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diff --git a/31328-8.txt b/31328-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18d527e --- /dev/null +++ b/31328-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1225 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Early Negro Convention Movement, by John W. Cromwell + +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: The Early Negro Convention Movement + The American Negro Academy, Occasional Papers No. 9 + +Author: John W. Cromwell + +Release Date: February 19, 2010 [EBook #31328] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EARLY NEGRO CONVENTION *** + + + + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Stephanie Eason, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + + + + The American Negro Academy. + + OCCASIONAL PAPERS NO. 9. + + + The Early Negro + Convention Movement. + + BY JOHN W. CROMWELL. + + + PRICE FIFTEEN CENTS. + + WASHINGTON, D. C.: + Published by the Academy. + 1904. + + + + +The Early Negro Convention Movement. + + +With the period immediately following the Second War with Great Britain, +begins a series of events which indicate a purpose of the nation to make +the condition of the free man of color an inferior status socially and +politically. That this was resisted at every step, revealed the national +aim and purpose. + +The protest against prescription in the Church which had asserted itself +in several instances as at St. James P. E. and Bethel in Philadelphia, +Zion in New York, culminated in the organization of two independent +denominations--in 1816 at Philadelphia, in 1820 at New York. + +The American Colonization Society was organized in 1816 with the hidden +purpose of strengthening slavery by ridding the country of its free black +population. In 1820 the passage of the Missouri Compromise permitted the +westward extension of slavery and as far north as 36° 30'. + +Local legislation, harmonizing with this national action against extending +the domain of freedom and making the country undesirable for the colored +freeman, followed. Two years after the enactment of the compromise, "the +martyrs of 1822" went bravely and heroically to their fate in South +Carolina. In 1827, the Empire State completed its work of emancipation of +the slave began 28 years before, and saw the birth of "Freedom's Journal," +the first Negro newspaper within the limits of the United States, edited +by John B. Russwurm and Samuel E. Cornish. In 1831, Virginia was convulsed +and the entire Southland shocked by the Insurrection of Nat. Turner. In +the State of Ohio along the Kentucky border, the feeling against the free +Negro had become acute. Mobs occurred, blood was shed and the people were +compelled to look to some spot where they could abide in peace. + +It was in these stirring times that the Convention movement which means +the marshalling of the moral forces within the Negro came into existence. +The forces which it evoked were conserved and correlated until the +dynamics of Civil Revolution had wrought desolation and destruction far +and wide, sweeping away forever what had been a basis of the social and +political strength of the Nation. + +Prior to this time, there had been a local convention held in +Philadelphia, January, 1817, to protest against the action of the American +Colonization Society that had been organized to remove systematically from +this country all the free colored people in the United States. A glance at +the list of the officers of this, the pioneer deliberative convention of +colored people of which we have as yet any date, shows that the men who +led in this meeting as in the movement of which this paper is a study, +were among the foremost colored citizens whose names have come down to us +from that distant past. James Forten was President, and Russell Parrott, +the assistant to Absalom Jones at St. Thomas, P. E. Church, was the +Secretary. Prominent also in this anti-colonization convention, were +Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Robert Douglass, Francis Perkins, John +Gloucester--the first settled pastor of a colored Presbyterian +Church--Robert Gordon, James Johnson, Quanmany Clarkson, John Summersett +and Randall Shepherd. + +The convention which assembled in 1830 and was the first conscious step +toward concerted action, was in no sense local either in its conception or +its constituency. + +The prime mover was Hezekiah Grice, a native of Baltimore, where he was +born just one hundred years ago. In his early life, Grice had met Benjamin +Lundy, and in 1828-9, William Lloyd Garrison, editors and publishers of +"The Genius of Universal Emancipation," published at that time in +Baltimore. + +In the spring of 1830 he wrote a circular letter to prominent colored men +in the free states requesting their views on the feasibility and +imperative necessity of holding a convention of the free colored men of +the country, at some point north of Mason & Dixon's line, for the +exchange of views on the question of emigration or the adoption of a +policy that would make living in the United States more endurable. For +several months Grice received no response whatever to this circular. In +August, however, he received an urgent request for him to come at once to +Philadelphia. On his arrival there he found a meeting in session, +discussing conflicting reports relative to the openings for colored people +as emigrants to Canada. Bishop Richard Allen, at whose instance he was in +Philadelphia, subsequently showed him a printed circular signed by Peter +Williams, the rector of St. Phillips Church, New York, Peter Vogelsang and +Thomas L. Jennings of the same place, approving the plan of convention. +This approval decided the Philadelphians to take definite action, and they +immediately "issued a call for a convention of the colored men of the +United States to be held in the city of Philadelphia, on the 15th of +September, 1830." + +When the time came the Convention assembled in Bethel Church, the historic +building in which was laid the foundation of the A. M. E. denomination. +The convention was organized by the election of Bishop Allen as President, +Dr. Belfast Burton of Philadelphia and Austin Steward of Rochester, N. Y., +as Vice Presidents, Junius C. Morell, Secretary, and Robert Cowley, +Maryland, Assistant Secretary. + +Seven States were represented by duly accredited delegates as follows: + +PENNSYLVANIA--Richard Allen, Belfast Burton, Cyrus Black, Junius C. +Morell, Benjamin Paschall, James Cornish, William Whipper, Peter Gardiner, +John Allen, James Newman, Charles H. Leveck, Frederick A. Hinton. + +NEW YORK--Austin Steward, Joseph Adams, George L. Brown. + +CONNECTICUT--Scipio Augustus. + +RHODE ISLAND--George C. Willis, Alfred Niger. + +MARYLAND--James Deaver, Hezekiah Grice, Aaron Willson, Robert Cowley. + +DELAWARE--Abraham D. Shadd. + +VIRGINIA--Arthur M. Waring, William Duncan, James West, Jr. + +In addition to these there were honorary members as follows: + +PENNSYLVANIA--Robert Brown, William Rogers, John Bowers, Richard Howell, +Daniel Peterson, Charles Shorts. + +NEW YORK--Leven Williams. + +MARYLAND--James P. Walker, Rev. Samuel Todd, John Arnold. + +OHIO--John Robinson. + +NEW JERSEY--Sampson Peters. + +DELAWARE--Rev. Anthony Campbell and Dan Carolus Hall. + +They may well be called the first "forty immortals" in our Valhalla. + +The question of emigration to Canada West, after an exhaustive discussion +which continued during the two days of the convention's sessions, was +recommended as a measure of relief against the persecution from which the +colored American suffered in many places in the North. Strong resolutions +against the American Colonization Society were adopted. The formation of a +parent society with auxiliaries in the different localities represented in +the convention, for the purpose of raising money to defray the object of +purchasing a colony in the province of upper Canada, and ascertaining more +definite information, having been effected, the convention adjourned to +reassemble on the first Monday in June, 1831, during which time the order +of the convention respecting the organization of the auxiliary societies +had been carried into operation. + +At the assembling of the Convention in 1831, which was fully reported in +"The Liberator," the officers elected were, John Bowers, Philadelphia, +President, Abraham D. Shadd and William Duncan, Vice Presidents, William +Whipper, Secretary, Thomas L. Jennings, Assistant Secretary. + +The roll of delegates, reveals the presence of many of the pioneers. +Hezekiah Grice did not attend--in fact he was never a delegate at any +subsequent convention, for two years later he emigrated to Hayti, where he +became a foremost contractor. Richard Allen had died, after having +completed a most remarkable career. Rev. James W. C. Pennington, who for +forty years bore a conspicuous place as a clergyman of sound scholarship, +was a new figure and thenceforth an active participant in the movement. + +This convention aroused no little interest among the foremost friends of +the Negro and was visited and addressed by such men as Rev. S. S. Jocelyn +of New Haven, Benjamin Lundy and William Lloyd Garrison. In the "Life of +Arthur Tappan," written by his brother Lewis Tappan, we find the +following: + +"A convention of people of color was held in Philadelphia in 1831 of +delegates from several States to consult upon the common interest. It was +numerously attended and the proceedings were conducted with much ability. +A resolution was adopted that it was expedient to establish a collegiate +school on the manual labor system. * * A committee appointed for the +purpose made an appeal to the benevolent. * * * New Haven was suggested as +a suitable place for its location * * * Arthur Tappan purchased several +acres of land in the southerly part of the city and made arrangements for +the erection of a suitable building and furnished it with needful supplies +in a way to do honor to the city and country * * * The people of New Haven +became violently agitated in opposition to the plan. The city was filled +with confusion. They seemed to fear that the city would be overrun with +Negroes from all parts of the world * * * A public meeting called by the +Mayor September 8, 1831, in spite of a manly protest by Roger S. Baldwin, +subsequently Governor of the State and U. S. Senator from Connecticut, +adopted the following: + +"Resolved, by the Mayor, Aldermen, Common Council and freemen of the city +of New Haven, in city meeting assembled, that we will resist the +establishment of the proposed college in this place by every lawful +means." + +The attempt at the founding of a college in Connecticut was abandoned. It +is hardly necessary to more than mention the Prudence Crandall incident +that disgraced the name of Connecticut at the same period. + +What was a kind of National Executive Committee, and known as the +Convention Board, issued the calls for the convention from time to time. + +When the next convention was held in 1832, there were eight States +represented with an attendance of thirty delegates, as follows: Maryland +had 3; Delaware, 5; New Jersey, 3; Pennsylvania, 9; New York, 5; +Connecticut, 2; Rhode Island, 1; Massachusetts, 2. + +Beginning June 4th, it continued in session until the 15th. The question +exciting the greatest interest was one which proposed the purchase of +other lands for settlement in Canada; for 800 acres of land had already +been secured, two thousand individuals had left the soil of their birth, +crossed the line and laid the foundation for a structure which promised an +asylum for the colored population of the United States. They had already +erected two hundred log houses and 500 acres of land had been brought +under cultivation. But hostility to the settlement of the Negro in that +section had been manifested by Canadians, many of whom would sell no land +to the Negro. This may explain the hesitation of the convention and the +appointment of an agent whose duty it was to make further investigation +and report to a subsequent convention. + +Opposition to the colonization movement was emphasized by a strong protest +against any appropriation by Congress in behalf of the American +Colonization Society. Abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia was +also urged at the same convention. This was one year before the +organization of the American Anti-Slavery Society. + +There were fifty-eight delegates present when the convention assembled +June 3, 1833. The states represented were Pennsylvania, Maryland, New +Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. Abraham D. +Shadd, then of Washington, D. C., was elected President, Richard D. +Johnson of Philadelphia and John G. Stewart were Vice Presidents, Ransom +F. Wake of New York, was Secretary with Henry Ogden, Assistant, and John +B. Depee of Philadelphia, Clerk. + +The usual resolutions and addresses to the people were framed and adopted. +In addition to these, the law of Connecticut, but recently passed, +prohibiting the establishment of literary institutions in that State for +the instruction of persons of color of other states was specifically +referred to, as well as a resolution, giving the approval of the mission +of William Lloyd Garrison to Europe to obtain funds for the establishment +of a Manual Training School. + +The emigration question was again thoroughly discussed. A committee was +appointed to look into the matter of the encouragement of settlement in +Upper Canada and all plans for colonization anywhere were rejected. + +A general convention fund was provided for a schedule showing the +population, churches, day schools, Sunday Schools, pupils, temperance +societies, benevolent societies, mechanics and store-keepers. A most +significant action was one recommending the establishment in different +parts of the country of FREE LABOR STORES at which no produce from the +result of slave labor would be exposed for sale. + +The next year, 1834, the convention met in New York, June 8th, with Henry +Sipkins as President, William Hamilton and John D. Closson, Vice +Presidents, Benjamin F. Hughes, Secretary and Rev. H. Francis, Assistant +Secretary. There were seven states represented and about 40 delegates +present. The usual resolutions were adopted, one commending Prudence +Crandall to the patronage and affection of the people at large; another +urging the people to assemble on the fourth of each July for the purpose +of prayer and the delivery of addresses pertaining to the condition and +welfare of the colored people. The foundation of societies on the +principle of moral reform and total abstinence from intoxicating liquors +was advocated. Moreover, every person of color was urged to discountenance +all boarding houses where gambling was admitted. + +At the same convention the Phoenix Societies came up for special +consideration and were heartily commended. These planned an organization +of the colored people in their municipal sub-divisions with the special +object of the promotion of their improvement in morals, literature and the +mechanic arts. Lewis Tappan refers to them in the biography previously +referred to. The "Mental Feast" which was a social feature, survived +thirty years later in some of the interior towns of Pennsylvania and the +West. Rt. Rev. Christopher Rush of the A. M. E. Zion, was the president of +these societies. Rev. Theodore S. Wright, the predecessor of Rev. Henry +Highland Garnet at the Shiloh Presbyterian Church, New York, and who +enjoys the unique reputation of claiming Princeton Seminary as his Alma +Mater, was a Vice President. Among its directors were Boston Crummell, the +father of the founder of the AMERICAN NEGRO ACADEMY, Rev. William Paul +Quinn, subsequently a bishop of the A. M. E. Church, and Rev. Peter +Williams. These names suggest that the Phoenix Society movement was not +confined to any special social clique, but was a somewhat wide spread +institution. Unfortunately, there was lost during the excitement of The +New York Draft Riots of 1863, nearly all the documentary data for an +interesting sidelight on the Convention movement, through the study of +these societies. + +With 1835, the Convention returned to Philadelphia, June 1-5, was the time +of its sessions. There were forty four delegates enrolled, with Reuben +Ruby of Maine, as president, James H. Fleet of the District of Columbia, +and Nathan Johnson Vice Presidents, John F. Cook of the District of +Columbia, was Secretary, Samuel Van Brackle and Henry Ogden were the +Assistants. + +Speaking of its proceedings, "The Liberator" says: "Its pages offered +abundant testimony of the ability of this body to set before the Nation a +detail of the wrongs and grievances to which they are by custom and law +subjected, and they also exhibit a praiseworthy spirit of manly and noble +resolution to contend by moral force alone until their rights so long +withheld shall be restored." + +Among other specially notable things, Robert Purvis and Frederick A. +Hinton were appointed a committee to correspond with dissatisfied +emigrants to Liberia and to take such action as would best promote the +sentiment of the colored people respecting the work of the Colonization +Society. The students of Lane Seminary at Cincinnati were thanked for +their zeal in the cause of abolition. Temperance reform was advocated in a +stirring address to the people. The free people of color were recommended +to petition Congress and their respective state legislatures to be +admitted to the rights and privileges of American citizenship, and to be +protected in the enjoyment of the same. + +William Whipper advocated that the word 'colored' should be abandoned and +the title "African" should be removed from the name of the churches, +lodges, societies and other institutions. + +In 1836, in the columns of "The Liberator" appear calls for two +conventions; the regular annual convention was called to meet in +Philadelphia, June 6, by Henry Sipkins of the Convention Board, and the +urgent language of the call implies doubt in the interest of the people or +the probability of their prompt response to the calls. William Whipper +issued the call, through the same medium, for the Convention of the +American Moral Reform to meet August 2, 1836, also in Philadelphia. It is +worthy of remark that careful perusal of the files of "The Liberator" +fails to disclose a comment on the proceedings of either convention. But +the perusal of the officers of the American Moral Reform shows the +influential man of the Convention Movement at their helm. James Forten, +Sr., the revolutionary patriot, was the President, Reuben Ruby, Rev. +Samuel E. Cornish, Rev. Walter Proctor and Jacob C. White, Sr., of +Philadelphia, were Vice Presidents, Joseph Cassey was Treasurer, Robert +Purvis, Foreign Corresponding Secretary and James Forten, Jr., Recording +Secretary. + +The address was drawn up by William Watkins of Baltimore, who two decades +later was an able colleague of Frederick Douglass in the conduct of "The +North Star." + +In 1837, the convention of the American Moral Reform was again held in +Philadelphia, August 19th, in which William Whipper, John P. Burr and +James Forten, Jr., were leading spirits. At the adjournment, an extra +meeting was held in St. Thomas P. E. Church, at which an address on +Temperance was delivered by John Francis Cook of Washington. + +Sufficient has now been stated to show that the convention movement was +now deeply rooted in the thought of the disfranchised American. The fact +that there was a lull does not at all disprove this contention. The +conventions were great educators, alike of the Negro and the American +whites. They taught the former parliamentary usages and how to conduct +deliberative bodies. They brought to light facts pertaining to the Negro's +status which tended to establish that he was thrifty and steadily +improving as a moral and economic force; while the American whites had in +them an object lesson from which they learned much. In his "Autobiography +of a Fugitive Negro," Samuel Ringgold Ward says: "A State or a National +Convention of black men is held. The talent displayed, the order +maintained, the demeanor of the delegates, all impress themselves upon the +community. All agree that to keep a people rooted to the soil who are +rapidly improving, who have already attained considerable influence and +are marshalled by gifted leaders, (men who show themselves qualified for +legislative and judicial positions), and to doom them to a state of +perpetual vassalage is altogether out of the question." + +The work of unifying the race along right lines now proceeded with the +holding of state conventions. There was a state Temperance Convention of +the colored men of Connecticut, held at Middletown, 1836, followed by a +call for a New England Convention at Boston in October. Reference to its +proceedings shows a prior convention held at Providence, R. I., in May. +At the Boston convention a ringing appeal was made to the people, for +total abstinence from all intoxicants, and almost immediately thereafter, +local meetings were held for the purpose of putting in practical operation +the principles enunciated. Not only in New England, but in the Middle and +Western States, local conventions were held during the next decade. + +The following extracts from a letter from the veteran educator, Peter H. +Clark, shed a flood of light upon this early movement: + + J. W. CROMWELL, + + Washington, D. C. + + MY DEAR SIR:-- + + The people of Ohio held conventions annually for more than thirty + years. Usually they printed their proceedings in pamphlets. + + * * * * * + + A peculiarity of the Ohio conventions was that they were meant to + improve the condition of the colored people of that State. The + conventions of those residing in the more eastern States were simply + anti-slavery conventions, and their memorials and protests were aimed + at slavery. The first conventions of the men of Ohio were + self-helpful. By their own sacrifices and with the help of friends, + they purchased lots and erected school houses in a number of towns, + or they organized schools and located them in churches. + + Active in this work were the Yancy's, Charles and Walter, Gideon and + Charles Langston, (brothers of John M.), George Carey, Dennis Hill, + and chief among them, David Jenkins. Walter Yancy was the agent of + these men, travelling and organizing societies and schools, + collecting funds, etc. + + As a result of this self-helping movement, a number of farming + communities were established, some of which accumulated large areas + of land, and in Cincinnati, The Iron Chest Company accumulated funds + and in 1840 erected a block of buildings which still stands. + + Later, the action of the Convention was directed against the Black + Laws of Ohio. These were repealed in 1849, and colored children were + permitted to share in the benefits of the school funds, though in + separate schools. The same legislature elected Salmon P. Chase to the + United States Senate. The movement thus detailed was the result of a + bargain between the Democrats of Ohio and the Free Soilers. + + Afterwards the force of these conventions was directed against + discriminations against colored people which still existed on the + statute books. Sometimes this force took the shape of petitions, + memorials, protests, and after the organization of the Ohio Equal + Rights League, it took the shape of legal proceedings, etc. + + One of the most memorable of these conventions was held in 1852, when + John M. Langston delivered the best speech of his life, defending the + thesis, "there is a mutual repellency between the white and black + races of the world." + + The materials for the speech were collected by Charles Langston, but + John made the speech. Time has vindicated the position taken by Mr. + Langston in that memorable address. It was the beginning of the + Emigration Movement in which Dr. Martin R. Delaney afterwards became + prominent. + + Effective national conventions have not been numerous in the past + fifty years. + + One of the most notable met at Rochester in 1852. Frederick Douglass + presided and I had the honor of being the secretary. + + It was reported that Mrs. Stowe desired to give a portion of her + earnings from "Uncle Tom" for the founding of a school for the + benefit of the Afro-American, and this convention was called to + formulate an advisory plan. + + The plan when formulated, was practically what Mr. Washington + realized many years afterwards at Tuskegee. + + If you knew Mr. Douglass, you perhaps know that the last years of his + life were devoted to an attempt to found such a school. + + The Rochester movement came to naught, but its influence upon the + colored people of the country was wide spread, chiefly because of the + character of the men who composed it. + + Its proceedings were published in the "North Star," and so far as I + know, nowhere else. The file of that paper was destroyed with Mr. + Douglass' Rochester house, and, unless in the Congressional Library, + no copy now exists. + + The convention at Syracuse, 1864, was another note-worthy assemblage. + Its was the formulation of a plan of organization known as the + National Equal Rights League. The rivalry between Mr. Douglass and + Mr. Langston prevented the wide usefulness of which the organization + was capable. + + Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois organized auxiliary State leagues, + and in each State much good was done. Mr. Langston, president elect + of the National Organization, never called it together. * * * + + I have written at length and yet have not answered your questions as + to men whose names deserve to be embalmed in your proposed book. + + It will take time and thought for the compilation of such a list. The + men who officiated in the conventions of which I have written, were + mostly small men, great only in their zeal for the welfare of their + people. + + I am, Sir, + + With respect yours, + + PETER H. CLARK. + + St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 21, 1901. + +Within these ten years from 1837 to 1847, a new figure appears on the +scene, a man, though not born free like Paul, yet like the chief captain, +obtained it at a great price. The career of Frederick Douglass was but +preliminary prior to his return from England, and his settlement at +Rochester, N. Y., as editor of "The North Star." By a most remarkable +coincidence, the very first article in the first number of "The North +Star," published January, 1848, is an extended notice of the National +Colored Convention held at the Liberty Street Church, Troy, New York, +October 9, 1847. Nathan Johnson was President, Dr. James McCune Smith, +Peyton Harris, New York, James W. C. Pennington, Connecticut, were Vice +Presidents, Wm. H. Topp, Albany, N. Y., Charles B. Ray, New York City, and +William C. Nell of Boston, were Secretaries. The business committee with +Henry Highland Garnet, Chairman, Charles B. Ray, Leonard Collins, +Massachusetts, Willis A. Hodges, N. Y., and Lewis Hayden, then of Michigan. + +There were 67 delegates. From New York, 44; Massachusetts, 15; +Connecticut, 2; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, Kentucky +and Michigan, 1 each. + +The presence of one delegate, Benjamin Weeden, from a large constituency, +Northampton, Mass., whose credentials stated the fact that a large number +of white citizens sympathizing with the objects of the call had formerly +expressed their endorsement of the movement, was a signal for hearty +applause. + +A most spirited discussion arose on the report of the Committee of +Education as to the expediency of the establishment of a college for +colored young men, which was discussed pro and con by arguments that can +not be surpassed even after a lapse of more than half a century. The +report gives unstinted praise to the chairman of the committee for his +scholarly style, his choice diction, his grace of manner, and this +statement excites no surprise when we learn that this chairman was +Alexander Crummell. + +The next year, September 6, 1848, between sixty and seventy delegates +assembled at Cleveland, Ohio, in the National Convention, the sessions +alternating between the Court House and the Tabernacle. Frederick Douglass +was chosen President, John Jones of Illinois, Allen Jones of Ohio, Thomas +Johnson of Michigan and Abner Francis of New York, were Vice Presidents, +William Howard Day was the Secretary, with William H. Burnham and Justin +Hollin, Assistants. At the head of the business committee stood Martin R. +Delaney, and with him as associates, Charles H. Langston, David Jenkins, +Henry Bibb, T. W. Tucker, W. H. Topp, Thomas Bird, J. P. Watson and J. +Malvin. The line of policy was not deflected. As in previous conventions, +education was encouraged, the importance of statistical information stated +and temperance societies urged. + +As showing the representative character of the delegates, the diversity of +occupations, employment and the professions followed, the fact was +developed that there were printers, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, +engineers, dentists, gunsmiths, editors, tailors, merchants, wheelwrights, +painters, farmers, physicians, plasterers, masons, college students, +clergymen, barbers, hairdressers, laborers, coopers, livery stable +keepers, bath house keepers and grocers among the members of the +convention. + +But of all the conventions of the period, the largest, that in which the +ability of its members was best displayed in the broad and statesmanlike +treatment of the questions discussed and the practical action which +vindicated their right to recognition as enfranchised citizens, and the +one to which the attention of the American people was attracted as never +before, was the one held in the city of Rochester, N. Y. + +With greater emphasis than at prior meetings, this convention set the seal +of its opposition against any hope for permanent relief to the conditions +under which the colored freeman labored by any comprehensive scheme of +emigration. Because of this, it directed its energies to affirmative +constructive action. + +In the enunciation of a philosophy able, far-sighted and statesmanlike, +contained in the address to the American people, we behold the wisdom of a +master mind--one then at the prime of his intellectual and physical +powers, Frederick Douglass, the chairman of the Business Committee. + +Among the important things done by the convention might be enumerated. It +says: + +"We can not announce the discovery of any new principle adopted to +ameliorate the condition of mankind. The great truths of moral and +political science upon which we rely, and which press upon your +consideration, have been evolved and enunciated by you. We point to your +principles, your wisdom and your great example as the full justification +of our course this day. That all men are created equal; that life, liberty +and the pursuit of happiness is the right of all; that taxation and +representation should go together; that the Constitution of the United +States was formed to establish justice, promote the general welfare and +secure the blessings of liberty to all the people of the country; that +resistance to tyranny is obedience to God--are American principles and +maxims, and together they form and constitute the constructive elements of +the American government." + +1. The plan for an industrial college on the manual labor plan, was +approved, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, who was about to make a visit to +England at the instance of friends in that country, was authorized to +receive funds in the name of the colored people of the country for that +purpose. The successful establishment and conduct of such an institution +of learning, would train youth to be self-reliant and skilled workmen, +fitted to hold their own in the struggle of life on the conditions +prevailing here. + +2. A registry of colored mechanics, artisans and business men throughout +the Union, was provided for, also, of all the persons willing to employ +colored men in business, to teach colored boys mechanic trades, liberal +and scientific professions and farming, also a registry of colored men and +youth seeking employment or instruction. + +3. A committee on publication "to collect all facts, statistics and +statements. All laws and historical records and biographies of the colored +people and all books by colored authors." This committee was further +authorized "to publish replies to any assaults worthy of note, made upon +the character or condition of the colored people." This was in keeping +with what had actually been done by the colored people of the State of New +York the year previous, after its Governor, Ward Hunt, had substantially +recommended the passage of black laws which would have forbidden the +settlement of any blacks or mulattoes within its borders and placed +further restrictions on those at that time citizens. The charge of +unthrift against the Negro was utterly disproven by a comparative +statement showing that in those places in which the conditions were the +worst, New York, Brooklyn and Williamsburg, the Negro had increased 25 per +cent in population in twenty years and 100 per cent in real estate +holdings. + +In thirteen counties the amount owned by colored persons was ascertained +to be $1,000,000. + + CAPITAL IN BUSINESS. REAL ESTATE EXCLUSIVE OF INCUMBRANCE. + + New York $755,000 $733,000 + Brooklyn 79,200 276,000 + Williamsburg 4,900 151,000 + ------- ------- + $839,100 $1,160,000 + + The North Star--Vol. + +The convention crowned its work by a more comprehensive plan of +organization than those of twenty years before. + +A national council was provided for to be "composed of two members from +each state by elections to be held at a poll at which each colored +inhabitant may vote who pays ten cents as a poll tax, and each state shall +elect at such election delegates to state conventions twenty in number +from each State at large." + +The detail of this plan shows that the methods of the Afro-American +Council of 1895, is an almost exact copy of the National Council of 1853. +The chairman of the committee which formulated this plan was Wm. Howard +Day and other members were Charles H. Langston, George B. Vashon, William +J. Wilson, William Whipper and Charles B. Ray, all of them men of more +than ordinary intelligence, information and ability. + +But those who saw only in emigration the solution of the evils with which +they were beset, immediately called another convention to consider and +decide upon the subject of emigration from the United States. According to +the call, no one was to be admitted to the convention who would introduce +the subject of emigration to any part of the Eastern Hemisphere, and +opponents of emigration were also to be excluded. Among the signers to the +call in and from the States of Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Indiana, +Canada and California were: Rev. Wm. Webb, Martin R. Delaney, Pittsburg, +Pa., Dr. J. J. Gould Bias of Philadelphia, Franklin Turner of the same +city, Rev. Augustus R. Green of Allegheny, Pa., James M. Whitfield, New +York, William Lambert of Michigan, Henry Bibb, James Theodore Holly of +Canada and Henry M. Collins of California. + +Douglass in his paper "The North Star," characterized the call as uncalled +for, unwise and unfortunate and premature. As far too narrow and illiberal +to meet with acceptance among the intelligent. "A convention to consider +the subject of emigration when every delegate must declare himself in +favor of it before hand as a condition of taking his seat, is like the +handle of a jug, all on one side. We hope no colored man, will omit during +the coming twelve months an opportunity which may offer to buy a piece of +property, a house lot, a farm or anything else in the United States which +looks to permanent residence here." + +James M. Whitfield of Buffalo, N. Y., the Negro poet of America, and one +of the signers of the call, responded to the attacks in the same journal. +Douglass made a reply and Whitfield responded again, and so on until +several articles on each side were produced by these and other disputants. +The articles were collected and published in pamphlet form by Rev. and +Bishop James Theodore Holly of Port au Prince, Haiti, making a valuable +contribution to literature, for I doubt if there is anywhere throughout +the range of controversial literature anything to surpass it. + +I am indebted to Bishop Holly for further information respecting this +convention. In a private letter he says: + +"The convention was accordingly held. The Rev. William Munroe was +President, the Rt. Rev. [William] Paul Quinn, Vice President, Dr. Delaney, +Chairman of the Business Committee and I was the Secretary." * * * + +"There were three parties in that Emigration Convention, ranged according +to the foreign fields they preferred to emigrate too. Dr. Delaney headed +the party that desired to go to the Niger Valley in Africa, Whitfield the +party which preferred to go to Central America, and Holly the party which +preferred to go to Hayti." + +"All these parties were recognized and embraced by the Convention. Dr. +Delaney was given a commission to go to Africa, in the Niger Valley, +Whitfield to go to Central America, and Holly to Hayti, to enter into +negotiations with the authorities of these various countries for Negro +emigrants and to report to future conventions. Holly was the first to +execute his mission, going down to Hayti in 1855, when he entered into +relations with the Minister of the Interior, the father of the late +President Hyppolite, and by him was presented to Emperor Faustin I. The +next Emigration Convention was held at Chatham, Canada West, in 1856, when +the report on Haiti was made. Dr. Delaney went off on his mission to the +Niger Valley, Africa, via England in 1858. There he concluded a treaty +signed by himself and eight kings, offering inducements for Negro +emigrants to their territories. Whitfield went to California, intending to +go later from thence to Central America, but died in San Francisco before +he could do so. Meanwhile [James] Redpath went to Haiti as a John Brownist +after the Harper's Ferry raid, and reaped the first fruits of Holly's +mission by being appointed Haitian Commissioner of Emigration in the +United States by the Haitian Government, but with the express injunction +that Rev. Holly should be called to co-operate with him. On Redpath's +arrival in the United States, he tendered Rev. Holly a Commission from the +Haitian Government at $1,000 per annum and traveling-expenses to engage +emigrants to go to Haiti. The first ship load of emigrants were from +Philadelphia in 1861. + +"Not more than one-third of the 2000 emigrants to Haiti received through +this movement, permanently abided there. They proved to be neither +intellectually, industrially, nor financially prepared to undertake to +wring from the soil the riches that it is ready to yield up to such as +shall be thus prepared; nor are the government and influential individuals +sufficiently instructed in social, industrial and financial problems which +now govern the world, to turn to profitable use willing workers among the +laboring class." + +"The Civil War put a stop to the African Emigration project by Dr. Delaney +taking the commission of Major from President Lincoln, and the Central +American project died out with Whitfield, leaving the Haitian Emigration +as the only remaining practical outcome of the Emigration Convention of +1854." + +The Civil War destroyed many landmarks and the National Colored +Convention, confined to the free colored people of the North and the +border States, was a thing of the past. + +Just after one of the darkest periods of that strife, when the dawn was +apparent, there assembled in the city of Syracuse, the last National +Colored Convention in which the men who began the movement in 1830, their +successors and their sons had the control. The sphere of influence even in +that had somewhat increased, for Southeastern Virginia, Louisiana and +Tennessee had some representation. Slavery was dead; the colonizationists +to Canada, the West Indies and Africa had abandoned the field of openly +aiming to commit the policy of the race to what was considered +expatriation. + +Reconstruction even in 1864 was seen in the South peering above the +horizon. The Equal Rights League came forth displacing the National +Council of 1854, yet with the same object of the Legal Rights Association +organized by Hezekiah Grice in Baltimore in 1832. John Mercer Langston +stepped in the arena at the head of the new organization, but under more +favorable auspices than was begun in the movement of 1830. A study of its +rise, progress and decline, belongs to another period of the evolution of +the Free Negro. + +This survey of the early Negro Convention Movement has been rapid, the +treatment broad, the sketch is but an outline; lights and shadows will be +supplied by more detailed study, but the perspective will reveal clear and +distinct these four facts: + +1. The Convention Movement begun in 1830, demonstrates the ability of the +Negro to construct a platform broad enough for a race to stand upon and to +outline a policy alike far-sighted and statesmanlike, that has not been +surpassed in the seventy years that have elapsed. + +2. The earnestness, the enthusiasm and the efficiency with which the work +aimed at was done, the singleness of purpose, the public spirit and the +intrepidity manifested, encouraged and inspired such men as Benjamin +Lundy, William Lloyd Garrison, Gerrit Smith, S. S. Jocelyn, Arthur and +Lewis Tappan, William Goodell and Beriah Green to greater efforts and +persistence in behalf of the disfranchised American, accomplishing at last +the tremendous work of revolutionizing the public sentiment of the country +and making the institution of radical reforms possible. + +3. The preparatory training which the convention work gave, fitted its +leaders for the broader arena of abolitionism, and it can not be regarded +as a mere coincidence that the only colored men who were among the +organizers of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1853, Robert Purvis and +James G. Barbadoes, were both promoters and leaders in the Convention +Movement. + +4. The importance of industrial education in the growth and development of +the Negro-American is no new doctrine in the creed of the representative +colored people of the country. Before Hampton and Tuskegee reared their +walls--aye, before Booker T. Washington was born, Frederick Douglass and +the Colored Convention of 1853, had commissioned Mrs. Stowe to obtain +funds to establish an Agriculture and Industrial College. Long before +Frederick Douglass had left Maryland by the Under Ground Railroad, but for +the opposition of the white people of Connecticut, and within the echo of +Yale College, would have stood the first institution dedicated to our +enlightenment and social regeneration. + +JOHN W. CROMWELL. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY. + + +1 "Twenty-two Years a Slave and Forty Years a Freeman".--AUSTIN STEWARD. + +2 "Life and Times".--FREDERICK DOUGLASS. + +3 Autobiography of a Fugitive Negro.--SAM'L. R. WARD. + +4 The Life of Arthur Tappan.--LEWIS TAPPAN. + +5 History of the Negro in America.--GEORGE W. WILLIAMS. + +6 William Lloyd Garrison.--HIS SONS. + +7 Anglo-African Magazine 1859. + +8 The Liberator--Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. + +9 The North Star--Vol. 1, Vol. 3. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + +The word "colegiate" has been corrected to "collegiate" (page 7) and +"committe" corrected to "committee" (page 16). + +Variations of "Hayti" and "Haiti" are presented as in the original text. + +In the original text, the reference note to the table on page 18 does not +contain a Volume Number. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Early Negro Convention Movement, by +John W. 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