a tax or duty +may be imposed, not exceeding ten dollars on each person" (Art. I, Sec. +9); "No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws +thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or +regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall +be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may +be due" (Art. IV, Sec. 2). With such provisions, though without the use +of the question-begging word _slaves_, the institution of human bondage +received formal recognition in the organic law of the new republic of +the United States. + +"Just what is the light in which we are to regard the slaves?" wondered +James Wilson in the course of the debate. "Are they admitted as +citizens?" he asked; "then why are they not admitted on an equality with +white citizens? Are they admitted as property? then why is not other +property admitted into the computation?" Such questions and others to +which they gave rise were to trouble more heads than his in the course +of the coming years, and all because a great nation did not have the +courage to do the right thing at the right time. + + +4. Early Steps toward Abolition + +In spite, however, of the power crystallized in the Constitution, the +moral movement that had set in against slavery still held its ground, +and it was destined never wholly to languish until slavery ceased +altogether to exist in the United States. Throughout the century the +Quakers continued their good work; in the generation before the war John +Woolman of New Jersey traveled in the Southern colonies preaching that +"the practice of continuing slavery is not right"; and Anthony Benezet +opened in Philadelphia a school for Negroes which he himself taught +without remuneration, and otherwise influenced Pennsylvania to begin the +work of emancipation. In general the Quakers conducted their campaign +along the lines on which they were most likely to succeed, attacking +the slave-trade first of all but more and more making an appeal to +the central government; and the first Abolition Society, organized in +Pennsylvania in 1775 and consisting mainly of Quakers, had for its +original object merely the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in +bondage.[1] The organization was forced to suspend its work in the +course of the war, but in 1784 it renewed its meetings, and men of other +denominations than the Quakers now joined in greater numbers. In 1787 +the society was formally reorganized as "The Pennsylvania Society +for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, the Relief of Free Negroes +unlawfully held in Bondage, and for Improving the Condition of the +African Race." Benjamin Franklin was elected president and there was +adopted a constitution which was more and more to serve as a model for +similar societies in the neighboring states. + +[Footnote 1: Locke: _Anti-Slavery in America_, 97.] + +Four years later, by 1791, there were in the country as many as +twelve abolition societies, and these represented all the states from +Massachusetts to Virginia, with the exception of New Jersey, where a +society was formed the following year. That of New York, formed in 1785 +with John Jay as president, took the name of the Manumission Society, +limiting its aims at first to promoting manumission and protecting those +Negroes who had already been set free. All of the societies had very +clear ideas as to their mission. The prevalence of kidnaping made them +emphasize "the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage," +and in general each one in addition to its executive committee had +committees for inspection, advice, and protection; for the guardianship +of children; for the superintending of education, and for employment. +While the societies were originally formed to attend to local matters, +their efforts naturally extended in course of time to national affairs, +and on December 8, 1791, nine of them prepared petitions to Congress for +the limitation of the slave-trade. These petitions were referred to a +special committee and nothing more was heard of them at the time. After +two years accordingly the organizations decided that a more vigorous +plan of action was necessary, and on January 1, 1794, delegates from +nine societies organized in Philadelphia the American Convention of +Abolition Societies. The object of the Convention was twofold, "to +increase the zeal and efficiency of the individual societies by +its advice and encouragement ... and to take upon itself the chief +responsibility in regard to national affairs." It prepared an address to +the country and presented to Congress a memorial against the fitting out +of vessels in the United States to engage in the slave-trade, and it had +the satisfaction of seeing Congress in the same year pass a bill to this +effect. + +Some of the organizations were very active and one as far South as that +in Maryland was at first very powerful. Always were they interested +in suits in courts of law. In 1797 the New York Society reported 90 +complaints, 36 persons freed, 21 cases still in suit, and 19 under +consideration. The Pennsylvania Society reported simply that it had +been instrumental in the liberation of "many hundreds" of persons. The +different branches, however, did not rest with mere liberation; they +endeavored generally to improve the condition of the Negroes in their +respective communities, each one being expected to report to the +Convention on the number of freedmen in its state and on their property, +employment, and conduct. From time to time also the Convention prepared +addresses to these people, and something of the spirit of its work and +also of the social condition of the Negro at the time may be seen from +the following address of 1796: + + To the Free Africans and Other Free People of Color in the United + States. + + The Convention of Deputies from the Abolition Societies in the + United States, assembled at Philadelphia, have undertaken to address + you upon subjects highly interesting to your prosperity. + + They wish to see you act worthily of the rank you have acquired as + freemen, and thereby to do credit to yourselves, and to justify the + friends and advocates of your color in the eyes of the world. + + As the result of our united reflections, we have concluded to call + your attention to the following articles of advice. We trust they + are dictated by the purest regard for your welfare, for we view you + as Friends and Brethren. + + _In the first place_, We earnestly recommend to you, a regular + attention to the important duty of public worship; by which means + you will evince gratitude to your Creator, and, at the same time, + promote knowledge, union, friendship, and proper conduct among + yourselves. + + _Secondly_, We advise such of you, as have not been taught reading, + writing, and the first principles of arithmetic, to acquire them + as early as possible. Carefully attend to the instruction of your + children in the same simple and useful branches of education. Cause + them, likewise, early and frequently to read the holy Scriptures; + these contain, amongst other great discoveries, the precious record + of the original equality of mankind, and of the obligations of + universal justice and benevolence, which are derived from the + relation of the human race to each other in a common Father. + + _Thirdly_, Teach your children useful trades, or to labor with their + hands in cultivating the earth. These employments are favorable to + health and virtue. In the choice of masters, who are to instruct + them in the above branches of business, prefer those who will work + with them; by this means they will acquire habits of industry, and + be better preserved from vice than if they worked alone, or under + the eye of persons less interested in their welfare. In forming + contracts, for yourselves or children, with masters, it may be + useful to consult such persons as are capable of giving you the best + advice, and who are known to be your friends, in order to prevent + advantages being taken of your ignorance of the laws and customs of + our country. + + _Fourthly_, Be diligent in your respective callings, and faithful in + all the relations you bear in society, whether as husbands, wives, + fathers, children or hired servants. Be just in all your dealings. + Be simple in your dress and furniture, and frugal in your family + expenses. Thus you will act like Christians as well as freemen, and, + by these means, you will provide for the distresses and wants of + sickness and old age. + + _Fifthly_, Refrain from the use of spirituous liquors; the + experience of many thousands of the citizens of the United States + has proved that these liquors are not necessary to lessen the + fatigue of labor, nor to obviate the effects of heat or cold; nor + can they, in any degree, add to the innocent pleasures of society. + + _Sixthly_, Avoid frolicking, and amusements which lead to expense + and idleness; they beget habits of dissipation and vice, and thus + expose you to deserved reproach amongst your white neighbors. + + _Seventhly_, We wish to impress upon your minds the moral and + religious necessity of having your marriages legally performed; also + to have exact registers preserved of all the births and deaths which + occur in your respective families. + + _Eighthly_, Endeavor to lay up as much as possible of your earnings + for the benefit of your children, in case you should die before they + are able to maintain themselves--your money will be safest and most + beneficial when laid out in lots, houses, or small farms. + + _Ninthly_, We recommend to you, at all times and upon all occasions, + to behave yourselves to all persons in a civil and respectful + manner, by which you may prevent contention and remove every just + occasion of complaint. We beseech you to reflect, that it is by your + good conduct alone that you can refute the objections which have + been made against you as rational and moral creatures, and remove + many of the difficulties which have occurred in the general + emancipation of such of your brethren as are yet in bondage. + + With hearts anxious for your welfare, we commend you to the guidance + and protection of that _Being_ who is able to keep you from all + evil, and who is the common Father and Friend of the whole family of + mankind. + + Theodore Foster, President. Philadelphia, January 6th, 1796. + Thomas P. Cope, Secretary. + +The general impulse for liberty which prompted the Revolution and the +early Abolition societies naturally found some reflection in formal +legislation. The declarations of the central government under the +Confederation were not very effective, and for more definite enactments +we have to turn to the individual states. The honor of being the first +actually to prohibit and abolish slavery really belongs to Vermont, +whose constitution, adopted in 1777, even before she had come into the +Union, declared very positively against the system. In 1782 the old +Virginia statute forbidding emancipation except for meritorious services +was repealed. The repeal was in force ten years, and in this time +manumissions were numerous. Maryland soon afterwards passed acts similar +to those in Virginia prohibiting the further introduction of slaves and +removing restraints on emancipation, and New York and New Jersey also +prohibited the further introduction of slaves from Africa or from other +states. In 1780, in spite of considerable opposition because of the +course of the war, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act forbidding +the further introduction of slaves and giving freedom to all persons +thereafter born in the state. Similar provisions were enacted in +Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784. Meanwhile Massachusetts was much +agitated, and beginning in 1766 there were before the courts several +cases in which Negroes sued for their freedom.[1] Their general argument +was that the royal charter declared that all persons residing in the +province were to be as free as the king's subjects in Great Britain, +that by Magna Carta no subject could be deprived of liberty except by +the judgment of his peers, and that any laws that may have been passed +in the province to mitigate or regulate the evil of slavery did not +authorize it. Sometimes the decisions were favorable, but at the +beginning of the Revolution Massachusetts still recognized the system +by the decision that no slave could be enlisted in the army. In 1777, +however, some slaves brought from Jamaica were ordered to be set at +liberty, and it was finally decided in 1783 that the declaration in the +Massachusetts Bill of Rights to the effect that "all men are born +free and equal" prohibited slavery. In this same year New Hampshire +incorporated in her constitution a prohibitive article. By the time the +convention for the framing of the Constitution of the United States +met in Philadelphia in 1787, two of the original thirteen states +(Massachusetts and New Hampshire) had positively prohibited slavery, and +in three others (Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) gradual +abolition was in progress. + +[Footnote 1: See Williams: _History of the Negro Race in America_, I, +228-236.] + +The next decade was largely one of the settlement of new territory, and +by its close the pendulum seemed to have swung decidedly backward. In +1799, however, after much effort and debating, New York at last declared +for gradual abolition, and New Jersey did likewise in 1804. In general, +gradual emancipation was the result of the work of people who were +humane but also conservative and who questioned the wisdom of thrusting +upon the social organism a large number of Negroes suddenly emancipated. +Sometimes, however, a gradual emancipation act was later followed by one +for immediate manumission, as in New York in 1817. At first those who +favored gradual emancipation were numerous in the South as well as in +the North, but in general after Gabriel's insurrection in 1800, though +some individuals were still outstanding, the South was quiescent. The +character of the acts that were really put in force can hardly be better +stated than has already been done by the specialist in the subject.[1] +We read: + +[Footnote 1: Locke, 124-126.] + + Gradual emancipation is defined as the extinction of slavery by + depriving it of its hereditary quality. In distinction from the + clauses in the constitutions of Vermont, Massachusetts, and New + Hampshire, which directly or indirectly affected the condition of + slavery as already existing, the gradual emancipation acts left this + condition unchanged and affected only the children born after + the passage of the act or after a fixed date. Most of these acts + followed that of Pennsylvania in providing that the children of a + slave mother should remain with her owner as servants until they + reached a certain age, of from twenty-one to twenty-eight years, as + stated in the various enactments. In Pennsylvania, however, they + were to be regarded as free. In Connecticut, on the other hand, they + were to be "held in servitude" until twenty-five years of age and + after that to be free. The most liberal policy was that of Rhode + Island, where the children were pronounced free but were to be + supported by the town and educated in reading, writing, and + arithmetic, morality and religion. The latter clauses, however, were + repealed the following year, leaving the children to be supported by + the owner of the mother until twenty-one years of age, and only if + he abandoned his claims to the mother to become a charge to the + town. In New York and New Jersey they were to remain as servants + until a certain age, but were regarded as free, and liberal + opportunities were given the master for the abandonment of his + claims, the children in such cases to be supported at the common + charge.... The manumission and emancipation acts were naturally + followed, as in the case of the constitutional provision in Vermont, + by the attempts of some of the slave-owners to dispose of their + property outside the State. Amendments to the laws were found + necessary, and the Abolition Societies found plenty of occasion for + their exertions in protecting free blacks from seizure and illegal + sale and in looking after the execution and amendment of the laws. + The process of gradual emancipation was also unsatisfactory on + account of the length of time it would require, and in Pennsylvania + and Connecticut attempts were made to obtain acts for immediate + emancipation. + + +5. _Beginning of Racial Consciousness_ + +Of supreme importance in this momentous period, more important perhaps +in its ultimate effect than even the work of the Abolition Societies, +was what the Negro was doing for himself. In the era of the Revolution +began that racial consciousness on which almost all later effort for +social betterment has been based. + +By 1700 the only cooeperative effort on the part of the Negro was such as +that in the isolated society to which Cotton Mather gave rules, or in a +spasmodic insurrection, or a rather crude development of native African +worship. As yet there was no genuine basis of racial self-respect. In +one way or another, however, in the eighteenth century the idea of +association developed, and especially in Boston about the time of the +Revolution Negroes began definitely to work together; thus they assisted +individuals in test cases in the courts, and when James Swan in his +_Dissuasion from the Slave Trade_ made such a statement as that "no +country can be called free where there is one slave," it was "at the +earnest desire of the Negroes in Boston" that the revised edition of the +pamphlet was published. + +From the very beginning the Christian Church was the race's foremost +form of social organization. It was but natural that the first +distinctively Negro churches should belong to the democratic Baptist +denomination. There has been much discussion as to which was the very +first Negro Baptist church, and good claims have been put forth by the +Harrison Street Baptist Church of Petersburg, Va., and for a church +in Williamsburg, Va., organization in each case going back to 1776. +A student of the subject, however, has shown that there was a Negro +Baptist church at Silver Bluff, "on the South Carolina side of the +Savannah River, in Aiken County, just twelve miles from Augusta, Ga.," +founded not earlier than 1773, not later than 1775.[1] In any case +special interest attaches to the First Bryan Baptist Church, of +Savannah, founded in January, 1788. The origin of this body goes back to +George Liele, a Negro born in Virginia, who might justly lay claim to +being America's first foreign missionary. Converted by a Georgia Baptist +minister, he was licensed as a probationer and was known to preach soon +afterwards at a white quarterly meeting.[2] In 1783 he preached in the +vicinity of Savannah, and one of those who came to hear him was Andrew +Bryan, a slave of Jonathan Bryan. Liele then went to Jamaica and in 1784 +began to preach in Kingston, where with four brethren from America he +formed a church. At first he was subjected to persecution; nevertheless +by 1791 he had baptized over four hundred persons. Eight or nine months +after he left for Jamaica, Andrew Bryan began to preach, and at first he +was permitted to use a building at Yamacraw, in the suburbs of Savannah. +Of this, however, he was in course of time dispossessed, the place being +a rendezvous for those Negroes who had been taken away from their homes +by the British. Many of these men were taken before the magistrates +from time to time, and some were whipped and others imprisoned. +Bryan himself, having incurred the ire of the authorities, was twice +imprisoned and once publicly whipped, being so cut that he "bled +abundantly"; but he told his persecutors that he "would freely suffer +death for the cause of Jesus Christ," and after a while he was permitted +to go on with his work. For some time he used a barn, being assisted +by his brother Sampson; then for L50 he purchased his freedom, and +afterwards he began to use for worship a house that Sampson had been +permitted to erect. By 1791 his church had two hundred members, but over +a hundred more had been received as converted members though they +had not won their masters' permission to be baptized. An interesting +sidelight on these people is furnished by the statement that probably +fifty of them could read though only three could write. Years +afterwards, in 1832, when the church had grown to great numbers, a large +part of the congregation left the Bryan Church and formed what is now +the First African Baptist Church of Savannah. Both congregations, +however, remembered their early leader as one "clear in the grand +doctrines of the Gospel, truly pious, and the instrument of doing more +good among the poor slaves than all the learned doctors in America." + +[Footnote 1: Walter H. Brooks: _The Silver Bluff Church_.] + +[Footnote 2: See letters in Journal of Negro History, January, 1916, +69-97.] + +While Bryan was working in Savannah, in Richmond, Va., rose Lott Cary, a +man of massive and erect frame and of great personality. Born a slave in +1780, Cary worked for a number of years in a tobacco factory, leading a +wicked life. Converted in 1807, he made rapid advance in education and +he was licensed as a Baptist preacher. He purchased his own freedom +and that of his children (his first wife having died), organized a +missionary society, and then in 1821 himself went as a missionary to the +new colony of Liberia, in whose interest he worked heroically until his +death in 1828. + +More clearly defined than the origin of Negro Baptist churches are +the beginnings of African Methodism. Almost from the time of its +introduction in the country Methodism made converts among the Negroes +and in 1786 there were nearly two thousand Negroes in the regular +churches of the denomination, which, like the Baptist denomination, it +must be remembered, was before the Revolution largely overshadowed +in official circles by the Protestant Episcopal Church. The general +embarrassment of the Episcopal Church in America in connection with the +war, and the departure of many loyalist ministers, gave opportunity to +other denominations as well as to certain bodies of Negroes. The white +members of St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, +however, determined to set apart its Negro membership and to segregate +it in the gallery. Then in 1787 came a day when the Negroes, choosing +not to be insulted, and led by Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, left the +edifice, and with these two men as overseers on April 17 organized +the Free African Society. This was intended to be "without regard to +religious tenets," the members being banded together "to support one +another in sickness and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless +children." The society was in the strictest sense fraternal, there being +only eight charter members: Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Samuel Boston, +Joseph Johnson, Cato Freeman, Caesar Cranchell, James Potter, and William +White. By 1790 the society had on deposit in the Bank of North America +L42 9s. id., and that it generally stood for racial enterprise may be +seen from the fact that in 1788 an organization in Newport known as +the Negro Union, in which Paul Cuffe was prominent, wrote proposing a +general exodus of the Negroes to Africa. Nothing came of the suggestion +at the time, but at least it shows that representative Negroes of the +day were beginning to think together about matters of general policy. + +In course of time the Free African Society of Philadelphia resolved into +an "African Church," and this became affiliated with the Protestant +Episcopal Church, whose bishop had exercised an interest in it. Out of +this organization developed St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, organized in +1791 and formally opened for service July 17, 1794. Allen was at first +selected for ordination, but he decided to remain a Methodist and Jones +was chosen in his stead and thus became the first Negro rector in the +United States. Meanwhile, however, in 1791, Allen himself had purchased +a lot at the corner of Sixth and Lombard Streets; he at once set about +arranging for the building that became Bethel Church; and in 1794 he +formally sold the lot to the church and the new house of worship was +dedicated by Bishop Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal Church. With +this general body Allen and his people for a number of years remained +affiliated, but difficulties arose and separate churches having come +into being in other places, a convention of Negro Methodists was at +length called to meet in Philadelphia April 9, 1816. To this came +sixteen delegates--Richard Allen, Jacob Tapsico, Clayton Durham, James +Champion, Thomas Webster, of Philadelphia; Daniel Coker, Richard +Williams, Henry Harden, Stephen Hill, Edward Williamson, Nicholas +Gailliard, of Baltimore: Jacob Marsh, Edward Jackson, William Andrew, +of Attleborough, Penn.; Peter Spencer, of Wilmington, Del., and Peter +Cuffe, of Salem, N.J.--and these were the men who founded the African +Methodist Episcopal Church. Coker, of whom we shall hear more in +connection with Liberia, was elected bishop, but resigned in favor of +Allen, who served until his death in 1831. + +In 1796 a congregation in New York consisting of James Varick and others +also withdrew from the main body of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and +in 1800 dedicated a house of worship. For a number of years it had the +oversight of the older organization, but after preliminary steps in +1820, on June 21, 1821, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church +was formally organized. To the first conference came 19 preachers +representing 6 churches and 1,426 members. Varick was elected district +chairman, but soon afterwards was made bishop. The polity of this church +from the first differed somewhat from that of the A.M.E. denomination in +that representation of the laity was a prominent feature and there was +no bar to the ordination of women. + +Of denominations other than the Baptist and the Methodist, the most +prominent in the earlier years was the Presbyterian, whose first Negro +ministers were John Gloucester and John Chavis. Gloucester owed his +training to the liberal tendencies that about 1800 were still strong in +eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, and in 1810 took charge of the African +Presbyterian Church which in 1807 had been established in Philadelphia. +He was distinguished by a rich musical voice and the general dignity +of his life, and he himself became the father of four Presbyterian +ministers. Chavis had a very unusual career. After passing "through +a regular course of academic studies" at Washington Academy, now +Washington and Lee University, in 1801 he was commissioned by the +General Assembly of the Presbyterians as a missionary to the Negroes. He +worked with increasing reputation until Nat Turner's insurrection caused +the North Carolina legislature in 1832 to pass an act silencing all +Negro preachers. Then in Wake County and elsewhere he conducted schools +for white boys until his death in 1838. In these early years distinction +also attaches to Lemuel Haynes, a Revolutionary patriot and the first +Negro preacher of the Congregational denomination. In 1785 he became the +pastor of a white congregation in Torrington, Conn., and in 1818 began +to serve another in Manchester, N.H. + +After the church the strongest organization among Negroes has +undoubtedly been that of secret societies commonly known as "lodges." +The benefit societies were not necessarily secret and call for separate +consideration. On March 6, 1775, an army lodge attached to one of the +regiments stationed under General Gage in or near Boston initiated +Prince Hall and fourteen other colored men into the mysteries of +Freemasonry.[1] These fifteen men on March 2, 1784, applied to the Grand +Lodge of England for a warrant. This was issued to "African Lodge, No. +459," with Prince Hall as master, September 29, 1784. Various delays and +misadventures befell the warrant, however, so that it was not actually +received before April 29, 1787. The lodge was then duly organized May 6. +From this beginning developed the idea of Masonry among the Negroes of +America. As early as 1792 Hall was formally styled Grand Master, and in +1797 he issued a license to thirteen Negroes to "assemble and work" as +a lodge in Philadelphia; and there was also at this time a lodge in +Providence. Thus developed in 1808 the "African Grand Lodge" of Boston, +afterwards known as "Prince Hall Lodge of Massachusetts"; the second +Grand Lodge, called the "First Independent African Grand Lodge of North +America in and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," organized in 1815; +and the "Hiram Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania." + +[Footnote 1: William H. Upton: Negro Masonry, Cambridge, 1899, 10.] + +Something of the interest of the Masons in their people, and the calm +judgment that characterized their procedure, may be seen from the words +of their leader, Prince Hall.[1] Speaking in 1797, and having in mind +the revolution in Hayti and recent indignities inflicted upon the race +in Boston, he said: + +[Footnote 1: "A Charge Delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, 1797, at +Menotomy. By the Right Worshipful Prince Hall." (Boston?) 1797.] + + When we hear of the bloody wars which are now in the world, and + thousands of our fellowmen slain; fathers and mothers bewailing the + loss of their sons; wives for the loss of their husbands; towns and + cities burnt and destroyed; what must be the heartfelt sorrow and + distress of these poor and unhappy people! Though we can not help + them, the distance being so great, yet we may sympathize with them + in their troubles, and mingle a tear of sorrow with them, and do as + we are exhorted to--weep with those that weep.... + + Now, my brethren, as we see and experience that all things here are + frail and changeable and nothing here to be depended upon: Let us + seek those things which are above, which are sure and steadfast, + and unchangeable, and at the same time let us pray to Almighty God, + while we remain in the tabernacle, that he would give us the grace + and patience and strength to bear up under all our troubles, which + at this day God knows we have our share. Patience I say, for were we + not possessed of a great measure of it you could not bear up under + the daily insults you meet with in the streets of Boston; much more + on public days of recreation, how are you shamefully abused, and + that at such a degree, that you may truly be said to carry your + lives in your hands; and the arrows of death are flying about your + heads; helpless old women have their clothes torn off their backs, + even to the exposing of their nakedness; and by whom are these + disgraceful and abusive actions committed? Not by the men born and + bred in Boston, for they are better bred; but by a mob or horde of + shameless, low-lived, envious, spiteful persons, some of them not + long since, servants in gentlemen's kitchens, scouring knives, + tending horses, and driving chaise. 'Twas said by a gentleman who + saw that filthy behavior in the Common, that in all the places he + had been in he never saw so cruel behavior in all his life, and that + a slave in the West Indies, on Sundays or holidays, enjoys himself + and friends without molestation. Not only this man, but many in + town who have seen their behavior to you, and that without any + provocations twenty or thirty cowards fall upon one man, have + wondered at the patience of the blacks; 'tis not for want of courage + in you, for they know that they dare not face you man for man, but + in a mob, which we despise, and had rather suffer wrong than do + wrong, to the disturbance of the community and the disgrace of our + reputation; for every good citizen does honor to the laws of the + State where he resides.... + + My brethren, let us not be cast down under these and many other + abuses we at present labor under: for the darkest is before the + break of day. My brethren, let us remember what a dark day it was + with our African brethren six years ago, in the French West Indies. + Nothing but the snap of the whip was heard from morning to evening; + hanging, breaking on the wheel, burning, and all manner of tortures + inflicted on those unhappy people, for nothing else but to gratify + their masters' pride, wantonness, and cruelty: but blessed be God, + the scene is changed; they now confess that God hath no respect of + persons, and therefore receive them as their friends, and treat them + as brothers. Thus doth Ethiopia begin to stretch forth her hand, + from a sink of slavery to freedom and equality. + +An African Society was organized in New York in 1808 and chartered +in 1810, and out of it grew in course of time three or four other +organizations. Generally close to the social aim of the church and +sometimes directly fathered by the secret societies were the benefit +organizations, which even in the days of slavery existed for aid in +sickness or at death; in fact, it was the hopelessness of the general +situation coupled with the yearning for care when helpless that largely +called these societies into being. Their origin has been explained +somewhat as follows: + +Although it was unlawful for Negroes to assemble without the presence +of a white man, and so unlawful to allow a congregation of slaves on +a plantation without the consent of the master, these organizations +existed and held these meetings on the "lots" of some of the law-makers +themselves. The general plan seems to have been to select some one who +could read and write and make him the secretary. The meeting-place +having been selected, the members would come by ones and twos, make +their payments to the secretary, and quietly withdraw. The book of the +secretary was often kept covered up on the bed. In many of the societies +each member was known by number and in paying simply announced his +number. The president of such a society was usually a privileged slave +who had the confidence of his or her master and could go and come at +will. Thus a form of communication could be kept up between all members. +In event of death of a member, provision was made for decent burial, +and all the members as far as possible obtained permits to attend the +funeral. Here and again their plan of getting together was brought into +play. In Richmond they would go to the church by ones and twos and there +sit as near together as convenient. At the close of the service a line +of march would be formed when sufficiently far from the church to make +it safe to do so. It is reported that the members were faithful to each +other and that every obligation was faithfully carried out. This was +the first form of insurance known to the Negro from which his family +received a benefit.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Hampton Conference Report, No. 8] + +All along of course a determining factor in the Negro's social progress +was the service that he was able to render to any community in which he +found himself as well as to his own people. Sometimes he was called upon +to do very hard work, sometimes very unpleasant or dangerous work; +but if he answered the call of duty and met an actual human need, his +service had to receive recognition. An example of such work was found in +his conduct in the course of the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia +in 1793. Knowing that fever in general was not quite as severe in +its ravages upon Negroes as upon white people, the daily papers of +Philadelphia called upon the colored people in the town to come forward +and assist with the sick. The Negroes consented, and Absalom Jones and +William Gray were appointed to superintend the operations, though as +usual it was upon Richard Allen that much of the real responsibility +fell. In September the fever increased and upon the Negroes devolved +also the duty of removing corpses. In the course of their work they +encountered much opposition; thus Jones said that a white man threatened +to shoot him if he passed his house with a corpse. This man himself the +Negroes had to bury three days afterwards. When the epidemic was over, +under date January 23, 1794, Matthew Clarkson, the mayor, wrote the +following testimonial: "Having, during the prevalence of the late +malignant disorder, had almost daily opportunities of seeing the conduct +of Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, and the people employed by them to +bury the dead, I with cheerfulness give this testimony of my approbation +of their proceedings, as far as the same came under my notice. Their +diligence, attention, and decency of deportment, afforded me, at the +time, much satisfaction." After the lapse of years it is with something +of the pathos of martyrdom that we are impressed by the service of +these struggling people, who by their self-abnegation and patriotism +endeavored to win and deserve the privileges of American citizenship. + +All the while, in one way or another, the Negro was making advance in +education. As early as 1704 we have seen that Neau opened a school +in New York; there was Benezet's school in Philadelphia before the +Revolutionary War, and in 1798 one for Negroes was established in +Boston. In the first part of the century, we remember also, some Negroes +were apprenticed in Virginia under the oversight of the church. In 1764 +the editor of a paper in Williamsburg, Va., established a school for +Negroes, and we have seen that as many as one-sixth of the members of +Andrew Bryan's congregation in the far Southern city of Savannah could +read by 1790. Exceptional men, like Gloucester and Chavis, of course +availed themselves of such opportunities as came their way. All told, +by 1800 the Negro had received much more education than is commonly +supposed. + +Two persons--one in science and one in literature--because of their +unusual attainments attracted much attention. The first was Benjamin +Banneker of Maryland, and the second Phillis Wheatley of Boston. +Banneker in 1770 constructed the first clock striking the hours that was +made in America, and from 1792 to 1806 published an almanac adapted to +Maryland and the neighboring states. He was thoroughly scholarly in +mathematics and astronomy, and by his achievements won a reputation +for himself in Europe as well as in America. Phillis Wheatley, after a +romantic girlhood of transition from Africa to a favorable environment +in Boston, in 1773 published her _Poems on Various Subjects_, which +volume she followed with several interesting occasional poems.[1] For +the summer of this year she was the guest in England of the Countess of +Huntingdon, whose patronage she had won by an elegiac poem on George +Whitefield; in conversation even more than in verse-making she exhibited +her refined taste and accomplishment, and presents were showered upon +her, one of them being a copy of the magnificent 1770 Glasgow folio +edition of _Paradise Lost_, which was given by Brook Watson, Lord +Mayor of London, and which is now preserved in the library of Harvard +University. In the earlier years of the next century her poems +found their way into the common school readers. One of those in her +representative volume was addressed to Scipio Moorhead, a young Negro of +Boston who had shown some talent for painting. Thus even in a dark day +there were those who were trying to struggle upward to the light. + +[Footnote 1: For a full study see Chapter II of _The Negro in Literature +and Art_.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE NEW WEST, THE SOUTH, AND THE WEST INDIES + + +The twenty years of the administrations of the first three presidents of +the United States--or, we might say, the three decades between 1790 +and 1820--constitute what might be considered the "Dark Ages" of Negro +history; and yet, as with most "Dark Ages," at even a glance below the +surface these years will be found to be throbbing with life, and we have +already seen that in them the Negro was doing what he could on his own +account to move forward. After the high moral stand of the Revolution, +however, the period seems quiescent, and it was indeed a time of +definite reaction. This was attributable to three great events: the +opening of the Southwest with the consequent demand for slaves, the +Haytian revolution beginning in 1791, and Gabriel's insurrection in +1800. + +In no way was the reaction to be seen more clearly than in the decline +of the work of the American Convention of Delegates from the Abolition +Societies. After 1798 neither Connecticut nor Rhode Island sent +delegates; the Southern states all fell away by 1803; and while from New +England came the excuse that local conditions hardly made aggressive +effort any longer necessary, the lack of zeal in this section was also +due to some extent to a growing question as to the wisdom of interfering +with slavery in the South. In Virginia, that just a few years before +had been so active, a statute was now passed imposing a penalty of one +hundred dollars on any person who assisted a slave in asserting his +freedom, provided he failed to establish the claim; and another +provision enjoined that no member of an abolition society should serve +as a juror in a freedom suit. Even the Pennsylvania society showed signs +of faintheartedness, and in 1806 the Convention decided upon triennial +rather than annual meetings. It did not again become really vigorous +until after the War of 1812. + + +1. _The Cotton-Gin, the New Southwest, and the First Fugitive Slave Law_ + +Of incalculable significance in the history of the Negro in America +was the series of inventions in England by Arkwright, Hargreaves, and +Crompton in the years 1768-79. In the same period came the discovery +of the power of steam by James Watt of Glasgow and its application to +cotton manufacture, and improvements followed quickly in printing and +bleaching. There yet remained one final invention of importance for the +cultivation of cotton on a large scale. Eli Whitney, a graduate of Yale, +went to Georgia and was employed as a teacher by the widow of General +Greene on her plantation. Seeing the need of some machine for the more +rapid separating of cotton-seed from the fiber, he labored until in 1793 +he succeeded in making his cotton-gin of practical value. The tradition +is persistent, however, that the real credit of the invention belongs +to a Negro on the plantation. The cotton-gin created great excitement +throughout the South and began to be utilized everywhere. The +cultivation and exporting of the staple grew by leaps and bounds. In +1791 only thirty-eight bales of standard size were exported from the +United States; in 1816, however, the cotton sent out of the country was +worth $24,106,000 and was by far the most valuable article of export. +The current price was 28 cents a pound. Thus at the very time that the +Northern states were abolishing slavery, an industry that had slumbered +became supreme, and the fate of hundreds of thousands of Negroes was +sealed. + +Meanwhile the opening of the West went forward, and from Maine and +Massachusetts, Carolina and Georgia journeyed the pioneers to lay the +foundations of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and Alabama and Mississippi. +It was an eager, restless caravan that moved, and sometimes more than a +hundred persons in a score of wagons were to be seen going from a single +town in the East--"Baptists and Methodists and Democrats." The careers +of Boone and Sevier and those who went with them, and the story of their +fights with the Indians, are now a part of the romance of American +history. In 1790 a cluster of log huts on the Ohio River was named in +honor of the Society of the Cincinnati. In 1792 Kentucky was admitted to +the Union, the article on slavery in her constitution encouraging the +system and discouraging emancipation, and Tennessee also entered as a +slave state in 1796. + +Of tremendous import to the Negro were the questions relating to the +Mississippi Territory. After the Revolution Georgia laid claim to great +tracts of land now comprising the states of Alabama and Mississippi, +with the exception of the strip along the coast claimed by Spain +in connection with Florida. This territory became a rich field for +speculation, and its history in its entirety makes a complicated story. +A series of sales to what were known as the Yazoo Companies, especially +in that part of the present states whose northern boundary would be a +line drawn from the mouth of the Yazoo to the Chattahoochee, resulted in +conflicting claims, the last grant sale being made in 1795 by a corrupt +legislature at the price of a cent and a half an acre. James Jackson +now raised the cry of bribery and corruption, resigned from the United +States Senate, secured a seat in the state legislature, and on February +13, 1796, carried through a bill rescinding the action of the previous +year,[1] and the legislature burned the documents concerned with the +Yazoo sale in token of its complete repudiation of them. The purchasers +to whom the companies had sold lands now began to bombard Congress with +petitions and President Adams helped to arrive at a settlement by which +Georgia transferred the lands in question to the Federal Government, +which undertook to form of them the Mississippi Territory and to pay +any damages involved. In 1802 Georgia threw the whole burden upon the +central government by transferring to it _all_ of her land beyond her +present boundaries, though for this she exacted an article favorable +to slavery. All was now made into the Mississippi Territory, to which +Congress held out the promise that it would be admitted as a state as +soon as its population numbered 60,000; but Alabama was separated from +Mississippi in 1816. The old matter of claims was not finally disposed +of until an act of 1814 appropriated $5,000,000 for the purpose. In +the same year Andrew Jackson's decisive victories over the Creeks at +Talladega and Horseshoe Bend--of which more must be said--resulted in +the cession of a vast tract of the land of that unhappy nation and thus +finally opened for settlement three-fourths of the present state of +Alabama. + +[Footnote 1: Phillips in _The South in the Building of the Nation_, II, +154.] + +It was in line with the advance that slavery was making in new territory +that there was passed the first Fugitive Slave Act (1793). This grew out +of the discussion incident to the seizure in 1791 at Washington, Penn., +of a Negro named John, who was taken to Virginia, and the correspondence +between the Governor of Pennsylvania and the Governor of Virginia with +reference to the case. The important third section of the act read as +follows: + + _And be it also enacted_, That when a person held to labor in any of + the United States, or in either of the territories on the northwest + or south of the river Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape + into any other of the said states or territory, the person to whom + such labor or service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby + empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labor, and to take + him or her before any judge of the circuit or district courts of the + United States, residing or being within the state, or before any + magistrate of a county, city or town corporate, wherein such seizure + or arrest shall be made, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such + judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit taken + before and certified by a magistrate of any such state or territory, + that the person so seized or arrested, doth, under the laws of the + state or territory from which he or she fled, owe service or labor + to the person claiming him or her, it shall be the duty of such + judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, + his agent or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for + removing the said fugitive from labor, to the state or territory + from which he or she fled. + +It will be observed that by the terms of this enactment a master had +the right to recover a fugitive slave by proving his ownership before a +magistrate without a jury or any other of the ordinary forms of law. A +human being was thus placed at the disposal of the lowest of courts and +subjected to such procedure as was not allowed even in petty property +suits. A great field for the bribery of magistrates was opened up, and +opportunity was given for committing to slavery Negro men about whose +freedom there should have been no question. + +By the close of the decade 1790-1800 the fear occasioned by the Haytian +revolution had led to a general movement against the importation of +Negroes, especially of those from the West Indies. Even Georgia in 1798 +prohibited the importation of all slaves, and this provision, although +very loosely enforced, was never repealed. In South Carolina, however, +to the utter chagrin and dismay of the other states, importation, +prohibited in 1787, was again legalized in 1803; and in the four years +immediately following 39,075 Negroes were brought to Charleston, most of +these going to the territories.[1] When in 1803 Ohio was carved out of +the Northwest Territory as a free state, an attempt was made to +claim the rest of the territory for slavery, but this failed. In the +congressional session of 1804-5 the matter of slavery in the newly +acquired territory of Louisiana was brought up, and slaves were allowed +to be imported if they had come to the United States before 1798, the +purpose of this provision being to guard against the consequences of +South Carolina's recent act, although such a clause never received rigid +enforcement. The mention of Louisiana, however, brings us concretely to +Toussaint L'Ouverture, the greatest Negro in the New World in the period +and one of the greatest of all time. + +[Footnote 1: DuBois: _Suppression of the Slave-Trade_, 90.] + + +_2. Toussaint L'Ouverture, Louisiana, and the Formal Closing of the +Slave-Trade_ + +When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, it was not long before its +general effects were felt in the West Indies. Of special importance was +Santo Domingo because of the commercial interests centered there. The +eastern end of the island was Spanish, but the western portion was +French, and in this latter part was a population of 600,000, of which +number 50,000 were French Creoles, 50,000 mulattoes, and 500,000 pure +Negroes. All political and social privileges were monopolized by the +Creoles, while the Negroes were agricultural laborers and slaves; and +between the two groups floated the restless element of the free people +of color. + +When the General Assembly in France decreed equality of rights to +all citizens, the mulattoes of Santo Domingo made a petition for the +enjoyment of the same political privileges as the white people--to the +unbounded consternation of the latter. They were rewarded with a +decree which was so ambiguously worded that it was open to different +interpretations and which simply heightened the animosity that for years +had been smoldering. A new petition to the Assembly in 1791 primarily +for an interpretation brought forth on May 15 the explicit decree that +the people of color were to have all the rights and privileges of +citizens, provided they had been born of free parents on both sides. The +white people were enraged by the decision, turned royalist, and trampled +the national cockade underfoot; and throughout the summer armed strife +and conflagration were the rule. To add to the confusion the black +slaves struck for freedom and on the night of August 23, 1791, drenched +the island in blood. In the face of these events the Conventional +Assembly rescinded its order, then announced that the original decree +must be obeyed, and it sent three commissioners with troops to Santo +Domingo, real authority being invested in Santhonax and Polverel. + +On June 20, 1793, at Cape Francois trouble was renewed by a quarrel +between a mulatto and a white officer in the marines. The seamen came +ashore and loaned their assistance to the white people, and the Negroes +now joined forces with the mulattoes. In the battle of two days that +followed the arsenal was taken and plundered, thousands were killed +in the streets, and more than half of the town was burned. The French +commissioners were the unhappy witnesses of the scene, but they were +practically helpless, having only about a thousand troops. Santhonax, +however, issued a proclamation offering freedom to all slaves who were +willing to range themselves under the banner of the Republic. This was +the first proclamation for the freeing of slaves in Santo Domingo, and +as a result of it many of the Negroes came in and were enfranchised. + +Soon after this proclamation Polverel left his colleague at the Cape and +went to Port au Prince, the capital of the West. Here things were quiet +and the cultivation of the crops was going forward as usual. The slaves +were soon unsettled, however, by the news of what was being done +elsewhere, and Polverel was convinced that emancipation could not be +delayed and that for the safety of the planters themselves it was +necessary to extend it to the whole island. In September (1793) he set +in circulation from Aux Cayes a proclamation to this effect, and at the +same time he exhorted all the planters in the vicinity who concurred in +his work to register their names. This almost all of them did, as they +were convinced of the need of measures for their personal safety; and on +February 4, 1794, the Conventional Assembly in Paris formally approved +all that had been done by decreeing the abolition of slavery in all the +colonies of France. + +All the while the Spanish and the English had been looking on with +interest and had even come to the French part of the island as if to aid +in the restoration of order. Among the former, at first in charge of +a little royalist band, was the Negro, Toussaint, later called +L'Ouverture. He was then a man in the prime of life, forty-eight years +old, and already his experience had given him the wisdom that was needed +to bring peace in Santo Domingo. In April, 1794, impressed by the decree +of the Assembly, he returned to the jurisdiction of France and took +service under the Republic. In 1796 he became a general of brigade; in +1797 general-in-chief, with the military command of the whole colony. + +He at once compelled the surrender of the English who had invaded his +country. With the aid of a commercial agreement with the United States, +he next starved out the garrison of his rival, the mulatto Rigaud, whom +he forced to consent to leave the country. He then imprisoned Roume, the +agent of the Directory, and assumed civil as well as military authority. +He also seized the Spanish part of the island, which had been ceded to +France some years before but had not been actually surrendered. He then, +in May, 1801, gave to Santo Domingo a constitution by which he not only +assumed power for life but gave to himself the right of naming his +successor; and all the while he was awakening the admiration of the +world by his bravery, his moderation, and his genuine instinct for +government. + +Across the ocean, however, a jealous man was watching with interest the +career of the "gilded African." None knew better than Napoleon that +it was because he did not trust France that Toussaint had sought the +friendship of the United States, and none read better than he the logic +of events. As Adams says, "Bonaparte's acts as well as his professions +showed that he was bent on crushing democratic ideas, and that he +regarded St. Domingo as an outpost of American republicanism, although +Toussaint had made a rule as arbitrary as that of Bonaparte himself.... +By a strange confusion of events, Toussaint L'Ouverture, because he was +a Negro, became the champion of republican principles, with which he +had nothing but the instinct of personal freedom in common. Toussaint's +government was less republican than that of Bonaparte; he was doing +by necessity in St. Domingo what Bonaparte was doing by choice in +France."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _History of the United States_, I, 391-392.] + +This was the man to whom the United States ultimately owes the purchase +of Louisiana. On October 1, 1801, Bonaparte gave orders to General Le +Clerc for a great expedition against Santo Domingo. In January, 1802, Le +Clerc appeared and war followed. In the course of this, Toussaint--who +was ordinarily so wise and who certainly knew that from Napoleon he had +most to fear--made the great mistake of his life and permitted himself +to be led into a conference on a French vessel. He was betrayed and +taken to France, where within the year he died of pneumonia in the +dungeon of Joux. Immediately there was a proclamation annulling the +decree of 1794 giving freedom to the slaves. Bonaparte, however, had not +estimated the force of Toussaint's work, and to assist the Negroes in +their struggle now came a stalwart ally, yellow fever. By the end of the +summer only one-seventh of Le Clerc's army remained, and he himself died +in November. At once Bonaparte planned a new expedition. While he was +arranging for the leadership of this, however, the European war broke +out again. Meanwhile the treaty for the retrocession of the territory +of Louisiana had not yet received the signature of the Spanish king, +because Godoy, the Spanish representative, would not permit the +signature to be affixed until all the conditions were fulfilled; and +toward the end of 1802 the civil officer at New Orleans closed the +Mississippi to the United States. Jefferson, at length moved by the plea +of the South, sent a special envoy, no less a man than James Monroe, to +France to negotiate the purchase; Bonaparte, disgusted by the failure +of his Egyptian expedition and his project for reaching India, and +especially by his failure in Santo Domingo, in need also of ready money, +listened to the offer; and the people of the United States--who within +the last few years have witnessed the spoliation of Hayti--have not yet +realized how much they owe to the courage of 500,000 Haytian Negroes who +refused to be slaves. + +The slavery question in the new territory was a critical one. It was +on account of it that the Federalists had opposed the acquisition; the +American Convention endeavored to secure a provision like that of the +Northwest Ordinance; and the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends in +Philadelphia in 1805 prayed "that effectual measures may be adopted +by Congress to prevent the introduction of slavery into any of the +territories of the United States." Nevertheless the whole territory +without regard to latitude was thrown open to the system March 2, 1805. + +In spite of this victory for slavery, however, the general force of the +events in Hayti was such as to make more certain the formal closing +of the slave-trade at the end of the twenty-year period for which the +Constitution had permitted it to run. The conscience of the North had +been profoundly stirred, and in the far South was the ever-present fear +of a reproduction of the events in Hayti. The agitation in England +moreover was at last about to bear fruit in the act of 1807 forbidding +the slave-trade. In America it seems from the first to have been an +understood thing, especially by the Southern representatives, that even +if such an act passed it would be only irregularly enforced, and the +debates were concerned rather with the disposal of illegally imported +Africans and with the punishment of those concerned in the importation +than with the proper limitation of the traffic by water.[1] On March 2, +1807, the act was passed forbidding the slave-trade after the close of +the year. In course of time it came very near to being a dead letter, +as may be seen from presidential messages, reports of cabinet officers, +letters of collectors of revenue, letters of district attorneys, reports +of committees of Congress, reports of naval commanders, statements +on the floor of Congress, the testimony of eye-witnesses, and the +complaints of home and foreign anti-slavery societies. Fernandina and +Galveston were only two of the most notorious ports for smuggling. A +regular chain of posts was established from the head of St. Mary's River +to the upper country, and through the Indian nation, by means of which +the Negroes were transferred to every part of the country.[2] If dealers +wished to form a caravan they would give an Indian alarm, so that the +woods might be less frequented, and if pursued in Georgia they would +escape into Florida. One small schooner contained one hundred and thirty +souls. "They were almost packed into a small space, between a floor laid +over the water-casks and the deck--not near three feet--insufficient for +them to sit upright--and so close that chafing against each other their +bones pierced the skin and became galled and ulcerated by the motion +of the vessel." Many American vessels were engaged in the trade under +Spanish colors, and the traffic to Africa was pursued with uncommon +vigor at Havana, the crews of vessels being made up of men of all +nations, who were tempted by the high wages to be earned. Evidently +officials were negligent in the discharge of their duty, but even if +offenders were apprehended it did not necessarily follow that they +would receive effective punishment. President Madison in his message +of December 5, 1810, said, "It appears that American citizens are +instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in +violation of the laws of humanity, and in defiance of those of their own +country"; and on January 7, 1819, the Register of the Treasury made +to the House the amazing report that "it doth not appear, from an +examination of the records of this office, and particularly of the +accounts (to the date of their last settlement) of the collectors of +the customs, and of the several marshals of the United States, that any +forfeitures had been incurred under the said act." A supplementary and +compromising and ineffective act of 1818 sought to concentrate efforts +against smuggling by encouraging informers; and one of the following +year that authorized the President to "make such regulations and +arrangements as he may deem expedient for the safe keeping, support, and +removal beyond the limits of the United States" of recaptured Africans, +and that bore somewhat more fruit, was in large measure due to the +colonization movement and of importance in connection with the founding +of Liberia. + +[Footnote 1: See DuBois, 95, ff.] + +[Footnote 2: Niles's _Register_, XIV, 176 (May 2, 1818).] + +Thus, while the formal closing of the slave-trade might seem to be a +great step forward, the laxness with which the decree was enforced +places it definitely in the period of reaction. + + +3. _Gabriel's Insurrection and the Rise of the Negro Problem_ + +Gabriel's insurrection of 1800 was by no means the most formidable +revolt that the Southern states witnessed. In design it certainly did +not surpass the scope of the plot of Denmark Vesey twenty-two years +later, and in actual achievement it was insignificant when compared not +only with Nat Turner's insurrection but even with the uprisings sixty +years before. At the last moment in fact a great storm that came up made +the attempt to execute the plan a miserable failure. Nevertheless coming +as it did so soon after the revolution in Hayti, and giving evidence +of young and unselfish leadership, the plot was regarded as of +extraordinary significance. + +Gabriel himself[1] was an intelligent slave only twenty-four years old, +and his chief assistant was Jack Bowler, aged twenty-eight. Throughout +the summer of 1800 he matured his plan, holding meetings at which a +brother named Martin interpreted various texts from Scripture as bearing +on the situation of the Negroes. His insurrection was finally set for +the first day of September. It was well planned. The rendezvous was to +be a brook six miles from Richmond. Under cover of night the force of +1,100 was to march in three columns on the city, then a town of 8,000 +inhabitants, the right wing to seize the penitentiary building which had +just been converted into an arsenal, while the left took possession of +the powder-house. These two columns were to be armed with clubs, and +while they were doing their work the central force, armed with muskets, +knives, and pikes, was to begin the carnage, none being spared except +the French, whom it is significant that the Negroes favored. In Richmond +at the time there were not more than four or five hundred men with about +thirty muskets; but in the arsenal were several thousand guns, and the +powder-house was well stocked. Seizure of the mills was to guarantee the +insurrectionists a food supply; and meanwhile in the country districts +were the new harvests of corn, and flocks and herds were fat in the +fields. + +[Footnote 1: His full name was Gabriel Prosser.] + +On the day appointed for the uprising Virginia witnessed such a storm +as she had not seen in years. Bridges were carried away, and roads and +plantations completely submerged. Brook Swamp, the strategic point for +the Negroes, was inundated; and the country Negroes could not get +into the city, nor could those in the city get out to the place of +rendezvous. The force of more than a thousand dwindled to three hundred, +and these, almost paralyzed by fear and superstition, were dismissed. +Meanwhile a slave who did not wish to see his master killed divulged the +plot, and all Richmond was soon in arms. + +A troop of United States cavalry was ordered to the city and arrests +followed quickly. Three hundred dollars was offered by Governor Monroe +for the arrest of Gabriel, and as much more for Jack Bowler. Bowler +surrendered, but it took weeks to find Gabriel. Six men were convicted +and condemned to be executed on September 12, and five more on September +18. Gabriel was finally captured on September 24 at Norfolk on a vessel +that had come from Richmond; he was convicted on October 3 and executed +on October 7. He showed no disposition to dissemble as to his own plan; +at the same time he said not one word that incriminated anybody else. +After him twenty-four more men were executed; then it began to appear +that some "mistakes" had been made and the killing ceased. About the +time of this uprising some Negroes were also assembled for an outbreak +in Suffolk County; there were alarms in Petersburg and in the country +near Edenton, N.C.; and as far away as Charleston the excitement was +intense. + +There were at least three other Negro insurrections of importance in the +period 1790-1820. When news came of the uprising of the slaves in Santo +Domingo in 1791, the Negroes in Louisiana planned a similar effort.[1] +They might have succeeded better if they had not disagreed as to the +hour of the outbreak, when one of them informed the commandant. As a +punishment twenty-three of the slaves were hanged along the banks of the +river and their corpses left dangling for days; but three white men who +assisted them and who were really the most guilty of all, were simply +sent out of the colony. In Camden, S. C, on July 4, 1816, some other +Negroes risked all for independence.[2] On various pretexts men from the +country districts were invited to the town on the appointed night, and +different commands were assigned, all except that of commander-in-chief, +which position was to be given to him who first forced the gates of the +arsenal. Again the plot was divulged by "a favorite and confidential +slave," of whom we are told that the state legislature purchased the +freedom, settling upon him a pension for life. About six of the leaders +were executed. On or about May 1, 1819, there was a plot to destroy the +city of Augusta, Ga.[3] The insurrectionists were to assemble at Beach +Island, proceed to Augusta, set fire to the place, and then destroy the +inhabitants. Guards were posted, and a white man who did not answer when +hailed was shot and fatally wounded. A Negro named Coot was tried as +being at the head of the conspiracy and sentenced to be executed a few +days later. Other trials followed his. Not a muscle moved when the +verdict was pronounced upon him. + +[Footnote 1: Gayarre: _History of Louisiana_, III, 355.] + +[Footnote 2: Holland: _Refutation of Calumnies_.] + +[Footnote 3: Niles's _Register_, XVI, 213 (May 22, 1819).] + +The deeper meaning of such events as these could not escape the +discerning. More than one patriot had to wonder just whither the +country was drifting. Already it was evident that the ultimate problem +transcended the mere question of slavery, and many knew that human +beings could not always be confined to an artificial status. Throughout +the period the slave-trade seemed to flourish without any real check, +and it was even accentuated by the return to power of the old royalist +houses of Europe after the fall of Napoleon. Meanwhile it was observed +that slave labor was driving out of the South the white man of small +means, and antagonism between the men of the "up-country" and the +seaboard capitalists was brewing. The ordinary social life of the Negro +in the South left much to be desired, and conditions were not improved +by the rapid increase. As for slavery itself, no one could tell when or +where or how the system would end; all only knew that it was developing +apace: and meanwhile there was the sinister possibility of the alliance +of the Negro and the Indian. Sincere plans of gradual abolition were +advanced in the South as well as the North, but in the lower section +they seldom got more than a respectful hearing. In his "Dissertation on +Slavery, with a Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of +Virginia," St. George Tucker, a professor of law in the University +of William and Mary, and one of the judges of the General Court of +Virginia, in 1796 advanced a plan by which he figured that after sixty +years there would be only one-third as many slaves as at first. At +this distance his proposal seems extremely conservative; at the time, +however, it was laid on the table by the Virginia House of Delegates, +and from the Senate the author received merely "a civil acknowledgment." + +Two men of the period--widely different in temper and tone, but +both earnest seekers after truth--looked forward to the future with +foreboding, one with the eye of the scientist, the other with the vision +of the seer. Hezekiah Niles had full sympathy with the groping and +striving of the South; but he insisted that slavery must ultimately be +abolished throughout the country, that the minds of the slaves should +be exalted, and that reasonable encouragement should be given free +Negroes.[1] Said he: "_We are ashamed of the thing we practice_;... +there is no attribute of heaven that takes part with us, and _we know +it_. And in the contest that must come and _will come_, there will be a +heap of sorrows such as the world has rarely seen."[2] + +[Footnote 1: _Register_, XVI, 177 (May 8, 1819).] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., XVI, 213 (May 22, 1819).] + +On the other hand rose Lorenzo Dow, the foremost itinerant preacher of +the time, the first Protestant who expounded the gospel in Alabama and +Mississippi, and a reformer who at the very moment that cotton was +beginning to be supreme, presumed to tell the South that slavery was +wrong.[1] Everywhere he arrested attention--with his long hair, his +harsh voice, and his wild gesticulation startling all conservative +hearers. But he was made in the mold of heroes. In his lifetime he +traveled not less than two hundred thousand miles, preaching to more +people than any other man of his time. Several times he went to Canada, +once to the West Indies, and three times to England, everywhere drawing +great crowds about him. In _A Cry from the Wilderness_ he more than +once clothed his thought in enigmatic garb, but the meaning was always +ultimately clear. At this distance, when slavery and the Civil War are +alike viewed in the perspective, the words of the oracle are almost +uncanny: "In the rest of the Southern states the influence of these +Foreigners will be known and felt in its time, and the seeds from the +HORY ALLIANCE and the DECAPIGANDI, who have a hand in those grades of +Generals, from the Inquisitor to the Vicar General and down...!!! The +STRUGGLE will be DREADFUL! the CUP will be BITTER! and when the agony is +over, those who survive may see better days! FAREWELL!" + +[Footnote 1: For full study see article "Lorenzo Dow," in _Methodist +Review_ and _Journal of Negro History_, July, 1916, the same being +included in _Africa and the War_, New York, 1918.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +INDIAN AND NEGRO + + +It is not the purpose of the present chapter to give a history of the +Seminole Wars, or even to trace fully the connection of the Negro with +these contests. We do hope to show at least, however, that the Negro was +more important than anything else as an immediate cause of controversy, +though the general pressure of the white man upon the Indian would +in time of course have made trouble in any case. Strange parallels +constantly present themselves, and incidentally it may be seen that the +policy of the Government in force in other and even later years with +reference to the Negro was at this time also very largely applied in the +case of the Indian. + + +1. _Creek, Seminole, and Negro to 1817: The War of 1812_ + +On August 7, 1786, the Continental Congress by a definite and +far-reaching ordinance sought to regulate for the future the whole +conduct of Indian affairs. Two great districts were formed, one +including the territory north of the Ohio and west of the Hudson, and +the other including that south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi; +and for anything pertaining to the Indian in each of these two great +tracts a superintendent was appointed. As affecting the Negro the +southern district was naturally of vastly more importance than the +northern. In the eastern portion of this, mainly in what are now +Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and eastern Alabama, were the Cherokees +and the great confederacy of the Creeks, while toward the west, in the +present Mississippi and western Alabama, were the Chickasaws and the +Choctaws. Of Muskhogean stock, and originally a part of the Creeks, were +the Seminoles ("runaways"), who about 1750, under the leadership of a +great chieftain, Secoffee, separated from the main confederacy, which +had its center in southwest Georgia just a little south of Columbus, and +overran the peninsula of Florida. In 1808 came another band under Micco +Hadjo to the present site of Tallahassee. The Mickasukie tribe was +already on the ground in the vicinity of this town, and at first its +members objected to the newcomers, who threatened to take their lands +from them; but at length all abode peaceably together under the general +name of Seminoles. About 1810 these people had twenty towns, the chief +ones being Mikasuki and Tallahassee. From the very first they had +received occasional additions from the Yemassee, who had been driven out +of South Carolina, and of fugitive Negroes. + +By the close of the eighteenth century all along the frontier the Indian +had begun to feel keenly the pressure of the white man, and in his +struggle with the invader he recognized in the oppressed Negro a natural +ally. Those Negroes who by any chance became free were welcomed by the +Indians, fugitives from bondage found refuge with them, and while +Indian chiefs commonly owned slaves, the variety of servitude was very +different from that under the white man. The Negroes were comparatively +free, and intermarriage was frequent; thus a mulatto woman who fled +from bondage married a chief and became the mother of a daughter who in +course of time became the wife of the famous Osceola. This very close +connection of the Negro with the family life of the Indian was the +determining factor in the resistance of the Seminoles to the demands of +the agents of the United States, and a reason, stronger even than his +love for his old hunting-ground, for his objection to removal to new +lands beyond the Mississippi. Very frequently the Indian could not give +up his Negroes without seeing his own wife and children led away into +bondage; and thus to native courage and pride was added the instinct of +a father for the preservation of his own. + +In the two wars between the Americans and the English it was but natural +that the Indian should side with the English, and it was in some measure +but a part of the game that he should receive little consideration at +the hands of the victor. In the politics played by the English and the +French, the English and the Spaniards, and finally between the Americans +and all Europeans, the Indian was ever the loser. In the very early +years of the Carolina colonies, some effort was made to enslave the +Indians; but such servants soon made their way to the Indian country, +and it was not long before they taught the Negroes to do likewise. This +constant escape of slaves, with its attendant difficulties, largely +accounted for the establishing of the free colony of Georgia between +South Carolina and the Spanish possession, Florida. It was soon evident, +however, that the problem had been aggravated rather than settled. When +Congress met in 1776 it received from Georgia a communication setting +forth the need of "preventing slaves from deserting their masters"; and +as soon as the Federal Government was organized in 1789 it received also +from Georgia an urgent request for protection from the Creeks, who were +charged with various ravages, and among other documents presented was +a list of one hundred and ten Negroes who were said to have left their +masters during the Revolution and to have found refuge among the Creeks. +Meanwhile by various treaties, written and unwritten, the Creeks were +being forced toward the western line of the state, and in any agreement +the outstanding stipulation was always for the return of fugitive +slaves. For a number of years the Creeks retreated without definitely +organized resistance. In the course of the War of 1812, however, moved +by the English and by a visit from Tecumseh, they suddenly rose, and on +August 30, 1813, under the leadership of Weathersford, they attacked +Fort Mims, a stockade thirty-five miles north of Mobile. The five +hundred and fifty-three men, women, and children in this place were +almost completely massacred. Only fifteen white persons escaped by +hiding in the woods, a number of Negroes being taken prisoner. This +occurrence spurred the whole Southwest to action. Volunteers were called +for, and the Tennessee legislature resolved to exterminate the whole +tribe. Andrew Jackson with Colonel Coffee administered decisive defeats +at Talladega and Tohopeka or Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River, and +the Creeks were forced to sue for peace. By the treaty of Fort Jackson +(August 9, 1814) the future president, now a major general in the +regular army and in command at Mobile, demanded that the unhappy nation +give up more than half of its land as indemnity for the cost of the war, +that it hold no communication with a Spanish garrison or town, that it +permit the necessary roads to be made or forts to be built in any part +of the territory, and that it surrender the prophets who had instigated +the war. This last demand was ridiculous, or only for moral effect, +for the so-called prophets had already been left dead on the field of +battle. The Creeks were quite broken, however, and Jackson passed on to +fame and destiny at the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. In April +of this year he was made commander-in-chief of the Southern Division.[1] +It soon developed that his chief task in this capacity was to reckon +with the Seminoles. + +[Footnote 1: In his official capacity Jackson issued two addresses which +have an important place in the history of the Negro soldier. From his +headquarters at Mobile, September 21, 1814, he issued an appeal "To the +Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana," offering them an honorable part +in the war, and this was later followed by a "Proclamation to the +Free People of Color" congratulating them on their achievement. Both +addresses are accessible in many books.] + +On the Appalachicola River the British had rebuilt an old fort, calling +it the British Post on the Appalachicola. Early in the summer of 1815 +the commander, Nicholls, had occasion to go to London, and he took with +him his troops, the chief Francis, and several Creeks, leaving in the +fort seven hundred and sixty-three barrels of cannon powder, twenty-five +hundred muskets, and numerous pistols and other weapons of war. The +Negroes from Georgia who had come to the vicinity, who numbered not less +than a thousand, and who had some well kept farms up and down the +banks of the river, now took charge of the fort and made it their +headquarters. They were joined by some Creeks, and the so-called Negro +Fort soon caused itself to be greatly feared by any white people +who happened to live near. Demands on the Spanish governor for its +suppression were followed by threats of the use of the soldiery of the +United States; and General Gaines, under orders in the section, wrote to +Jackson asking authority to build near the boundary another post that +might be used as the base for any movement that had as its aim to +overawe the Negroes. Jackson readily complied with the request, saying, +"I have no doubt that this fort has been established by some villains +for the purpose of murder, rapine, and plunder, and that it ought to be +blown up regardless of the ground it stands on. If you have come to the +same conclusion, destroy it, and restore the stolen Negroes and property +to their rightful owners." Gaines accordingly built Fort Scott not +far from where the Flint and the Chattahoochee join to form the +Appalachicola. It was necessary for Gaines to pass the Negro Fort in +bringing supplies to his own men; and on July 17, 1816, the boats of the +Americans were within range of the fort and opened fire. There was some +preliminary shooting, and then, since the walls were too stubborn to be +battered down by a light fire, "a ball made red-hot in the cook's +galley was put in the gun and sent screaming over the wall and into the +magazine. The roar, the shock, the scene that followed, may be imagined, +but not described. Seven hundred barrels of gunpowder tore the earth, +the fort, and all the wretched creatures in it to fragments. Two hundred +and seventy men, women, and children died on the spot. Of sixty-four +taken out alive, the greater number died soon after."[1] + +[Footnote 1: McMaster, IV, 431.] + +The Seminoles--in the West more and more identified with the +Creeks--were angered by their failure to recover the lands lost by the +treaty of Fort Jackson and also by the building of Fort Scott. One +settlement, Fowltown, fifteen miles east of Fort Scott, was especially +excited and in the fall of 1817 sent a warning to the Americans "not +to cross or cut a stick of timber on the east side of the Flint." The +warning was regarded as a challenge; Fowltown was taken on a morning in +November, and the Seminole Wars had begun. + + +2. _First Seminole War and the Treaties of Indian Spring and Fort +Moultrie_ + +In the course of the First Seminole War (1817-18) Jackson ruthlessly +laid waste the towns of the Indians; he also took Pensacola, and he +awakened international difficulties by his rather summary execution of +two British subjects, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who were traders to the +Indians and sustained generally pleasant relations with them. For his +conduct, especially in this last instance, he was severely criticized in +Congress, but it is significant of his rising popularity that no formal +vote of censure could pass against him. On the cession of Florida to the +United States he was appointed territorial governor; but he served for a +brief term only. As early as 1822 he was nominated for the presidency +by the legislature of Tennessee, and in 1823 he was sent to the United +States Senate. + +Of special importance in the history of the Creeks about this time was +the treaty of Indian Spring, of January 8, 1821, an iniquitous agreement +in the signing of which bribery and firewater were more than usually +present. By this the Creeks ceded to the United States, for the benefit +of Georgia, five million acres of their most valuable land. In cash they +were to receive $200,000, in payments extending over fourteen years. The +United States Government moreover was to hold $250,000 as a fund from +which the citizens of Georgia were to be reimbursed for any "claims" +(for runaway slaves of course) that the citizens of the state had +against the Creeks prior to the year 1802.[1] In the actual execution of +this agreement a slave was frequently estimated at two or three times +his real value, and the Creeks were expected to pay whether the fugitive +was with them or not. All possible claims, however, amounted to +$101,000. This left $149,000 of the money in the hands of the +Government. This sum was not turned over to the Indians, as one might +have expected, but retained until 1834, when the Georgia citizens +interested petitioned for a division. The request was referred to the +Commission on Indian Affairs, and the chairman, Gilmer of Georgia, was +in favor of dividing the money among the petitioners as compensation for +"the offspring which the slaves would have borne had they remained in +bondage." This suggestion was rejected at the time, but afterwards the +division was made nevertheless; and history records few more flagrant +violations of all principles of honor and justice. + +[Footnote 1: See J.R. Giddings: _The Exiles of Florida_, 63-66; also +speech in House of Representatives February 9, 1841.] + +The First Seminole War, while in some ways disastrous to the Indians, +was in fact not much more than the preliminary skirmish of a conflict +that was not to cease until 1842. In general the Indians, mindful of the +ravages of the War of 1812, did not fully commit themselves and bided +their time. They were in fact so much under cover that they led the +Americans to underestimate their real numbers. When the cession of +Florida was formally completed, however (July 17, 1821), they were found +to be on the very best spots of land in the territory. On May 20, 1822, +Colonel Gad Humphreys was appointed agent to them, William P. Duval as +governor of the territory being ex-officio superintendent of Indian +affairs. Altogether the Indians at this time, according to the official +count, numbered 1,594 men, 1,357 women, and 993 children, a total of +3,944, with 150 Negro men and 650 Negro women and children.[1] In the +interest of these people Humphreys labored faithfully for eight years, +and not a little of the comparative quiet in his period of service is to +be credited to his own sympathy, good sense, and patience. + +[Footnote 1: Sprague, 19.] + +In the spring of 1823 the Indians were surprised by the suggestion of a +treaty that would definitely limit their boundaries and outline their +future relations with the white man. The representative chiefs had +no desire for a conference, were exceedingly reluctant to meet the +commissioners, and finally came to the meeting prompted only by the hope +that such terms might be arrived at as would permanently guarantee them +in the peaceable possession of their homes. Over the very strong protest +of some of them a treaty was signed at Fort Moultrie, on the coast five +miles below St. Augustine, September 18, 1823, William P. Duval, James +Gadsden, and Bernard Segui being the representatives of the United +States. By this treaty we learn that the Indians, in view of the fact +that they have "thrown themselves on, and have promised to continue +under, the protection of the United States, and of no other nation, +power, or sovereignty; and in consideration of the promises and +stipulations hereinafter made, do cede and relinquish all claim or title +which they have to the whole territory of Florida, with the exception of +such district of country as shall herein be allotted to them." They are +to have restricted boundaries, the extreme point of which is nowhere to +be nearer than fifteen miles to the Gulf of Mexico. The United States +promises to distribute, as soon as the Indians are settled on their new +land, under the direction of their agent, "implements of husbandry, and +stock of cattle and hogs to the amount of six thousand dollars, and an +annual sum of five thousand dollars a year for twenty successive years"; +and "to restrain and prevent all white persons from hunting, settling, +or otherwise intruding" upon the land set apart for the Indians, though +any American citizen, lawfully authorized, is to pass and repass +within the said district and navigate the waters thereof "without any +hindrance, toll or exactions from said tribes." For facilitating removal +and as compensation for any losses or inconvenience sustained, the +United States is to furnish rations of corn, meat, and salt for twelve +months, with a special appropriation of $4,500 for those who have made +improvements, and $2,000 more for the facilitating of transportation. +The agent, sub-agent, and interpreter are to reside within the Indian +boundary "to watch over the interests of said tribes"; and the United +States further undertake "as an evidence of their humane policy +towards said tribes" to allow $1,000 a year for twenty years for the +establishment of a school and $1,000 a year for the same period for the +support of a gun- and blacksmith. Of supreme importance is Article 7: +"The chiefs and warriors aforesaid, for themselves and tribes, stipulate +to be active and vigilant in the preventing the retreating to, or +passing through, the district of country assigned them, of any +absconding slaves, or fugitives from justice; and further agree to use +all necessary exertions to apprehend and deliver the same to the agent, +who shall receive orders to compensate them agreeably to the trouble and +expense incurred." We have dwelt at length upon the provisions of this +treaty because it contained all the seeds of future trouble between the +white man and the Indian. Six prominent chiefs--Nea Mathla, John Blunt, +Tuski Hajo, Mulatto King, Emathlochee, and Econchattimico--refused +absolutely to sign, and their marks were not won until each was given +a special reservation of from two to four square miles outside the +Seminole boundaries. Old Nea Mathla in fact never did accept the treaty +in good faith, and when the time came for the execution of the agreement +he summoned his warriors to resistance. Governor Duval broke in upon his +war council, deposed the war leaders, and elevated those who favored +peaceful removal. The Seminoles now retired to their new lands, but Nea +Mathla was driven into practical exile. He retired to the Creeks, by +whom he was raised to the dignity of a chief. It was soon realized by +the Seminoles that they had been restricted to some pine woods by no +means as fertile as their old lands, nor were matters made better by one +or two seasons of drought. To allay their discontent twenty square miles +more, to the north, was given them, but to offset this new cession their +rations were immediately reduced. + + +3. _From the Treaty of Fort Moultrie to the Treaty of Payne's Landing_ + +Now succeeded ten years of trespassing, of insult, and of increasing +enmity. Kidnapers constantly lurked near the Indian possessions, and +instances of injury unredressed increased the bitterness and rancor. +Under date May 20, 1825, Humphreys[1] wrote to the Indian Bureau that +the white settlers were already thronging to the vicinity of the Indian +reservation and were likely to become troublesome. As to some recent +disturbances, writing from St. Augustine February 9, 1825, he said: +"From all I can learn here there is little doubt that the disturbances +near Tallahassee, which have of late occasioned so much clamor, were +brought about by a course of unjustifiable conduct on the part of +the whites, similar to that which it appears to be the object of the +territorial legislature to legalize. In fact, it is stated that one +Indian had been so severely whipped by the head of the family which was +destroyed in these disturbances, as to cause his death; if such be the +fact, the subsequent act of the Indians, however lamentable, must be +considered as one of retaliation, and I can not but think it is to +be deplored that they were afterwards 'hunted' with so unrelenting a +revenge." The word _hunted_ was used advisedly by Humphreys, for, as +we shall see later, when war was renewed one of the common means of +fighting employed by the American officers was the use of bloodhounds. +Sometimes guns were taken from the Indians so that they had nothing with +which to pursue the chase. On one occasion, when some Indians were being +marched to headquarters, a woman far advanced in pregnancy was forced +onward with such precipitancy as to produce a premature delivery, which +almost terminated her life. More far-reaching than anything else, +however, was the constant denial of the rights of the Indian in court +in cases involving white men. As Humphreys said, the great disadvantage +under which the Seminoles labored as witnesses "destroyed everything +like equality of rights." Some of the Negroes that they had, had been +born among them, and some others had been purchased from white men +and duly paid for. No receipts were given, however, and efforts were +frequently made to recapture the Negroes by force. The Indian, conscious +of his rights, protested earnestly against such attempts and naturally +determined to resist all efforts to wrest from him his rightfully +acquired property. + +[Footnote 1: The correspondence is readily accessible in Sprague, +30-37.] + +By 1827, however, the territorial legislature had begun to memorialize +Congress and to ask for the complete removal of the Indians. Meanwhile +the Negro question was becoming more prominent, and orders from the +Department of War, increasingly peremptory, were made on Humphreys for +the return of definite Negroes. For Duval and Humphreys, however, who +had actually to execute the commissions, the task was not always so +easy. Under date March 20, 1827, the former wrote to the latter: "Many +of the slaves belonging to the whites are now in the possession of the +white people; these slaves can not be obtained for their Indian owners +without a lawsuit, and I see no reason why the Indians shall be +compelled to surrender all slaves claimed by our citizens when this +surrender is not mutual." Meanwhile the annuity began to be withheld +from the Indians in order to force them to return Negroes, and a +friendly chief, Hicks, constantly waited upon Humphreys only to find the +agent little more powerful than himself. Thus matters continued through +1829 and 1830. In violation of all legal procedure, the Indians were +constantly _required to relinquish beforehand property in their +possession to settle a question of claim_. On March 21, 1830, Humphreys +was informed that he was no longer agent for the Indians. He had been +honestly devoted to the interest of these people, but his efforts were +not in harmony with the policy of the new administration. + +Just what that policy was may be seen from Jackson's special message +on Indian affairs of February 22, 1831. The Senate had asked for +information as to the conduct of the Government in connection with the +act of March 30, 1802, "to regulate trade and intercourse with the +Indian tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers." The Nullification +controversy was in everybody's mind, and already friction had arisen +between the new President and the abolitionists. In spite of Jackson's +attitude toward South Carolina, his message in the present instance was +a careful defense of the whole theory of state rights. Nothing in the +conduct of the Federal Government toward the Indian tribes, he insisted, +had ever been intended to attack or even to call in question the rights +of a sovereign state. In one way the Southern states had seemed to be an +exception. "As early as 1784 the settlements within the limits of North +Carolina were advanced farther to the west than the authority of the +state to enforce an obedience of its laws." After the Revolution the +tribes desolated the frontiers. "Under these circumstances the first +treaties, in 1785 and 1790, with the Cherokees, were concluded by the +Government of the United States." Nothing of all this, said Jackson, had +in any way affected the relation of any Indians to the state in which +they happened to reside, and he concluded as follows: "Toward this race +of people I entertain the kindest feelings, and am not sensible that the +views which I have taken of their true interests are less favorable to +them than those which oppose their emigration to the West. Years since I +stated to them my belief that if the States chose to extend their laws +over them it would not be in the power of the Federal Government to +prevent it. My opinion remains the same, and I can see no alternative +for them but that of their removal to the West or a quiet submission to +the state laws. If they prefer to remove, the United States agree to +defray their expenses, to supply them the means of transportation and a +year's support after they reach their new homes--a provision too liberal +and kind to bear the stamp of injustice. Either course promises them +peace and happiness, whilst an obstinate perseverance in the effort to +maintain their possessions independent of the state authority can not +fail to render their condition still more helpless and miserable. Such +an effort ought, therefore, to be discountenanced by all who sincerely +sympathize in the fortunes of this peculiar people, and especially by +the political bodies of the Union, as calculated to disturb the harmony +of the two Governments and to endanger the safety of the many blessings +which they enable us to enjoy." + +The policy thus formally enunciated was already in practical operation. +In the closing days of the administration of John Quincy Adams a +delegation came to Washington to present to the administration the +grievances of the Cherokee nation. The formal reception of the +delegation fell to the lot of Eaton, the new Secretary of War. The +Cherokees asserted that not only did they have no rights in the Georgia +courts in cases involving white men, but that they had been notified by +Georgia that all laws, usages, and agreements in force in the Indian +country would be null and void after June 1, 1830; and naturally they +wanted the interposition of the Federal Government. Eaton replied at +great length, reminding the Cherokees that they had taken sides with +England in the War of 1812, that they were now on American soil only by +sufferance, and that the central government could not violate the rights +of the state of Georgia; and he strongly advised immediate removal to +the West. The Cherokees, quite broken, acted in accord with this advice; +and so in 1832 did the Creeks, to whom Jackson had sent a special talk +urging removal as the only basis of Federal protection. + +To the Seminoles as early as 1827 overtures for removal had been made; +but before the treaty of Fort Moultrie had really become effective they +had been intruded upon and they in turn had become more slow about +returning runaway slaves. From some of the clauses in the treaty of +Fort Moultrie, as some of the chiefs were quick to point out, the +understanding was that the same was to be in force for twenty years; and +they felt that any slowness on their part about the return of Negroes +was fully nullified by the efforts of the professional Negro stealers +with whom they had to deal. + +Early in 1832, however, Colonel James Gadsden of Florida was directed +by Lewis Cass, the Secretary of War, to enter into negotiation for the +removal of the Indians of Florida. There was great opposition to a +conference, but the Indians were finally brought together at Payne's +Landing on the Ocklawaha River just seventeen miles from Fort King. +Here on May 9, 1832, was wrested from them a treaty which is of supreme +importance in the history of the Seminoles. The full text was as +follows: + + +TREATY OF PAYNE'S LANDING, + +MAY 9, 1832 + + Whereas, a treaty between the United States and the Seminole nation + of Indians was made and concluded at Payne's Landing, on the + Ocklawaha River, on the 9th of May, one thousand eight hundred and + thirty-two, by James Gadsden, commissioner on the part of the United + States, and the chiefs and headmen of said Seminole nation of + Indians, on the part of said nation; which treaty is in the words + following, to wit: + + The Seminole Indians, regarding with just respect the solicitude + manifested by the President of the United States for the improvement + of their condition, by recommending a removal to the country more + suitable to their habits and wants than the one they at present + occupy in the territory of Florida, are willing that their + confidential chiefs, Jumper, Fuch-a-lus-to-had-jo, Charley Emathla, + Coi-had-jo, Holati-Emathla, Ya-ha-had-jo, Sam Jones, accompanied + by their agent, Major John Phagan, and their faithful interpreter, + Abraham, should be sent, at the expense of the United States, as + early as convenient, to examine the country assigned to the Creeks, + west of the Mississippi River, and should they be satisfied with the + character of the country, and of the favorable disposition of the + Creeks to re-unite with the Seminoles as one people; the articles of + the compact and agreement herein stipulated, at Payne's Landing, + on the Ocklawaha River, this ninth day of May, one thousand eight + hundred and thirty-two, between James Gadsden, for and in behalf of + the government of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs and + headmen, for and in behalf of the Seminole Indians, shall be binding + on the respective parties. + + Article I. The Seminole Indians relinquish to the United States + all claim to the land they at present occupy in the territory of + Florida, and agree to emigrate to the country assigned to the + Creeks, west of the Mississippi River, it being understood that an + additional extent of country, proportioned to their numbers, will + be added to the Creek territory, and that the Seminoles will be + received as a constituent part of the Creek nation, and be + re-admitted to all the privileges as a member of the same. + + Article II. For and in consideration of the relinquishment of claim + in the first article of this agreement, and in full compensation for + all the improvements which may have been made on the lands thereby + ceded, the United States stipulate to pay to the Seminole Indians + fifteen thousand four hundred ($15,400) dollars, to be divided + among the chiefs and warriors of the several towns, in a ratio + proportioned to their population, the respective proportions of each + to be paid on their arrival in the country they consent to remove + to; it being understood that their faithful interpreters, Abraham + and Cudjo, shall receive two hundred dollars each, of the above sum, + in full remuneration of the improvements to be abandoned on the + lands now cultivated by them. + + Article III. The United States agree to distribute, as they arrive + at their new homes in the Creek territory, west of the Mississippi + River, a blanket and a homespun frock to each of the warriors, women + and children, of the Seminole tribe of Indians. + + Article IV. The United States agree to extend the annuity for the + support of a blacksmith, provided for in the sixth article of the + treaty at Camp Moultrie, for ten (10) years beyond the period + therein stipulated, and in addition to the other annuities secured + under that treaty, the United States agree to pay the sum of three + thousand ($3,000) dollars a year for fifteen (15) years, commencing + after the removal of the whole tribe; these sums to be added to the + Creek annuities, and the whole amount to be so divided that the + chiefs and warriors of the Seminole Indians may receive their + equitable proportion of the same, as members of the Creek + confederation. + + Article V. The United States will take the cattle belonging to the + Seminoles, at the valuation of some discreet person, to be appointed + by the President, and the same shall be paid for in money to the + respective owners, after their arrival at their new homes; or other + cattle, such as may be desired, will be furnished them; notice being + given through their agent, of their wishes upon this subject, before + their removal, that time may be afforded to supply the demand. + + Article VI. The Seminoles being anxious to be relieved from the + repeated vexatious demands for slaves, and other property, alleged + to have been stolen and destroyed by them, so that they may remove + unembarrassed to their new homes, the United States stipulate to + have the same property (properly) investigated, and to liquidate + such as may be satisfactorily established, provided the amount does + not exceed seven thousand ($7,000) dollars. + + Article VII. The Seminole Indians will remove within three (3) years + after the ratification of this agreement, and the expenses of their + removal shall be defrayed by the United States, and such subsistence + shall also be furnished them, for a term not exceeding twelve (12) + months after their arrival at their new residence, as in the opinion + of the President their numbers and circumstances may require; the + emigration to commence as early as practicable in the year eighteen + hundred and thirty-three (1833), and with those Indians at present + occupying the Big Swamp, and other parts of the country beyond the + limits, as defined in the second article of the treaty concluded at + Camp Moultrie Creek, so that the whole of that proportion of + the Seminoles may be removed within the year aforesaid, and the + remainder of the tribe, in about equal proportions, during the + subsequent years of eighteen hundred and thirty-four and five (1834 + and 1835). + + In testimony whereof, the commissioner, James Gadsden, and the + undersigned chiefs and head-men of the Seminole Indians, have + hereunto subscribed their names and affixed their seals. + + Done at camp, at Payne's Landing, on the Ocklawaha River, in the + territory of Florida, on this ninth day of May, one thousand eight + hundred and thirty-two, and of the independence of the United States + of America, the fifty-sixth. + + (Signed) James Gadsden. L.S. + Holati Emathlar, his X mark. + Jumper, his X mark. + Cudjo, Interpreter, his X mark. + Erastus Rodgers. + B. Joscan. + Holati Emathlar, his X mark. + Jumper, his X mark. + Fuch-ta-lus-ta-Hadjo, his X mark. + Charley Emathla, his X mark. + Coi Hadjo, his X mark. + Ar-pi-uck-i, or Sam + Jones, his X mark. + Ya-ha-Hadjo, his X mark. + Mico-Noha, his X mark. + Tokose Emathla, or + John Hicks, his X mark. + Cat-sha-Tustenuggee, his X mark. + Holat-a-Micco, his X mark. + Hitch-it-i-Micco, his X mark. + E-na-hah, his X mark. + Ya-ha-Emathla-Chopco, his X mark. + Moki-his-she-lar-ni, his X mark. + + Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jackson, President of the + United States of America, having seen and considered said treaty, + do, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as expressed + by their resolution of the eighth day of April, one thousand eight + hundred and thirty-four, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and + every clause and article thereof. + + In witness whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to + be hereunto affixed, having signed the same with my hand. Done at + the city of Washington, this twelfth day of April, in the year of + our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, and of the + independence of the United States of America, the fifty-eighth. + + (Signed) ANDREW JACKSON. By the President, + LOUIS MCLANE, Secretary of State. + +It will be seen that by the terms of this document seven chiefs were to +go and examine the country assigned to the Creeks, and that they were to +be accompanied by Major John Phagan, the successor of Humphreys, and the +Negro interpreter Abraham. The character of Phagan may be seen from the +facts that he was soon in debt to different ones of the Indians and to +Abraham, and that he was found to be short in his accounts. While the +Indian chiefs were in the West, three United States commissioners +conferred with them as to the suitability of the country for a future +home, and at Fort Gibson, Arkansas, March 28, 1833, they were beguiled +into signing an additional treaty in which occurred the following +sentence: "And the undersigned Seminole chiefs, delegated as aforesaid, +on behalf of their nation, hereby declare themselves well satisfied with +the location provided for them by the commissioners, and agree that +their nation shall commence the removal to their new home as soon as the +government will make arrangements for their emigration, satisfactory to +the Seminole nation." They of course had no authority to act on their +own initiative, and when all returned in April, 1833, and Phagan +explained what had happened, the Seminoles expressed themselves in no +uncertain terms. The chiefs who had gone West denied strenuously that +they had signed away any rights to land, but they were nevertheless +upbraided as the agents of deception. Some of the old chiefs, of whom +Micanopy was the highest authority, resolved to resist the efforts to +dispossess them; and John Hicks, who seems to have been substituted for +Sam Jones on the commission, was killed because he argued too strongly +for migration. Meanwhile the treaty of Payne's Landing was ratified by +the Senate of the United States and proclaimed as in force by President +Jackson April 12, 1834, and in connection with it the supplementary +treaty of Fort Gibson was also ratified. The Seminoles, however, were +not showing any haste about removing, and ninety of the white citizens +of Alachua County sent a protest to the President alleging that the +Indians were not returning their fugitive slaves. Jackson was made +angry, and without even waiting for the formal ratification of the +treaties, he sent the document to the Secretary of War, with an +endorsement on the back directing him "to inquire into the alleged +facts, and if found to be true, to direct the Seminoles to prepare to +remove West and join the Creeks." General Wiley Thompson was appointed +to succeed Phagan as agent, and General Duncan L. Clinch was placed in +command of the troops whose services it was thought might be needed. It +was at this juncture that Osceola stepped forward as the leading spirit +of his people. + + +4. _Osceola and the Second Seminole War_ + +Osceola (Asseola, or As-se-he-ho-lar, sometimes called Powell because +after his father's death his mother married a white man of that name[1]) +was not more than thirty years of age. He was slender, of only +average height, and slightly round-shouldered; but he was also well +proportioned, muscular, and capable of enduring great fatigue. He had +light, deep, restless eyes, and a shrill voice, and he was a great +admirer of order and technique. He excelled in athletic contests and in +his earlier years had taken delight in engaging in military practice +with the white men. As he was neither by descent nor formal election a +chief, he was not expected to have a voice in important deliberations; +but he was a natural leader and he did more than any other man to +organize the Seminoles to resistance. It is hardly too much to say +that to his single influence was due a contest that ultimately cost +$10,000,000 and the loss of thousands of lives. Never did a patriot +fight more valiantly for his own, and it stands to the eternal disgrace +of the American arms that he was captured under a flag of truce. + +[Footnote 1: Hodge's _Handbook of American Indians_, II, 159.] + +It is well to pause for a moment and reflect upon some of the deeper +motives that entered into the impending contest. A distinguished +congressman,[1] speaking in the House of Representatives a few years +later, touched eloquently upon some of the events of these troublous +years. Let us remember that this was the time of the formation of +anti-slavery societies, of pronounced activity on the part of the +abolitionists, and recall also that Nat Turner's insurrection was still +fresh in the public mind. Giddings stated clearly the issue as it +appeared to the people of the North when he said, "I hold that if the +slaves of Georgia or any other state leave their masters, the Federal +Government has no constitutional authority to employ our army or navy +for their recapture, or to apply the national treasure to repurchase +them." There could be no question of the fact that the war was very +largely one over fugitive slaves. Under date October 28, 1834, General +Thompson wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: "There are many +very likely Negroes in this nation [the Seminole]. Some of the whites in +the adjacent settlements manifest a restless desire to obtain them, and +I have no doubt that Indian raised Negroes are now in the possession +of the whites." In a letter dated January 20, 1834, Governor Duval had +already said to the same official: "The slaves belonging to the Indians +have a controlling influence over the minds of their masters, and are +entirely opposed to any change of residence." Six days later he wrote: +"The slaves belonging to the Indians must be made to fear for themselves +before they will cease to influence the minds of their masters.... The +first step towards the emigration of these Indians must be the breaking +up of the runaway slaves and the outlaw Indians." And the New Orleans +_Courier_ of July 27, 1839, revealed all the fears of the period when it +said, "Every day's delay in subduing the Seminoles increases the danger +of a rising among the serviles." + +[Footnote 1: Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio. His exhaustive speech on the +Florida War was made February 9, 1841.] + +All the while injustice and injury to the Indians continued. +Econchattimico, well known as one of those chiefs to whom special +reservations had been given by the treaty of Fort Moultrie, was the +owner of twenty slaves valued at $15,000. Observing Negro stealers +hovering around his estate, he armed himself and his men. The kidnapers +then furthered their designs by circulating the report that the Indians +were arming themselves for union with the main body of Seminoles for the +general purpose of massacring the white people. Face to face with +this charge Econchattimico gave up his arms and threw himself on the +protection of the government; and his Negroes were at once taken and +sold into bondage. + +A similar case was that of John Walker, an Appalachicola chief, who +wrote to Thompson under date July 28, 1835: "I am induced to write you +in consequence of the depredations making and attempted to be made upon +my property, by a company of Negro stealers, some of whom are from +Columbus, Ga., and have connected themselves with Brown and Douglass.... +I should like your advice how I am to act. I dislike to make or to have +any difficulty with the white people. But if they trespass upon my +premises and my rights, I must defend myself the best way I can. If they +do make this attempt, and I have no doubt they will, they must bear the +consequences. _But is there no civil law to protect me_? Are the free +Negroes and the Negroes belonging to this town to be stolen away +publicly, and in the face of law and justice, carried off and sold to +fill the pockets of these worse than land pirates? Douglass and his +company hired a man who has two large trained dogs for the purpose to +come down and take Billy. He is from Mobile and follows for a livelihood +catching runaway Negroes." + +Such were the motives, fears and incidents in the years immediately +after the treaty of Payne's Landing. Beginning at the close of 1834 and +continuing through April, 1835, Thompson had a series of conferences +with the Seminole chiefs. At these meetings Micanopy, influenced by +Osceola and other young Seminoles, took a more definite stand than he +might otherwise have assumed. Especially did he insist with reference +to the treaty that he understood that the chiefs who went West were to +_examine_ the country, and for his part he knew that when they returned +they would report unfavorably. Thompson then, becoming angry, delivered +an ultimatum to the effect that if the treaty was not observed the +annuity from the great father in Washington would cease. To this, +Osceola, stepping forward, replied that he and his warriors did not care +if they never received another dollar from the great father, and drawing +his knife, he plunged it in the table and said, "The only treaty I will +execute is with this." Henceforward there was deadly enmity between the +young Seminole and Thompson. More and more Osceola made his personality +felt, constantly asserting to the men of his nation that whoever +recommended emigration was an enemy of the Seminoles, and he finally +arrived at an understanding with many of them that the treaty would be +resisted with their very lives. Thompson, however, on April 23, 1835, +had a sort of secret conference with sixteen of the chiefs who seemed +favorably disposed toward migration, and he persuaded them to sign a +document "freely and fully" assenting to the treaties of Payne's Landing +and Fort Gibson. The next day there was a formal meeting at which the +agent, backed up by Clinch and his soldiers, upbraided the Indians in a +very harsh manner. His words were met by groans, angry gesticulations, +and only half-muffled imprecations. Clinch endeavored to appeal to the +Indians and to advise them that resistance was both unwise and useless. +Thompson, however, with his usual lack of tact, rushed onward in his +course, and learning that five chiefs were unalterably opposed to the +treaty, he arbitrarily struck their names off the roll of chiefs, an +action the highhandedness of which was not lost on the Seminoles. +Immediately after the conference moreover he forbade the sale of +any more arms and powder to the Indians. To the friendly chiefs the +understanding had been given that the nation might have until January +1, 1836, to make preparation for removal, by which time all were to +assemble at Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, for emigration. + +About the first of June Osceola was one day on a quiet errand of trading +at Fort King. With him was his wife, the daughter of a mulatto slave +woman who had run away years before and married an Indian chief. By +Southern law this woman followed the condition of her mother, and +when the mother's former owner appeared on the scene and claimed the +daughter, Thompson, who desired to teach Occeola a lesson, readily +agreed that she should be remanded into captivity.[1] Osceola was highly +enraged, and this time it was his turn to upbraid the agent. Thompson +now had him overpowered and put in irons, in which situation he remained +for the better part of two days. In this period of captivity his soul +plotted revenge and at length he too planned a "_ruse de guerre_." +Feigning assent to the treaty he told Thompson that if he was released +not only would he sign himself but he would also bring his people to +sign. The agent was completely deceived by Osceola's tactics. "True to +his professions," wrote Thompson on June 3, "he this day appeared with +seventy-nine of his people, men, women, and children, including some who +had joined him since his conversion, and redeemed his promise. He told +me many of his friends were out hunting, whom he could and would bring +over on their return. I have now no doubt of his sincerity, and as +little, that the greatest difficulty is surmounted." + +[Footnote 1: This highly important incident, which was really the spark +that started the war, is absolutely ignored even by such well informed +writers as Drake and Sprague. Drake simply gives the impression that +the quarrel between Osceola and Thompson was over the old matter of +emigration, saying (413), "Remonstrance soon grew into altercation, +which ended in a _ruse de guerre_, by which Osceola was made prisoner by +the agent, and put in irons, in which situation he was kept one night +and part of two days." The story is told by McMaster, however. Also note +M.M. Cohen as quoted in _Quarterly Anti-Slavery Magazine_, Vol. II, p. +419 (July, 1837).] + +Osceola now rapidly urged forward preparations for war, which, however, +he did not wish actually started until after the crops were gathered. +By the fall he was ready, and one day in October when he and some other +warriors met Charley Emathla, who had upon him the gold and silver that +he had received from the sale of his cattle preparatory to migration, +they killed this chief, and Osceola threw the money in every direction, +saying that no one was to touch it, as it was the price of the red man's +blood. The true drift of events became even more apparent to Thompson +and Clinch in November, when five chiefs friendly to migration with five +hundred of their people suddenly appeared at Fort Brooke to ask for +protection. When in December Thompson sent final word to the Seminoles +that they must bring in their horses and cattle, the Indians did not +come on the appointed day; on the contrary they sent their women and +children to the interior and girded themselves for battle. To Osceola +late in the month a runner brought word that some troops under the +command of Major Dade were to leave Fort Brooke on the 25th and on the +night of the 27th were to be attacked by some Seminoles in the Wahoo +Swamp. Osceola himself, with some of his men, was meanwhile lying in the +woods near Fort King, waiting for an opportunity to kill Thompson. On +the afternoon of the 28th the agent dined not far from the fort at the +home of the sutler, a man named Rogers, and after dinner he walked +with Lieutenant Smith to the crest of a neighboring hill. Here he was +surprised by the Indians, and both he and Smith fell pierced by numerous +bullets. The Indians then pressed on to the home of the sutler and +killed Rogers, his two clerks, and a little boy. On the same day the +command of Major Dade, including seven officers and one hundred and ten +men, was almost completely annihilated, only three men escaping. Dade +and his horse were killed at the first onset. These two attacks began +the actual fighting of the Second Seminole War. That the Negroes were +working shoulder to shoulder with the Indians in these encounters may +be seen from the report of Captain Belton,[1] who said, "Lieut. Keays, +third artillery, had both arms broken from the first shot; was unable +to act, and was tomahawked the latter part of the second attack, by a +Negro"; and further: "A Negro named Harry controls the Pea Band of about +a hundred warriors, forty miles southeast of us, who have done most +of the mischief, and keep this post constantly observed." Osceola now +joined forces with those Indians who had attacked Dade, and in the +early morning of the last day of the year occurred the Battle of +Ouithlecoochee, a desperate encounter in which both Osceola and Clinch +gave good accounts of themselves. Clinch had two hundred regulars and +five or six hundred volunteers. The latter fled early in the contest and +looked on from a distance; and Clinch had to work desperately to keep +from duplicating the experience of Dade. Osceola himself was conspicuous +in a red belt and three long feathers, but although twice wounded he +seemed to bear a charmed life. He posted himself behind a tree, from +which station he constantly sallied forth to kill or wound an enemy with +almost infallible aim. + +[Footnote 1: Accessible in Drake, 416-418.] + +After these early encounters the fighting became more and more bitter +and the contest more prolonged. Early in the war the disbursing agent +reported that there were only three thousand Indians, including Negroes, +to be considered; but this was clearly an understatement. Within the +next year and a half the Indians were hard pressed, and before the end +of this period the notorious Thomas S. Jessup had appeared on the scene +as commanding major general. This man seems to have determined never to +use honorable means of warfare if some ignoble instrument could serve +his purpose. In a letter sent to Colonel Harvey from Tampa Bay under +date May 25, 1837, he said: "If you see Powell (Osceola), tell him I +shall send out and take all the Negroes who belong to the white people. +And he must not allow the Indian Negroes to mix with them. Tell him I +am sending to Cuba for bloodhounds to trail them; and I intend to hang +every one of them who does not come in." And it might be remarked that +for his bloodhounds Jessup spent--or said he spent--as much as $5,000, a +fact which thoroughly aroused Giddings and other persons from the North, +who by no means cared to see such an investment of public funds. By +order No. 160, dated August 3, 1837, Jessup invited his soldiers to +plunder and rapine, saying, "All Indian property captured from this date +will belong to the corps or detachment making it." From St. Augustine, +under date October 20, 1837, in a "confidential" communication he said +to one of his lieutenants: "Should Powell and his warriors come within +the fort, seize him and the whole party. It is important that he, Wild +Cat, John Cowagee, and Tustenuggee, be secured. Hold them until you have +my orders in relation to them."[1] Two days later he was able to write +to the Secretary of War that Osceola was actually taken. Said he: "That +chief came into the vicinity of Fort Peyton on the 20th, and sent a +messenger to General Hernandez, desiring to see and converse with him. +The sickly season being over, and there being no further necessity to +temporize, I sent a party of mounted men, and seized the entire body, +and now have them securely lodged in the fort." Osceola, Wild Cat, +and others thus captured were marched to St. Augustine; but Wild Cat +escaped. Osceola was ultimately taken to Fort Moultrie, in the harbor of +Charleston, where in January (1838) he died. + +[Footnote 1: This correspondence, and much more bearing on the point, +may be found in House Document 327 of the Second Session of the +Twenty-fifth Congress.] + +Important in this general connection was the fate of the deputation that +the influential John Ross, chief of the Cherokees, was persuaded to +send from his nation to induce the Seminoles to think more favorably of +migration. Micanopy, twelve other chieftains, and a number of warriors +accompanied the Cherokee deputation to the headquarters of the United +States Army at Fort Mellon, where they were to discuss the matter. These +warriors also Jessup seized, and Ross wrote to the Secretary of War +a dignified but bitter letter protesting against this "unprecedented +violation of that sacred rule which has ever been recognized by every +nation, civilized and uncivilized, of treating with all due respect +those who had ever presented themselves under a flag of truce before the +enemy, for the purpose of proposing the termination of warfare." He had +indeed been most basely used as the agent of deception. + +This chapter, we trust, has shown something of the real nature of the +points at issue in the Seminole Wars. In the course of these contests +the rights of Indian and Negro alike were ruthlessly disregarded. There +was redress for neither before the courts, and at the end in dealing +with them every honorable principle of men and nations was violated. It +is interesting that the three representatives of colored peoples who +in the course of the nineteenth century it was most difficult to +capture--Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Negro, Osceola, the Indian, and +Aguinaldo, the Filipino--were all taken through treachery; and on two of +the three occasions this treachery was practiced by responsible officers +of the United States Army. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EARLY APPROACH TO THE NEGRO PROBLEM + + +1. The Ultimate Problem and the Missouri Compromise + +In a previous chapter[1] we have already indicated the rise of the Negro +Problem in the last decade of the eighteenth and the first two decades +of the nineteenth century. And what was the Negro Problem? It was +certainly not merely a question of slavery; in the last analysis this +institution was hardly more than an incident. Slavery has ceased to +exist, but even to-day the Problem is with us. The question was rather +what was to be the final place in the American body politic of the +Negro population that was so rapidly increasing in the country. In the +answering of this question supreme importance attached to the Negro +himself; but the problem soon transcended the race. Ultimately it was +the destiny of the United States rather than of the Negro that was to be +considered, and all the ideals on which the country was based came to +the testing. If one studied those ideals he soon realized that they were +based on Teutonic or at least English foundations. By 1820, however, the +young American republic was already beginning to be the hope of all +of the oppressed people of Europe, and Greeks and Italians as well as +Germans and Swedes were turning their faces toward the Promised Land. +The whole background of Latin culture was different from the Teutonic, +and yet the people of Southern as well as of Northern Europe somehow +became a part of the life of the United States. In this life was it also +possible for the children of Africa to have a permanent and an honorable +place? With their special tradition and gifts, with their shortcomings, +above all with their distinctive color, could they, too, become genuine +American citizens? Some said No, but in taking this position they denied +not only the ideals on which the country was founded but also the +possibilities of human nature itself. In any case the answer to the +first question at once suggested another, What shall we do with the +Negro? About this there was very great difference of opinion, it not +always being supposed that the Negro himself had anything whatever to +say about the matter. Some said send the Negro away, get rid of him by +any means whatsoever; others said if he must stay, keep him in slavery; +still others said not to keep him permanently in slavery, but emancipate +him only gradually; and already there were beginning to be persons who +felt that the Negro should be emancipated everywhere immediately, and +that after this great event had taken place he and the nation together +should work out his salvation on the broadest possible plane. + +[Footnote 1: IV, Section 3.] + +Into the agitation was suddenly thrust the application of Missouri for +entrance into the Union as a slave state. The struggle that followed +for two years was primarily a political one, but in the course of the +discussion the evils of slavery were fully considered. Meanwhile, in +1819, Alabama and Maine also applied for admission. Alabama was allowed +to enter without much discussion, as she made equal the number of slave +and free states. Maine, however, brought forth more talk. The Southern +congressmen would have been perfectly willing to admit this as a free +state if Missouri had been admitted as a slave state; but the North felt +that this would have been to concede altogether too much, as Missouri +from the first gave promise of being unusually important. At length, +largely through the influence of Henry Clay, there was adopted a +compromise whose main provisions were (1) that Maine was to be admitted +as a free state; (2) that in Missouri there was to be no prohibition of +slavery; but (3) that slavery was to be prohibited in any other states +that might be formed out of the Louisiana Purchase north of the line of +36 deg. 30'. + +By this agreement the strife was allayed for some years; but it is now +evident that the Missouri Compromise was only a postponement of the +ultimate contest and that the social questions involved were hardly +touched. Certainly the significance of the first clear drawing of the +line between the sections was not lost upon thoughtful men. Jefferson +wrote from Monticello in 1820: "This momentous question, like a +fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered +it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the +moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.... I can +say, with conscious truth, that there is not a man on earth who would +sacrifice more than I would to relieve us from this heavy reproach, in +any _practicable_ way. The cession of that kind of property, for so it +is misnamed, is a bagatelle that would not cost me a second thought, +if, in that way, a general emancipation and _expatriation_ could be +effected; and, gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it might +be."[1] For the time being, however, the South was concerned mainly +about immediate dangers; nor was this section placed more at ease by +Denmark Vesey's attempted insurrection in 1822.[2] A representative +South Carolinian,[3] writing after this event, said, "We regard our +Negroes as the _Jacobins_ of the country, against whom we should always +be upon our guard, and who, although we fear no permanent effects from +any insurrectionary movements on their part, should be watched with an +eye of steady and unremitted observation." Meanwhile from a ratio of +43.72 to 56.28 in 1790 the total Negro population in South Carolina had +by 1820 come to outnumber the white 52.77 to 47.23, and the tendency +was increasingly in favor of the Negro. The South, the whole country in +fact, was more and more being forced to consider not only slavery but +the ultimate reaches of the problem. + +[Footnote 1: _Writings_, XV, 249.] + +[Footnote 2: See Chapter VII, Section 1.] + +[Footnote 3: Holland: _A Refutation of Calumnies_, 61.] + +Whatever one might think of the conclusion--and in this case the speaker +was pleading for colonization--no statement of the problem as it +impressed men about 1820 or 1830 was clearer than that of Rev. Dr. Nott, +President of Union College, at Albany in 1829.[1] The question, said he, +was by no means local. Slavery was once legalized in New England; and +New England built slave-ships and manned these with New England seamen. +In 1820 the slave population in the country amounted to 1,500,000. The +number doubled every twenty years, and it was easy to see how it would +progress from 1,500,000 to 3,000,000; to 6,000,000; to 12,000,000; to +24,000,000. "Twenty-four millions of slaves! What a drawback from our +strength; what a tax on our resources; what a hindrance to our growth; +what a stain on our character; and what an impediment to the fulfillment +of our destiny! Could our worst enemies or the worst enemies of +republics, wish us a severer judgment?" How could one know that wakeful +and sagacious enemies without would not discover the vulnerable point +and use it for the country's overthrow? Or was there not danger that +among a people goaded from age to age there might at length arise some +second Toussaint L'Ouverture, who, reckless of consequences, would array +a force and cause a movement throughout the zone of bondage, leaving +behind him plantations waste and mansions desolate? Who could believe +that such a tremendous physical force would remain forever spell-bound +and quiescent? After all, however, slavery was doomed; public opinion +had already pronounced upon it, and the moral energy of the nation would +sooner or later effect its overthrow. "But," continued Nott, "the solemn +question here arises--in what condition will this momentous change place +us? The freed men of other countries have long since disappeared, having +been amalgamated in the general mass. Here there can be no amalgamation. +Our manumitted bondmen have remained already to the third and fourth, as +they will to the thousandth generation--a distinct, a degraded, and a +wretched race." After this sweeping statement, which has certainly not +been justified by time, Nott proceeded to argue the expediency of his +organization. Gerrit Smith, who later drifted away from colonization, +said frankly on the same occasion that the ultimate solution was either +amalgamation or colonization, and that of the two courses he preferred +to choose the latter. Others felt as he did. We shall now accordingly +proceed to consider at somewhat greater length the two solutions that +about 1820 had the clearest advocates--Colonization and Slavery. + +[Footnote 1: See "African Colonization. Proceedings of the Formation of +the New York State Colonization Society." Albany, 1829.] + + +2. _Colonization_ + +Early in 1773, Rev. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, called on his friend, +Rev. Ezra Stiles, afterwards President of Yale College, and suggested +the possibility of educating Negro students, perhaps two at first, who +would later go as missionaries to Africa. Stiles thought that for the +plan to be worth while there should be a colony on the coast of Africa, +that at least thirty or forty persons should go, and that the enterprise +should not be private but should have the formal backing of a society +organized for the purpose. In harmony with the original plan two young +Negro men sailed from New York for Africa, November 12, 1774; but the +Revolutionary War followed and nothing more was done at the time. In +1784, however, and again in 1787, Hopkins tried to induce different +merchants to fit out a vessel to convey a few emigrants, and in the +latter year he talked with a young man from the West Indies, Dr. William +Thornton, who expressed a willingness to take charge of the company. +The enterprise failed for lack of funds, though Thornton kept up his +interest and afterwards became a member of the first Board of Managers +of the American Colonization Society. Hopkins in 1791 spoke before the +Connecticut Emancipation Society, which he wished to see incorporated as +a colonization society, and in a sermon before the Providence society in +1793 he reverted to his favorite theme. Meanwhile, as a result of the +efforts of Wilberforce, Clarkson, and Granville Sharp in England, in +May, 1787, some four hundred Negroes and sixty white persons were landed +at Sierra Leone. Some of the Negroes in England had gained their freedom +in consequence of Lord Mansfield's decision in 1772, others had been +discharged from the British Army after the American Revolution, and all +were leading in England a more or less precarious existence. The sixty +white persons sent along were abandoned women, and why Sierra Leone +should have had this weight placed upon it at the start history has not +yet told. It is not surprising to learn that "disease and disorder were +rife, and by 1791 a mere handful survived."[1] As early as in his _Notes +on Virginia_, privately printed in 1781, Thomas Jefferson had suggested +a colony for Negroes, perhaps in the new territory of Ohio. The +suggestion was not acted upon, but it is evident that by 1800 several +persons had thought of the possibility of removing the Negroes in the +South to some other place either within or without the country. + +[Footnote 1: McPherson, 15. (See bibliography on Liberia.)] + +Gabriel's insurrection in 1800 again forced the idea concretely forward. +Virginia was visibly disturbed by this outbreak, and _in secret +session_, on December 21, the House of Delegates passed the following +resolution: "That the Governor[1] be requested to correspond with the +President of the United States,[2] on the subject of purchasing land +without the limits of this state, whither persons obnoxious to the laws, +or dangerous to the peace of society may be removed." The real purpose +of this resolution was to get rid of those Negroes who had had some part +in the insurrection and had not been executed; but not in 1800, or in +1802 or 1804, was the General Assembly thus able to banish those whom +it was afraid to hang. Monroe, however, acted in accordance with his +instructions, and Jefferson replied to him under date November 24, 1801. +He was not now favorable to deportation to some place within the United +States, and thought that the West Indies, probably Santo Domingo, might +be better. There was little real danger that the exiles would stimulate +vindictive or predatory descents on the American coasts, and in any case +such a possibility was "overweighed by the humanity of the measures +proposed." "Africa would offer a last and undoubted resort," thought +Jefferson, "if all others more desirable should fail."[3] Six months +later, on July 13, 1802, the President wrote about the matter to Rufus +King, then minister in London. The course of events in the West Indies, +he said, had given an impulse to the minds of Negroes in the United +States; there was a disposition to insurgency, and it now seemed that if +there was to be colonization, Africa was by all means the best place. An +African company might also engage in commercial operations, and if there +was cooeperation with Sierra Leone, there was the possibility of "one +strong, rather than two weak colonies." Would King accordingly enter +into conference with the English officials with reference to disposing +of any Negroes who might be sent? "It is material to observe," remarked +Jefferson, "that they are not felons, or common malefactors, but persons +guilty of what the safety of society, under actual circumstances, +obliges us to treat as a crime, but which their feelings may represent +in a far different shape. They are such as will be a valuable +acquisition to the settlement already existing there, and well +calculated to cooeperate in the plan of civilization."[4] King +accordingly opened correspondence with Thornton and Wedderbourne, the +secretaries of the company having charge of Sierra Leone, but was +informed that the colony was in a languishing condition and that funds +were likely to fail, and that in no event would they be willing to +receive more people from the United States, as these were the very ones +who had already made most trouble in the settlement.[5] On January 22, +1805, the General Assembly of Virginia passed a resolution that embodied +a request to the United States Government to set aside a portion of +territory in the new Louisiana Purchase "to be appropriated to +the residence of such people of color as have been, or shall be, +emancipated, or may hereafter become dangerous to the public safety." +Nothing came of this. By the close then of Jefferson's second +administration the Northwest, the Southwest, the West Indies, and Sierra +Leone had all been thought of as possible fields for colonization, but +from the consideration nothing visible had resulted. + +[Footnote 1: Monroe.] + +[Footnote 2: Jefferson.] + +[Footnote 3: _Writings_, X, 297.] + +[Footnote 4: _Writings_, X, 327-328.] + +[Footnote 5: _Ibid_., XIII, 11.] + +Now followed the period of Southern expansion and of increasing +materialism, and before long came the War of 1812. By 1811 a note of +doubt had crept into Jefferson's dealing with the subject. Said he: +"Nothing is more to be wished than that the United States would +themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of +Africa ... But for this the national mind is not yet prepared. It may +perhaps be doubted whether many of these people would voluntarily +consent to such an exchange of situation, and very certain that few of +those advanced to a certain age in habits of slavery, would be capable +of self-government. This should not, however, discourage the experiment, +nor the early trial of it; and the proposition should be made with all +the prudent cautions and attentions requisite to reconcile it to the +interests, the safety, and the prejudices of all parties."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _Writings_, XIII, 11.] + +From an entirely different source, however, and prompted not by +expediency but the purest altruism, came an impulse that finally told in +the founding of Liberia. The heart of a young man reached out across +the sea. Samuel J. Mills, an undergraduate of Williams College, in 1808 +formed among his fellow-students a missionary society whose work later +told in the formation of the American Bible Society and the Board of +Foreign Missions. Mills continued his theological studies at Andover and +then at Princeton; and while at the latter place he established a school +for Negroes at Parsippany, thirty miles away. He also interested in +his work and hopes Rev. Robert Finley, of Basking Ridge, N.J., who +"succeeded in assembling at Princeton the first meeting ever called to +consider the project of sending Negro colonists to Africa,"[1] and who +in a letter to John P. Mumford, of New York, under date February 14, +1815, expressed his interest by saying, "We should send to Africa a +population partly civilized and christianized for its benefit; and our +blacks themselves would be put in a better condition." + +[Footnote 1: McPherson, 18.] + +In this same year, 1815, the country was startled by the unselfish +enterprise of a Negro who had long thought of the unfortunate situation +of his people in America and who himself shouldered the obligation to +do something definite in their behalf. Paul Cuffe had been born in May, +1759, on one of the Elizabeth Islands near New Bedford, Mass., the son +of a father who was once a slave from Africa and of an Indian mother.[1] +Interested in navigation, he made voyages to Russia, England, Africa, +the West Indies, and the South; and in time he commanded his own vessel, +became generally respected, and by his wisdom rose to a fair degree of +opulence. For twenty years he had thought especially about Africa, +and in 1815 he took to Sierra Leone a total of nine families and +thirty-eight persons at an expense to himself of nearly $4000. The +people that he brought were well received at Sierra Leone, and Cuffe +himself had greater and more far-reaching plans when he died September +7, 1817. He left an estate valued at $20,000. + +[Footnote 1: First Annual Report of American Colonization Society.] + +Dr. Finley's meeting at Princeton was not very well attended and hence +not a great success. Nevertheless he felt sufficiently encouraged to go +to Washington in December, 1816, to use his effort for the formation of +a national colonization society. It happened that in February of this +same year, 1816, General Charles Fenton Mercer, member of the House of +Delegates, came upon the secret journals of the legislature for the +period 1801-5 and saw the correspondence between Monroe and Jefferson. +Interested in the colonization project, on December 14 (Monroe +then being President-elect) he presented in the House of Delegates +resolutions embodying the previous enactments; and these passed 132 to +14. Finley was generally helped by the effort of Mercer, and on December +21, 1816, there was held in Washington a meeting of public men +and interested citizens, Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House of +Representatives, presiding. A constitution was adopted at an adjourned +meeting on December 28; and on January 1, 1817, were formally chosen +the officers of "The American Society for Colonizing the Free People +of Color of the United States." At this last meeting Henry Clay, again +presiding, spoke in glowing terms of the possibilities of the movement; +Elias B. Caldwell, a brother-in-law of Finley, made the leading +argument; and John Randolph, of Roanoke, Va., and Robert Wright, of +Maryland, spoke of the advantages to accrue from the removal of the free +Negroes from the country (which remarks were very soon to awaken +much discussion and criticism, especially on the part of the Negroes +themselves). It is interesting to note that Mercer had no part at all in +the meeting of January 1, not even being present; he did not feel that +any but Southern men should be enrolled in the organization. However, +Bushrod Washington, the president, was a Southern man; twelve of the +seventeen vice-presidents were Southern men, among them being Andrew +Jackson and William Crawford; and all of the twelve managers were +slaveholders. + +Membership in the American Colonization Society originally consisted, +first, of such as sincerely desired to afford the free Negroes an asylum +from oppression and who hoped through them to extend to Africa the +blessings of civilization and Christianity; second, of such as sought to +enhance the value of their own slaves by removing the free Negroes; and +third, of such as desired to be relieved of any responsibility whatever +for free Negroes. The movement was widely advertised as "an effort +for the benefit of the blacks in which all parts of the country could +unite," it being understood that it was "not to have the abolition of +slavery for its immediate object," nor was it to "aim directly at the +instruction of the great body of the blacks." Such points as the last +were to prove in course of time hardly less than a direct challenge to +the different abolitionist organizations in the North, and more and more +the Society was denounced as a movement on the part of slaveholders for +perpetuating their institutions by doing away with the free people of +color. It is not to be supposed, however, that the South, with its usual +religious fervor, did not put much genuine feeling into the colonization +scheme. One man in Georgia named Tubman freed his slaves, thirty in all, +and placed them in charge of the Society with a gift of $10,000; Thomas +Hunt, a young Virginian, afterwards a chaplain in the Union Army, sent +to Liberia the slaves he had inherited, paying the entire cost of the +journey; and others acted in a similar spirit of benevolence. It was +but natural, however, for the public to be somewhat uncertain as to the +tendencies of the organization when the utterances of representative +men were sometimes directly contradictory. On January 20, 1827, for +instance, Henry Clay, then Secretary of State, speaking in the hall of +the House of Representatives at the annual meeting of the Society, said: +"Of all classes of our population, the most vicious is that of the free +colored. It is the inevitable result of their moral, political, and +civil degradation. Contaminated themselves, they extend their vices to +all around them, to the slaves and to the whites." Just a moment later +he said: "Every emigrant to Africa is a missionary carrying with him +credentials in the holy cause of civilization, religion, and free +institutions." How persons contaminated and vicious could be +missionaries of civilization and religion was something possible only in +the logic of Henry Clay. In the course of the next month Robert Y. Hayne +gave a Southern criticism in two addresses on a memorial presented in +the United States Senate by the Colonization Society.[1] The first +of these speeches was a clever one characterized by much wit and +good-humored raillery; the second was a sober arraignment. Hayne +emphasized the tremendous cost involved and the physical impossibility +of the whole undertaking, estimating that at least sixty thousand +persons a year would have to be transported to accomplish anything like +the desired result. At the close of his brilliant attack, still making +a veiled plea for the continuance of slavery, he nevertheless rose to +genuine statesmanship in dealing with the problem of the Negro, saying, +"While this process is going on the colored classes are gradually +diffusing themselves throughout the country and are making steady +advances in intelligence and refinement, and if half the zeal were +displayed in bettering their condition that is now wasted in the vain +and fruitless effort of sending them abroad, their intellectual and +moral improvement would be steady and rapid." William Lloyd Garrison was +untiring and merciless in flaying the inconsistencies and selfishness of +the colonization organization. In an editorial in the _Liberator_, July +9, 1831, he charged the Society, first, with persecution in compelling +free people to emigrate against their will and in discouraging their +education at home; second, with falsehood in saying that the Negroes +were natives of Africa when they were no more so than white Americans +were natives of Great Britain; third, with cowardice in asserting that +the continuance of the Negro population in the country involved dangers; +and finally, with infidelity in denying that the Gospel has full power +to reach the hatred in the hearts of men. In _Thoughts on African +Colonisation_ (1832) he developed exhaustively ten points as follows: +That the American Colonization Society was pledged not to oppose the +system of slavery, that it apologized for slavery and slaveholders, that +it recognized slaves as property, that by deporting Negroes it increased +the value of slaves, that it was the enemy of immediate abolition, that +it was nourished by fear and selfishness, that it aimed at the utter +expulsion of the blacks, that it was the disparager of free Negroes, +that it denied the possibility of elevating the black people of the +country, and that it deceived and misled the nation. Other criticisms +were numerous. A broadside, "The Shields of American Slavery" ("Broad +enough to hide the wrongs of two millions of stolen men") placed side by +side conflicting utterances of members of the Society; and in August, +1830, Kendall, fourth auditor, in his report to the Secretary of the +Navy, wondered why the resources of the government should be used "to +colonize recaptured Africans, to build homes for them, to furnish them +with farming utensils, to pay instructors to teach them, to purchase +ships for their convenience, to build forts for their protection, to +supply them with arms and munitions of war, to enlist troops to guard +them, and to employ the army and navy in their defense."[2] Criticism of +the American Colonization Society was prompted by a variety of motives; +but the organization made itself vulnerable at many points. The movement +attracted extraordinary attention, but has had practically no effect +whatever on the position of the Negro in the United States. Its work +in connection with the founding of Liberia, however, is of the highest +importance, and must later receive detailed attention. + +[Footnote 1: See Jervey: _Robert Y. Hayne and His Times_, 207-8.] + +[Footnote 2: Cited by McPherson, 22.] + + +3. _Slavery_ + +We have seen that from the beginning there were liberal-minded men in +the South who opposed the system of slavery, and if we actually take +note of all the utterances of different men and of the proposals for +doing away with the system, we shall find that about the turn of the +century there was in this section considerable anti-slavery sentiment. +Between 1800 and 1820, however, the opening of new lands in the +Southwest, the increasing emphasis on cotton, and the rapidly growing +Negro population, gave force to the argument of expediency; and the +Missouri Compromise drew sharply the lines of the contest. The South now +came to regard slavery as its peculiar heritage; public men were forced +to defend the institution; and in general the best thought of the +section began to be obsessed and dominated by the Negro, just as it is +to-day in large measure. In taking this position the South deliberately +committed intellectual suicide. In such matters as freedom of speech and +literary achievement, and in genuine statesmanship if not for the time +being in political influence, this part of the country declined, and +before long the difference between it and New England was appalling. +Calhoun and Hayne were strong; but between 1820 and 1860 the South had +no names to compare with Longfellow and Emerson in literature, or with +Morse and Hoe in invention. The foremost college professor, Dew, of +William and Mary, and even the outstanding divines, Furman, the Baptist, +of South Carolina, in the twenties, and Palmer, the Presbyterian of New +Orleans, in the fifties, are all now remembered mainly because they +defended their section in keeping the Negro in bonds. William and Mary +College, and even the University of Virginia, as compared with Harvard +and Yale, became provincial institutions; and instead of the Washington +or Jefferson of an earlier day now began to be nourished such a leader +as "Bob" Toombs, who for all of his fire and eloquence was a demagogue. +In making its choice the South could not and did not blame the Negro +per se, for it was freely recognized that upon slave labor rested such +economic stability as the section possessed. The tragedy was simply that +thousands of intelligent Americans deliberately turned their faces to +the past, and preferred to read the novels of Walter Scott and live in +the Middle Ages rather than study the French Revolution and live in the +nineteenth century. One hundred years after we find that the chains are +still forged, that thought is not yet free. Thus the Negro Problem began +to be, and still is, very largely the problem of the white man of the +South. The era of capitalism had not yet dawned, and still far in the +future was the day when the poor white man and the Negro were slowly to +realize that their interests were largely identical. + +The argument with which the South came to support its position and to +defend slavery need not here detain us at length. It was formally stated +by Dew and others[1] and it was to be heard on every hand. One could +hardly go to church, to say nothing of going to a public meeting, +without hearing echoes of it. In general it was maintained that slavery +had made for the civilization of the world in that it had mitigated +the evils of war, had made labor profitable, had changed the nature of +savages, and elevated woman. The slave-trade was of course horrible and +unjust, but the great advantages of the system more than outweighed a +few attendant evils. Emancipation and deportation were alike impossible. +Even if practicable, they would not be expedient measures, for they +meant the loss to Virginia of one-third of her property. As for +morality, it was not to be expected that the Negro should have the +sensibilities of the white man. Moreover the system had the advantage of +cultivating a republican spirit among the white people. In short, said +Dew, the slaves, in both the economic and the moral point of view, were +"entirely unfit for a state of freedom among the whites." Holland, +already cited, in 1822 maintained five points, as follows: 1. That the +United States are one for national purposes, but separate for their +internal regulation and government; 2. That the people of the North and +East "always exhibited an unfriendly feeling on subjects affecting the +interests of the South and West"; 3. That the institution of slavery +was not an institution of the South's voluntary choosing; 4. That the +Southern sections of the Union, both before and after the Declaration +of Independence, "had uniformly exhibited a disposition to restrict +the extension of the evil--and had always manifested as cordial a +disposition to ameliorate it as those of the North and East"; and 5. +That the actual state and condition of the slave population "reflected +no disgrace whatever on the character of the country--as the slaves were +infinitely better provided for than the laboring poor of other countries +of the world, and were generally happier than millions of white people +in the world." Such arguments the clergy supported and endeavored to +reconcile with Christian precept. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman, president +of the Baptist Convention of South Carolina,[2] after much inquiry and +reasoning, arrived at the conclusion that "the holding of slaves is +justifiable by the doctrine and example contained in Holy Writ; and is, +therefore, consistent with Christian uprightness both in sentiment and +conduct." Said he further: "The Christian golden rule, of doing +to others as we would they should do to us, has been urged as an +unanswerable argument against holding slaves. But surely this rule +is never to be urged against that order of things which the Divine +government has established; nor do our desires become a standard to us, +under this rule, unless they have a due regard to justice, propriety, +and the general good.... A father may very naturally desire that his son +should be obedient to his orders: Is he therefore to obey the orders of +his son? A man might be pleased to be exonerated from his debts by the +generosity of his creditors; or that his rich neighbor should equally +divide his property with him; and in certain circumstances might desire +these to be done: Would the mere existence of this desire oblige him +to exonerate his debtors, and to make such division of his property?" +Calhoun in 1837 formally accepted slavery, saying that the South should +no longer apologize for it; and the whole argument from the standpoint +of expediency received eloquent expression in the Senate of the United +States from no less a man than Henry Clay, who more and more appears in +the perspective as a pro-Southern advocate. Said he: "I am no friend of +slavery. But I prefer the liberty of my own country to that of any other +people; and the liberty of my own race to that of any other race. +The liberty of the descendants of Africa in the United States is +incompatible with the safety and liberty of the European descendants. +Their slavery forms an exception--an exception resulting from a +stern and inexorable necessity--to the general liberty in the United +States."[3] After the lapse of years the pro-slavery argument is pitiful +in its numerous fallacies. It was in line with much of the discussion of +the day that questioned whether the Negro was actually a human being, +and but serves to show to what extremes economic interest will sometimes +drive men otherwise of high intelligence and honor. + +[Footnote 1: _The Pro-Slavery Argument_ (as maintained by the most +distinguished writers of the Southern states). Charleston, 1852.] + +[Footnote 2: "Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the Views of the +Baptists relative to the Coloured Population in the United States, in +a Communication to the Governor of South Carolina." Second edition, +Charleston, 1833 (letter bears original date, December 24, 1822).] + +[Footnote 3: Address "On Abolition," February 7, 1839.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE NEGRO REPLY, I: REVOLT + + +We have already seen that on several occasions in colonial times the +Negroes in bondage made a bid for freedom, many men risking their all +and losing their lives in consequence. In general these early attempts +failed completely to realize their aim, organization being feeble and +the leadership untrained and exerting only an emotional hold over +adherents. In Charleston, S.C., in 1822, however, there was planned an +insurrection about whose scope there could be no question. The leader, +Denmark Vesey, is interesting as an intellectual insurrectionist just as +the more famous Nat Turner is typical of the more fervent sort. It is +the purpose of the present chapter to study the attempts for freedom +made by these two men, and also those of two daring groups of captives +who revolted at sea. + + +1. _Denmark Vesey's Insurrection_ + +Denmark Vesey is first seen as one of the three hundred and ninety +slaves on the ship of Captain Vesey, who commanded a vessel trading +between St. Thomas and Cape Francois (Santo Domingo), and who was +engaged in supplying the French of the latter place with slaves. At the +time, the boy was fourteen years old, and of unusual personal beauty, +alertness, and magnetism. He was shown considerable favoritism, and +was called Telemaque (afterwards corrupted to _Telmak_, and then to +_Denmark_). On his arrival at Cape Francois, Denmark was sold with +others of the slaves to a planter who owned a considerable estate. On +his next trip, however, Captain Vesey learned that the boy was to be +returned to him as unsound and subject to epileptic fits. The laws of +the place permitted the return of a slave in such a case, and while it +has been thought that Denmark's fits may have been feigned in order that +he might have some change of estate, there was quite enough proof in the +matter to impress the king's physician. Captain Vesey never had reason +to regret having to take the boy back. They made several voyages +together, and Denmark served until 1800 as his faithful personal +attendant. In this year the young man, now thirty-three years of age and +living in Charleston, won $1,500 in an East Bay Street lottery, $600 of +which he devoted immediately to the purchase of his freedom. The sum was +much less than he was really worth, but Captain Vesey liked him and had +no reason to drive a hard bargain with him. + +In the early years of his full manhood accordingly Denmark Vesey found +himself a free man in his own right and possessed of the means for a +little real start in life. He improved his time and proceeded to win +greater standing and recognition by regular and industrious work at his +trade, that of a carpenter. Over the slaves he came to have unbounded +influence. Among them, in accordance with the standards of the day, he +had several wives and children (none of whom could he call his own), and +he understood perfectly the fervor and faith and superstition of the +Negroes with whom he had to deal. To his remarkable personal magnetism +moreover he added just the strong passion and the domineering temper +that were needed to make his conquest complete. + +Thus for twenty years he worked on. He already knew French as well +as English, but he now studied and reflected upon as wide a range of +subjects as possible. It was not expected at the time that there would +be religious classes or congregations of Negroes apart from the white +people; but the law was not strictly observed, and for a number of +years a Negro congregation had a church in Hampstead in the suburbs +of Charleston. At the meetings here and elsewhere Vesey found his +opportunity, and he drew interesting parallels between the experiences +of the Jews and the Negroes. He would rebuke a companion on the street +for bowing to a white person; and if such a man replied, "We are +slaves," he would say, "You deserve to be." If the man then asked +what he could do to better his condition, he would say, "Go and buy a +spelling-book and read the fable of Hercules and the wagoner."[1] At the +same time if he happened to engage in conversation with white people in +the presence of Negroes, he would often take occasion to introduce some +striking remark on slavery. He regularly held up to emulation the work +of the Negroes of Santo Domingo; and either he or one of his chief +lieutenants clandestinely sent a letter to the President of Santo +Domingo to ask if the people there would help the Negroes of Charleston +if the latter made an effort to free themselves.[2] About 1820 moreover, +when he heard of the African Colonization scheme and the opportunity +came to him to go, he put this by, waiting for something better. This +was the period of the Missouri Compromise. Reports of the agitation and +of the debates in Congress were eagerly scanned by those Negroes in +Charleston who could read; rumor exaggerated them; and some of the more +credulous of the slaves came to believe that the efforts of Northern +friends had actually emancipated them and that they were being illegally +held in bondage. Nor was the situation improved when the city marshal, +John J. Lafar, on January 15, 1821, reminded those ministers or other +persons who kept night and Sunday schools for Negroes that the law +forbade the education of such persons and would have to be enforced. +Meanwhile Vesey was very patient. After a few months, however, he ceased +to work at his trade in order that all the more he might devote +himself to the mission of his life. This was, as he conceived it, an +insurrection that would do nothing less than totally annihilate the +white population of Charleston. + +[Footnote 1: Official Report, 19.] + +[Footnote 2: Official Report, 96-97, and Higginson, 232-3.] + +In the prosecution of such a plan the greatest secrecy and faithfulness +were of course necessary, and Vesey waited until about Christmas, 1821, +to begin active recruiting. He first sounded Ned and Rolla Bennett, +slaves of Governor Thomas Bennett, and then Peter Poyas and Jack +Purcell. After Christmas he spoke to Gullah Jack and Monday Gell; +and Lot Forrester and Frank Ferguson became his chief agents for the +plantations outside of Charleston.[1] In the whole matter of the choice +of his chief assistants he showed remarkable judgment of character. His +penetration was almost uncanny. "Rolla was plausible, and possessed +uncommon self-possession; bold and ardent, he was not to be deterred +from his purpose by danger. Ned's appearance indicated that he was a man +of firm nerves and desperate courage. Peter was intrepid and resolute, +true to his engagements, and cautious in observing secrecy when it was +necessary; he was not to be daunted or impeded by difficulties, and +though confident of success, was careful in providing against any +obstacles or casualties which might arise, and intent upon discovering +every means which might be in their power if thought of beforehand. +Gullah Jack was regarded as a sorcerer, and as such feared by the +natives of Africa, who believe in witchcraft. He was not only considered +invulnerable, but that he could make others so by his charms; and that +he could and certainly would provide all his followers with arms.... +His influence amongst the Africans was inconceivable. Monday was firm, +resolute, discreet, and intelligent."[2] He was also daring and active, +a harness-maker in the prime of life, and he could read and write with +facility; but he was also the only man of prominence in the conspiracy +whose courage failed him in court and who turned traitor. To these names +must be added that of Batteau Bennett, who was only eighteen years old +and who brought to the plan all the ardor and devotion of youth. In +general Vesey sought to bring into the plan those Negroes, such as +stevedores and mechanics, who worked away from home and who had some +free time. He would not use men who were known to become intoxicated, +and one talkative man named George he excluded from his meetings. Nor +did he use women, not because he did not trust them, but because in case +of mishap he wanted the children to be properly cared for. "Take care," +said Peter Poyas, in speaking about the plan to one of the recruits, +"and don't mention it to those waiting men who receive presents of old +coats, etc., from their masters, or they'll betray us; I will speak to +them." + +[Footnote 1: Official Report, 20. Note that Higginson, who was so +untiring in his research, strangely confuses Jack Purcell and Gullah +Jack (p. 230). The men were quite distinct, as appears throughout the +report and from the list of those executed. The name of Gullah Jack's +owner was Pritchard.] + +[Footnote 2: Official Report, 24. Note that this remarkable +characterization was given by the judges, Kennedy and Parker, who +afterwards condemned the men to death.] + +With his lieutenants Vesey finally brought into the plan the Negroes for +seventy or eighty miles around Charleston. The second Monday in July, +1822, or Sunday, July 14, was the time originally set for the attack. +July was chosen because in midsummer many of the white people were +away at different resorts; and Sunday received favorable consideration +because on that day the slaves from the outlying plantations were +frequently permitted to come to the city. Lists of the recruits were +kept. Peter Poyas is said to have gathered as many as six hundred names, +chiefly from that part of Charleston known as South Bay in which he +lived; and it is a mark of his care and discretion that of all of those +afterwards arrested and tried, not one belonged to his company. Monday +Gell, who joined late and was very prudent, had forty-two names. All +such lists, however, were in course of time destroyed. "During the +period that these enlistments were carrying on, Vesey held frequent +meetings of the conspirators at his house; and as arms were necessary to +their success, each night a hat was handed round, and collections made, +for the purpose of purchasing them, and also to defray other necessary +expenses. A Negro who was a blacksmith and had been accustomed to make +edged tools, was employed to make pike-heads and bayonets with sockets, +to be fixed at the ends of long poles and used as pikes. Of these +pike-heads and bayonets, one hundred were said to have been made at an +early day, and by the 16th June as many as two or three hundred, and +between three and four hundred daggers."[1] A bundle containing some of +the poles, neatly trimmed and smoothed off, and nine or ten feet long, +was afterwards found concealed on a farm on Charleston Neck, where +several of the meetings were held, having been carried there to have the +pike-heads and bayonets fixed in place. Governor Bennett stated that the +number of poles thus found was thirteen, but so wary were the Negroes +that he and other prominent men underestimated the means of attack. It +was thought that the Negroes in Charleston might use their masters' +arms, while those from the country were to bring hoes, hatchets, and +axes. For their main supply of arms, however, Vesey and Peter Poyas +depended upon the magazines and storehouses in the city. They planned to +seize the Arsenal in Meeting Street opposite St. Michael's Church; it +was the key to the city, held the arms of the state, and had for some +time been neglected. Poyas at a given signal at midnight was to move +upon this point, killing the sentinel. Two large gun and powder stores +were by arrangement to be at the disposal of the insurrectionists; and +other leaders, coming from six different directions, were to seize +strategic points and thus aid the central work of Poyas. Meanwhile a +body of horse was to keep the streets clear. "Eat only dry food," said +Gullah Jack as the day approached, "parched corn and ground nuts, and +when you join us as we pass put this crab claw in your mouth and you +can't be wounded." + +[Footnote 1: Official Report, 31-32.] + +On May 25[1] a slave of Colonel Prioleau, while on an errand at the +wharf, was accosted by another slave, William Paul, who remarked: "I +have often seen a flag with the number 76, but never one with the number +96 upon it before." As this man showed no knowledge of what was going +on, Paul spoke to him further and quite frankly about the plot. The +slave afterwards spoke to a free man about what he had heard; this man +advised him to tell his master about it; and so he did on Prioleau's +return on May 30. Prioleau immediately informed the Intendant, or Mayor, +and by five o'clock in the afternoon both the slave and Paul were being +examined. Paul was placed in confinement, but not before his testimony +had implicated Peter Poyas and Mingo Harth, a man who had been appointed +to lead one of the companies of horse. Harth and Poyas were cool and +collected, however, they ridiculed the whole idea, and the wardens, +completely deceived, discharged them. In general at this time the +authorities were careful and endeavored not to act hastily. About June +8, however, Paul, greatly excited and fearing execution, confessed that +the plan was very extensive and said that it was led by an individual +who bore a charmed life. Ned Bennett, hearing that his name had been +mentioned, voluntarily went before the Intendant and asked to be +examined, thus again completely baffling the officials. All the while, +in the face of the greatest danger, Vesey continued to hold his +meetings. By Friday, June 14, however, another informant had spoken +to his master, and all too fully were Peter Poyas's fears about +"waiting-men" justified. This man said that the original plan had been +changed, for the night of Sunday, June 16, was now the time set for +the insurrection, and otherwise he was able to give all essential +information.[2] On Saturday night, June 15, Jesse Blackwood, an aid sent +into the country to prepare the slaves to enter the following day, while +he penetrated two lines of guards, was at the third line halted and sent +back into the city. Vesey now realized in a moment that all his plans +were disclosed, and immediately he destroyed any papers that might prove +to be incriminating. "On Sunday, June 16, at ten o'clock at night, +Captain Cattle's Corps of Hussars, Captain Miller's Light Infantry, +Captain Martindale's Neck Rangers, the Charleston Riflemen and the City +Guard were ordered to rendezvous for guard, the whole organized as a +detachment under command of Colonel R.Y. Hayne."[3] It was his work on +this occasion that gave Hayne that appeal to the public which was later +to help him to pass on to the governorship and then to the United States +Senate. On the fateful night twenty or thirty men from the outlying +districts who had not been able to get word of the progress of events, +came to the city in a small boat, but Vesey sent word to them to go back +as quickly as possible. + +[Footnote 1: Higginson, 215.] + +[Footnote 2: For reasons of policy the names of these informers were +withheld from publication, but they were well known, of course, to +the Negroes of Charleston. The published documents said of the chief +informer, "It would be a libel on the liberality and gratitude of this +community to suppose that this man can be overlooked among those who are +to be rewarded for their fidelity and principle." The author has been +informed that his reward for betraying his people was to be officially +and legally declared "a white man."] + +[Footnote 3: Jervey: _Robert Y. Hayne and His Times_, 131-2.] + +Two courts were formed for the trial of the conspirators. The first, +after a long session of five weeks, was dissolved July 20; a second was +convened, but after three days closed its investigation and adjourned +August 8.[1] All the while the public mind was greatly excited. The +first court, which speedily condemned thirty-four men to death, was +severely criticized. The New York _Daily Advertiser_ termed the +execution "a bloody sacrifice"; but Charleston replied with the reminder +of the Negroes who had been burned in New York in 1741.[2] Some of the +Negroes blamed the leaders for the trouble into which they had been +brought, but Vesey himself made no confession. He was by no means alone. +"Do not open your lips," said Poyas; "die silent as you shall see me +do." Something of the solicitude of owners for their slaves may be +seen from the request of Governor Bennett himself in behalf of Batteau +Bennett. He asked for a special review of the case of this young man, +who was among those condemned to death, "with a view to the mitigation +of his punishment." The court did review the case, but it did not change +its sentence. Throughout the proceedings the white people of Charleston +were impressed by the character of those who had taken part in the +insurrection; "many of them possessed the highest confidence of their +owners, and not one was of bad character."[3] + +[Footnote 1: Bennett letter.] + +[Footnote 2: See _City Gazette_, August 14, 1822, cited by Jervey.] + +[Footnote 3: Official Report, 44.] + +As a result of this effort for freedom one hundred and thirty-one +Negroes were arrested; thirty-five were executed and forty-three +banished.[1] Of those executed, Denmark Vesey, Peter Poyas, Ned Bennett, +Rolla Bennett, Batteau Bennett, and Jesse Blackwood were hanged July 2; +Gullah Jack and one more on July 12; twenty-two were hanged on a huge +gallows Friday, July 26; four more were hanged July 30, and one on +August 9. Of those banished, twelve had been sentenced for execution, +but were afterwards given banishment instead; twenty-one were to be +transported by their masters beyond the limits of the United States; +one, a free man, required to leave the state, satisfied the court by +offering to leave the United States, while nine others who were not +definitely sentenced were strongly recommended to their owners for +banishment. The others of the one hundred and thirty-one were acquitted. +The authorities at length felt that they had executed enough to teach +the Negroes a lesson, and the hanging ceased; but within the next +year or two Governor Bennett and others gave to the world most gloomy +reflections upon the whole proceeding and upon the grave problem at +their door. Thus closed the insurrection that for the ambitiousness of +its plan, the care with which it was matured, and the faithfulness of +the leaders to one another, was never equalled by a similar attempt for +freedom in the United States. + +[Footnote 1: The figure is sometimes given as 37, but the lists total +43.] + + +_2. Nat Turner's Insurrection_ + +About noon on Sunday, August 21, 1831, on the plantation of Joseph +Travis at Cross Keys, in Southampton County, in Southeastern Virginia, +were gathered four Negroes, Henry Porter, Hark Travis, Nelson Williams, +and Sam Francis, evidently preparing for a barbecue. They were soon +joined by a gigantic and athletic Negro named Will Francis, and by +another named Jack Reese. Two hours later came a short, strong-looking +man who had a face of great resolution and at whom one would not +have needed to glance a second time to know that he was to be the +master-spirit of the company. Seeing Will and his companion he raised a +question as to their being present, to which Will replied that life was +worth no more to him than the others and that liberty was as dear to +him. This answer satisfied the latest comer, and Nat Turner now went +into conference with his most trusted friends. One can only imagine the +purpose, the eagerness, and the firmness on those dark faces throughout +that long summer afternoon and evening. When at last in the night the +low whispering ceased, the doom of nearly three-score white persons--and +it might be added, of twice as many Negroes--was sealed. + +Cross Keys was seventy miles from Norfolk, just about as far from +Richmond, twenty-five miles from the Dismal Swamp, fifteen miles from +Murfreesboro in North Carolina, and also fifteen miles from Jerusalem, +the county seat of Southampton County. The community was settled +primarily by white people of modest means. Joseph Travis, the owner of +Nat Turner, had recently married the widow of one Putnam Moore. + +Nat Turner, who originally belonged to one Benjamin Turner, was born +October 2, 1800. He was mentally precocious and had marks on his head +and breast which were interpreted by the Negroes who knew him as marking +him for some high calling. In his mature years he also had on his right +arm a knot which was the result of a blow which he had received. He +experimented in paper, gunpowder, and pottery, and it is recorded of him +that he was never known to swear an oath, to drink a drop of spirits, +or to commit a theft. Instead he cultivated fasting and prayer and the +reading of the Bible. + +More and more Nat gave himself up to a life of the spirit and to +communion with the voices that he said he heard. He once ran away for +a month, but felt commanded by the spirit to return. About 1825 a +consciousness of his great mission came to him, and daily he labored +to make himself more worthy. As he worked in the field he saw drops +of blood on the corn, and he also saw white spirits and black spirits +contending in the skies. While he thus so largely lived in a religious +or mystical world and was immersed, he was not a professional Baptist +preacher. On May 12, 1828, he was left no longer in doubt. A great voice +said unto him that the Serpent was loosed, that Christ had laid down the +yoke, that he, Nat, was to take it up again, and that the time was fast +approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first. +An eclipse of the sun in February, 1831, was interpreted as the sign for +him to go forward. Yet he waited a little longer, until he had made sure +of his most important associates. It is worthy of note that when he +began his work, while he wanted the killing to be as effective and +widespread as possible, he commanded that no outrage be committed, and +he was obeyed. + +When on the Sunday in August Nat and his companions finished their +conference, they went to find Austin, a brother-spirit; and then all +went to the cider-press and drank except Nat. It was understood that he +as the leader was to spill the first blood, and that he was to begin +with his own master, Joseph Travis. Going to the house, Hark placed +a ladder against the chimney. On this Nat ascended; then he went +downstairs, unbarred the doors, and removed the guns from their places. +He and Will together entered Travis's chamber, and the first blow was +given to the master of the house. The hatchet glanced off and Travis +called to his wife; but this was with his last breath, for Will at once +despatched him with his ax. The wife and the three children of the house +were also killed immediately. Then followed a drill of the company, +after which all went to the home of Salathiel Francis six hundred yards +away. Sam and Will knocked, and Francis asked who was there. Sam replied +that he had a letter, for him. The man came to the door, where he was +seized and killed by repeated blows over the head. He was the only white +person in the house. In silence all passed on to the home of Mrs. +Reese, who was killed while asleep in bed. Her son awoke, but was also +immediately killed. A mile away the insurrectionists came to the home of +Mrs. Turner, which they reached about sunrise on Monday morning. Henry, +Austin, and Sam went to the still, where they found and killed the +overseer, Peebles, Austin shooting him. Then all went to the house. The +family saw them coming and shut the door--to no avail, however, as Will +with one stroke of his ax opened it and entered to find Mrs. Turner and +Mrs. Newsome in the middle of the room almost frightened to death. Will +killed Mrs. Turner with one blow of his ax, and after Nat had struck +Mrs. Newsome over the head with his sword, Will turned and killed her +also. By this time the company amounted to fifteen. Nine went mounted to +the home of Mrs. Whitehead and six others went along a byway to the home +of Henry Bryant. As they neared the first house Richard Whitehead, the +son of the family, was standing in the cotton-patch near the fence. +Will killed him with his ax immediately. In the house he killed Mrs. +Whitehead, almost severing her head from her body with one blow. +Margaret, a daughter, tried to conceal herself and ran, but was killed +by Turner with a fence-rail. The men in this first company were now +joined by those in the second, the six who had gone to the Bryant home, +who informed them that they had done the work assigned, which was to +kill Henry Bryant himself, his wife and child, and his wife's mother. By +this time the killing had become fast and furious. The company divided +again; some would go ahead, and Nat would come up to find work already +accomplished. Generally fifteen or twenty of the best mounted were put +in front to strike terror and prevent escape, and Nat himself frequently +did not get to the houses where killing was done. More and more the +Negroes, now about forty in number, were getting drunken and noisy. +The alarm was given, and by nine or ten o'clock on Monday morning one +Captain Harris and his family had escaped. Prominent among the events of +the morning, however, was the killing at the home of Mrs. Waller of ten +children who were gathering for school.[1] + +[Footnote 1: In "Horrid Massacre," or, to use the more formal title, +"Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical Scene which was +Witnessed in Southampton County (Virginia) on Monday the 22d of August +Last," the list below of the victims of Nat Turner's insurrection +is given. It must be said about this work, however, that it is not +altogether impeccable; it seems to have been prepared very hastily after +the event, its spelling of names is often arbitrary, and instead of the +fifty-five victims noted it appears that at least fifty-seven white +persons were killed: + + Joseph Travis, wife and three children 5 + Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, Hartwell Peebles, and Sarah Newsum 3 + Mrs. Piety Reese and son, William 2 + Trajan Doyal 1 + Henry Briant, wife and child, and wife's mother 4 + Mrs. Catherine Whitehead, her son Richard, four daughters + and a grandchild 7 + Salathael Francis 1 + Nathaniel Francis's overseer and two children 3 + John T. Barrow and George Vaughan 2 + Mrs. Levi Waller and ten children 11 + Mr. William Williams, wife and two boys 4 + Mrs. Caswell Worrell and child 2 + Mrs. Rebacca Vaughan, Ann Eliza Vaughan, and son Arthur 3 + Mrs. Jacob Williams and three children and Edwin Drewry 5 + __ + 55 ] + +As the men neared the home of James Parker, it was suggested that +they call there; but Turner objected, as this man had already gone to +Jerusalem and he himself wished to reach the county seat as soon as +possible. However, he and some of the men remained at the gate while +others went to the house half a mile away. This exploit proved to be the +turning-point of the events of the day. Uneasy at the delay of those who +went to the house, Turner went thither also. On his return he was met by +a company of white men who had fired on those Negroes left at the gate +and dispersed them. On discovering these men, Turner ordered his own men +to halt and form, as now they were beginning to be alarmed. The white +men, eighteen in number, approached and fired, but were forced to +retreat. Reenforcements for them from Jerusalem were already at hand, +however, and now the great pursuit of the Negro insurrectionists began. + +Hark's horse was shot under him and five or six of the men were wounded. +Turner's force was largely dispersed, but on Monday night he stopped at +the home of Major Ridley, and his company again increased to forty. He +tried to sleep a little, but a sentinel gave the alarm; all were soon up +and the number was again reduced to twenty. Final resistance was offered +at the home of Dr. Blunt, but here still more of the men were put to +flight and were never again seen by Turner. + +A little later, however, the leader found two of his men named Jacob and +Nat. These he sent with word to Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam to meet him +at the place where on Sunday they had taken dinner together. With what +thoughts Nat Turner returned alone to this place on Tuesday evening can +only be imagined. Throughout the night he remained, but no one joined +him and he presumed that his followers had all either been taken or had +deserted him. Nor did any one come on Wednesday, or on Thursday. On +Thursday night, having supplied himself with provisions from the Travis +home, he scratched a hole under a pile of fence-rails, and here he +remained for six weeks, leaving only at night to get water. All +the while of course he had no means of learning of the fate of his +companions or of anything else. Meanwhile not only the vicinity but +the whole South was being wrought up to an hysterical state of mind. A +reward of $500 for the capture of the man was offered by the Governor, +and other rewards were also offered. On September 30 a false account of +his capture appeared in the newspapers; on October 7 another; on October +8 still another. By this time Turner had begun to move about a little at +night, not speaking to any human being and returning always to his hole +before daybreak. Early on October 15 a dog smelt his provisions and led +thither two Negroes. Nat appealed to these men for protection, but they +at once began to run and excitedly spread the news. Turner fled in +another direction and for ten days more hid among the wheat-stacks on +the Francis plantation. All the while not less than five hundred men +were on the watch for him, and they found the stick that he had notched +from day to day. Once he thought of surrendering, and walked within two +miles of Jerusalem. Three times he tried to get away, and failed. On +October 25 he was discovered by Francis, who discharged at him a load of +buckshot, twelve of which passed through his hat, and he was at large +for five days more. On October 30 Benjamin Phipps, a member of the +patrol, passing a clearing in the woods noticed a motion among the +boughs. He paused, and gradually he saw Nat's head emerging from a hole +beneath. The fugitive now gave up as he knew that the woods were full of +men. He was taken to the nearest house, and the crowd was so great and +the excitement so intense that it was with difficulty that he was taken +to Jerusalem. For more than two months, from August 25 to October 30, he +had eluded his pursuers, remaining all the while in the vicinity of his +insurrection. + +While Nat Turner was in prison, Thomas C. Gray, his counsel, received +from him what are known as his "Confessions." This pamphlet is now +almost inaccessible,[1] but it was in great demand at the time it +was printed and it is now the chief source for information about the +progress of the insurrection. Turner was tried November 5 and sentenced +to be hanged six days later. Asked in court by Gray if he still believed +in the providential nature of his mission, he asked, "Was not Christ +crucified?" Of his execution itself we read: "Nat Turner was executed +according to sentence, on Friday, the 11th of November, 1831, at +Jerusalem, between the hours of 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. He exhibited the +utmost composure throughout the whole ceremony; and, although assured +that he might, if he thought proper, address the immense crowd assembled +on the occasion, declined availing himself of the privilege; and, being +asked if he had any further confessions to make, replied that he had +nothing more than he had communicated; and told the sheriff in a firm +voice that he was ready. Not a limb or muscle was observed to move. His +body, after death, was given over to the surgeons for dissection." + +[Footnote 1: The only copy that the author has seen is that in the +library of Harvard University.] + +Of fifty-three Negroes arraigned in connection with the insurrection +"seventeen were executed and twelve transported. The rest were +discharged, except ... four free Negroes sent on to the Superior Court. +Three of the four were executed." [1] Such figures as these, however, +give no conception of the number of those who lost their lives in +connection with the insurrection. In general, if slaves were convicted +by legal process and executed or transported, or if they escaped before +trial, they were paid for by the commonwealth; if killed, they were not +paid for, and a man like Phipps might naturally desire to protect his +prisoner in order to get his reward. In spite of this, the Negroes were +slaughtered without trial and sometimes under circumstances of the +greatest barbarity. One man proudly boasted that he had killed between +ten and fifteen. A party went from Richmond with the intention of +killing every Negro in Southampton County. Approaching the cabin of a +free Negro they asked, "Is this Southampton County?" "Yes, sir," came +the reply, "you have just crossed the line by yonder tree." They shot +him dead and rode on. In general the period was one of terror, with +voluntary patrols, frequently drunk, going in all directions. These men +tortured, burned, or maimed the Negroes practically at will. Said one +old woman [2] of them: "The patrols were low drunken whites, and in +Nat's time, if they heard any of the colored folks prayin' or singin' a +hymn, they would fall upon 'em and abuse 'em, and sometimes kill 'em.... +The brightest and best was killed in Nat's time. The whites always +suspect such ones. They killed a great many at a place called Duplon. +They killed Antonio, a slave of Mr. J. Stanley, whom they shot; then +they pointed their guns at him and told him to confess about +the insurrection. He told 'em he didn't know anything about any +insurrection. They shot several balls through him, quartered him, and +put his head on a pole at the fork of the road leading to the court.... +It was there but a short time. He had no trial. They never do. In Nat's +time, the patrols would tie up the free colored people, flog 'em, and +try to make 'em lie against one another, and often killed them before +anybody could interfere. Mr. James Cole, High Sheriff, said if any of +the patrols came on his plantation, he would lose his life in defense of +his people. One day he heard a patroller boasting how many Negroes +he had killed. Mr. Cole said, 'If you don't pack up, as quick as God +Almighty will let you, and get out of this town, and never be seen in +it again, I'll put you where dogs won't bark at you.' He went off, and +wasn't seen in them parts again." + +[Footnote 1: Drewry, 101.] + +[Footnote 2: Charity Bowery, who gave testimony to L.M. Child, quoted by +Higginson.] + +The immediate panic created by the Nat Turner insurrection in Virginia +and the other states of the South it would be impossible to exaggerate. +When the news of what was happening at Cross Keys spread, two companies, +on horse and foot, came from Murfreesboro as quickly as possible. On +the Wednesday after the memorable Sunday night there came from Fortress +Monroe three companies and a piece of artillery. These commands were +reenforced from various sources until not less than eight hundred men +were in arms. Many of the Negroes fled to the Dismal Swamp, and the +wildest rumors were afloat. One was that Wilmington had been burned, and +in Raleigh and Fayetteville the wildest excitement prevailed. In the +latter place scores of white women and children fled to the swamps, +coming out two days afterwards muddy, chilled, and half-starved. Slaves +were imprisoned wholesale. In Wilmington four men were shot without +trial and their heads placed on poles at the four corners of the town. +In Macon, Ga., a report was circulated that an armed band of Negroes was +only five miles away, and within an hour the women and children were +assembled in the largest building in the town, with a military force in +front for protection. + +The effects on legislation were immediate. Throughout the South the +slave codes became more harsh; and while it was clear that the uprising +had been one of slaves rather than of free Negroes, as usual special +disabilities fell upon the free people of color. Delaware, that only +recently had limited the franchise to white men, now forbade the use of +firearms by free Negroes and would not suffer any more to come within +the state. Tennessee also forbade such immigration, while Maryland +passed a law to the effect that all free Negroes must leave the state +and be colonized in Africa--a monstrous piece of legislation that it was +impossible to put into effect and that showed once for all the futility +of attempts at forcible emigration as a solution of the problem. In +general, however, the insurrection assisted the colonization scheme and +also made more certain the carrying out of the policy of the Jackson +administration to remove the Indians of the South to the West. It also +focussed the attention of the nation upon the status of the Negro, +crystallized opinion in the North, and thus helped with the formation of +anti-slavery organizations. By it for the time being the Negro lost; in +the long run he gained. + + +3. _The "Amistad" and "Creole" Cases_ + +On June 28, 1839, a schooner, the _Amistad_, sailed from Havana bound +for Guanaja in the vicinity of Puerto Principe. She was under the +command of her owner, Don Ramon Ferrer, was laden with merchandise, and +had on board fifty-three Negroes, forty-nine of whom supposedly belonged +to a Spaniard, Don Jose Ruiz, the other four belonging to Don Pedro +Montes. During the night of June 30 the slaves, under the lead of one +of their number named Cinque, rose upon the crew, killed the captain, a +slave of his, and two sailors, and while they permitted most of the crew +to escape, they took into close custody the two owners, Ruiz and Montes. +Montes, who had some knowledge of nautical affairs, was ordered to steer +the vessel back to Africa. So he did by day, when the Negroes would +watch him, but at night he tried to make his way to some land nearer at +hand. Other vessels passed from time to time, and from these the Negroes +bought provisions, but Montes and Ruiz were so closely watched that they +could not make known their plight. At length, on August 26, the schooner +reached Long Island Sound, where it was detained by the American +brig-of-war _Washington_, in command of Captain Gedney, who secured the +Negroes and took them to New London, Conn. It took a year and a half to +dispose of the issue thus raised. The case attracted the greatest amount +of attention, led to international complications, and was not really +disposed of until a former President had exhaustively argued the case +for the Negroes before the Supreme Court of the United States. + +In a letter of September 6, 1839, to John Forsyth, the American +Secretary of State, Calderon, the Spanish minister, formally made four +demands: 1. That the _Amistad_ be immediately delivered up to her owner, +together with every article on board at the time of her capture; 2. That +it be declared that no tribunal in the United States had the right to +institute proceedings against, or to impose penalties upon, the subjects +of Spain, for crimes committed on board a Spanish vessel, and in the +waters of Spanish territory; 3. That the Negroes be conveyed to Havana +or otherwise placed at the disposal of the representatives of Spain; and +4. That if, in consequence of the intervention of the authorities in +Connecticut, there should be any delay in the desired delivery of the +vessel and the slaves, the owners both of the latter and of the former +be indemnified for the injury that might accrue to them. In support of +his demands Calderon invoked "the law of nations, the stipulations +of existing treaties, and those good feelings so necessary in the +maintenance of the friendly relations that subsist between the two +countries, and are so interesting to both." Forsyth asked for any papers +bearing on the question, and Calderon replied that he had none except +"the declaration on oath of Montes and Ruiz." + +Meanwhile the abolitionists were insisting that protection had _not_ +been afforded the African strangers cast on American soil and that in +no case did the executive arm of the Government have any authority to +interfere with the regular administration of justice. "These Africans," +it was said, "are detained in jail, under process of the United States +courts, in a free state, after it has been decided by the District +Judge, on sufficient proof, that they are recently from Africa, were +never the lawful slaves of Ruiz and Montes," and "when it is clear as +noonday that there is no law or treaty stipulation that requires the +further detention of these Africans or their delivery to Spain or its +subjects." + +Writing on October 24 to the Spanish representative with reference to +the arrest of Ruiz and Montes, Forsyth informed him that the two Spanish +subjects had been arrested on process issuing from the superior court of +the city of New York upon affidavits of certain men, natives of Africa, +"for the purpose of securing their appearance before the proper +tribunal, to answer for wrongs alleged to have been inflicted by them +upon the persons of said Africans," that, consequently, the occurrence +constituted simply a "case of resort by individuals against others +to the judicial courts of the country, which are equally open to all +without distinction," and that the agency of the Government to obtain +the release of Messrs. Ruiz and Montes could not be afforded in the +manner requested. Further pressure was brought to bear by the Spanish +representative, however, and there was cited the case of Abraham +Wendell, captain of the brig _Franklin_, who was prosecuted at first by +Spanish officials for maltreatment of his mate, but with reference to +whom documents were afterwards sent from Havana to America. Much more +correspondence followed, and Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, Attorney +General of the United States, at length muddled everything by the +following opinion: "These Negroes deny that they are slaves; if they +should be delivered to the claimants, no opportunity may be afforded for +the assertion of their right to freedom. For these reasons, it seems to +me that a delivery to the Spanish minister is the only safe course for +this Government to pursue." The fallacy of all this was shown in a +letter dated November 18, 1839, from B.F. Butler, United States District +Attorney in New York, to Aaron Vail, acting Secretary of State. Said +Butler: "It does not appear to me that any question has yet arisen under +the treaty with Spain; because, although it is an admitted principle, +that neither the courts of this state, nor those of the United States, +can take jurisdiction of criminal offenses committed by foreigners +within the territory of a foreign state, yet it is equally settled in +this country, that our courts will take cognizance of _civil_ actions +between foreigners transiently within our jurisdiction, founded upon +contracts or other transactions made or had in a foreign state." +Southern influence was strong, however, and a few weeks afterwards an +order was given from the Department of State to have a vessel anchor +off New Haven, Conn., January 10, 1840, to receive the Negroes from +the United States marshal and take them to Cuba; and on January 7 the +President, Van Buren, issued the necessary warrant. + +The rights of humanity, however, were not to be handled in this summary +fashion. The executive order was stayed, and the case went further +on its progress to the highest tribunal in the land. Meanwhile the +anti-slavery people were teaching the Africans the rudiments of English +in order that they might be better able to tell their own story. From +the first a committee had been appointed to look out for their interests +and while they were awaiting the final decision in their case they +cultivated a garden of fifteen acres. + +The appearance of John Quincy Adams in behalf of these Negroes before +the Supreme Court of the United States February 24 and March 1, 1841, is +in every way one of the most beautiful acts in American history. In the +fullness of years, with his own administration as President twelve years +behind him, the "Old Man Eloquent" came once more to the tribunal that +he knew so well to make a last plea for the needy and oppressed. To the +task he brought all his talents--his profound knowledge of law, his +unrivaled experience, and his impressive personality; and his argument +covers 135 octavo pages. He gave an extended analysis of the demand of +the Spanish minister, who asked the President to do what he simply had +no constitutional right to do. "The President," said Adams, "has no +power to arrest either citizens or foreigners. But even that power is +almost insignificant compared with that of sending men beyond seas to +deliver them up to a foreign government." The Secretary of State had +"degraded the country, in the face of the whole civilized world, not +only by allowing these demands to remain unanswered, but by proceeding, +throughout the whole transaction, as if the Executive were earnestly +desirous to comply with every one of the demands." The Spanish minister +had naturally insisted in his demands because he had not been properly +met at first. The slave-trade was illegal by international agreement, +and the only thing to do under the circumstances was to release the +Negroes. Adams closed his plea with a magnificent review of his career +and of the labors of the distinguished jurists he had known in the court +for nearly forty years, and be it recorded wherever the name of Justice +is spoken, he won his case. + +Lewis Tappan now accompanied the Africans on a tour through the states +to raise money for their passage home. The first meeting was in Boston. +Several members of the company interested the audience by their readings +from the New Testament or by their descriptions of their own country +and of the horrors of the voyage. Cinque gave the impression of great +dignity and of extraordinary ability; and Kali, a boy only eleven years +of age, also attracted unusual attention. Near the close of 1841, +accompanied by five missionaries and teachers, the Africans set sail +from New York, to make their way first to Sierra Leone and then to their +own homes as well as they could. + +While this whole incident of the _Amistad_ was still engaging the +interest of the public, there occurred another that also occasioned +international friction and even more prolonged debate between the +slavery and anti-slavery forces. On October 25, 1841, the brig _Creole_, +Captain Ensor, of Richmond, Va., sailed from Richmond and on October 27 +from Hampton Roads, with a cargo of tobacco and one hundred and thirty +slaves bound for New Orleans. On the vessel also, aside from the crew, +were the captain's wife and child, and three or four passengers, who +were chiefly in charge of the slaves, one man, John R. Hewell, being +directly in charge of those belonging to an owner named McCargo. About +9.30 on the night of Sunday, November 7, while out at sea, nineteen of +the slaves rose, cowed the others, wounded the captain, and generally +took command of the vessel. Madison Washington began the uprising by an +attack on Gifford, the first mate, and Ben Blacksmith, one of the most +aggressive of his assistants, killed Hewell. The insurgents seized the +arms of the vessel, permitted no conversation between members of the +crew except in their hearing, demanded and obtained the manifests of +slaves, and threatened that if they were not taken to Abaco or some +other British port they would throw the officers and crew overboard. The +_Creole_ reached Nassau, New Providence, on Tuesday, November 9, and the +arrival of the vessel at once occasioned intense excitement. Gifford +went ashore and reported the matter, and the American consul, John F. +Bacon, contended to the English authorities that the slaves on board the +brig were as much a part of the cargo as the tobacco and entitled to +the same protection from loss to the owners. The governor, Sir Francis +Cockburn, however, was uncertain whether to interfere in the business at +all. He liberated those slaves who were not concerned in the uprising, +spoke of all of the slaves as "passengers," and guaranteed to the +nineteen who were shown by an investigation to have been connected with +the uprising all the rights of prisoners called before an English court. +He told them further that the British Government would be communicated +with before their case was finally passed upon, that if they wished +copies of the informations these would be furnished them, and that they +were privileged to have witnesses examined in refutation of the charges +against them. From time to time Negroes who were natives of the island +crowded about the brig in small boats and intimidated the American crew, +but when on the morning of November 12 the Attorney General questioned +them as to their intentions they replied with transparent good humor +that they intended no violence and had assembled only for the purpose +of conveying to shore such of the persons on the _Creole_ as might be +permitted to leave and might need their assistance. The Attorney General +required, however, that they throw overboard a dozen stout cudgels that +they had. Here the whole case really rested. Daniel Webster as Secretary +of State aroused the anti-slavery element by making a strong demand +for the return of the slaves, basing his argument on the sacredness of +vessels flying the American flag; but the English authorities at Nassau +never returned any of them. On March 21, 1842, Joshua R. Giddings, +untiring defender of the rights of the Negro, offered in the House of +Representatives resolutions to the effect that slavery could exist only +by positive law of the different states; that the states had delegated +no control over slavery to the Federal Government, which alone had +jurisdiction on the high seas, and that, therefore, slaves on the high +seas became free and the coastwise trade was unconstitutional. The +House, strongly pro-Southern, replied with a vote of censure and +Giddings resigned, but he was immediately reelected by his Ohio +constituency. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE NEGRO REPLY, II: ORGANIZATION AND AGITATION + + +It is not the purpose of the present chapter primarily to consider +social progress on the part of the Negro. A little later we shall +endeavor to treat this interesting subject for the period between the +Missouri Compromise and the Civil War. Just now we are concerned with +the attitude of the Negro himself toward the problem that seemed to +present itself to America and for which such different solutions were +proposed. So far as slavery was concerned, we have seen that the remedy +suggested by Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner was insurrection. It is only +to state an historical fact, however, to say that the great heart of the +Negro people in the South did not believe in violence, but rather hoped +and prayed for a better day to come by some other means. But what was +the attitude of those people, progressive citizens and thinking leaders, +who were not satisfied with the condition of the race and who had to +take a stand on the issues that confronted them? If we study the matter +from this point of view, we shall find an amount of ferment and unrest +and honest difference of opinion that is sometimes overlooked or +completely forgotten in the questions of a later day. + + +1. _Walker's "Appeal_" + +The most widely discussed book written by a Negro in the period was one +that appeared in Boston in 1829. David Walker, the author, had been born +in North Carolina in 1785, of a free mother and a slave father, and he +was therefore free.[1] He received a fair education, traveled widely +over the United States, and by 1827 was living in Boston as the +proprietor of a second-hand clothing store on Brattle Street. He felt +very strongly on the subject of slavery and actually seems to have +contemplated leading an insurrection. In 1828 he addressed various +audiences of Negroes in Boston and elsewhere, and in 1829 he published +his _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_. The book was remarkably successful. +Appearing in September, by March of the following year it had reached +its third edition; and in each successive edition the language was more +bold and vigorous. Walker's projected insurrection did not take place, +and he himself died in 1830. While there was no real proof of the fact, +among the Negro people there was a strong belief that he met with foul +play. + +[Footnote 1: Adams: _Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery_, 93.] + +Article I Walker headed "Our Wretchedness in Consequence of Slavery." A +trip over the United States had convinced him that the Negroes of the +country were "the most degraded, wretched and abject set of beings that +ever lived since the world began." He quoted a South Carolina paper as +saying, "The Turks are the most barbarous people in the world--they +treat the Greeks more like brutes than human beings"; and then from the +same paper cited an advertisement of the sale of eight Negro men and +four women. "Are we men?" he exclaimed. "I ask you, O! my brothers, are +we men?... Have we any other master but Jesus Christ alone? Is He not +their master as well as ours? What right, then, have we to obey and call +any man master but Himself? How we could be so submissive to a gang of +men, whom we can not tell whether they are as good as ourselves, or not, +I never could conceive." "The whites," he asserted, "have always been an +unjust, jealous, unmerciful, avaricious and bloodthirsty set of beings, +always seeking after power and authority." As heathen the white people +had been cruel enough, but as Christians they were ten times more so. As +heathen "they were not quite so audacious as to go and take vessel loads +of men, women and children, and in cold blood, through devilishness, +throw them into the sea, and murder them in all kind of ways. But being +Christians, enlightened and sensible, they are completely prepared +for such hellish cruelties." Next was considered "Our Wretchedness in +Consequence of Ignorance." In general the writer maintained that his +people as a whole did not have intelligence enough to realize their own +degradation; even if boys studied books they did not master their texts, +nor did their information go sufficiently far to enable them actually to +meet the problems of life. If one would but go to the South or West, +he would see there a son take his mother, who bore almost the pains of +death to give him birth, and by the command of a tyrant, strip her as +naked as she came into the world and apply the cowhide to her until she +fell a victim to death in the road. He would see a husband take his dear +wife, not unfrequently in a pregnant state and perhaps far advanced, and +beat her for an unmerciful wretch, until her infant fell a lifeless lump +at her feet. Moreover, "there have been, and are this day, in Boston, +New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, colored men who are in league +with tyrants and who receive a great portion of their daily bread of +the moneys which they acquire from the blood and tears of their more +miserable brethren, whom they scandalously deliver into the hands of our +natural enemies." In Article III Walker considered "Our Wretchedness in +Consequence of the Preachers of the Religion of Jesus Christ." Here was +a fertile field, which was only partially developed. Walker evidently +did not have at hand the utterances of Furman and others to serve as a +definite point of attack. He did point out, however, the general failure +of Christian ministers to live up to the teachings of Christ. "Even here +in Boston," we are informed, "pride and prejudice have got to such a +pitch, that in the very houses erected to the Lord they have built +little places for the reception of colored people, where they must sit +during meeting, or keep away from the house of God." Hypocrisy could +hardly go further than that of preachers who could not see the evils +at their door but could "send out missionaries to convert the heathen, +notwithstanding." Article IV was headed "Our Wretchedness in Consequence +of the Colonizing Plan." This was a bitter arraignment, especially +directed against Henry Clay. "I appeal and ask every citizen of these +United States," said Walker, "and of the world, both white and black, +who has any knowledge of Mr. Clay's public labors for these states--I +want you candidly to answer the Lord, who sees the secrets of your +hearts, Do you believe that Mr. Henry Clay, late Secretary of State, and +now in Kentucky, is a friend to the blacks further than his personal +interest extends?... Does he care a pinch of snuff about Africa--whether +it remains a land of pagans and of blood, or of Christians, so long as +he gets enough of her sons and daughters to dig up gold and silver for +him?... Was he not made by the Creator to sit in the shade, and make the +blacks work without remuneration for their services, to support him +and his family? I have been for some time taking notice of this man's +speeches and public writings, but never to my knowledge have I seen +anything in his writings which insisted on the emancipation of slavery, +which has almost ruined his country." Walker then paid his compliments +to Elias B. Caldwell and John Randolph, the former of whom had said, +"The more you improve the condition of these people, the more you +cultivate their minds, the more miserable you make them in their present +state." "Here," the work continues, "is a demonstrative proof of a plan +got up, by a gang of slaveholders, to select the free people of color +from among the slaves, that our more miserable brethren may be the +better secured in ignorance and wretchedness, to work their farms and +dig their mines, and thus go on enriching the Christians with their +blood and groans. What our brethren could have been thinking about, who +have left their native land and gone away to Africa, I am unable to +say.... The Americans may say or do as they please, but they have to +raise us from the condition of brutes to that of respectable men, and to +make a national acknowledgment to us for the wrongs they have inflicted +on us.... You may doubt it, if you please. I know that thousands will +doubt--they think they have us so well secured in wretchedness, to them +and their children, that it is impossible for such things to occur. So +did the antediluvians doubt Noah, until the day in which the flood came +and swept them away. So did the Sodomites doubt, until Lot had got out +of the city, and God rained down fire and brimstone from heaven upon +them and burnt them up. So did the king of Egypt doubt the very +existence of God, saying, 'Who is the Lord, that I should let Israel +go?' ... So did the Romans doubt.... But they got dreadfully deceived." + +This document created the greatest consternation in the South. The Mayor +of Savannah wrote to Mayor Otis of Boston, demanding that Walker be +punished. Otis, in a widely published letter, replied expressing his +disapproval of the pamphlet, but saying that the author had done nothing +that made him "amenable" to the laws. In Virginia the legislature +considered passing an "extraordinary bill," not only forbidding the +circulation of such seditious publications but forbidding the education +of free Negroes. The bill passed the House of Delegates, but failed in +the Senate. The _Appeal_ even found its way to Louisiana, where there +were already rumors of an insurrection, and immediately a law was passed +expelling all free Negroes who had come to the state since 1825. + + +_2. The Convention Movement_ + +As may be inferred from Walker's attitude, the representative men of the +race were almost a unit in their opposition to colonization. They were +not always opposed to colonization itself, for some looked favorably +upon settlement in Canada, and a few hundred made their way to the West +Indies. They did object, however, to the plan offered by the American +Colonization Society, which more and more impressed them as a device on +the part of slaveholders to get free Negroes out of the country in order +that slave labor might be more valuable. Richard Allen, bishop of the +African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the foremost Negro of the +period, said: "We were stolen from our mother country and brought here. +We have tilled the ground and made fortunes for thousands, and still +they are not weary of our services. _But they who stay to till the +ground must be slaves_. Is there not land enough in America, or 'corn +enough in Egypt'? Why should they send us into a far country to die? See +the thousands of foreigners emigrating to America every year: and if +there be ground sufficient for them to cultivate, and bread for them to +eat, why would they wish to send the _first tillers_ of the land away? +Africans have made fortunes for thousands, who are yet unwilling to +part with their services; but the free must be sent away, and those who +remain must be slaves. I have no doubt that there are many good men who +do not see as I do, and who are sending us to Liberia; but they have not +duly considered the subject--they are not men of color. This land +which we have watered with our tears and our blood is now our _mother +country_, and we are well satisfied to stay where wisdom abounds and the +gospel is free."[1] This point of view received popular expression in +a song which bore the cumbersome title, "The Colored Man's Opinion of +Colonization," and which was sung to the tune of "Home, Sweet Home." The +first stanza was as follows: + +[Footnote 1: _Freedom's Journal_, November 2, 1827, quoted by Walker.] + + Great God, if the humble and weak are as dear + To thy love as the proud, to thy children give ear! + Our brethren would drive us in deserts to roam; + Forgive them, O Father, and keep us at home. + Home, sweet home! + We have no other; this, this is our home.[1] + +[Footnote 1: _Anti-Slavery Picknick_, 105-107.] + +To this sentiment formal expression was given in the measures adopted at +various Negro meetings in the North. In 1817 the greatest excitement +was occasioned by a report that through the efforts of the newly-formed +Colonization Society all free Negroes were forcibly to be deported from +the country. Resolutions of protest were adopted, and these were widely +circulated.[1] Of special importance was the meeting in Philadelphia in +January, presided over by James Forten. Of this the full report is as +follows: + +[Footnote 1: They are fully recorded in _Garrison's Thoughts on African +Colonization_.] + +At a numerous meeting of the people of color, convened at Bethel Church, +to take into consideration the propriety of remonstrating against the +contemplated measure that is to exile us from the land of our nativity, +James Forten was called to the chair, and Russell Parrott appointed +secretary. The intent of the meeting having been stated by the chairman, +the following resolutions were adopted without one dissenting voice: + + WHEREAS, Our ancestors (not of choice) were the first successful + cultivators of the wilds of America, we their descendants feel + ourselves entitled to participate in the blessings of her luxuriant + soil, which their blood and sweat manured; and that any measure or + system of measures, having a tendency to banish us from her bosom, + would not only be cruel, but in direct violation of those principles + which have been the boast of this republic, + + _Resolved_, That we view with deep abhorrence the unmerited stigma + attempted to be cast upon the reputation of the free people of + color, by the promoters of this measure, "that they are a + dangerous and useless part of the community," when in the state of + disfranchisement in which they live, in the hour of danger they + ceased to remember their wrongs, and rallied around the standard of + their country. + + _Resolved_, That we never will separate ourselves voluntarily from + the slave population of this country; they are our brethren by the + ties of consanguinity, of suffering, and of wrong; and we feel that + there is more virtue in suffering privations with them, than fancied + advantages for a season. + + _Resolved_, That without arts, without science, without a proper + knowledge of government to cast upon the savage wilds of Africa the + free people of color, seems to us the circuitous route through which + they must return to perpetual bondage. + + _Resolved_, That having the strongest confidence in the justice of + God, and philanthropy of the free states, we cheerfully submit our + destinies to the guidance of Him who suffers not a sparrow to fall + without his special providence. + + _Resolved_, That a committee of eleven persons be appointed to open + a correspondence with the honorable Joseph Hopkinson, member + of Congress from this city, and likewise to inform him of the + sentiments of this meeting, and that the following named persons + constitute the committee, and that they have power to call a general + meeting, when they, in their judgment, may deem it proper: Rev. + Absalom Jones, Rev. Richard Allen, James Forten, Robert Douglass, + Francis Perkins, Rev. John Gloucester, Robert Gorden, James Johnson, + Quamoney Clarkson, John Summersett, Randall Shepherd. + + JAMES FORTEN, Chairman. + + RUSSELL PARROTT, Secretary. + +In 1827, in New York, was begun the publication of _Freedom's Journal_, +the first Negro newspaper in the United States. The editors were John +B. Russwurm and Samuel E. Cornish. Russwurm was a recent graduate of +Bowdoin College and was later to become better known as the governor of +Maryland in Africa. By 1830 feeling was acute throughout the country, +especially in Ohio and Kentucky, and on the part of Negro men +had developed the conviction that the time had come for national +organization and protest. + +In the spring of 1830 Hezekiah Grice of Baltimore, who had become +personally acquainted with the work of Lundy and Garrison, sent a letter +to prominent Negroes in the free states bringing in question the general +policy of emigration.[1] received no immediate response, but in August +he received from Richard Allen an urgent request to come at once to +Philadelphia. Arriving there he found in session a meeting discussing +the wisdom of emigration to Canada, and Allen "showed him a printed +circular signed by Peter Williams, rector of St. Philip's Church, +New York, Peter Vogelsang and Thomas L. Jennings of the same place, +approving the plan of convention."[2] The Philadelphians now issued a +call for a convention of the Negroes of the United States to be held in +their city September 15, 1830. + +[Footnote 1: John W. Cromwell: _The Early Negro Convention Movement_.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 5.] + +This September meeting was held in Bethel A.M.E. Church. Bishop Richard +Allen was chosen president, Dr. Belfast Burton of Philadelphia and +Austin Steward of Rochester vice-presidents, Junius C. Morell of +Pennsylvania secretary, and Robert Cowley of Maryland assistant +secretary. There were accredited delegates from seven states. While this +meeting might really be considered the first national convention of +Negroes in the United States (aside of course from the gathering of +denominational bodies), it seems to have been regarded merely as +preliminary to a still more formal assembling, for the minutes of the +next year were printed as the "Minutes and Proceedings of the First +Annual Convention of the People of Color, held by adjournments in the +city of Philadelphia, from the sixth to the eleventh of June, inclusive, +1831. Philadelphia, 1831." The meetings of this convention were held in +the Wesleyan Church on Lombard Street. Richard Allen had died earlier in +the year and Grice was not present; not long afterwards he emigrated +to Hayti, where he became prominent as a contractor. Rev. James W.C. +Pennington of New York, however, now for the first time appeared on the +larger horizon of race affairs; and John Bowers of Philadelphia served +as president, Abraham D. Shadd of Delaware and William Duncan of +Virginia as vice-presidents, William Whipper of Philadelphia as +secretary, and Thomas L. Jennings of New York as assistant secretary. +Delegates from five states were present. The gathering was not large, +but it brought together some able men; moreover, the meeting had some +distinguished visitors, among them Benjamin Lundy, William Lloyd +Garrison, Rev. S.S. Jocelyn of New Haven, and Arthur Tappan of New York. + +The very first motion of the convention resolved "That a committee be +appointed to institute an inquiry into the condition of the free people +of color throughout the United States, and report their views upon the +subject at a subsequent meeting." As a result of its work this committee +recommended that the work of organizations interested in settlement in +Canada be continued; that the free people of color be annually called to +assemble by delegation; and it submitted "the necessity of deliberate +reflection on the dissolute, intemperate, and ignorant condition of a +large portion of the colored population of the United States." "And, +lastly, your Committee view with unfeigned regret, and respectfully +submit to the wisdom of this Convention, the operations and +misrepresentations of the American Colonization Society in these United +States.... We feel sorrowful to see such an immense and wanton waste +of lives and property, not doubting the benevolent feelings of some +individuals engaged in that cause. But we can not for a moment doubt +but that the cause of many of our unconstitutional, unchristian, and +unheard-of sufferings emanate from that unhallowed source; and we would +call on Christians of every denomination firmly to resist it." The +report was unanimously received and adopted. + +Jocelyn, Tappan, and Garrison addressed the convention with reference to +a proposed industrial college in New Haven, toward the $20,000 expense +of which one individual (Tappan himself) had subscribed $1000 with the +understanding that the remaining $19,000 be raised within a year; and +the convention approved the project, _provided_ the Negroes had a +majority of at least one on the board of trustees. An illuminating +address to the public called attention to the progress of emancipation +abroad, to the fact that it was American persecution that led to the +calling of the convention, and that it was this also that first induced +some members of the race to seek an asylum in Canada, where already +there were two hundred log houses, and five hundred acres under +cultivation. + +In 1832 eight states were represented by a total of thirty delegates. By +this time we learn that a total of eight hundred acres had been secured +in Canada, that two thousand Negroes had gone thither, but that +considerable hostility had been manifested on the part of the Canadians. +Hesitant, the convention appointed an agent to investigate the +situation. It expressed itself as strongly opposed to any national aid +to the American Colonization Society and urged the abolition of slavery +in the District of Columbia--all of which activity, it is well to +remember, was a year before the American Anti-Slavery Society was +organized. + +In 1833 there were fifty-eight delegates, and Abraham Shadd, now of +Washington, was chosen president. The convention again gave prominence +to the questions of Canada and colonization, and expressed itself with +reference to the new law in Connecticut prohibiting Negroes from other +states from attending schools within the state. The 1834 meeting was +held in New York. Prudence Crandall[1] was commended for her stand in +behalf of the race, and July 4 was set apart as a day for prayer and +addresses on the condition of the Negro throughout the country. By +this time we hear much of societies for temperance and moral reform, +especially of the so-called Phoenix Societies "for improvement in +general culture--literature, mechanic arts, and morals." Of these +organizations Rev. Christopher Rush, of the A.M.E. Zion Church, was +general president, and among the directors were Rev. Peter Williams, +Boston Crummell, the father of Alexander Crummell, and Rev. William Paul +Quinn, afterwards a well-known bishop of the A.M.E. Church. The 1835 +and 1836 meetings were held in Philadelphia, and especially were the +students of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati commended for their zeal in +the cause of abolition. A committee was appointed to look into the +dissatisfaction of some emigrants to Liberia and generally to review the +work of the Colonization Society. + +[Footnote 1: See Chapter X, Section 3.] + +In the decade 1837-1847 Frederick Douglass was outstanding as a leader, +and other men who were now prominent were Dr. James McCune Smith, Rev. +James W.C. Pennington, Alexander Crummell, William C. Nell, and Martin +R. Delany. These are important names in the history of the period. These +were the men who bore the brunt of the contest in the furious days of +Texas annexation and the Compromise of 1850. About 1853 and 1854 there +was renewed interest in the idea of an industrial college; steps were +taken for the registry of Negro mechanics and artisans who were in +search of employment, and of the names of persons who were willing to +give them work; and there was also a committee on historical records and +statistics that was not only to compile studies in Negro biography but +also to reply to any assaults of note.[1] + +[Footnote 1: We can not too much emphasize the fact that the leaders +of this period were by no means impractical theorists but men who were +scientifically approaching the social problem of their people. They not +only anticipated such ideas as those of industrial education and of the +National Urban League of the present day, but they also endeavored to +lay firmly the foundations of racial self-respect.] + +Immediately after the last of the conventions just mentioned, those who +were interested in emigration and had not been able to get a hearing +in the regular convention issued a call for a National Emigration +Convention of Colored Men to take place in Cleveland, Ohio, August +24-26, 1854. The preliminary announcement said: "No person will be +admitted to a seat in the Convention who would introduce the subject +of emigration to the Eastern Hemisphere--either to Asia, Africa, or +Europe--as our object and determination are to consider our claims +to the West Indies, Central and South America, and the Canadas. This +restriction has no reference to personal preference, or individual +enterprise, but to the great question of national claims to come before +the Convention."[1] Douglass pronounced the call "uncalled for, unwise, +unfortunate and premature," and his position led him into a wordy +discussion in the press with James M. Whitfield, of Buffalo, prominent +at the time as a writer. Delany explained the call as follows: "It was +a mere policy on the part of the authors of these documents, to confine +their scheme to America (including the West Indies), whilst they +were the leading advocates of the regeneration of Africa, lest they +compromised themselves and their people to the avowed enemies of their +race."[2] At the secret sessions, he informs us, Africa was the topic of +greatest interest. In order to account for this position it is important +to take note of the changes that had taken place between 1817 and 1854. +When James Forten and others in Philadelphia in 1817 protested +against the American Colonization Society as the plan of a "gang of +slaveholders" to drive free people from their homes, they had abundant +ground for the feeling. By 1839, however, not only had the personnel +of the organization changed, but, largely through the influence of +Garrison, the purpose and aim had also changed, and not Virginia and +Maryland, but New York and Pennsylvania were now dominant in influence. +Colonization had at first been regarded as a possible solution of the +race problem; money was now given, however, "rather as an aid to the +establishment of a model Negro republic in Africa, whose effort would +be to discourage the slave-trade, and encourage energy and thrift among +those free Negroes from the United States who chose to emigrate, and +to give native Africans a demonstration of the advantages of +civilization."[3] In view of the changed conditions, Delany and others +who disagreed with Douglass felt that for the good of the race in the +United States the whole matter of emigration might receive further +consideration; at the same time, remembering old discussions, they +did not wish to be put in the light of betrayers of their people. The +Pittsburgh _Daily Morning Post_ of October 18, 1854, sneered at the new +plan as follows: "If Dr. Delany drafted this report it certainly does +him much credit for learning and ability; and can not fail to establish +for him a reputation for vigor and brilliancy of imagination never yet +surpassed. It is a vast conception of impossible birth. The Committee +seem to have entirely overlooked the strength of the 'powers on earth' +that would oppose the Africanization of more than half the Western +Hemisphere. We have no motive in noticing this gorgeous dream of 'the +Committee' except to show its fallacy--its impracticability, in fact, +its absurdity. No sensible man, whatever his color, should be for a +moment deceived by such impracticable theories." However, in spite of +all opposition, the Emigration Convention met. Upon Delany fell the real +brunt of the work of the organization. In 1855 Bishop James Theodore +Holly was commissioned to Faustin Soulouque, Emperor of Hayti; and he +received in his visit of a month much official attention with some +inducement to emigrate. Delany himself planned to go to Africa as the +head of a "Niger Valley Exploring Party." Of the misrepresentation and +difficulties that he encountered he himself has best told. He did get to +Africa, however, and he had some interesting and satisfactory interviews +with representative chiefs. The Civil War put an end to his project, he +himself accepting a major's commission from President Lincoln. Through +the influence of Holly about two thousand persons went to Hayti, but not +more than a third of these remained. A plan fostered by Whitfield for a +colony in Central America came to naught when this leading spirit died +in San Francisco on his way thither.[4] + +[Footnote 1: Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party, by +M.R. Delany, Chief Commissioner to Africa, New York, 1861.] + +[Footnote 2: Delany, 8.] + +[Footnote 3: Fox: _The American Colonisation Society_, 177; also note +pp. 12, 120-2.] + +[Footnote 4: For the progress of all the plans offered to the convention +note important letter written by Holly and given by Cromwell, 20-21.] + + +3. _Sojourner Truth and Woman Suffrage_ + +With its challenge to the moral consciousness it was but natural that +anti-slavery should soon become allied with temperance, woman suffrage, +and other reform movements that were beginning to appeal to the heart +of America. Especially were representative women quick to see that the +arguments used for their cause were very largely identical with those +used for the Negro. When the woman suffrage movement was launched at +Seneca Falls, N.Y., in 1848, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and +their co-workers issued a Declaration of Sentiments which like +many similar documents copied the phrasing of the Declaration of +Independence. This said in part: "The history of mankind is a history +of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man towards woman, +having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over +her.... He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to +the elective franchise.... He has made her, if married, in the eye of +the law civilly dead.... He has denied her the facilities for obtaining +a thorough education, all colleges being closed to her." It mattered +not at the time that male suffrage was by no means universal, or that +amelioration of the condition of woman had already begun; the movement +stated its case clearly and strongly in order that it might fully be +brought to the attention of the American people. In 1850 the first +formal National Woman's Rights Convention assembled in Worcester, Mass. +To this meeting came a young Quaker woman who was already listed in the +cause of temperance. In fact, wherever she went Susan B. Anthony entered +into "causes." She possessed great virtues and abilities, and at the +same time was capable of very great devotion. "She not only sympathized +with the Negro; when an opportunity offered she drank tea with him, to +her own 'unspeakable satisfaction.'"[1] Lucy Stone, an Oberlin graduate, +was representative of those who came into the agitation by the +anti-slavery path. Beginning in 1848 to speak as an agent of the +Anti-Slavery Society, almost from the first she began to introduce the +matter of woman's rights in her speeches. + +[Footnote 1: Ida M. Tarbell: "The American Woman: Her First Declaration +of Independence," _American Magazine_, February, 1910.] + +To the second National Woman's Suffrage Convention, held in Akron, Ohio, +in 1852, and presided over by Mrs. Frances D. Gage, came Sojourner +Truth. + +The "Libyan Sibyl" was then in the fullness of her powers. She had been +born of slave parents about 1798 in Ulster County, New York. In her +later years she remembered vividly the cold, damp cellar-room in which +slept the slaves of the family to which she belonged, and where she was +taught by her mother to repeat the Lord's Prayer and to trust in God. +When in the course of gradual emancipation she became legally free in +1827, her master refused to comply with the law and kept her in bondage. +She left, but was pursued and found. Rather than have her go back, a +friend paid for her services for the rest of the year. Then came an +evening when, searching for one of her children who had been stolen and +sold, she found herself a homeless wanderer. A Quaker family gave her +lodging for the night. Subsequently she went to New York City, joined +a Methodist church, and worked hard to improve her condition. Later, +having decided to leave New York for a lecture tour through the East, +she made a small bundle of her belongings and informed a friend that +her name was no longer _Isabella_ but _Sojourner_. She went on her +way, speaking to people wherever she found them assembled and being +entertained in many aristocratic homes. She was entirely untaught in the +schools, but was witty, original, and always suggestive. By her tact and +her gift of song she kept down ridicule, and by her fervor and faith she +won many friends for the anti-slavery cause. As to her name she said: +"And the Lord gave me _Sojourner_ because I was to travel up an' down +the land showin' the people their sins an' bein' a sign unto them. +Afterwards I told the Lord I wanted another name, 'cause everybody else +had two names, an' the Lord gave me _Truth_, because I was to declare +the truth to the people." + +On the second day of the convention in Akron, in a corner, crouched +against the wall, sat this woman of care, her elbows resting on her +knees, and her chin resting upon her broad, hard palms.[1] In the +intermission she was employed in selling "The Life of Sojourner Truth." +From time to time came to the presiding officer the request, "Don't let +her speak; it will ruin us. Every newspaper in the land will have +our cause mixed with abolition and niggers, and we shall be utterly +denounced." Gradually, however, the meeting waxed warm. Baptist, +Methodist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Universalist preachers had +come to hear and discuss the resolutions presented. One argued the +superiority of the male intellect, another the sin of Eve, and the +women, most of whom did not "speak in meeting," were becoming filled +with dismay. Then slowly from her seat in the corner rose Sojourner +Truth, who till now had scarcely lifted her head. Slowly and solemnly +to the front she moved, laid her old bonnet at her feet, and turned +her great, speaking eyes upon the chair. Mrs. Gage, quite equal to the +occasion, stepped forward and announced "Sojourner Truth," and begged +the audience to be silent a few minutes. "The tumult subsided at once, +and every eye was fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly +six feet high, head erect, and eye piercing the upper air, like one in a +dream." At her first word there was a profound hush. She spoke in deep +tones, which, though not loud, reached every ear in the house, and even +the throng at the doors and windows. To one man who had ridiculed the +general helplessness of woman, her needing to be assisted into carriages +and to be given the best place everywhere, she said, "Nobody eber helped +me into carriages, or ober mud puddles, or gibs me any best place"; and +raising herself to her full height, with a voice pitched like rolling +thunder, she asked, "And a'n't I a woman? Look at me. Look at my arm." +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 man could head me--and a'n't I a woman? I could work as much and +eat as much as a man, when I could get it, and bear de lash as well--and +a'n't I a woman? I have borne five chilern and seen 'em mos' all sold +off into slavery, and when I cried out with a mother's grief, none but +Jesus heard--and a'n't I a woman?... Dey talks 'bout dis ting in de +head--what dis dey call it?" "Intellect," said some one near. "Dat's it, +honey. What's dat got to do with women's rights or niggers' rights? If +my cup won't hold but a pint and yourn holds a quart, wouldn't ye be +mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" And she pointed +her significant finger and sent a keen glance at the minister who had +made the argument. The cheering was long and loud. "Den dat little man +in black dar, he say women can't have as much rights as man, 'cause +Christ wa'n't a woman. But whar did Christ come from?" Rolling thunder +could not have stilled that crowd as did those deep, wonderful tones as +the woman stood there with her outstretched arms and her eyes of fire. +Raising her voice she repeated, "Whar did Christ come from? From God and +a woman. Man had nothing to do with Him." Turning to another objector, +she took up the defense of Eve. She was pointed and witty, solemn and +serious at will, and at almost every sentence awoke deafening applause; +and she ended by asserting, "If de fust woman God made was strong enough +to turn the world upside down, all alone, dese togedder,"--and she +glanced over the audience--"ought to be able to turn it back and get it +right side up again, and now dey is askin' to do it, de men better let +'em." + +[Footnote 1: Reminiscences of the president, Mrs. Frances D. Gage, cited +by Tarbell.] + +"Amid roars of applause," wrote Mrs. Gage, "she returned to her corner, +leaving more than one of us with streaming eyes and hearts beating with +gratitude." Thus, as so frequently happened, Sojourner Truth turned a +difficult situation into splendid victory. She not only made an eloquent +plea for the slave, but placing herself upon the broadest principles of +humanity, she saved the day for woman suffrage as well. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +LIBERIA + + +In a former chapter we have traced the early development of the American +Colonization Society, whose efforts culminated in the founding of the +colony of Liberia. The recent world war, with Africa as its prize, fixed +attention anew upon the little republic. This comparatively small tract +of land, just slightly more than one-three hundredth part of the surface +of Africa, is now of interest and strategic importance not only because +(if we except Abyssinia, which claims slightly different race origin, +and Hayti, which is now really under the government of the United +States) it represents the one distinctively Negro government in the +world, but also because it is the only tract of land on the great West +Coast of the continent that has survived, even through the war, the +aggression of great European powers. It is just at the bend of the +shoulder of Africa, and its history is as romantic as its situation is +unique. + +Liberia has frequently been referred to as an outstanding example of +the incapacity of the Negro for self-government. Such a judgment is not +necessarily correct. It is indeed an open question if, in view of the +nature of its beginning, the history of the country proves anything one +way or the other with reference to the capacity of the race. The early +settlers were frequently only recently out of bondage, but upon them +were thrust all the problems of maintenance and government, and they +brought with them, moreover, the false ideas of life and work that +obtained in the Old South. Sometimes they suffered from neglect, +sometimes from excessive solicitude; never were they really left alone. +In spite of all, however, more than a score of native tribes have been +subdued by only a few thousand civilized men, the republic has preserved +its integrity, and there has been handed down through the years a +tradition of constitutional government. + + + +1. _The Place and the People_ + +The resources of Liberia are as yet imperfectly known. There is no +question, however, about the fertility of the interior, or of its +capacity when properly developed. There are no rivers of the first rank, +but the longest streams are about three hundred miles in length, and at +convenient distances apart flow down to a coastline somewhat more than +three hundred miles long. Here in a tract of land only slightly larger +than our own state of Ohio are a civilized population between 30,000 and +100,000 in number, and a native population estimated at 2,000,000. Of +the civilized population the smaller figure, 30,000, is the more nearly +correct if we consider only those persons who are fully civilized, and +this number would be about evenly divided between Americo-Liberians and +natives. Especially in the towns along the coast, however, there are +many people who have received only some degree of civilization, and +most of the households in the larger towns have several native children +living in them. If all such elements are considered, the total might +approach 100,000. The natives in their different tribes fall into three +or four large divisions. In general they follow their native customs, +and the foremost tribes exhibit remarkable intelligence and skill in +industry. Outstanding are the dignified Mandingo, with a Mohammedan +tradition, and the Vai, distinguished for skill in the arts and with a +culture similar to that of the Mandingo. Also easily recognized are +the Kpwessi, skillful in weaving and ironwork; the Kru, intelligent, +sea-faring, and eager for learning; the Grebo, ambitious and aggressive, +and in language connection close to the Kru; the Bassa, with +characteristics somewhat similar to those of the Kru, but in general +not quite so ambitious; the Buzi, wild and highly tattooed; and the +cannibalistic Mano. By reason of numbers if nothing else, Liberia's +chief asset for the future consists in her native population. + + +2. _History_ + +(a) _Colonization and Settlement_ + +In pursuance of its plans for the founding of a permanent colony on the +coast of Africa, the American Colonization Society in November, 1817, +sent out two men, Samuel J. Mills and Ebenezer Burgess, who were +authorized to find a suitable place for a settlement. Going by way +of England, these men were cordially received by the officers of the +African Institution and given letters to responsible persons in Sierra +Leone. Arriving at the latter place in March, 1818, they met John +Kizell, a native and a man of influence, who had received some training +in America and had returned to his people, built a house of worship, and +become a preacher. Kizell undertook to accompany them on their journey +down the coast and led the way to Sherbro Island, a place long in +disputed territory but since included within the limits of Sierra Leone. +Here the agents were hospitably received; they fixed upon the island as +a permanent site, and in May turned their faces homeward. Mills died on +the voyage in June and was buried at sea; but Burgess made a favorable +report, though the island was afterwards to prove by no means healthy. +The Society was impressed, but efforts might have languished at this +important stage if Monroe, now President, had not found it possible to +bring the resources of the United States Government to assist in +the project. Smuggling, with the accompanying evil of the sale of +"recaptured Africans," had by 1818 become a national disgrace, and on +March 3, 1819, a bill designed to do away with the practice became a +law. This said in part: "The President of the United States is hereby +authorized to make such regulations and arrangements as he may deem +expedient for the safe-keeping, support, and removal beyond the limits +of the United States, of all such Negroes, mulattoes, or persons of +color as may be so delivered and brought within their jurisdiction; and +to appoint a proper person or persons residing upon the coast of Africa +as agent or agents for receiving the Negroes, mulattoes, or persons of +color, delivered from on board vessels seized in the prosecution of the +slave-trade by commanders of the United States armed vessels." For the +carrying out of the purpose of this act $100,000 was appropriated, and +Monroe was disposed to construe as broadly as necessary the powers given +him under it. In his message of December 20, he informed Congress +that he had appointed Rev. Samuel Bacon, of the American Colonization +Society, with John Bankson as assistant, to charter a vessel and take +the first group of emigrants to Africa, the understanding being that +he was to go to the place fixed upon by Mills and Burgess. Thus the +National Government and the Colonization Society, while technically +separate, began to work in practical cooeperation. The ship _Elizabeth_ +was made ready for the voyage; the Government informed the Society that +it would "receive on board such free blacks recommended by the Society +as might be required for the purpose of the agency"; $33,000 was placed +in the hands of Mr. Bacon; Rev. Samuel A. Crozer was appointed as the +Society's official representative; 88 emigrants were brought together +(33 men and 18 women, the rest being children); and on February 5, 1820, +convoyed by the war-sloop _Cyane_, the expedition set forth. + +An interesting record of the voyage--important for the sidelights it +gives--was left by Daniel Coker, the respected minister of a large +Methodist congregation in Baltimore who was persuaded to accompany the +expedition for the sake of the moral influence that he might be able to +exert.[1] There was much bad weather at the start, and it was the icy +sea that on February 4 made it impossible to get under way until the +next day. On board, moreover, there was much distrust of the agents in +charge, with much questioning of their motives; nor were matters made +better by a fight between one of the emigrants and the captain of the +vessel. It was a restless company, uncertain as to the future, and +dissatisfied and peevish from day to day. Kizell afterwards remarked +that "some would not be governed by white men, and some would not be +governed by black men, and some would not be governed by mulattoes; but +the truth was they did not want to be governed by anybody." On March 3, +however, the ship sighted the Cape Verde Islands and six days afterwards +was anchored at Sierra Leone; and Coker rejoiced that at last he had +seen Africa. Kizell, however, whom the agents had counted on seeing, +was found to be away at Sherbro; accordingly, six days after their +arrival[2] they too were making efforts to go on to Sherbro, for they +were allowed at anchor only fifteen days and time was passing rapidly. +Meanwhile Bankson went to find Kizell. Captain Sebor was at first +decidedly unwilling to go further; but his reluctance was at length +overcome; Bacon purchased for $3,000 a British schooner that had +formerly been engaged in the slave-trade; and on March 17 both ship and +schooner got under way for Sherbro. The next day they met Bankson, who +informed them that he had seen Kizell. This man, although he had not +heard from America since the departure of Mills and Burgess, had already +erected some temporary houses against the rainy season. He permitted the +newcomers to stay in his little town until land could be obtained; sent +them twelve fowls and a bushel of rice; but he also, with both dignity +and pathos, warned Bankson that if he and his companions came with +Christ in their hearts, it was well that they had come; if not, it would +have been better if they had stayed in America. + +[Footnote 1: "Journal of Daniel Coker, a descendant of Africa, from the +time of leaving New York, in the ship _Elizabeth_, Capt. Sebor, on a +voyage for Sherbro, in Africa. Baltimore, 1820."] + +[Footnote 2: March 15. The narrative, page 26, says February 15, but +this is obviously a typographical error.] + +Now followed much fruitless bargaining with the native chiefs, in all of +which Coker regretted that the slave-traders had so ruined the people +that it seemed impossible to make any progress in a "palaver" without +the offering of rum. Meanwhile a report was circulated through the +country that a number of Americans had come and turned Kizell out of his +own town and put some of his people in the hold of their ship. Disaster +followed disaster. The marsh, the bad water, and the malaria played +havoc with the colonists, and all three of the responsible agents died. +The few persons who remained alive made their way back to Sierra Leone. + +Thus the first expedition failed. One year later, in March, 1821, a new +company of twenty-one emigrants, in charge of J.B. Winn and Ephraim +Bacon, arrived at Freetown in the brig _Nautilus_. It had been the +understanding that in return for their passage the members of the first +expedition would clear the way for others; but when the agents of the +new company saw the plight of those who remained alive, they brought all +of the colonists together at Fourah Bay, and Bacon went farther down the +coast to seek a more favorable site. A few persons who did not wish to +go to Fourah Bay remained in Sierra Leone and became British subjects. +Bacon found a promising tract about two hundred and fifty miles down the +coast at Cape Montserado; but the natives were not especially eager to +sell, as they did not wish to break up the slave traffic. Meanwhile Winn +and several more of the colonists died; and Bacon now returned to the +United States. The second expedition had thus proved to be little more +successful than the first; but the future site of Monrovia had at least +been suggested. + +In November came Dr. Eli Ayres as agent of the Society, and in December +Captain Robert F. Stockton of the _Alligator_ with instructions to +cooeperate. These two men explored the coast and on December 11 arrived +at Mesurado Bay. Through the jungle they made their way to a village and +engaged in a palaver with King Peter and five of his associates. The +negotiations were conducted in the presence of an excited crowd and with +imminent danger; but Stockton had great tact and at length, for the +equivalent of $300, he and Ayres purchased the mouth of the Mesurado +River, Cape Montserado, and the land for some distance in the interior. +There was also an understanding (for half a dozen gallons of rum and +some trade-cloth and tobacco) with King George, who "resided on the Cape +and claimed a sort of jurisdiction over the northern district of the +peninsula of Montserado, by virtue of which the settlers were permitted +to pass across the river and commence the laborious task of clearing +away the heavy forest which covered the site of their intended town."[1] +Then the agent returned to effect the removal of the colonists from +Fourah Bay, leaving a very small company as a sort of guard on +Perseverance (or Providence) Island at the mouth of the river. Some +of the colonists refused to leave, remained, and thus became British +subjects. For those who had remained on the island there was trouble at +once. A small vessel, the prize of an English cruiser, bound to Sierra +Leone with thirty liberated Africans, put into the roads for water, and +had the misfortune to part her cable and come ashore. "The natives claim +to a prescriptive right, which interest never fails to enforce to its +fullest extent, to seize and appropriate the wrecks and cargoes of +vessels stranded, under whatever circumstances, on their coast."[2] The +vessel in question drifted to the mainland one mile from the cape, a +small distance below George's town, and the natives proceeded to act in +accordance with tradition. They were fired on by the prize master and +forced to desist, and the captain appealed to the few colonists on the +island for assistance. They brought into play a brass field piece, and +two of the natives were killed and several more wounded. The English +officer, his crew, and the captured Africans escaped, though the small +vessel was lost; but the next day the Deys (the natives), feeling +outraged, made another attack, in the course of which some of them +and one of the colonists were killed. In the course of the operations +moreover, through the carelessness of some of the settlers themselves, +fire was communicated to the storehouse and $3000 worth of property +destroyed, though the powder and some of the provisions were saved. Thus +at the very beginning, by accident though it happened, the shadow of +England fell across the young colony, involving it in difficulties with +the natives. When then Ayres returned with the main crowd of settlers on +January 7, 1822--which arrival was the first real landing of settlers on +what is now Liberian soil--he found that the Deys wished to annul the +agreement previously made and to give back the articles paid. He himself +was seized in the course of a palaver, and he was able to arrive at no +better understanding than that the colonists might remain only until +they could make a new purchase elsewhere. Now appeared on the scene +Boatswain, a prominent chief from the interior who sometimes exercised +jurisdiction over the coast tribes and who, hearing that there was +trouble in the bay, had come hither, bringing with him a sufficient +following to enforce his decrees. Through this man shone something of +the high moral principle so often to be observed in responsible African +chiefs, and to him Ayres appealed. Hearing the story he decided in +favor of the colonists, saying to Peter, "Having sold your country and +accepted payment, you must take the consequences. Let the Americans +have their land immediately." To the agent he said, "I promise you +protection. If these people give you further disturbance, send for me; +and I swear, if they oblige me to come again to quiet them, I will do +it to purpose, by taking their heads from their shoulders, as I did old +king George's on my last visit to the coast to settle disputes." Thus on +the word of a native chief was the foundation of Liberia assured. + +[Footnote 1: Ashmun: _History of the American Colony in Liberia, from +1821 to 1823_, 8.] + +[Footnote 2: Ashmun, 9.] + +By the end of April all of the colonists who were willing to move had +been brought from Sierra Leone to their new home. It was now decided +to remove from the low and unhealthy island to the higher land of +Cape Montserado only a few hundred feet away; on April 28 there was a +ceremony of possession and the American flag was raised. The advantages +of the new position were obvious, to the natives as well as the +colonists, and the removal was attended with great excitement. By July +the island was completely abandoned. Meanwhile, however, things had not +been going well. The Deys had been rendered very hostile, and from them +there was constant danger of attack. The rainy season moreover had set +in, shelter was inadequate, supplies were low, and the fever continually +claimed its victims. Ayres at length became discouraged. He proposed +that the enterprise be abandoned and that the settlers return to Sierra +Leone, and on June 4 he did actually leave with a few of them. It was +at this juncture that Elijah Johnson, one of the most heroic of the +colonists, stepped forth to fame. + +The early life of the man is a blank. In 1789 he was taken to New +Jersey. He received some instruction and studied for the Methodist +ministry, took part in the War of 1812, and eagerly embraced the +opportunity to be among the first to come to the new colony. To the +suggestion that the enterprise be abandoned he replied, "Two years long +have I sought a home; here I have found it; here I remain." To him the +great heart of the colonists responded. Among the natives he was known +and respected as a valiant fighter. He lived until March 23, 1849. + +Closely associated with Johnson, his colleague in many an effort and +the pioneer in mission work, was the Baptist minister, Lott Cary, +from Richmond, Va., who also had become one of the first permanent +settlers.[1] He was a man of most unusual versatility and force of +character. He died November 8, 1828, as the result of a powder explosion +that occurred while he was acting in defense of the colony against the +Deys. + +[Footnote 1: See Chapter III, Section 5.] + +July (1822) was a hard month for the settlers. Not only were their +supplies almost exhausted, but they were on a rocky cape and the natives +would not permit any food to be brought to them. On August 8, however, +arrived Jehudi Ashmun, a young man from Vermont who had worked as a +teacher and as the editor of a religious publication for some years +before coming on this mission. He brought with him a company of +liberated Africans and emigrants to the number of fifty-five, and as he +did not intend to remain permanently he had yielded to the entreaty of +his wife and permitted her to accompany him on the voyage. He held no +formal commission from the American Colonization Society, but seeing the +situation he felt that it was his duty to do what he could to relieve +the distress; and he faced difficulties from the very first. On the day +after his arrival his own brig, the _Strong_, was in danger of being +lost; the vessel parted its cable, and on the following morning broke it +again and drifted until it was landlocked between Cape Montserado and +Cape Mount. A small anchor was found, however, and the brig was again +moored, but five miles from the settlement. The rainy season was now on +in full force; there was no proper place for the storing of provisions; +and even with the newcomers it soon developed that there were in the +colony only thirty-five men capable of bearing arms, so great had been +the number of deaths from the fever. Sometimes almost all of these +were sick; on September 10 only two were in condition for any kind of +service. Ashmun tried to make terms with the native chiefs, but their +malignity was only partially concealed. His wife languished before +his eyes and died September 15, just five weeks after her arrival. He +himself was incapacitated for several months, nor at the height of his +illness was he made better by the ministrations of a French charlatan. +He never really recovered from the great inroads made upon his strength +at this time. + +As a protection from sudden attack a clearing around the settlement was +made. Defenses had to be erected without tools, and so great was the +anxiety that throughout the months of September and October a nightly +watch of twenty men was kept. On Sunday, November 10, the report was +circulated that the Deys were crossing the Mesurado River, and at night +it became known that seven or eight hundred were on the peninsula only +half a mile to the west. The attack came at early dawn on the 11th and +the colonists might have been annihilated if they had not brought +a field-piece into play. When this was turned against the natives +advancing in compact array, it literally tore through masses of living +flesh until scores of men were killed. Even so the Deys might have won +the engagement if they had not stopped too soon to gather plunder. As +it was, they were forced to retreat. Of the settlers three men and one +woman were killed, two men and two women injured, and several children +taken captive, though these were afterwards returned. At this time +the colonists suffered greatly from the lack of any supplies for the +treatment of wounds. Only medicines for the fever were on hand, and in +the hot climate those whose flesh had been torn by bullets suffered +terribly. In this first encounter, as often in these early years, the +real burden of conflict fell upon Cary and Johnson. After the battle +these men found that they had on hand ammunition sufficient for only one +hour's defense. All were placed on a special allowance of provisions and +November 23 was observed as a day of prayer. A passing vessel furnished +additional supplies and happily delayed for some days the inevitable +attack. This came from two sides very early in the morning of December +2. There was a desperate battle. Three bullets passed through Ashmun's +clothes, one of the gunners was killed, and repeated attacks were +resisted only with the most dogged determination. An accident, or, as +the colonists regarded it, a miracle, saved them from destruction. A +guard, hearing a noise, discharged a large gun and several muskets. +The schooner _Prince Regent_ was passing, with Major Laing, Midshipman +Gordon, and eleven specially trained men on board. The officers, hearing +the sound of guns, came ashore to see what was the trouble. Major Laing +offered assistance if ground was given for the erection of a British +flag, and generally attempted to bring about an adjustment of +difficulties on the basis of submitting these to the governor of Sierra +Leone. To these propositions Elijah Johnson replied, "We want no +flagstaff put up here that it will cost more to get down than it will +to whip the natives." However, Gordon and the men under him were left +behind for the protection of the colony until further help could arrive. +Within one month he and seven of the eleven were dead. He himself had +found a ready place in the hearts of the settlers, and to him and his +men Liberia owes much. They came in a needy hour and gave their lives +for the cause of freedom. + +An American steamer passing in December, 1822, gave some temporary +relief. On March 31, 1823, the _Cyane_, with Capt. R.T. Spence in +charge, arrived from America with supplies. As many members of his crew +became ill after only a few days, Spence soon deemed it advisable to +leave. His chief clerk, however, Richard Seaton, heroically volunteered +to help with the work, remained behind, and died after only three +months. On May 24 came the _Oswego_ with sixty-one new colonists and +Dr. Ayres, who, already the Society's agent, now returned with the +additional authority of Government agent and surgeon. He made a survey +and attempted a new allotment of land, only to find that the colony was +soon in ferment, because some of those who possessed the best holdings +or who had already made the beginnings of homes, were now required to +give these up. There was so much rebellion that in December Ayres +again deemed it advisable to leave. The year 1823 was in fact chiefly +noteworthy for the misunderstandings that arose between the colonists +and Ashmun. This man had been placed in a most embarrassing situation by +the arrival of Dr. Ayres.[1] He not only found himself superseded in the +government, but had the additional misfortune to learn that his drafts +had been dishonored and that no provision had been made to remunerate +him for his past services or provide for his present needs. Finding his +services undervalued, and even the confidence of the Society withheld, +he was naturally indignant, though his attachment to the cause remained +steadfast. Seeing the authorized agent leaving the colony, and the +settlers themselves in a state of insubordination, with no formal +authority behind him he yet resolved to forget his own wrongs and to do +what he could to save from destruction that for which he had already +suffered so much. He was young and perhaps not always as tactful as he +might have been. On the other hand, the colonists had not yet learned +fully to appreciate the real greatness of the man with whom they were +dealing. As for the Society at home, not even so much can be said. The +real reason for the withholding of confidence from Ashmun was that many +of the members objected to his persistent attacks on the slave-trade. + +[Footnote 1: Stockwell, 73.] + +By the regulations that governed the colony at the time, each man who +received rations was required to contribute to the general welfare +two days of labor a week. Early in December twelve men cast off all +restraint, and on the 13th Ashmun published a notice in which he said: +"There are in the colony more than a dozen healthy persons who will +receive no more provisions out of the public store until they earn +them." On the 19th, in accordance with this notice, the provisions of +the recalcitrants were stopped. The next morning, however, the men went +to the storehouse, and while provisions were being issued, each seized +a portion and went to his home. Ashmun now issued a circular, reminding +the colonists of all of their struggles together and generally pointing +out to them how such a breach of discipline struck at the very heart of +the settlement. The colonists rallied to his support and the twelve men +returned to duty. The trouble, however, was not yet over. On March 19, +1824, Ashmun found it necessary to order a cut in provisions. He had +previously declared to the Board that in his opinion the evil was +"incurable by any of the remedies which fall within the existing +provisions"; and counter remonstrances had been sent by the colonists, +who charged him with oppression, neglect of duty, and the seizure of +public property. He now, seeing that his latest order was especially +unpopular, prepared new despatches, on March 22 reviewed the whole +course of his conduct in a strong and lengthy address, and by the last +of the month had left the colony. + +Meanwhile the Society, having learned that things were not going well +with the colony, had appointed its secretary, Rev. R.R. Gurley, to +investigate conditions. Gurley met Ashmun at the Cape Verde Islands and +urgently requested that he return to Monrovia.[1] This Ashmun was not +unwilling to do, as he desired the fullest possible investigation into +his conduct. Gurley was in Liberia from August 13 to August 22, 1824, +only; but from the time of his visit conditions improved. Ashmun was +fully vindicated and remained for four years more until his strength +was all but spent. There was adopted what was known as the Gurley +Constitution. According to this the agent in charge was to have supreme +charge and preside at all public meetings. He was to be assisted, +however, by eleven officers annually chosen, the most important of whom +he was to appoint on nomination by the colonists. Among these were +a vice-agent, two councilors, two justices of the peace, and two +constables. There was to be a guard of twelve privates, two corporals, +and one sergeant. + +[Footnote 1: This name, in honor of President Monroe, had recently been +adopted by the Society at the suggestion of Robert Goodloe Harper, of +Maryland, who also suggested the name _Liberia_ for the country. Harper +himself was afterwards honored by having the chief town in Maryland in +Africa named after him.] + +For a long time it was the custom of the American Colonization Society +to send out two main shipments of settlers a year, one in the spring +and one in the fall. On February 13, 1824, arrived a little more than +a hundred emigrants, mainly from Petersburg, Va. These people were +unusually intelligent and industrious and received a hearty welcome. +Within a month practically all of them were sick with the fever. On +this occasion, as on many others, Lott Cary served as physician, and so +successful was he that only three of the sufferers died. Another company +of unusual interest was that which arrived early in 1826. It brought +along a printer, a press with the necessary supplies, and books sent by +friends in Boston. Unfortunately the printer was soon disabled by the +fever. + +Sickness, however, and wars with the natives were not the only handicaps +that engaged the attention of the colony in these years. "At this period +the slave-trade was carried on extensively within sight of Monrovia. +Fifteen vessels were engaged in it at the same time, almost under the +guns of the settlement; and in July of this year a contract was existing +for eight hundred slaves to be furnished, in the short space of four +months, within eight miles of the cape. Four hundred of these were to be +purchased for two American traders."[1] Ashmun attacked the Spaniards +engaged in the traffic, and labored generally to break up slave +factories. On one occasion he received as many as one hundred and +sixteen slaves into the colony as freemen. He also adopted an attitude +of justice toward the native Krus. Of special importance was the attack +on Trade Town, a stronghold of French and Spanish traders about one +hundred miles below Monrovia. Here there were not less than three large +factories. On the day of the battle, April 10, there were three hundred +and fifty natives on shore under the direction of the traders, but the +colonists had the assistance of some American vessels, and a Liberian +officer, Captain Barbour, was of outstanding courage and ability. The +town was fired after eighty slaves had been surrendered. The flames +reached the ammunition of the enemy and over two hundred and fifty casks +of gunpowder exploded. By July, however, the traders had built a battery +at Trade Town and were prepared to give more trouble. All the same a +severe blow had been dealt to their work. + +[Footnote 1: Stockwell, 79.] + +In his report rendered at the close of 1825 Ashmun showed that the +settlers were living in neatness and comfort; two chapels had been +built, and the militia was well organized, equipped, and disciplined. +The need of some place for the temporary housing of immigrants having +more and more impressed itself upon the colony, before the end of 1826 +a "receptacle" capable of holding one hundred and fifty persons was +erected. Ashmun himself served on until 1828, by which time his strength +was completely spent. He sailed for America early in the summer and +succeeded in reaching New Haven, only to die after a few weeks. No man +had given more for the founding of Liberia. The principal street in +Monrovia is named after him. + +Aside from wars with the natives, the most noteworthy being the Dey-Gola +war of 1832, the most important feature of Liberian history in +the decade 1828-1838 was the development along the coast of other +settlements than Monrovia. These were largely the outgrowth of the +activity of local branch organizations of the American Colonization +Society, and they were originally supposed to have the oversight of the +central organization and of the colony of Monrovia. The circumstances +under which they were founded, however, gave them something of a feeling +of independence which did much to influence their history. Thus arose, +about seventy-five miles farther down the coast, under the auspices +especially of the New York and Pennsylvania societies, the Grand Bassa +settlements at the mouth of the St. John's River, the town Edina being +outstanding. Nearly a hundred miles farther south, at the mouth of +the Sino River, another colony developed as its most important town +Greenville; and as most of the settlers in this vicinity came from +Mississippi, their province became known as Mississippi in Africa. A +hundred miles farther, on Cape Palmas, just about twenty miles from the +Cavalla River marking the boundary of the French possessions, developed +the town of Harper in what became known as Maryland in Africa. This +colony was even more aloof than others from the parent settlement of +the American Colonization Society. When the first colonists arrived at +Monrovia in 1831, they were not very cordially received, there being +trouble about the allotment of land. They waited for some months for +reenforcements and then sailed down the coast to the vicinity of the +Cavalla River, where they secured land for their future home and where +their distance from the other colonists from America made it all the +more easy for them to cultivate their tradition of independence.[1] +These four ports are now popularly known as Monrovia, Grand Bassa, Sino, +and Cape Palmas; and to them for general prominence might now be added +Cape Mount, about fifty miles from Monrovia higher up the coast and just +a few miles from the Mano River, which now marks the boundary between +Sierra Leone and Liberia. In 1838, on a constitution drawn up by +Professor Greenleaf, of Harvard College, was organized the "Commonwealth +of Liberia," the government of which was vested in a Board of Directors +composed of delegates from the state societies, and which included all +the settlements except Maryland. This remote colony, whose seaport is +Cape Palmas, did not join with the others until 1857, ten years after +Liberia had become an independent republic. When a special company +of settlers arrived from Baltimore and formally occupied Cape Palmas +(1834), Dr. James Hall was governor and he served in this capacity +until 1836, when failing health forced him to return to America. He was +succeeded by John B. Russwurm, a young Negro who had come to Liberia +in 1829 for the purpose of superintending the system of education. The +country, however, was not yet ready for the kind of work he wanted +to do, and in course of time he went into politics. He served very +efficiently as Governor of Maryland from 1836 to 1851, especially +exerting himself to standardize the currency and to stabilize the +revenues. Five years after his death Maryland suffered greatly from an +attack by the Greboes, twenty-six colonists being killed. An appeal to +Monrovia for help led to the sending of a company of men and later to +the incorporation of the colony in the Republic. + +[Footnote 1: McPherson is especially valuable for his study of the +Maryland colony.] + +Of the events of the period special interest attaches to the murder of +I.F.C. Finley, Governor of Mississippi in Africa, to whose father, Rev. +Robert Finley, the organization of the American Colonization Society +had been very largely due. In September, 1838, Governor Finley left his +colony to go to Monrovia on business, and making a landing at Bassa +Cove, he was robbed and killed by the Krus. This unfortunate murder +led to a bitter conflict between the settlers in the vicinity and the +natives. This is sometimes known as the Fish War (from being waged +around Fishpoint) and did not really cease for a year. + +(b) The Commonwealth of Liberia + +The first governor of the newly formed Commonwealth was Thomas H. +Buchanan, a man of singular energy who represented the New York and +Pennsylvania societies and who had come in 1836 especially to take +charge of the Grand Bassa settlements. Becoming governor in 1838, he +found it necessary to proceed vigorously against the slave dealers at +Trade Town. He was also victorious in 1840 in a contest with the Gola +tribe led by Chief Gatumba. The Golas had defeated the Dey tribe so +severely that a mere remnant of the latter had taken refuge with the +colonists at Millsburg, a station a few miles up the St. Paul's River. +Thus, as happened more than once, a tribal war in time involved the very +existence of the new American colonies. Governor Buchanan's victory +greatly increased his prestige and made it possible for him to negotiate +more and more favorable treaties with the natives. A contest of +different sort was that with a Methodist missionary, John Seyes, who +held that all goods used by missionaries, including those sold to the +natives, should be admitted free of duty. The governor contended that +such privilege should be extended only to goods intended for the +personal use of missionaries; and the Colonization Society stood behind +him in this opinion. As early as 1840 moreover some shadow of future +events was cast by trouble made by English traders on the Mano River, +the Sierra Leone boundary. Buchanan sent an agent to England to +represent him in an inquiry into the matter; but in the midst of his +vigorous work he died in 1841. He was the last white man formally under +any auspices at the head of Liberian affairs. Happily his period of +service had given opportunity and training to an efficient helper, upon +whom now the burden fell and of whom it is hardly too much to say that +he is the foremost figure in Liberian history. + +Joseph Jenkin Roberts was a mulatto born in Virginia in 1809. At the +age of twenty, with his widowed mother and younger brothers, he went to +Liberia and engaged in trade. In course of time he proved to be a man of +unusual tact and graciousness of manner, moving with ease among people +of widely different rank. His abilities soon demanded recognition, and +he was at the head of the force that defeated Gatumba. As governor he +realized the need of cultivating more far-reaching diplomacy than the +Commonwealth had yet known. He had the cooeperation of the Maryland +governor, Russwurm, in such a matter as that of uniform customs duties; +and he visited the United States, where he made a very good impression. +He soon understood that he had to reckon primarily with the English and +the French. England had indeed assumed an attitude of opposition to +the slave-trade; but her traders did not scruple to sell rum to slave +dealers, and especially were they interested in the palm oil of Liberia. +When the Commonwealth sought to impose customs duties, England took the +position that as Liberia was not an independent government, she had no +right to do so; and the English attitude had some show of strength +from the fact that the American Colonization Society, an outside +organization, had a veto power over whatever Liberia might do. When in +1845 the Liberian Government seized the _Little Ben_, an English trading +vessel whose captain acted in defiance of the revenue laws, the British +in turn seized the _John Seyes_, belonging to a Liberian named Benson, +and sold the vessel for L8000. Liberia appealed to the United States; +but the Oregon boundary question as well as slavery had given the +American Government problems enough at home; and the Secretary of State, +Edward Everett, finally replied to Lord Aberdeen (1845) that America +was not "presuming to settle differences arising between Liberian and +British subjects, the Liberians being responsible for their own acts." +The Colonization Society, powerless to act except through its own +government, in January, 1846, resolved that "the time had arrived when +it was expedient for the people of the Commonwealth of Liberia to take +into their own hands the whole work of self-government including the +management of all their foreign relations." Forced to act for herself +Liberia called a constitutional convention and on July 26, 1847, issued +a Declaration of Independence and adopted the Constitution of the +Liberian Republic. In October, Joseph Jenkin Roberts, Governor of the +Commonwealth, was elected the first President of the Republic. + +It may well be questioned if by 1847 Liberia had developed sufficiently +internally to be able to assume the duties and responsibilities of an +independent power. There were at the time not more than 4,500 civilized +people of American origin in the country; these were largely illiterate +and scattered along a coastline more than three hundred miles in length. +It is not to be supposed, however, that this consummation had been +attained without much yearning and heart-beat and high spiritual fervor. +There was something pathetic in the effort of this small company, most +of whose members had never seen Africa but for the sake of their race +had made their way back to the fatherland. The new seal of the Republic +bore the motto: THE LOVE OF LIBERTY BROUGHT US HERE. The flag, modeled +on that of the United States, had six red and five white stripes for +the eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence, and in the upper +corner next to the staff a lone white star in a field of blue. The +Declaration itself said in part: + + We, the people of the Republic of Liberia, were originally + inhabitants of the United States of North America. + + In some parts of that country we were debarred by law from all the + rights and privileges of men; in other parts public sentiment, more + powerful than law, frowned us down. + + We were everywhere shut out from all civil office. + + We were excluded from all participation in the government. + + We were taxed without our consent. + + We were compelled to contribute to the resources of a country which + gave us no protection. + + We were made a separate and distinct class, and against us every + avenue of improvement was effectually closed. Strangers from all + lands of a color different from ours were preferred before us. + + We uttered our complaints, but they were unattended to, or met only + by alleging the peculiar institution of the country. + + All hope of a favorable change in our country was thus wholly + extinguished in our bosom, and we looked with anxiety abroad for + some asylum from the deep degradation. + + The Western coast of Africa was the place selected by American + benevolence and philanthropy for our future home. Removed beyond + those influences which depressed us in our native land, it was + hoped we would be enabled to enjoy those rights and privileges, and + exercise and improve those faculties, which the God of nature had + given us in common with the rest of mankind. + +(c) _The Republic of Liberia_ + +With the adoption of its constitution the Republic of Liberia formally +asked to be considered in the family of nations; and since 1847 +the history of the country has naturally been very largely that of +international relations. In fact, preoccupation with the questions +raised by powerful neighbors has been at least one strong reason for the +comparatively slow internal development of the country. The Republic +was officially recognized by England in 1848, by France in 1852, but on +account of slavery not by the United States until 1862. Continuously +there has been an observance of the forms of order, and only one +president has been deposed. For a long time the presidential term was +two years in length; but by an act of 1907 it was lengthened to four +years. From time to time there have been two political parties, but not +always has such a division been emphasized. + +It is well to pause and note exactly what was the task set before the +little country. A company of American Negroes suddenly found themselves +placed on an unhealthy and uncultivated coast which was thenceforth to +be their home. If we compare them with the Pilgrim Fathers, we find that +as the Pilgrims had to subdue the Indians, so they had to hold their own +against a score of aggressive tribes. The Pilgrims had the advantage of +a thousand years of culture and experience in government; the Negroes, +only recently out of bondage, had been deprived of any opportunity for +improvement whatsoever. Not only, however, did they have to contend +against native tribes and labor to improve their own shortcomings; on +every hand they had to meet the designs of nations supposedly more +enlightened and Christian. On the coast Spanish traders defied +international law; on one side the English, and on the other the French, +from the beginning showed a tendency toward arrogance and encroachment. +To crown the difficulty, the American Government, under whose auspices +the colony had largely been founded, became more and more halfhearted +in its efforts for protection and at length abandoned the enterprise +altogether. It did not cease, however, to regard the colony as the +dumping-ground of its own troubles, and whenever a vessel with slaves +from the Congo was captured on the high seas, it did not hesitate to +take these people to the Liberian coast and leave them there, nearly +dead though they might be from exposure or cramping. It is well for +one to remember such facts as these before he is quick to belittle or +criticize. To the credit of the "Congo men" be it said that from the +first they labored to make themselves a quiet and industrious element in +the body politic. + +The early administrations of President Roberts (four terms, 1848-1855) +were mainly devoted to the quelling of the native tribes that continued +to give trouble and to the cultivating of friendly relations with +foreign powers. Soon after his inauguration Roberts made a visit to +England, the power from which there was most to fear; and on this +occasion as on several others England varied her arrogance with a rather +excessive friendliness toward the little republic. She presented to +Roberts the _Lark_, a ship with four guns, and sent the President home +on a war-vessel. Some years afteryards, when the _Lark_ was out of +repair, England sent instead a schooner, the _Quail_. Roberts made a +second visit to England in 1852 to adjust disputes with traders on the +western boundary. He also visited France, and Louis Napoleon, not to be +outdone by England, presented to him a vessel, the _Hirondelle_, and +also guns and uniforms for his soldiers. In general the administrations +of Roberts (we might better say his first series of administrations, for +he was later to be called again to office) made a period of constructive +statesmanship and solid development, and not a little of the respect +that the young republic won was due to the personal influence of its +first president. Roberts, however, happened to be very fair, and +generally successful though his administrations were, the desire on the +part of the people that the highest office in the country be held by a +black man seems to have been a determining factor in the choice of his +successor. There was an interesting campaign toward the close of his +last term. "There were about this time two political parties in the +country--the old Republicans and the 'True Liberians,' a party which had +been formed in opposition to Roberts's foreign policies. But during the +canvass the platform of this new party lost ground; the result was in +favor of the Republican candidate."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Karnga, 28.] + +Stephen Allen Benson (four terms, 1856-1863) was forced to meet in one +way or another almost all of the difficulties that have since played a +part in the life of the Liberian people. He had come to the country in +1822 at the age of six and had developed into a practical and efficient +merchant. To his high office he brought the same principles of sobriety +and good sense that had characterized him in business. On February 28, +1857, the independent colony of Maryland formally became a part of the +republic. This action followed immediately upon the struggle with the +Greboes in the vicinity of Cape Palmas in which assistance was rendered +by the Liberians under Ex-President Roberts. In 1858 an incident that +threatened complications with France but that was soon happily closed +arose from the fact that a French vessel which sought to carry away some +Kru laborers to the West Indies was attacked by these men when they had +reason to fear that they might be sold into slavery and not have to work +simply along the coast, as they at first supposed. The ship was seized +and all but one of the crew, the physician, were killed. Trouble +meanwhile continued with British smugglers in the West, and to this +whole matter we shall have to give further and special attention. In +1858 and a year or two thereafter the numerous arrivals from America, +especially of Congo men captured on the high seas, were such as to +present a serious social problem. Flagrant violation by the South of the +laws against the slave-trade led to the seizure by the United States +Government of many Africans. Hundreds of these people were detained at a +time at such a port as Key West. The Government then adopted the policy +of ordering commanders who seized slave-ships at sea to land the +Africans directly upon the coast of Liberia without first bringing them +to America, and appropriated $250,000 for the removal and care of those +at Key West. The suffering of many of these people is one of the most +tragic stories in the history of slavery. To Liberia came at one time +619, at another 867, and within two months as many as 4000. There was +very naturally consternation on the part of the people at this sudden +immigration, especially as many of the Africans arrived cramped or +paralyzed or otherwise ill from the conditions under which they had been +forced to travel. President Benson stated the problem to the American +Government; the United States sent some money to Liberia, the people of +the Republic helped in every way they could, and the whole situation was +finally adjusted without any permanently bad effects, though it is well +for students to remember just what Liberia had to face at this time. +Important toward the close of Benson's terms was the completion of the +building of the Liberia College, of which Joseph Jenkin Roberts became +the first president. + +The administrations of Daniel Bashiel Warner (two terms, 1864-1867) and +the earlier one of James Spriggs Payne (1868-1869) were comparatively +uneventful. Both of these men were Republicans, but Warner represented +something of the shifting of political parties at the time. At first +a Republican, he went over to the Whig party devoted to the policy of +preserving Liberia from white invasion. Moved to distrust of English +merchants, who delighted in defrauding the little republic, he +established an important Ports-of-Entry Law in 1865, which it is hardly +necessary to say was very unpopular with the foreigners. Commerce was +restricted to six ports and a circle six miles in diameter around each +port. On account of the Civil War and the hopes that emancipation held +out to the Negroes in the United States, immigration from America ceased +rapidly; but a company of 346 came from Barbadoes at this time. The +Liberian Government assisted these people with $4000, set apart for each +man an allotment of twenty-five rather than the customary ten acres; the +Colonization Society appropriated $10,000, and after a pleasant voyage +of thirty-three days they arrived without the loss of a single life. In +the company was a little boy, Arthur Barclay, who was later to be known +as the President of the Republic. At the semi-centennial of the American +Colonization Society held in Washington in January, 1867, it was shown +that the Society and its auxiliaries had been directly responsible for +the sending of more than 12,000 persons to Africa. Of these 4541 +had been born free, 344 had purchased their freedom, 5957 had been +emancipated to go to Africa, and 1227 had been settled by the Maryland +Society. In addition, 5722 captured Africans had been sent to Liberia. +The need of adequate study of the interior having more and more +impressed itself, Benjamin Anderson, an adventurous explorer, assisted +with funds by a citizen of New York, in 1869 studied the country for two +hundred miles from the coast. He found the land constantly rising, and +made his way to Musardu, the chief city of the western Mandingoes. He +summed up his work in his _Narrative of a Journey to Musardo_ and made +another journey of exploration in 1874. + +Edward James Roye (1870-October 26, 1871), a Whig whose party was formed +out of the elements of the old True Liberian party, attracts attention +by reason of a notorious British loan to which further reference must +be made. Of the whole amount of L100,000 sums were wasted or +misappropriated until it has been estimated that the country really +reaped the benefit of little more than a quarter of the whole amount. +President Roye added to other difficulties by his seizure of a bank +building belonging to an Industrial Society of the St. Paul's River +settlements, and by attempting by proclamation to lengthen his term +of office. Twice a constitutional amendment for lengthening the +presidential term from two years to four had been considered and voted +down. Roye contested the last vote, insisted that his term ran to +January, 1874, and issued a proclamation forbidding the coming biennial +election. He was deposed, his house sacked, some of his cabinet officers +tried before a court of impeachment,[1] and he himself was drowned as he +was pursued while attempting to escape to a British ship in the harbor. +A committee of three was appointed to govern the country until a new +election could be held; and in this hour of storm and stress the people +turned once more to the guidance of their old leader, Joseph J. Roberts +(two terms, 1872-1875). His efforts were mainly devoted to restoring +order and confidence, though there was a new war with the Greboes to be +waged.[2] He was succeeded by another trusted leader, James S. Payne +(1876-1877), whose second administration was as devoid as the first of +striking incident. In fact, the whole generation succeeding the loan +of 1871 was a period of depression. The country not only suffered +financially, but faith in it was shaken both at home and abroad. Coffee +grown in Liberia fell as that produced at Brazil grew in favor, the +farmer witnessing a drop in value from 24 to 4 cents a pound. Farms were +abandoned, immigration from the United States ceased, and the country +entered upon a period of stagnation from which it has not yet fully +recovered. + +[Footnote 1: But not Hilary R.W. Johnson, the efficient Secretary of +State, later President.] + +[Footnote 2: President Roberts died February 21, 1876, barely two months +after giving up office. He was caught in the rain while attending a +funeral, took a severe chill, and was not able to recover.] + +Within just a few years after 1871, however, conditions in the United +States led to an interesting revival of the whole idea of colonization, +and to noteworthy effort on the part of the Negroes themselves to better +their condition. The withdrawal of Federal troops from the South, +and all the evils of the aftermath of reconstruction, led to such a +terrorizing of the Negroes and such a denial of civil rights that there +set in the movement that culminated in the great exodus from the South +in 1879. The movement extended all the way from North Carolina to +Louisiana and Arkansas. Insofar as it led to migration to Kansas and +other states in the West, it belongs to American history. However, there +was also interest in going to Africa. Applications by the thousands +poured in upon the American Colonization Society, and one organization +in Arkansas sent hundreds of its members to seek the help of the New +York State Colonization Society. In all such endeavor Negro Baptists +and Methodists joined hands, and especially prominent was Bishop H.M. +Turner, of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1877 there was +organized in South Carolina the Liberian Exodus and Joint Stock Company; +in North Carolina there was the Freedmen's Emigration Aid Society; and +there were similar organizations in other states. The South Carolina +organization had the threefold purpose of emigration, missionary +activity, and commercial enterprise, and to these ends it purchased a +vessel, the _Azor_, at a cost of $7000. The white people of Charleston +unfortunately embarrassed the enterprise in every possible way, among +other things insisting when the _Azor_ was ready to sail that it was not +seaworthy and needed a new copper bottom (to cost $2000). The vessel at +length made one or two trips, however, on one voyage carrying as many as +274 emigrants. It was then stolen and sold in Liverpool, and one gets an +interesting sidelight on Southern conditions in the period when he knows +that even the United States Circuit Court in South Carolina refused to +entertain the suit brought by the Negroes. + +In the administration of Anthony W. Gardiner (three terms, 1878-1883) +difficulties with England and Germany reached a crisis. Territory in +the northwest was seized; the British made a formal show of force at +Monrovia; and the looting of a German vessel along the Kru Coast and +personal indignities inflicted by the natives upon the shipwrecked +Germans, led to the bombardment of Nana Kru by a German warship and the +presentation at Monrovia of a claim for damages, payment of which was +forced by the threat of the bombardment of the capital. To the Liberian +people the outlook was seldom darker than in this period of calamities. +President Gardiner, very ill, resigned office in January of his last +year of service, being succeeded by the vice-president, Alfred F. +Russell. More and more was pressure brought to bear upon Liberian +officials for the granting of monopolies and concessions, especially to +Englishmen; and in his message of 1883 President Russell said, "Recent +events admonish us as to the serious responsibility of claims held +against us by foreigners, and we cannot tell what complications may +arise." In the midst of all this, however, Russell did not forget the +natives and the need of guarding them against liquor and exploitation. + +Hilary Richard Wright Johnson (four terms, 1884-1891), the next +president, was a son of the distinguished Elijah Johnson and the first +man born in Liberia who had risen to the highest place in the republic. +Whigs and Republicans united in his election. Much of his time had +necessarily to be given to complications arising from the loan of 1871; +but the western boundary was adjusted (with great loss) with Great +Britain at the Mano River, though new difficulties arose with the +French, who were pressing their claim to territory as far as the Cavalla +River. In the course of the last term of President Johnson there was an +interesting grant (by act approved January 21, 1890) to F.F. Whittekin, +of Pennsylvania, of the right to "construct, maintain, and operate a +system of railroads, telegraph and telephone lines." Whittekin bought up +in England stock to the value of half a million dollars, but died on the +way to Liberia to fulfil his contract. His nephew, F.F. Whittekin, asked +for an extension of time, which was granted, but after a while the whole +project languished.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See _Liberia_, Bulletin No. 5, November, 1894.] + +Joseph James Cheeseman (1892-November 15, 1896) was a Whig. He conducted +what was known as the third Grebo War and labored especially for a sound +currency. He was a man of unusual ability and his devotion to his task +undoubtedly contributed toward his death in office near the middle +of his third term. As up to this time there had been no internal +improvement and little agricultural or industrial development in the +country, O.F. Cook, the agent of the New York State Colonization +Society, in 1894 signified to the legislature a desire to establish +a station where experiments could be made as to the best means of +introducing, receiving, and propagating beasts of burden, commercial +plants, etc. His request was approved and one thousand acres of land +granted for the purpose by act of January 20, 1894. Results, however, +were neither permanent nor far-reaching. In fact, by the close of the +century immigration had practically ceased and the activities of the +American Colonization Society had also ceased, many of the state +organizations having gone out of existence. In 1893 Julius C. Stevens, +of Goldsboro, N.C., went to Liberia and served for a nominal salary as +agent of the American Colonization Society, becoming also a teacher in +the Liberia College and in time Commissioner of Education, in connection +with which post he edited his _Liberian School Reader_; but he died in +1903.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Interest in Liberia by no means completely died. +Contributions for education were sometimes made by the representative +organizations, and individual students came to America from time +to time. When, however, the important commission representing the +Government came to America in 1908, the public was slightly startled as +having heard from something half-forgotten.] + +William D. Coleman as vice-president finished the incomplete term of +President Cheeseman (to the end of 1897) and later was elected for +two terms in his own right. In the course of his last administration, +however, his interior policy became very unpopular, as he was thought to +be harsh in his dealing with the natives, and he resigned in December, +1900. As there was at the time no vice-president, he was succeeded +by the Secretary of State, Garretson W. Gibson, a man of scholarly +attainments, who was afterwards elected for a whole term (1902-1903). +The feature of this term was the discussion that arose over the proposal +to grant a concession to an English concern known as the West African +Gold Concessions, Ltd. This offered to the legislators a bonus of L1500, +and for this bribe it asked for the sole right to prospect for and +obtain gold, precious stones, and all other minerals over more than half +of Liberia. Specifically it asked for the right to acquire freehold +land and to take up leases for eighty years, in blocks of from ten to +a thousand acres; to import all mining machinery and all other things +necessary free of duty; to establish banks in connection with the mining +enterprises, these to have the power to issue notes; to construct +telegraphs and telephones; to organize auxiliary syndicates; and to +establish its own police. It would seem that English impudence could +hardly go further, though time was to prove that there were still other +things to be borne. The proposal was indignantly rejected. + +Arthur Barclay (1904-1911) had already served in three cabinet positions +before coming to the presidency; he had also been a professor in the +Liberia College and for some years had been known as the leader of the +bar in Monrovia. It was near the close of his second term that the +president's term of office was lengthened from two to four years, and +he was the first incumbent to serve for the longer period. In his first +inaugural address President Barclay emphasized the need of developing +the resources of the hinterland and of attaching the native tribes to +the interests of the state. In his foreign policy he was generally +enlightened and broad-minded, but he had to deal with the arrogance of +England. In 1906 a new British loan was negotiated. This also was for +L100,000, more than two-thirds of which amount was to be turned over to +the Liberian Development Company, an English scheme for the development +of the interior. The Company was to work in cooeperation with the +Liberian Government, and as security for the loan British officials were +to have charge of the customs revenue, the chief inspector acting as +financial adviser to the Republic. It afterwards developed that the +Company never had any resources except those it had raised on the credit +of the Republic, and the country was forced to realize that it had been +cheated a second time. Meanwhile the English officials who, on various +pretexts of reform, had taken charge of the barracks and the customs +in Monrovia, were carrying things with a high hand. The Liberian force +appeared with English insignia on the uniforms, and in various other +ways the commander sought to overawe the populace. At the climax of the +difficulties, on February 13, 1909, a British warship _happened_ to +appear in the waters of Monrovia, and a calamity was averted only by the +skillful diplomacy of the Liberians. Already, however, in 1908, Liberia +had sent a special commission to ask the aid of the United States. +This consisted of Garretson W. Gibson, former president; J.J. Dossen, +vice-president at the time, and Charles B. Dunbar. The commission was +received by President Roosevelt and by Secretary Taft just before the +latter was nominated for the presidency. On May 8, 1909, a return +commission consisting of Roland P. Falkner, George Sale, and Emmett J. +Scott, arrived in Monrovia. The work of this commission must receive +further and special attention. + +President Barclay was succeeded by Daniel Edward Howard (two long +terms, 1912-1919), who at his inauguration began the policy of giving +prominence to the native chiefs. The feature of President Howard's +administrations was of course Liberia's connection with the Great War +in Europe. War against Germany having been declared, on the morning +of April 10, 1918, a submarine came to Monrovia and demanded that the +French wireless station be torn down. The request being refused, the +town was bombarded. The excitement of the day was such as has never been +duplicated in the history of Liberia. In one house two young girls were +instantly killed and an elderly woman and a little boy fatally wounded; +but except in this one home the actual damage was comparatively slight, +though there might have been more if a passing British steamer had not +put the submarine to flight. Suffering of another and more far-reaching +sort was that due to the economic situation. The comparative scarcity of +food in the world and the profiteering of foreign merchants in Liberia +by the summer of 1919 brought about a condition that threatened +starvation; nor was the situation better early in 1920, when butter +retailed at $1.25 a pound, sugar at 72 cents a pound, and oil at $1.00 a +gallon. + +President Howard was succeeded by Charles Dunbar Burgess King, who as +president-elect had visited Europe and America, and who was inaugurated +January 5, 1920. His address on this occasion was a comprehensive +presentation of the needs of Liberia, especially along the lines of +agriculture and education. He made a plea also for an enlightened native +policy. Said he: "We cannot afford to destroy the native institutions of +the country. Our true mission lies not in the building here in Africa +of a Negro state based solely on Western ideas, but rather a Negro +nationality indigenous to the soil, having its foundation rooted in the +institutions of Africa and purified by Western thought and development." + + +3. _International Relations_ + +Our study of the history of Liberia has suggested two or three matters +that call for special attention. Of prime importance is the country's +connection with world politics. Any consideration of Liberia's +international relations falls into three divisions: first, that of +titles to land; second, that of foreign loans; and third, that of +so-called internal reform. + +In the very early years of the colony the raids of slave-traders gave +some excuse for the first aggression on the part of a European power. +"Driven from the Pongo Regions northwest of Sierra Leone, Pedro Blanco +settled in the Gallinhas territory northwest of the Liberian frontier, +and established elaborate headquarters for his mammoth slave-trading +operations in West Africa, with slave-trading sub-stations at Cape +Mount, St. Paul River, Bassa, and at other points of the Liberian coast, +employing numerous police, watchers, spies, and servants. To obtain +jurisdiction the colony of Liberia began to purchase from the lords of +the soil as early as 1824 the lands of the St. Paul Basin and the Grain +Coast from the Mafa River on the west to the Grand Sesters River on the +east; so that by 1845, twenty-four years after the establishment of the +colony, Liberia with the aid of Great Britain had destroyed throughout +these regions the baneful traffic in slaves and the slave barracoons, +and had driven the slave-trading leaders from the Liberian coast."[1] +The trade continued to flourish, however, in the Gallinhas territory, +and in course of time, as we have seen, the colony had also to reckon +with British merchants in this section, the Declaration of Independence +in 1847 being very largely a result of the defiance of Liberian +revenue-laws by Englishmen. While President Roberts was in England +not long after his inauguration, Lord Ashley, moved by motives of +philanthropy, undertook to raise L2000 with which he (Roberts) might +purchase the Gallinhas territory; and by 1856 Roberts had secured the +title and deeds to all of this territory from the Mafa River to Sherbro +Island. The whole transaction was thoroughly honorable, Roberts informed +England of his acquisition, and his right to the territory was not then +called in question. Trouble, however, developed out of the attitude of +John M. Harris, a British merchant, and in 1862, while President Benson +was in England, he was officially informed that the right of Liberia was +recognized _only_ to the land "east of Turner's Peninsula to the River +San Pedro." Harris now worked up a native war against the Vais; the +Liberians defended themselves; and in the end the British Government +demanded L8878.9.3 as damages for losses sustained by Harris, and +arbitrarily extended its territory from Sherbro Island to Cape Mount. In +the course of the discussion claims mounted up to L18,000. Great Britain +promised to submit this boundary question to the arbitration of the +United States, but when the time arrived at the meeting of one of the +commissions in Sierra Leone she firmly declined to do so. After this, +whenever she was ready to take more land she made a plausible pretext +and was ready to back up her demands with force. On March 20, 1882, four +British men-of-war came to Monrovia and Sir A.E. Havelock, Governor of +Sierra Leone, came ashore; and President Gardiner was forced to submit +to an agreement by which, in exchange for L4750 and the abandonment of +all further claims, the Liberian Government gave up all right to +the Gallinhas territory from Sherbro Island to the Mafa River. This +agreement was repudiated by the Liberian Senate, but when Havelock was +so informed he replied, "Her Majesty's Government can not in any case +recognize any rights on the part of Liberia to any portions of the +territories in dispute." Liberia now issued a protest to other great +powers; but this was without avail, even the United States counseling +acquiescence, though through the offices of America the agreement was +slightly modified and the boundary fixed at the Mano River. Trouble next +arose on the east. In 1846 the Maryland Colonization Society purchased +the lands of the Ivory Coast east of Cape Palmas as far as the San Pedro +River. These lands were formally transferred to Liberia in 1857, and +remained in the undisputed possession of the Republic for forty years. +France now, not to be outdone by England, on the pretext of title deeds +obtained by French naval commanders who visited the coast in 1890, in +1891 put forth a claim not only to the Ivory Coast, but to land as far +away as Grand Bassa and Cape Mount. The next year, under threat of +force, she compelled Liberia to accept a treaty which, for 25,000 francs +and the relinquishment of all other claims, permitted her to take all +the territory east of the Cavalla River. In 1904 Great Britain asked +permission to advance her troops into Liberian territory to suppress a +native war threatening her interests. She occupied at this time what +is known as the Kaure-Lahun section, which is very fertile and of easy +access to the Sierra Leone railway. This land she never gave up; instead +she offered Liberia L6000 or some poorer land for it. France after 1892 +made no endeavor to delimit her boundary, and, roused by the action +of Great Britain, she made great advances in the hinterland, claiming +tracts of Maryland and Sino; and now France and England each threatened +to take more land if the other was not stopped. President Barclay +visited both countries; but by a treaty of 1907 his commission was +forced to permit France to occupy all the territory seized by force; and +as soon as this agreement was reached France began to move on to other +land in the basin of the St. Paul's and St. John's rivers. This is all +then simply one more story of the oppression of the weak by the strong. +For eighty years England has not ceased to intermeddle in Liberian +affairs, cajoling or browbeating as at the moment seemed advisable; and +France has been only less bad. Certainly no country on earth now has +better reason than Liberia to know that "they should get who have the +power, and they should keep who can." + +[Footnote 1: Ellis in _Journal of Race Development_, January, 1911.] + +The international loans and the attempts at reform must be considered +together. In 1871, at the rate of 7 per cent, there was authorized a +British loan of L100,000. _For their services_ the British negotiators +retained L30,000, and L20,000 more was deducted as the interest for +three years. President Roye ordered Mr. Chinery, a British subject and +the Liberian consul general in London, to supply the Liberian Secretary +of Treasury with goods and merchandise to the value of L10,000; and +other sums were misappropriated until the country itself actually +received the benefit of not more than L27,000, if so much. This whole +unfortunate matter was an embarrassment to Liberia for years; but in +1899 the Republic assumed responsibility for L80,000, the interest being +made a first charge on the customs revenue. In 1906, not yet having +learned the lesson of "Cavete Graecos dona ferentes," and moved by the +representations of Sir Harry H. Johnston, the country negotiated a +new loan of L100,000. L30,000 of this amount was to satisfy pressing +obligations; but the greater portion was to be turned over to the +Liberian Development Company, a great scheme by which the Government +and the company were to work hand in hand for the development of the +country. As security for the loan, British officials were to have charge +of the customs revenue, the chief inspector acting as financial adviser +to the Republic. When the Company had made a road of fifteen miles +in one district and made one or two other slight improvements, it +represented to the Liberian Government that its funds were exhausted. +When President Barclay asked for an accounting the managing director +expressed surprise that such a demand should be made upon him. The +Liberian people were chagrined, and at length they realized that they +had been cheated a second time, with all the bitter experiences of the +past to guide them. Meanwhile the English representatives in the country +were demanding that the judiciary be reformed, that the frontier force +be under British officers, and that Inspector Lamont as financial +adviser have a seat in the Liberian cabinet and a veto power over all +expenditures; and the independence of the country was threatened if +these demands were not complied with. Meanwhile also the construction +of barracks went forward under Major Cadell, a British officer, and the +organization of the frontier force was begun. Not less than a third of +this force was brought from Sierra Leone, and the whole Cadell fitted +out with suits and caps stamped with the emblems of His Britannic +Majesty's service. He also persuaded the Monrovia city government to let +him act without compensation as chief of police, and he likewise became +street commissioner, tax collector, and city treasurer. The Liberian +people naturally objected to the usurping of all these prerogatives, but +Cadell refused to resign and presented a large bill for his services. He +also threatened violence to the President if his demands were not met +within twenty-four hours. Then it was that the British warship, the +_Mutiny_, suddenly appeared at Monrovia (February 12, 1909). Happily +the Liberians rose to the emergency. They requested that any British +soldiers at the barracks be withdrawn in order that they might be free +to deal with the insurrectionary movement said to be there on the +part of Liberian soldiers; and thus tactfully they brought about the +withdrawal of Major Cadell. + +By this time, however, the Liberian commission to the United States +had done its work, and just three months after Cadell's retirement the +return American commission came. After studying the situation it made +the following recommendations: That the United States extend its aid to +Liberia in the prompt settlement of pending boundary disputes; that +the United States enable Liberia to refund its debt by assuming as a +guarantee for the payment of obligations under such arrangement the +control and collection of the Liberian customs; that the United States +lend its assistance to the Liberian Government in the reform of its +internal finances; that the United States lend its aid to Liberia in +organizing and drilling an adequate constabulary or frontier police +force; that the United States establish and maintain a research +station at Liberia; and that the United States reopen the question of +establishing a coaling-station in Liberia. Under the fourth of these +recommendations Major (now Colonel) Charles Young went to Liberia, +where from time to time since he has rendered most efficient service. +Arrangements were also made for a new loan, one of $1,700,000, which was +to be floated by banking institutions in the United States, Germany, +France, and England; and in 1912 an American General Receiver of Customs +and Financial Adviser to the Republic of Liberia (with an assistant +from each of the other three countries mentioned) opened his office +in Monrovia. It will be observed that a complicated and expensive +receivership was imposed on the Liberian people when an arrangement +much more simple would have served. The loan of $1,700,000 soon proving +inadequate for any large development of the country, negotiations were +begun in 1918 for a new loan, one of $5,000,000. Among the things +proposed were improvements on the harbor of Monrovia, some good roads +through the country, a hospital, and the broadening of the work of +education. About the loan two facts were outstanding: first, any money +to be spent would be spent wholly under American and not under Liberian +auspices; and, second, to the Liberians acceptance of the terms +suggested meant practically a surrender of their sovereignty, as +American appointees were to be in most of the important positions in the +country, at the same time that upon themselves would fall the ultimate +burden of the interest of the loan. By the spring of 1920 (in Liberia, +the commencement of the rainy season) it was interesting to note that +although the necessary measures of approval had not yet been passed by +the Liberian Congress, perhaps as many as fifteen American officials had +come out to the country to begin work in education, engineering, and +sanitation. Just a little later in the year President King called an +extra session of the legislature to consider amendments. While it was in +session a cablegram from the United States was received saying that no +amendments to the plan would be accepted and that it must be accepted as +submitted, "or the friendly interest which has heretofore existed would +become lessened." The Liberians were not frightened, however, and stood +firm. Meanwhile a new presidential election took place in the United +States; there was to be a radical change in the government; and the +Liberians were disposed to try further to see if some changes could not +be made in the proposed arrangements. Most watchfully from month to +month, let it be remembered, England and France were waiting; and in +any case it could easily be seen that as the Republic approached its +centennial it was face to face with political problems of the very first +magnitude.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Early in 1921 President King headed a new commission to the +United States to take up the whole matter of Liberia with the incoming +Republican administration.] + + +4. _Economic and Social Conditions_ + +From what has been said, it is evident that there is still much to be +done in Liberia along economic lines. There has been some beginning +in cooeperative effort; thus the Bassa Trading Association is an +organization for mutual betterment of perhaps as many as fifty +responsible merchants and farmers. The country has as yet (1921), +however, no railroads, no street cars, no public schools, and no genuine +newspapers; nor are there any manufacturing or other enterprises for +the employment of young men on a large scale. The most promising youth +accordingly look too largely to an outlet in politics; some come to +America to be educated and not always do they return. A few become +clerks in the stores, and a very few assistants in the customs offices. +There is some excellent agriculture in the interior, but as yet no means +of getting produce to market on a large scale. In 1919 the total customs +revenue at Monrovia, the largest port, amounted to $196,913.21. For the +whole country the figure has recently been just about half a million +dollars a year. Much of this amount goes to the maintenance of the +frontier force. Within the last few years also the annual income for +the city of Monrovia--for the payment of the mayor, the police, and all +other city officers--has averaged $6000. + +In any consideration of social conditions the first question of all of +course is that of the character of the people themselves. Unfortunately +Liberia was begun with faulty ideals of life and work. The early +settlers, frequently only recently out of bondage, too often felt that +in a state of freedom they did not have to work, and accordingly they +imitated the habits of the old master class of the South. The real +burden of life then fell upon the native. There is still considerable +feeling between the native and the Americo-Liberian; but more and more +the wisest men of the country realize that the good of one is the good +of all, and they are endeavoring to make the native chiefs work for the +common welfare. From time to time the people of Liberia have given to +visitors an impression of arrogance, and perhaps no one thing had led to +more unfriendly criticism of this country than this. The fact is that +the Liberians, knowing that their country has various shortcomings +according to Western standards, are quick to assume the defensive, and +one method of protecting themselves is by erecting a barrier of dignity +and reserve. One has only to go beyond this, however, to find the real +heartbeat of the people. The comparative isolation of the Republic +moreover, and the general stress of living conditions have together +given to the everyday life an undue seriousness of tone, with a rather +excessive emphasis on the church, on politics, and on secret societies. +In such an atmosphere boys and girls too soon became mature, and for +them especially one might wish to see a little more wholesome outdoor +amusement. In school or college catalogues one still sees much of +jurisprudence and moral philosophy, but little of physics or biology. +Interestingly enough, this whole system of education and life has not +been without some elements of very genuine culture. Literature has been +mainly in the diction of Shakespeare and Milton; but Shakespeare and +Milton, though not of the twentieth century, are still good models, +and because the officials have had to compose many state documents and +deliver many formal addresses, there has been developed in the country +a tradition of good English speech. A service in any one of the +representative churches is dignified and impressive. + +The churches and schools of Liberia have been most largely in the hands +of the Methodists and the Episcopalians, though the Baptists, the +Presbyterians, and the Lutherans are well represented. The Lutherans +have penetrated to a point in the interior beyond that attained by any +other denomination. The Episcopalians have excelled others, even the +Methodists, by having more constant and efficient oversight of their +work. The Episcopalians have in Liberia a little more than 40 schools, +nearly half of these being boarding-schools, with a total attendance +of 2000. The Methodists have slightly more than 30 schools, with 2500 +pupils. The Lutherans in their five mission stations have 20 American +workers and 300 pupils. While it seems from these figures that the +number of those reached is small in proportion to the outlay, it must be +remembered that a mission school becomes a center from which influence +radiates in all directions. + +While the enterprise of the denominational institutions can not be +doubted, it may well be asked if, in so largely relieving the people +of the burden of the education of their children, they are not unduly +cultivating a spirit of dependence rather than of self-help. Something +of this point of view was emphasized by the Secretary of Public +Instruction, Mr. Walter F. Walker, in an address, "Liberia and Her +Educational Problems," delivered in Chicago in 1916. Said he of the day +schools maintained by the churches: "These day schools did invaluable +service in the days of the Colony and Commonwealth, and, indeed, in the +early days of the Republic; but to their continuation must undoubtedly +be ascribed the tardy recognition of the government and people of the +fact that no agency for the education of the masses is as effective as +the public school.... There is not one public school building owned by +the government or by any city or township." + +It might further be said that just now in Liberia there is no +institution that is primarily doing college work. Two schools in +Monrovia, however, call for special remark. The College of West Africa, +formerly Monrovia Seminary, was founded by the Methodist Church in 1839. +The institution does elementary and lower high school work, though some +years ago it placed a little more emphasis on college work than it has +been able to do within recent years. It was of this college that the +late Bishop A.P. Camphor served so ably as president for twelve years. +Within recent years it has recognized the importance of industrial work +and has had in all departments an average annual enrollment of 300. Not +quite so prominent within the last few years, but with more tradition +and theoretically at the head of the educational system of the Republic +is the Liberia College. In 1848 Simon Greenleaf of Boston, received from +John Payne, a missionary at Cape Palmas, a request for his assistance in +building a theological school. Out of this suggestion grew the Board +of Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia incorporated in +Massachusetts in March, 1850. The next year the Liberia legislature +incorporated the Liberia College, it being understood that the +institution would emphasize academic as well as theological subjects. In +1857 Ex-President J.J. Roberts was elected president; he superintended +the erection of a large building; and in 1862 the college was opened +for work. Since then it has had a very uneven existence, sometimes +enrolling, aside from its preparatory department, twenty or thirty +college students, then again having no college students at all. Within +the last few years, as the old building was completely out of repair, +the school has had to seek temporary quarters. It is too vital to the +country to be allowed to languish, however, and it is to be hoped that +it may soon be well started upon a new career of usefulness. In the +course of its history the Liberia College has had connected with it some +very distinguished men. Famous as teacher and lecturer, and president +from 1881 to 1885, was Edward Wilmot Blyden, generally regarded as the +foremost scholar that Western Africa has given to the world. Closely +associated with him in the early years, and well known in America as in +Africa, was Alexander Crummell, who brought to his teaching the richness +of English university training. A trustee for a number of years was +Samuel David Ferguson, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, who served +with great dignity and resource as missionary bishop of the country +from 1884 until his death in 1916. A new president of the college, Rev. +Nathaniel H.B. Cassell, was elected in 1918, and it is expected that +under his efficient direction the school will go forward to still +greater years of service. + +Important in connection with the study of the social conditions in +Liberia is that of health and living conditions. One who lives in +America and knows that Africa is a land of unbounded riches can hardly +understand the extent to which the West Coast has been exploited, or +the suffering that is there just now. The distress is most acute in the +English colonies, and as Liberia is so close to Sierra Leone and the +Gold Coast, much of the same situation prevails there. In Monrovia the +only bank is the branch of the Bank of British West Africa. In the +branches of this great institution all along the coast, as a result of +the war, gold disappeared, silver became very scarce, and the common +form of currency became paper notes, issued in denominations as low as +one and two shillings. These the natives have refused to accept. They go +even further: rather than bring their produce to the towns and receive +paper for it they will not come at all. In Monrovia an effort was made +to introduce the British West African paper currency, and while this +failed, more and more the merchants insisted on being paid in silver, +nor in an ordinary purchase would silver be given in change on an +English ten-shilling note. Prices accordingly became exorbitant; +children were not properly nourished and the infant mortality grew to +astonishing proportions. Nor were conditions made better by the lack of +sanitation and by the prevalence of disease. Happily relief for these +conditions--for some of them at least--seems to be in sight, and it is +expected that before very long a hospital will be erected in Monrovia. + +One or two reflections suggest themselves. It has been said that the +circumstances under which Liberia was founded led to a despising of +industrial effort. The country is now quite awake, however, to the +advantages of industrial and agricultural enterprise. A matter of +supreme importance is that of the relation of the Americo-Liberian to +the native; this will work itself out, for the native is the country's +chief asset for the future. In general the Republic needs a few visible +evidences of twentieth century standards of progress; two or three high +schools and hospitals built on the American plan would work wonders. +Finally let it not be forgotten that upon the American Negro rests the +obligation to do whatever he can to help to develop the country. If he +will but firmly clasp hands with his brother across the sea, a new day +will dawn for American Negro and Liberian alike. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE NEGRO A NATIONAL ISSUE + + +1. _Current Tendencies_ + +It is evident from what has been said already that the idea of the Negro +current about 1830 in the United States was not very exalted. It was +seriously questioned if he was really a human being, and doctors of +divinity learnedly expounded the "Cursed be Canaan" passage as applying +to him. A prominent physician of Mobile[1] gave it as his opinion that +"the brain of the Negro, when compared with the Caucasian, is smaller by +a tenth ... and the intellect is wanting in the same proportion," and +finally asserted that Negroes could not live in the North because "a +cold climate so freezes their brains as to make them insane." About +mulattoes, like many others, he stretched his imagination marvelously. +They were incapable of undergoing fatigue; the women were very delicate +and subject to all sorts of diseases, and they did not beget children +as readily as either black women or white women. In fact, said Nott, +between the ages of twenty-five and forty mulattoes died ten times as +fast as either white or black people; between forty and fifty-five fifty +times as fast, and between fifty-five and seventy one hundred times as +fast. + +[Footnote 1: See "Two Lectures on the Natural History of the Caucasian +and Negro Races. By Josiah C. Nott, M.D., Mobile, 1844."] + +To such opinions was now added one of the greatest misfortunes that have +befallen the Negro race in its entire history in America--burlesque on +the stage. When in 1696 Thomas Southerne adapted _Oroonoko_ from the +novel of Mrs. Aphra Behn and presented in London the story of the +African prince who was stolen from his native Angola, no one saw any +reason why the Negro should not be a subject for serious treatment on +the stage, and the play was a great success, lasting for decades. In +1768, however, was presented at Drury Lane a comic opera, _The Padlock_, +and a very prominent character was Mungo, the slave of a West Indian +planter, who got drunk in the second act and was profane throughout the +performance. In the course of the evening Mungo entertained the audience +with such lines as the following: + + Dear heart, what a terrible life I am led! + A dog has a better, that's sheltered and fed. + Night and day 'tis the same; + My pain is deir game: + Me wish to de Lord me was dead! + Whate'er's to be done, + Poor black must run. + Mungo here, Mungo dere, + Mungo everywhere: + Above and below, + Sirrah, come; sirrah, go; + Do so, and do so, + Oh! oh! + Me wish to de Lord me was dead! + +The depreciation of the race that Mungo started continued, and when in +1781 _Robinson Crusoe_ was given as a pantomime at Drury Lane, Friday +was represented as a Negro. The exact origins of Negro minstrelsy +are not altogether clear; there have been many claimants, and it is +interesting to note in passing that there was an "African Company" +playing in New York in the early twenties, though this was probably +nothing more than a small group of amateurs. Whatever may have been +the beginning, it was Thomas D. Rice who brought the form to genuine +popularity. In Louisville in the summer of 1828, looking from one of the +back windows of a theater, he was attracted by an old and decrepit slave +who did odd jobs about a livery stable. The slave's master was named +Crow and he called himself Jim Crow. His right shoulder was drawn up +high and his left leg was stiff at the knee, but he took his deformity +lightly, singing as he worked. He had one favorite tune to which he +had fitted words of his own, and at the end of each verse he made a +ludicrous step which in time came to be known as "rocking the heel." His +refrain consisted of the words: + + Wheel about, turn about, + Do jis so, + An' ebery time I wheel about + I jump Jim Crow. + +Rice, who was a clever and versatile performer, caught the air, made up +like the Negro, and in the course of the next season introduced Jim Crow +and his step to the stage, and so successful was he in his performance +that on his first night in the part he was encored twenty times.[1] Rice +had many imitators among the white comedians of the country, some of +whom indeed claimed priority in opening up the new field, and along with +their burlesque these men actually touched upon the possibilities of +plaintive Negro melodies, which they of course capitalized. In New York +late in 1842 four men--"Dan" Emmett, Frank Brower, "Billy" Whitlock, and +"Dick" Pelham--practiced together with fiddle and banjo, "bones" +and tambourine, and thus was born the first company, the "Virginia +Minstrels," which made its formal debut in New York February 17, 1843. +Its members produced in connection with their work all sorts of popular +songs, one of Emmett's being "Dixie," which, introduced by Mrs. John +Wood in a burlesque in New Orleans at the outbreak of the Civil War, +leaped into popularity and became the war-song of the Confederacy. +Companies multipled apace. "Christy's Minstrels" claimed priority to the +company already mentioned, but did not actually enter upon its New York +career until 1846. "Bryant's Minstrels" and Buckley's "New Orleans +Serenaders" were only two others of the most popular aggregations +featuring and burlesquing the Negro. In a social history of the Negro in +America, however, it is important to observe in passing that already, +even in burlesque, the Negro element was beginning to enthrall the +popular mind. About the same time as minstrelsy also developed the habit +of belittling the race by making the name of some prominent and worthy +Negro a term of contempt; thus "cuffy" (corrupted from Paul Cuffe) now +came into widespread use. + +[Footnote 1: See Laurence Hutton: "The Negro on the Stage," in _Harper's +Magazine_, 79:137 (June, 1889), referring to article by Edmon S. Conner +in _New York Times_, June 5, 1881.] + +This was not all. It was now that the sinister crime of lynching raised +its head in defiance of all law. At first used as a form of punishment +for outlaws and gamblers, it soon came to be applied especially to +Negroes. One was burned alive near Greenville, S.C., in 1825; in May, +1835, two were burned near Mobile for the murder of two children; and +for the years between 1823 and 1860 not less than fifty-six cases of the +lynching of Negroes have been ascertained, though no one will ever know +how many lost their lives without leaving any record. Certainly more men +were executed illegally than legally; thus of forty-six recorded murders +by Negroes of owners or overseers between 1850 and 1860 twenty resulted +in legal execution and twenty-six in lynching. Violent crimes against +white women were not relatively any more numerous than now; but those +that occurred or were attempted received swift punishment; thus of +seventeen cases of rape in the ten years last mentioned Negroes were +legally executed in five and lynched in twelve.[1] + +[Footnote 1: See Hart: _Slavery and Abolition_, 11 and 117, citing +Cutler: _Lynch Law_, 98-100 and 126-128.] + +Extraordinary attention was attracted by the burning in St. Louis in +1835 of a man named McIntosh, who had killed an officer who was trying +to arrest him.[1] This event came in the midst of a period of great +agitation, and it was for denouncing this lynching that Elijah P. +Lovejoy had his printing-office destroyed in St. Louis and was forced +to remove to Alton, Ill., where his press was three times destroyed and +where he finally met death at the hands of a mob while trying to protect +his property November 7, 1837. Judge Lawless defended the lynching and +even William Ellery Channing took a compromising view. Abraham Lincoln, +however, then a very young man, in an address on "The Perpetuation of +Our Political Institutions" at Springfield, January 27, 1837, said: +"Accounts of outrages committed by mobs form the everyday news of the +times. They have pervaded the country from New England to Louisiana; +they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former nor the +burning suns of the latter; they are not the creatures of climate, +neither are they confined to the slaveholding or the nonslaveholding +states.... Turn to that horror-striking scene at St. Louis. A single +victim only was sacrificed there. This story is very short, and is +perhaps the most highly tragic of anything that has ever been witnessed +in real life. A mulatto man by the name of McIntosh was seized in the +street, dragged to the suburbs of the city, chained to a tree, and +actually burned to death; and all within a single hour from the time he +had been a free man attending to his own business and at peace with +the world.... Such are the effects of mob law, and such are the scenes +becoming more and more frequent in this land so lately famed for love of +law and order, and the stories of which have even now grown too familiar +to attract anything more than an idle remark." + +[Footnote 1: Cutler: _Lynch Law_, 109, citing Niles's _Register_, June +4, 1836.] + +All the while flagrant crimes were committed against Negro women and +girls, and free men in the border states were constantly being +dragged into slavery by kidnapers. Two typical cases will serve for +illustration. George Jones, a respectable man of New York, was in 1836 +arrested on Broadway on the pretext that he had committed assault and +battery. He refused to go with his captors, for he knew that he had +done nothing to warrant such a charge; but he finally yielded on the +assurance of his employer that everything possible would be done for +him. He was placed in the Bridewell and a few minutes afterwards taken +before a magistrate, to whose satisfaction he was proved to be a slave. +Thus, in less than two hours after his arrest he was hurried away by the +kidnapers, whose word had been accepted as sufficient evidence, and he +had not been permitted to secure a single friendly witness. Solomon +Northrup, who afterwards wrote an account of his experiences, was a +free man who lived in Saratoga and made his living by working about the +hotels, where in the evenings he often played the violin at parties. One +day two men, supposedly managers of a traveling circus company, met him +and offered him good pay if he would go with them as a violinist to +Washington. He consented, and some mornings afterwards awoke to find +himself in a slave pen in the capital. How he got there was ever a +mystery to him, but evidently he had been drugged. He was taken South +and sold to a hard master, with whom he remained twelve years before +he was able to effect his release.[1] In the South any free Negro who +entertained a runaway might himself become a slave; thus in South +Carolina in 1827 a free woman with her three children suffered this +penalty because she gave succor to two homeless and fugitive children +six and nine years old. + +[Footnote 1: McDougall: Fugitive Slaves, 36-37.] + +Day by day, moreover, from the capital of the nation went on the +internal slave-trade. "When by one means and another a dealer had +gathered twenty or more likely young Negro men and girls, he would bring +them forth from their cells; would huddle the women and young children +into a cart or wagon; would handcuff the men in pairs, the right hand of +one to the left hand of another; make the handcuffs fast to a long chain +which passed between each pair of slaves, and would start his procession +southward."[1] It is not strange that several of the unfortunate people +committed suicide. One distracted mother, about to be separated from her +loved ones, dumbfounded the nation by hurling herself from the window +of a prison in the capital on the Sabbath day and dying in the street +below. + +[Footnote 1: McMaster, V, 219-220.] + +Meanwhile even in the free states the disabilities of the Negro +continued. In general he was denied the elective franchise, the right of +petition, the right to enter public conveyances or places of amusement, +and he was driven into a status of contempt by being shut out from the +army and the militia. He had to face all sorts of impediments in getting +education or in pursuing honest industry; he had nothing whatever to +do with the administration of justice; and generally he was subject to +insult and outrage. + +One might have supposed that on all this proscription and denial of the +ordinary rights of human beings the Christian Church would have taken a +positive stand. Unfortunately, as so often happens, it was on the side +of property and vested interest rather than on that of the oppressed. We +have already seen that Southern divines held slaves and countenanced +the system; and by 1840 James G. Birney had abundant material for his +indictment, "The American Churches the Bulwarks of American Slavery." +He showed among other things that while in 1780 the Methodist Episcopal +Church had opposed slavery and in 1784 had given a slaveholder one month +to repent or withdraw from its conferences, by 1836 it had so drifted +away from its original position as to disclaim "any right, wish, or +intention to interfere in the civil and political relation between +master and slave, as it existed in the slaveholding states of the +union." Meanwhile in the churches of the North there was the most +insulting discrimination; in the Baptist Church in Hartford the pews for +Negroes were boarded up in front, and in Stonington, Conn., the floor +was cut out of a Negro's pew by order of the church authorities. In +Boston, in a church that did not welcome and that made little provision +for Negroes, a consecrated deacon invited into his own pew some Negro +people, whereupon he lost the right to hold a pew in his church. He +decided that there should be some place where there might be more +freedom of thought and genuine Christianity, he brought others into the +plan, and the effort that he put forth resulted in what has since become +the Tremont Temple Baptist Church. + +Into all this proscription, burlesque, and crime, and denial of the +fundamental principles of Christianity, suddenly came the program of the +Abolitionists; and it spoke with tongues of fire, and had all the vigor +and force of a crusade. + + +2. _The Challenge of the Abolitionists_ + +The great difference between the early abolition societies which +resulted in the American Convention and the later anti-slavery movement +of which Garrison was the representative figure was the difference +between a humanitarian impulse tempered by expediency and one that had +all the power of a direct challenge. Before 1831 "in the South the +societies were more numerous, the members no less earnest, and the +hatred of slavery no less bitter,... yet the conciliation and persuasion +so noticeable in the earlier period in twenty years accomplished +practically nothing either in legislation or in the education of public +sentiment; while gradual changes in economic conditions at the South +caused the question to grow more difficult."[1] Moreover, "the evidence +of open-mindedness can not stand against the many instances of absolute +refusal to permit argument against slavery. In the Colonial Congress, +in the Confederation, in the Constitutional Convention, in the state +ratifying conventions, in the early Congresses, there were many vehement +denunciations of anything which seemed to have an anti-slavery tendency, +and wholesale suspicion of the North at all times when the subject was +opened."[2] One can not forget the effort of James G. Birney, or that +Benjamin Lundy's work was most largely done in what we should now call +the South, or that between 1815 and 1828 at least four journals which +avowed the extinction of slavery as one, if not the chief one, of +their objects were published in the Southern states.[3] Only gradual +emancipation, however, found any real support in the South; and, as +compared with the work of Garrison, even that of Lundy appears in the +distance with something of the mildness of "sweetness and light." Even +before the rise of Garrison, Robert James Turnbull of South Carolina, +under the name of "Brutus," wrote a virulent attack on anti-slavery; and +Representative Drayton of the same state, speaking in Congress in 1828, +said, "Much as we love our country, we would rather see our cities in +flames, our plains drenched in blood--rather endure all the calamities +of civil war, than parley for an instant upon the right of any power, +than our own to interfere with the regulation of our slaves."[4] More +and more this was to be the real sentiment of the South, and in the +face of this kind of eloquence and passion mere academic discussion was +powerless. + +[Footnote 1: Adams: _The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery, 1808-1831_, +250-251.] + +[Footnote 2: _Ibid_., 110.] + +[Footnote 3: William Birney: _James G. Birney and His Times_, 85-86.] + +[Footnote 4: Register of Debates, _4,975_, cited by Adams, 112-3.] + +The _Liberator_ was begun January 1, 1831. The next year Garrison was +the leading spirit in the formation of the New England Anti-Slavery +Society; and in December, 1833, in Philadelphia, the American +Anti-Slavery Society was organized. In large measure these organizations +were an outgrowth of the great liberal and humanitarian spirit that by +1830 had become manifest in both Europe and America. Hugo and Mazzini, +Byron and Macaulay had all now appeared upon the scene, and romanticism +was regnant. James Montgomery and William Faber wrote their hymns, +and Reginald Heber went as a missionary bishop to India. Forty years +afterwards the French Revolution was bearing fruit. France herself had a +new revolution in 1830, and in this same year the kingdom of Belgium was +born. In England there was the remarkable reign of William IV, which +within the short space of seven years summed up in legislation reforms +that had been agitated for decades. In 1832 came the great Reform Bill, +in 1833 the abolition of slavery in English dominions, and in 1834 a +revision of factory legislation and the poor law. Charles Dickens and +Elizabeth Barrett Browning began to be heard, and in 1834 came to +America George Thompson, a powerful and refined speaker who had had much +to do with the English agitation against slavery. The young republic +of the United States, lusty and self-confident, was seething with new +thought. In New England the humanitarian movement that so largely began +with the Unitarianism of Channing "ran through its later phase in +transcendentalism, and spent its last strength in the anti-slavery +agitation and the enthusiasms of the Civil War."[1] The movement was +contemporary with the preaching of many novel gospels in religion, in +sociology, in science, education, and medicine. New sects were formed, +like the Universalists, the Spiritualists, the Second Adventists, +the Mormons, and the Shakers, some of which believed in trances and +miracles, others in the quick coming of Christ, and still others in the +reorganization of society; and the pseudo-sciences, like mesmerism and +phrenology, had numerous followers. The ferment has long since subsided, +and much that was then seething has since gone off in vapor; but when +all that was spurious has been rejected, we find that the +general impulse was but a new baptism of the old Puritan spirit. +Transcendentalism appealed to the private consciousness as the sole +standard of truth and right. With kindred movements it served to quicken +the ethical sense of a nation that was fast becoming materialistic and +to nerve it for the conflict that sooner or later had to come. + +[Footnote 1: Henry A. Beers: _Initial Studies in American Letters_, +95-98 passim.] + +In his salutatory editorial Garrison said with reference to his +position: "In Park Street Church, on the Fourth of July, 1829, in +an address on slavery, I unreflectingly assented to the popular but +pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition. I seize this opportunity to +make a full and unequivocal recantation, and thus publicly to ask pardon +of my God, of my country, and of my brethren, the poor slaves, for +having uttered a sentiment so full of timidity, injustice, and +absurdity.... I am aware that many object to the severity of my +language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as +truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish +to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose +house is on fire, to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately +rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to +gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen; +but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present! I am in +earnest. I will not equivocate--I will not excuse--I will not retreat a +single inch--AND I WILL BE HEARD." With something of the egotism +that comes of courage in a holy cause, he said: "On this question my +influence, humble as it is, is felt at this moment to a considerable +extent, and shall be felt in coming years--not perniciously, but +beneficially--not as a curse, but as a blessing; and POSTERITY WILL BEAR +TESTIMONY THAT I WAS RIGHT." + +All the while, in speaking to the Negro people themselves, Garrison +endeavored to beckon them to the highest possible ground of personal and +racial self-respect. Especially did he advise them to seek the virtues +of education and cooeperation. Said he to them:[1] "Support each +other.... When I say 'support each other,' I mean, sell to each other, +and buy of each other, in preference to the whites. This is a duty: the +whites do not trade with you; why should you give them your patronage? +If one of your number opens a little shop, do not pass it by to give +your money to a white shopkeeper. If any has a trade, employ him as +often as possible. If any is a good teacher, send your children to him, +and be proud that he is one of your color.... Maintain your rights, in +all cases, and at whatever expense.... Wherever you are allowed to vote, +see that your names are put on the lists of voters, and go to the polls. +If you are not strong enough to choose a man of your own color, give +your votes to those who are friendly to your cause; but, if possible, +elect intelligent and respectable colored men. I do not despair of +seeing the time when our State and National Assemblies will contain a +fair proportion of colored representatives--especially if the proposed +college at New Haven goes into successful operation. Will you despair +now so many champions are coming to your help, and the trump of jubilee +is sounding long and loud; when is heard a voice from the East, a voice +from the West, a voice from the North, a voice from the South, crying, +_Liberty and Equality now, Liberty and Equality forever_! Will you +despair, seeing Truth, and Justice, and Mercy, and God, and Christ, and +the Holy Ghost, are on your side? Oh, no--never, never despair of the +complete attainment of your rights!" + +[Footnote 1: "An Address delivered before the Free People of Color in +Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, during the month of June, +1831, by Wm. Lloyd Garrison. Boston, 1831," pp. 14-18.] + +To second such sentiments rose a remarkable group of men and women, +among them Elijah P. Lovejoy, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, John +Greenleaf Whittier, Lydia Maria Child, Samuel J. May, William Jay, +Charles Sumner, Henry Ward Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John +Brown. Phillips, the "Plumed Knight" of the cause, closed his law +office because he was not willing to swear that he would support the +Constitution; he relinquished the franchise because he did not wish to +have any responsibility for a government that countenanced slavery; and +he lost sympathy with the Christian Church because of its compromising +attitude. Garrison himself termed the Constitution "a covenant with +death and an agreement with hell." Lydia Maria Child in 1833 published +an _Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans_, +and wrote or edited numerous other books for the cause, while the +anti-slavery poems of Whittier are now a part of the main stream of +American literature. The Abolitionists repelled many conservative men by +their refusal to countenance any laws that recognized slavery; but they +gained force when Congress denied them the right of petition and when +President Jackson refused them the use of the mails. + +There could be no question as to the directness of their attack. They +held up the slaveholder to scorn. They gave thousands of examples of the +inhumanity of the system of slavery, publishing scores and even hundreds +of tracts and pamphlets. They called the attention of America to the +slave who for running away was for five days buried in the ground up +to his chin with his arms tied behind him; to women who were whipped +because they did not breed fast enough or would not yield to the lust of +planters or overseers; to men who were tied to be whipped and then left +bleeding, or who were branded with hot irons, or forced to wear iron +yokes and clogs and bells; to the Presbyterian preacher in Georgia who +tortured a slave until he died; to a woman in New Jersey who was "bound +to a log, and scored with a knife, in a shocking manner, across her +back, and the gashes stuffed with salt, after which she was tied to +a post in a cellar, where, after suffering three days, death kindly +terminated her misery"; and finally to the fact that even when slaves +were dead they were not left in peace, as the South Carolina Medical +College in Charleston advertised that the bodies were used for +dissection.[1] In the face of such an indictment the South appeared more +injured and innocent than ever, and said that evils had been greatly +exaggerated. Perhaps in some instances they were; but the South and +everybody also knew that no pen could nearly do justice to some of the +things that were possible under the iniquitous and abominable system of +American slavery. + +[Footnote 1: See "American Slavery as it is: Testimony of a Thousand +Witnesses. By Theodore Dwight Weld. Published by the American +Anti-Slavery Society, New York, 1839"; but the account of the New Jersey +woman is from "A Portraiture of Domestic Slavery in the United States, +by Jesse Torrey, Ballston Spa, Penn., 1917," p. 67.] + +The Abolitionists, however, did not stop with a mere attack on +slavery. Not satisfied with the mere enumeration of examples of Negro +achievement, they made even higher claims in behalf of the people now +oppressed. Said Alexander H. Everett:[1] "We are sometimes told that all +these efforts will be unavailing--that the African is a degraded member +of the human family--that a man with a dark skin and curled hair is +necessarily, as such, incapable of improvement and civilization, and +condemned by the vice of his physical conformation to vegetate forever +in a state of hopeless barbarism. I reject with contempt and indignation +this miserable heresy. In replying to it the friends of truth and +humanity have not hitherto done justice to the argument. In order to +prove that the blacks were capable of intellectual efforts, they have +painfully collected a few specimens of what some of them have done in +this way, even in the degraded condition which they occupy at present +in Christendom. This is not the way to treat the subject. Go back to an +earlier period in the history of our race. See what the blacks were and +what they did three thousand years ago, in the period of their +greatness and glory, when they occupied the forefront in the march of +civilization--when they constituted in fact the whole civilized world of +their time. Trace this very civilization, of which we are so proud, to +its origin, and see where you will find it. We received it from our +European ancestors: they had it from the Greeks and Romans, and the +Jews. But, sir, where did the Greeks and the Romans and the Jews get it? +They derived it from Ethiopia and Egypt--in one word, from Africa.[2] +... The ruins of the Egyptian temples laugh to scorn the architectural +monuments of any other part of the world. They will be what they are +now, the delight and admiration of travelers from all quarters, when the +grass is growing on the sites of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, the present +pride of Rome and London.... It seems, therefore, that for this very +civilization of which we are so proud, and which is the only ground of +our present claim of superiority, we are indebted to the ancestors +of these very blacks, whom we are pleased to consider as naturally +incapable of civilization." + +[Footnote 1: See "The Anti-Slavery Picknick: a collection of Speeches, +Poems, Dialogues, and Songs, intended for use in schools and +anti-slavery meetings. By John A. Collins, Boston, 1842," 10-12.] + +[Footnote 2: It is worthy of note that this argument, which was long +thought to be fallacious, is more and more coming to be substantiated by +the researches of scholars, and that not only as affecting Northern +but also Negro Africa. Note Lady Lugard (Flora L. Shaw): _A Tropical +Dependency_, London, 1906, pp. 16-18.] + +In adherence to their convictions the Abolitionists were now to give +a demonstration of faith in humanity such as has never been surpassed +except by Jesus Christ himself. They believed in the Negro even before +the Negro had learned to believe in himself. Acting on their doctrine of +equal rights, they traveled with their Negro friends, "sat upon the same +platforms with them, ate with them, and one enthusiastic abolitionist +white couple adopted a Negro child."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Hart: _Slavery and Abolition_, 245-6.] + +Garrison appealed to posterity. He has most certainly been justified by +time. Compared with his high stand for the right, the opportunism of +such a man as Clay shrivels into nothingness. Within recent years a +distinguished American scholar,[1] writing of the principles for which +he and his co-workers stood, has said: "The race question transcends any +academic inquiry as to what ought to have been done in 1866. It affects +the North as well as the South; it touches the daily life of all of +our citizens, individually, politically, humanly. It molds the child's +conception of democracy. It tests the faith of the adult. It is by no +means an American problem only. What is going on in our states, North +and South, is only a local phase of a world-problem.... Now, Whittier's +opinions upon that world-problem are unmistakable. He believed, quite +literally, that all men are brothers; that oppression of one man or +one race degrades the whole human family; and that there should be the +fullest equality of opportunity. That a mere difference in color should +close the door of civil, industrial, and political hope upon any +individual was a hateful thing to the Quaker poet. The whole body of +his verse is a protest against the assertion of race pride, against the +emphasis upon racial differences. To Whittier there was no such thing +as a 'white man's civilization.' The only distinction was between +civilization and barbarism. He had faith in education, in equality +before the law, in freedom of opportunity, and in the ultimate triumph +of brotherhood. + + 'They are rising,-- + All are rising, + The black and white together.' + +This faith is at once too sentimental and too dogmatic to suit those +persons who have exalted economic efficiency into a fetish and who +have talked loudly at times--though rather less loudly since the +Russo-Japanese War--about the white man's task of governing the backward +races. _But whatever progress has been made by the American Negro since +the Civil War, in self-respect, in moral and intellectual development, +and--for that matter--in economic efficiency, has been due to fidelity +to those principles which Whittier and other like-minded men and women +long ago enunciated_.[2] The immense tasks which still remain, alike for +'higher' as for 'lower' races, can be worked out by following Whittier's +program, if they can be worked out at all." + +[Footnote 1: Bliss Perry: "Whittier for To-Day," _Atlantic Monthly_, +Vol. 100, 851-859 (December, 1907).] + +[Footnote 2: The italics are our own.] + + +3. The Contest + +Even before the Abolitionists became aggressive a test law had been +passed, the discussion of which did much to prepare for their coming. +Immediately after the Denmark Vesey insurrection the South Carolina +legislature voted that the moment that a vessel entered a port in the +state with a free Negro or person of color on board he should be seized, +even if he was the cook, the steward, or a mariner, or if he was a +citizen of another state or country.[1] The sheriff was to board the +vessel, take the Negro to jail and detain him there until the vessel was +actually ready to leave. The master of the ship was then to pay for the +detention of the Negro and take him away, or pay a fine of $1,000 and +see the Negro sold as a slave. Within a short time after this enactment +was passed, as many as forty-one vessels were deprived of one or more +hands, from one British trading vessel almost the entire crew being +taken. The captains appealed to the judge of the United States District +Court, who with alacrity turned the matter over to the state courts. Now +followed much legal proceeding, with an appeal to higher authorities, in +the course of which both Canning and Adams were forced to consider the +question, and it was generally recognized that the act violated both the +treaty with Great Britain and the power of Congress to regulate trade. +To all of this South Carolina replied that as a sovereign state she had +the right to interdict the entry of foreigners, that in fact she had +been a sovereign state at the time of her entrance into the Union and +that she never had surrendered the right to exclude free Negroes. +Finally she asserted that if a dissolution of the Union must be the +alternative she was quite prepared to abide by the result. Unusual +excitement arose soon afterwards when four free Negroes on a British +ship were seized by the sheriff and dragged from the deck. The captain +had to go to heavy expense to have these men released, and on reaching +Liverpool he appealed to the Board of Trade. The British minister now +sent a more vigorous protest, Adams referred the same to Wirt, the +Attorney General, and Wirt was forced to declare South Carolina's act +unconstitutional and void. His opinion with a copy of the British +protest Adams sent to the Governor of the state, who immediately +transmitted the same to the legislature. Each branch of the legislature +passed resolutions which the other would not accept, but neither voted +to repeal the law. In fact, it remained technically in force until the +Civil War. In 1844 Massachusetts sent Samuel Hoar as a commissioner to +Charleston to make a test case of a Negro who had been deprived of his +rights. Hoar cited Article II, Section 2, of the National Constitution +("The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and +immunities of citizens in the several states"), intending ultimately to +bring a case before the United States Supreme Court. When he appeared, +however, the South Carolina legislature voted that "this agent comes +here not as a citizen of the United States, but as an emissary of a +foreign Government hostile to our domestic institutions and with the +sole purpose of subverting our internal police." Hoar was at length +notified that his life was in danger and he was forced to leave the +state. Meanwhile Southern sentiment against the American Colonization +Society had crystallized, and the excitement raised by David Walker's +_Appeal_ was exceeded only by that occasioned by Nat Turner's +insurrection. + +[Footnote 1: Note McMaster, V, 200-204.] + +When, then, the Abolitionists began their campaign the country was +already ripe for a struggle, and in the North as well as the South there +was plenty of sentiment unfavorable to the Negro. In July, 1831, when an +attempt was made to start a manual training school for Negro youth in +New Haven, the citizens at a public meeting declared that "the founding +of colleges for educating colored people is an unwarrantable and +dangerous interference with the internal concerns of other states, and +ought to be discouraged"; and they ultimately forced the project to be +abandoned. At Canterbury in the same state Prudence Crandall, a young +Quaker woman twenty-nine years of age, was brought face to face with the +problem when she admitted a Negro girl, Sarah Harris, to her school.[1] +When she was boycotted she announced that she would receive Negro girls +only if no others would attend, and she advertised accordingly in the +Liberator. She was subjected to various indignities and efforts were +made to arrest her pupils as vagrants. As she was still undaunted, her +opponents, on May 24, 1833, procured a special act of the legislature +forbidding, under severe penalties, the instruction of any Negro from +outside the state without the consent of the town authorities. Under +this act Miss Crandall was arrested and imprisoned, being confined to a +cell which had just been vacated by a murderer. The Abolitionists came +to her defense, but she was convicted, and though the higher courts +quashed the proceedings on technicalities, the village shopkeepers +refused to sell her food, manure was thrown into her well, her house +was pelted with rotten eggs and at last demolished, and even the +meeting-house in the town was closed to her. The attempt to continue the +school was then abandoned. In 1834 an academy was built by subscription +in Canaan, N.H.; it was granted a charter by the legislature, and the +proprietors determined to admit all applicants having "suitable moral +and intellectual recommendations, without other distinctions." The +town-meeting "viewed with abhorrence" the attempt to establish the +school, but when it was opened twenty-eight white and fourteen Negro +scholars attended. The town-meeting then ordered that the academy be +forcibly removed and appointed a committee to execute the mandate. +Accordingly on August 10 three hundred men with two hundred oxen +assembled, took the edifice from its place, dragged it for some distance +and left it a ruin. From 1834 to 1836, in fact, throughout the country, +from east to west, swept a wave of violence. Not less than twenty-five +attempts were made to break up anti-slavery meetings. In New York in +October, 1833, there was a riot in Clinton Hall, and from July 7 to 11 +of the next year a succession of riots led to the sacking of the house +of Lewis Tappan and the destruction of other houses and churches. When +George Thompson arrived from England in September, 1834, his meetings +were constantly disturbed, and Garrison himself was mobbed in Boston in +1835, being dragged through the streets with a rope around his body. + +[Footnote 1: Note especially "Connecticut's Canterbury Tale; its +Heroine, Prudence Crandall, and its Moral for To-Day, by John C. +Kimball," Hartford (1886).] + +In general the Abolitionists were charged by the South with promoting +both insurrection and the amalgamation of the races. There was no clear +proof of these charges; nevertheless, May said, "If we do not emancipate +our slaves by our own moral energy, they will emancipate themselves and +that by a process too horrible to contemplate";[1] and Channing said, +"Allowing that amalgamation is to be anticipated, then, I maintain, we +have no right to resist it. Then it is not unnatural."[2] While the +South grew hysterical at the thought, it was, as Hart remarks, a fair +inquiry, which the Abolitionists did not hesitate to put--Who was +responsible for the only amalgamation that had so far taken place? After +a few years there was a cleavage among the Abolitionists. Some of the +more practical men, like Birney, Gerrit Smith, and the Tappans, who +believed in fighting through governmental machinery, in 1838 broke away +from the others and prepared to take a part in Federal politics. This +was the beginning of the Liberty party, which nominated Birney for the +presidency in 1840 and again in 1844. In 1848 it became merged in the +Free Soil party and ultimately in the Republican party. + +[Footnote 1: Hart, 221, citing _Liberator_, V, 59.] + +[Footnote 2: Hart, 216, citing Channing, _Works_, V. 57.] + +With the forties came division in the Church--a sort of prelude to the +great events that were to thunder through the country within the next +two decades. Could the Church really countenance slavery? Could a bishop +hold a slave? These were to become burning questions. In 1844-5 the +Baptists of the North and East refused to approve the sending out of +missionaries who owned slaves, and the Southern Baptist Convention +resulted. In 1844, when James O. Andrew came into the possession of +slaves by his marriage to a widow who had these as a legacy from her +former husband, the Northern Methodists refused to grant that one of +their bishops might hold a slave, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, +South, was formally organized in Louisville the following year. The +Presbyterians and the Episcopalians, more aristocratic in tone, did not +divide. + +The great events of the annexation of Texas, with the Mexican War that +resulted, the Compromise of 1850, with the Fugitive Slave Law, the +Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854, and the Dred Scott decision of 1857 +were all regarded in the North as successive steps in the campaign of +slavery, though now in the perspective they appear as vain efforts to +beat back a resistless tide. In the Mexican War it was freely urged by +the Mexicans that, should the American line break, their host would soon +find itself among the rich cities of the South, where perhaps it could +not only exact money, but free two million slaves as well, call to its +assistance the Indians, and even draw aid from the Abolitionists in the +North.[1] Nothing of all this was to be. Out of the academic shades +of Harvard, however, at last came a tongue of flame. In "The Present +Crisis" James Russell Lowell produced lines whose tremendous beat was +like a stern call of the whole country to duty: + +[Footnote 1: Justin H. Smith: _The War with Mexico_, I, 107.] + + Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, + In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; + Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, + Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, + And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light. + + * * * * * + + Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched crust, + Ere her cause bring fame and profit and 'tis prosperous to be just; + Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands aside, + Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified, + And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied. + + * * * * * + + New occasions teach new duties; Time makes ancient good uncouth; + They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth; + Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must Pilgrims be, + Launch our _Mayflower_, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea, + Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's blood-rusted key. + +As "The Present Crisis" came after the Mexican War, so after the new +Fugitive Slave Law appeared _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ (1852). "When despairing +Hungarian fugitives make their way, against all the search-warrants and +authorities of their lawful governments, to America, press and political +cabinet ring with applause and welcome. When despairing African +fugitives do the same thing--it is--what _is_ it?" asked Harriet Beecher +Stowe; and in her remarkable book she proceeded to show the injustice of +the national position. _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ has frequently been termed +a piece of propaganda that gave an overdrawn picture of Southern +conditions. The author, however, had abundant proof for her incidents, +and she was quite aware of the fact that the problem of the Negro, North +as well as South, transcended the question of slavery. Said St. Clair +to Ophelia: "If we emancipate, are you willing to educate? How many +families of your town would take in a Negro man or woman, teach them, +bear with them, and seek to make them Christians? How many merchants +would take Adolph, if I wanted to make him a clerk; or mechanics, if I +wanted to teach him a trade? If I wanted to put Jane and Rosa to school, +how many schools are there in the Northern states that would take them +in?... We are in a bad position. We are the more _obvious_ oppressors of +the Negro; but the unchristian prejudice of the North is an oppressor +almost equally severe." + +Meanwhile the thrilling work of the Underground Railroad was answered +by a practical reopening of the slave-trade. From 1820 to 1840, as the +result of the repressive measure of 1819, the traffic had declined; +between 1850 and 1860, however, it was greatly revived, and Southern +conventions resolved that all laws, state or Federal, prohibiting the +slave-trade, should be repealed. The traffic became more and more open +and defiant until, as Stephen A. Douglas computed, as many as 15,000 +slaves were brought into the country in 1859. It was not until the +Lincoln government in 1862 hanged the first trader who ever suffered +the extreme penalty of the law, and made with Great Britain a treaty +embodying the principle of international right of search, that the +trade was effectually checked. By the end of the war it was entirely +suppressed, though as late as 1866 a squadron of ships patrolled the +slave coast. + +The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, repealing the Missouri Compromise and +providing for "squatter sovereignty" in the territories in question, +outraged the North and led immediately to the forming of the Republican +party. It was not long before public sentiment began to make itself +felt, and the first demonstration took place in Boston. Anthony Burns +was a slave who escaped from Virginia and made his way to Boston, where +he was at work in the winter of 1853-4. He was discovered by a United +States marshal who presented a writ for his arrest just at the time +of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in May, 1854. Public feeling +became greatly aroused. Wendell Phillips and Theodore Parker delivered +strong addresses at a meeting in Faneuil Hall while an unsuccessful +attempt to rescue Burns from the Court House was made under the +leadership of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who with others of the +attacking party was wounded. It was finally decided in court that Burns +must be returned to his master. The law was obeyed; but Boston had been +made very angry, and generally her feeling had counted for something in +the history of the country. The people draped their houses in mourning, +hissed the procession that took Burns to his ship and at the wharf a +riot was averted only by a minister's call to prayer. This incident did +more to crystallize Northern sentiment against slavery than any other +except the exploit of John Brown, and this was the last time that a +fugitive slave was taken out of Boston. Burns himself was afterwards +bought by popular subscription, and ultimately became a Baptist minister +in Canada. + +In 1834 Dr. Emerson, an army officer stationed in Missouri, removed to +Illinois, taking with him his slave, Dred Scott. Two years later, again +accompanied by Scott, he went to Minnesota. In Illinois slavery was +prohibited by state law and Minnesota was a free territory. In 1838 +Emerson returned with Scott to Missouri. After a while the slave raised +the important question: Had not his residence outside of a slave state +made him a free man? Beaten by his master in 1848, with the aid of +anti-slavery lawyers Scott brought a suit against him for assault and +battery, the circuit court of St. Louis rendering a decision in his +favor. Emerson appealed and in 1852 the Supreme Court of the state +reversed the decision of the lower court. Not long after this Emerson +sold Scott to a citizen of New York named Sandford. Scott now brought +suit against Sandford, on the ground that they were citizens of +different states. The case finally reached the Supreme Court of the +United States, which in 1857 handed down the decision that Scott was not +a citizen of Missouri and had no standing in the Federal courts, that +a slave was only a piece of property, and that a master might take his +property with impunity to any place within the jurisdiction of the +United States. The ownership of Scott and his family soon passed to a +Massachusetts family by whom they were liberated; but the important +decision that the case had called forth aroused the most intense +excitement throughout the country, and somehow out of it all people +remembered more than anything else the amazing declaration of Chief +Justice Taney that "the Negroes were so far inferior that they had +no rights which the white man was bound to respect." The extra-legal +character and the general fallacy of his position were exposed by +Justice Curtis in a masterly dissenting opinion. + +No one incident of the period showed more clearly the tension under +which the country was laboring than the assault on Charles Sumner by +Preston S. Brooks, a congressional representative from South Carolina. +As a result of this regrettable occurrence splendid canes with such +inscriptions as "Hit him again" and "Use knock-down arguments" were sent +to Brooks from different parts of the South and he was triumphantly +reelected by his constituency, while on the other hand resolutions +denouncing him were passed all over the North, in Canada, and even in +Europe. More than ever the South was thrown on the defensive, and in +impassioned speeches Robert Toombs now glorified his state and his +section. Speaking at Emory College in 1853 he had already made an +extended apology for slavery;[1] speaking in the Georgia legislature on +the eve of secession he contended that the South had been driven to bay +by the Abolitionists and must now "expand or perish." A writer in the +_Southern Literary Messenger_,[2] in an article "The Black Race in North +America," made the astonishing statement that "the slavery of the black +race on this continent is the price America has paid for her liberty, +civil and religious, and, humanly speaking, these blessings would +have been unattainable without their aid." Benjamin M. Palmer, a +distinguished minister of New Orleans, in a widely quoted sermon in 1860 +spoke of the peculiar trust that had been given to the South--to be the +guardians of the slaves, the conservers of the world's industry, and the +defenders of the cause of religion.[3] "The blooms upon Southern fields +gathered by black hands have fed the spindles and looms of Manchester +and Birmingham not less than of Lawrence and Lowell. Strike now a blow +at this system of labor and the world itself totters at the stroke. +Shall we permit that blow to fall? Do we not owe it to civilized man to +stand in the breach and stay the uplifted arm?... This trust we will +discharge in the face of the worst possible peril. Though war be the +aggregation of all evils, yet, should the madness of the hour appeal to +the arbitration of the sword, we will not shrink even from the baptism +of fire.... The position of the South is at this moment sublime. If +she has grace given her to know her hour, she will save herself, the +country, and the world." + +[Footnote 1: See "An Oration delivered before the Few and Phi Gamma +Societies of Emory College: Slavery in the United States; its +consistency with republican institutions, and its effects upon the slave +and society. Augusta, Ga., 1853."] + +[Footnote 2: November, 1855.] + +[Footnote 3: "The Rights of the South defended in the Pulpits, by B.M. +Palmer, D.D., and W.T. Leacock, D.D., Mobile, 1860."] + +All of this was very earnest and very eloquent, but also very mistaken, +and the general fallacy of the South's position was shown by no less a +man than he who afterwards became vice-president of the Confederacy. +Speaking in the Georgia legislature in opposition to the motion for +secession, Stephens said that the South had no reason to feel aggrieved, +for all along she had received more than her share of the nation's +privileges, and had almost always won in the main that which was +demanded. She had had sixty years of presidents to the North's +twenty-four; two-thirds of the clerkships and other appointments +although the white population in the section was only one-third that +of the country; fourteen attorneys general to the North's five; +and eighteen Supreme Court judges to the North's eleven, although +four-fifths of the business of the court originated in the free states. +"This," said Stephens in an astonishing declaration, "we have required +so as to guard against any interpretation of the Constitution +unfavorable to us." + +Still another voice from the South, in a slightly different key, +attacked the tendencies in the section. _The Impending Crisis_ (1857), +by Hinton Rowan Helper, of North Carolina, was surpassed in sensational +interest by no other book of the period except _Uncle Tom's Cabin_. The +author did not place himself upon the broadest principles of humanity +and statesmanship; he had no concern for the Negro, and the great +planters of the South were to him simply the "whelps" and "curs" of +slavery. He spoke merely as the voice of the non-slaveholding white men +in the South. He set forth such unpleasant truths as that the personal +and real property, including slaves, of Virginia, North Carolina, +Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas, taken all together, +was less than the real and personal estate in the single state of New +York; that representation in Southern legislatures was unfair; that in +Congress a Southern planter was twice as powerful as a Northern man; +that slavery was to blame for the migration from the South to the West; +and that in short the system was in every way harmful to the man of +limited means. All of this was decidedly unpleasant to the ears of the +property owners of the South; Helper's book was proscribed, and the +author himself found it more advisable to live in New York than in his +native state. _The Impending Crisis_ was eagerly read, however, and it +succeeded as a book because it attempted to attack with some degree of +honesty a great economic problem. + +The time for speeches and books, however, was over, and the time for +action had come. For years the slave had chanted, "I've been listenin' +all the night long"; and his prayer had reached the throne. On October +16, 1859, John Brown made his raid on Harper's Ferry and took his place +with the immortals. In the long and bitter contest on American slavery +the Abolitionists had won. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SOCIAL PROGRESS, 1820-1860[1] + + +[Footnote 1: This chapter follows closely upon Chapter III, Section 5, +and is largely complementary to Chapter VIII.] + +So far in our study we have seen the Negro as the object of interest +on the part of the American people. Some were disposed to give him a +helping hand, some to keep him in bondage, and some thought that it +might be possible to dispose of any problem by sending him out of the +country. In all this period of agitation and ferment, aside from the +efforts of friends in his behalf, just what was the Negro doing to work +out his own salvation? If for the time being we can look primarily at +constructive effort rather than disabilities, just what do we find that +on his own account he was doing to rise to the full stature of manhood? + +Naturally in the answer to such a question we shall have to be concerned +with those people who had already attained unto nominal freedom. We +shall indeed find many examples of industrious slaves who, working in +agreement with their owners, managed sometimes to purchase themselves +and even to secure ownership of their families. Such cases, while +considerable in the aggregate, were after all exceptional, and for the +ordinary slave on the plantation the outlook was hopeless enough. +In 1860 the free persons formed just one-ninth of the total Negro +population in the country, there being 487,970 of them to 3,953,760 +slaves. It is a commonplace to remark the progress that the race has +made since emancipation. A study of the facts, however, will show that +with all their disadvantages less than half a million people had before +1860 not only made such progress as amasses a surprising total, but that +they had already entered every large field of endeavor in which the race +is engaged to-day. + +When in course of time the status of the Negro in the American body +politic became a live issue, the possibility and the danger of an +_imperium in imperio_ were perceived; and Rev. James W.C. Pennington, +undoubtedly a leader, said in his lectures in London and Glasgow: "The +colored population of the United States have no destiny separate from +that of the nation in which they form an integral part. Our destiny is +bound up with that of America. Her ship is ours; her pilot is ours; her +storms are ours; her calms are ours. If she breaks upon any rock, we +break with her. If we, born in America, can not live upon the same soil +upon terms of equality with the descendants of Scotchmen, Englishmen, +Irishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Hungarians, Greeks, and Poles, then the +fundamental theory of America fails and falls to the ground."[1] While +everybody was practically agreed upon this fundamental matter of the +relation of the race to the Federal Government, more and more there +developed two lines of thought, equally honest, as to the means by which +the race itself was to attain unto the highest things that American +civilization had to offer. The leader of one school of thought was +Richard Allen, founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. When +this man and his friends found that in white churches they were not +treated with courtesy, they said, We shall have our own church; we shall +have our own bishop; we shall build up our own enterprises in any line +whatsoever; and even to-day the church that Allen founded remains as +the greatest single effort of the race in organization. The foremost +representative of the opposing line of thought was undoubtedly Frederick +Douglass, who in a speech in Rochester in 1848 said: "I am well aware of +the anti-Christian prejudices which have excluded many colored persons +from white churches, and the consequent necessity for erecting their own +places of worship. This evil I would charge upon its originators, and +not the colored people. But such a necessity does not now exist to the +extent of former years. There are societies where color is not regarded +as a test of membership, and such places I deem more appropriate for +colored persons than exclusive or isolated organizations." There is much +more difference between these two positions than can be accounted for by +the mere lapse of forty years between the height of the work of Allen +and that of Douglass. Allen certainly did not sanction segregation under +the law, and no man worked harder than he to relieve his people from +proscription. Douglass moreover, who did not formally approve of +organizations that represented any such distinction as that of race, +again and again presided over gatherings of Negro men. In the last +analysis, however, it was Allen who was foremost in laying the basis +of distinctively Negro enterprise, and Douglass who felt that the real +solution of any difficulty was for the race to lose itself as quickly as +possible in the general body politic. + +[Footnote 1: Nell: _Colored Patriots of the American Revolution_, 356.] + +We have seen that the Church was from the first the race's foremost form +of social organization, and that sometimes in very close touch with +it developed the early lodges of such a body as the Masons. By 1800 +emancipation was well under way; then began emigration from the South +to the central West; emigration brought into being the Underground +Railroad; and finally all forces worked together for the development of +Negro business, the press, conventions, and other forms of activity. It +was natural that states so close to the border as Pennsylvania and Ohio +should be important in this early development. + +The Church continued the growth that it had begun several decades +before. The A.M.E. denomination advanced rapidly from 7 churches and 400 +members in 1816 to 286 churches and 73,000 members by the close of the +Civil War. Naturally such a distinctively Negro organization could +make little progress in the South before the war, but there were small +congregations in Charleston and New Orleans, and William Paul Quinn +blazed a path in the West, going from Pittsburgh to St. Louis. + +In 1847 the Prince Hall Lodge of the Masons in Massachusetts, the First +Independent African Grand Lodge in Pennsylvania, and the Hiram Grand +Lodge of Pennsylvania formed a National Grand Lodge, and from one or +another of these all other Grand Lodges among Negroes have descended. In +1842 the members of the Philomathean Institute of New York and of the +Philadelphia Library Company and Debating Society applied for admission +to the International Order of Odd Fellows. They were refused on account +of their race. Thereupon Peter Ogden, a Negro, who had already joined +the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows of England, secured a charter for +the first Negro American lodge, Philomathean, No. 646, of New York, +which was set up March 1, 1843. It was followed within the next two +years by lodges in New York, Philadelphia, Albany, and Poughkeepsie. The +Knights of Pythias were not organized until 1864 in Washington; but the +Grand Order of Galilean Fishermen started on its career in Baltimore in +1856. + +The benefit societies developed apace. At first they were small and +confined to a group of persons well known to each other, thus being +genuinely fraternal. Simple in form, they imposed an initiation fee of +hardly less than $2.50 or more than $5.00, a monthly fee of about 50 +cents, and gave sick dues ranging from $1.50 to $5.00 a month, with +guarantee of payment of one's funeral expenses and subsequent help to +the widow. By 1838 there were in Philadelphia alone 100 such groups with +7,448 members. As bringing together spirits supposedly congenial, these +organizations largely took the place of clubs, and the meetings were +relished accordingly. Some drifted into secret societies, and after the +Civil War some that had not cultivated the idea of insurance were forced +to add this feature to their work. + +In the sphere of civil rights the Negroes, in spite of circumstances, +were making progress, and that by their own efforts as well as those +of their friends the Abolitionists. Their papers helped decidedly. The +_Journal of Freedom_ (commonly known as _Freedom's Journal_), begun +March 30, 1827, ran for three years. It had numerous successors, but +no one of outstanding strength before the _North Star_ (later known as +_Frederick Douglass' Paper_) began publication in 1847, continuing +until the Civil War. Largely through the effort of Paul Cuffe for the +franchise, New Bedford, Mass., was generally prominent in all that made +for racial prosperity. Here even by 1850 the Negro voters held the +balance of power and accordingly exerted a potent influence on Election +day.[1] Under date March 6, 1840, there was brought up for repeal so +much of the Massachusetts Statutes as forbade intermarriage between +white persons and Negroes, mulattoes, or Indians, as "contrary to the +principles of Christianity and republicanism." The committee said that +it did not recommend a repeal in the expectation that the number of +connections, legal or illegal, between the races would be thereupon +increased; but its object rather was that wherever such connections were +found the usual civil liabilities and obligations should not fail to +attach to the contracting parties. The enactment was repealed. In the +same state, by January, 1843, an act forbidding discrimination +on railroads was passed. This grew out of separate petitions or +remonstrances from Francis Jackson and Joseph Nunn, each man being +supported by friends, and the petitioners based their request "not on +the supposition that the colored man is not as well treated as his white +fellow-citizen, but on the broad principle that the constitution allows +no distinction in public privileges among the different classes of +citizens in this commonwealth."[2] In New York City an interesting +case arose over the question of public conveyances. When about 1852 +horse-cars began to supersede omnibuses on the streets, the Negro was +excluded from the use of them, and he continued to be excluded until +1855, when a decision of Judge Rockwell gave him the right to enter +them. The decision was ignored and the Negro continued to be excluded as +before. One Sunday in May, however, Rev. James W.C. Pennington, after +service, reminded his hearers of Judge Rockwell's decision, urged them +to stand up for their rights, and especially to inform any friends who +might visit the city during the coming anniversary week that Negroes +were no longer excluded from the street cars. He himself then boarded a +car on Sixth Avenue, refused to leave when requested to do so, and was +forcibly ejected. He brought suit against the company and won his case; +and thus the Negro made further advance toward full citizenship in New +York.[3] + +[Footnote 1: Nell, III.] + +[Footnote 2: Senate document 63 of 1842.] + +[Footnote 3: McMaster, VIII, 74.] + +Thus was the Negro developing in religious organization, in his benefit +societies, and toward his rights as a citizen. When we look at the +economic life upon which so much depended, we find that rather amazing +progress had been made. Doors were so often closed to the Negro, +competing white artisans were so often openly hostile, and he himself +labored under so many disadvantages generally that it has often been +thought that his economic advance before 1860 was negligible; but +nothing could be farther from the truth. It must not be forgotten that +for decades the South had depended upon Negro men for whatever was to +be done in all ordinary trades; some brick-masons, carpenters, and +shoemakers had served a long apprenticeship and were thoroughly +accomplished; and when some of the more enterprising of these men +removed to the North or West they took their training with them. Very +few persons became paupers. Certainly many were destitute, especially +those who had most recently made their way from slavery; and in general +the colored people cared for their own poor. In 1852, of 3500 Negroes in +Cincinnati, 200 were holders of property who paid taxes on their real +estate.[1] In 1855 the Negro per capita ownership of property compared +most favorably with that of the white people. Altogether the Negroes +owned $800,000 worth of property in the city and $5,000,000 worth in the +state. In the city there were among other workers three bank tellers, +a landscape artist who had visited Rome to complete his education, and +nine daguerreotypists, one of whom was the best in the entire West.[2] +Of 1696 Negroes at work in Philadelphia in 1856, some of the more +important occupations numbered workers as follows: tailors, dressmakers, +and shirtmakers, 615; barbers, 248; shoemakers, 66; brickmakers, 53; +carpenters, 49; milliners, 45; tanners, 24; cake-bakers, pastry-cooks, +or confectioners, 22; blacksmiths, 22. There were also 15 musicians or +music-teachers, 6 physicians, and 16 school-teachers.[3] The foremost +and the most wealthy man of business of the race in the country about +1850 was Stephen Smith, of the firm of Smith and Whipper, of Columbia, +Pa.[4] He and his partner were lumber merchants. Smith was a man of wide +interests. He invested his capital judiciously, engaging in real estate +and spending much of his time in Philadelphia, where he owned more than +fifty brick houses, while Whipper, a relative, attended to the business +of the firm. Together these men gave employment to a large number of +persons. Of similar quality was Samuel T. Wilcox, of Cincinnati, the +owner of a large grocery business who also engaged in real estate. Henry +Boyd, of Cincinnati, was the proprietor of a bedstead manufactory that +filled numerous orders from the South and West and that sometimes +employed as many as twenty-five men, half of whom were white. Sometimes +through an humble occupation a Negro rose to competence; thus one of the +eighteen hucksters in Cincinnati became the owner of $20,000 worth of +property. Here and there several caterers and tailors became known as +having the best places in their line of business in their respective +towns. John Julius, of Pittsburgh, was the proprietor of a brilliant +place known as Concert Hall. When President-elect William Henry Harrison +in 1840 visited the city it was here that his chief reception was held. +Cordovell became widely known as the name of the leading tailor and +originator of fashions in New Orleans. After several years of success in +business this merchant removed to France, where he enjoyed the fortune +that he had accumulated. + +[Footnote 1: Clarke: _Condition of the Free Colored People of the United +States_.] + +[Footnote 2: Nell, 285.] + +[Footnote 3: Bacon: _Statistics_, 13.] + +[Footnote 4: Delany.] + +Cordovell was representative of the advance of the people of mixed blood +in the South. The general status of these people was better in Louisiana +than anywhere else in the country, North or South; at the same time +their situation was such as to call for special consideration. In +Louisiana the "F.M.C." (Free Man of Color) formed a distinct and +anomalous class in society.[1] As a free man he had certain rights, and +sometimes his property holdings were very large.[2] In fact, in New +Orleans a few years before the Civil War not less than one-fifth of the +taxable property was in the hands of free people of color. At the same +time the lot of these people was one of endless humiliation. Among some +of them irregular household establishments were regularly maintained by +white men, and there were held the "quadroon balls" which in course of +time gave the city a distinct notoriety. Above the people of this group, +however, was a genuine aristocracy of free people of color who had a +long tradition of freedom, being descended from the early colonists, +and whose family life was most exemplary. In general they lived to +themselves. In fact, it was difficult for them to do otherwise. They +were often compelled to have papers filled out by white guardians, and +they were not allowed to be visited by slaves or to have companionship +with them, even when attending church or walking along the roads. +Sometimes free colored men owned their women and children in order that +the latter might escape the invidious law against Negroes recently +emancipated; or the situation was sometimes turned around, as in +Norfolk, Va., where several women owned their husbands. When the name +of a free man of color had to appear on any formal document--a deed of +conveyance, a marriage-license, a certificate of birth or death, or +even in a newspaper report--the initials F.M.C. had to be appended. In +Louisiana these people petitioned in vain for the suffrage, and at the +outbreak of the Civil War organized and splendidly equipped for the +Confederacy two battalions of five hundred men. For these they chose +two distinguished white commanders, and the governor accepted their +services, only to have to inform them later that the Confederacy +objected to the enrolling of Negro soldiers. In Charleston thirty-seven +men in a remarkable petition also formally offered their services to the +Confederacy.[3] What most readily found illustration in New Orleans or +Charleston was also true to some extent of other centers of free people +of color such as Mobile and Baltimore. In general the F.M.C.'s +were industrious and they almost monopolized one or two avenues of +employment; but as a group they had not yet learned to place themselves +upon the broad basis of racial aspiration. + +[Footnote 1: See "The F.M.C.'s of Louisiana," by P.F. de Gournay, +_Lippincott's Magazine_, April, 1894; and "Black Masters," by Calvin +Dill Wilson, _North American Review_, November, 1905.] + +[Footnote 2: See Stone: "The Negro in the South," in _The South in the +Building of the Nation_, X, 180.] + +[Footnote 3: Note broadside (Charleston, 1861) accessible in Special +Library of Boston Public Library as Document No. 9 in 20th Cab. 3. 7.] + +Whatever may have been the situation of special groups, however, it can +readily be seen that there were at least some Negroes in the country--a +good many in the aggregate--who by 1860 were maintaining a high standard +in their ordinary social life. It must not be forgotten that we are +dealing with a period when the general standard of American culture was +by no means what it is to-day. "Four-fifths of the people of the United +States of 1860 lived in the country, and it is perhaps fair to say that +half of these dwelt in log houses of one or two rooms. Comforts such +as most of us enjoy daily were as good as unknown.... For the workaday +world shirtsleeves, heavy brogan boots and shoes, and rough wool hats +were the rule."[1] In Philadelphia, a fairly representative city, +there were at this time a considerable number of Negroes of means or +professional standing. These people were regularly hospitable; they +visited frequently; and they entertained in well furnished parlors with +music and refreshments. In a day when many of their people had not +yet learned to get beyond showiness in dress, they were temperate and +self-restrained, they lived within their incomes, and they retired at a +seasonable hour.[2] + +[Footnote 1: W.E. Dodd: _Expansion and Conflict_, Volume 3 of "Riverside +History of the United States," Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915, p. +208.] + +[Footnote 2: Turner: _The Negro in Pennsylvania_, 140.] + +In spite moreover of all the laws and disadvantages that they had to +meet the Negroes also made general advance in education. In the South +efforts were of course sporadic, but Negroes received some teaching +through private or clandestine sources.[1] More than one slave learned +the alphabet while entertaining the son of his master. In Charleston +for a long time before the Civil War free Negroes could attend schools +especially designed for their benefit and kept by white people or other +Negroes. The course of study not infrequently embraced such subjects as +physiology, physics, and plane geometry. After John Brown's raid the +order went forth that no longer should any colored person teach Negroes. +This resulted in a white person's being brought to sit in the classroom, +though at the outbreak of the war schools were closed altogether. In the +North, in spite of all proscription, conditions were somewhat better. As +early as 1850 there were in the public schools in New York 3,393 Negro +children, these sustaining about the same proportion to the Negro +population that white children sustained to the total white population. +Two institutions for the higher education of the Negro were established +before the Civil War, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (1854) and +Wilberforce University in Ohio (1856). Oberlin moreover was founded in +1833. In 1835 Professor Asa Mahan, of Lane Seminary, was offered the +presidency. As he was an Abolitionist he said that he would accept only +if Negroes were admitted on equal terms with other students. After a +warm session of the trustees the vote was in his favor. Though, before +this, individual Negroes had found their way into Northern institutions, +it was here at Oberlin that they first received a real welcome. By the +outbreak of the war nearly one-third of the students were of the Negro +race, and one of the graduates, John M. Langston, was soon to be +generally prominent in the affairs of the country. + +[Footnote 1: For interesting examples see C.G. Woodson: _The Education +of the Negro prior to 1861_.] + +It has been maintained that in their emphasis on education and on the +highest culture possible for the Negro the Abolitionists were mere +visionaries who had no practical knowledge whatever of the race's real +needs. This was neither true nor just. It was absolutely necessary first +of all to establish the Negro's right to enter any field occupied by any +other man, and time has vindicated this position. Even in 1850, however, +the needs of the majority of the Negro people for advance in their +economic life were not overlooked either by the Abolitionists or the +Negroes themselves. Said Martin V. Delany: "Our elevation must be the +result of _self-efforts_, and work of our _own hands_. No other human +power can accomplish it.... Let our young men and young women prepare +themselves for usefulness and business; that the men may enter into +merchandise, trading, and other things of importance; the young women +may become teachers of various kinds, and otherwise fill places of +usefulness. Parents must turn their attention more to the education of +their children. We mean, to educate them for useful practical business +purposes. Educate them for the store and counting-house--to do everyday +practical business. Consult the children's propensities, and direct +their education according to their inclinations. It may be that there +is too great a desire on the part of parents to give their children a +professional education, before the body of the people are ready for it. +A people must be a business people and have more to depend upon than +mere help in people's houses and hotels, before they are either able to +support or capable of properly appreciating the services of professional +men among them. This has been one of our great mistakes--we have gone +in advance of ourselves. We have commenced at the superstructure of the +building, instead of the foundation--at the top instead of the bottom. +We should first be mechanics and common tradesmen, and professions as a +matter of course would grow out of the wealth made thereby."[1] + +[Footnote 1: _The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of +the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered_, +Philadelphia, 1852, P. 45.] + +In professional life the Negro had by 1860 made a noteworthy beginning. +Already he had been forced to give attention to the law, though as yet +little by way of actual practice had been done. In this field Robert +Morris, Jr., of Boston, was probably foremost. William C. Nell, of +Rochester and Boston, at the time prominent in newspaper work and +politics, is now best remembered for his study of the Negro in the early +wars of the country. About the middle of the century Samuel Ringgold +Ward, author of the _Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro_, and one of the +most eloquent men of the time, was for several years pastor of a white +Congregational church in Courtlandville, N.Y.; and Henry Highland +Garnett was the pastor of a white congregation in Troy, and well known +as a public-spirited citizen as well. Upon James W.C. Pennington the +degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred by Heidelberg, and generally +this man had a reputation in England and on the continent of Europe as +well as in America. About the same time Bishops Daniel A. Payne and +William Paul Quinn were adding to the dignity of the African Methodist +Episcopal Church. + +Special interest attaches to the Negro physician. Even in colonial +times, though there was much emphasis on the control of diseases by +roots or charms, there was at least a beginning in work genuinely +scientific. As early as 1792 a Negro named Caesar had gained such +distinction by his knowledge of curative herbs that the Assembly of +South Carolina purchased his freedom and gave him an annuity. In the +earlier years of the last century James Derham, of New Orleans, became +the first regularly recognized Negro physician of whom there is +a complete record. Born in Philadelphia in 1762, as a boy he was +transferred to a physician for whom he learned to perform minor duties. +Afterwards he was sold to a physician in New Orleans who used him as +an assistant. Two or three years later he won his freedom, he became +familiar with French and Spanish as well as English, and he soon +commanded general respect by his learning and skill. About the middle +of the century, in New York, James McCune Smith, a graduate of the +University of Glasgow, was prominent. He was the author of several +scientific papers, a man of wide interests, and universally held in high +esteem. "The first real impetus to bring Negroes in considerable numbers +into the professional world came from the American Colonization Society, +which in the early years flourished in the South as well as the North +... and undertook to prepare professional leaders of their race for the +Liberian colony. 'To execute this scheme, leaders of the colonization +movement endeavored to educate Negroes in mechanic arts, agriculture, +science, and Biblical literature. Especially bright or promising youths +were to be given special training as catechists, teachers, preachers, +and physicians. Not much was said about what they were doing, but now +and then appeared notices of Negroes who had been prepared privately in +the South or publicly in the North for service in Liberia. Dr. William +Taylor and Dr. Fleet were thus educated in the District of Columbia. In +the same way John V. De Grasse, of New York, and Thomas J. White, of +Brooklyn, were allowed to complete the medical course at Bowdoin +in 1849. In 1854 Dr. De Grasse was admitted as a member of the +Massachusetts Medical Society.'"[1] Martin V. Delany, more than once +referred to in these pages, after being refused admission at a number of +institutions, was admitted to the medical school at Harvard. He became +distinguished for his work in a cholera epidemic in Pittsburgh in 1854. +It was of course not until after the Civil War that medical departments +were established in connection with some of the new higher institutions +of learning for Negro students. + +[Footnote 1: Kelly Miller: "The Background of the Negro Physician," +_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1916, quoting in part Woodson: _The +Education of the Negro prior to 1861_.] + +Before 1860 a situation that arose more than once took from Negroes the +real credit for inventions. If a slave made an invention he was not +permitted to take out a patent, for no slave could make a contract. At +the same time the slave's master could not take out a patent for him, +for the Government would not recognize the slave as having the legal +right to make the assignment to his master. It is certain that Negroes, +who did most of the mechanical work in the South before the Civil War, +made more than one suggestion for the improvement of machinery. We have +already referred to the strong claim put forth by a member of the race +for the real credit of the cotton-gin. The honor of being the first +Negro to be granted a patent belongs to Henry Blair, of Maryland, who in +1834 received official protection for a corn harvester. + +Throughout the century there were numerous attempts at poetical +composition, and several booklets were published. Perhaps the most +promising was George Horton's _The Hope of Liberty_, which appeared in +1829. Unfortunately, Horton could not get the encouragement that he +needed and in course of time settled down to the life of a janitor at +the University of North Carolina.[1] Six years before the war Frances +Ellen Watkins (later Mrs. Harper) struck the popular note by readings +from her _Miscellaneous Poems_, which ran through several editions. +About the same time William Wells Brown was prominent, though he also +worked for several years after the war. He was a man of decided talent +and had traveled considerably. He wrote several books dealing with Negro +history and biography; and he also treated racial subjects in a novel, +_Clotel_, and in a drama, _The Escape_. The latter suffers from an +excess of moralizing, but several times it flashes out with the quality +of genuine drama, especially when it deals with the jealousy of a +mistress for a favorite slave and the escape of the latter with her +husband. In 1841 the first Negro magazine began to appear, this being +issued by the A.M.E. Church. There were numerous autobiographies, that +of Frederick Douglass, first appearing in 1845, running through edition +after edition. On the stage there was the astonishing success of Ira +Aldridge, a tragedian who in his earlier years went to Europe, where he +had the advantage of association with Edmund Kean. About 1857 he was +commonly regarded as one of the two or three greatest actors in the +world. He became a member of several of the continental academies of +arts and science, and received many decorations of crosses and medals, +the Emperors of Russia and Austria and the King of Prussia being among +those who honored him. In the great field of music there was much +excellent work both in composition and in the performance on different +instruments. Among the free people of color in Louisiana there were +several distinguished musicians, some of whom removed to Europe for the +sake of greater freedom.[2] The highest individual achievement was that +of Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, of Philadelphia. This singer was of the +very first rank. Her voice was of remarkable sweetness and had a compass +of twenty-seven notes. She sang before many distinguished audiences in +both Europe and America and was frequently compared with Jenny Lind, +then at the height of her fame. + +[Footnote 1: See "George Moses Horton: Slave Poet," by Stephen B. Weeks, +_Southern Workman_, October, 1914.] + +[Footnote 2: See Washington: _The Story of the Negro_, II, 276-7.] + +It is thus evident that honorable achievement on the part of Negroes +and general advance in social welfare by no means began with the +Emancipation Proclamation. In 1860 eight-ninths of the members of the +race were still slaves, but in the face of every possible handicap the +one-ninth that was free had entered practically every great field of +human endeavor. Many were respected citizens in their communities, and a +few had even laid the foundations of wealth. While there was as yet +no book of unquestioned genius or scholarship, there was considerable +intellectual activity, and only time and a little more freedom from +economic pressure were needed for the production of works of the first +order of merit. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE CIVIL WAR AND EMANCIPATION + + +At the outbreak of the Civil War two great questions affecting the Negro +overshadowed all others--his freedom and his employment as a soldier. +The North as a whole had no special enthusiasm about the Negro and +responded only to Lincoln's call to the duty of saving the Union. Among +both officers and men moreover there was great prejudice against the use +of the Negro as a soldier, the feeling being that he was disqualified +by slavery and ignorance. Privates objected to meeting black men on the +same footing as themselves and also felt that the arming of slaves to +fight for their former masters would increase the bitterness of the +conflict. If many men in the North felt thus, the South was furious at +the thought of the Negro as a possible opponent in arms. + +The human problem, however, was not long in presenting itself and +forcing attention. As soon as the Northern soldiers appeared in the +South, thousands of Negroes--men, women, and children--flocked to their +camps, feeling only that they were going to their friends. In May, 1861, +while in command at Fortress Monroe, Major-General Benjamin F. Butler +came into national prominence by his policy of putting to work the men +who came within his lines and justifying their retention on the ground +that, being of service to the enemy for purposes of war, they were like +guns, powder, etc., "contraband of war," and could not be reclaimed. On +August 30th of this same year Major-General John C. Fremont, in command +in Missouri, placed the state under martial law and declared the slaves +there emancipated. The administration was embarrassed, Fremont's order +was annulled, and he was relieved of his command. On May 9, 1862, +Major-General David Hunter, in charge of the Department of the South +(South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) issued his famous order freeing +the slaves in his department, and thus brought to general attention the +matter of the employment of Negro soldiers in the Union armies. The +Confederate government outlawed Hunter, Lincoln annulled his order, +and the grace of the nation was again saved; but in the meantime a new +situation had arisen. While Brigadier-General John W. Phelps was taking +part in the expedition against New Orleans, a large sugar-planter near +the city, disgusted with Federal interference with affairs on his +plantation, drove all his slaves away, telling them to go to their +friends, the Yankees. The Negroes came to Phelps in great numbers, and +for the sake of discipline he attempted to organize them into troops. +Accordingly he, too, was outlawed by the Confederates, and his act was +disavowed by the Union, that was not ready to take this step. + +Meanwhile President Lincoln was debating the Emancipation Proclamation. +Pressure from radical anti-slavery sources was constantly being brought +to bear upon him, and Horace Greeley in his famous editorial, "The +Prayer of Twenty Millions," was only one of those who criticized what +seemed to be his lack of strength in handling the situation. After +McClellan's unsuccessful campaign against Richmond, however, he felt +that the freedom of the slaves was a military and moral necessity for +its effects upon both the North and the South; and Lee's defeat at +Antietam, September 17, 1862, furnished the opportunity for which he +had been waiting. Accordingly on September 22nd he issued a preliminary +declaration giving notice that on January 1, 1865, he would free all +slaves in the states still in rebellion, and asserting as before that +the object of the war was the preservation of the Union. + +The Proclamation as finally issued January 1st is one of the most +important public documents in the history of the United States, ranking +only below the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution itself. +It full text is as follows: + + 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 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 date 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, + Plaquemine, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, + Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, Ste. Marie, 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 Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, + York, Princess Anne, 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 testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my name, 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 the eighty-seventh. + + By the President, + ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + + WILLIAM H. SEWARD, + Secretary of State. + +It will be observed that the Proclamation was merely a war measure +resting on the constitutional power of the President. Its effects on the +legal status of the slaves gave rise to much discussion; and it is to +be noted that it did not apply to what is now West Virginia, to seven +counties in Virginia, and to thirteen parishes in Louisiana, which +districts had already come under Federal jurisdiction. All questions +raised by the measure, however, were finally settled by the Thirteenth +Amendment to the Constitution, and as a matter of fact freedom actually +followed the progress of the Union arms from 1863 to 1865. + +Meanwhile from the very beginning of the war Negroes were used by the +Confederates in making redoubts and in doing other rough work, and even +before the Emancipation Proclamation there were many Northern officers +who said that definite enlistment was advisable. They felt that such a +course would help to destroy slavery and that as the Negroes had so much +at stake they should have some share in the overthrow of the rebellion. +They said also that the men would be proud to wear the national uniform. +Individuals moreover as officers' servants saw much of fighting and won +confidence in their ability; and as the war advanced and more and more +men were killed the conviction grew that a Negro could stop a bullet as +well as a white man and that in any case the use of Negroes for fatigue +work would release numbers of other men for the actual fighting. + +At last--after a great many men had been killed and the Emancipation +Proclamation had changed the status of the Negro--enlistment was decided +on. The policy was that Negroes might be non-commissioned men while +white men who had seen service would be field and line officers. In +general it was expected that only those who had kindly feeling toward +the Negro would be used as officers, but in the pressure of military +routine this distinction was not always observed. Opinion for the race +gained force after the Draft Riot in New York (July, 1863), when Negroes +in the city were persecuted by the opponents of conscription. Soon a +distinct bureau was established in Washington for the recording of +all matters pertaining to Negro troops, a board was organized for the +examination of candidates, and recruiting stations were set up in +Maryland, Missouri, and Tennessee. The Confederates were indignant at +the thought of having to meet black men on equal footing, and refused +to exchange Negro soldiers for white men. How such action was met by +Stanton, Secretary of War, may be seen from the fact that when he +learned that three Negro prisoners had been placed in close confinement, +he ordered three South Carolina men to be treated likewise, and the +Confederate leaders to be informed of his policy. + +The economic advantage of enlistment was apparent. It gave work to +187,000 men who had been cast adrift by the war and who had found no +place of independent labor. It gave them food, clothing, wages, and +protection, but most of all the feeling of self-respect that comes from +profitable employment. To the men themselves the year of jubilee had +come. At one great step they had crossed the gulf that separates +chattels from men and they now had a chance to vindicate their manhood. +A common poster of the day represented a Negro soldier bearing the +flag, the shackles of a slave being broken, a young Negro boy reading +a newspaper, and several children going into a public school. Over +all were the words: "All Slaves were made Freemen by Abraham Lincoln, +President of the United States, January 1st, 1863. Come, then, +able-bodied Colored Men, to the nearest United States Camp, and fight +for the Stars and Stripes." + +To the credit of the men be it said that in their new position they +acted with dignity and sobriety. When they picketed lines through which +Southern citizens passed, they acted with courtesy at the same time that +they did their duty. They captured Southern men without insulting them, +and by their own self-respect won the respect of others. Meanwhile their +brothers in the South went about the day's work, caring for the widow +and the orphan; and a nation that still lynches the Negro has to +remember that in all these troublous years deeds of violence against +white women and girls were absolutely unknown. + +Throughout the country the behavior of the black men under fire was +watched with the most intense interest. More and more in the baptism of +blood they justified the faith for which their friends had fought for +years. At Port Hudson, Fort Wagner, Fort Pillow, and Petersburg their +courage was most distinguished. Said the New York _Times_ of the battle +at Port Hudson (1863): "General Dwight, at least, must have had the idea +not only that they (the Negro troops) were men, but something more than +men, from the terrific test to which he put their valor.... Their colors +are torn to pieces by shot, and literally bespattered by blood and +brains." This was the occasion on which Color-Sergeant Anselmas +Planciancois said before a shell blew off his head, "Colonel, I will +bring back these colors to you on honor, or report to God the reason +why." On June 6 the Negroes again distinguished themselves and +won friends by their bravery at Milliken's Bend. The Fifty-fourth +Massachusetts, commanded by Robert Gould Shaw, was conspicuous in the +attempt to take Fort Wagner, on Morris Island near Charleston, July 18, +1863. The regiment had marched two days and two nights through swamps +and drenching rains in order to be in time for the assault. In the +engagement nearly all the officers of the regiment were killed, among +them Colonel Shaw. The picturesque deed was that of Sergeant William H. +Carney, who seized the regiment's colors from the hands of a falling +comrade, planted the flag on the works, and said when borne bleeding and +mangled from the field, "Boys, the old flag never touched the ground." +Fort Pillow, a position on the Mississippi, about fifty miles above +Memphis, was garrisoned by 557 men, 262 of whom were Negroes, when +it was attacked April 13, 1864. The fort was finally taken by the +Confederates, but the feature of the engagement was the stubborn +resistance offered by the Union troops in the face of great odds. In the +Mississippi Valley, and in the Department of the South, the Negro had +now done excellent work as a soldier. In the spring of 1864 he made his +appearance in the Army of the Potomac. In July there was around Richmond +and Petersburg considerable skirmishing between the Federal and the +Confederate forces. Burnside, commanding a corps composed partly of +Negroes, dug under a Confederate fort a trench a hundred and fifty yards +long. This was filled with explosives, and on July 30 the match was +applied and the famous crater formed. Just before the explosion the +Negroes had figured in a gallant charge on the Confederates. The plan +was to follow the eruption by a still more formidable assault, in which +Burnside wanted to give his Negro troops the lead. A dispute about this +and a settlement by lot resulted in the awarding of precedence to a New +Hampshire regiment. Said General Grant later of the whole unfortunate +episode: "General Burnside wanted to put his colored division in front; +I believe if he had done so it would have been a success." After the men +of a Negro regiment had charged and taken a battery at Decatur, Ala., in +October, 1864, and shown exceptional gallantry under fire, they received +an ovation from their white comrades "who by thousands sprang upon the +parapets and cheered the regiment as it reentered the lines."[1] + +[Footnote 1: General Thomas J. Morgan: "The Negroes in the Civil War," +in the _Baptist Home Mission Monthly_, quoted in _Liberia_, Bulletin 12, +February, 1898. General Morgan in October, 1863, became a major in the +Fourteenth United States Colored Infantry. He organized the regiment and +became its colonel. He also organized the Forty-second and Forty-fourth +regiments of colored infantry.] + +When all was over there was in the North a spontaneous recognition of +the right of such men to honorable and generous treatment at the hands +of the nation, and in Congress there was the feeling that if the South +could come back to the Union with its autonomy unimpaired, certainly +the Negro soldier should have the rights of citizenship. Before the war +closed, however, there was held in Syracuse, N.Y., a convention of Negro +men that threw interesting light on the problems and the feeling of +the period.[1] At this gathering John Mercer Langston was temporary +chairman, Frederick Douglass, president, and Henry Highland Garnett, of +Washington; James W.C. Pennington, of New York; George L. Ruffin, of +Boston, and Ebenezer D. Bassett, of Philadelphia, were among the more +prominent delegates. There was at the meeting a fear that some of the +things that seemed to have been gained by the war might not actually be +realized; and as Congress had not yet altered the Constitution so as to +abolish slavery, grave question was raised by a recent speech in which +no less a man than Seward, Secretary of State, had said: "When the +insurgents shall have abandoned their armies and laid down their arms, +the war will instantly cease; and all the war measures then existing, +including those which affect slavery, will cease also." The convention +thanked the President and the Thirty-Seventh Congress for revoking a +prohibitory law in regard to the carrying of mails by Negroes, for +abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, for recognizing Hayti +and Liberia, and for the military order retaliating for the unmilitary +treatment accorded Negro soldiers by the Confederate officers; and +especially it thanked Senator Sumner "for his noble efforts to cleanse +the statute-books of the nation from every stain of inequality against +colored men," and General Butler for the stand he had taken early in the +war. At the same time it resolved to send a petition to Congress to +ask that the rights of the country's Negro patriots in the field be +respected, and that the Government cease to set an example to those in +arms against it by making invidious distinctions, based upon color, as +to pay, labor, and promotion. It begged especially to be saved from +supposed friends: "When the _Anti-Slavery Standard_, representing the +American Anti-Slavery Society, denies that the society asks for the +enfranchisement of colored men, and the _Liberator_ apologizes for +excluding the colored men of Louisiana from the ballot-box, they injure +us more vitally than all the ribald jests of the whole pro-slavery +press." Finally the convention insisted that any such things as the +right to own real estate, to testify in courts of law, and to sue and +be sued, were mere privileges so long as general political liberty +was withheld, and asked frankly not only for the formal and complete +abolition of slavery in the United States, but also for the elective +franchise in all the states then in the Union and in all that might come +into the Union thereafter. On the whole this representative gathering +showed a very clear conception of the problems facing the Negro and the +country in 1864. Its reference to well-known anti-slavery publications +shows not only the increasing race consciousness that came through this +as through all other wars in which the country has engaged, but also the +great drift toward conservatism that had taken place in the North within +thirty years. + +[Footnote 1: See Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men, +held in the city of Syracuse, N.Y., October 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1864, with +the Bill of Wrongs and Rights, and the Address to the American People. +Boston, 1864.] + +Whatever might be the questions of the moment, however, about the +supreme blessing of freedom there could at last be no doubt. It had been +long delayed and had finally come merely as an incident to the war; +nevertheless a whole race of people had passed from death unto life. +Then, as before and since, they found a parallel for their experiences +in the story of the Jews in the Old Testament. They, too, had sojourned +in Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. What they could not then see, or only +dimly realize, was that they needed faith--faith in God and faith in +themselves--for the forty years in the wilderness. They did not yet +fully know that He who guided the children of Israel and drove out +before them the Amorite and the Hittite, would bring them also to the +Promised Land. + + * * * * * + +To those who led the Negro in these wonderful years--to Robert Gould +Shaw, the young colonel of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, who +died leading his men at Fort Wagner; to Norwood Penrose Hallowell, +lieutenant-colonel of the Fifty-Fourth and then colonel of the +Fifty-Fifth; to his brother, Edward N. Hallowell, who succeeded Shaw +when he fell; and to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who commanded the first +regiment of freed slaves--no ordinary eulogy can apply. Their names are +written in letters of flame and their deeds live after them. On the Shaw +Monument in Boston are written these words: + + The White Officers + + Taking Life and Honor in their Hands--Cast their lot with Men of a + Despised Race Unproved in War--and Risked Death as Inciters of a + Servile Insurrection if Taken Prisoners, Besides Encountering all + the Common Perils of Camp, March, and Battle. + + The Black Rank and File + + Volunteered when Disaster Clouded the Union Cause--Served without + Pay for Eighteen Months till Given that of White Troops--Faced + Threatened Enslavement if Captured--Were Brave in Action--Patient + under Dangerous and Heavy Labors and Cheerful amid Hardships and + Privations. + + Together + + They Gave to the Nation Undying Proof that Americans of African + Descent Possess the Pride, Courage, and Devotion of the Patriot + Soldier--One Hundred and Eighty Thousand Such Americans Enlisted + under the Union Flag in MDCCCLXIII-MDCCCLXV. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE ERA OF ENFRANCHISEMENT + + +1. _The Problem_ + + +At the close of the Civil War the United States found itself face to +face with one of the gravest social problems of modern times. More and +more it became apparent that it was not only the technical question of +the restoration of the states to the Union that had to be considered, +but the whole adjustment for the future of the lives of three and a half +million Negroes and five and a half million white people in the South. +In its final analysis the question was one of race, and to add to the +difficulties of this problem it is to be regretted that there should +have been actually upon the scene politicians and speculators who sought +to capitalize for their own gain the public distress. + +The South was thoroughly demoralized, and the women who had borne the +burden of the war at home were especially bitter. Slave property to the +amount of two billions of dollars had been swept away; several of the +chief cities had suffered bombardment; the railroads had largely run +down; and the confiscation of property was such as to lead to the +indemnification of thousands of claimants afterwards. The Negro was not +yet settled in new places of abode, and his death rate was appalling. +Throughout the first winter after the war the whole South was on the +verge of starvation. + +Here undoubtedly was a difficult situation--one calling for the highest +quality of statesmanship, and of sportsmanship on the part of the +vanquished. Many Negroes, freed from the tradition of two hundred and +fifty years of slavery, took a holiday; some resolved not to work any +more as long as they lived, and some even appropriated to their own use +the produce of their neighbors. If they remained on the old plantations, +they feared that they might still be considered slaves; on the other +hand, if they took to the high road, they might be considered vagrants. +If one returned from a Federal camp to claim his wife and children, +he might be driven away. "Freedom cried out," and undoubtedly some +individuals did foolish things; but serious crime was noticeably absent. +On the whole the race bore the blessing of emancipation with remarkable +good sense and temper. Returning soldiers paraded, there were some +meetings and processions, sometimes a little regalia--and even a little +noise; then everybody went home. Unfortunately even so much the white +South regarded as insolence. + +The example of how the South _might_ have met the situation was afforded +by no less a man than Robert E. Lee, about whose unselfishness and +standard of conduct as a gentleman there could be no question. One day +in Richmond a Negro from the street, intent on asserting his rights, +entered a representative church, pushed his way to the communion altar +and knelt. The congregation paused, and all fully realized the factors +that entered into the situation. Then General Lee rose and knelt beside +the Negro; the congregation did likewise, and the tension was over. +Furthermore, every one went home spiritually uplifted. + +Could the handling of this incident have been multipled a thousand +times--could men have realized that mere accidents are fleeting but +that principles are eternal--both races would have been spared years +of agony, and our Southland would be a far different place to-day. The +Negro was at the heart of the problem, but to that problem the South +undoubtedly held the key. Of course the cry of "social equality" might +have been raised; _anything_ might have been said to keep the right +thing from being done. In this instance, as in many others, the final +question was not what somebody else did, but how one himself could act +most nobly. + +Unfortunately Lee's method of approach was not to prevail. Passion and +prejudice and demagoguery were to have their day, and conservative and +broadly patriotic men were to be made to follow leaders whom they could +not possibly approve. Sixty years afterwards we still suffer from the +KuKlux solution of the problem. + + +2. _Meeting the Problem_ + +The story of reconstruction has been many times told, and it is not +our intention to tell that story again. We must content ourselves by +touching upon some of the salient points in the discussion. + +Even before the close of the war the National Government had undertaken +to handle officially the thousands of Negroes who had crowded to the +Federal lines and not less than a million of whom were in the spring of +1865 dependent upon the National Government for support. The Bureau of +Refugee Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, created in connection with the +War Department by an act of March 3, 1865, was to remain in existence +throughout the war and for one year thereafter. Its powers were enlarged +July 16, 1866, and its chief work did not end until January 1, 1869, its +educational work continuing for a year and a half longer. The Freedmen's +Bureau was to have "the supervision and management of all abandoned +lands, and the control of all subjects relating to refugees and +freedmen." Of special importance was the provision in the creating act +that gave the freedmen to understand that each male refugee was to be +given forty acres with the guarantee of possession for three years. +Throughout the existence of the Bureau its chief commissioner was +General O.O. Howard. While the principal officers were undoubtedly men +of noble purpose, many of the minor officials were just as undoubtedly +corrupt and self-seeking. In the winter of 1865-6 one-third of its aid +was given to the white people of the South. For Negro pupils the Bureau +established altogether 4,239 schools, and these had 9,307 teachers and +247,333 students. Its real achievement has been thus ably summed up: +"The greatest success of the Freedmen's Bureau lay in the planting of +the free school among Negroes, and the idea of free elementary education +among all classes in the South.... For some fifteen million dollars, +beside the sum spent before 1865, and the dole of benevolent societies, +this bureau set going a system of free labor, established a beginning of +peasant proprietorship, secured the recognition of black freedmen before +courts of law, and founded the free common school in the South. On the +other hand, it failed to begin the establishment of good will between +ex-masters and freedmen, to guard its work wholly from paternalistic +methods, which discouraged self-reliance, and to carry out to any +considerable extent its implied promises to furnish the freedmen with +land."[1] To this tale of its shortcomings must be added also the +management of the Freedmen's Bank, which "was morally and practically +part of the Freedmen's Bureau, although it had no legal connection with +it." This institution made a really remarkable start in the development +of thrift among the Negroes, and its failure, involving the loss of the +first savings of hundreds of ex-slaves, was as disastrous in its moral +as in its immediate financial consequences. + +[Footnote 1: DuBois: _The Souls of Black Folk_, 32-37.] + +When the Freedmen's Bureau came to an end, it turned its educational +interests and some money over to the religious and benevolent societies +which had cooeperated with it, especially to the American Missionary +Association. This society had been organized before the Civil War on +an interdenominational and strong anti-slavery basis; but with the +withdrawal of general interest the body passed in 1881 into the hands of +the Congregational Church. Other prominent agencies were the American +Baptist Home Mission Society (also the American Baptist Publication +Society), the Freedmen's Aid Society (representing the Northern +Methodists), and the Presbyterian Board of Missions. Actual work was +begun by the American Missionary Association. In 1861 Lewis Tappan, +treasurer of the organization, wrote to General Butler to ask just +what aid could be given. The result of the correspondence was that on +September 3 of this year Rev. L.C. Lockwood reached Hampton and on +September 17 opened the first day school among the freedmen. This school +was taught by Mrs. Mary S. Peake, a woman of the race who had had the +advantage of a free mother, and whose devotion to the work was such that +she soon died. However, she had helped to lay the foundations of Hampton +Institute. Soon there was a school at Norfolk, there were two at Newport +News, and by January schools at Hilton Head and Beaufort, S.C. Then came +the Emancipation Proclamation, throwing wide open the door of the great +need. Rev. John Eaton, army chaplain from Ohio, afterwards United States +Commissioner of Education, was placed in charge of the instruction of +the Negroes, and in one way or another by the close of the war probably +as many as one million in the South had learned to read and write. The +83 missionaries and teachers of the Association in 1863 increased to 250 +in 1864. At the first day session of the school in Norfolk after the +Proclamation there were 350 scholars, with 300 others in the evening. +On the third day there were 550 in the day school and 500 others in the +evening. The school had to be divided, a part going to another church; +the assistants increased in number, and soon the day attendance was +1,200. For such schools the houses on abandoned plantations were used, +and even public buildings were called into commission. Afterwards arose +the higher institutions, Atlanta, Berea, Fisk, Talladega, Straight, with +numerous secondary schools. Similarly the Baptists founded the colleges +which, with some changes of name, have become Virginia Union, Hartshorn, +Shaw, Benedict, Morehouse, Spelman, Jackson, and Bishop, with numerous +affiliated institutions. The Methodists began to operate Clark (in South +Atlanta), Claflin, Rust, Wiley, and others; and the Presbyterians, +having already founded Lincoln in 1854, now founded Biddle and several +seminaries for young women; while the United Presbyterians founded +Knoxville. In course of time the distinctively Negro denominations--the +A.M.E., the A.M.E.Z., and the C.M.E. (which last represented a +withdrawal from the Southern Methodists in 1870)--also helped in +the work, and thus, in addition to Wilberforce in Ohio, arose such +institutions as Morris Brown University, Livingstone College, and Lane +College. In 1867, moreover, the Federal Government crowned its work for +the education of the Negro by the establishment at Washington of Howard +University. + +As these institutions have grown they have naturally developed some +differences or special emphasis. Hampton and Atlanta University are +now independent; and Berea has had a peculiar history, legislation in +Kentucky in 1903 restricting the privileges of the institution to white +students. Hampton, in the hands of General Armstrong, placed emphasis on +the idea of industrial and practical education which has since become +world-famous. In 1871 the Fisk Jubilee Singers began their memorable +progress through America and Europe, meeting at first with scorn and +sneers, but before long touching the heart of the world with their +strange music. Their later success was as remarkable as their mission +was unique. Meanwhile Spelman Seminary, in the record of her graduates +who have gone as missionaries to Africa, has also developed a glorious +tradition. + +To those heroic men and women who represented this idea of education at +its best, too much credit can not be given. Cravath at Fisk, Ware at +Atlanta, Armstrong at Hampton, Graves at Morehouse, Tupper at Shaw, and +Packard and Giles at Spelman, are names that should ever be recalled +with thanksgiving. These people had no enviable task. They were +ostracized and persecuted, and some of their co-workers even killed. It +is true that their idea of education founded on the New England college +was not very elastic; but their theory was that the young men and women +whom they taught, before they were Negroes, were human beings. They had +the key to the eternal verities, and time will more and more justify +their position. + +To the Freedmen's Bureau the South objected because of the political +activity of some of its officials. To the schools founded by missionary +endeavor it objected primarily on the score of social equality. To both +the provisional Southern governments of 1865 replied with the so-called +Black Codes. The theory of these remarkable ordinances--most harsh in +Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana--was that even if the Negro +was nominally free he was by no means able to take care of himself and +needed the tutelage and oversight of the white man. Hence developed what +was to be known as a system of "apprenticeship." South Carolina in her +act of December 21, 1865, said, "A child, over the age of two years, +born of a colored parent, may be bound by the father if he be living in +the district, or in case of his death or absence from the district, by +the mother, as an apprentice to any respectable white or colored person +who is competent to make a contract; a male until he shall attain the +age of twenty-one years, and a female until she shall attain the age of +eighteen.... Males of the age of twelve years, and females of the age +of ten years, shall sign the indenture of apprenticeship, and be bound +thereby.... The master shall receive to his own use the profits of the +labor of his apprentice." To this Mississippi added: "If any apprentice +shall leave the employment of his or her master or mistress, said master +or mistress may pursue and recapture said apprentice, and bring him or +her before any justice of peace of the county, whose duty it shall be to +remand said apprentice to the service of his or her master or mistress; +and in the event of a refusal on the part of said apprentice so to +return, then said justice shall commit said apprentice to the jail of +said county," etc., etc. In general by such legislation the Negro was +given the right to sue and be sued, to testify in court concerning +Negroes, and to have marriage and the responsibility for children +recognized. On the other hand, he could not serve on juries, could +not serve in the militia, and could not vote or hold office. He was +virtually forbidden to assemble, and his freedom of movement was +restricted. Within recent years the Black Codes have been more than once +defended as an honest effort to meet a difficult situation, but the old +slavery attitude peered through them and gave the impression that those +who framed them did not yet know that the old order had passed away. + +Meanwhile the South was in a state of panic, and the provisional +governor of Mississippi asked of President Johnson permission to +organize the local militia. The request was granted and the patrols +immediately began to show their hostility to Northern people and the +freedmen. In the spring of 1866 there was a serious race riot in +Memphis. On July 30, while some Negroes were marching to a political +convention in New Orleans, they became engaged in brawls with the +white spectators. Shots were exchanged; the police, assisted by the +spectators, undertook to arrest the Negroes; the Negroes took refuge in +the convention hall; and their pursuers stormed the building and shot +down without mercy the Negroes and their white supporters. Altogether +not less than forty were killed and not less than one hundred wounded; +but not more than a dozen men were killed on the side of the police and +the white citizens. General Sheridan, who was in command at New Orleans, +characterized the affair as "an absolute massacre ... a murder which +the mayor and police of the city perpetrated without the shadow of a +necessity." + +In the face of such events and tendencies, and influenced to some extent +by a careful and illuminating but much criticized report of Carl Schurz, +Congress, led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens, proceeded to pass +legislation designed to protect the freedmen and to guarantee to +the country the fruits of the war. The Thirteenth Amendment to the +Constitution formally abolishing slavery was passed December 18, 1865. +In the following March Congress passed over the President's veto the +first Civil Rights Bill, guaranteeing to the freedmen all the ordinary +rights of citizenship, and it was about the same time that it enlarged +the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau. The Fourteenth Amendment (July +28, 1868) denied to the states the power to abridge the privileges or +immunities of citizens of the United States; and the Fifteenth Amendment +(March 30, 1870) sought to protect the Negro by giving to him the right +of suffrage instead of military protection. In 1875 was passed the +second Civil Rights act, designed to give Negroes equality of treatment +in theaters, railway cars, hotels, etc.; but this the Supreme Court +declared unconstitutional in 1883. + +As a result of this legislation the Negro was placed in positions of +responsibility; within the next few years the race sent two senators +and thirteen representatives to Congress, and in some of the state +legislatures, as in South Carolina, Negroes were decidedly in the +majority. The attainments of some of these men were undoubtedly +remarkable; the two United States senators, Hiram R. Revels and Blanche +K. Bruce, both from Mississippi, were of unquestioned intelligence and +ability, and Robert B. Elliott, one of the representatives from South +Carolina, attracted unusual attention by his speech in reply to +Alexander Stephens on the constitutionality of the Civil Rights bill. At +the same time among the Negro legislators there was also considerable +ignorance, and there set in an era of extravagance and corruption from +which the "carpet-baggers" and the "scalawags" rather than the Negroes +themselves reaped the benefit. Accordingly within recent years it has +become more and more the fashion to lament the ills of the period, and +no representative American historian can now write of reconstruction +without a tone of apology. A few points, however, are to be observed. +In the first place the ignorance was by no means so vast as has been +supposed. Within the four years from 1861 to 1865, thanks to the army +schools and missionary agencies, not less than half a million Negroes in +the South had learned to read and write. Furthermore, the suffrage was +not immediately given to the emancipated Negroes; this was the +last rather than the first step in reconstruction. The provisional +legislatures formed at the close of the war were composed of white men +only; but the experiment failed because of the short-sighted laws that +were enacted. If the fruit of the Civil War was not to be lost, if all +the sacrifice was not to prove in vain, it became necessary for Congress +to see that the overthrow of slavery was final and complete. By the +Fourteenth Amendment the Negro was invested with the ordinary rights and +dignity of a citizen of the United States. He was not enfranchised, but +he could no longer be made the victim of state laws designed merely to +keep him in servile subjection. If the Southern states had accepted +this amendment, they might undoubtedly have reentered the Union without +further conditions. They refused to do so; they refused to help the +National Government in any way whatsoever in its effort to guarantee +to the Negro the rights of manhood. Achilles sulked in his tent, and +whenever he sulks the world moves on--without him. The alternative +finally presented to Congress, if it was not to make an absolute +surrender, was either to hold the South indefinitely under military +subjection or to place the ballot in the hands of the Negro. The former +course was impossible; the latter was chosen, and the Union was really +restored--was really saved--by the force of the ballot in the hands of +black men. + +It has been held that the Negro was primarily to blame for the +corruption of the day. Here again it is well to recall the tendencies of +the period. The decade succeeding the war was throughout the country +one of unparalleled political corruption. The Tweed ring, the Credit +Mobilier, and the "salary grab" were only some of the more outstanding +signs of the times. In the South the Negroes were not the real leaders +in corruption; they simply followed the men who they supposed were their +friends. Surely in the face of such facts as these it is not just to fix +upon a people groping to the light the peculiar odium of the corruption +that followed in the wake of the war. + +And we shall have to leave it to those better informed than we to say to +just what extent city and state politics in the South have been cleaned +up since the Negro ceased to be a factor. Many of the constitutions +framed by the reconstruction governments were really excellent models, +and the fact that they were overthrown seems to indicate that some other +spoilsmen were abroad. Take North Carolina, for example. In this state +in 1868 the reconstruction government by its new constitution introduced +the township system so favorably known in the North and West. When in +1875 the South regained control, with all the corruption it found as +excellent a form of republican state government as was to be found in +any state in the Union. "Every provision which any state enjoyed for the +protection of public society from its bad members and bad impulses was +either provided or easily procurable under the Constitution of the +state."[1] Yet within a year, in order to annul the power of their +opponents in every county in the state, the new party so amended +the Constitution as to take away from every county the power of +self-government and centralize everything in the legislature. Now was +realized an extent of power over elections and election returns so +great that no party could wholly clear itself of the idea of corrupt +intentions. + +[Footnote 1: George W. Cable: _The Southern Struggle for Pure +Government_: An Address. Boston, 1890, included in _The Negro Question_, +New York, 1890.] + +At the heart of the whole question of course was race. As a matter of +fact much work of genuine statesmanship was accomplished or attempted by +the reconstruction governments. For one thing the idea of common school +education for all people was now for the first time fully impressed upon +the South. The Charleston _News and Courier_ of July 11, 1876, formally +granted that in the administration of Governor Chamberlain of South +Carolina the abuse of the pardoning power had been corrected; the +character of the officers appointed by the Executive had improved; the +floating indebtedness of the state had been provided for in such a way +that the rejection of fraudulent claims was assured and that valid +claims were scaled one-half; the tax laws had been so amended as to +secure substantial equality in the assessment of property; taxes had +been reduced to eleven mills on the dollar; the contingent fund of +the executive department had been reduced at a saving in two years of +$101,200; legislative expenses had also been reduced so as to save +in two years $350,000; legislative contingent expenses had also been +handled so as to save $355,000; and the public printing reduced from +$300,000 to $50,000 a year. There were, undoubtedly, at first, many +corrupt officials, white and black. Before they were through, however, +after only a few years of experimenting, the reconstruction governments +began to show signs of being quite able to handle the situation; and it +seems to have been primarily the fear on the part of the white South +_that they might not fail_ that prompted the determination to regain +power at whatever cost. Just how this was done we are now to see. + + +3. _Reaction: The KuKlux Klan_ + +Even before the Civil War a secret organization, the Knights of the +Golden Circle, had been formed to advance Southern interests. After the +war there were various organizations--Men of Justice, Home Guards, Pale +Faces, White Brotherhood, White Boys, Council of Safety, etc., and, with +headquarters at New Orleans, the thoroughly organized Knights of the +White Camelia. All of these had for their general aim the restoration +of power to the white men of the South, which aim they endeavored to +accomplish by regulating the conduct of the Negroes and their leaders +in the Republican organization, the Union League, especially by playing +upon the fears and superstitions of the Negroes. In general, especially +in the Southeast, everything else was surpassed or superseded by the +KuKlux Klan, which originated in Tennessee in the fall of 1865 as an +association of young men for amusement, but which soon developed into a +union for the purpose of whipping, banishing, terrorizing, and murdering +Negroes and Northern white men who encouraged them in the exercise of +their political rights. No Republican, no member of the Union League, +and no G.A.R. man could become a member. The costume of the Klan +was especially designed to strike terror in the uneducated Negroes. +Loose-flowing sleeves, hoods in which were apertures for the eyes, nose, +and mouth trimmed with red material, horns made of cotton-stuff standing +out on the front and sides, high cardboard hats covered with white +cloth decorated with stars or pictures of animals, long tongues of red +flannel, were all used as occasion demanded. The KuKlux Klan finally +extended over the whole South and greatly increased its operations on +the cessation of martial law in 1870. As it worked generally at night, +with its members in disguise, it was difficult for a grand jury to get +evidence on which to frame a bill, and almost impossible to get a jury +that would return a verdict for the state. Repeated measures against +the order were of little effect until an act of 1870 extended the +jurisdiction of the United States courts to all KuKlux cases. Even then +for some time the organization continued active. + +Naturally there were serious clashes before government was restored to +the white South, especially as the KuKlux Klan grew bolder. At Colfax, +Grant Parish, Louisiana, in April, 1873, there was a pitched battle in +which several white men and more than fifty Negroes were killed; and +violence increased as the "red shirt" campaign of 1876 approached. + +In connection with the events of this fateful year, and with reference +to South Carolina, where the Negro seemed most solidly in power, we +recall one episode, that of the Hamburg Massacre. We desire to give this +as fully as possible in all its incidents, because we know of nothing +that better illustrates the temper of the times, and because a most +important matter is regularly ignored or minimized by historians.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Fleming, in his latest and most mature account of +reconstruction, _The Sequel of Appomattox_, has not one word to say +about the matter. Dunning, in _Reconstruction Political and Economic_ +(306), speaks as follows: "July 6, 1876, an armed collision between +whites and blacks at Hamburg, Aiken County, resulted in the usual +slaughter of the blacks. Whether the original cause of the trouble +was the insolence and threats of a Negro militia company, or the +aggressiveness and violence of some young white men, was much discussed +throughout the state, and, indeed, the country at large. Chamberlain +took frankly and strongly the ground that the whites were at fault." +Such a statement we believe simply does not do justice to the facts. +The account given herewith is based upon the report of the matter in a +letter published in a Washington paper and submitted in connection with +the debate in the United States House of Representatives, July 15th and +18th, 1876, on the Massacre of Six Colored Citizens at Hamburg, S.C., +July 4, 1876; and on "An Address to the People of the United States, +adopted at a Conference of Colored Citizens, held at Columbia, S.C., +July 20th and 21st, 1876" (Republican Printing Co., Columbia, S.C., +1876). The Address, a document most important for the Negro's side of +the story, was signed by no less than sixty representative men, among +them R.B. Elliott, R.H. Gleaves, F.L. Cardozo, D.A. Straker, T. McC. +Stewart, and H.N. Bouey.] + +In South Carolina an act providing for the enrollment of the male +citizens of the state, who were by the terms of the said act made +subject to the performance of militia duty, was passed by the General +Assembly and approved by the Governor March 16, 1869. By virtue of this +act Negro citizens were regularly enrolled as a part of the National +Guard of the State of South Carolina, and as the white men, with very +few exceptions, failed or refused to become a part of the said force, +the active militia was composed almost wholly of Negro men. The County +of Edgefield, of which Hamburg was a part, was one of the military +districts of the state under the apportionment of the Adjutant-General, +one regiment being allotted to the district. One company of this +regiment was in Hamburg. In 1876 it had recently been reorganized with +Doc Adams as captain, Lewis Cartledge as first lieutenant, and A.T. +Attaway as second lieutenant. The ranks were recruited to the requisite +number of men, to whom arms and equipment were duly issued. + +On Tuesday, July 4, the militia company assembled for drill and while +thus engaged paraded through one of the least frequented streets of the +town. This street was unusually wide, but while marching four abreast +the men were interrupted by a horse and buggy driven _into their ranks_ +by Thomas Butler and Henry Getzen, white men who resided about two +miles from the town. At the time of this interference the company was +occupying a space covering a width of not more than eight feet, so that +on either side there was abundant room for vehicles. At the interruption +Captain Adams commanded a halt and, stepping to the head of his column, +said, "Mr. Getzen, I did not think that you would treat me this way; I +would not so act towards you." To this Getzen replied with curses, +and after a few more remarks on either side, Adams, in order to avoid +further trouble, commanded his men to break ranks and permit the buggy +to pass through. The company was then marched to the drill rooms and +dismissed. + +On Wednesday, July 5, Robert J. Butler, father of Thomas Butler and +father-in-law of Getzen, appeared before P.R. Rivers, colored trial +justice, and made complaint that the militia company had on the previous +day obstructed one of the public streets of Hamburg and prevented his +son and son-in-law from passing through. Rivers accordingly issued a +summons for the officers to appear the next day, July 6. When Adams and +his two lieutenants appeared on Thursday, they found present Robert J. +Butler and several other white men heavily armed with revolvers. On the +calling of the case it was announced that the defendants were present +and that Henry Sparnick, a member of the circuit bar of the county, had +been retained to represent them. Butler angrily protested against such +representation and demanded that the hearing be postponed until he +could procure counsel from the city of Augusta; whereupon Adams and his +lieutenants, after consultation with their attorney, who informed them +that there were no legal grounds on which the case could be decided +against them, waived their constitutional right to be represented by +counsel and consented to go to trial. On this basis the case was opened +and proceeded with for some time, when on account of some disturbance +its progress was arrested, and it was adjourned for further hearing on +the following Saturday, July 8, at four o'clock in the afternoon. + +On Saturday, between two and three o'clock, General M.C. Butler, of +Edgefield, formerly an officer in the Confederate army, arrived in +Hamburg, and he was followed by mounted men in squads of ten or fifteen +until the number was more than two hundred, the last to arrive being +Colonel A.P. Butler at the head of threescore men. Immediately after his +arrival General Butler sent for Attorney Sparnick, who was charged with +the request to Rivers and the officers of the militia company to confer +with him at once. There was more passing of messengers back and forth, +and it was at length deemed best for the men to confer with Butler. To +this two of the officers objected on the ground that the whole plan was +nothing more than a plot for their assassination. They sent to ask if +General Butler would meet them without the presence of his armed force. +He replied Yes, but before arrangements could be made for the interview +another messenger came to say that the hour for the trial had arrived, +that General Butler was at the court, and that he requested the presence +of the trial justice, Rivers. Rivers proceeded to court alone and found +Butler there waiting for him. He was about to proceed with the case when +Butler asked for more time, which request was granted. He went away and +never returned to the court. Instead he went to the council chamber, +being surrounded now by greater and greater numbers of armed men, and he +sent a committee to the officers asking that they come to the council +chamber to see him. The men again declined for the same reason as +before. Butler now sent an ultimatum demanding that the officers +apologize for what took place on July 4 and that they surrender to him +their arms, threatening that if the surrender was not made at once he +would take their guns and officers by force. Adams and his men now awoke +to a full sense of their danger, and they asked Rivers, who was not only +trial justice but also Major General of the division of the militia to +which they belonged, if he demanded their arms of them. Rivers replied +that he did not. Thereupon the officers refused the request of Butler on +the ground that he had no legal right to demand their arms or to receive +them if surrendered. At this point Butler let it be known that he +demanded the surrender of the arms within half an hour and that if he +did not receive them he would "lay the d---- town in ashes." Asked in an +interview whether, if his terms were complied with, he would guarantee +protection to the people of the town he answered that he did not know +and that that would depend altogether upon how they behaved themselves. + +Butler now went with a companion to Augusta, returning in about thirty +minutes. A committee called upon him as soon as he got back. He had only +to say that he demanded the arms immediately. Asked if he would accept +the boxing up of the arms and the sending of them to the Governor, he +said, "D---- the Governor. I am not here to consult him, but am here as +Colonel Butler, and this won't stop until after November." Asked again +if he would guarantee general protection if the arms were surrendered, +he said, "I guarantee nothing." + +All the while scores of mounted men were about the streets. Such members +of the militia company as were in town and their friends to the number +of thirty-eight repaired to their armory--a large brick building +about two hundred yards from the river--and barricaded themselves for +protection. Firing upon the armory was begun by the mounted men, and +after half an hour there were occasional shots from within. After a +while the men in the building heard an order to bring cannon from +Augusta, and they began to leave the building from the rear, concealing +themselves as well as they could in a cornfield. The cannon was brought +and discharged three or four times, those firing it not knowing that the +building had been evacuated. When they realized their mistake they made +a general search through lots and yards for the members of the company +and finally captured twenty-seven of them, after two had been killed. +The men, none of whom now had arms, were marched to a place near the +railroad station, where the sergeant of the company was ordered to call +the roll. Allan T. Attaway, whose name was first, was called out +and shot in cold blood. Twelve men fired upon him and he was killed +instantly. The men whose names were second, third, and fourth on the +list were called out and treated likewise. The fifth man made a dash for +liberty and escaped with a slight wound in the leg. All the others were +then required to hold up their right hands and swear that they would +never bear arms against the white people or give in court any testimony +whatsoever regarding the occurrence. They were then marched off two by +two and dispersed, but stray shots were fired after them as they went +away. In another portion of the town the chief of police, James Cook, +was taken from his home and brutally murdered. A marshal of the town was +shot through the body and mortally wounded. One of the men killed was +found with his tongue cut out. The members of Butler's party finally +entered the homes of most of the prominent Negroes in the town, smashed +the furniture, tore books to pieces, and cut pictures from their frames, +all amid the most heartrending distress on the part of the women and +children. That night the town was desolate, for all who could do so fled +to Aiken or Columbia. + +Upon all of which our only comment is that while such a process might +seem for a time to give the white man power, it makes no progress +whatever toward the ultimate solution of the problem. + + +4. _Counter-Reaction: The Negro Exodus_ + +The Negro Exodus of 1879 was partially considered in connection with our +study of Liberia; but a few facts are in place here. + +After the withdrawal of Federal troops conditions in the South were +changed so much that, especially in South Carolina, Mississippi, +Louisiana, and Texas, the state of affairs was no longer tolerable. +Between 1866 and 1879 more than three thousand Negroes were summarily +killed.[1] The race began to feel that a new slavery in the horrible +form of peonage was approaching, and that the disposition of the men in +power was to reduce the laborer to the minimum of advantages as a free +man and to none at all as a citizen. The fear, which soon developed into +a panic, rose especially in consequence of the work of political mobs +in 1874 and 1875, and it soon developed organization. About this the +outstanding fact was that the political leaders of the last few years +were regularly distrusted and ignored, the movement being secret in its +origin and committed either to the plantation laborers themselves or +their direct representatives. In North Carolina circulars about Nebraska +were distributed. In Tennessee Benjamin ("Pap") Singleton began about +1869 to induce Negroes to go to Kansas, and he really founded two +colonies with a total of 7432 Negroes from his state, paying of his own +money over $600 for circulars. In Louisiana alone 70,000 names were +taken of those who wished to better their condition by removal; and by +1878 98,000 persons in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas were +ready to go elsewhere. A convention to consider the whole matter of +migration was held in Nashville in 1879. At this the politician managed +to put in an appearance and there was much wordy discussion. At the same +time much of the difference of opinion was honest; the meeting was +on the whole constructive; and it expressed itself as favorable to +"reasonable migration." Already, however, thousands of Negroes were +leaving their homes in the South and going in greatest numbers to +Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana. Within twenty months Kansas alone +received in this way an addition to her population of 40,000 persons. +Many of these people arrived at their destination practically penniless +and without prospect of immediate employment; but help was afforded by +relief agencies in the North, and they themselves showed remarkable +sturdiness in adapting themselves to the new conditions. + +[Footnote 1: Emmett J. Scott: Negro Migration during the War (in +Preliminary Economic Studies of the War--Carnegie Endowment for +International Peace: Division of Economics and History). Oxford +University Press, American Branch, New York, 1920.] + +Many of the stories that the Negroes told were pathetic.[1] Sometimes +boats would not take them on, and they suffered from long exposure on +the river banks. Sometimes, while they were thus waiting, agents of +their own people employed by the planters tried to induce them to +remain. Frequently they were clubbed or whipped. Said one: "I saw nine +put in one pile, that had been killed, and the colored people had to +bury them; eight others were found killed in the woods.... It is done +this way: they arrest them for breach of contract and carry them to +jail. Their money is taken from them by the jailer and it is not +returned when they are let go." Said another: "If a colored man stays +away from the polls and does not vote, they spot him and make him vote. +If he votes their way, they treat him no better in business. They hire +the colored people to vote, and then take their pay away. I know a +man to whom they gave a cow and a calf for voting their ticket. After +election they came and told him that if he kept the cow he must pay for +it; and they took the cow and calf away." Another: "One man shook his +fist in my face and said, 'D---- you, sir, you are my property.' He said +that I owed him. He could not show it and then said, 'You sha'n't go +anyhow.' All we want is a living chance." Another: "There is a general +talk among the whites and colored people that Jeff Davis will run for +president of the Southern states, and the colored people are afraid they +will be made slaves again. They are already trying to prevent them from +going from one plantation to another without a pass." Another: "The +deputy sheriff came and took away from me a pair of mules. He had a +constable and twenty-five men with guns to back him." Another: "Last +year, after settling with my landlord, my share was four bales of +cotton. I shipped it to Richardson and May, 38 and 40 Perdido Street, +New Orleans, through W.E. Ringo & Co., merchants, at Mound Landing, +Miss. I lived four miles back of this landing. I received from Ringo a +ticket showing that my cotton was sold at nine and three-eighths cents, +but I could never get a settlement. He kept putting me off by saying +that the bill of lading had not come. Those bales averaged over four +hundred pounds. I did not owe him over twenty-five dollars. A man may +work there from Monday morning to Saturday night, and be as economical +as he pleases, and he will come out in debt. I am a close man, and I +work hard. I want to be honest in getting through the world. I came away +and left a crop of corn and cotton growing up. I left it because I did +not want to work twelve months for nothing. I have been trying it for +fifteen years, thinking every year that it would get better, and it gets +worse." Said still another: "I learned about Kansas from the newspapers +that I got hold of. They were Southern papers. I got a map, and found +out where Kansas was; and I got a History of the United States, and read +about it." + +[Footnote 1: See _Negro Exodus_ (Report of Colonel Frank H. Fletcher).] + +Query: Was it genuine statesmanship that permitted these people to feel +that they must leave the South? + + * * * * * + +5. _A Postscript on the War and Reconstruction_ + +Of all of the stories of these epoch-making years we have chosen one--an +idyl of a woman with an alabaster box, of one who had a clear conception +of the human problem presented and who gave her life in the endeavor to +meet it. + +In the fall of 1862 a young woman who was destined to be a great +missionary entered the Seminary at Rockford, Illinois. There was little +to distinguish her from the other students except that she was very +plainly dressed and seemed forced to spend most of her spare time at +work. Yes, there was one other difference. She was older than most of +the girls--already thirty, and rich in experience. When not yet fifteen +she had taught a country school in Pennsylvania. At twenty she was +considered capable of managing an unusually turbulent crowd of boys and +girls. When she was twenty-seven her father died, leaving upon her very +largely the care of her mother. At twenty-eight she already looked back +upon fourteen years as a teacher, upon some work for Christ incidentally +accomplished, but also upon a fading youth of wasted hopes and +unfulfilled desires. + +Then came a great decision--not the first, not the last, but one of the +most important that marked her long career. Her education was by no +means complete, and, at whatever cost, she would go to school. That she +had no money, that her clothes were shabby, that her mother needed her, +made no difference; now or never she would realize her ambition. She +would do anything, however menial, if it was honest and would give her +food while she continued her studies. For one long day she walked the +streets of Belvidere looking for a home. Could any one use a young woman +who wanted to work for her board? Always the same reply. Nightfall +brought her to a farmhouse in the suburbs of the town. She timidly +knocked on the door. "No, we do not need any one," said the woman who +greeted her, "but wait until I see my husband." The man of the house +was very unwilling, but decided to give shelter for the night. The +next morning he thought differently about the matter, and a few days +afterwards the young woman entered school. The work was hard; fires +had to be made, breakfasts on cold mornings had to be prepared, and +sometimes the washing was heavy. Naturally the time for lessons was +frequently cut short or extended far into the night. But the woman of +the house was kind, and her daughter a helpful fellow-student. + +The next summer came another season at school-teaching, and then the +term at Rockford. 1862! a great year that in American history, one more +famous for the defeat of the Union arms than for their success. But in +September came Antietam, and the heart of the North took courage. Then +with the new year came the Emancipation Proclamation. + +The girls at Rockford, like the people everywhere, were interested +in the tremendous events that were shaking the nation. A new note of +seriousness crept into their work. Embroidery was laid aside; instead, +socks were knit and bandages prepared. On the night of January 1 a +jubilee meeting was held in the town. + +To Joanna P. Moore, however, the news of freedom brought a strange +undertone of sadness. She could not help thinking of the spiritual and +intellectual condition of the millions now emancipated. Strange that she +should be possessed by this problem! She had thought of work in China, +or India, or even in Africa--but of this, never! + +In February a man who had been on Island No. 10 came to the Seminary and +told the girls of the distress of the women and children there. Cabins +and tents were everywhere. As many as three families, with eight or +ten children each, cooked their food in the same pot on the same fire. +Sometimes the women were peevish or quarrelsome; always the children +were dirty. "What can a man do to help such a suffering mass of +humanity?" asked the speaker. "Nothing. A woman is needed; nobody else +will do." For the student listening so intently the cheery schoolrooms +with their sweet associations faded; the vision of foreign missions also +vanished; and in their stead stood only a pitiful black woman with a +baby in her arms. + +She reached Island No. 10 in November. The outlook was dismal enough. +The Sunday school at Belvidere had pledged four dollars a month toward +her support, and this was all the money in sight, though the Government +provided transportation and soldiers' rations. That was in 1863, sixty +years ago; but every year since then, until 1916, in summer and winter, +in sunshine and rain, in the home and the church, with teaching and +praying, feeding and clothing, nursing and hoping and loving, Joanna P. +Moore in one way or another ministered to the Negro people of the South. + +In April, 1864, her whole colony was removed to Helena, Arkansas. The +Home Farm was three miles from Helena. Here was gathered a great crowd +of women and children and helpless old men, all under the guard of a +company of soldiers in a fort nearby. Thither went the missionary alone, +except for her faith in God. She made an arbor with some rude seats, +nailed a blackboard to a tree, divided the people into four groups, +and began to teach school. In the twilight every evening a great crowd +gathered around her cabin for prayers. A verse of the Bible was read and +explained, petitions were offered, one of the sorrow-songs was chanted, +and then the service was over. + +Some Quaker workers were her friends in Helena, and in 1868 she went to +Lauderdale, Mississippi, to help the Friends in an orphan asylum. Six +weeks after her arrival the superintendent's daughter died, and the +parents left to take their child back to their Indiana home to rest. The +lone woman was left in charge of the asylum. Cholera broke out. Eleven +children died within one week. Still she stood by her post. Often, she +said, those who were well and happy when they retired, ere daylight came +were in the grave, for they were buried the same hour they died. Night +after night she prayed to God in the dark, and at length the fury of the +plague was abated. + +From time to time the failing health of her mother called her home, and +from 1870 to 1873 she once more taught school near Belvidere. The first +winter the school was in the country. "You can never have a Sunday +school in the winter," they told her. But she did; in spite of the snow, +the house was crowded every Sunday, whole families coming in sleighs. +Even at that the real work of the teacher was with the Negroes of the +South. In her prayers and public addresses they were always with her, +and in 1873 friends in Chicago made it possible for her to return to the +work of her choice. In 1877 the Woman's Baptist Home Mission Society +honored itself by giving to her its first commission. + +Nine years she spent in the vicinity of New Orleans. Near Leland +University she found a small, one-room house. After buying a bed, a +table, two chairs, and a few cooking utensils, she began housekeeping. +Often she started out at six in the morning, not to return until +dark. Most frequently she read the Bible to those who could not read. +Sometimes she gave cheer to mothers busy over the washtub. Sometimes +she would teach the children to read or to sew. Often she would write +letters for those who had been separated from friends or kindred in the +dark days. She wrote hundreds and hundreds of such letters; and once in +a while, a very long while, came a response. + +Most pitiful of all the objects she found in New Orleans were the old +women worn out with years of slavery. They were usually rag-pickers who +ate at night the scraps for which they had begged during the day. There +was in the city an Old Ladies' Home; but this was not for Negroes. +A house was secured and the women taken in, Joanna Moore and her +associates moving into the second story. Sometimes, very often, there +was real need; but sometimes, too, provisions came when it was not known +who sent them; money or boxes came from Northern friends who had never +seen the workers; and the little Negro children in the Sunday schools in +the city gave their pennies. + +In 1878 the laborer in the Southwest started on a journey of +exploration. In Atlanta Dr. Robert at Atlanta Baptist Seminary (now +Morehouse College) gave her cheer; so did President Ware at Atlanta +University. At Benedict in Columbia she saw Dr. Goodspeed, President +Tupper at Shaw in Raleigh, and Dr. Corey in Richmond. In May she +appeared at the Baptist anniversaries, with fifteen years of missionary +achievement already behind her. + +But each year brought its own sorrows and disappointments. She wanted +the Society to establish a training school for women; but to this +objection was raised. In Louisiana also it was not without danger that a +white woman attended a Negro association in 1877; and there were always +sneers and jeers. At length, however, a training school for mothers was +opened in Baton Rouge. All went well for two years; and then a notice +with skull and crossbones was placed on the gate. The woman who had +worked through the cholera still stood firm; but the students had gone. +Sick at heart and worn out with waiting, she at last left Baton Rouge +and the state in which so many of her best years had been spent. + +"Bible Band" work was started in 1884, and _Hope_ in 1885. The little +paper, beginning with a circulation of five hundred, has now reached a +monthly issue of twenty thousand copies, and daily it brings its +lesson of cheer to thousands of mothers and children in the South. In +connection with it all has developed the Fireside School, than which few +agencies have been more potent in the salvation and uplift of the humble +Negro home. + +What wisdom was gathered from the passing of fourscore years! On almost +every page of her tracts, her letters, her account of her life, one +finds quotations of proverbial pith: + +The love of God gave me courage for myself and the rest of mankind; +therefore I concluded to invest in human souls. They surely are worth +more than anything else in the world. + +Beloved friends, be hopeful, be courageous. God can not use discouraged +people. + +The good news spread, not by telling what we were going to do but by +praising God for what had been done. + +So much singing in all our churches leaves too little time for the Bible +lesson. Do not misunderstand me. I do love music that impresses the +meaning of words. But no one climbs to heaven on musical scales. + +I thoroughly believe that the only way to succeed with any vocation is +to make it a part of your very self and weave it into your every thought +and prayer. + +You must love before you can comfort and help. + +There is no place too lowly or dark for our feet to enter, and no place +so high and bright but it needs the touch of the light that we carry +from the Cross. + +How shall we measure such a life? Who can weigh love and hope and +service, and the joy of answered prayer? "An annual report of what?" she +once asked the secretary of her organization. "Report of tears shed, +prayers offered, smiles scattered, lessons taught, steps taken, cheering +words, warning words--tender, patient words for the little ones, stern +but loving tones for the wayward--songs of hope and songs of sorrow, +wounded hearts healed, light and love poured into dark sad homes? Oh, +Miss Burdette, you might as well ask me to gather up the raindrops of +last year or the petals that fall from the flowers that bloomed. It is +true that I can send you a little stagnant water from the cistern, and a +few dried flowers; but if you want to know the freshness, the sweetness, +the glory, the grandeur, of our God-given work, then you must come +and keep step with us from early morn to night for three hundred and +sixty-five days in the year." + +Until the very last she was on the roll of the active workers of the +Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society. In the fall of 1915 she +decided that she must once more see the schools in the South that meant +so much to her. In December she came again to her beloved Spelman. While +in Atlanta she met with an accident that still further weakened her. +After a few weeks, however, she went on to Jacksonville, and then to +Selma. There she passed. + + * * * * * + +When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels +with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.... Then shall +the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, +and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a +stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we +thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer +and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it +unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW SOUTH + + +1. _Political Life: Disfranchisement_ + +By 1876 the reconstruction governments had all but passed. A few days +after his inauguration in 1877 President Hayes sent to Louisiana a +commission to investigate the claims of rival governments there. The +decision was in favor of the Democrats. On April 9 the President ordered +the removal of Federal troops from public buildings in the South; and +in Columbia, S.C., within a few days the Democratic administration of +Governor Wade Hampton was formally recognized. The new governments at +once set about the abrogation of the election laws that had protected +the Negro in the exercise of suffrage, and, having by 1877 obtained +a majority in the national House of Representatives, the Democrats +resorted to the practice of attaching their repeal measures to +appropriation bills in the hope of compelling the President to sign +them. Men who had been prominently connected with the Confederacy were +being returned to Congress in increasing numbers, but in general the +Democrats were not able to carry their measures over the President's +veto. From the Supreme Court, however, they received practical +assistance, for while this body did not formally grant that the states +had full powers over elections, it nevertheless nullified many of the +most objectionable sections of the laws. Before the close of the decade, +by intimidation, the theft, suppression or exchange of the ballot boxes, +the removal of the polls to unknown places, false certifications, and +illegal arrests on the day before an election, the Negro vote had been +rendered ineffectual in every state of the South. + +When Cleveland was elected in 1884 the Negroes of the South naturally +felt that the darkest hour of their political fortunes had come. It had, +for among many other things this election said that after twenty years +of discussion and tumult the Negro question was to be relegated to the +rear, and that the country was now to give main attention to other +problems. For the Negro the new era was signalized by one of the most +effective speeches ever delivered in this or any other country, all +the more forceful because the orator was a man of unusual nobility of +spirit. In 1886 Henry W. Grady, of Georgia, addressed the New England +Club in New York on "The New South." He spoke to practical men and he +knew his ground. He asked his hearers to bring their "full faith in +American fairness and frankness" to judgment upon what he had to say. +He pictured in brilliant language the Confederate soldier, "ragged, +half-starved, heavy-hearted, who wended his way homeward to find his +house in ruins and his farm devastated." He also spoke kindly of the +Negro: "Whenever he struck a blow for his own liberty he fought in open +battle, and when at last he raised his black and humble hands that the +shackles might be struck off, those hands were innocent of wrong against +his helpless charges." But Grady also implied that the Negro had +received too much attention and sympathy from the North. Said he: "To +liberty and enfranchisement is as far as law can carry the Negro. +The rest must be left to conscience and common sense." Hence on this +occasion and others he asked that the South be left alone in the +handling of her grave problem. The North, a little tired of the Negro +question, a little uncertain also as to the wisdom of the reconstruction +policy that it had forced on the South, and if concerned with this +section at all, interested primarily in such investments as it had +there, assented to this request; and in general the South now felt that +it might order its political life in its own way. + +As yet, however, the Negro was not technically disfranchised, and at any +moment a sudden turn of events might call him into prominence. Formal +legislation really followed the rise of the Populist party, which +about 1890 in many places in the South waged an even contest with the +Democrats. It was evident that in such a struggle the Negro might still +hold the balance of power, and within the next few years a fusion of the +Republicans and the Populists in North Carolina sent a Negro, George H. +White, to Congress. This event finally served only to strengthen the +movement for disfranchisement which had already begun. In 1890 the +constitution of Mississippi was so amended as to exclude from the +suffrage any person who had not paid his poll-tax or who was unable to +read any section of the constitution, or understand it when read to +him, or to give a reasonable interpretation of it. The effect of the +administration of this provision was that in 1890 only 8615 Negroes out +of 147,000 of voting age became registered. South Carolina amended her +constitution with similar effect in 1895. In this state the population +was almost three-fifths Negro and two-fifths white. The franchise of +the Negro was already in practical abeyance; but the problem now was +to devise a means for the perpetuity of a government of white men. +Education was not popular as a test, for by it many white illiterates +would be disfranchised and in any case it would only postpone the race +issue. For some years the dominant party had been engaged in factional +controversies, with the populist wing led by Benjamin R. Tillman +prevailing over the conservatives. It was understood, however, that each +side would be given half of the membership of the convention, which +would exclude all Negro and Republican representation, and that the +constitution would go into effect without being submitted to the people. +Said the most important provision: "Any person who shall apply for +registration after January 1, 1898, if otherwise qualified, shall be +registered; provided that he can both read and write any section of this +constitution submitted to him by the registration officer or can show +that he owns and has paid all taxes collectible during the previous +year on property in this state assessed at three hundred dollars or +more"--clauses which it is hardly necessary to say the registrars +regularly interpreted in favor of white men and against the Negro. In +1898 Louisiana passed an amendment inventing the so-called "grandfather +clause." This excused from the operation of her disfranchising act all +descendants of men who had voted before the Civil War, thus admitting +to the suffrage all white men who were illiterate and without property. +North Carolina in 1900, Virginia and Alabama in 1901, Georgia in 1907, +and Oklahoma in 1910 in one way or another practically disfranchised the +Negro, care being taken in every instance to avoid any definite clash +with the Fifteenth Amendment. In Maryland there have been several +attempts to disfranchise the Negro by constitutional amendments, one in +1905, another in 1909, and still another in 1911, but all have failed. +About the intention of its disfranchising legislation the South, as +represented by more than one spokesman, was very frank. Unfortunately +the new order called forth a group of leaders--represented by Tillman +in South Carolina, Hoke Smith in Georgia, and James K. Vardaman in +Mississippi--who made a direct appeal to prejudice and thus capitalized +the racial feeling that already had been brought to too high tension. + +Naturally all such legislation as that suggested had ultimately to be +brought before the highest tribunal in the country. The test came +over the following section from the Oklahoma law: "No person shall be +registered as an elector of this state or be allowed to vote in any +election herein unless he shall be able to read and write any section +of the Constitution of the State of Oklahoma; but no person who was on +January 1, 1866, or at any time prior thereto, entitled to vote under +any form of government, or who at any time resided in some foreign +nation, and no lineal descendant of such person shall be denied the +right to register and vote because of his inability to so read and +write sections of such Constitution." This enactment the Supreme Court +declared unconstitutional in 1915. The decision exerted no great and +immediate effect on political conditions in the South; nevertheless as +the official recognition by the nation of the fact that the Negro +was not accorded his full political rights, it was destined to have +far-reaching effect on the whole political fabric of the section. + +When the era of disfranchisement began it was in large measure expected +by the South that with the practical elimination of the Negro from +politics this section would become wider in its outlook and divide on +national issues. Such has not proved to be the case. Except for the +noteworthy deflection of Tennessee in the presidential election of 1920, +and Republican gains in some counties in other states, this section +remains just as "solid" as it was forty years ago, largely of course +because the Negro, through education and the acquisition of property, is +becoming more and more a potential factor in politics. Meanwhile it is +to be observed that the Negro is not wholly without a vote, even in the +South, and sometimes his power is used with telling effect, as in the +city of Atlanta in the spring of 1919, when he decided in the negative +the question of a bond issue. In the North moreover--especially in +Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York--he +has on more than one occasion proved the deciding factor in political +affairs. Even when not voting, however, he involuntarily wields +tremendous influence on the destinies of the nation, for even though men +may be disfranchised, all are nevertheless counted in the allotment of +congressmen to Southern states. This anomalous situation means that in +actual practice the vote of one white man in the South is four or six +or even eight times as strong as that of a man in the North;[1] and it +directly accounted for the victory of President Wilson and the Democrats +over the Republicans led by Charles E. Hughes in 1916. For remedying +it by the enforcement of the Fourteenth Amendment bills have been +frequently presented in Congress, but on these no action has been taken. + +[Footnote 1: In 1914 Kansas and Mississippi each elected eight members +of the House of Representatives, but Kansas cast 483,683 votes for +her members, while Mississippi cast only 37,185 for hers, less than +one-twelfth as many.] + + +2. _Economic Life: Peonage_ + +Within fifteen years after the close of the war it was clear that the +Emancipation Proclamation was a blessing to the poor white man of the +South as well as to the Negro. The break-up of the great plantation +system was ultimately to prove good for all men whose slender means had +given them little chance before the war. At the same time came also the +development of cotton-mills throughout the South, in which as early as +1880 not less than 16,000 white people were employed. With the decay of +the old system the average acreage of holdings in the South Atlantic +states decreased from 352.8 in 1860 to 108.4 in 1900. It was still +not easy for an independent Negro to own land on his own account; +nevertheless by as early a year as 1874 the Negro farmers had acquired +338,769 acres. After the war the planters first tried the wage system +for the Negroes. This was not satisfactory--from the planter's +standpoint because the Negro had not yet developed stability as a +laborer; from the Negro's standpoint because while the planter might +advance rations, he frequently postponed the payment of wages and +sometimes did not pay at all. Then land came to be rented; but +frequently the rental was from 80 to 100 pounds of lint cotton an acre +for land that produced only 200 to 400 pounds. In course of time +the share system came to be most widely used. Under this the tenant +frequently took his whole family into the cotton-field, and when the +crop was gathered and he and the landlord rode together to the nearest +town to sell it, he received one-third, one-half, or two-thirds of the +money according as he had or had not furnished his own food, implements, +and horses or mules. This system might have proved successful if he had +not had to pay exorbitant prices for his rations. As it was, if +the landlord did not directly furnish foodstuffs he might have an +understanding with the keeper of the country store, who frequently +charged for a commodity twice what it was worth in the open market. At +the close of the summer there was regularly a huge bill waiting for the +Negro at the store; this had to be disposed of first, _and he always +came out just a few dollars behind_. However, the landlord did not mind +such a small matter and in the joy of the harvest might even advance a +few dollars; but the understanding was always that the tenant was to +remain on the land the next year. Thus were the chains of peonage forged +about him. + +At the same time there developed a still more vicious system. +Immediately after the war legislation enacted in the South made severe +provision with reference to vagrancy. Negroes were arrested on the +slightest pretexts and their labor as that of convicts leased to +landowners or other business men. When, a few years later, Negroes, +dissatisfied with the returns from their labor on the farms, began a +movement to the cities, there arose a tendency to make the vagrancy +legislation still more harsh, so that at last a man could not stop work +without technically committing a crime. Thus in all its hideousness +developed the convict lease system. + +This institution and the accompanying chain-gang were at variance with +all the humanitarian impulses of the nineteenth century. Sometimes +prisoners were worked in remote parts of a state altogether away from +the oversight of responsible officials; if they stayed in a prison the +department for women was frequently in plain view and hearing of +the male convicts, and the number of cubic feet in a cell was only +one-fourth of what a scientific test would have required. Sometimes +there was no place for the dressing of the dead except in the presence +of the living. The system was worst when the lessee was given the entire +charge of the custody and discipline of the convicts, and even of their +medical or surgical care. Of real attention there frequently was none, +and reports had numerous blank spaces to indicate deaths from unknown +causes. The sturdiest man could hardly survive such conditions for more +than ten years. In Alabama in 1880 only three of the convicts had been +in confinement for eight years, and only one for nine. In Texas, from +1875 to 1880, the total number of prisoners discharged was 1651, while +the number of deaths and escapes for the same period totalled 1608. In +North Carolina the mortality was eight times as great as in Sing Sing. + +At last the conscience of the nation began to be heard, and after 1883 +there were remedial measures. However, the care of the prisoner still +left much to be desired; and as the Negro is greatly in the majority +among prisoners in the South, and as he is still sometimes arrested +illegally or on flimsy pretexts, the whole matter of judicial and penal +procedure becomes one of the first points of consideration in any final +settlement of the Negro Problem.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Within recent years it has been thought that the convict +lease system and peonage had practically passed in the South. That this +was by no means the case was shown by the astonishing revelations from +Jasper County, Georgia, early in 1921, it being demonstrated in court +that a white farmer, John S. Williams, who had "bought out" Negroes from +the prisons of Atlanta and Macon, had not only held these people in +peonage, but had been directly responsible for the killing of not less +than eleven of them. + +However, as the present work passes through the press, word comes of the +remarkable efforts of Governor Hugh M. Dorsey for a more enlightened +public conscience in his state. In addition to special endeavor for +justice in the Williams case, he has issued a booklet citing with detail +one hundred and thirty-five cases in which Negroes have suffered grave +wrong. He divides his cases into four divisions: (1) The Negro lynched, +(2) The Negro held in peonage, (3) The Negro driven out by organized +lawlessness, and (4) The Negro subject to individual acts of cruelty. +"In some counties," he says, "the Negro is being driven out as though he +were a wild beast. In others he is being held as a slave. In others no +Negroes remain.... In only two of the 135 cases cited is crime against +white women involved." + +For the more recent history of peonage see pp. 306, 329, 344, 360-363.] + + +3. _Social Life: Proscription, Lynching_ + +Meanwhile proscription went forward. Separate and inferior traveling +accommodations, meager provision for the education of Negro children, +inadequate street, lighting and water facilities in most cities and +towns, and the general lack of protection of life and property, made +living increasingly harder for a struggling people. For the Negro of +aspiration or culture every day became a long train of indignities and +insults. On street cars he was crowded into a few seats, generally in +the rear; he entered a railway station by a side door; in a theater he +might occupy only a side, or more commonly the extreme rear, of the +second balcony; a house of ill fame might flourish next to his own +little home; and from public libraries he was shut out altogether, +except where a little branch was sometimes provided. Every opportunity +for such self-improvement as a city might be expected to afford him was +either denied him, or given on such terms as his self-respect forced him +to refuse. + +Meanwhile--and worst of all--he failed to get justice in the courts. +Formally called before the bar he knew beforehand that the case was +probably already decided against him. A white boy might insult and pick +a quarrel with his son, but if the case reached the court room the white +boy would be freed and the Negro boy fined $25 or sent to jail for three +months. Some trivial incident involving no moral responsibility whatever +on the Negro's part might yet cost him his life. + +Lynching grew apace. Generally this was said to be for the protection +of white womanhood; but statistics certainly did not give rape the +prominence that it held in the popular mind. Any cause of controversy, +however slight, that forced a Negro to defend himself against a white +man might result in a lynching, and possibly in a burning. In the period +of 1871-73 the number of Negroes lynched in the South is said to have +been not more than 11 a year. Between 1885 and 1915, however, the number +of persons lynched in the country amounted to 3500, the great majority +being Negroes in the South. For the year 1892 alone the figure was 235. + +One fact was outstanding: astonishing progress was being made by the +Negro people, but in the face of increasing education and culture on +their part, there was no diminution of race feeling. Most Southerners +preferred still to deal with a Negro of the old type rather than with +one who was neatly dressed, simple and unaffected in manner, and +ambitious to have a good home. In any case, however, it was clear that +since the white man held the power, upon him rested primarily the +responsibility of any adjustment. Old schemes for deportation or +colonization in a separate state having proved ineffective or +chimerical, it was necessary to find a new platform on which both races +could stand. The Negro was still the outstanding factor in agriculture +and industry; in large numbers he had to live, and will live, in Georgia +and South Carolina, Mississippi and Texas; and there should have been +some plane on which he could reside in the South not only serviceably +but with justice to his self-respect. The wealth of the New South, it is +to be remembered, was won not only by the labor of black hands but also +that of little white boys and girls. As laborers and citizens, real or +potential, both of these groups deserved the most earnest solicitude of +the state, for it is not upon the riches of the few but the happiness of +the many that a nation's greatness depends. Moreover no state can build +permanently or surely by denying to a half or a third of those governed +any voice whatever in the government. If the Negro was ignorant, he was +also economically defenseless; and it is neither just nor wise to deny +to any man, however humble, any real power for his legal protection. If +these principles hold--and we think they are in line with enlightened +conceptions of society--the prosperity of the New South was by no means +as genuine as it appeared to be, and the disfranchisement of the Negro, +morally and politically, was nothing less than a crime. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"THE VALE OF TEARS," 1890-1910 + + +1. _Current Opinion and Tendencies_ + +In the two decades that we are now to consider we find the working +out of all the large forces mentioned in our last chapter. After a +generation of striving the white South was once more thoroughly in +control, and the new program well under way. Predictions for both a +broader outlook for the section as a whole and greater care for the +Negro's moral and intellectual advancement were destined not to be +fulfilled; and the period became one of bitter social and economic +antagonism. + +All of this was primarily due to the one great fallacy on which the +prosperity of the New South was built, and that was that the labor of +the Negro existed only for the good of the white man. To this one source +may be traced most of the ills borne by both white man and Negro during +the period. If the Negro's labor was to be exploited, it was necessary +that he be without the protection of political power and that he be +denied justice in court. If he was to be reduced to a peon, certainly +socially he must be given a peon's place. Accordingly there developed +everywhere--in schools, in places of public accommodation, in the +facilities of city life--the idea of inferior service for Negroes; +and an unenlightened prison system flourished in all its hideousness. +Furthermore, as a result of the vicious economic system, arose the +sinister form of the Negro criminal. Here again the South begged the +question, representative writers lamenting the passing of the dear dead +days of slavery, and pointing cynically to the effects of freedom on the +Negro. They failed to remember in the case of the Negro criminal that +from childhood to manhood--in education, in economic chance, in legal +power--they had by their own system deprived a human being of every +privilege that was due him, ruining him body and soul; and then they +stood aghast at the thing their hands had made. More than that, they +blamed the race itself for the character that now sometimes appeared, +and called upon thrifty, aspiring Negroes to find the criminal and give +him up to the law. Thrifty, aspiring Negroes wondered what was the +business of the police. + +It was this pitiful failure to get down to fundamentals that +characterized the period and that made life all the more hard for those +Negroes who strove to advance. Every effort was made to brutalize a man, +and then he was blamed for not being a St. Bernard. Fortunately before +the period was over there arose not only clear-thinking men of the race +but also a few white men who realized that such a social order could not +last forever. + +Early in the nineties, however, the pendulum had swung fully backward, +and the years from 1890 to 1895 were in some ways the darkest that the +race has experienced since emancipation. When in 1892 Cleveland was +elected for a second term and the Democrats were once more in power, it +seemed to the Southern rural Negro that the conditions of slavery had +all but come again. More and more the South formulated its creed; it +glorified the old aristocracy that had flourished and departed, and +definitely it began to ask the North if it had not been right after all. +It followed of course that if the Old South had the real key to the +problem, the proper place of the Negro was that of a slave. + +Within two or three years there were so many important articles on the +Negro in prominent magazines and these were by such representative men +that taken together they formed a symposium. In December, 1891, James +Bryce wrote in the _North American Review_, pointing out that the +situation in the South was a standing breach of the Constitution, that +it suspended the growth of political parties and accustomed the section +to fraudulent evasions, and he emphasized education as a possible +remedy; he had quite made up his mind that the Negro had little or no +place in politics. In January, 1892, a distinguished classical scholar, +Basil L. Gildersleeve, turned aside from linguistics to write in the +_Atlantic_ "The Creed of the Old South," which article he afterwards +published as a special brochure, saying that it had been more widely +read than anything else he had ever written. In April, Thomas Nelson +Page in the _North American_ contended that in spite of the $5,000,000 +spent on the education of the Negro in Virginia between 1870 and 1890 +the race had retrograded or not greatly improved, and in fact that the +Negro "did not possess the qualities to raise himself above slavery." +Later in the same year he published _The Old South_. In the same month +Frederick L. Hoffman, writing in the _Arena_, contended that in view of +its mortality statistics the Negro race would soon die out.[1] Also in +April, 1892, Henry Watterson wrote of the Negro in the _Chautauquan_, +recalling the facts that the era of political turmoil had been succeeded +by one of reaction and violence, and that by one of exhaustion and +peace; but with all his insight he ventured no constructive suggestion, +thinking it best for everybody "simply to be quiet for a time." Early in +1893 John C. Wycliffe, a prominent lawyer of New Orleans, writing in +the _Forum_, voiced the desires of many in asking for a repeal of the +Fifteenth Amendment; and in October, Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, writing +in the same periodical of a recent and notorious lynching, said, "It +was horrible to torture the guilty wretch; the burning was an act of +insanity. But had the dismembered form of his victim been the dishonored +body of my baby, I might also have gone into an insanity that might have +ended never." Again and again was there the lament that the Negroes of +forty years after were both morally and intellectually inferior to +their antebellum ancestors; and if college professors and lawyers and +ministers of the Gospel wrote in this fashion one could not wonder that +the politician made capital of choice propaganda. + +[Footnote 1: In 1896 this paper entered into an elaborate study, _Race +Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro_, a publication of the +American Economic Association. In this Hoffman contended at length that +the race was not only not holding its own in population, but that it was +also astonishingly criminal and was steadily losing economically. His +work was critically studied and its fallacies exposed in the _Nation_, +April 1, 1897.] + +In this chorus of dispraise truth struggled for a hearing, but then as +now traveled more slowly than error. In the _North American_ for July, +1892, Frederick Douglass wrote vigorously of "Lynch Law in the South." +In the same month George W. Cable answered affirmatively and with +emphasis the question, "Does the Negro pay for his education?" He showed +that in Georgia in 1889-90 the colored schools did not really cost the +white citizens a cent, and that in the other Southern states the Negro +was also contributing his full share to the maintenance of the schools. +In June of the same year William T. Harris, Commissioner of Education, +wrote in truly statesmanlike fashion in the _Atlantic_ of "The Education +of the Negro." Said he: "With the colored people all educated in schools +and become a reading people interested in the daily newspaper; with all +forms of industrial training accessible to them, and the opportunity so +improved that every form of mechanical and manufacturing skill has its +quota of colored working men and women; with a colored ministry educated +in a Christian theology interpreted in a missionary spirit, and finding +its auxiliaries in modern science and modern literature; with these +educational essentials the Negro problem for the South will be solved +without recourse to violent measures of any kind, whether migration, +or disfranchisement, or ostracism." In December, 1893, Walter H. Page, +writing in the _Forum_ of lynching under the title, "The Last Hold of +the Southern Bully," said that "the great danger is not in the first +violation of law, nor in the crime itself, but in the danger that +Southern public sentiment under the stress of this phase of the race +problem will lose the true perspective of civilization"; and L.E. +Bleckley, Chief Justice of Georgia, spoke in similar vein. On the whole, +however, the country, while occasionally indignant at some atrocity, had +quite decided not to touch the Negro question for a while; and when in +the spring of 1892 some representative Negroes protested without avail +to President Harrison against the work of mobs, the _Review of Reviews_ +but voiced the drift of current opinion when it said: "As for the +colored men themselves, their wisest course would be to cultivate the +best possible relations with the most upright and intelligent of their +white neighbors, and for some time to come to forget all about politics +and to strive mightily for industrial and educational progress."[1] + +[Footnote 1: June, 1892, p. 526.] + +It is not strange that under the circumstances we have now to record +such discrimination, crime, and mob violence as can hardly be paralleled +in the whole of American history. The Negro was already down; he was now +to be trampled upon. When in the spring of 1892 some members of the race +in the lowlands of Mississippi lost all they had by the floods and the +Federal Government was disposed to send relief, the state government +protested against such action on the ground that it would keep the +Negroes from accepting the terms offered by the white planters. In +Louisiana in 1895 a Negro presiding elder reported to the _Southwestern +Christian Advocate_ that he had lost a membership of a hundred souls, +the people being compelled to leave their crops and move away within ten +days. + +In 1891 the jail at Omaha was entered and a Negro taken out and hanged +to a lamp-post. On February 27, 1892, at Jackson, La., where there was +a pound party for the minister at the Negro Baptist church, a crowd of +white men gathered, shooting revolvers and halting the Negroes as they +passed. Most of the people were allowed to go on, but after a while the +sport became furious and two men were fatally shot. About the same time, +and in the same state, at Rayville, a Negro girl of fifteen was taken +from a jail by a mob and hanged to a tree. In Texarkana, Ark., a Negro +who had outraged a farmer's wife was captured and burned alive, the +injured woman herself being compelled to light the fire. Just a few days +later, in March, a constable in Memphis in attempting to arrest a Negro +was killed. Numerous arrests followed, and at night a mob went to the +jail, gained easy access, and, having seized three well-known Negroes +who were thought to have been leaders in the killing, lynched them, the +whole proceeding being such a flagrant violation of law that it has not +yet been forgotten by the older Negro citizens of this important city. +On February 1, 1893, at Paris, Texas, after one of the most brutal +crimes occurred one of the most horrible lynchings on record. Henry +Smith, the Negro, who seems to have harbored a resentment against a +policeman of the town because of ill-treatment that he had received, +seized the officer's three-year-old child, outraged her, and then tore +her body to pieces. He was tortured by the child's father, her uncles, +and her fifteen-year-old brother, his eyes being put out with hot irons +before he was burned. His stepson, who had refused to tell where he +could be found, was hanged and his body riddled with bullets. Thus the +lynchings went on, the victims sometimes being guilty of the gravest +crimes, but often also perfectly innocent people. In February, 1893, the +average was very nearly one a day. At the same time injuries inflicted +on the Negro were commonly disregarded altogether. Thus at Dickson, +Tenn., a young white man lost forty dollars. A fortune-teller told him +that the money had been taken by a woman and gave a description that +seemed to fit a young colored woman who had worked in the home of a +relative. Half a dozen men then went to the home of the young woman and +outraged her, her mother, and also another woman who was in the house. +At the very close of 1894, in Brooks County, Ga., after a Negro named +Pike had killed a white man with whom he had a quarrel, seven Negroes +were lynched after the real murderer had escaped. Any relative or other +Negro who, questioned, refused to tell of the whereabouts of Pike, +whether he knew of the same or not, was shot in his tracks, one man +being shot before he had chance to say anything at all. Meanwhile the +White Caps or "Regulators" took charge of the neighboring counties, +terrifying the Negroes everywhere; and in the trials that resulted the +state courts broke down altogether, one judge in despair giving up the +holding of court as useless. + +Meanwhile discrimination of all sorts went forward. On May 29, 1895, +moved by the situation at the Orange Park Academy, the state of Florida +approved "An Act to Prohibit White and Colored Youth from being Taught +in the same Schools." Said one section: "It shall be a penal offense +for any individual body of inhabitants, corporation, or association to +conduct within this State any school of any grade, public, private, or +parochial, wherein white persons and Negroes shall be instructed or +boarded within the same building, or taught in the same class or at the +same time by the same teacher." Religious organizations were not to be +left behind in such action; and when before the meeting of the Baptist +Young People's Union in Baltimore a letter was sent to the secretary of +the organization and the editor of the _Baptist Union_, in behalf of the +Negroes, who the year before had not been well treated at Toronto, he +sent back an evasive answer, saying that the policy of his society was +to encourage local unions to affiliate with their own churches. + +More grave than anything else was the formal denial of the Negro's +political rights. As we have seen, South Carolina in 1895 followed +Mississippi in the disfranchising program and within the next fifteen +years most of the other Southern states did likewise. With the Negro +thus deprived of any genuine political voice, all sorts of social and +economic injustice found greater license. + +2. _Industrial Education: Booker T. Washington_ + +Such were the tendencies of life in the South as affecting the Negro +thirty years after emancipation. In September, 1895, a rising educator +of the race attracted national attention by a remarkable speech that +he made at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta. Said Booker T. +Washington: "To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition +in a foreign land, or who underestimate the importance of cultivating +friendly relations with the Southern white man who is their next door +neighbor, I would say, 'Cast down your bucket where you are'--cast it +down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by +whom we are surrounded.... To those of the white race who look to the +incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the +prosperity of the South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to +my own race, 'Cast down your bucket where you are.' Cast it down among +8,000,000 Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and love you +have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of +your fire-sides.... In all things that are purely social we can be as +separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to +mutual progress." + +The message that Dr. Washington thus enunciated he had already given in +substance the previous spring in an address at Fisk University, and even +before then his work at Tuskegee Institute had attracted attention.[1] +The Atlanta Exposition simply gave him the great occasion that he +needed; and he was now to proclaim the new word throughout the length +and breadth of the land. Among the hundreds of addresses that he +afterwards delivered, especially important were those at Harvard +University in 1896, at the Chicago Peace Jubilee in 1898, and before the +National Education Association in St. Louis in 1904. Again and again in +these speeches one comes upon such striking sentences as the following: +"Freedom can never be given. It must be purchased."[2] "The race, like +the individual, that makes itself indispensable, has solved most of its +problems."[3] "As a race there are two things we must learn to do--one +is to put brains into the common occupations of life, and the other is +to dignify common labor."[4] "Ignorant and inexperienced, it is not +strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the +top instead of at the bottom; that a seat in Congress or the State +Legislature was worth more than real estate or industrial skill."[5] +"The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth +infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera +house."[6] "One of the most vital questions that touch our American life +is how to bring the strong, wealthy, and learned into helpful contact +with the poorest, most ignorant, and humblest, and at the same time +make the one appreciate the vitalizing, strengthening influence of the +other."[7] "There is no defense or security for any of us except in the +highest intelligence and development of all."[8] + +[Footnote 1: See article by Albert Shaw, "Negro Progress on the Tuskegee +Plan," in _Review of Reviews_, April, 1894.] + +[Footnote 2,3: Speech before N.E.A., in St. Louis, June 30, 1904.] + +[Footnote 4: Speech at Fisk University, 1805.] + +[Footnote 5,6,8: Speech at Atlanta Exposition, September 18, 1895.] + +[Footnote 7: Speech at Harvard University, June 24, 1896.] + +The time was ripe for a new leader. Frederick Douglass had died in +February, 1895. In his later years he had more than once lost hold on +the heart of his people, as when he opposed the Negro Exodus or seemed +not fully in sympathy with the religious convictions of those who looked +to him. At his passing, however, the race remembered only his early +service and his old magnificence, and to a striving people his death +seemed to make still darker the gathering gloom. Coming when he did, +Booker T. Washington was thoroughly in line with the materialism of his +age; he answered both an economic and an educational crisis. He also +satisfied the South of the new day by what he had to say about social +equality. + +The story of his work reads like a romance, and he himself has told it +better than any one else ever can. He did not claim the credit for +the original idea of industrial education; that he gave to General +Armstrong, and it was at Hampton that he himself had been nurtured. What +was needed, however, was for some one to take the Hampton idea down to +the cotton belt, interpret the lesson for the men and women digging in +the ground, and generally to put the race in line with the country's +industrial development. This was what Booker T. Washington undertook to +do. + +He reached Tuskegee early in June, 1881. July 4 was the date set for the +opening of the school in the little shanty and church which had been +secured for its accommodation. On the morning of this day thirty +students reported for admission. The greater number were school-teachers +and some were nearly forty years of age. Just about three months +after the opening of the school there was offered for sale an old and +abandoned plantation a mile from Tuskegee on which the mansion had been +burned. All told the place seemed to be just the location needed to +make the work effective and permanent. The price asked was five hundred +dollars, the owner requiring the immediate payment of two hundred and +fifty dollars, the remaining two hundred and fifty to be paid within a +year. In his difficulty Mr. Washington wrote to General J.F.B. Marshall, +treasurer of Hampton Institute, placing the matter before him and asking +for the loan of two hundred and fifty dollars. General Marshall replied +that he had no authority to lend money belonging to Hampton Institute, +but that he would gladly advance the amount needed from his personal +funds. Toward the paying of this sum the assisting teacher, Olivia A. +Davidson (afterwards Mrs. Washington), helped heroically. Her first +effort was made by holding festivals and suppers, but she also canvassed +the families in the town of Tuskegee, and the white people as well as +the Negroes helped her. "It was often pathetic," said the principal, "to +note the gifts of the older colored people, many of whom had spent their +best days in slavery. Sometimes they would give five cents, sometimes +twenty-five cents. Sometimes the contribution was a quilt, or a quantity +of sugarcane. I recall one old colored woman, who was about seventy +years of age, who came to see me when we were raising money to pay for +the farm. She hobbled into the room where I was, leaning on a cane. She +was clad in rags, but they were clean. She said, 'Mr. Washington, God +knows I spent de bes' days of my life in slavery. God knows I's ignorant +an' poor; but I knows what you an' Miss Davidson is tryin' to do. I +knows you is tryin' to make better men an' better women for de colored +race. I ain't got no money, but I wants you to take dese six eggs, +what I's been savin' up, an' I wants you to put dese six eggs into de +eddication of dese boys an' gals.' Since the work at Tuskegee started," +added the speaker, "it has been my privilege to receive many gifts for +the benefit of the institution, but never any, I think, that touched me +as deeply as this one." + +It was early in the history of the school that Mr. Washington conceived +the idea of extension work. The Tuskegee Conferences began in February, +1892. To the first meeting came five hundred men, mainly farmers, and +many woman. Outstanding was the discussion of the actual terms on which +most of the men were living from year to year. A mortgage was given on +the cotton crop before it was planted, and to the mortgage was attached +a note which waived all right to exemptions under the constitution and +laws of the state of Alabama or of any other state to which the tenant +might move. Said one: "The mortgage ties you tighter than any rope and a +waive note is a consuming fire." Said another: "The waive note is good +for twenty years and when you sign one you must either pay out or die +out." Another: "When you sign a waive note you just cross your hands +behind you and go to the merchant and say, 'Here, tie me and take +all I've got.'" All agreed that the people mortgaged more than was +necessary, to buy sewing machines (which sometimes were not used), +expensive clocks, great family Bibles, or other things easily dispensed +with. Said one man: "My people want all they can get on credit, not +thinking of the day of settlement. We must learn to bore with a small +augur first. The black man totes a heavy bundle, and when he puts it +down there is a plow, a hoe, and ignorance." + +It was to people such as these that Booker T. Washington brought hope, +and serving them he passed on to fame. Within a few years schools on the +plan of Tuskegee began to spring up all over the South, at Denmark, at +Snow Hill, at Utica, and elsewhere. In 1900 the National Negro Business +League began its sessions, giving great impetus to the establishment of +banks, stores, and industrial enterprises throughout the country, and +especially in the South. Much of this progress would certainly have been +realized if the Business League had never been organized; but every one +granted that in all the development the genius of the leader at +Tuskegee was the chief force. About his greatness and his very definite +contribution there could be no question. + +3. _Individual Achievement: The Spanish-American War_ + +It happened that just at the time that Booker T. Washington was +advancing to great distinction, three or four other individuals were +reflecting special credit on the race. One of these was a young scholar, +W.E. Burghardt DuBois, who after a college career at Fisk continued +his studies at Harvard and Berlin and finally took the Ph.D. degree +at Harvard in 1895. There had been sound scholars in the race before +DuBois, but generally these had rested on attainment in the languages or +mathematics, and most frequently they had expressed themselves in rather +philosophical disquisition. Here, however, was a thorough student of +economics, and one who was able to attack the problems of his people and +meet opponents on the basis of modern science. He was destined to do +great good, and the race was proud of him. + +In 1896 also an authentic young poet who had wrestled with poverty and +doubt at last gained a hearing. After completing the course at a high +school in Dayton, Paul Laurence Dunbar ran an elevator for four dollars +a week, and then he peddled from door to door two little volumes of +verse that had been privately printed. William Dean Howells at length +gave him a helping hand, and Dodd, Mead & Co. published _Lyrics of Lowly +Life_. Dunbar wrote both in classic English and in the dialect that +voiced the humor and the pathos of the life of those for whom he spoke. +What was not at the time especially observed was that in numerous poems +he suggested the discontent with the age in which he lived and thus +struck what later years were to prove an important keynote. After he had +waited and struggled so long, his success was so great that it became a +vogue, and imitators sprang up everywhere. He touched the heart of his +people and the race loved him. + +By 1896 also word began to come of a Negro American painter, Henry O. +Tanner, who was winning laurels in Paris. At the same time a beautiful +singer, Mme. Sissieretta Jones, on the concert stage was giving new +proof of the possibilities of the Negro as an artist in song. In the +previous decade Mme. Marie Selika, a cultured vocalist of the first +rank, had delighted audiences in both America and Europe, and in 1887 +had appeared Flora Batson, a ballad singer whose work at its best was of +the sort that sends an audience into the wildest enthusiasm. In 1894, +moreover, Harry T. Burleigh, competing against sixty candidates, became +baritone soloist at St. Georges's Episcopal Church, New York, and just a +few years later he was to be employed also at Temple Emanu-El, the Fifth +Avenue Jewish synagogue. From abroad also came word of a brilliant +musician, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, who by his "Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast" +in 1898 leaped into the rank of the foremost living English composers. +On the more popular stage appeared light musical comedy, intermediate +between the old Negro minstrelsy and a genuine Negro drama, the +representative companies becoming within the next few years those of +Cole and Johnson, and Williams and Walker. + +Especially outstanding in the course of the decade, however, was the +work of the Negro soldier in the Spanish-American War. There were at +the time four regiments of colored regulars in the Army of the United +States, the Twenty-fourth Infantry, the Twenty-fifth Infantry, the +Ninth Cavalry, and the Tenth Cavalry. When the war broke out President +McKinley sent to Congress a message recommending the enlistment of more +regiments of Negroes. Congress failed to act; nevertheless colored +troops enlisted in the volunteer service in Massachusetts, Indiana, +Illinois, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The +Eighth Illinois was officered throughout by Negroes, J.R. Marshall +commanding; and Major Charles E. Young, a West Point graduate, was in +charge of the Ohio battalion. The very first regiment ordered to the +front when the war broke out was the Twenty-fourth Infantry; and Negro +troops were conspicuous in the fighting around Santiago. They figured in +a brilliant charge at Las Quasimas on June 24, and in an attack on July +1 upon a garrison at El Caney (a position of importance for securing +possession of a line of hills along the San Juan River, a mile and a +half from Santiago) the First Volunteer Cavalry (Colonel Roosevelt's +"Rough Riders") was practically saved from annihilation by the gallant +work of the men of the Tenth Cavalry. Fully as patriotic, though in +another way, was a deed of the Twenty-fourth Infantry. Learning that +General Miles desired a regiment for the cleaning of a yellow +fever hospital and the nursing of some victims of the disease, the +Twenty-fourth volunteered its services and by one day's work so cleared +away the rubbish and cleaned the camp that the number of cases was +greatly reduced. Said the _Review of Reviews_ in editorial comment:[1] +"One of the most gratifying incidents of the Spanish War has been the +enthusiasm that the colored regiments of the regular army have +aroused throughout the whole country. Their fighting at Santiago was +magnificent. The Negro soldiers showed excellent discipline, the highest +qualities of personal bravery, very superior physical endurance, +unfailing good temper, and the most generous disposition toward all +comrades in arms, whether white or black. Roosevelt's Rough Riders have +come back singing the praises of the colored troops. There is not a +dissenting voice in the chorus of praise.... Men who can fight for their +country as did these colored troops ought to have their full share of +gratitude and honor." + +[Footnote 1: October, 1898, p. 387.] + + +4. _Mob Violence; Election Troubles; The Atlanta Massacre_ + +After two or three years of comparative quiet--but only _comparative_ +quiet--mob violence burst forth about the turn of the century with +redoubled intensity. In a large way this was simply a result of the +campaigns for disfranchisement that in some of the Southern states were +just now getting under way; but charges of assault and questions of +labor also played a part. In some places people who were innocent of any +charge whatever were attacked, and so many were killed that sometimes +it seemed that the law had broken down altogether. Not the least +interesting development of these troublous years was that in some cases +as never before Negroes began to fight with their backs to the wall, and +thus at the very close of the century--at the end of a bitter decade and +the beginning of one still more bitter--a new factor entered into the +problem, one that was destined more and more to demand consideration. + +On one Sunday toward the close of October, 1898, the country recorded +two race wars, one lynching, two murders, one of which was expected to +lead to a lynching, with a total of ten Negroes killed and four wounded +and four white men killed and seven wounded. The most serious outbreak +was in the state of Mississippi, and it is worthy of note that in not +one single case was there any question of rape. + +November was made red by election troubles in both North and South +Carolina. In the latter state, at Phoenix, in Greenwood County, on +November 8 and for some days thereafter, the Tolberts, a well-known +family of white Republicans, were attacked by mobs and barely escaped +alive. R.R. Tolbert was a candidate for Congress and also chairman of +the Republican state committee. John R. Tolbert, his father, collector +of the port of Charleston, had come home to vote and was at one of the +polling-places in the county. Thomas Tolbert at Phoenix was taking the +affidavits of the Negroes who were not permitted to vote for his brother +in order that later there might be ground on which to contest the +election. While thus engaged he was attacked by Etheridge, the +Democratic manager of another precinct. The Negroes came to Tolbert's +defense, and in the fight that followed Etheridge was killed and Tolbert +wounded. John Tolbert, coming up, was filled with buckshot, and a +younger member of the family was also hurt. The Negroes were at length +overpowered and the Tolberts forced to flee. All told it appears that +two white men and about twelve Negroes lost their lives in connection +with the trouble, six of the latter being lynched on account of the +death of Etheridge. + +In North Carolina in 1894 the Republicans by combining with the +Populists had secured control of the state legislature. In 1896 the +Democrats were again outvoted, Governor Russell being elected by a +plurality of 9000. A considerable number of local offices was in the +hands of Negroes, who had the backing of the Governor, the legislature, +and the Supreme Court as well. Before the November elections in 1898 the +Democrats in Wilmington announced their determination to prevent Negroes +from holding office in the city. Especially had they been made angry by +an editorial in a local Negro paper, the _Record_, in which, under date +August 18, the editor, Alex. L. Manly, starting with a reference to a +speaker from Georgia, who at the Agricultural Society meeting at Tybee +had advocated lynching as an extreme measure, said that she "lost sight +of the basic principle of the religion of Christ in her plea for one +class of people as against another," and continued: "The papers are +filled with reports of rapes of white women, and the subsequent lynching +of the alleged rapists. The editors pour forth volleys of aspersions +against all Negroes because of the few who may be guilty. If the papers +and speakers of the other race would condemn the commission of crime +because it is crime and not try to make it appear that the Negroes +were the only criminals, they would find their strongest allies in the +intelligent Negroes themselves, and together the whites and blacks would +root the evil out of both races.... Our experience among poor white +people in the country teaches us that the women of that race are not any +more particular in the matter of clandestine meetings with colored men +than are the white men with colored women. Meetings of this kind go on +for some time until the woman's infatuation or the man's boldness brings +attention to them and the man is lynched for rape." In reply to this +the speaker quoted in a signed statement said: "When the Negro Manly +attributed the crime of rape to intimacy between Negro men and white +women of the South, the slanderer should be made to fear a lyncher's +rope rather than occupy a place in New York newspapers"--a method of +argument that was unfortunately all too common in the South. As election +day approached the Democrats sought generally to intimidate the Negroes, +the streets and roads being patrolled by men wearing red shirts. +Election day, however, passed without any disturbance; but on the next +day there was a mass meeting of white citizens, at which there were +adopted resolutions to employ white labor instead of Negro, to banish +the editor of the _Record_, and to send away from the city the +printing-press in the office of that paper; and a committee of +twenty-five was appointed to see that these resolutions were carried +into effect within twenty-four hours. In the course of the terrible +day that followed the printing office was destroyed, several white +Republicans were driven from the city, and nine Negroes were killed at +once, though no one could say with accuracy just how many more lost +their lives or were seriously wounded before the trouble was over. + +Charles W. Chesnutt, in _The Marrow of Tradition_, has given a faithful +portrayal of these disgraceful events, the Wellington of the story being +Wilmington. Perhaps the best commentary on those who thus sought power +was afforded by their apologist, a Presbyterian minister and editor, +A.J. McKelway, who on this occasion and others wrote articles in the +_Independent_ and the _Outlook_ justifying the proceedings. Said he: "It +is difficult to speak of the Red Shirts without a smile. They victimized +the Negroes with a huge practical joke.... A dozen men would meet at a +crossroad, on horseback, clad in red shirts or calico, flannel or silk, +according to the taste of the owner and the enthusiasm of his womankind. +They would gallop through the country, and the Negro would quietly make +up his mind that his interest in political affairs was not a large one, +anyhow. It would be wise not to vote, and wiser not to register to +prevent being dragooned into voting on election day." It thus appears +that the forcible seizure of the political rights of people, the killing +and wounding of many, and the compelling of scores to leave their homes +amount in the end to not more than a "practical joke." + +One part of the new program was the most intense opposition to Federal +Negro appointees anywhere in the South. On the morning of February 22, +1898, Frazer B. Baker, the colored postmaster at Lake City, S.C., awoke +to find his house in flames. Attempting to escape, he and his baby boy +were shot and killed and their bodies consumed in the burning house. +His wife and the other children were wounded but escaped. The +Postmaster-General was quite disposed to see that justice was done in +this case; but the men charged with the crime gave the most trivial +alibis, and on Saturday, April 22, 1899, the jury in the United States +Circuit Court at Charleston reported its failure to agree on a verdict. +Three years later the whole problem was presented strongly to President +Roosevelt. When Mrs. Minne Cox, who was serving efficiently as +postmistress at Indianola, Miss., was forced to resign because of +threats, he closed the office; and when there was protest against +the appointment of Dr. William D. Crum as collector of the port of +Charleston, he said, "I do not intend to appoint any unfit man to +office. So far as I legitimately can, I shall always endeavor to pay +regard to the wishes and feelings of the people of each locality; but I +can not consent to take the position that the door of hope--the door of +opportunity--is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely +upon the grounds of race or color. Such an attitude would, according to +my convictions, be fundamentally wrong." These memorable words, coming +in a day of compromise and expediency in high places, greatly cheered +the heart of the race. Just the year before, the importance of the +incident of Booker T. Washington's taking lunch with President Roosevelt +was rather unnecessarily magnified by the South into all sorts of +discussion of social equality. + +On Tuesday, January 24, 1899, a fire in the center of the town of +Palmetto, Ga., destroyed a hotel, two stores, and a storehouse, on which +property there was little insurance. The next Saturday there was another +fire and this destroyed a considerable part of the town. For some weeks +there was no clue as to the origin of these fires; but about the middle +of March something overheard by a white citizen led to the implicating +of nine Negroes. These men were arrested and confined for the night of +March 15 in a warehouse to await trial the next morning, a dummy guard +of six men being placed before the door. About midnight a mob came, +pushed open the door, and fired two volleys at the Negroes, killing four +immediately and fatally wounding four more. The circumstances of this +atrocious crime oppressed the Negro people of the state as few things +had done since the Civil War. That it did no good was evident, for in +its underlying psychology it was closely associated with a double crime +that was now to be committed. In April, Sam Hose, a Negro who had +brooded on the happenings at Palmetto, not many miles from the scene +killed a farmer, Alfred Cranford, who had been a leader of the mob, and +outraged his wife. For two weeks he was hunted like an animal, the white +people of the state meanwhile being almost unnerved and the Negroes +sickened by the pursuit. At last, however, he was found, and on Sunday, +April 23, at Newnan, Ga., he was burned, his execution being accompanied +by unspeakable mutilation; and on the same day Lige Strickland, a Negro +preacher whom Hose had accused of complicity in his crime, was hanged +near Palmetto. The nation stood aghast, for the recent events in Georgia +had shaken the very foundations of American civilization. Said the +_Charleston News and Courier_: "The chains which bound the citizen, Sam +Hose, to the stake at Newnan mean more for us and for his race than the +chains or bonds of slavery, which they supplanted. The flames that lit +the scene of his torture shed their baleful light throughout every +corner of our land, and exposed a state of things, actual and potential, +among us that should rouse the dullest mind to a sharp sense of our true +condition, and of our unchanged and unchangeable relations to the whole +race whom the tortured wretch represented." + +Violence breeds violence, and two or three outstanding events are yet to +be recorded. On August 23, 1899, at Darien, Ga., hundreds of Negroes, +who for days had been aroused by rumors of a threatened lynching, +assembled at the ringing of the bell of a church opposite the jail and +by their presence prevented the removal of a prisoner. They were later +tried for insurrection and twenty-one sent to the convict farms for a +year. The general circumstances of the uprising excited great interest +throughout the country. In May, 1900, in Augusta, Ga., an unfortunate +street car incident resulted in the death of the aggressor, a young +white man named Whitney, and in the lynching of the colored man, Wilson, +who killed him. In this instance the victim was tortured and mutilated, +parts of his body and of the rope by which he was hanged being passed +around as souvenirs. A Negro organization at length recovered the body, +and so great was the excitement at the funeral that the coffin was not +allowed to be opened. Two months later, in New Orleans, there was a most +extraordinary occurrence, the same being important because the leading +figure was very frankly regarded by the Negroes as a hero and his fight +in his own defense a sign that the men of the race would not always be +shot down without some effort to protect themselves. + +One night in July, an hour before midnight, two Negroes Robert Charles +and Leonard Pierce, who had recently come into the city from Mississippi +and whose movements had interested the police, were found by three +officers on the front steps of a house in Dryades Street. Being +questioned they replied that they had been in the town two or three days +and had secured work. In the course of the questioning the larger of +the Negroes, Charles, rose to his feet; he was seized by one of the +officers, Mora, who began to use his billet; and in the struggle that +resulted Charles escaped and Mora was wounded in each hand and the hip. +Charles now took refuge in a small house on Fourth Street, and when he +was surrounded, with deadly aim he shot and instantly killed the first +two officers who appeared.[1] The other men advancing, retreated and +waited until daylight for reenforcement, and Charles himself withdrew to +other quarters, and for some days his whereabouts were unknown. With the +new day, however, the city was wild with excitement and thousands of men +joined in the search, the newspapers all the while stirring the crowd +to greater fury. Mobs rushed up and down the streets assaulting Negroes +wherever they could be found, no effort to check them being made by the +police. On the second night a crowd of nearly a thousand was addressed +at the Lee Monument by a man from Kenner, a town a few miles above the +city. Said he: "Gentlemen, I am from Kenner, and I have come down here +to-night to assist you in teaching the blacks a lesson. I have killed a +Negro before and in revenge of the wrong wrought upon you and yours I am +willing to kill again. The only way you can teach these niggers a lesson +and put them in their place is to go out and lynch a few of them as +an object lesson. String up a few of them. That is the only thing to +do--kill them, string them up, lynch them. I will lead you. On to the +parish prison and lynch Pierce." The mob now rushed to the prison, +stores and pawnshops being plundered on the way. Within the next few +hours a Negro was taken from a street car on Canal Street, killed, and +his body thrown into the gutter. An old man of seventy going to work in +the morning was fatally shot. On Rousseau Street the mob fired into a +little cabin; the inmates were asleep and an old woman was killed in +bed. Another old woman who looked out from her home was beaten into +insensibility. A man sitting at his door was shot, beaten, and left for +dead. Such were the scenes that were enacted almost hourly from Monday +until Friday evening. One night the excellent school building given by +Thomy Lafon, a member of the race and a philanthropist, was burned. + +[Footnote 1: From this time forth the wildest rumors were afloat and +the number of men that Charles had killed was greatly exaggerated. Some +reports said scores or even hundreds, and it is quite possible that any +figures given herewith are an understatement.] + +About three o'clock on Friday afternoon Charles was found to be in +a two-story house at the corner of Saratoga and Clio Streets. Two +officers, Porteus and Lally, entered a lower room. The first fell dead +at the first shot, and the second was mortally wounded by the next. A +third, Bloomfield, waiting with gun in hand, was wounded at the first +shot and killed at the second. The crowd retreated, but bullets rained +upon the house, Charles all the while keeping watch in every direction +from four different windows. Every now and then he thrust his rifle +through one of the shattered windowpanes and fired, working with +incredible rapidity. He succeeded in killing two more of his assailants +and wounding two. At last he realized that the house was on fire, and +knowing that the end had come he rushed forth upon his foes, fired one +shot more and fell dead. He had killed eight men and mortally wounded +two or three more. His body was mutilated. In his room there was +afterwards found a copy of a religious publication, and it was known +that he had resented disfranchisement in Louisiana and had distributed +pamphlets to further a colonization scheme. No incriminating evidence, +however, was found. + +In the same memorable year, 1900, on the night of Wednesday, August +15, there were serious riots in the city of New York. On the preceding +Sunday a policeman named Thorpe in attempting to arrest a colored woman +was stabbed by a Negro, Arthur Harris, so fatally that he died on +Monday. On Wednesday evening Negroes were dragged from the street cars +and beaten, and by midnight there were thousands of rioters between +25th and 35th Streets. On the next night the trouble was resumed. These +events were followed almost immediately by riots in Akron, Ohio. On the +last Sunday in October, 1901, while some Negroes were holding their +usual fall camp-meeting in a grove in Washington Parish, Louisiana, they +were attacked, and a number of people, not less than ten and perhaps +several more, were killed; and hundreds of men, women, and children felt +forced to move away from the vicinity. In the first week of March, 1904, +there was in Mississippi a lynching that exceeded even others of +the period in its horror and that became notorious for its use of a +corkscrew. A white planter of Doddsville was murdered, and a Negro, +Luther Holbert, was charged with the crime. Holbert fled, and his +innocent wife went with him. Further report we read in the Democratic +_Evening Post_ of Vicksburg as follows: "When the two Negroes were +captured, they were tied to trees, and while the funeral pyres were +being prepared they were forced to suffer the most fiendish tortures. +The blacks were forced to hold out their hands while one finger at a +time was chopped off. The fingers were distributed as souvenirs. The +ears of the murderers were cut off. Holbert was beaten severely, his +skull was fractured, and one of his eyes, knocked out with a stick, hung +by a shred from the socket.... The most excruciating form of punishment +consisted in the use of a large corkscrew in the hands of some of the +mob. This instrument was bored into the flesh of the man and the woman, +in the arms, legs, and body, and then pulled out, the spirals tearing +out big pieces of raw, quivering flesh every time it was withdrawn." +In the summer of this same year Georgia was once more the scene of a +horrible lynching, two Negroes, Paul Reed and Will Cato--because of the +murder of the Hodges family six miles from the town on July 20--being +burned at the stake at Statesville under unusually depressing +circumstances. In August, 1908, there were in Springfield, Illinois, +race riots of such a serious nature that a force of six thousand +soldiers was required to quell them. These riots were significant +not only because of the attitude of Northern laborers toward Negro +competition, but also because of the indiscriminate killing of Negroes +by people in the North, this indicating a genuine nationalization of the +Negro Problem. The real climax of violence within the period, however, +was the Atlanta Massacre of Saturday, September 22, 1906. + +Throughout the summer the heated campaign of Hoke Smith for +the governorship capitalized the gathering sentiment for the +disfranchisement of the Negro in the state and at length raised the race +issue to such a high pitch that it leaped into flame. The feeling was +intensified by the report of assaults and attempted assaults by Negroes, +particularly as these were detailed and magnified or even invented by an +evening paper, the _Atlanta News_, against which the Fulton County Grand +Jury afterwards brought in an indictment as largely responsible for the +riot, and which was forced to suspend publication when the business men +of the city withdrew their support. Just how much foundation there was +to the rumors may be seen from the following report of the investigator: +"Three, charged to white men, attracted comparatively little attention +in the newspapers, although one, the offense of a man named Turnadge, +was shocking in its details. Of twelve such charges against Negroes in +the six months preceding the riot, two were cases of rape, horrible in +their details, three were aggravated attempts at rape, three may have +been attempts, three were pure cases of fright on the part of white +women, and in one the white woman, first asserting that a Negro had +assaulted her, finally confessed attempted suicide."[1] On Friday, +September 21, while a Negro was on trial, the father of the girl +concerned asked the recorder for permission to deal with the Negro with +his own hand, and an outbreak was barely averted in the open court. +On Saturday evening, however, some elements in the city and from +neighboring towns, heated by liquor and newspaper extras, became openly +riotous and until midnight defied all law and authority. Negroes +were assaulted wherever they appeared, for the most part being found +unsuspecting, as in the case of those who happened to be going home from +work and were on street cars passing through the heart of the city. +In one barber shop two workers were beaten to death and their bodies +mangled. A lame bootblack, innocent and industrious, was dragged from +his work and kicked and beaten to death. Another young Negro was stabbed +with jack-knives. Altogether very nearly a score of persons lost their +lives and two or three times as many were injured. After some time +Governor Terrell mobilized the militia, but the crowd did not take this +move seriously, and the real feeling of the Mayor, who turned on the +hose of the fire department, was shown by his statement that just so +long as the Negroes committed certain crimes just so long would they be +unceremoniously dealt with. Sunday dawned upon a city of astounded white +people and outraged and sullen Negroes. Throughout Monday and Tuesday +the tension continued, the Negroes endeavoring to defend themselves as +well as they could. On Monday night the union of some citizens with +policemen who were advancing in a suburb in which most of the homes were +those of Negroes, resulted in the death of James Heard, an officer, and +in the wounding of some of those who accompanied him. More Negroes were +also killed, and a white woman to whose front porch two men were chased +died of fright at seeing them shot to death. It was the disposition, +however, on the part of the Negroes to make armed resistance that really +put an end to the massacre. Now followed a procedure that is best +described in the words of the prominent apologist for such outbreaks. +Said A.J. McKelway: "Tuesday every house in the town (i.e., the suburb +referred to above) was entered by the soldiers, and some two hundred +and fifty Negroes temporarily held, while the search was proceeding and +inquiries being made. They were all disarmed, and those with concealed +weapons, or under suspicion of having been in the party firing on the +police, were sent to jail."[2] It is thus evident that in this case, as +in many others, the Negroes who had suffered most, not the white men who +killed a score of them, were disarmed, and that for the time being their +terrified women and children were left defenseless. McKelway also says +in this general connection: "Any Southern man would protect an innocent +Negro who appealed to him for help, with his own life if necessary." +This sounds like chivalry, but it is really the survival of the old +slavery attitude that begs the whole question. The Negro does not feel +that he should ask any other man to protect him. He has quite made up +his mind that he will defend his own home himself. He stands as a man +before the bar, and the one thing he wants to know is if the law and the +courts of America are able to give him justice--simple justice, nothing +more. + +[Footnote 1: R.S. Baker: _Following the Colour Line_, 3.] + +[Footnote 2: _Outlook_, November 3, 1906, p. 561.] + + +5. _The Question of Labor_ + +From time to time, in connection with cases of violence, we have +referred to the matter of labor. Riots such as we have described are +primarily social in character, the call of race invariably being the +final appeal. The economic motive has accompanied this, however, and +has been found to be of increasing importance. Says DuBois: "The fatal +campaign in Georgia which culminated in the Atlanta Massacre was +an attempt, fathered by conscienceless politicians, to arouse the +prejudices of the rank and file of white laborers and farmers against +the growing competition of black men, so that black men by law could be +forced back to subserviency and serfdom."[1] The question was indeed +constantly recurrent, but even by the end of the period policies had +not yet been definitely decided upon, and for the time being there were +frequent armed clashes between the Negro and the white laborer. Both +capital and common sense were making it clear, however, that the +Negro was undoubtedly a labor asset and would have to be given place +accordingly. + +[Footnote 1: _The Negro in the South_, 115.] + +In March, 1895, there were bloody riots in New Orleans, these growing +out of the fact that white laborers who were beginning to be organized +objected to the employment Of Negro workers by the shipowners for the +unloading of vessels. When the trouble was at its height volley after +volley was poured upon the Negroes, and in turn two white men were +killed and several wounded. The commercial bodies of the city met, +blamed the Governor and the Mayor for the series of outbreaks, and +demanded that the outrages cease. Said they: "Forbearance has ceased to +be a virtue. We can no longer treat with men who, with arms in their +hands, are shooting down an inoffensive people because they will not +think and act with them. For these reasons we say to these people that, +cost what it may, we are determined that the commerce of this city must +and shall be protected; that every man who desires to perform honest +labor must and shall be permitted to do so regardless of race, color, or +previous condition." About August I of this same year, 1895, there were +sharp conflicts between the white and the black miners at Birmingham, +a number being killed on both sides before military authority could +intervene. Three years later, moreover, the invasion of the North by +Negro labor had begun, and about November 17, 1898, there was serious +trouble in the mines at Pana and Virden, Illinois. In the same month +the convention of railroad brotherhoods in Norfolk expressed strong +hostility to Negro labor, Grand Master Frank P. Sargent of the +Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen saying that one of the chief purposes +of the meeting of the brotherhoods was "to begin a campaign in advocacy +of white supremacy in the railway service." This November, it will be +recalled, was the fateful month of the election riots in North and South +Carolina. _The People_, the Socialist-Labor publication, commenting upon +a Negro indignation meeting at Cooper Union and upon the problem in +general, said that the Negro was essentially a wage-slave, that it was +the capitalism of the North and not humanity that in the first place had +demanded the freedom of the slave, that in the new day capital demanded +the subjugation of the working class--Negro or otherwise; and it blamed +the Negroes for not seeing the real issues at stake. It continued with +emphasis: "It is not the _Negro_ that was massacred in the Carolinas; +it was Carolina _workingmen_, Carolina _wage-slaves_ who happened to +be colored men. Not as Negroes must the race rise;... it is as +_workingmen_, as a branch of the _working class_, that the Negro must +denounce the Carolina felonies. Only by touching that chord can he +denounce to a purpose, because only then does he place himself upon that +elevation that will enable him to perceive the source of the specific +wrong complained of now." This point of view was destined more and more +to stimulate those interested in the problem, whether they accepted +it in its entirety or not. Another opinion, very different and also +important, was that given in 1899 by the editor of _Dixie_, a magazine +published in Atlanta and devoted to Southern industrial interests. Said +he: "The manufacturing center of the United States will one day be +located in the South; and this will come about, strange as it may seem, +for the reason that the Negro is a fixture here.... Organized labor, +as it exists to-day, is a menace to industry. The Negro stands as +a permanent and positive barrier against labor organization in the +South.... So the Negro, all unwittingly, is playing an important part in +the drama of Southern industrial development. His good nature defies the +Socialist." At the time this opinion seemed plausible, and yet the very +next two decades were to raise the question if it was not founded on +fallacious assumptions. + +The real climax of labor trouble as of mob violence within the period +came in Georgia and in Atlanta, a city that now assumed outstanding +importance as a battleground of the problems of the New South. In April, +1909, it happened that ten white workers on the Georgia Railroad who had +been placed on the "extra list" were replaced by Negroes at lower wages. +Against this there was violent protest all along the route. A little +more than a month later the white Firemen's Union started a strike that +was intended to be the beginning of an effort to drive all Negro firemen +from Southern roads, and it was soon apparent that the real contest was +one occasioned by the progress in the South of organized labor on the +one hand and the progress of the Negro in efficiency on the other. The +essential motives that entered into the struggle were in fact the same +as those that characterized the trouble in New Orleans in 1895. Said +E.A. Ball, second vice-president of the Firemen's Union, in an address +to the public: "It will be up to you to determine whether the white +firemen now employed on the Georgia Railroad shall be accorded rights +and privileges over the Negro, or whether he shall be placed on the same +equality with the Negro. Also, it will be for you to determine whether +or not white firemen, supporting families in and around Atlanta on a pay +of $1.75 a day, shall be compelled to vacate their positions in Atlanta +joint terminals for Negroes, who are willing to do the same work for +$1.25." Some papers, like the Augusta _Herald_, said that it was a +mistaken policy to give preference to Negroes when white men would +ultimately have to be put in charge of trains and engines; but others, +like the Baltimore _News_, said, "If the Negro can be driven from one +skilled employment, he can be driven from another; but a country that +tries to do it is flying in the face of every economic law, and must +feel the evil effects of its policy if it could be carried out." At any +rate feeling ran very high; for a whole week about June I there were +very few trains between Atlanta and Augusta, and there were some acts of +violence; but in the face of the capital at stake and the fundamental +issues involved it was simply impossible for the railroad to give way. +The matter was at length referred to a board of arbitration which +decided that the Georgia Railroad was still to employ Negroes whenever +they were found qualified and that they were to receive the same wages +as white workers. Some thought that this decision would ultimately tell +against the Negro, but such was not the immediate effect at least, and +to all intents and purposes the white firemen had lost in the strike. +The whole matter was in fact fundamentally one of the most pathetic that +we have had to record. Humble white workers, desirous of improving the +economic condition of themselves and their families, instead of assuming +a statesmanlike and truly patriotic attitude toward their problem, +turned aside into the wilderness of racial hatred and were lost. + +This review naturally prompts reflection as to the whole function of the +Negro laborer in the South. In the first place, what is he worth, and +especially what is he worth in honest Southern opinion? It was said +after the Civil War that he would not work except under compulsion; just +how had he come to be regarded in the industry of the New South? In 1894 +a number of large employers were asked about this point. 50 per cent +said that in skilled labor they considered the Negro inferior to the +white worker, 46 per cent said that he was fairly equal, and 4 per cent +said that, all things considered, he was superior. As to common labor 54 +per cent said that he was equal, 29 per cent superior, and 17 per cent +inferior to the white worker. At the time it appeared that wages +paid Negroes averaged 80 per cent of those paid white men. A similar +investigation by the Chattanooga _Tradesman_ in 1902 brought forth five +hundred replies. These were summarized as follows: "We find the Negro +more useful and skilled in the cotton-seed oil-mills, the lumber-mills, +the foundries, brick kilns, mines, and blast-furnaces. He is superior +to white labor and possibly superior to any other labor in these +establishments, but not in the capacity of skillful and ingenious +artisans." In this opinion, it is to be remembered, the Negro was +subjected to a severe test in which nothing whatever was given to him, +and at least it appears that in many lines of labor he is not less than +indispensable to the progress of the South. The question then arises: +Just what is the relation that he is finally to sustain to other +workingmen? It would seem that white worker and black worker would long +ago have realized their identity of interest and have come together. The +unions, however, have been slow to admit Negroes and give them the same +footing and backing as white men. Under the circumstances accordingly +there remained nothing else for the Negro to do except to work wherever +his services were desired and on the best terms that he was able to +obtain. + + +6. _Defamation: Brownsville_ + +Crime demands justification, and it is not surprising that after such +violence as that which we have described, and after several states had +passed disfranchising acts, there appeared in the first years of the new +century several publications especially defamatory of the race. Some +books unfortunately descended to a coarseness in vilification such as +had not been reached since the Civil War. From a Bible House in St. +Louis in 1902 came _The Negro a Beast, or In the Image of God_, a book +that was destined to have an enormous circulation among the white people +of the poorer class in the South, and that of course promoted the +mob spirit.[1] Contemporary and of the same general tenor were R.W. +Shufeldt's _The Negro_ and W.B. Smith's _The Color Line_, while a member +of the race itself, William Hannibal Thomas, published a book, _The +American Negro_, that was without either faith or ideal and as a +denunciation of the Negro in America unparalleled in its vindictiveness +and exaggeration.[2] + +[Footnote 1: Its fundamental assumptions were ably refuted by Edward +Atkinson in the _North American Review_, August, 1905.] + +[Footnote 2: It was reviewed in the _Dial_, April 16, 1901, by W.E.B. +DuBois, who said in part: "Mr. Thomas's book is a sinister symptom--a +growth and development under American conditions of life which +illustrates peculiarly the anomalous position of black men, and the +terrific stress under which they struggle. And the struggle and the +fight of human beings against hard conditions of life always tends +to develop the criminal or the hypocrite, the cynic or the radical. +Wherever among a hard-pressed people these types begin to appear, it +is a visible sign of a burden that is threatening to overtax their +strength, and the foreshadowing of the age of revolt."] + +In January, 1904, the new governor of Mississippi, J.K. Vardaman, in his +inaugural address went to the extreme of voicing the opinion of those +who were now contending that the education of the Negro was only +complicating the problem and intensifying its dangerous features. Said +he of the Negro people: "As a race, they are deteriorating morally every +day. Time has demonstrated that they are more criminal as freemen than +as slaves; that they are increasing in criminality with frightful +rapidity, being one-third more criminal in 1890 than in 1880." A +few weeks later Bishop Brown of Arkansas in a widely quoted address +contended that the Southern Negro was going backward both morally and +intellectually and could never be expected to take a helpful part in the +Government; and he also justified lynching. In the same year one of the +more advanced thinkers of the South, Edgar Gardner Murphy, in _Problems +of the Present South_ was not yet quite willing to receive the Negro on +the basis of citizenship; and Thomas Nelson Page, who had belittled the +Negro in such a collection of stories as _In Ole Virginia_ and in such a +novel as _Red Rock_[1] formally stated his theories in _The Negro: The +Southerner's Problem_. The worst, however--if there could be a worst in +such an array--was yet to appear. In 1905 Thomas Dixon added to a series +of high-keyed novels _The Clansman_, a glorification of the KuKlux Klan +that gave a malignant portrayal of the Negro and that was of such a +quality as to arouse the most intense prejudice and hatred. Within a +few months the work was put on the stage and again and again it threw +audiences into the wildest excitement. The production was to some +extent held to blame for the Atlanta Massacre. In several cities it was +proscribed. In Philadelphia on October 23, 1906, after the Negro +people had made an unavailing protest, three thousand of them made a +demonstration before the Walnut Street theater where the performance +was given, while the conduct of some within the playhouse almost +precipitated a riot; and in this city the play was suppressed the next +day. Throughout the South, however, and sometimes elsewhere it continued +to do its deadly work, and it was later to furnish the basis of "The +Birth of a Nation," an elaborate motion picture of the same general +tendency. + +[Footnote 1: For a general treatment of the matter of the Negro as dealt +with in American Literature, especially fiction, note "The Negro in +American Fiction," in the _Dial_, May 11, 1916, a paper included in +_The Negro in Literature and Art_. The thesis there is that imaginative +treatment of the Negro is still governed by outworn antebellum types, +or that in the search for burlesque some types of young and uncultured +Negroes of the present day are deliberately overdrawn, but that there is +not an honest or a serious facing of the characters and the situations +in the life of the Negro people in the United States to-day. Since the +paper first appeared it has received much further point; witness the +stories by E.K. Means and Octavius Roy Cohen.] + +Still another line of attack was now to attempt to deprive the Negro of +any credit for initiative or for any independent achievement whatsoever. +In May, 1903, Alfred H. Stone contributed to the _Atlantic_ a paper, +"The Mulatto in the Negro Problem," which contended at the same time +that whatever meritorious work the race had accomplished was due to the +infusion of white blood and that it was the mulatto that was constantly +poisoning the mind of the Negro with "radical teachings and destructive +doctrines." These points found frequent iteration throughout the period, +and years afterwards, in 1917, the first found formal statement in the +_American Journal of Sociology_ in an article by Edward Byron Reuter, +"The Superiority of the Mulatto," which the next year was elaborated +into a volume, _The Mulatto in the United States_. To argue the +superiority of the mulatto of course is simply to argue once more the +inferiority of the Negro to the white man. + +All of this dispraise together presented a formidable case and one from +which the race suffered immeasurably; nor was it entirely offset in the +same years by the appearance even of DuBois's remarkable book, _The +Souls of Black Folk_, or by the several uplift publications of Booker T. +Washington. In passing we wish to refer to three points: (1) The effect +of education on the Negro; (2) the matter of the Negro criminal (and of +mortality), and (3) the quality and function of the mulatto. + +Education could certainly not be blamed for the difficulties of the +problem in the new day until it had been properly tried. In no one of +the Southern states within the period did the Negro child receive a fair +chance. He was frequently subjected to inferior teaching, dilapidated +accommodations, and short terms. In the representative city of Atlanta +in 1903 the white school population numbered 14,465 and the colored +8,118. The Negroes, however, while numbering 35 per cent of the whole, +received but 12 per cent of the school funds. The average white teacher +received $745 a year, and the Negro teacher $450. In the great reduction +of the percentage of illiteracy in the race from 70 in 1880 to 30.4 +in 1910 the missionary colleges--those of the American Missionary +Association, the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and the +Freedmen's Aid Society--played a much larger part than they are +ordinarily given credit for; and it is a very, very rare occurrence that +a graduate of one of the institutions sustained by these agencies, +or even one who has attended them for any length of time, has to be +summoned before the courts. Their influence has most decidedly been on +the side of law and order. Undoubtedly some of those who have gone forth +from these schools have not been very practical, and some have not +gained a very firm sense of relative values in life--it would be a +miracle if all had; but as a group the young people who have attended +the colleges have most abundantly justified the expenditures made in +their behalf, expenditures for which their respective states were not +responsible but of which they reaped the benefit. From one standpoint, +however, the so-called higher education did most undoubtedly complicate +the problem. Those critics of the race who felt that the only function +of Negroes in life was that of hewers of wood and drawers of water quite +fully realized that Negroes who had been to college did not care to work +longer as field laborers. Some were to prove scientific students of +agriculture, but as a group they were out of the class of peons. In this +they were just like white people and all other people. No one who has +once seen the light chooses to live always on the plane of the "man with +the hoe." Nor need it be thought that these students are unduly crowding +into professional pursuits. While, for instance, the number of Negro +physicians and dentists has greatly increased within recent years, the +number would still have to be four or five times as great to sustain +to the total Negro population the same proportion as that borne by +the whole number of white physicians and dentists to the total white +population. + +The subjects of the criminality and the mortality of the race are in +their ultimate reaches closely related, both being mainly due, as we +have suggested, to the conditions under which Negroes have been forced +to live. In the country districts, until 1900 at least, there was little +provision for improvements in methods of cooking or in sanitation, while +in cities the effects of inferior housing, poor and unlighted streets, +and of the segregation of vice in Negro neighborhoods could not be +otherwise than obvious. Thus it happened in such a year as 1898 that in +Baltimore the Negro death rate was somewhat more and in Nashville just +a little less than twice that of the white people. Legal procedure, +moreover, emphasized a vicious circle; living conditions sent the +Negroes to the courts in increasing numbers, and the courts sent them +still farther down in the scale. There were undoubtedly some Negro +thieves, some Negro murderers, and some Negroes who were incontinent; +no race has yet appeared on the face of the earth that did not contain +members having such propensities, and all such people should be dealt +with justly by law. Our present contention is that throughout the period +of which we are now speaking the dominant social system was not only +such as to accentuate criminal elements but also such as even sought +to discourage aspiring men. A few illustrations, drawn from widely +different phases of life, must suffice. In the spring of 1903, and again +in 1904, Jackson W. Giles, of Montgomery County, Alabama, contended +before the Supreme Court of the United States that he and other Negroes +in his county were wrongfully excluded from the franchise by the new +Alabama constitution. Twice was his case thrown out on technicalities, +the first time it was said because he was petitioning for the right to +vote under a constitution whose validity he denied, and the second time +because the Federal right that he claimed had not been passed on in the +state court from whose decision he appealed. Thus the supreme tribunal +in the United States evaded at the time any formal judgment as to the +real validity of the new suffrage provisions. In 1903, moreover, in +Alabama, Negroes charged with petty offenses and sometimes with no +offense at all were still sent to convict farms or turned over to +contractors. They were sometimes compelled to work as peons for a length +of time; and they were flogged, starved, hunted with bloodhounds, and +sold from one contractor to another in direct violation of law. One +Joseph Patterson borrowed $1 on a Saturday, promising to pay the +amount on the following Tuesday morning. He did not get to town at the +appointed time, and he was arrested and carried before a justice of the +peace, who found him guilty of obtaining money under false pretenses. No +time whatever was given to the Negro to get witnesses or a lawyer, or to +get money with which to pay his fine and the costs of court. He was sold +for $25 to a man named Hardy, who worked him for a year and then sold +him for $40 to another man named Pace. Patterson tried to escape, but +was recaptured and given a sentence of six months more. He was then +required to serve for an additional year to pay a doctor's bill. When +the case at last attracted attention, it appeared that for $1 borrowed +in 1903 he was not finally to be released before 1906. Another case of +interest and importance was set in New York. In the spring of 1909 +a pullman porter was arrested on the charge of stealing a card-case +containing $20. The next day he was discharged as innocent. He then +entered against his accuser a suit for $10,000 damages. The jury awarded +him $2,500, which amount the court reduced to $300, Justice P.H. Dugro +saying that a Negro when falsely imprisoned did not suffer the same +amount of injury that a white man would suffer--an opinion which the New +York _Age_ very naturally characterized as "one of the basest and most +offensive ever handed down by a New York judge." + +In the history of the question of the mulatto two facts are outstanding. +One is that before the Civil War, as was very natural under the +circumstances, mulattoes became free much faster than pure Negroes; +thus the census of 1850 showed that 581 of every 1000 free Negroes +were mulattoes and only 83 of every 1000 slaves. Since the Civil War, +moreover, the mulatto element has rapidly increased, advancing from 11.2 +per cent of the Negro population in 1850 to 20.9 per cent in 1910, or +from 126 to 264 per 1000. On the whole question of the function of this +mixed element the elaborate study, that of Reuter, is immediately thrown +out of court by its lack of accuracy. The fundamental facts on which +it rests its case are not always true, and if premises are false +conclusions are worthless. No work on the Negro that calls Toussaint +L'Ouverture and Sojourner Truth mulattoes and that will not give the +race credit for several well-known pure Negroes of the present day, +can long command the attention of scholars. This whole argument on the +mulatto goes back to the fallacy of degrading human beings by slavery +for two hundred years and then arguing that they have not the capacity +or the inclination to rise. In a country predominantly white the +quadroon has frequently been given some advantage that his black friend +did not have, from the time that one was a house-servant and the other a +field-hand; but no scientific test has ever demonstrated that the black +boy is intellectually inferior to the fair one. In America, however, it +is the fashion to place upon the Negro any blame or deficiency and +to claim for the white race any merit that an individual may show. +Furthermore--and this is a point not often remarked in discussions of +the problem--the element of genius that distinguishes the Negro artist +of mixed blood is most frequently one characteristically Negro rather +than Anglo-Saxon. Much has been made of the fact that within the society +of the race itself there have been lines of cleavage, a comparatively +few people, very fair in color, sometimes drawing off to themselves. +This is a fact, and it is simply one more heritage from slavery, most +tenacious in some conservative cities along the coast. Even there, +however, old lines are vanishing and the fusion of different groups +within the race rapidly going forward. Undoubtedly there has been some +snobbery, as there always is, and a few quadroons and octoroons have +crossed the color line and been lost to the race; but these cases are +after all comparatively few in number, and the younger generation is +more and more emphasizing the ideals of racial solidarity. In the future +there may continue to be lines of cleavage in society within the race, +but the standards governing these will primarily be character and merit. +On the whole, then, the mulatto has placed himself squarely on the side +of the difficulties, aspirations, and achievements of the Negro people +and it is simply an accident and not inherent quality that accounts for +the fact that he has been so prominent in the leadership of the race. + +The final refutation of defamation, however, is to be found in the +actual achievement of members of the race themselves. The progress in +spite of handicaps continued to be amazing. Said the New York _Sun_ +early in 1907 (copied by the _Times_) of "Negroes Who Have Made Good": +"Junius C. Groves of Kansas produces 75,000 bushels of potatoes every +year, the world's record. Alfred Smith received the blue ribbon at the +World's Fair and first prize in England for his Oklahoma-raised cotton. +Some of the thirty-five patented devices of Granville T. Woods, the +electrician, form part of the systems of the New York elevated railways +and the Bell Telephone Company. W. Sidney Pittman drew the design of +the Collis P. Huntington memorial building, the largest and finest at +Tuskegee. Daniel H. Williams, M.D., of Chicago, was the first surgeon to +sew up and heal a wounded human heart. Mary Church Terrell addressed in +three languages at Berlin recently the International Association for the +Advancement of Women. Edward H. Morris won his suit between Cook County +and the city of Chicago, and has a law practice worth $20,000 a year." + +In one department of effort, that of sport, the Negro was especially +prominent. In pugilism, a diversion that has always been noteworthy for +its popular appeal, Peter Jackson was well known as a contemporary of +John L. Sullivan. George Dixon was, with the exception of one year, +either bantamweight or featherweight champion for the whole of the +period from 1890 to 1900; and Joe Gans was lightweight champion from +1902 to 1908. Joe Walcott was welterweight champion from 1901 to 1904, +and was succeeded by Dixie Kid, who held his place from 1904 to 1908. In +1908, to the chagrin of thousands and with a victory that occasioned +a score of racial conflicts throughout the South and West and that +resulted in several deaths, Jack Johnson became the heavyweight champion +of America, a position that he was destined to hold for seven years. In +professional baseball the Negro was proscribed, though occasionally +a member of the race played on teams of the second group. Of +semi-professional teams the American Giants and the Leland Giants of +Chicago, and the Lincoln Giants of New York, were popular favorites, +and frequently numbered on their rolls players of the first order of +ability. In intercollegiate baseball W.C. Matthews of Harvard was +outstanding for several years about 1904. In intercollegiate football +Lewis at Harvard in the earlier nineties and Bullock at Dartmouth a +decade later were unusually prominent, while Marshall of Minnesota in +1905 became an All-American end. Pollard of Brown, a half-back, in 1916, +and Robeson of Rutgers, an end, in 1918, also won All-American honors. +About the turn of the century Major Taylor was a champion bicycle rider, +and John B. Taylor of Pennsylvania was an intercollegiate champion in +track athletics. Similarly fifteen years later Binga Dismond of Howard +and Chicago, Sol Butler of Dubuque, and Howard P. Drew of Southern +California were destined to win national and even international honors +in track work. Drew broke numerous records as a runner and Butler was +the winner in the broad jump at the Inter-Allied Games in the Pershing +Stadium in Paris. In 1920 E. Gourdin of Harvard came prominently forward +as one of the best track athletes that institution had ever had. + +In the face, then, of the Negro's unquestionable physical ability and +prowess the supreme criticism that he was called on to face within the +period was all the more hard to bear. In all nations and in all ages +courage under fire as a soldier has been regarded as the sterling test +of manhood, and by this standard we have seen that in war the Negro had +more than vindicated himself. His very honor as a soldier was now to be +attacked. + +In August, 1906, Companies B, C, and D of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, +United States Infantry, were stationed at Fort Brown, Brownsville, +Texas, where they were forced to exercise very great self-restraint in +the face of daily insults from the citizens. On the night of the 13th +occurred a riot in which one citizen of the town was killed, another +wounded, and the chief of police injured. The people of the town +accused the soldiers of causing the riot and demanded their removal. +Brigadier-General E.A. Garlington, Inspector General, was sent to find +the guilty men, and, failing in his mission, he recommended dishonorable +discharge for the regiment. On this recommendation President Roosevelt +on November 9 dismissed "without honor" the entire battalion, +disqualifying its members for service thereafter in either the military +or the civil employ of the United States. When Congress met in December +Senator J.B. Foraker of Ohio placed himself at the head of the critics +of the President's action, and in a ringing speech said of the +discharged men that "they asked no favors because they were Negroes, but +only justice because they were men." On January 22 the Senate authorized +a general investigation of the whole matter, a special message from +the President on the 14th having revoked the civil disability of the +discharged soldiers. The case was finally disposed of by a congressional +act approved March 3, 1909, which appointed a court of inquiry before +which any discharged man who wished to reenlist had the burden of +establishing his innocence--a procedure which clearly violated the +fundamental principle in law that a man is to be accounted innocent +until he is proved guilty. + +In connection with the dishonored soldier of Brownsville, and indeed +with reference to the Negro throughout the period, we recall Edwin +Markham's poem, "Dreyfus,"[1] written for a far different occasion but +with fundamental principles of justice that are eternal: + +[Footnote 1: It is here quoted with the permission of the author and +in the form in which it originally appeared in _McClure's Magazine_, +September, 1899.] + + I + + A man stood stained; France was one Alp of hate, + Pressing upon him with the whole world's weight; + In all the circle of the ancient sun + There was no voice to speak for him--not one; + In all the world of men there was no sound + But of a sword flung broken to the ground. + + Hell laughed its little hour; and then behold + How one by one the guarded gates unfold! + Swiftly a sword by Unseen Forces hurled, + And now a man rising against the world! + + II + + Oh, import deep as life is, deep as time! + There is a Something sacred and sublime + Moving behind the worlds, beyond our ken, + Weighing the stars, weighing the deeds of men. + + Take heart, O soul of sorrow, and be strong! + There is one greater than the whole world's wrong. + Be hushed before the high Benignant Power + That moves wool-shod through sepulcher and tower! + No truth so low but He will give it crown; + No wrong so high but He will hurl it down. + O men that forge the fetter, it is vain; + There is a Still Hand stronger than your chain. + 'Tis no avail to bargain, sneer, and nod, + And shrug the shoulder for reply to God. + + +7. The Dawn of a To-morrow + +The bitter period that we have been considering was not wholly without +its bright features, and with the new century new voices began to be +articulate. In May, 1900, there was in Montgomery a conference in +which Southern men undertook as never before to make a study of their +problems. That some who came had yet no real conception of the task and +its difficulties may be seen from the suggestion of one man that the +Negroes be deported to the West or to the islands of the sea. Several +men advocated the repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment. The position +outstanding for its statesmanship was that of ex-Governor William A. +McCorkle of West Virginia, who asserted that the right of franchise was +the vital and underlying principle of the life of the people of the +United States and must not be violated, that the remedy for present +conditions was an "honest and inflexible educational and property basis, +administered fairly for black and white," and finally that the Negro +Problem was not a local problem but one to be settled by the hearty +cooeperation of all of the people of the United States. + +Meanwhile the Southern Educational Congress continued its sittings from +year to year, and about 1901 there developed new and great interest in +education, the Southern Education Board acting in close cooeperation with +the General Education Board, the medium of the philanthropy of John D. +Rockefeller, and frequently also with the Peabody and Slater funds.[1] +In 1907 came the announcement of the Jeanes Fund, established by Anna T. +Jeanes, a Quaker of Philadelphia, for the education of the Negro in the +rural districts of the South; and in 1911 that of the Phelps-Stokes +Fund, established by Caroline Phelps-Stokes with emphasis on the +education of the Negro in Africa and America. More and more these +agencies were to work in harmony and cooeperation with the officials in +the different states concerned. In 1900 J.L.M. Curry, a Southern man of +great breadth of culture, was still in charge of the Peabody and Slater +funds, but he was soon to pass from the scene and in the work now to +be done were prominent Robert C. Ogden, Hollis B. Frissell, Wallace +Buttrick, George Foster Peabody, and James H. Dillard. + +[Footnote 1: In 1867 George Peabody, an American merchant and patriot, +established the Peabody Educational Fund for the purpose of promoting +"intellectual, moral, and industrial education in the most destitute +portion of the Southern states." The John F. Slater Fund was established +in 1882 especially for the encouragement of the industrial education of +Negroes.] + +Along with the mob violence, moreover, that disgraced the opening years +of the century was an increasing number of officers who were disposed +to do their duty even under trying circumstances. Less than two +months after his notorious inaugural Governor Vardaman of Mississippi +interested the reading public by ordering out a company of militia when +a lynching was practically announced to take place, and by boarding a +special train to the scene to save the Negro. In this same state +in 1909, when the legislature passed a law levying a tax for the +establishment of agricultural schools for white students, and levied +this on the property of white people and Negroes alike, though only the +white people were to have schools, a Jasper County Negro contested +the matter before the Chancery Court, which declared the law +unconstitutional, and he was further supported by the Supreme Court of +the state. Such a decision was inspiring, but it was not the rule, and +already the problems of another decade were being foreshadowed. Already +also under the stress of conditions in the South many Negroes were +seeking a haven in the North. By 1900 there were as many Negroes in +Pennsylvania as in Missouri, whereas twenty years before there had been +twice as many in the latter state. There were in Massachusetts more than +in Delaware, whereas twenty years before Delaware had had 50 per cent +more than Massachusetts. Within twenty years Virginia gained 312,000 +white people and only 29,000 Negroes, the latter having begun a steady +movement to New York. North Carolina gained 400,000 white people and +only 93,000 Negroes. South Carolina and Mississippi, however, were not +yet affected in large measure by the movement. + +The race indeed was beginning to be possessed by a new consciousness. +After 1895 Booker T. Washington was a very genuine leader. From the +first, however, there was a distinct group of Negro men who honestly +questioned the ultimate wisdom of the so-called Atlanta Compromise, +and who felt that in seeming to be willing temporarily to accept +proscription and to waive political rights Dr. Washington had given up +too much. Sometimes also there was something in his illustrations of the +effects of current methods of education that provoked reply. Those +who were of the opposition, however, were not at first united and +constructive, and in their utterances they sometimes offended by +harshness of tone. Dr. Washington himself said of the extremists in this +group that they frequently understood theories but not things; that in +college they gave little thought to preparing for any definite task in +the world, but started out with the idea of preparing themselves to +solve the race problem; and that many of them made a business of keeping +the troubles, wrongs, and hardships of the Negro race before the +public.[1] There was ample ground for this criticism. More and more, +however, the opposition gained force; the _Guardian_, a weekly paper +edited in Boston by Monroe Trotter, was particularly outspoken, and in +Boston the real climax came in 1903 in an endeavor to break up a meeting +at which Dr. Washington was to speak. Then, beginning in January, 1904, +the _Voice of the Negro_, a magazine published in Atlanta for three +years, definitely helped toward the cultivation of racial ideals. +Publication of the periodical became irregular after the Atlanta +Massacre, and it finally expired in 1907. Some of the articles dealt +with older and more philosophical themes, but there were also bright and +illuminating studies in education and other social topics, as well as a +strong stand on political issues. The _Colored American_, published in +Boston just a few years before the _Voice_ began to appear, also did +inspiring work. Various local or state organizations, moreover, from +time to time showed the virtue of cooeperation; thus the Georgia Equal +Rights Convention, assembled in Macon in February, 1906, at the call of +William J. White, the veteran editor of the _Georgia Baptist_, brought +together representative men from all over the state and considered such +topics as the unequal division of school taxes, the deprivation of the +jury rights of Negroes, the peonage system, and the penal system. In +1905 twenty-nine men of the race launched what was known as the Niagara +Movement. The aims of this organization were freedom of speech and +criticism, an unlettered and unsubsidized press, manhood suffrage, the +abolition of all caste distinctions based simply on race and color, the +recognition of the principle of human brotherhood as a practical present +creed, the recognition of the highest and best training as the monopoly +of no class or race, a belief in the dignity of labor, and united effort +to realize these ideals under wise and courageous leadership. The time +was not yet quite propitious, and the Niagara Movement as such died +after three or four years. Its principles lived on, however, and it +greatly helped toward the formation of a stronger and more permanent +organization. + +[Footnote 1: See chapter "The Intellectuals," in _My Larger Education_.] + +In 1909 a number of people who were interested in the general effect +of the Negro Problem on democracy in America organized in New York the +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.[1] It was +felt that the situation had become so bad that the time had come for +a simple declaration of human rights. In 1910 Moorfield Storey, a +distinguished lawyer of Boston, became national president, and W.E. +Burghardt DuBois director of publicity and research, and editor of the +_Crisis_, which periodical began publication in November of this year. +The organization was successful from the first, and local branches were +formed all over the country, some years elapsing, however, before the +South was penetrated. Said the Director: "Of two things we Negroes have +dreamed for many years: An organization so effective and so powerful +that when discrimination and injustice touched one Negro, it would touch +12,000,000. We have not got this yet, but we have taken a great step +toward it. We have dreamed, too, of an organization that would work +ceaselessly to make Americans know that the so-called 'Negro problem' is +simply one phase of the vaster problem of democracy in America, and that +those who wish freedom and justice for their country must wish it for +every black citizen. This is the great and insistent message of the +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People." + +[Footnote 1: For detailed statement of origin see pamphlet, "How the +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Began," by +Mary White Ovington, published by the Association.] + +This organization is outstanding as an effort in cooeperation between +the races for the improvement of the condition of the Negro. Of special +interest along the line of economic betterment has been the National +League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, now known as the National +Urban League, which also has numerous branches with headquarters in New +York and through whose offices thousands of Negroes have been placed +in honorable employment. The National Urban League was also formally +organized in 1910; it represented a merging of the different agencies +working in New York City in behalf of the social betterment of the Negro +population, especially of the National League for the Protection +of Colored Women and of the Committee for Improving the Industrial +Conditions among Negroes in New York, both of which agencies had been +organized in 1906. As we shall see, the work of the League was to be +greatly expanded within the next decade by the conditions brought about +by the war; and under the direction of the executive secretary, Eugene +Kinckle Jones, with the assistance of alert and patriotic officers, its +work was to prove one of genuinely national service. + +Interesting also was a new concern on the part of the young Southern +college man about the problems at his door. Within just a few years +after the close of the period now considered, Phelps-Stokes fellowships +for the study of problems relating to the Negro were founded at the +Universities of Virginia and Georgia; it was expected that similar +fellowships would be founded in other institutions; and there was +interest in the annual meetings of the Southern Sociological Congress +and the University Commission on Southern Race Questions. + +Thus from one direction and another at length broke upon a "vale of +tears" a new day of effort and of hope. For the real contest the forces +were gathering. The next decade was to be one of unending bitterness and +violence, but also one in which the Negro was to rise as never before to +the dignity of self-reliant and courageous manhood. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE NEGRO IN THE NEW AGE + + +1. _Character of the Period_ + +The decade 1910-1920, momentous in the history of the world, in the +history of the Negro race in America must finally be regarded as the +period of a great spiritual uprising against the proscription, the +defamation, and the violence of the preceding twenty years. As never +before the Negro began to realize that the ultimate burden of his +salvation rested upon himself, and he learned to respect and to depend +upon himself accordingly. + +The decade naturally divides into two parts, that before and that after +the beginning of the Great War in Europe. Even in the earlier years, +however, the tendencies that later were dominant were beginning to be +manifest. The greater part of the ten years was consumed by the two +administrations of President Woodrow Wilson; and not only did the +National Government in the course of these administrations discriminate +openly against persons of Negro descent in the Federal service and fail +to protect those who happened to live in the capital, but its policy +also gave encouragement to outrage in places technically said to be +beyond its jurisdiction. A great war was to give new occasion and +new opportunity for discrimination, defamatory propaganda was to be +circulated on a scale undreamed of before, and the close of the war was +to witness attempts for a new reign of terror in the South. Even beyond +the bounds of continental America the race was now to suffer by reason +of the national policy, and the little republic of Hayti to lift its +bleeding hands to the calm judgment of the world. + +Both a cause and a result of the struggle through which the race was now +to pass was its astonishing progress. The fiftieth anniversary of the +Emancipation Proclamation--January 1, 1913--called to mind as did +nothing else the proscription and the mistakes, but also the successes +and the hopes of the Negro people in America. Throughout the South +disfranchisement seemed almost complete; and yet, after many attempts, +the movement finally failed in Maryland in 1911 and in Arkansas in 1912. +In 1915, moreover, the disfranchising act of Oklahoma was declared +unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court, and henceforth the +Negro could feel that the highest legal authority was no longer on the +side of those who sought to deprive him of all political voice. Eleven +years before, the Court had taken refuge in technicalities. The year +1911 was also marked by the appointment of the first Negro policeman in +New York, by the election of the first Negro legislator in Pennsylvania, +and by the appointment of a man of the race, William H. Lewis, as +Assistant Attorney General of the United States; and several civil +rights suits were won in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Banks, +insurance companies, and commercial and industrial enterprises were +constantly being capitalized; churches erected more and more stately +edifices; and fraternal organizations constantly increased in membership +and wealth. By 1913 the Odd Fellows numbered very nearly half a million +members and owned property worth two and a half million dollars; in +1920 the Dunbar Amusement Corporation of Philadelphia erected a theater +costing $400,000; and the foremost business woman of the race in the +decade, Mme. C.J. Walker, on the simple business of toilet articles and +hair preparations built up an enterprise of national scope and conducted +in accordance with the principles regularly governing great American +commercial organizations. Fifty years after emancipation, moreover, very +nearly one-fourth of all the Negroes in the Southern states were living +in homes that they themselves owned; thus 430,449 of 1,917,391 houses +occupied in these states were reported in 1910 as owned, and 314,340 +were free of all encumbrance. The percentage of illiteracy decreased +from 70 in 1880 to 30.4 in 1910, and movements were under way for the +still more rapid spread of elementary knowledge. Excellent high schools, +such as those in St. Louis, Washington, Kansas City (both cities of this +name), Louisville, Baltimore, and other cities and towns in the border +states and sometimes as far away as Texas, were setting a standard such +as was in accord with the best in the country; and in one year, 1917, +455 young people of the race received the degree of bachelor of arts, +while throughout the decade different ones received honors and took the +highest graduate degrees at the foremost institutions of learning in the +country. Early in the decade the General Education Board began actively +to assist in the work of the higher educational institutions, and an +outstanding gift was that of half a million dollars to Fisk University +in 1920. Meanwhile, through the National Urban League and hundreds of +local clubs and welfare organizations, social betterment went forward, +much impetus being given to the work by the National Association of +Colored Women's Clubs organized in 1896. + +Along with its progress, throughout the decade the race had to meet +increasing bitterness and opposition, and this was intensified by the +motion picture, "The Birth of a Nation," built on lines similar to those +of _The Clansman_. Negro men standing high on civil service lists were +sometimes set aside; in 1913 the white railway mail clerks of the +South began an open campaign against Negroes in the service in direct +violation of the rules; and a little later in the same year segregation +in the different departments became notorious. In 1911 the American Bar +Association raised the question of the color-line; and efforts for the +restriction of Negroes to certain neighborhoods in different prominent +cities sometimes resulted in violence, as in the dynamiting of the homes +of Negroes in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1911. When the Progressive party +was organized in 1912 the Negro was given to understand that his support +was not sought, and in 1911 a strike of firemen on the Queen and +Crescent Railroad was in its main outlines similar to the trouble on +the Georgia Railroad two years before. Meanwhile in the South the race +received only 18 per cent of the total expenditures for education, +although it constituted more than 30 per cent of the population. + +Worse than anything else, however, was the matter of lynching. In each +year the total number of victims of illegal execution continued to +number three- or fourscore; but no one could ever be sure that every +instance had been recorded. Between the opening of the decade and the +time of the entrance of the United States into the war, five cases were +attended by such unusual circumstances that the public could not soon +forget them. At Coatesville, Pennsylvania, not far from Philadelphia, on +August 12, 1911, a Negro laborer, Zach Walker, while drunk, fatally shot +a night watchman. He was pursued and attempted suicide. Wounded, he was +brought to town and placed in the hospital. From this place he was taken +chained to his cot, dragged for some miles, and then tortured and burned +to death in the presence of a great crowd of people, including many +women, and his bones and the links of the chain which bound him +distributed as souvenirs. At Monticello, Georgia, in January, 1915, when +a Negro family resisted an officer who was making an arrest, the father, +Dan Barbour, his young son, and his two daughters were all hanged to a +tree and their bodies riddled with bullets. Before the close of the year +there was serious trouble in the southwestern portion of the state, and +behind this lay all the evils of the system of peonage in the black +belt. Driven to desperation by the mistreatment accorded them in the +raising of cotton, the Negroes at last killed an overseer who had +whipped a Negro boy. A reign of terror was then instituted; churches, +society halls, and homes were burnt, and several individuals shot. On +December 30 there was a wholesale lynching of six Negroes in Early +County. Less than three weeks afterwards a sheriff who attempted to +arrest some more Negroes and who was accompanied by a mob was killed. +Then (January 20, 1916) five Negroes who had been taken from the jail in +Worth County were rushed in automobiles into Lee County adjoining, and +hanged and shot. On May 15, 1916, at Waco, Texas, Jesse Washington, a +sullen and overgrown boy of seventeen, who worked for a white farmer +named Fryar at the town of Robinson, six miles away, and who one week +before had criminally assaulted and killed Mrs. Fryar, after unspeakable +mutilation was burned in the heart of the town. A part of the torture +consisted in stabbing with knives and the cutting off of the boy's +fingers as he grabbed the chain by which he was bound. Finally, on +October 21, 1916, Anthony Crawford, a Negro farmer of Abbeville, South +Carolina, who owned four hundred and twenty-seven acres of the best +cotton land in his county and who was reported to be worth $20,000, was +lynched. He had come to town to the store of W.D. Barksdale to sell a +load of cotton-seed, and the two men had quarreled about the price, +although no blow was struck on either side. A little later, however, +Crawford was arrested by a local policeman and a crowd of idlers from +the public square rushed to give him a whipping for his "impudence." He +promptly knocked down the ringleader with a hammer. The mob then set +upon him, nearly killed him, and at length threw him into the jail. A +few hours later, fearing that the sheriff would secretly remove the +prisoner, it returned, dragged the wounded man forth, and then hanged +and shot him, after which proceedings warning was sent to his family to +leave the county by the middle of the next month. + +It will be observed that in these five noteworthy occurrences, in only +one case was there any question of criminal assault. On the other hand, +in one case two young women were included among the victims; another was +really a series of lynchings emphasizing the lot of some Negroes under +a vicious economic system; and the last simply grew out of the jealousy +and hatred aroused by a Negro of independent means who knew how to stand +up for his rights. + +Such was the progress, such also the violence that the Negro witnessed +during the decade. Along with his problems at home he now began to have +a new interest in those of his kin across the sea, and this feeling was +intensified by the world war. It raises questions of such far-reaching +importance, however, that it must receive separate and distinct +treatment. + + +2. _Migration; East St. Louis_ + +Very soon after the beginning of the Great War in Europe there began +what will ultimately be known as the most remarkable migratory movement +in the history of the Negro in America. Migration had indeed at no time +ceased since the great movement of 1879, but for the most part it had +been merely personal and not in response to any great emergency. The +sudden ceasing of the stream of immigration from Europe, however, +created an unprecedented demand for labor in the great industrial +centers of the North, and business men were not long in realizing +the possibilities of a source that had as yet been used in only the +slightest degree. Special agents undoubtedly worked in some measure; but +the outstanding feature of the new migration was that it was primarily a +mass movement and not one organized or encouraged by any special group +of leaders. Labor was needed in railroad construction, in the steel +mills, in the tobacco farms of Connecticut, and in the packing-houses, +foundries, and automobile plants. In 1915 the New England tobacco +growers hastily got together in New York two hundred girls; but these +proved to be unsatisfactory, and it was realized that the labor supply +would have to be more carefully supervised. In January, 1916, the +management of the Continental Tobacco Corporation definitely decided on +the policy of importing workers from the South, and within the next year +not less than three thousand Negroes came to Hartford, several hundred +being students from the schools and colleges who went North to work for +the summer. In the same summer came also train-loads of Negroes from +Jacksonville and other points to work for the Erie and Pennsylvania +Railroads. + +Those who left their homes in the South to find new ones in the North +thus worked first of all in response to a new economic demand. +Prominent in their thought to urge them on, however, were the generally +unsatisfactory conditions in the South from which they had so long +suffered and from which all too often there had seemed to be no escape. +As it was, they were sometimes greatly embarrassed in leaving. In +Jacksonville the city council passed an ordinance requiring that agents +who wished to recruit labor to be sent out of the state should pay +$1,000 for a license or suffer a fine of $600 and spend sixty days in +jail. Macon, Ga., raised the license fee to $25,000. In Savannah the +excitement was intense. When two trains did not move as it was expected +that they would, three hundred Negroes paid their own fares and went +North. Later, when the leaders of the movement could not be found, the +police arrested one hundred of the Negroes and sent them to the police +barracks, charging them with loitering. Similar scenes were enacted +elsewhere, the South being then as ever unwilling to be deprived of its +labor supply. Meanwhile wages for some men in such an industrial center +as Birmingham leaped to $9 and $10 a day. All told, hardly less than +three-fourths of a million Negroes went North within the four years +1915-1918. + +Naturally such a great shifting of population did not take place without +some inconvenience and hardship. Among the thousands who changed their +place of residence were many ignorant and improvident persons; but +sometimes it was the most skilled artisans and the most substantial +owners of homes in different communities who sold their property +and moved away. In the North they at once met congestion in housing +facilities. In Philadelphia and Pittsburgh this condition became so bad +as to demand immediate attention. In more than one place there were +outbreaks in which lives were lost. In East St. Louis, Ill., all of the +social problems raised by the movement were seen in their baldest guise. +The original population of this city had come for the most part from +Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It had long been an +important industrial center. It was also a very rough place, the scene +of prize-fights and cock-fights and a haven for escaped prisoners; and +there was very close connection between the saloons and politics. For +years the managers of the industrial plants had recruited their labor +supply from Ellis Island. When this failed they turned to the Negroes of +the South; and difficulties were aggravated by a series of strikes on +the part of the white workers. By the spring of 1917 not less than ten +thousand Negroes had recently arrived in the city, and the housing +situation was so acute that these people were more and more being forced +into the white localities. Sometimes Negroes who had recently arrived +wandered aimlessly about the streets, where they met the rougher +elements of the city; there were frequent fights and also much trouble +on the street cars. The Negroes interested themselves in politics and +even succeeded in placing in office several men of their choice. In +February, 1917, there was a strike of the white workers at the Aluminum +Ore Works. This was adjusted at the time, but the settlement was not +permanent, and meanwhile there were almost daily arrivals from the +South, and the East St. Louis _Journal_ was demanding: "Make East St. +Louis a Lily White Town." There were preliminary riots on May 27-30. On +the night of July I men in automobiles rode through the Negro section +and began firing promiscuously. The next day the massacre broke forth in +all its fury, and before it was over hundreds of thousands of dollars in +property had been destroyed, six thousand Negroes had been driven from +their homes, and about one hundred and fifty shot, burned, hanged, or +maimed for life. Officers of the law failed to do their duty, and the +testimony of victims as to the torture inflicted upon them was such as +to send a thrill of horror through the heart of the American people. +Later there was a congressional investigation, but from this nothing +very material resulted. In the last week of this same month, July, 1917, +there were also serious outbreaks in both Chester and Philadelphia, +Penn., the fundamental issues being the same as in East St. Louis. + +Meanwhile welfare organizations earnestly labored to adjust the Negro in +his new environment. In Chicago the different state clubs helped nobly. +Greater than any other one agency, however, was the National Urban +League, whose work now witnessed an unprecedented expansion. +Representative was the work of the Detroit branch, which was not content +merely with finding vacant positions, but approached manufacturers of +all kinds through distribution of literature and by personal visits, +and within twelve months was successful in placing not less than one +thousand Negroes in employment other than unskilled labor. It also +established a bureau of investigation and information regarding housing +conditions, and generally aimed at the proper moral and social care of +those who needed its service. The whole problem of the Negro was of such +commanding importance after the United States entered the war as to lead +to the creation of a special Division of Negro Economics in the office +of the Secretary of Labor, to the directorship of which Dr. George E. +Haynes was called. + +In January, 1918, a Conference of Migration was called in New York under +the auspices of the National Urban League, and this placed before the +American Federation of Labor resolutions asking that Negro labor be +considered on the same basis as white. The Federation had long been +debating the whole question of the Negro, and it had not seemed to be +able to arrive at a clearcut policy though its general attitude was +unfavorable. In 1919, however, it voted to take steps to recognize and +admit Negro unions. At last it seemed to realize the necessity of making +allies of Negro workers, and of course any such change of front on the +part of white workmen would menace some of the foundations of racial +strife in the South and indeed in the country at large. Just how +effective the new decision was to be in actual practice remained to be +seen, especially as the whole labor movement was thrown on the defensive +by the end of 1920. However, special interest attached to the events +in Bogalusa, La., in November, 1919. Here were the headquarters of the +Great Southern Lumber Company, whose sawmill in the place was said to be +the largest in the world. For some time it had made use of unorganized +Negro labor as against the white labor unions. The forces of labor, +however, began to organize the Negroes in the employ of the Company, +which held political as well as capitalistic control in the community. +The Company then began to have Negroes arrested on charges of vagrancy, +taking them before the city court and having them fined and turned over +to the Company to work out the fines under the guard of gunmen. In the +troubles that came to a head on November 22, three white men were shot +and killed, one of them being the district president of the American +Federation of Labor, who was helping to give protection to a colored +organizer. The full significance of this incident remained also to be +seen; but it is quite possible that in the final history of the Negro +problem the skirmish at Bogalusa will mark the beginning of the end of +the exploiting of Negro labor and the first recognition of the identity +of interest between white and black workmen in the South. + + +3. _The Great War_ + +Just on the eve of America's entrance into the war in Europe occurred +an incident that from the standpoint of the Negro at least must finally +appear simply as the prelude to the great contest to come. Once more, +at an unexpected moment, ten years after Brownsville, the loyalty +and heroism of the Negro soldier impressed the American people. The +expedition of the American forces into Mexico in 1916, with the +political events attending this, is a long story. The outstanding +incident, however, was that in which two troops of the Tenth Cavalry +engaged. About eighty men had been sent a long distance from the main +line of the American army, their errand being supposedly the pursuit of +a deserter. At or near the town of Carrizal the Americans seem to have +chosen to go through the town rather than around it, and the result was +a clash in which Captain Boyd, who commanded the detachment, and some +twenty of his men were killed, twenty-two others being captured by the +Mexicans. Under the circumstances the whole venture was rather imprudent +in the first place. As to the engagement itself, the Mexicans said that +the American troops made the attack, while the latter said that the +Mexicans themselves first opened fire. However this may have been, +all other phases of the Mexican problem seemed for the moment to be +forgotten at Washington in the demand for the release of the twenty-two +men who had been taken. There was no reason for holding them, and they +were brought up to El Paso within a few days and sent across the line. +Thus, though "some one had blundered," these Negro soldiers did their +duty; "theirs not to make reply; theirs but to do and die." So in the +face of odds they fought like heroes and twenty died beneath the Mexican +stars. + +When the United States entered the war in Europe in April, 1917, the +question of overwhelming importance to the Negro people was naturally +that of their relation to the great conflict in which their country +had become engaged. Their response to the draft call set a noteworthy +example of loyalty to all other elements in the country. At the very +outset the race faced a terrible dilemma: If there were to be special +training camps for officers, and if the National Government would make +no provision otherwise, did it wish to have a special camp for Negroes, +such as would give formal approval to a policy of segregation, or did it +wish to have no camp at all on such terms and thus lose the opportunity +to have any men of the race specially trained as officers? The camp was +secured--Camp Dodge, near Des Moines, Iowa; and throughout the summer +of 1917 the work of training went forward, the heart of a harassed and +burdened people responding more and more with pride to the work of their +men. On October 15, 625 became commissioned officers, and all told 1200 +received commissions. To the fighting forces of the United States the +race furnished altogether very nearly 400,000 men, of whom just a little +more than half actually saw service in Europe. + +Negro men served in all branches of the military establishment and also +as surveyors and draftsmen. For the handling of many of the questions +relating to them Emmett J. Scott was on October 1, 1917, appointed +Special Assistant to the Secretary of War. Mr. Scott had for a number +of years assisted Dr. Booker T. Washington as secretary at Tuskegee +Institute, and in 1909 he was one of the three members of the special +commission appointed by President Taft for the investigation of Liberian +affairs. Negro nurses were authorized by the War Department for service +in base hospitals at six army camps, and women served also as canteen +workers in France and in charge of hostess houses in the United States. +Sixty Negro men served as chaplains; 350 as Y.M.C.A. secretaries; and +others in special capacities. Service of exceptional value was rendered +by Negro women in industry, and very largely also they maintained and +promoted the food supply through agriculture at the same time that they +released men for service at the front. Meanwhile the race invested +millions of dollars in Liberty Bonds and War Savings stamps and +contributed generously to the Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., and other relief +agencies. In the summer of 1918 interest naturally centered upon +the actual performance of Negro soldiers in France and upon the +establishment of units of the Students' Army Training Corps in twenty +leading educational institutions. When these units were demobilized in +December, 1918, provision was made in a number of the schools for the +formation of units of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. + +The remarkable record made by the Negro in the previous wars of the +country was fully equaled by that in the Great War. Negro soldiers +fought with special distinction in the Argonne Forest, at +Chateau-Thierry, in Belleau Wood, in the St. Mihiel district, in the +Champagne sector, at Vosges and Metz, winning often very high praise +from their commanders. Entire regiments of Negro troops were cited for +exceptional valor and decorated with the Croix de Guerre--the 369th, the +371st, and the 372nd; while groups of officers and men of the 365th, the +366th, the 368th, the 370th, and the first battalion of the 367th were +also decorated. At the close of the war the highest Negro officers in +the army were Lieutenant Colonel Otis B. Duncan, commander of the third +battalion of the 370th, formerly the Eighth Illinois, and the highest +ranking Negro officer in the American Expeditionary Forces; Colonel +Charles Young (retired), on special duty at Camp Grant, Ill.; Colonel +Franklin A. Dennison, of the 370th Infantry, and Lieutenant Colonel +Benjamin O. Davis, of the Ninth Cavalry. The 370th was the first +American regiment stationed in the St. Mihiel sector; it was one of the +three that occupied a sector at Verdun when a penetration there would +have been disastrous to the Allied cause; and it went direct from the +training camp to the firing-line. Noteworthy also was the record of +the 369th infantry, formerly the Fifteenth Regiment, New York National +Guard. This organization was under shellfire for 191 days, and it held +one trench for 91 days without relief. It was the first unit of Allied +fighters to reach the Rhine, going down as an advance guard of the +French army of occupation. A prominent hero in this regiment was +Sergeant Henry Johnson, who returned with the Croix de Guerre with one +star and one palm. He is credited with routing a party of Germans at +Bois-Hanzey in the Argonne on May 5, 1918, with singularly heavy losses +to the enemy. Many other men acted with similar bravery. Hardly less +heroic was the service of the stevedore regiments, or the thousands of +men in the army who did not go to France but who did their duty as they +were commanded at home. General Vincenden said of the men of the 370th: +"Fired by a noble ardor, they go at times even beyond the objectives +given them by the higher command; they have always wished to be in the +front line"; and General Coybet said of the 371st and 372nd: "The most +powerful defenses, the most strongly organized machine gun nests, the +heaviest artillery barrages--nothing could stop them. These crack +regiments overcame every obstacle with a most complete contempt for +danger.... They have shown us the way to victory." + +In spite of his noble record--perhaps in some measure because of it--and +in the face of his loyal response to the call to duty, the Negro +unhappily became in the course of the war the victim of proscription and +propaganda probably without parallel in the history of the country. No +effort seems to have been spared to discredit him both as a man and as +a soldier. In both France and America the apparent object of the forces +working against him was the intention to prevent any feeling that the +war would make any change in the condition of the race at home. In the +South Negroes were sometimes forced into peonage and restrained in their +efforts to go North; and generally they had no representation on local +boards, the draft was frequently operated so as to be unfair to them, +and every man who registered found special provision for the indication +of his race in the corner of his card. Accordingly in many localities +Negroes contributed more than their quota, this being the result +of favoritism shown to white draftees. The first report of the +Provost-Marshal General showed that of every 100 Negroes called 36 were +certified for service, while of every 100 white men called only 25 were +certified. Of those summoned in Class I Negroes contributed 51.65 per +cent of their registrants as against 32.53 per cent of the white. In +France the work of defamation was manifest and flagrant. Slanders about +the Negro soldiers were deliberately circulated among the French people, +sometimes on very high authority, much of this propaganda growing out of +a jealous fear of any acquaintance whatsoever of the Negro men with the +French women. Especially insolent and sometimes brutal were the men +of the military police, who at times shot and killed on the slightest +provocation. Proprietors who sold to Negro soldiers were sometimes +boycotted, and offenses were magnified which in the case of white men +never saw publication. Negro officers were discriminated against in +hotel and traveling accommodations, while upon the ordinary men in +the service fell unduly any specially unpleasant duty such as that +of re-burying the dead. White women engaged in "Y" work, especially +Southern women, showed a disposition not to serve Negroes, though the +Red Cross and Salvation Army organizations were much better in this +respect; and finally the Negro soldier was not given any place in the +great victory parade in Paris. About the close of the war moreover a +great picture, or series of pictures, the "Pantheon de la Guerre," that +was on a mammoth scale and that attracted extraordinary attention, was +noteworthy as giving representation to all of the forces and divisions +of the Allied armies except the Negroes in the forces from the United +States.[1] Not unnaturally the Germans endeavored--though without +success--to capitalize the situation by circulating among the Negroes +insidious literature that sometimes made very strong points. All of +these things are to be considered by those people in the United States +who think that the Negro suffers unduly from a grievance. + +[Footnote 1: On the whole subject of the actual life of the Negro +soldier unusual interest attaches to the forthcoming and authoritative +"Sidelights on Negro Soldiers," by Charles H. Williams, who as a special +and official investigator had unequaled opportunity to study the Negro +in camp and on the battle-line both in the United States and in France.] + +While the Negro soldier abroad was thus facing unusual pressure in +addition to the ordinary hardships of war, at home occurred an incident +that was doubly depressing coming as it did just a few weeks after +the massacre at East St. Louis. In August, 1917, a battalion of the +Twenty-fourth Infantry, stationed at Houston, Texas, to assist in the +work of concentrating soldiers for the war in Europe, encountered the +ill-will of the town, and between the city police and the Negro military +police there was constant friction. At last when one of the Negroes had +been beaten, word was circulated among his comrades that he had been +shot, and a number of them set out for revenge. In the riot that +followed (August 23) two of the Negroes and seventeen white people of +the town were killed, the latter number including five policemen. As +a result of this encounter sixty-three members of the battalion were +court-martialed at Fort Sam Houston. Thirteen were hanged on December +11, 1917, five more were executed on September 13, 1918, fifty-one were +sentenced to life imprisonment and five to briefer terms; and the Negro +people of the country felt very keenly the fact that the condemned +men were hanged like common criminals rather than given the death of +soldiers. Thus for one reason or another the whole matter of the war and +the incidents connected therewith simply made the Negro question more +bitterly than ever the real disposition toward him of the government +under which he lived and which he had striven so long to serve. + + +4. _High Tension: Washington, Chicago, Elaine_ + +Such incidents abroad and such feeling at home as we have recorded not +only agitated the Negro people, but gave thousands of other citizens +concern, and when the armistice suddenly came on November 11, 1918, not +only in the South but in localities elsewhere in the country racial +feeling had been raised to the highest point. About the same time there +began to be spread abroad sinister rumors that the old KuKlux were +riding again; and within a few months parades at night in representative +cities in Alabama and Georgia left no doubt that the rumors were well +founded. The Negro people fully realized the significance of the new +movement, and they felt full well the pressure being brought to bear +upon them in view of the shortage of domestic servants in the South. +Still more did they sense the situation that would face their sons and +brothers when they returned from France. But they were not afraid; and +in all of the riots of the period the noteworthy fact stands out that +in some of the cities in which the situation was most tense--notably +Atlanta and Birmingham--no great race trouble was permitted to start. + +In general, however, the violence that had characterized the year 1917 +continued through 1918 and 1919. In the one state of Tennessee, within +less than a year and on separate occasions, three Negroes were burned at +the stake. On May 22, 1917, near Memphis, Ell T. Person, nearly fifty +years of age, was burned for the alleged assault and murder of a young +woman; and in this case the word "alleged" is used advisedly, for the +whole matter of the fixing of the blame for the crime and the fact that +the man was denied a legal trial left grave doubt as to the extent of +his guilt. On Sunday, December 2, 1917, at Dyersburg, immediately after +the adjournment of services in the churches of the town, Lation Scott, +guilty of criminal assault, was burned; his eyes were put out with +red-hot irons, a hot poker was rammed down his throat, and he was +mutilated in unmentionable ways. Two months later, on February 12, 1918, +at Estill Springs, Jim McIlheron, who had shot and killed two young +white men, was also burned at the stake. In Estill Springs it had for +some time been the sport of young white men in the community to throw +rocks at single Negroes and make them run. Late one afternoon McIlheron +went into a store to buy some candy. As he passed out, a remark was made +by one of three young men about his eating his candy. The rest of the +story is obvious. + +As horrible as these burnings were, it is certain that they did not +grind the iron into the Negro's soul any more surely than the three +stories that follow. Hampton Smith was known as one of the harshest +employers of Negro labor in Brooks County, Ga. As it was difficult for +him to get help otherwise, he would go into the courts and whenever a +Negro was convicted and was unable to pay his fine or was sentenced to +a term on the chain-gang, he would pay the fine and secure the man for +work on his plantation. He thus secured the services of Sidney Johnson, +fined thirty dollars for gambling. After Johnson had more than worked +out the thirty dollars he asked pay for the additional time he served. +Smith refused to give this and a quarrel resulted. A few mornings later, +when Johnson, sick, did not come to work, Smith found him in his cabin +and beat him. A few evenings later, while Smith was sitting in his home, +he was shot through a window and killed instantly, and his wife was +wounded. As a result of this occurrence the Negroes of both Brooks and +Lowndes counties were terrorized for the week May 17-24, 1918, and not +less than eleven of them lynched. Into the bodies of two men lynched +together not less than seven hundred bullets are said to have been +fired. Johnson himself had been shot dead when he was found; but his +body was mutilated, dragged through the streets of Valdosta, and burned. +Mary Turner, the wife of one of the victims, said that her husband had +been unjustly treated and that if she knew who had killed him she would +have warrants sworn out against them. For saying this she too was +lynched, although she was in an advanced state of pregnancy. Her ankles +were tied together and she was hung to a tree, head downward. Gasoline +and oil from the automobiles near were thrown on her clothing and a +match applied. While she was yet alive her abdomen was cut open with a +large knife and her unborn babe fell to the ground. It gave two feeble +cries and then its head was crushed by a member of the mob with his +heel. Hundreds of bullets were then fired into the woman's body. As +a result of these events not less than five hundred Negroes left the +immediate vicinity of Valdosta immediately, and hundreds of others +prepared to leave as soon as they could dispose of their land, and +this they proceeded to do in the face of the threat that any Negro who +attempted to leave would be regarded as implicated in the murder of +Smith and dealt with accordingly. At the end of this same year--on +December 20, 1918--four young Negroes--Major Clark, aged twenty; Andrew +Clark, aged fifteen; Maggie Howze, aged twenty, and Alma Howze, aged +sixteen--were taken from the little jail at Shubuta, Mississippi, and +lynched on a bridge near the town. They were accused of the murder of +E.L. Johnston, a white dentist, though all protested their innocence. +The situation that preceded the lynching was significant. Major Clark +was in love with Maggie Howze and planned to marry her. This thought +enraged Johnston, who was soon to become the father of a child by the +young woman, and who told Clark to leave her alone. As the two sisters +were about to be killed, Maggie screamed and fought, crying, "I ain't +guilty of killing the doctor and you oughtn't to kill me"; and to +silence her cries one member of the mob struck her in the mouth with +a monkey wrench, knocking her teeth out. On May 24, 1919, at Milan, +Telfair County, Georgia, two young white men, Jim Dowdy and Lewis Evans, +went drunk late at night to the Negro section of the town and to the +home of a widow who had two daughters. They were refused admittance and +then fired into the house. The girls, frightened, ran to another home. +They were pursued, and Berry Washington, a respectable Negro seventy-two +years of age, seized a shotgun, intending to give them protection; and +in the course of the shooting that followed Dowdy was killed. The next +night, Saturday the 25th, Washington was taken to the place where Dowdy +was killed and his body shot to pieces. + +It remained for the capital of the nation, however, largely to show the +real situation of the race in the aftermath of a great war conducted +by a Democratic administration. Heretofore the Federal Government had +declared itself powerless to act in the case of lawlessness in an +individual state; but it was now to have an opportunity to deal with +violence in Washington itself. On July 19, 1919, a series of lurid and +exaggerated stories in the daily papers of attempted assaults of Negroes +on white women resulted in an outbreak that was intended to terrorize +the popular Northwest section, in which lived a large proportion of +the Negroes in the District of Columbia. For three days the violence +continued intermittently, and as the constituted police authority did +practically nothing for the defense of the Negro citizens, the loss of +life might have been infinitely greater than it was if the colored men +of the city had not assumed their own defense. As it was they saved the +capital and earned the gratitude of the race and the nation. It appeared +that Negroes--educated, law-abiding Negroes--would not now run when +their lives and their homes were at stake, and before such determination +the mob retreated ingloriously. + +Just a week afterwards--before the country had really caught its breath +after the events in Washington--there burst into flame in Chicago a race +war of the greatest bitterness and fierceness. For a number of years the +Western metropolis had been known as that city offering to the Negro +the best industrial and political opportunity in the country. When the +migration caused by the war was at its height, tens of thousands of +Negroes from the South passed through the city going elsewhere, but +thousands also remained to work in the stockyards or other places. With +all of the coming and going, the Negroes in the city must at any time in +1918 or 1919 have numbered not less than 150,000; and banks, cooeperative +societies, and race newspapers flourished. There were also abundant +social problems awakened by the saloons and gambling dens, and by the +seamy side of politics. Those who had been longest in the city, however, +rallied to the needs of the newcomers, and in their homes, their +churches, and their places of work endeavored to get them adjusted in +their environment. The housing situation, in spite of all such effort, +became more and more acute, and when some Negroes were forced beyond the +bounds of the old "black belt" there were attempts to dynamite their new +residences. Meanwhile hundreds of young men who had gone to France or to +cantonments--1850 from the district of one draft board at State and 35th +Streets--returned to find again a place in the life of Chicago; and +daily from Washington or from the South came the great waves of social +unrest. Said Arnold Hill, secretary of the Chicago branch of the +National Urban League: "Every time a lynching takes place in a community +down South you can depend on it that colored people from that community +will arrive in Chicago inside of two weeks; we have seen it happen so +often that whenever we read newspaper dispatches of a public hanging +or burning in a Texas or a Mississippi town, we get ready to extend +greetings to the people from the immediate vicinity of the lynching." +Before the armistice was signed the League was each month finding work +for 1700 or 1800 men and women; in the following April the number fell +to 500, but with the coming of summer it rapidly rose again. Unskilled +work was plentiful, and jobs in foundries and steel mills, in building +and construction work, and in light factories and packing-houses kept up +a steady demand for laborers. Meanwhile trouble was brewing, and on the +streets there were occasional encounters. + +Such was the situation when on a Sunday at the end of July a Negro boy +at a bathing beach near Twenty-sixth Street swam across an imaginary +segregation line. White boys threw rocks at him, knocked him off a raft, +and he was drowned. Colored people rushed to a policeman and asked him +to arrest the boys who threw the stones. He refused to do so, and as the +dead body of the Negro boy was being handled, more rocks were thrown +on both sides. The trouble thus engendered spread through the Negro +district on the South Side, and for a week it was impossible or +dangerous for people to go to work. Some employed at the stockyards +could not get to their work for some days further. At the end of three +days twenty Negroes were reported as dead, fourteen white men were dead, +scores of people were injured, and a number of houses of Negroes burned. + +In the face of this disaster the great soul of Chicago rose above its +materialism. There were many conferences between representative people; +out of all the effort grew the determination to work for a nobler city; +and the sincerity was such as to give one hope not only for Chicago but +also for a new and better America. + +The riots in Washington and Chicago were followed within a few weeks by +outbreaks in Knoxville and Omaha. In the latter place the fundamental +cause of the trouble was social and political corruption, and because he +strongly opposed the lynching of William Brown, the Negro, the mayor of +the city, Edward P. Smith, very nearly lost his life. As it was, the +county court house was burned, one man more was killed, and perhaps +as many as forty injured. More important even than this, however--and +indeed one of the two or three most far-reaching instances of racial +trouble in the history of the Negro in America--was the reign of terror +in and near Elaine, Phillips County, Arkansas, in the first week of +October, 1919. The causes of this were fundamental and reached the very +heart of the race problem and of the daily life of tens of thousands of +Negroes. + +Many Negro tenants in eastern Arkansas, as in other states, were still +living under a share system by which the owner furnished the land +and the Negro the labor, and by which at the end of the year the two +supposedly got equal parts of the crop. Meanwhile throughout the +year the tenant would get his food, clothing, and other supplies at +exorbitant prices from a "commissary" operated by the planter or his +agent; and in actual practice the landowner and the tenant did not go +together to a city to dispose of the crop when it was gathered, as was +sometimes done elsewhere, but the landowner alone sold the crop and +settled with the tenant whenever and however he pleased; nor at the time +of settlement was any itemized statement of supplies given, only the +total amount owed being stated. Obviously the planter could regularly +pad his accounts, keep the Negro in debt, and be assured of his labor +supply from year to year. + +In 1918 the price of cotton was constantly rising and at length reached +forty cents a pound. Even with the cheating to which the Negroes were +subjected, it became difficult to keep them in debt, and they became +more and more insistent in their demands for itemized statements. +Nevertheless some of those whose cotton was sold in October, 1918, did +not get any statement of any sort before July of the next year. + +Seeing no other way out of their difficulty, sixty-eight of the Negroes +got together and decided to hire a lawyer who would help them to get +statements of their accounts and settlement at the right figures. +Feeling that the life of any Negro lawyer who took such a case would be +endangered, they employed the firm of Bratton and Bratton, of Little +Rock. They made contracts with this firm to handle the sixty-eight cases +at fifty dollars each in cash and a percentage of the moneys collected +from the white planters. Some of the Negroes also planned to go before +the Federal Grand Jury and charge certain planters with peonage. They +had secret meetings from time to time in order to collect the money to +be paid in advance and to collect the evidence which would enable them +successfully to prosecute their cases. Some Negro cotton-pickers about +the same time organized a union; and at Elaine many Negroes who worked +in the sawmills and who desired to protect their wives and daughters +from insult, refused to allow them to pick cotton or to work for a white +man at any price. + +Such was the sentiment out of which developed the Progressive Farmers +and Household Union of America, which was an effort by legal means to +secure protection from unscrupulous landlords, but which did use the +form of a fraternal order with passwords and grips and insignia so as +the more forcefully to appeal to some of its members. About the first of +October the report was spread abroad in Phillips County that the Negroes +were plotting an insurrection and that they were rapidly preparing to +massacre the white people on a great scale. When the situation had +become tense, one Sunday John Clem, a white man from Helena, drunk, came +to Elaine and proceeded to terrorize the Negro population by gun play. +The colored people kept off the streets in order to avoid trouble and +telephoned the sheriff at Helena. This man failed to act. The next day +Clem was abroad again, but the Negroes still avoided trouble, thinking +that his acts were simply designed to start a race riot. On Tuesday +evening, October 1, however, W.D. Adkins, a special agent of the +Missouri Pacific Railroad, in company with Charles Pratt, a deputy +sheriff, was riding past a Negro church near Hoop Spur, a small +community just a few miles from Elaine. According to Pratt, persons in +the church fired without cause on the party, killing Adkins and wounding +himself. According to the Negroes, Adkins and Pratt fired into the +church, evidently to frighten the people there assembled. At any rate +word spread through the county that the massacre had started, and for +days there was murder and rioting, in the course of which not less +than five white men and twenty-five Negroes were killed, though some +estimates placed the number of fatalities a great deal higher. Negroes +were arrested and disarmed; some were shot on the highways; homes were +fired into; and at one time hundreds of men and women were in a stockade +under heavy guard and under the most unwholesome conditions, while +hundreds of white men, armed to the teeth, rushed to the vicinity from +neighboring cities and towns. Governor Charles H. Brough telegraphed to +Camp Pike for Federal troops, and five hundred were mobilized at once +"to repel the attack of the black army." Worse than any other feature +was the wanton slaying of the four Johnston brothers, whose father had +been a prominent Presbyterian minister and whose mother was formerly a +school-teacher. Dr. D.A.E. Johnston was a successful dentist and owned a +three-story building in Helena. Dr. Louis Johnston was a physician who +lived in Oklahoma and who had come home on a visit. A third brother had +served in France and been wounded and gassed at Chateau-Thierry. + +Altogether one thousand Negroes were arrested and one hundred and +twenty-two indicted. A special committee of seven gathered evidence and +is charged with having used electric connections on the witness chair +in order to frighten the Negroes. Twelve men were sentenced to death +(though up to the end of 1920 execution had been stayed), and fifty-four +to penitentiary terms. The trials lasted from five to ten minutes each. +No witnesses for the defense were called; no Negroes were on the juries; +no change of venue was given. Meanwhile lawyers at Helena were preparing +to reap further harvest from Negroes who would be indicted and against +whom there was no evidence, but who had saved money and Liberty Bonds. + +Governor Brough in a statement to the press blamed the _Crisis_ and the +Chicago _Defender_ for the trouble. He had served for a number of years +as a professor of economics before becoming governor and had even +identified himself with the forward-looking University Commission on +Southern Race Questions; and it is true that he postponed the executions +in order to allow appeals to be filed in behalf of the condemned men. +That he should thus attempt to shift the burden of blame and overlook +the facts when in a position of grave responsibility was a keen +disappointment to the lovers of progress. + +Reference to the monthly periodical and the weekly paper just mentioned, +however, brings us to still another matter--the feeling on the part of +the Negro that, in addition to the outrages visited on the race, the +Government was now, under the cloak of wartime legislation, formally to +attempt to curtail its freedom of speech. For some days the issue of +the _Crisis_ for May, 1919, was held up in the mail; a South Carolina +representative in Congress quoted by way of denunciation from the +editorial "Returning Soldiers" in the same number of the periodical; +and a little later in the year the Department of Justice devoted +twenty-seven pages of the report of the investigation against "Persons +Advising Anarchy, Sedition, and the Forcible Overthrow of the +Government" to a report on "Radicalism and Sedition among the Negroes +as Reflected in Their Publications." Among other periodicals and papers +mentioned were the _Messenger_ and the _Negro World_ of New York; and by +the _Messenger_ indeed, frankly radical in its attitude not only on the +race question but also on fundamental economic principles, even the +_Crisis_ was regarded as conservative in tone. There could be no doubt +that a great spiritual change had come over the Negro people of the +United States. At the very time that their sons and brothers were making +the supreme sacrifice in France they were witnessing such events as +those at East St. Louis or Houston, or reading of three burnings within +a year in Tennessee. A new determination closely akin to consecration +possessed them. Fully to understand the new spirit one would read not +only such publications as those that have been mentioned, but also those +issued in the heart of the South. "Good-by, Black Mammy," said the +_Southwestern Christian Advocate_, taking as its theme the story of four +Southern white men who acted as honorary pallbearers at an old Negro +woman's funeral, but who under no circumstances would thus have served +for a thrifty, intelligent, well-educated man of the race. Said the +Houston _Informer_, voicing the feeling of thousands, "The black man +fought to make the world safe for democracy; he now demands that America +be made and maintained safe for black Americans." With hypocrisy in +the practice of the Christian religion there ceased to be any patience +whatsoever, as was shown by the treatment accorded a Y.M.C.A. "Call on +behalf of the young men and boys of the two great sister Anglo-Saxon +nations." "Read! Read! Read!" said the _Challenge Magazine_, "then +when the mob comes, whether with torch or with gun, let us stand at +Armageddon and battle for the Lord." "Protect your home," said the +gentle _Christian Recorder_, "protect your wife and children, with your +life if necessary. If a man crosses your threshold after you and your +family, the law allows you to protect your home even if you have to kill +the intruder." Perhaps nothing, however, better summed up the new spirit +than the following sonnet by Claude McKay: + + If we must die, let it not be like hogs + Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, + While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, + Making their mock at our accursed lot. + If we must die, let it not be like hogs + So that our precious blood may not be shed + In vain; then even the monsters we defy + Shall be constrained to honor us, though dead! + Oh, kinsman! We must meet the common foe; + Though far outnumbered, let us still be brave, + And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow! + What though before us lies the open grave? + Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack + Pressed to the wall, dying, but--fighting back! + + +5. _The Widening Problem_ + +In view of the world war and the important part taken in it by French +colonial troops, especially those from Senegal, it is not surprising +that the heart of the Negro people in the United States broadened in a +new sympathy with the problems of their brothers the world over. Even +early in the decade that we are now considering, however, there was some +indication of this tendency, and the First Universal Races Congress in +London in 1911 attracted wide attention. In February, 1919, largely +through the personal effort of Dr. DuBois, a Pan-African Congress was +held in Paris, the chief aims of which were the hearing of statements +on the condition of Negroes throughout the world, the obtaining of +authoritative statements of policy toward the Negro race from the Great +Powers, the making of strong representations to the Peace Conference +then sitting in Paris in behalf of the Negroes throughout the world, and +the laying down of principles on which the future development of the +race must take place. Meanwhile the cession of the Virgin Islands had +fixed attention upon an interesting colored population at the very door +of the United States; and the American occupation of Hayti culminating +in the killing of many of the people in the course of President Wilson's +second administration gave a new feeling of kinship for the land of +Toussaint L'Ouverture. Among other things the evidence showed that on +June 12, 1918, under military pressure a new constitution was forced on +the Haytian people, one favoring the white man and the foreigner; +that by force and brutality innocent men and women, including native +preachers and members of their churches, had been taken, roped together, +and marched as slave-gangs to prison; and that in large numbers Haytians +had been taken from their homes and farms and made to work on new roads +for twenty cents a week, without being properly furnished with food--all +of this being done under the pretense of improving the social and +political condition of the country. The whole world now realized that +the Negro problem was no longer local in the United States or South +Africa, or the West Indies, but international in its scope and +possibilities. + +Very early in the course of the conflict in Europe it was pointed out +that Africa was the real prize of the war, and it is now simply a +commonplace to say that the bases of the struggle were economic. Nothing +did Germany regret more than the forcible seizure of her African +possessions. One can not fail to observe, moreover, a tendency of +discussion of problems resultant from the war to shift the consideration +from that of pure politics to that of racial relations, and early in the +conflict students of society the world over realized that it was nothing +less than suicide on the part of the white race. After the close of the +war many books dealing with the issues at stake were written, and in the +year 1920 alone several of these appeared in the United States. Of all +of these publications, because of their different points of view, four +might call for special consideration--_The Republic of Liberia_, by +R.C.F. Maugham; _The Rising Tide of Color_, by Lothrop Stoddard; +_Darkwater_, by W.E. Burghardt DuBois, and _Empire and Commerce in +Africa: A Study in Economic Imperialism_, by Leonard Woolf. The position +of each of these books is clear and all bear directly upon the central +theme. + +The _Republic of Liberia_ was written by one who some years ago was the +English consul at Monrovia and who afterwards was appointed to Dakar. +The supplementary preface also gives the information that the book was +really written two years before it appeared, publication being delayed +on account of the difficulties of printing at the time. Even up to 1918, +however, the account is incomplete, and the failure to touch upon recent +developments becomes serious; but it is of course impossible to record +the history of Liberia from 1847 to the present and reflect credit upon +England. There are some pages of value in the book, especially those in +which the author speaks of the labor situation in the little African +republic; but these are obviously intended primarily for consumption by +business men in London. "Liberians," we are informed, "tell you that, +whatever may be said to the contrary, the republic's most uncomfortable +neighbor has always been France." This is hardly true. France has +indeed on more than one occasion tried to equal her great rival in +aggrandizement, but she has never quite succeeded in so doing. As we +have already shown in connection with Liberia in the present work, from +the very first the shadow of Great Britain fell across the country. In +more recent years, by loans that were no more than clever plans for +thievery, by the forceful occupation of large tracts of land, and by +interference in the internal affairs of the country, England has again +and again proved herself the arch-enemy of the republic. The book so +recently written in the last analysis appears to be little more than the +basis of effort toward still further exploitation. + +The very merit of _The Rising Tide of Color_ depends on its bias, and it +is significant that the book closes with a quotation from Kipling's "The +Heritage." To Dr. Stoddard the most disquieting feature of the recent +situation was not the war but the peace. Says he, "The white world's +inability to frame a constructive settlement, the perpetuation of +intestine hatreds and the menace of fresh civil wars complicated by the +specter of social revolution, evoke the dread thought that the late +war may be merely the first stage in a cycle of ruin." As for the war +itself, "As colored men realized the significance of it all, they looked +into each other's eyes and there saw the light of undreamed-of hopes. +The white world was tearing itself to pieces. White solidarity was +riven and shattered. And--fear of white power and respect for white +civilization together dropped away like garments outworn. Through the +bazaars of Asia ran the sibilant whisper: 'The East will see the West +to bed.'" At last comes the inevitable conclusion pleading for a better +understanding between England and Germany and for everything else that +would make for racial solidarity. The pitiful thing about this book +is that it is so thoroughly representative of the thing for which it +pleads. It is the very essence of jingoism; civilization does not exist +in and of itself, it is "white"; and the conclusions are directly at +variance with the ideals that have been supposed to guide England +and America. Incidentally the work speaks of the Negro and negroid +population of Africa as "estimated at about 120,000,000." This low +estimate has proved a common pitfall for writers. If we remember that +Africa is three and a half times as large as the United States, and that +while there are no cities as large as New York and Chicago, there are +many centers of very dense population; if we omit entirely from the +consideration the Desert of Sahara and make due allowance for some +heavily wooded tracts in which live no people at all; and if we then +take some fairly well-known region like Nigeria or Sierra Leone as the +basis of estimate, we shall arrive at some such figure as 450,000,000. +In order to satisfy any other points that might possibly be made, let us +reduce this by as much as a third, and we shall still have 300,000,000, +which figure we feel justified in advancing as the lowest possible +estimate for the population of Africa; and yet most books tell us that +there are only 140,000,000 people on the whole continent. + +_Darkwater_ may be regarded as the reply to such a position as that +taken by Dr. Stoddard. If the white world conceives it to be its destiny +to exploit the darker races of mankind, then it simply remains for the +darker races to gird their loins for the contest. "What of the darker +world that watches? Most men belong to this world. With Negro and +Negroid, East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese they form two-thirds of the +population of the world. A belief in humanity is a belief in colored +men. If the uplift of mankind must be done by men, then the destinies of +this world will rest ultimately in the hands of darker nations. What, +then, is this dark world thinking? It is thinking that as wild and awful +as this shameful war was, it is nothing to compare with that fight for +freedom which black and brown and yellow men must and will make unless +their oppression and humiliation and insult at the hands of the White +World cease. The Dark World is going to submit to its present treatment +just as long as it must and not one moment longer." + +Both of these books are strong, and both are materialistic; and +materialism, it must be granted, is a very important factor in the world +just now. Somewhat different in outlook, however, is the book that +labors under an economic subject, _Empire and Commerce in Africa_. In +general the inquiry is concerned with the question, What do we desire +to attain, particularly economically, in Africa, and how far is it +attainable through policy? The discussion is mainly confined to the +three powers: England, France, and Germany; and special merit attaches +to the chapter on Abyssinia, probably the best brief account of this +country ever written. Mr. Woolf announces such fundamental principles as +that the land in Africa should be reserved for the natives; that there +should be systematic education of the natives with a view to training +them to take part in, and eventually control, the government of the +country; that there should be a gradual expatriation of all Europeans +and their capitalistic enterprises; that all revenue raised in Africa +should be applied to the development of the country and the education +and health of the inhabitants; that alcohol should be absolutely +prohibited; and that Africa should be completely neutralized, that is, +in no case should any military operations between European states be +allowed. The difficulties of the enforcement of such a program are of +course apparent to the author; but with other such volumes as this to +guide and mold opinion, the time may indeed come at no distant date when +Africa will cease to exist solely for exploitation and no longer be the +rebuke of Christendom. + +These four books then express fairly well the different opinions and +hopes with which Africa and the world problem that the continent raises +have recently been regarded. It remains simply to mention a conception +that after the close of the war found many adherents in the United +States and elsewhere, and whose operation was on a scale that forced +recognition. This was the idea of the Provisional Republic of Africa, +the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities +League of the World, the Black Star Line of steamships, and the Negro +Factories Corporation, all of which activities were centered in New +York, had as their organ the _Negro World_, and as their president and +leading spirit Marcus Garvey, who was originally from Jamaica. The +central thought that appealed to great crowds of people and won their +support was that of freedom for the race in every sense of the word. +Such freedom, it was declared, transcended the mere demand for the +enforcement of certain political and social rights and could finally be +realised only under a vast super-government guiding the destinies of the +race in Africa, the United States, the West Indies, and everywhere else +in the world. This was to control its people "just as the Pope and the +Catholic Church control its millions in every land." The related ideas +and activities were sometimes termed grandiose and they awakened +much opposition on the part of the old leaders, the clergy, while +conservative business stood aloof. At the same time the conception is +one that deserves to be considered on its merits. + +It is quite possible that if promoted on a scale vast enough such a +Negro super-government as that proposed could be realized. It is true +that England and France seem to-day to have a firm grip on the continent +of Africa, but the experience of Germany has shown that even the mailed +fist may lose its strength overnight. With England beset with problems +in Ireland and the West Indies, in India and Egypt, it is easy for the +millions in equatorial Africa to be made to know that even this great +power is not invincible and in time might rest with Nineveh and Tyre. +There are things in Africa that will forever baffle all Europeans, and +no foreign governor will ever know all that is at the back of the black +man's mind. Even now, without the aid of modern science, information +travels in a few hours throughout the length and breadth of the +continent; and those that slept are beginning to be awake and restless. +Let this restlessness increase, let intelligence also increase, let the +natives be aided by their fever, and all the armies of Europe could be +lost in Africa and this ancient mother still rise bloody but unbowed. +The realization of the vision, however, would call for capital on a +scale as vast as that of a modern war or an international industrial +enterprise. At the very outset it would engage England in nothing less +than a death-grapple, especially as regards the shipping on the West +Coast. If ships can not go from Liverpool to Seccondee and Lagos, then +England herself is doomed. The possible contest appalls the imagination. +At the same time the exploiting that now goes on in the world can not go +on forever. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE NEGRO PROBLEM + + +It is probably clear from our study in the preceding pages that the +history of the Negro people in the United States falls into well defined +periods or epochs. First of all there was the colonial era, extending +from the time of the first coming of Negroes to the English colonies to +that of the Revolutionary War. This divides into two parts, with a line +coming at the year 1705. Before this date the exact status of the Negro +was more or less undefined; the system of servitude was only gradually +passing into the sterner one of slavery; and especially in the middle +colonies there was considerable intermixture of the races. By the year +1705, however, it had become generally established that the Negro was to +be regarded not as a person but as a thing; and the next seventy years +were a time of increasing numbers, but of no racial coherence or +spiritual outlook, only a spasmodic insurrection here and there +indicating the yearning for a better day. With the Revolution there came +a change, and the second period extends from this war to the Civil War. +This also divides into two parts, with a line at the year 1830. In the +years immediately succeeding the Revolution there was put forth +the first effective effort toward racial organization, this being +represented by the work of such men as Richard Allen and Prince Hall; +but, in spite of a new racial consciousness, the great mass of the Negro +people remained in much the same situation as before, the increase in +numbers incident to the invention of the cotton-gin only intensifying +the ultimate problem. About the year 1830, however, the very hatred and +ignominy that began to be visited upon the Negro indicated that at least +he was no longer a thing but a person. Lynching began to grow apace, +burlesque on the stage tended to depreciate and humiliate the race, +and the South became definitely united in its defense of the system of +slavery. On the other hand, the Abolitionists challenged the attitude +that was becoming popular; the Negroes themselves began to be prosperous +and to hold conventions; and Nat Turner's insurrection thrust baldly +before the American people the great moral and economic problem with +which they had to deal. With such divergent opinions, in spite of feeble +attempts at compromise, there could be no peace until the issue of +slavery at least was definitely settled. The third great period extends +from the Civil War to the opening of the Great War in Europe. Like the +others it also falls into two parts, the division coming at the year +1895. The thirty years from 1865 to 1895 may be regarded as an era +in which the race, now emancipated, was mainly under the guidance of +political ideals. Several men went to Congress and popular education +began to be emphasized; but the difficulties of Reconstruction and the +outrages of the KuKlux Klan were succeeded by an enveloping system of +peonage, and by 1890-1895 the pendulum had swung fully backward and in +the South disfranchisement had been arrived at as the concrete solution +of the political phase of the problem. The twenty years from 1895 to +1915 formed a period of unrest and violence, but also of solid economic +and social progress, the dominant influence being the work of Booker T. +Washington. With the world war the Negro people came face to face with +new and vast problems of economic adjustment and passed into an entirely +different period of their racial history in America. + +This is not all, however. The race is not to be regarded simply as +existent unto itself. The most casual glance at any such account as we +have given emphasizes the importance of the Negro in the general history +of the United States. Other races have come, sometimes with great gifts +or in great numbers, but it is upon this one that the country's history +has turned as on a pivot. It is true that it has been despised and +rejected, but more and more it seems destined to give new proof that the +stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. +In the colonial era it was the economic advantage of slavery over +servitude that caused it to displace this institution as a system of +labor. In the preliminary draft of the Declaration of Independence a +noteworthy passage arraigned the king of England for his insistence upon +the slave-trade, but this was later suppressed for reasons of policy. +The war itself revealed clearly the fallacy of the position of the +patriots, who fought for their rights as Englishmen but not for the +fundamental rights of man; and their attitude received formal expression +in the compromises that entered into the Constitution. The expansion of +the Southwest depended on the labor of the Negro, whose history became +inextricably bound up with that of the cotton-gin; and the question or +the excuse of fugitives was the real key to the Seminole Wars. The long +struggle culminating in the Civil War was simply to settle the status of +the Negro in the Republic; and the legislation after the war determined +for a generation the history not only of the South but very largely of +the nation as well. The later disfranchising acts have had overwhelming +importance, the unfair system of national representation controlling the +election of 1916 and thus the attitude of America in the world war. + +This is an astonishing phenomenon--this vast influence of a people +oppressed, proscribed, and scorned. The Negro is so dominant in American +history not only because he tests the real meaning of democracy, not +only because he challenges the conscience of the nation, but also +because he calls in question one's final attitude toward human nature +itself. As we have seen, it is not necessarily the worker, not even +the criminal, who makes the ultimate problem, but the simple Negro of +whatever quality. If this man did not have to work at all, and if his +race did not include a single criminal, in American opinion he would +still raise a question. It is accordingly from the social standpoint +that we must finally consider the problem. Before we can do this we need +to study the race as an actual living factor in American life; and even +before we do that it might be in order to observe the general importance +of the Negro to-day in any discussion of the racial problems of the +world. + + +1. _World Aspect_ + +Any consideration of the Negro Problem in its world aspect at the +present time must necessarily be very largely concerned with Africa as +the center of the Negro population. This in turn directs attention to +the great colonizing powers of Europe, and especially to Great Britain +as the chief of these; and the questions that result are of far-reaching +importance for the whole fabric of modern civilization. No one can +gainsay the tremendous contribution that England has made to the world; +every one must respect a nation that produced Wycliffe and Shakespeare +and Darwin, and that, standing for democratic principles, has so often +stayed the tide of absolutism and anarchy; and it is not without desert +that for three hundred years this country has held the moral leadership +of mankind. It may now not unreasonably be asked, however, if it has not +lost some of its old ideals, and if further insistence upon some of its +policies would not constitute a menace to all that the heart of humanity +holds dear. + +As a preliminary to our discussion let us remark two men by way of +contrast. A little more than seventy years ago a great traveler set +out upon the first of three long journeys through central and southern +Africa. He was a renowned explorer, and yet to him "the end of the +geographical feat was only the beginning of the enterprise." Said Henry +Drummond of him: "Wherever David Livingstone's footsteps are crossed in +Africa the fragrance of his memory seems to remain." On one occasion +a hunter was impaled on the horn of a rhinoceros, and a messenger ran +eight miles for the physician. Although he himself had been wounded for +life by a lion and his friends said that he should not ride at night +through a wood infested with beasts, Livingstone insisted on his +Christian duty to go, only to find that the man had died and to be +obliged to retrace his footsteps. Again and again his party would +have been destroyed if it had not been for his own unbounded tact and +courage, and after his death at Chitambo's village Susi and Chuma +journeyed for nine months and over eight hundred miles to take his body +to the coast. "We work for a glorious future," said he, "which we are +not destined to see--the golden age which has not been, but will yet be. +We are only morning-stars shining in the dark, but the glorious morn +will break, the good time coming yet. For this time we work; may God +accept our imperfect service." + +About the time that Livingstone was passing off the scene another strong +man, one of England's "empire builders," began his famous career. Going +first to South Africa as a young man in quest of health, Cecil Rhodes +soon made a huge fortune out of Kimberley diamonds and Transvaal gold, +and by 1890 had become the Prime Minister of Cape Colony. In the pursuit +of his aims he was absolutely unscrupulous. He refused to recognize any +rights of the Portuguese in Matabeleland and Mashonaland; he drove hard +bargains with the Germans and the French; he defied the Boers; and to +him the native Africans were simply so many tools for the heaping up of +gold. Nobody ever said of him that he left a "fragrant memory" behind +him; but thousands of bruised bodies and broken hearts bore witness to +his policy. According to the ideals of modern England, however, he was +a great man. What the Negro in the last analysis wonders is: Who was +right, Livingstone or Rhodes? And which is the world to choose, Christ +or Mammon? + +There are two fundamental assumptions upon which all so-called Western +civilization is based--that of racial and that of religious superiority. +Sight has been lost of the fact that there is really no such thing as a +superior race, that only individuals are superior one to another, and a +popular English poet has sung of "the white man's burden" and of "lesser +breeds without the law." These two assumptions have accounted for all of +the misunderstanding that has arisen between the West and the East, for +China and Japan, India and Egypt can not see by what divine right men +from the West suppose that they have the only correct ancestry or by +what conceit they presume to have the only true faith. Let them but be +accepted, however, let a nation be led by them as guiding-stars, and +England becomes justified in forcing her system upon India, she finds it +necessary to send missionaries to Japan, and the lion's paw pounces upon +the very islands of the sea. + +The whole world, however, is now rising as never before against any +semblance of selfishness on the part of great powers, and it is more +than ever clear that before there can be any genuine progress toward the +brotherhood of man, or toward comity among nations, one man will have +to give some consideration to the other man's point of view. One people +will have to respect another people's tradition. The Russo-Japanese War +gave men a new vision. The whole world gazed upon a new power in the +East--one that could be dealt with only upon equal terms. Meanwhile +there was unrest in India, and in Africa there were insurrections +of increasing bitterness and fierceness. Africa especially had been +misrepresented. The people were all said to be savages and cannibals, +almost hopelessly degraded. The traders and the politicians knew better. +They knew that there were tribes and tribes in Africa, that many of the +chiefs were upright and wise and proud of their tradition, and that the +land could not be seized any too quickly. Hence they made haste to get +into the game. + +It is increasingly evident also that the real leadership of the world is +a matter not of race, not even of professed religion, but of principle. +Within the last hundred years, as science has flourished and +colonization grown, we have been led astray by materialism. The worship +of the dollar has become a fetish, and the man or the nation that had +the money felt that it was ordained of God to rule the universe. Germany +was led astray by this belief, but it is England, not Germany, that has +most thoroughly mastered the _Art of Colonization_. Crown colonies are +to be operated in the interest of the owners. Jingoism is king. It +matters not that the people in India and Africa, in Hayti and the +Philippines, object to our benevolence; _we_ know what is good for them +and therefore they should be satisfied. + +In Jamaica to-day the poorer people can not get employment; and yet, +rather than accept the supply at hand, the powers of privilege import +"coolie" labor, a still cheaper supply. In Sierra Leone, where certainly +there has been time to see the working of the principle, native young +men crowd about the wharves and seize any chance to earn a penny, simply +because there is no work at hand to do--nothing that would genuinely +nourish independence and self-respect. + +It is not strange that the worship of industrialism, with its attendant +competition, finally brought about the most disastrous war in history +and such a breakdown of all principles of morality as made the whole +world stand aghast. Womanhood was no longer sacred; old ideas of ethics +vanished; Christ himself was crucified again--everything holy and lovely +was given to the grasping demon of Wealth. + +Suddenly men realized that England had lost the moral leadership of the +world. Lured by the ideals of Rhodes, the country that gave to mankind +_Magna Charta_ seemed now bent only on its own aggrandizement and +preservation. Germany's colonies were seized, and anything that +threatened the permanence of the dominant system, especially unrest on +the part of the native African, was throttled. Briton and Boer began +to feel an identity of interest, and especially was it made known that +American Negroes were not wanted. + +Just what the situation is to-day may be illustrated by the simple +matter of foreign missions, the policy of missionary organizations in +both England and America being dictated by the political policy of the +empire. The appointing of Negroes by the great American denominations +for service in Africa has practically ceased, for American Negroes are +not to be admitted to any portion of the continent except Liberia, +which, after all, is a very small part of the whole. For the time being +the little republic seems to receive countenance from the great powers +as a sort of safety-valve through which the aspiration of the Negro +people might spend itself; but it is evident that the present +understanding is purely artificial and can not last. Even the Roman +Empire declined, and Germany lost her hold in Africa overnight. Of +course it may be contended that the British Empire to-day is not +decadent but stronger than ever. At the same time there can be no doubt +that Englishman and Boer alike regard these teeming millions of prolific +black people always with concern and sometimes with dismay. Natives of +the Congo still bear the marks of mutilation, and men in South Africa +chafe under unjust land acts and constant indignities in their daily +life. + +Here rises the question for our own country. To the United States at +last has come that moral leadership--that obligation to do the right +thing--that opportunity to exhibit the highest honor in all affairs +foreign or domestic--that is the ultimate test of greatness. Is America +to view this great problem in Africa sympathetically and find some place +for the groping for freedom of millions of human beings, or is she to be +simply a pawn in the game of English colonization? Is she to abide by +the principles that guided her in 1776, or simply seize her share of +the booty? The Negro either at home or abroad is only one of many +moral problems with which she has to deal. At the close of the war +extravagance reigned, crime was rampant, and against any one of three or +four races there was insidious propaganda. To add to the difficulties, +the government was still so dominated by politics and officialdom that +it was almost always impossible to get things done at the time they +needed to be done. At the same time every patriot knows that America is +truly the hope of the world. Into her civilization and her glory have +entered not one but many races. All go forth against a common enemy; all +should share the duties and the privileges of citizenship. In such +a country the law can know no difference of race or class or creed, +provided all are devoted to the general welfare. Such is the obligation +resting upon the United States--such the challenge of social, economic, +and moral questions such as never before faced the children of men. That +she be worthy of her opportunity all would pray; to the fulfilment of +her destiny all should help. The eyes of the world are upon her; the +scepter of the ages is in her hand. + + +2. _The Negro in American Life_ + +If now we come to the Negro in the United States, it is hardly an +exaggeration to say that no other race in the American body politic, not +even the Anglo-Saxon, has been studied more critically than this one, +and treatment has varied all the way from the celebration of virtues +to the bitterest hostility and malignity. It is clearly fundamentally +necessary to pay some attention to racial characteristics and gifts. +In recent years there has been much discussion from the standpoint +of biology, and special emphasis has been placed on the emotional +temperament of the race. The Negro, however, submits that in the United +States he has not been chiefly responsible for such miscegenation as has +taken place; but he is not content to rest simply upon a _tu quoque_. +He calls attention to the fact that whereas it has been charged that +lynchings find their excuse in rape, it has been shown again and again +that this crime is the excuse for only one-fourth or one-fifth of +the cases of violence. If for the moment we suppose that there is +no question about guilt in a fourth or a fifth of the cases, the +overwhelming fraction that remains indicates that there are other +factors of the highest importance that have to be considered in any +ultimate adjustment of the situation. In every case accordingly the +Negro asks only for a fair trial in court--not too hurried; and he knows +that in many instances a calm study of the facts will reveal nothing +more than fright or hysteria on the part of a woman or even other +circumstances not more incriminating. + +Unfortunately the whole question of the Negro has been beclouded by +misrepresentation as has no other social question before the American +people, and the race asks simply first of all that the tissue of +depreciation raised by prejudice be done away with in order that it may +be judged and estimated for its quality. America can make no charges +against any element of her population while she denies the fundamental +right of citizenships--the protection of the individual person. Too +often mistakes are made, and no man is so humble or so low that he +should be deprived of his life without due process of law. The Negro +undoubtedly has faults. At the same time, in order that his gifts may +receive just consideration, the tradition of burlesque must for the time +being be forgotten. All stories about razors, chickens, and watermelons +must be relegated to the rear; and even the revered and beloved "black +mammy" must receive an affectionate but a long farewell. + +The fact is that the Negro has such a contagious brand of humor that +many people never realize that this plays only on the surface. The real +background of the race is one of tragedy. It is not in current jest but +in the wail of the old melodies that the soul of this people is found. +There is something elemental about the heart of the race, something that +finds its origin in the forest and in the falling of the stars. There is +something grim about it too, something that speaks of the lash, of the +child torn from its mother's bosom, of the dead body swinging at night +by the roadside. The race has suffered, and in its suffering lies its +destiny and its contribution to America; and hereby hangs a tale. + +If we study the real quality of the Negro we shall find that two things +are observable. One is that any distinction so far won by a member of +the race in America has been almost always in some one of the arts; and +the other is that any influence so far exerted by the Negro on American +civilization has been primarily in the field of aesthetics. The reason +is not far to seek, and is to be found in the artistic striving even of +untutored Negroes. The instinct for beauty insists upon an outlet, and +if one can find no better picture he will paste a circus poster or a +flaring advertisement on the wall. Very few homes have not at least a +geranium on the windowsill or a rosebush in the garden. If we look at +the matter conversely we shall find that those things which are most +picturesque make to the Negro the readiest appeal. Red is his favorite +color simply because it is the most pronounced of all colors. The +principle holds in the sphere of religion. In some of our communities +Negroes are known to "get happy" in church. It is, however, seldom a +sermon on the rule of faith or the plan of salvation that awakens such +ecstasy, but rather a vivid portrayal of the beauties of heaven, with +the walls of jasper, the feast of milk and honey, and the angels with +palms in their hands. The appeal is primarily sensuous, and it is hardly +too much to say that the Negro is thrilled not so much by the moral as +by the artistic and pictorial elements in religion. Every member of the +race is an incipient poet, and all are enthralled by music and oratory. + +Illustrations are abundant. We might refer to the oratory of Douglass, +to the poetry of Dunbar, to the picturesque style of DuBois, to the +mysticism of the paintings of Tanner, to the tragic sculpture of Meta +Warrick Fuller, and to a long line of singers and musicians. Even +Booker Washington, most practical of Americans, proves the point, the +distinguishing qualities of his speeches being anecdote and vivid +illustration. It is best, however, to consider members of the race who +were entirely untaught in the schools. On one occasion Harriet Tubman, +famous for her work in the Underground Railroad, was addressing an +audience and describing a great battle in the Civil War. "And then," +said she, "we saw the lightning, and that was the guns; and then we +heard the thunder, and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain +falling, and that was drops of blood falling; and when we came to git in +the craps, it was dead men that we reaped." Two decades after the war +John Jasper, of Richmond, Virginia, astonished the most intelligent +hearers by the power of his imagery. He preached not only that the "sun +do move," but also of "dry bones in the valley," the glories of the New +Jerusalem, and on many similar subjects that have been used by other +preachers, sometimes with hardly less effect, throughout the South. In +his own way Jasper was an artist. He was eminently imaginative; and it +is with this imaginative--this artistic--quality that America has yet to +reckon. + +The importance of the influence has begun to be recognized, and on the +principle that to him that hath shall be given, in increasing measure +the Negro is being blamed for the ills of American life, a ready excuse +being found in the perversion and debasement of Negro music. We have +seen discussions whose reasoning, condensed, was somewhat as follows: +The Negro element is daily becoming more potent in American society; +American society is daily becoming more immoral; therefore at the door +of the Negro may be laid the increase in divorce and all the other +evils of society. The most serious charge brought against the Negro +intellectually is that he has not yet developed the great creative or +organizing mind that points the way of civilization. He most certainly +has not, and in this he is not very unlike all the other people in +America. The whole country is still in only the earlier years of its +striving. While the United States has made great advance in applied +science, she has as yet produced no Shakespeare or Beethoven. If America +has not yet reached her height after three hundred years of striving, +she ought not to be impatient with the Negro after only sixty years +of opportunity. But all signs go to prove the assumption of limited +intellectual ability fundamentally false. Already some of the younger +men of the race have given the highest possible promise. + +If all of this, however, is granted, and if the Negro's exemplification +of the principle of self-help is also recognized, the question still +remains: Just what is the race worth as a constructive factor in +American civilization? Is it finally to be an agency for the upbuilding +of the nation, or simply one of the forces that retard? What is its real +promise in American life? + +In reply to this it might be worth while to consider first of all +the country's industrial life. The South, and very largely the whole +country, depends upon Negro men and women as the stable labor supply in +such occupations as farming, saw-milling, mining, cooking, and washing. +All of this is hard work, and necessary work. In 1910, of 3,178,554 +Negro men at work, 981,922 were listed as farm laborers and 798,509 as +farmers. That is to say, 56 per cent of the whole number were engaged in +raising farm products either on their own account or by way of assisting +somebody else, and the great staples of course were the cotton and corn +of the Southern states. If along with the farmers we take those engaged +in the occupations employing the next greatest numbers of men--those of +the building and hand trades, saw and planing mills, as well as those +of railway firemen and porters, draymen, teamsters, and coal mine +operatives--we shall find a total of 71.2 per cent engaged in such work +as represents the very foundation of American industry. Of the women at +work, 1,047,146, or 52 per cent, were either farm laborers or farmers, +and 28 per cent more were either cooks or washerwomen. In other words, a +total of exactly 80 per cent were engaged in some of the hardest and at +the same time some of the most vital labor in our home and industrial +life. The new emphasis on the Negro as an industrial factor in the +course of the recent war is well known. When immigration ceased, upon +his shoulders very largely fell the task of keeping the country and the +army alive. Since the war closed he has been on the defensive in the +North; but a country that wishes to consider all of the factors that +enter into its gravest social problem could never forget his valiant +service in 1918. Let any one ask, moreover, even the most prejudiced +observer, if he would like to see every Negro in the country out of it, +and he will then decide whether economically the Negro is a liability or +an asset. + +Again, consider the Negro soldier. In all our history there are no pages +more heroic, more pathetic, than those detailing the exploits of black +men. We remember the Negro, three thousand strong, fighting for the +liberties of America when his own race was still held in bondage. We +remember the deeds at Port Hudson, Fort Pillow, and Fort Wagner. We +remember Santiago and San Juan Hill, not only how Negro men went +gallantly to the charge, but how a black regiment faced pestilence that +the ranks of their white comrades might not be decimated. And then +Carrizal. Once more, at an unexpected moment, the heart of the nation +was thrilled by the troopers of the Tenth Cavalry. Once more, despite +Brownsville, the tradition of Fort Wagner was preserved and passed on. +And then came the greatest of all wars. Again was the Negro summoned to +the colors--summoned out of all proportion to his numbers. Others might +desert, but not he; others might be spies or strikers, but not he--not +he in the time of peril. In peace or war, in victory or danger, he has +always been loyal to the Stars and Stripes. + +Not only, however, does the Negro give promise by reason of his economic +worth; not only does he deserve the fullest rights of citizenship on +the basis of his work as a soldier; he brings nothing less than a great +spiritual contribution to civilization in America. His is a race of +enthusiasm, imagination, and spiritual fervor; and after all the doubt +and fear through which it has passed there still rests with it an +abiding faith in God. Around us everywhere are commercialism, politics, +graft--sordidness, selfishness, cynicism. We need hope and love, a new +birth of idealism, a new faith in the unseen. Already the work of some +members of the race has pointed the way to great things in the realm of +conscious art; but above even art soars the great world of the spirit. +This it is that America most sadly needs; this it is that her most +fiercely persecuted children bring to her. + +Obviously now if the Negro, if any race, is to make to America the +contribution of which it is capable, it must be free; and this raises +the whole question of relation to the rest of the body politic. One of +the interesting phenomena of society in America is that the more foreign +elements enter into the "melting pot" and advance in culture, the more +do they cling to their racial identity. Incorporation into American +life, instead of making the Greek or the Pole or the Irishman forget his +native country, makes him all the more jealous of its traditions. The +more a center of any one of these nationalities develops, the more +wealthy and cultured its members become, the more do we find them proud +of the source from which they sprang. The Irishman is now so much an +American that he controls whole wards in our large cities, and sometimes +the cities themselves. All the same he clings more tenaciously than ever +to the celebration of March 17. When an isolated Greek came years ago, +poor and friendless, nobody thought very much about him, and he +effaced himself as much as possible, taking advantage, however, of any +opportunity that offered for self-improvement or economic advance. When +thousands came and the newcomers could take inspiration from those of +their brothers who had preceded them and achieved success, nationality +asserted itself. Larger groups now talked about Venizelos and a greater +Greece; their chests expanded at the thought of Marathon and Plato; and +companies paraded amid applause as they went to fight in the Balkans. In +every case, with increasing intelligence and wealth, race pride asserted +itself. At the same time no one would think of denying to the Greek or +the Irishman or the Italian his full rights as an American citizen. + +It is a paradox indeed, this thing of a race's holding its identity +at the same time that it is supposed to lose this in the larger +civilization. Apply the principle to the Negro. Very soon after the +Civil War, when conditions were chaotic and ignorance was rampant, the +ideals constantly held before the race were those of white people. Some +leaders indeed measured success primarily by the extent to which they +became merged in the white man's life. At the time this was very +natural. A struggling people wished to show that it could be judged by +the standards of the highest civilization within sight, and it did so. +To-day the tide has changed. The race now numbers a few millionaires. In +almost every city there are beautiful homes owned by Negroes. Some men +have reached high attainment in scholarship, and the promise grows +greater and greater in art and science. Accordingly the Negro now loves +his own, cherishes his own, teaches his boys about black heroes, and +honors and glorifies his own black women. Schools and churches and all +sorts of cooeperative enterprises testify to the new racial self-respect, +while a genuine Negro drama has begun to flourish. A whole people has +been reborn; a whole race has found its soul. + + +3. _Face to Face_ + +Even when all that has been said is granted, it is still sometimes +maintained that the Negro is the one race that can not and will not +be permitted to enter into the full promise of American life. Other +elements, it is said, even if difficult to assimilate, may gradually be +brought into the body politic, but the Negro is the one element that +may be tolerated but not assimilated, utilized but not welcomed to the +fullness of the country's glory. + +However, the Negro has no reason to be discouraged. If one will but +remember that after all slavery was but an incident and recall the +status of the Negro even in the free states ten years before the Civil +War, he will be able to see a steady line of progress forward. After the +great moral and economic awakening that gave the race its freedom, the +pendulum swung backward, and finally it reached its farthest point of +proscription, of lawlessness, and inhumanity. No obscuring of the vision +for the time being should blind us to the reading of the great movement +of history. + +To-day in the whole question of the Negro problem there are some matters +of pressing and general importance. One that is constantly thrust +forward is that of the Negro criminal. On this the answer is clear. If a +man--Negro or otherwise--is a criminal, he is an enemy of society, and +society demands that he be placed where he will do the least harm. If +execution is necessary, this should take place in private; and in no +case should the criminal be so handled as to corrupt the morals or +arouse the morbid sensibilities of the populace. At the same time simple +patriotism would demand that by uplifting home surroundings, good +schools, and wholesome recreation everything possible be done for Negro +children as for other children of the Republic, so that just as few of +them as possible may graduate into the criminal class. + +Another matter, closely akin to this, is that of the astonishing lust +for torture that more and more is actuating the American people. When in +1835 McIntosh was burned in St. Louis for the murder of an officer, the +American people stood aghast, and Abraham Lincoln, just coming into +local prominence, spoke as if the very foundations of the young republic +had been shaken. After the Civil War, however, horrible lynchings became +frequent; and within the last decade we have seen a Negro boy stabbed in +numberless places while on his way to the stake, we have seen the eyes +of a Negro man burned out with hot irons and pieces of his flesh cut +off, and a Negro woman--whose only offense was a word of protest against +the lynching of her husband--while in the state of advanced pregnancy +hanged head downwards, her clothing burned from her body, and herself so +disemboweled that her unborn babe fell to the ground. We submit that +any citizens who commit such deeds as these are deserving of the most +serious concern of their country; and when they bring their little +children to behold their acts--when baby fingers handle mutilated flesh +and baby eyes behold such pictures as we have suggested--a crime has +been committed against the very name of childhood. Most frequently it +will be found that the men who do these things have had only the most +meager educational advantages, and that generally--but not always--they +live in remote communities, away from centers of enlightenment, so that +their whole course of life is such as to cultivate provincialism. With +not the slightest touch of irony whatever we suggest that these men need +a crusade of education in books and in the fundamental obligations of +citizenship. At present their ignorance, their prejudice, and their lack +of moral sense constitute a national menace. + +It is full time to pause. We have already gone too far. The Negro +problem is only an index to the ills of society in America. In our haste +to get rich or to meet new conditions we are in danger of losing all of +our old standards of conduct, of training, and of morality. Our courts +need to summon a new respect for themselves. The average citizen knows +only this about them, that he wants to keep away from them. So far we +have not been assured of justice. The poor man has not stood an equal +chance with the rich, nor the black with the white. Money has been +freely used, even for the changing of laws if need be; and the +sentencing of a man of means generally means only that he will have a +new trial. The murders in any American city average each year fifteen or +twenty times as many as in an English or French city of the same size. +Our churches need a new baptism; they have lost the faith. The same +principle applies in our home-life, in education, in literature. The +family altar is almost extinct; learning is more easy than sound; and +in literature as in other forms of art any passing fad is able to gain +followers and pose as worthy achievement. All along the line we need +more uprightness--more strength. Even when a man has committed a crime, +he must receive justice in court. Within recent years we have heard too +much about "speedy trials," which are often nothing more than legalized +lynchings. If it has been decreed that a man is to wait for a trial one +week or one year, the mob has nothing to do with the matter, and, if +need be, all the soldiery of the United States must be called forth to +prevent the storming of a jail. Fortunately the last few years have +shown us several sheriffs who had this conception of their duty. + +In the last analysis this may mean that more responsibility and more +force will have to be lodged in the Federal Government. Within recent +years the dignity of the United States has been seriously impaired. +The time seems now to have come when the Government must make a new +assertion of its integrity and its authority. No power in the country +can be stronger than that of the United States of America. + +For the time being, then, this is what we need--a stern adherence to +law. If men will not be good, they must at least be made to behave. No +one will pretend, however, that an adjustment on such a basis is finally +satisfactory. Above the law of the state--above all law of man--is the +law of God. It was given at Sinai thousands of years ago. It received +new meaning at Calvary. To it we must all yet come. The way may be hard, +and in the strife of the present the time may seem far distant; but some +day the Messiah will reign and man to man the world over shall brothers +be "for a' that." + + + + +SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +Unless an adequate volume is to be devoted to the work, any bibliography +of the history of the Negro Problem in the United States must be +selective. No comprehensive work is in existence. Importance attaches to +_Select List of References on the Negro Question_, compiled under the +direction of A.P.C. Griffin, Library of Congress, Washington, 1903; _A +Select Bibliography of the Negro American_, edited by W.E.B. DuBois, +Atlanta, 1905, and _The Negro Problem: a Bibliography_, edited by Vera +Sieg, Free Library Commission, Madison, Wis., 1908; but all such lists +have to be supplemented for more recent years. Compilations on the +Abolition Movement, the early education of the Negro, and the literary +and artistic production of the race are to be found respectively in +Hart's _Slavery and Abolition_, Woodson's _The Education of the Negro +prior to 1861_, and Brawley's _The Negro in Literature and Art_, and the +_Journal of Negro History_ is constantly suggestive of good material. + +The bibliography that follows is confined to the main question. First of +all are given general references, and then follows a list of individual +authors and books. Finally, there are special lists on topics on which +the study in the present work is most intensive. In a few instances +books that are superficial in method or prejudiced in tone have been +mentioned as it has seemed necessary to try to consider all shades of +opinion even if the expression was not always adequate. On the other +hand, not every source mentioned in the footnotes is included, for +sometimes these references are merely incidental; and especially does +this apply in the case of lectures or magazine articles, some of which +were later included in books. Nor is there any reference to works of +fiction. These are frequently important, and books of unusual interest +are sometimes considered in the body of the work; but in such a study as +the present imaginative literature can be hardly more than a secondary +and a debatable source of information. + + + + +SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +I. General References + +(Mainly in Collections, Sets, or Series) + +Statutes at Large, being a Collection of all the Laws of Virginia from +the first session of the Legislature, in the year 1619, by William +Waller Hening. Richmond, 1819-20. + +Laws of the State of North Carolina, compiled by Henry Potter, J.L. +Taylor, and Bart. Yancey. Raleigh, 1821. + +The Statutes at Large of South Carolina, edited by Thomas Cooper. +Columbia, 1837. + +The Pro-Slavery Argument (as maintained by the most distinguished +writers of the Southern states). Charleston, 1852. + +Files of such publications as Niles's _Weekly Register_, the _Genius +of Universal Emancipation_, the _Liberator_, and DeBow's _Commercial +Review_, in the period before the Civil War; and of the _Crisis_, +the _Journal of Negro History_, the _Negro Year-Book_, the _Virginia +Magazine of History_, the _Review of Reviews_, the _Literary Digest_, +the _Independent_, the _Outlook_, as well as representative newspapers +North and South and weekly Negro newspapers in later years. + +Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science +(some numbers important for the present work noted below). + +Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law edited by the Faculty of +Political Science of Columbia University (some numbers important for the +present work noted below). + +Atlanta University Studies of Negro Problems (for unusually important +numbers note DuBois, editor, below, also Bigham). + +Occasional Papers of the American Negro Academy (especially note +Cromwell in special list No. 1 below and Grimke in No. 3). + +Census Reports of the United States; also Publications of the Bureau of +Education. + +Annual Reports of the General Education Board, the John F. Slater Fund, +the Jeanes Fund; reports and pamphlets issued by American Missionary +Association, American Baptist Home Mission Society, Freedmen's Aid +Society, etc.; catalogues of representative educational institutions; +and a volume "From Servitude to Service" (the Old South lectures on +representative educational institutions for the Negro), Boston, 1905. + +Pamphlets and reports of National Association for the Advancement of +Colored People, the National Urban League, the Southern Sociological +Congress, the University Commission on Southern Race Questions, Hampton +Conference reports, 1897-1907, and Proceedings of the National Negro +Business League, annual since 1900. + +The American Nation: A History from Original Sources by Associated +Scholars, edited by Albert Bushnell Hart. 27 vols. Harper & Bros., New +York, 1907. (Volumes important for the present work specially noted +below.) + +The Chronicles of America. A Series of Historical Narratives edited +by Allen Johnson. 50 vols. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1918--. +(Volumes important for the present work specially noted below.) + +The South in the Building of the Nation. 12 vols. The Southern +Publication Society. Richmond, Va., 1909. + +Studies in Southern History and Politics. Columbia University Press, New +York, 1914. + +New International and Americana Encyclopedias (especially on such topics +as Africa, the Negro, and Negro Education). + + +II. INDIVIDUAL WORKS + +(Note pamphlets at end of list; also special lists under III below.) + +Adams, Alice Dana: The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery in +America (1808-1831), Radcliffe College Monograph No. 14. +Boston, 1908 (now handled by Harvard University Press). + +Adams, Henry: History of the United States from 1801 to 1817. 9 +vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1889-90. + +Alexander, William T.: History of the Colored Race in America. +Palmetto Publishing Co., New Orleans, 1887. + +Armistead, Wilson: A Tribute for the Negro, being a Vindication +of the Moral, Intellectual, and Religious Capabilities of the Colored +Portion of Mankind, with particular reference to the African +race, illustrated by numerous biographical sketches, facts, +anecdotes, etc., and many superior portraits and engravings. +Manchester, 1848. + +Baker, Ray Stannard: Following the Color Line. Doubleday, Page +& Co., New York, 1908. + +Ballagh, James Curtis: A History of Slavery in Virginia. Johns +Hopkins Studies, extra volume 24. Baltimore, 1902. + + White Servitude in the Colony of Virginia. Johns Hopkins Studies, + Thirteenth Series, Nos. 6 and 7. Baltimore, 1895. + +Bassett, John Spencer: Anti-Slavery Leaders of North Carolina. +Sixth Series, No. 6. Baltimore, 1898. + + Slavery and Servitude in the Colony of North Carolina. Johns Hopkins + Studies, Fourteenth Series, Nos. 4 and 5. Baltimore, 1896. + + Slavery in the State of North Carolina. Johns Hopkins Studies, XIV: + 179; XVII: 323. + +Bigham, John Alvin (editor): Select Discussions of Race Problems, +No. 20, of Atlanta University Publications. Atlanta, 1916. + +Birney, William: James G. Birney and His Times. D. Appleton & +Co., New York, 1890. + +Blake, W.O.: The History of Slavery and the Slave-Trade. Columbus, +O., 1861. + +Blyden, Edward W.: Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race. London, +1887. + +Bogart, Ernest Ludlow: The Economic History of the United States. +Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1918 edition. + +Bourne, Edward Gaylord: Spain in America, 1450-1580. Vol. 3 of +American Nation Series. + +Brackett, Jeffrey Richardson: The Negro in Maryland: A Study of +the Institution of Slavery. Johns Hopkins Studies, extra volume +6. Baltimore, 1889. + +Bradford, Sarah H.: Harriet, the Moses of Her People. New York, +1886. + +Brawley, Benjamin: A Short History of the American Negro. The +Macmillan Co., New York, 1913, revised 1919. + + History of Morehouse College. Atlanta, 1917. + + The Negro in Literature and Art. Duffield & Co., New York, 1918. + + Your Negro Neighbor (in Our National Problems series). The + Macmillan Co., New York, 1918. + + Africa and the War. Duffield & Co., New York, 1918. + + Women of Achievement (written for the Fireside Schools under + the auspices of the Woman's American Baptist Home Mission + Society). Chicago and New York, 1919. + +Brawley, Edward M.: The Negro Baptist Pulpit. American Baptist +Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1890. + +Bruce, Philip Alexander: Economic History of Virginia in the +Seventeenth Century. 2 vols. The Macmillan Co., New York, +1896. + +Cable, George Washington: The Negro Question. Charles Scribner's +Sons, New York, 1890. + +Calhoun, William Patrick: The Caucasian and the Negro in the +United States. R.L. Bryan Co., Columbia, S. C, 1902. + +Chamberlain, D.H.: Present Phases of Our So-Called Negro Problem +(open letter to the Rt. Hon. James Bryce of England), reprinted +from _News and Courier_, Charleston, of August 1, 1904. + +Cheyney, Edward Potts: European Background of American History. +Vol. I of American Nation Series. + +Child, Lydia Maria: An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans +Called Africans. Boston, 1833. + + The Oasis (edited). Boston, 1834. + +Clayton, V.V.: White and Black under the Old Regime. Milwaukee, +1899. + +Clowes, W. Laird: Black America: A Study of the Ex-Slave and +His Late Master. Cassell & Co., London, 1891. + +Coffin, Joshua: An Account of Some of the Principal Slave Insurrections, +and others, which have occurred, or been attempted, in the +United States and elsewhere, during the last two centuries, +with various remarks. American Anti-Slavery Society, New +York, 1860. + +Collins, Winfield H.: The Domestic Slave Trade of the Southern +States. Broadway Publishing Co., New York, 1904. + +Coman, Katherine: The Industrial History of the United States. +The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918 edition. + + The Negro as a Peasant Farmer. American Statistical Association + Publications, 1904:39. + +Commons, John R.: Races and Immigrants in America. The Macmillan +Co., 1907. + +Coolidge, Archibald Cary: The United States as a World Power. +The Macmillan Co., New York, 1918. + +Cooper, Anna Julia: A Voice from the South, by a black woman +of the South. Xenia, O., 1892. + +Corey, Charles H.: A History of the Richmond Theological Seminary. +Richmond, 1895. + +Cornish, Samuel E., and Wright, T.S.: The Colonization Scheme +Considered in Its Rejection by the Colored People. Newark, +1840. + +Cromwell, John W.: The Negro in American History. The American +Negro Academy, Washington, 1914. + +Culp, Daniel W. (editor): Twentieth Century Negro Literature. +Nichols & Co., Toronto, 1902. + +Cutler, James E.: Lynch Law, an Investigation into the History of +Lynching in the United States. Longmans, Green & Co., New +York, 1905. + +Daniels, John: In Freedom's Birthplace: A Study of the Boston +Negroes. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, 1914. + +Dewey, Davis Rich: National Problems, 1885-1897. Vol. 24 in +American Nation Series. + +Dill, Augustus Granville. See DuBois, editor Atlanta University +Publications. + +Dodd, William E.: The Cotton Kingdom. Vol. 27 of Chronicles of +America. + + Expansion and Conflict. Vol. 3 of Riverside History of the United + States. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915. + +Dow, Lorenzo ("Cosmopolite, a Listener"): A Cry from the Wilderness! +A Voice from the East, A Reply from the West--Trouble in the +North, Exemplifying in the South. Intended as a timely and +solemn warning to the People of the United States. Printed +for the Purchaser and the Public. United States, 1830. + +DuBois, W.E. Burghardt: Suppression of the African Slave-Trade. +Longmans, Green & Co., New York, 1896 (now handled by Harvard +University Press). + +DuBois, W.E. Burghardt: The Philadelphia Negro. University of +Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1899. + + The Souls of Black Folk. A.C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1903. + The Negro in the South (Booker T. Washington, co-author). + + George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907. + + John Brown (in American Crisis Biographies). George W. Jacobs + & Co., Philadelphia, 1909. + + The Negro (in Home University Library Series). Henry Holt & + Co., New York, 1915. + + Darkwater: Voices from within the Veil. Harcourt, Brace & + Co., New York, 1920. + + (Editor Atlanta University Publications). + + The Negro Church, No. 8. + + The Health and Physique of the Negro American, No. II. + + Economic Co-operation among Negro Americans, No. 12. + + The Negro American Family, No. 13. + + Efforts for Social Betterment among Negro Americans, No. 14. + The College-Bred Negro American, No. 15. (A.G. Dill, co-editor.) + + The Negro American Artisan, No. 17. (A.G. Dill, co-editor.) + + Morals and Manners among Negro Americans, No. 18. (A.G. + Dill, co-editor.) + +Dunbar, Alice Ruth Moore: Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence. The +Bookery Publishing Co., New York, 1914. + +Dunbar, Paul Laurence: Complete Poems. Dodd, Mead & Co., New +York, 1913. + +Dunning, William Archibald: Reconstruction, Political and Economic. +Vol. 22 of American Nation Series. + +Earnest, Joseph B., Jr.: The Religious Development of the Negro +in Virginia (Ph.D. thesis, Virginia). Charlottesville, 1914. + +Eckenrode, Hamilton James: The Political History of Virginia +during the Reconstruction. Johns Hopkins Studies. Twenty-second +Series, Nos. 6, 7, and 8. Baltimore, 1904. + +Ellis, George W.: Negro Culture in West Africa. The Neale Publishing +Co., New York, 1914. + +Ellwood, Charles A.: Sociology and Modern Social Problems. American +Book Co., New York, 1910. + +Elwang, William W.: The Negroes of Columbia, Mo. (A.M. thesis, +Missouri), 1904. + +Epstein, Abraham: The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh (in publications +of School of Economics of the University of Pittsburgh). +1918. + +Evans, Maurice S.: Black and White in the Southern States: A +Study of the Race Problem in the United States from a South +African Point of View. Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1915. + +Ferris, William Henry: The African Abroad. 2 vols. New Haven, +1913. + +Fleming, Walter L.: Documentary History of Reconstruction. 2 +vols. Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland, O., 1906. + + The Sequel of Appomattox. Vol. 32 of Chronicles of America. + +Fletcher, Frank H.: Negro Exodus. Report of agent appointed by +the St. Louis Commission to visit Kansas for the purpose of +obtaining information in regard to colored emigration. No +imprint. + +Furman, Richard: Exposition of the Views of the Baptists Relative +to the Colored Population in the United States, in a communication +to the Governor of South Carolina. Second edition, Charleston, +1833. (Letter bears original date December 24, 1822; Furman +was president of State Baptist Convention.) + +Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Garrison, Francis Jackson: William +Lloyd Garrison; Story of His Life Told by His Children. 4 +vols. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1894. + +Garrison, William Lloyd: Thoughts on African Colonization: or +An Impartial Exhibition of the Doctrines, Principles, and Purposes +of the American Colonization Society, together with the +Resolutions, Addresses, and Remonstrances of the Free People +of Color. Boston, 1832. + +Gayarre, Charles E.A.: History of Louisiana. 4 vols. New Orleans, +1885 edition. + +Grady, Henry W.: The New South and Other Addresses, with +biography, etc., by Edna H.L. Turpin. Maynard, Merrill & Co., +New York, 1904. + +Graham, Stephen: The Soul of John Brown. The Macmillan Co., +New York, 1920. + +Hallowell, Richard P.: Why the Negro was Enfranchised--Negro +Suffrage Justified. Boston, 1903. (Reprint of two letters in the +_Boston Herald_, March 11 and 26, 1903.) + +Hammond, Lily Hardy: In Black and White: An Interpretation of +Southern Life. Fleming H. Revell Co., New York, 1914. + +Harris, Norman Dwight: Intervention and Colonization in Africa. +Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914. + +Hart, Albert Bushnell: National Ideals Historically Traced. Vol. +26 in American Nation Series. + + Slavery and Abolition. Vol. 16 in American Nation Series. + + The Southern South. D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1910. + +Hartshorn, W.N., and Penniman, George W.: An Era of Progress +and Promise, 1863-1910. The Priscilla Publishing Co., Boston, +1910. + +Haworth, Paul Leland: America in Ferment. Bobbs-Merrill Co., +Indianapolis, 1915. + +Haynes, George E.: The Negro at Work in New York City Vol +49, No. 3, of Columbia Studies, 1912. + +Helper, Hinton Rowan: The Impending Crisis of the South: How +to Meet It. New York, 1857. + +Hickok, Charles T.: The Negro in Ohio, 1802-1870. (Western +Reserve thesis.) Cleveland, 1896. + +Higginson, Thomas Wentworth: Army Life in a Black Regiment +Boston, 1870. (Latest edition, Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1900.) + +Hoffman, Frederick L.: Race Traits and Tendencies of the American +Negro. American Economics Association Publications, XI, +Nos. 1-3, 1896. + +Hodge, Frederick W. (editor): Spanish Explorers in the Southern +United States, 1528-1543 (in Original Narratives of Early American +History), esp. The Narrative of Alvar Nunez Cabeca de Vaca. +Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1907. + +Holland, Edwin C.: A Refutation of the Calumnies circulated +against the Southern and Western States, respecting the institution +and existence of slavery among them; to which is added a minute +and particular account of the actual condition and state of +their Negro Population, together with Historical Notices of +all the Insurrections that have taken place since the settlement +of the country. By a South Carolinian. Charleston, 1822. + +Horsemanden, Daniel (Judge): A Journal of the Proceedings in +the Detection of the Conspiracy Formed by Some White People, +in conjunction with Negro and Other Slaves, for Burning the +City of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants. +New York, 1744. + +Hosmer, James K.: The History of the Louisiana Purchase. D. +Appleton & Co., New York, 1902. + +Hurd, John C.: The Law of Freedom and Bondage. 2 vols. Boston, +1858-1862. + +Jay, William: Inquiry into the Character and Tendency of the American +Colonization and Anti-Slavery Societies. New York, 1835. + +Jefferson, Thomas: Writings, issued under the auspices of the +Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association. 20 vols. Washington, +1903. + +Jervey, Theodore D.: Robert Y. Hayne and His Times. The Macmillan +Co., New York, 1909. + +Johnson, Allen: Union and Democracy. Vol. 2 of Riverside History +of the United States. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1915. + +Johnson, James W.: Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (published +anonymously). Sherman, French & Co., Boston, 1912. + + Fifty Years and Other Poems. The Cornhill Co., Boston, 1917. + + Hayti. Four articles reprinted from the _Nation_, New York, 1920. + +Johnston, Sir Harry Hamilton: The Negro in the New World. The +Macmillan Co., New York, 1910. + +Kelsey, Carl: The Negro Farmer (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania). +Jennings & Pye, Chicago, 1903. + +Kemble, Frances A.: Journal of Residence on a Georgia Plantation, +1838-1839. Harper & Bros., 1863. + +Kerlin, Robert T. (editor): The Voice of the Negro, 1919. E.P. +Dutton & Co., New York, 1920. + +Kimball, John C.: Connecticut's Canterbury Tale; Its Heroine Prudence +Crandall, and Its Moral for To-Day. Hartford, Conn. (1886). + +Krehbiel, Henry E.: Afro-American Folk-Songs. G. Schirmer, New +York and London, 1914. + +Lauber, Almon Wheeler: Indian Slavery in Colonial Times within +the Present Limits of the United States. Vol. 54, No. 3, of +Columbia University Studies, 1913. + +Livermore, George: An Historical Research Respecting the Opinions +of the Founders of the Republic on Negroes as Slaves, as +Citizens, and as Soldiers. Boston, 1863. + +Locke, Mary Stoughton: Anti-Slavery in America from the Introduction +of African Slaves to the Prohibition of the Slave-Trade, +1619-1808. Radcliffe College Monograph No. 11. Boston, 1901 +(now handled by Harvard University Press). + +Lonn, Ella: Reconstruction in Louisiana. G.P. Putnam's Sons, +New York, 1919. + +Lugard, Lady (Flora L. Shaw): A Tropical Dependency. James +Nisbet & Co., Ltd., London, 1906. + +Lynch, John R.: The Facts of Reconstruction: The Neale Publishing +Co., New York, 1913. + +McConnell, John Preston: Negroes and Their Treatment in Virginia +from 1865 to 1867 (Ph.D. thesis, Virginia, 1905). Printed by +B.D. Smith & Bros., Pulaski, Va., 1910. + +MacCorkle, William A.: Some Southern Questions. G.P. Putnam's +Sons, New York, 1908. + +McCormac, E.I.: White Servitude in Maryland. Johns Hopkins +Studies, XXII, 119. + +McDougall, Marion Gleason: Fugitive Slaves, 1619-1865. Fay +House (Radcliffe College) Monograph, No. 3. Boston, 1891 +(now handled by Harvard University Press). + +McLaughlin, Andrew Cunningham: The Confederation and the +Constitution, 1783-1789. Vol. 10 in American Nation Series. + +McMaster, John Bach: A History of the People of the United States, +from the Revolution to the Civil War. 8 vols. D. Appleton & +Co., New York, 1883-1913. + +Macy, Jesse: The Anti-Slavery Crusade. Vol. 28 in Chronicles of +America. + +Marsh, J.B.T.: The Story of the Jubilee Singers, with their songs. +Boston, 1880. + +Miller, Kelly: Race Adjustment. The Neale Publishing Co., New +York and Washington, 1908. + + Out of the House of Bondage. The Neale Publishing Co., New + York, 1914. + + Appeal to Conscience (in Our National Problems Series). The + Macmillan Co., New York, 1913. + +Moore, G.H.: Historical Notes on the Employment of Negroes in +the American Army of the Revolution. New York, 1862. + +Morgan, Thomas J.: Reminiscences of Service with Colored Troops +in the Army of the Cumberland, 1863-65. Providence, 1885. + +Moton, Robert Russa: Finding a Way Out: An Autobiography. +Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1920. + +Murphy, Edgar Gardner: The Basis of Ascendency. Longmans, +Green & Co., London, 1909. + +Murray, Freeman H.M.: Emancipation and the Freed in American +Sculpture. Published by the author, 1733 Seventh St., N.W., +Washington, 1916. + +Odum, Howard W.: Social and Mental Traits of the Negro. Columbia +University Studies, Vol. 37, No. 3. New York, 1910. + +Olmsted, Frederick Law: The Cotton Kingdom. 2 vols. New York, +1861. + + A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States. New York, 1856. + +Page, Thomas Nelson: The Old South. Charles Scribner's Sons, +New York, 1892. + + The Negro: the Southerner's Problem. Charles Scribner's Sons, + New York, 1904. + +Palmer, B.M. (with W.T. Leacock): The Rights of the South +Defended in the Pulpits. Mobile, 1860. + +Penniman, George W. See Hartshorn, W.N. + +Phillips, Ulrich B.: American Negro Slavery. D. Appleton & Co., +New York, 1918. + + Plantation and Frontier. Vols. I and II of Documentary History + of American Industrial Society. Arthur H. Clark Co., Cleveland, + 1910. + +Pike, G.D.: The Jubilee Singers and Their Campaign for $20,000. +Boston, 1873. + +Pike, J.S.: The Prostrate State: South Carolina under Negro Government. +New York, 1874. + +Pipkin, James Jefferson: The Negro in Revelation, in History, and +in Citizenship. N.D. Thompson Publishing Co., St. Louis, 1902. + +Platt, O.H.: Negro Governors. Papers of the New Haven Colony +Historical Society, Vol. 6. New Haven, 1900. + +Reese, David M.: A Brief Review of the First Annual Report of +the American Anti-Slavery Society. New York, 1834. + +Rhodes, James Ford: History of the United States from the Compromise +of 1850 (1850-1877 and 1877-1896). 8 vols. The Macmillan +Co., New York, 1893-1919. + +Roman, Charles Victor: American Civilization and the Negro. F.A. +Davis Co., Philadelphia, 1916. + +Russell, John H.: The Free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865. Johns +Hopkins Studies, Series XXXI, No. 3. Baltimore, 1913. + +Sandburg, Carl: The Chicago Race Riots, July, 1919. Harcourt, +Brace & Howe, New York, 1919. + +Schurz, Carl: Speeches, Correspondence, and Political Papers, selected +and edited by Frederic Bancroft. 6 vols. G.P. Putnam's Sons, +New York and London, 1913. + +Scott, Emmett J.: Negro Migration during the War (in Preliminary +Economic Studies of the War--Carnegie Endowment for International +Peace: Division of Economics and History). Oxford University +Press, American Branch. New York, 1920. + + Official History of the American Negro in the World War. Washington, + 1919. + +Seligman, Herbert J.: The Negro Faces America. Harper Bros., +New York, 1920. + +Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate: The Neighbor: the Natural History +of Human Contacts. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1904. + +Siebert, Wilbur H.: The Underground Railroad from Slavery to +Freedom. The Macmillan Co., New York, 1898. + +Sinclair, William A.: The Aftermath of Slavery. Small, Maynard +& Co., Boston, 1905. + +Smith, Justin H.: The War with Mexico. 2 vols. The Macmillan +Co., New York, 1919. + +Smith, Theodore Clarke: Parties and Slavery. Vol. 18 of American +Nation Series. + +Smith, T.W.: The Slave in Canada. Vol. 10 in Collections of the +Nova Scotia Historical Society. Halifax, N.S., 1889. + +Stephenson, Gilbert Thomas: Race Distinctions in American Law. +D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1910. + +Steward, T.G.: The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1804. Thomas Y. +Crowell Co., New York, 1914. + +Stoddard, Lothrop: The Rising Tide of Color against White World-Supremacy, +with an Introduction by Madison Grant. Charles Scribner's Sons. +New York, 1920. + +Stone, Alfred H.: Studies in the American Race Problem. Doubleday, +Page & Co., New York, 1908. + +Storey, Moorfield: The Negro Question. An Address delivered +before the Wisconsin Bar Association. Boston, 1918. Problems +of To-Day. Houghton, Mifflin Co., Boston, 1920. + +Thompson, Holland: The New South. Vol. 42 in Chronicles of +America. + +Tillinghast, Joseph Alexander: The Negro in Africa and America. +Publications of American Economics Association, Series 3 Vol 3, +No. 2. New York, 1902. + +Toombs, Robert: Speech on The Crisis, delivered before the Georgia +Legislature, Dec. 7, 1860. Washington, 1860. + +Tucker, St. George: A Dissertation on Slavery, with a Proposal for +the Gradual Abolition of it in the State of Virginia. Philadelphia, +1796. + +Turner, Frederick Jackson: The Rise of the New West. Vol. 14 +in American Nation Series. + +Turner, Edward Raymond: The Negro in Pennsylvania, 1639-1861 +(Justin Winsor Prize of American Historical Association, 1910). +Washington, 1911. + +Washington, Booker T.: The Future of the American Negro. Small, +Maynard & Co., Boston, 1899. + + The Story of My Life and Work. Nichols & Co., Naperville, Ill., + 1900. + + Up from Slavery: An Autobiography. Doubleday, Page & Co., + New York, 1901. + + Character Building. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, 1902. + + Working with the Hands. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York, + 1904. + + Putting the Most into Life. Crowell & Co., New York, 1906. + + Frederick Douglass (in American Crisis Biographies). George W. + Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1906. + + The Negro in the South (with W.E.B. DuBois). George W. + Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1907. + + The Negro in Business. Hertel, Jenkins & Co., Chicago, 1907. + + The Story of the Negro. 2 vols. Doubleday, Page & Co., New + York, 1909. + + My Larger Education. Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., + 1911. + + The Man Farthest Down (with Robert Emory Park). Doubleday, + Page & Co., Garden City, N.Y., 1912. + +Weale, B.L. Putnam: The Conflict of Color. The Macmillan Co., +New York, 1910. + +Weatherford, W.D.: Present Forces in Negro Progress. Association +Press, New York, 1912. + +Weld, Theodore Dwight: American Slavery as It Is: Testimony +of a Thousand Witnesses. Published by the American Anti-Slavery +Society, New York, 1839. + +Wiener, Leo: Africa and the Discovery of America, Vol. I. Innes +& Sons, Philadelphia, 1920. + +Williams, George Washington: History of the Negro Race in America +from 1619 to 1880. 2 vols. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, +1883. + +Wise, John S.: The End of an Era. Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1899. +Woodson, Carter G.: The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861. +G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1915. + + A Century of Negro Migration. Association for the Study of + Negro Life and History, Washington, 1918. + +Woolf, Leonard: Empire and Commerce in Africa: A Study in +Economic Imperialism. London, 1920. The Macmillan Co., New +York. + +Wright, Richard R.: Negro Companions of the Spanish Explorers. +(Reprinted from the _American Anthropologist_, Vol. 4, April-June, +1902.) + +Wright, Richard R., Jr.: The Negro in Pennsylvania: A Study in +Economic History. (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania.) A.M.E. Book +Concern, Philadelphia. + +Wright, T.S. See Cornish, Samuel E. + +Zabriskie, Luther K.: The Virgin Islands of the United States of +America. G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1918. + + * * * * * + +An Address to the People of the United States, adopted at a Conference +of Colored Citizens, held at Columbia, S.C., July 20 and +21, 1876. Republican Printing Co., Columbia, S.C., 1876. + +Paper (letter published in a Washington paper) submitted in connection +with the Debate in the United States House of Representatives, +July 15th and 18th, 1776, on the Massacre of Six Colored Citizens +at Hamburg, S.C., July 4, 1876. + +Proceedings of the National Conference of Colored Men of the +United States, held in the State Capitol at Nashville, Tenn., May +6, 7, 8, and 9, 1879. Washington, D.C., 1879. + +Story of the Riot. Persecution of Negroes by roughs and policemen +in the City of New York, August, 1900. Statement and Proofs +written and compiled by Frank Moss and issued by the Citizens' +Protective League. New York, 1900. + +The Voice of the Carpet Bagger. Reconstruction Review No. 1, published +by the Anti-Lynching Bureau. Chicago, 1901. + + +III. Special Lists + +1. On Chapter II, Section 3; Chapter III, Section 5; Chapter +VIII and Chapter XI, the general topic being the social +progress of the Negro before 1860. Titles are mainly in +the order of appearance of works. + +Mather, Cotton: Rules for the Society of Negroes, 1693. Reprinted +by George H. Moore, Lenox Library, New York, 1888. + + The Negro Christianized. An Essay to excite and assist that good + work, the instruction of Negro-servants in Christianity. Boston, + 1706. + +Allen, Richard. The Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. +Rev. Richard Allen, written by himself. Philadelphia, 1793. + +Hall, Prince. A Charge delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, +1797, at Menotomy, by the Right Worshipful Prince Hall. (Boston) +1797. + +To the Free Africans and Other Free People of Color in the United +States. (Broadside) Philadelphia, 1797. + +Walker, David: Appeal, in four articles, together with a Preamble +to the Colored Citizens of the World. Boston, 1829. + +Garrison, William Lloyd: An Address delivered before the Free +People of Color in Philadelphia, New York, and other cities, +during the month of June, 1831. Boston, 1831. + + Thoughts on African Colonization (see list above). + +Minutes and Proceedings of the First Annual Convention of the +People of Color, held by adjournments in the City of Philadelphia, +from the sixth to the eleventh of June, inclusive, 1831. +Philadelphia, 1831. + +College for Colored Youth. An Account of the New Haven City +Meeting and Resolutions with Recommendations of the College, +and Strictures upon the Doings of New Haven. New York, 1831. + +On the Condition of the Free People of Color in the United States. +New York, 1839. (_The Anti-Slavery Examiner_, No. 13.) + +Condition of the People of Color in the State of Ohio, with interesting +anecdotes. Boston, 1839. + +Armistead, Wilson: Memoir of Paul Cuffe. London, 1840. + +Wilson, Joseph: Sketches of the Higher Classes of Colored Society +in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1841. + +National Convention of Colored Men and Their Friends. Troy, +N.Y., 1847. + +Garnet, Henry Highland: The Past and Present Condition and the +Destiny of the Colored Race. Troy, 1848. + +Delany, Martin R.: The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny +of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered. +Philadelphia, 1852. + +Cincinnati Convention of Colored Freedmen of Ohio. Proceedings, +Jan. 14-19, 1852. Cincinnati, 1852. + +Proceedings of the Colored National Convention, held in Rochester, +July 6, 7, and 8, 1853. Rochester, 1853. + +Cleveland National Emigration Convention of Colored People. Proceedings, +Aug. 22-24, 1854. Pittsburg, 1854. + +Nell, William C.: The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, +with sketches of several Distinguished Colored Persons: to which +is added a brief survey of the Condition and Prospects of Colored +Americans, with an Introduction by Harriet Beecher Stowe. +Boston, 1855. + +Stevens, Charles E.: Anthony Burns, a History. Boston, 1856. + +Catto, William T.: A Semi-Centenary Discourse, delivered in the +First African Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, with a History +of the church from its first organization, including a brief notice +of Rev. John Gloucester, its first pastor. Philadelphia, 1857. + +Bacon, Benjamin C.: Statistics of the Colored People of Philadelphia. +Philadelphia, 1856. Second edition, with statistics of crime, +Philadelphia, 1857. + +Condition of the Free Colored People of the United States, by James +Freeman Clarke, in _Christian Examiner_, March, 1859, 246-265. +Reprinted as pamphlet by American Anti-Slavery Society, New +York, 1859. + +Brown, William Wells: Clotel, or The President's Daughter (a narrative +of slave life in the United States). London, 1853. + + The Escape; or A Leap for Freedom, a Drama in five acts. Boston, + 1858. + + The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements. + New York, 1863. + + The Rising Son; or The Antecedents and Advancement of the + Colored Race. Boston, 1874. + +To Thomas J. Gantt, Esq. (Broadside), Charleston, 1861. + +Douglass, William: Annals of St. Thomas's First African Church. +Philadelphia, 1862. + +Proceedings of the National Convention of Colored Men, held in the city +of Syracuse, N.Y., October 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1864, with the Bill of Wrongs +and Rights and the Address to the American People. Boston, 1864. + +The Budget, containing the Annual Reports of the General Officers of the +African M.E. Church of the United States of America, edited by Benjamin +W. Arnett. Xenia, O., 1881. Same for later years. + +Simms, James M.: The First Colored Baptist Church in North America. +Printed by J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1888. + +Upton, William H.: Negro Masonry, being a Critical Examination of +objections to the legitimacy of the Masonry existing among the Negroes +of America. Cambridge, 1899; second edition, 1902. + +Brooks, Charles H.: The Official History and Manual of the Grand United +Order of Odd Fellows in America. Philadelphia, 1902. + +Cromwell, John W.: The Early Convention Movement. Occasional Paper No. 9 +of American Negro Academy, Washington, D.C., 1904. + +Brooks, Walter H.: The Silver Bluff Church, Washington, 1910. + +Crawford, George W.: Prince Hall and His Followers. New Haven, 1915. + +Wright, Richard R., Jr. (Editor-in-Chief): Centennial Encyclopaedia +of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A.M.E. Book Concern, +Philadelphia, 1916. + +Also note narratives or autobiographies of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner +Truth, Samuel Ringgold Ward, Solomon Northrup, Lunsford Lane, etc.; the +poems of Phillis Wheatley (first edition, London, 1773), and George M. +Horton; Williams's History for study of some more prominent characters; +Woodson's bibliography for the special subject of education; and +periodical literature, especially the articles remarked in Chapter XI in +connection with the free people of color in Louisiana. + + +2. On Chapter V (Indian and Negro) + +A standard work on the Second Seminole War is The Origin, Progress, and +Conclusion of the Florida War, by John T. Sprague, D. Appleton & Co., +New York, 1848; but also important as touching upon the topics of the +chapter are The Exiles of Florida, by Joshua R. Giddings, Columbus, +Ohio, 1858, and a speech by Giddings in the House of Representatives +February 9, 1841. Note also House Document No. 128 of the 1st session +of the 20th Congress, and Document 327 of the 2nd session of the 25th +Congress. The Aboriginal Races of North America, by Samuel G. Drake, +fifteenth edition, New York, 1880, is interesting and suggestive though +formless; and McMaster in different chapters gives careful brief +accounts of the general course of the Indian wars. + + +3. On Chapter VII (Insurrections) + +(For insurrections before that of Denmark Vesey note especially Coffin, +Holland, and Horsemanden above. On Gabriel's Insurrection see article by +Higginson (_Atlantic_, X. 337), afterwards included in Travellers and +Outlaws.) + +Denmark Vesey + +1. An Official Report of the Trials of Sundry Negroes, charged with an +attempt to raise an Insurrection in the State of South Carolina. By +Lionel H. Kennedy and Thomas Parker (members of the Charleston Bar and +the Presiding Magistrates of the Court). Charleston, 1822. + +2. An Account of the Late Intended Insurrection among a Portion of the +Black of this City. Published by the Authority of the Corporation of +Charleston. Charleston, 1822 (reprinted Boston, 1822, and again in +Boston and Charleston). + +The above accounts, now exceedingly rare, are the real sources of all +later study of Vesey's insurrection. The two accounts are sometimes +identical; thus the list of those executed or banished is the same. The +first has a good introduction. The second was written by James Hamilton, +Intendant of Charleston. + +3. Letter of Governor William Bennett, dated August 10, 1822. (This was +evidently a circular letter to the press. References are to Lundy's +_Genius of Universal Emancipation_, II, 42, Ninth month, 1822, and there +are reviews in the following issues, pages 81, 131, and 142. Higginson +notes letter as also in _Columbian Sentinel_, August 31, 1822; +_Connecticut Courant_, September 3, 1822; and _Worcester Spy_, September +18, 1822.) + +Three secondary accounts in later years are important: + +1. Article on Denmark Vesey by Higginson (_Atlantic_, VII. 728) included +in Travellers and Outlaws: Episodes in American History. Lee and +Shepard, Boston, 1889. + +2. Right on the Scaffold, or the Martyrs of 1822, by Archibald H. +Grimke. No. 7 of the Papers of the American Negro Academy, Washington. + +3. Book I, Chapter XII, "Denmark Vesey's Insurrection," in Robert Y. +Hayne and His Times, by Theodore D. Jervey, The Macmillan Co., New York, +1909. + +Various pamphlets were written immediately after the insurrection not so +much to give detailed accounts as to discuss the general problem of the +Negro and the reaction of the white citizens of Charleston to the event. +Of these we may note the following: + +1. Holland, Edwin C.: A Refutation of the Calumnies Circulated against +the Southern and Western States. (See main list above.) + +2. Achates (General Thomas Pinckney): Reflections Occasioned by the Late +Disturbances in Charleston. Charleston, 1822. + +3. Rev. Dr. Richard Furman's Exposition of the Views of the Baptists +Relative to the Colored Population in the United States. (See main list +above.) + +4. Practical Considerations Founded on the Scriptures Relative to the +Slave Population of South Carolina. By a South Carolinian. Charleston, +1823. + +Nat Turner + +1. The Confessions of Nat Turner, Leader of the Late Insurrection in +Southampton, Va., as fully and voluntarily made to Thos. C. Gray, in the +prison where he was confined--and acknowledged by him to be such, when +read before the court at Southampton, convened at Jerusalem November 5, +1831, for his trial. (This is the main source. Thousands of copies of +the pamphlet are said to have been circulated, but it is now exceedingly +rare. Neither the Congressional Library nor the Boston Public has a +copy, and Cromwell notes that there is not even one in the State Library +in Richmond. The copy used by the author is in the library of Harvard +University.) + +2. Horrid Massacre. Authentic and Impartial Narrative of the Tragical +Scene which was witnessed in Southampton County (Virginia) on Monday the +22nd of August last. New York, 1831. (This gives a table of victims and +has the advantage of nearness to the event. This very nearness, however, +has given credence to much hearsay and accounted for several instances +of inaccuracy.) + +To the above may be added the periodicals of the day, such as the +Richmond _Enquirer_ and the _Liberator_; note _Genius of Universal +Emancipation_, September, 1831. Secondary accounts or studies would +include the following: + +1. Nat Turner's Insurrection, exhaustive article by Higginson +(_Atlantic_, VIII. 173) later included in Travellers and Outlaws. + +2. Drewry, William Sidney: Slave Insurrections in Virginia (1830-1865). +A Dissertation presented to the Board of University Studies of the Johns +Hopkins University for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The Neale +Company, Washington, 1900. (Unfortunately marred by a partisan tone.) + +3. The Aftermath of Nat Turner's Insurrection, by John W. Cromwell, in +_Journal of Negro History_, April, 1920. + +_Amistad and Creole_ Cases + +1. Argument of John Quincy Adams before the Supreme Court of the United +States, in the case of the United States, Apellants, vs. Cinque, and +others, Africans, captured in the Schooner _Amistad_, by Lieut. Gedney, +delivered on the 24th of February and 1st of March, 1841. New York, +1841. + +2. Africans Taken in the _Amistad_. Document No. 185 of the 1st session +of the 26th Congress, containing the correspondence in relation to the +captured Africans. (Reprinted by Anti-Slavery Depository, New York, +1840.) + +3. Senate Document 51 of the 2nd session of the 27th Congress. + +4. On Chapter IX (Liberia) + +Much has been written about Liberia, but the books and pamphlets have +been very uneven in quality. Original sources include the reports of +the American Colonization Society to 1825; _The African Repository_, +a compendium issued sometimes monthly, sometimes quarterly, by the +American Colonization Society from 1825 to 1892, and succeeded by the +periodical known as _Liberia_; the reports of the different state +organizations; J. Ashmun's History of the American Colony in Liberia +from December, 1821 to 1823, compiled from the authentic records of the +colony, Washington, 1826; Ralph Randolph Gurley's Life of Jehudi Ashmun, +Washington, 1835, second edition, New York, 1839; Gurley's report +on Liberia (a United States state paper), Washington, 1850; and the +Memorial of the Semi-Centennial Anniversary of the American Colonization +Society, celebrated at Washington, January 15, 1867, with documents +concerning Liberia, Washington, 1867; to all of which might be added +Journal of Daniel Coker, a descendant of Africa, from the time of +leaving New York, in the ship _Elisabeth_, Capt. Sebor, on a voyage for +Sherbro, in Africa, Baltimore, 1820. J.H.B. Latrobe, a president of the +American Colonization Society, is prominent in the Memorial volume of +1867, and after this date are credited to him Liberia: its Origin, +Rise, Progress, and Results, an address delivered before the American +Colonization Society, January 20, 1880, Washington, 1880, and Maryland +in Liberia, Baltimore, 1885. An early and interesting compilation is +G.S. Stockwell's The Republic of Liberia: Its Geography, Climate, Soil, +and Productions, with a history of its early settlement, New York, 1868; +a good handbook is Frederick Starr's Liberia, Chicago, 1913; mention +might also be made of T. McCants Stewart's Liberia, New York, 1886; and +George W. Ellis's Negro Culture in West Africa, Neale Publishing Co., +New York, 1914, is outstanding in its special field. Two Johns Hopkins +theses have been written: John H.T. McPherson's History of Liberia +(Studies, IX, No. 10), 1891, and E.L. Fox's The American Colonization +Society 1817-1840 (Studies, XXXVII, 9-226), 1919; the first of these is +brief and clearcut and especially valuable for its study of the Maryland +colony. Magazine articles of unusual importance are George W. Ellis's +Dynamic Factors in the Liberian Situation and Emmett J. Scott's Is +Liberia Worth Saving? both in _Journal of Race Development_, January, +1911. Of English or continental works outstanding is the monumental but +not altogether unimpeachable Liberia, by Sir Harry H. Johnston, with an +appendix on the Flora of Liberia by Dr. Otto Stapf, 2 vols., Hutchinson +& Co., London, 1906; while with a strong English bias and incomplete and +unsatisfactory as a general treatise is R.C.F. Maughan's The Republic of +Liberia, London (1920?), Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. Mention must +also be made of the following publications by residents of Liberia: The +Negro Republic on West Africa, by Abayomi Wilfrid Karnga, Monrovia, +1909; New National Fourth Reader, edited by Julius C. Stevens, Monrovia, +1903; Liberia and Her Educational Problems, by Walter F. Walker, an +address delivered before the Chicago Historical Society, October +23, 1916; and Catalogue of Liberia College for 1916, and Historical +Register, printed at the Riverdale Press, Brookline, Mass., 1919; while +Edward Wilmot Blyden's Christianity, Islam, and the Negro Race is +representative of the best of the more philosophical dissertations. + +Abbeville, S.C. +Aberdeen, Lord +Abolition, Abolitionists +Abraham, Negro interpreter +Abyssinia +Adams, Doc +Adams, Henry +Adams, John +Adams, John Quincy +Africa +African Methodist Episcopal Church, and schools +African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and schools +_Age, The New York_ +Aguinaldo +Akron, Ohio +Alabama +Aldridge, Ira +Allen, Richard +Alton, Ill. +Ambrister, Robert +Amendments to Constitution of United States +American Anti-Slavery Society +American Baptist Home Mission Society +American Baptist Publication Society +American Bar Association +American Colonization Society +American Convention of Abolition Societies +American Federation of Labor +American Giants +American Missionary Association +Amistad Case +Anderson, Benjamin +Andrew, John O. +Andrew, William +Anthony, Susan B. +Anti-Slavery societies +_Appeal_, David Walker's +Arbuthnot, Alexander +Arkansas +Arkwright, Richard +Armstrong, Samuel C. +Asbury, Bishop +Ashley, Lord +Ashmun, Jehudi +Assiento Contract +Atlanta, Ga. +Atlanta Compromise +Atlanta Massacre +Atlanta University +Attaway, A.T. +Attucks, Crispus +Augusta, Ga. +Ayres, Eli + +Bacon, Ephraim +Bacon, John F. +Bacon, Samuel +Baker, F.B. +Balboa +Baltimore +Banbaras +Bankson, John +Banneker, Benjamin +Baptists, churches and schools +Baptist Young People s Union +Barbadoes +Barbour, Capt. +Barbour, Dan +Barclay, Arthur +Barlow, Joel +Bassa Trading Association +Bassa tribe +Bassett, Ebenezer +Batson, Flora +Baxter, Richard +Beecher, Henry Ward +Behn, Aphra +Belleau Wood +Benedict College +Benefit societies +Benezet, Anthony +Bennett, Batteau +Bennett, Gov., of South Carolina +Bennett, Ned +Bennett, Rolla +Benson, Stephen Allen +Berea College +Bethel Church, A.M.E., of Philadelphia +Birmingham, Ala. +Birney, James G. +"Birth of a Nation" +Bishop College +Black Codes +Black Star Line +Blacksmith, Ben +Blackwood, Jesse +Blair, Henry +Blanco, Pedro +Bleckley, L.E. +Blunt, John +Blyden, Edward Wilmot +Boatswain, African chief +Bogalusa, La. +Boston, Mass. +Boston Massacre +Boston, Samuel +Bouey, H.N. +Bourne, E.G. +Bowers, John +Bowler, Jack +Boyd, Henry +Brooks, Preston S. +Brooks County, Ga. +Brough, Charles H. +Brown, Bishop, of Arkansas +Brown, John +Brown, William +Brown, William Wells +Browning, Elizabeth Barrett +Brownsville, Texas +Bruce, Blanche K. +Bryan, Andrew +Bryce, James +Buchanan, Thomas H. +Bull, Gov., of South Carolina +Bullock, M.W. +Burgess, Ebenezer +Burleigh, Harry T. +Burning of Negroes +Burns, Anthony +Burnside, Gen. +Burton, Belfast +Burton, Mary +Business, Negro +Butler, B.F., District Attorney in New York +Butler, B.F., Gen. +Butler, M.C. +Butler, Sol +Buttrick, Wallace +Buzi tribe +Byron, Lord + +Cable, George W. +Cadell, Major +Caesar, in New York +Calderon, Spanish minister +Caldwell, Elias B. +Calhoun, John C. +Calvert, George, Lord Baltimore +Camp Dodge +Camp Grant +Camphor, A.P. +Canaan, N.H., school at +Canada +Canning, George +Cape Palmas +Cardozo, F.L. +Carmantee tribe +Carney, William H. +Carranza, Andres Dorantes de +Carrizal +Cartledge, Lewis +Cary, Lott +Cass, Lewis +Cassell, Nathaniel H.B. +Catholics +Cato, insurrectionist +Cato, Will +Chain-gang +_Challenge Magazine_ +Chamberlain, Gov., of South Carolina +Champion, James +Channing, William Ellery +Charles V +Charles, Robert +Charleston, S.C. +Chateau Thierry +Chavis, John +Cheeseman, Joseph James +Cherokees +Chesnutt, Charles W. +Chester, Penn. +Chicago riot +Chickasaws +Child, Lydia Maria +China +Choctaws, +Christianity +_Christian Recorder_ +Chuma +Cincinnati +Cinque, Joseph +Civil Rights +Civil War +Claflin University +_Clansman, The_ +Clark, Andrew +Clark, Major +Clark University +Clarkson, Matthew +Clarkson, Quamoney +Clarkson, Thomas +Clay, Henry +Cleveland, Grover +Cleveland, Ohio +Clinch, Duncan L. +Clinton, Sir Henry +Coatesville, Penn. +Cockburn, Sir Francis +Coker, Daniel +Cole and Johnson Company +Cole, James +Coleman, William D. +Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel +College graduates +College of West Africa +Colonization +Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, and schools +Compromise of 1850 +Congregationalists +Connecticut +Constitution of the United States +Continental Congress +Conventions +Convict Lease system. _See_ Peonage. +Cook, James +Cook, O.F. +Coot, insurrectionist +Cope, Thomas P. +Cordovell, of New Orleans +Corey, C.H. +"Corkscrew" lynching +Cornish, Samuel E. +Cotton-gin +Cowagee, John +Cowley, Robert +Cowper, William +Cox, Minnie +Coybet, Gen. +Cranchell, Caesar +Crandall, Prudence +Cravath, E.M. +Crawford, Anthony +Crawford, William +Creeks +Creole Case +Criminal, Negro +_Crisis, The_ +Crompton, Samuel +Cross Keys, Va. +Crozer, Samuel A. +Crucifixion +Crum, William D. +Crummell, Alexander +Cuba +Cuffe, Paul +Cuffe, Peter +Cuffee, in New York +Curry, J.L.M. +Curtis, Justice +Cutler, Manasseh + +Dade, Major +Darien, Ga. +_Darkwater_ +Davis, Benjamin O. +Declaration of Independence +Declaration of Independence (Liberian) +_Defender, The_ +De Grasse, John V. +Delany, Martin R. +Delaware +Democrats +Denmark +Dennison, Franklin A. +Derham, James +Dew, T.R. +Deys, in Africa +Dickens, Charles +Dillard, James H. +Disfranchisement +Dismond, Binga +District of Columbia +Dixie Kid +Dixon, George +Dixon, Thomas +Dorsey, Hugh M. +Dossen, J.J. +Douglas, Stephen A. +Douglass, Frederick +Douglass, Robert +Dow, Lorenzo +Dowdy, Jim +Draft Riot in New York +Drake, Francis +Drayton, Congressman from South Carolina +Dred Scott Decision +Drew, Howard P. +"Dreyfus," poem by Edwin Markham +DuBois, W.E. Burghardt +Dugro, Justice P.H. +Dunbar, Charles B. +Dunbar, Paul L. +Dunbar Theater, in Philadelphia +Duncan, Otis B. +Duncan, William +Dunmore, Lord +Dunning, W.A. +Durham, Clayton +Duties on importation of slaves +Duval, William P. +Dwight, Gen. +Dyersburg, Tenn. + +Early County, Ga. +East St. Louis +Eaton, John, Comm. of Education +Eaton, John H., Secretary of War +Econchattimico +Education +Egypt +Elaine, Ark. +El Caney +Eliot, John +Elizabeth, Queen +Elliott, Robert B. +Emancipation +Emathla, Charley +Emathlochee +Emerson, Dr. +_Empire and Commerce in Africa_ +England (or Great Britain) +Episcopalians +Erie Railroad +Estevanico +Estill Springs, Tenn. +Etheridge, at Phoenix, S.C. +Ethiopians +Evans, Lewis +Everett, Alexander H. +Everett, Edward +Exodus, Negro. _See also_ Migration. + +Faber, F.W. +Factories, slave +Falkner, Roland P. +Federalists +Ferguson, Frank +Ferguson, Samuel D. +Fernandina, Fla. +Finley, I.F.C. +Finley, Robert +First African Baptist Church, in Savannah +First Bryan Baptist Church, in Savannah +Fish War +Fisk Jubilee Singers +Fisk University +Fleet, Dr. +Fleming, W.L. +Florida +F.M.C.'s +Foraker, J.B. +Forrester, Lot +Forsyth, John +Fort Brooke +Fort Gibson, Ark. +Fort Jackson, treaty of +Fort King +Fort Mims +Fort Moultrie (near St. Augustine), treaty of +Fort Moultrie (near Charleston) +Fort Pillow +Fort Sam Houston +Fort Wagner +Forten, James +Fortress Monroe +Foster, Theodore +Fowltown +France +Francis, Sam +Francis, Will +Franklin, Benjamin +Free African Society +Freedmen's Aid Society +Freedmen's Bank +Freedmen's Bureau +_Freedom's Journal_ +Freeman, Cato +Free Negroes +Free-Soil Party +Fremont, John C. +Friends, Society of. _See_ Quakers. +Frissell, Hollis B. +Fugitive Slave Laws +Fuller, Meta Warrick +Furman, Richard + +Gabriel, insurrectionist +Gadsden, James +Gage, Frances D. +Gailliard, Nicholas +Gaines, Gen. +Galilean Fishermen +Galveston +Gans, Joe +Gardiner, Anthony W. +Garlington, E.A. +Garnett, H.H. +Garrison, William Lloyd +Garvey, Marcus +Gatumba, Chief +Geaween, John +Gell, Monday +General Education Board +Georgia +_Georgia Baptist_ +Georgia Railroad labor trouble +Georgia, University of +Germans, Germany +Germantown protest +Gibbes, Gov., of South Carolina +Gibson, Garretson W. +Giddings, Joshua R. +Gildersleeve, Basil L. +Giles, Harriet E. +Giles, Jackson W. +Gilmer, Congressman, of Georgia +Gleaves, R.H. +Gloucester, John +Gola tribe +Gold Coast +Gonzales +Goodspeed, Dr., of Benedict College +Gorden, Robert +Gordon, Midshipman +Gourdin, E. +Gradual Emancipation +Grady, Henry W. +Graeff, Abraham Op den +Graeff, Dirck Op den +Grand Bassa +"Grandfather Clause," +Grant, U.S. +Graves, Samuel +Gray, Thomas C. +Gray, William +Great War +Grebo tribe +Greeley, Horace +Greene, Col. +Greenfield, Elizabeth Taylor +Greenleaf, Prof. +Greenville, in Liberia +Grice, Hezekiah +Groves, Junius C. +Grundy, Felix +_Guardian, The_ +Guerra, Christobal de la +Guerra, Luis de la +Guinea Coast +Gullah Jack +Gurley, R.R. + +Hadjo, Micco +Hajo, Tuski +Hall, James +Hall, Prince +Hallowell, Edward N. +Hallowell, N.P. +Hamburg Massacre +Hampton Institute +Hampton, Wade +Harden, Henry +Hargreaves, James +Harper, in Liberia +Harper, F.E.W. +Harper's Ferry +Harris, Arthur +Harris, John M. +Harris, William T. +Harrison, Benjamin +Harrison, William Henry +Harrison St. Baptist Church, of Petersburg, Va. +Harry, Negro in Seminole Wars +Hart, A.B. +Hartford, Conn. +Harth, Mingo +Hartshorn Memorial College +Harvard University +Haussas +Havana +Havelock, A.E. +Hawkins, John +Hawkins, William +Hayes, R.B. +Haygood, Atticus G. +Hayne, Robert Y. +Haynes, George E. +Haynes, Lemuel +Hayti +Heber, Reginald +Helper, Hinton Rowan +Hendericks, Garret +Henry, Prince, of Portugal +Henry, Patrick +Hewell, John R. +Hicks, John +Higginson, Thomas Wentworth +Hill, Arnold +Hill, Stephen +Hoar, Samuel +Hodge, F.W. +Hoffman, Frederick L. +Hogg, Robert, and Mrs. Hogg +Holbert, Luther +Holland +Holland, Edwin C. +Holly, James Theodore +Homer +Hopkins, Samuel +Horsemanden, Judge +Horseshoe Bend +Horton, George M. +Hose, Sam +Houston, Texas +Howard, Daniel Edward +Howard, O.O. +Howard University +Howells, William Dean +Howze, Alma +Howze, Maggie +Hughes, Charles E. +Hughson, John +Hughson, Sarah +Hugo, Victor +Humphreys, Gad +Hunter, David + +Illinois +_Impending Crisis, The_ +Indenture. _See_ Servitude. +Indiana +Indians +Indian Spring, treaty of +_Informer_, The Houston +Insurrections +Intermarriage, Racial intermixture + +Jackson, Andrew +Jackson College +Jackson, Edward +Jackson, Francis +Jackson, James +Jackson, Peter +Jacksonville, Fla. +Jamaica +James, David +James, Duke of York +Jamestown +Japan +Jasper, John +Jay, John +Jay, William +Jeanes, Anna T. +Jeanes Fund +Jefferson, Thomas +Jennings, Thomas L. +Jessup, Thomas S. +"Jim Crow," origin of +Jocelyn, S.S. +John, in Fugitive Slave case +Johnson, Andrew +Johnson, Elijah +Johnson, Henry +Johnson, H.R.W. +Johnson, Jack +Johnson, James +Johnson, Joseph +Johnston brothers, of Arkansas +Johnston, E.L. +Johnston, Sir Harry H. +Jones, Abraham +Jones, Eugene K. +Jones, George +Jones, Sam +Jones, Sissieretta +Julius, John + +Kali, in Amistad case +Kansas +Kansas City, dynamiting of homes in +Kansas-Nebraska Bill +Kean, Edmund +Kentucky +Kerry, Margaret +King, C.D.B. +King, Mulatto +King, Rufus +Kizell, John +Knights of Pythias +Knights of the Golden Circle +Knoxville College +Knoxville riot +Kpwessi tribe +Kru tribe +KuKlux Klan + +Labor +Lafar, John J. +Laing, Major +Lake City, S.C. +Lane College +Lane Seminary +Langston, John Mercer +Las Quasimas +Laurens, Henry +Laurens, John +Law, John +Lawless, Judge +Le Clerc, Gen. +Lee, Robert E. +Lee County, Ga. +Leicester, Earl of +Leland Giants +Lewis, William H. +_Liberator, The_ +Liberia +Liberia College +Liberian Exodus and Joint Stock Company +Liberty Party +Liele, George +Lincoln, Abraham +Lincoln Giants +Lincoln University +Livingstone College +Livingstone, David +Lockwood, L.C. +London Company +Louisiana +Louis Napoleon +Lovejoy, Elijah P. +Lowell, James R. +Lugard, Lady +Lundy, Benjamin +Lutherans +Lynching + +Macaulay, T.B. +Macon, Ga. +Madagascar +Madison, James +Mahan, Asa +Maine +Malays +Maldonado, Alonzo del Castillo +Mandingoes +Manly, Alex. L. +Mano tribe +Mansfield, Lord +Marcos, Fray +Markham, Edwin +Marriage +_Marrow of Tradition, The_ +Marshall, J.F.B. +Marshall, J.R. +Marshall, of Univ. of Minnesota +Martin, Luther +Maryland +Mason, George +Masons, Negro +Massachusetts +Mather, Cotton +Matthews, W.C. +May, Samuel J. +Mazzini, G. +McCorkle, William A. +McIlheron, Jim +McIntosh, burned +McKay, Claude +McKelway, A.J. +Medicine, Negro in +Memphis, Tenn. +Mercer, Charles F. +_Messenger, The_ +Methodists, churches and schools. _See also_ African Methodist. +Mexican War +Metz +Micanopy +Mickasukie tribe +Migration. _See also_ Exodus. +Milan, Ga. +Milliken's Bend +Mills, Samuel J. +Minstrelsy +Miscegenation. _See_ Intermarriage, Racial intermixture. +Mississippi +Mississippi Company +Missouri +Missouri Compromise +Mobile +Mohammedans +Monroe, James +Monrovia +Montes, Pedro +Montgomery, Ala. +Montgomery, James +Monticello, Ga. +Montserado, Cape +Moore, Joanna P. +Moorhead, Scipio +Moors +Morehouse College +Morell, Junius C. +Morgan, Thomas J. +Morris Brown University +Morris, Edward H. +Morris, Gouverneur +Morris, Robert, Jr. +Mortality +Mott, Lucretia +Mulattoes +Mumford, John P. +"Mungo," in The Padlock +Murphy, Edgar G. + +Napoleon Bonaparte +Narvaez, Pamfilo de +Nashville, Tenn. +Nassau +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People +National Urban League +Navigation Ordinance +Nea Mathla +Neau, Elias +_Negro_, the word +Negro Union +_Negro World, The_ +Nell, William C. +New Bedford, Mass. +New England Anti-Slavery Society +New Hampshire +New Jersey +New Orleans +New Mexico +New York (city) +New York (state) +_News and Courier_, of Charleston, S.C. +Niagara Movement +Niles, Hezekiah +Nino, Pedro Alonso +Norfolk, Va. +North Carolina +Northrup, Solomon +_North Star_ +Northwest Territory +Nott, Josiah C. +Nott, Dr., of Union College +Nullification +Nunn, Joseph + +Oberlin College +Odd Fellows +Ogden, Peter +Ogden, Robert C. +Oglethorpe, James +Ohio +Oklahoma +Omaha +Orange Park Academy +Osceola +Otis, James +Otis, Mayor, of Boston +Ouithlecoochee, Battle of +Ovando + +Packard, Sophia B. +Page, Thomas Nelson +Page, Walter H. +Palmer, B.M. +Palmetto, Ga. +Pan-African Congress +Pappa tribe +Parker, Theodore +Parrott, Russell +Pastorius, Francis Daniel +Patterson, Joseph +Paul, William +Payne, Daniel A. +Payne, James Spriggs +Payne's Landing, treaty of +Peabody Educational Fund +Peabody, George Foster +Pembroke, Earl of +Pennington, James W.C. +Pennsylvania +Pennsylvania Railroad +Pensacola +Peonage +Perkins, Francis +Perry, Bliss +Person, Ell T. +Petersburg, Va. +Phagan, John +Phelps, John W. +Phelps-Stokes Fellowships +Philadelphia +Phillips, Wendell +Phipps, Benjamin +Phoenix societies +Pierce, Leonard +Pike, in Brooks County, Ga. +Pittman, W. Sydney +Pittsburgh, Penn. +Planciancois, Anselmas +Pleasants, Robert +Pollard, F. +Poor, Samuel +Poor white man, as related to Negro +Population, Negro +Populist Party +Port Hudson +Porter, Henry +Portugal +Potter, James +Powell. See Osceola. +Poyas, Peter +Presbyterians +Price, Arthur +Prince +Princeton +Problem, Negro. See Table of Contents. +Progressive Party +Punishment. See also Lynching, Burning. +Purcell, Jack +Puritans + +Quack, in New York +Quakers +Queen and Crescent Railroad trouble +Quinn, William Paul + +Randolph, John +Reconstruction +Reed, Paul +Reese, Jack +_Republic of Liberia, The_ +Republican Party +Reuter, E.B. +Revels, Hiram R. +_Review of Reviews_, quoted +Revolutionary War +Revolution, French +Rhode Island +Rhodes, Cecil +Rice, Thomas D. +Richmond, Va. +Rigaud +_Rising Tide of Color, The_ +Rivers, P.R. +Robert, Joseph T. +Roberts, Joseph Jenkin +Robeson, P.L. +Rockefeller, John D. +Romanticism +Romme, John +Roosevelt, Theodore +Ross, John +Royal African Company +Roye, Edward James +Ruffin, George L. +Ruiz, Jose +Rush, Christopher +Russell, Alfred F. +Russwurm, John B. +Rust University +Rutledge, John + +St. Augustine, Fla. +St. Louis, Mo. +St. Mihiel +St. Philip's Church, in New York +St. Thomas's Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia +Sale, George +Salem, Peter +Samba, insurrectionist +Sandford (in Dred Scott Case) +San Juan Hill +Santiago +Santo Domingo +Sargent, Frank P. +Savannah, Ga. +Schurz, Carl +Scott, Emmett J. +Scott, Lation +Scott, Walter +Seaton, Richard +Sebastian +Sebor, Capt +Secoffee +Secret societies +Segui, Bernard +Selika, Mme +Seminole Wars +Servitude +Seward, William H. +Seyes, John +Shadd, Abraham +Sharp, Granville +Shaw, Robert Gould +Shaw Monument +Shaw University +Shepherd, Randall +Sheridan, Philip +Shubuta, Miss. +Shufeldt, R.W. +Sierra Leone +Silver Bluff Church +Simon +Singleton, Benjamin +Sino, in Liberia +Slater Fund +Slavery. _See_ Table of Contents. +Slave Ships +Smith, Adam +Smith, Alfred +Smith, Edward P. +Smith, Gerrit +Smith, Hampton +Smith, Henry +Smith, Hoke +Smith, James McCune +Smith, Stephen +Smith, W.B. +Social Progress +Socialism +Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts +Soldier, Negro +Somerset, James +Soulouque, Faustin +_Souls of Black Folk, The_ +South Carolina +South Carolina Medical College +Southern Education Board +Southern Educational Congress +Southern Sociological Congress +Southerne, Thomas +_Southwestern Christian Advocate_ +Spain +Spaniards +Spanish-American War +Spanish Exploration +Spelman Seminary +Spence, R.T. +Spencer, Peter +Sport +Springfield, Ill. +Stanton, Elizabeth Cady +Statesville, Ga. +Stephens, Alexander +Stevens, Julius C. +Stevens, Thaddeus +Steward, Austin +Stewart, Charles +Stewart, T. McC. +Stiles, Ezra +Stoddard, Lothrop +Stone, Lucy +Stockton, Robert F. +Stone, Alfred H. +Storey, Moorfield +Stowe, Harriet Beecher +Straight University +Straker, D.A. +Students' Army Training Corps +Summersett, John +Sumner, Charles +Supreme Court +Susi + +Taft, W.H. +Talladega, Ala. +Talladega College +Tallahassee, Fla. +Taney, R.B. +Tanner, Henry O. +Tappan, Arthur +Tappan, Lewis +Tapsico, Jacob +Taney, Chief Justice +Taylor, John B. +Taylor, Major +Taylor, William +Tecumseh +Tennessee +Terrell, Mary Church +Terrell, J.M. +Texas +Thomas, Charles +Thomas, W.H. +Thompson, George +Thompson, Wiley +Thornton, William +_Thoughts on African Colonisation_ +Tillman, Benjamin R. +Tithables, defined +Tolbert, John R. +Tolbert, R.R. +Tolbert, Thomas +Toombs, Robert +Toussaint L'Ouverture +Travis, Hark +Travis, Joseph +Tremont Temple Baptist Church +Trotter, Monroe +Truth, Sojourner +Tubman, Harriet +Tucker, St. George +Tupper, Pres., of Shaw University +Turnbull, Robert James +Turner, H.M. +Turner, Mary +Turner, Nat, and his insurrection +Tuskegee Institute +Tustenuggee, 114 + +_Uncle Tom's Cabin_ +Underground Railroad +Universal Negro Improvement Association +Universal Races Congress +University Commission on Southern Race Questions +Ury, John +Utrecht, Peace of + +Vaca, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de +Vail, Aaron +Vai tribe +Valdosta, Ga. +Valladolid, Juan de +Van Buren, Martin +Vardaman, James K. +Varick, James +Vermont +Vesey, Denmark, and his insurrection +Vincenden, Gen. +Virginia +Virginia Union University +Virginia, University of +Virgin Islands +Vogelsang, Peter +_Voice of the Negro, The_ +Vosges + +Waco, Texas +Walcott, Joe +Walker, John +Walker, Mme. C.J. +Walker, David +Walker, Walter F. +Walker, Zach +War of 1812 +Ward, Samuel Ringgold +Ware, Asa +Warner, Daniel Bashiel +Washington, Berry +Washington, Booker T. +Washington, Bushrod +Washington, George +Washington, Jesse +Washington, Madison +Washington, D.C. +Watson, Brook +Watt, James +Watterson, Henry +Weathersford +Webster, Daniel +Webster, Thomas +Wendell, Abraham +Wesley, John +West Virginia +Wheatley, Phillis +Whipper, of Pennsylvania +Whipper, William +White, George H. +White, Thomas J. +White, William +White, William J. +Whitfield, James M. +Whittekin, F.F. +Whitney, Eli +Whittier, John G. +Wiener, Leo +Wilberforce University +Wilberforce, William +Wilcox, Samuel T. +Wild Cat +Wiley University +Will +William and Mary College +Williams and Walker Company +Williams, Charles H. +Williams, Daniel H. +Williams, George W. +Williams, Nelson +Williams, Peter +Williams, Richard +Williamsburg, Va. +Williamson, Edward +Wilmington, N.C. +Wilson, James +Wilson, Woodrow +Winn, J.B. +Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society +Woman Suffrage +Woods, Granville T. +Woodson, Carter G. +Woolf, Leonard +Woolman, John +Wright, Robert +Wycliffe, John C. + +Yellow fever, in Philadelphia; +in Hayti +Yemassee +Y.M.C.A. +Young, Charles E. + +Zuni Indians + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Social History of the American Negro +by Benjamin Brawley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMERICAN NEGRO *** + +***** This file should be named 12101.txt or 12101.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/1/0/12101/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Leonard D Johnson and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/old/12101.zip b/old/old/12101.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1e0b9a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/12101.zip |