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U'/^ersity Microfilms International .'>00 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor. Michigan 40106 USA S» John s Road. Tyler s Green High Wycombe. Bucks, England HP10 8HR 78- 12,345 HOLLINS, Dennis Charles, 1951- A BLACK VOICE OF ANTEBELLUM OHIO: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PALLADIUM OF LIBERTY, 1843-1844. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1978 Journalism

University Microfilms InternationalAnn ,Arbor, Michigan 48106

© Copyright by Dennis Charles Hollins 1978 A BLACK VOICE OF ANTEBELLUM OHIO: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PALLADIUM OF LIBERTY, 1843-1844

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University

By

Dennis Charles Hollins, B.A., M.A.

The Ohio State University

1978

Reading Committee Approved By Goodwin F. Berquist James L. Golden Paul V. Peterson A d v is e r Department of Communications ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

No effort has been put forth in this acknowledgment to list in order of value all those blessed individuals who gave of themselves to help towards the completion of this dissertation. Consequently, the people listed here were each uniquely critical to this effort, and it can be said quite factually that if this list was shortened by even one name, this project could not have come to fruition.

Dr. Paul V. Peterson, my adviser and mentor, who taught me, encouraged me, kicked me when I needed it, and who never let me give up (in the face of all odds) the goal of finishing the doctoral program. James Pierce, Erskine McIntosh, Donald Winbush, and the Skip Howell family. These good folks allowed me to stay in their homes while I travelled during the research stage of this dissertation, despite the fact that none of them ever saw any evidence which proved I was actually doing what

I said I was. Gary Hunter, Arlene Peterson and Quanita Moore, of the Ohio Historical Society* Michel Perdreau, of Athens % University* Lynn Heer, of the State Library of Ohio*

Jacqueline Porter, with the Columbus chapter of the Prince Grand Lodge of Ohio Masons; Bob Clay of the Virginia State

Library; the entire staff of the Collis P. Huntington

Memorial library on the campus of Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia; and James Danky of the Wisconsin Histori­

cal Society. May God bless these and all archivists. Their

solitary and dusty research brings order out of chaos. Dr. Goodwin Berquist, who painstakingly edited each

page of my initial drafts, and whose invaluable suggestions

throughout greatly enhanced the value of the finished work. Dr. James L. Golden, whose presence in the Department

of Communications was a constant source of reassurance.

Special thanks must go to Roberta Howell, my mother-

in-law, and to my parents, Bill and Carol Hollins, whose love

and faith in me made me whole. But a final and surpassing thanks must go to my wife,

Suzette, who not only supported me throughout this work, but

also stayed up with me two nights while I typed. Each day I

am reminded anew that she is my gift from Him, from Whom all

blessings flow. VITA

December 24, 1951 Born - Buffalo, New York

1969 - 1973 B.A., Hampton Institute, Hampton, Virginia

1973 - 1974 M.A., Ohio State Universityj Director of Publications, Office of Minority Affairs

1974 - 1977 Teaching Associate, School of Journalism, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Summer, 1972 Intern reporter, Providence Journal newspapers

Summer, 1973 Staff reporter, Providence Journal newspapers, Providence, Rhode Island

Summer, 1976 Staff reporter, Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio

1978 Staff reporter, Buffalo Evening News, Buffalo, New York

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Fieldi Communications Studibs in Journalism History. Professor Paul V. Peterson Studies in Classical Rhetoric. Professor Goodwin F. Berquist Studies in Contemporary Rhetoric. Professor James L . Golden

iv TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...... ii

CHAPTER I Introduction...... 1

II Review of Literature The Life of David Jenkins (Source)...... 7

III Purpose and Plan of Research...... *0

IV Environment...... ^9

V Message...... 80

VI Audience...... 130 VII Summary and General Conclusions...... 155

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 17^

v CHAPTER I Introduction

As these things usually happen, my interest in David

Jenkins and his paper, the Palladium of Liberty, did not begin as either an interest in antebellum free blacks or their works. Rather, It began as the culmination of a de­ cision made in 1969 to attend a small, black private school,

Hampton Institute, for my undergraduate education.

Prior to attending Hampton, my own knowledge of

"black history” was gleaned from discussions with family and friends, casual readings through Ebony magazine, and from public school classes. This helter skelter education led me to believe, rather smugly, that I knew something about black history. But it would only be fair to add that my

"knowledge" did not necessarily include an understanding of the events within the context of their unique time frames. I could understand the confrontation politics of the

Civil Rights era of the early 1960's, but it was more diffi­ cult to appreciate the struggle for black equality which had occurred over the first half of the 20th century. Events which occurred prior to that time I had no feeling for whatsoever.

1 2

Attending Hampton changed all that. It is doubtful that anyone who chose to attend the school could do so oblivious to the rich heritage of the school's past.

Hampton*s very existence was a living history lesson which could not help but force a rethinking of when the so-called "civil rights movement" actually began. A brief background on the school illustrates the point. Hampton Institute was founded In Hampton, Virginia in 1868 by Samuel Chapman Armstrong, a white Puritan son of a missionary couple, who was born in Maui, Hawaii on

January 30, 1839* Armstrong, a strong Union loyalist, be­ came a Brevet Brigadier General for the U.S. forces during the Civil War. Armstrong was made the commander of what were then called "colored troops." Uneasy with his assignment at first, Armstrong gradually became impressed with the fighting and human qualities of his black troops and was moved to write a friend that: It is no sacrifice for me to be here; it is glorious opportunity, and I would be nowhere else if I could, and nothing else than an officer of colored troops if I could. After the war, Armstrong was made head of the

Freedman's Bureau for the fifth sub-district of Virginia, covering ten counties, with headquarters in Hampton. The

^Francis Greenwood Peabody, Education for Life: The Story of Hampton Institute (Garden City, N.Y,i Doubleday, Page 4 Co., 1926), p. 77• 3 post made him "responsible for 10,000 Negroes," according to the chronicler of Hampton Institute’s history, Francis Peabody, who added that the influx of newly freed slaves 2 made the Hampton area a "vast camp of dependent contrabands."

Armstrong, through the aid of the American Mission­ ary Association, purchased a tract of 9-0 acres near Hampton with the plan of starting a school to teach the freedmen the things a self-reliant people should know. He wrote in

186? i The thing to be done was clearj to train selected Negro youths who should go out and teach and lead their people, first by example, by getting land and homes; to give them not a dollar that they could earn for themselves; to teach respect for labor, to replace stupid drudgery with skilled hands, and in this way to build up an industrial system for the sake not only of self- support and intelligent labor, but also for the sake of character.3

The school envisioned by Armstrong opened April 1,

1868, with one teacher, one matron, and fifteen students.

In 1870, the small school was incorporated in the state of

Virginia as the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute -- the embodiment of Armstrong’s belief that the "education of the Freedmen is the great work of the day. It is their only hope, the only power that can lift them as a people . . . they must do it for themselves. From such a self-reliant,

2Peabody, 91*

^Peabody, 99* 4 self-supporting course the happiest results might be antici­ pated.."^ Attending Hampton was like having the past pulled forcibly out of the books and made real in a way it had never been before. The oldest living thing on the campus is

Emancipation Oak, a national historical site, located on the northeastern edge of the college. Under its massive boughs, some 98 yards in circumference, the Emancipation Procla­ mation was read to the Hampton residents in I8 6 3 . In its shade, many of the first classes of the institution were taught. It is still a beautiful place to rest and reflect.

It is not unusual to speak with Hampton students who are themselves children of Hampton alumni; nor are three generation descendents of Hampton goers a rare thing. Nor is there any shortage of persons ready to remind you of how things were at the school in days gone by. An interest in black achievement, coupled with the will to bring that achievement about was not a recent phenomenon. So it was with some prior interest that I tackled a term paper on what most scholars consider to be the first black newspaper published in America, Freedom* s

Journal. Freedom's Journal, edited by Samuel Cornish and John

Russwurm in 1827 in New York City, in its fine writing, bold assertiveness, and single-minded dedication to the cause of

IT Peabody, 92. 5

liberty shamed many of the contemporary black papers of

today. It would be unfair and inaccurate to argue that all

the antebellum papers were well-done and superior to all the

later black papers, but from a personal perspective, those

few antebellum papers were so much more interesting in that

their editors penned them in the face of almost as hostile an environment as could have existed, i.e. chattle slavery

America, before the Civil War. When doctoral study in the Department of Communi­

cation began, research and further inquiry into the history

of the black press was temporarily postponed. However, during a course in journalism historiography with Professor

Paul V. Peterson, he suggested that a search of the holdings of the Ohio Historical Society might prove useful in

determining a topic for a term paper.

This investigator was surprised to find one of the

papers the Society had in its holdings was edited between December 27, 1843 and November 13, 1844, in Columbus. This

"discovery" was all the more fascinating when it is recalled

that the major difficulty which has prevented indepth re­

search into the early history of black papers has been the

fact that so few issues still exist. Yet there, in the

Society’s holdings, vas one of those very rare papers. The Society was in possession of 31 complete issues, and one partial issue of the Palladium, of the 37 which were 6 published before the paper ceased to be printed with the November 13, 1844 edition. Subsequent research turned up an additional issue of the Palladium, the second one printed, on February 7, 1844, in the archives of the State Historical

Society of Wisconsin. This second issue of the paper did not appear until more than five weeks after the publication of the first issue, suggesting that getting the paper out, even at the start was not an easy proposition. As far as this research has determined, these are the only extant copies of the Palladium available in the U.S.

Fascination with the contents and very existence of the Palladium was the genesis of this study. The purpose of this effort is to analyze the Palladium of Liberty from the perspective of a student of communication, interested in examining several aspects of the continuing persuasive effort that the Palladium represented. An examination of the purpose of the Palladium, its messages, its audiences and its contents was undertaken in an effort to determine the effectiveness of this small black newspaper on its era. CHAPTER II

Review of Literature

The Life of David Jenkins (Source)

The review of literature for this study involved a

search for data on the Palladium of Liberty itself, and on

David Jenkins, its editor. Most journalism histories give little attention to

the black press in the nineteenth century. Many black news­ papers were short-lived. What issues exist are often

scattered and incomplete, and indexing of these papers has been haphazard and frequently inadequate.

It would bo callous and inaccurate to suggest that the relative absence of material on this period in the black press is due simply to the racism of those individuals who have written the journalism histories. More likely, these papers were ignored because they were so few in number,

scattered in location, difficult to find, and of too brief a duration to justify the amount of work that would have

been necessary to include information on them in the general

journalism histories. For example, Sidney Kobre In his Development of American Journalism did not mention any black paper or editor at all, of any period, in his book's entire

7 8

76? pages. This journalism history was published in 1969 . Frank Luther Mott's American Journalism, considered

a more scholarly work than Kobre’s book, likewise does not mention the Palladium. However, Mott does write that the

first black paper was the Freedom's Journal, founded in New York by Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm, and he does mention the journalistic contributions of Frederick Douglass

and his antebellum paper, the North Star. Mott goes on to

say about the first paper, "Like all the Negro journals

published before the Civil War - to the number of at least

twenty-four - this paper was devoted chiefly to the anti­

slavery cause. Also, like most of them it was short-lived."1

Likewise, Frederick Hudson's Journalism in the U.S.

from 1690 to 1872 does not mention the Palladium, though like Mott, Hudson does consider Frederick Douglass an

important enough figure to include in his book, though only 2 in a cursory manner. Although it does not mention either Jenkins or his

paper, the most complete account of early black newspapers

in a journalism history has to be that included in the third

edition of Edwin Emery's The Press and America. Emery

1Frank Luthor Mott, American Journalism. 3rd. ed. rev, (New Yorki Macmillan, 1962)» PP* 322-323.

^Frederick Hudson, Journalism in the U.S. from 1690 to 1872 (New Yorki Harper, 18?3; reprinted, Grosse Pointe, Mich.* Scholarly Press, 1968), p. 260. 9 suggests journalism historians, both contemporary with the early black papers and those of later years, have ignored the black press when he wrote* Nothing the Negro could do or say for himself seemed important to a society that viewed him as an economic, political, and educational nonequal. In 1850 there were about a half-million free Negroes in the American population, half in the North and half in the South. . . A handful of freedmen won sufficient education to be­ come writers, lawyers, physicians, businessmen in the era before the Civil War. . . It should not be startling that there were blacks who spoke out for themselves; what is startling is that they did in the face of almost total rejection by a white society that ignored their existence.-*

In a specific study of Ohio journalism, Osman Castle

Hooper's History of Ohio Journalism likewise does not mention the Palladium, though Osman's history does devote 4 some discussion of "anti-slave: T papers." The histories of the black press are hardly more helpful in telling information about the Palladium. Vishnu

V. Oaks' The Negro Newspaper and I. Garland Penn's classic

The Afro-American Press and Its Editors concentrated on the

•^Edwin Emery, The Press and America* An Interpretative History of the Mass Media. 3rd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.* Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972), p. 218.

^Osman Castle Hooper, History of Ohio Journalism (Columbus, Ohio* The Spahr & Glenn Co., 1933), PP* £5^67• Many of the general journalism histories also included refer­ ences to anti-slavery papers, including* George Henry Payne, History of Journalism in the United States (New York* D. Appleton & Co., 1924), pp. 224-225; Mott, 322. 10 role of the black press in the period following the Civil

War through the early part of this century. Though both devote space to discussions of the early black papers, neither mentions the Palladium.^ Even when an author decides to devote some space to an investigation of these early papers, more likely than not his information is based on secondary sources. Frederick G. Detweiler's The Negro Press in the United States which is a widely quoted source on earlier black papers is made suspect by Detweiler's own obvious lack of familiarity with any of the papers published before the Civil War. Detweiler specu­ lates about the content of the antebellum papers he lists, but those very speculations reveal gaps in personal investi­ gation. ^ The review of the literature did turn up some references to the Palladium of Liberty, however. One of the most frequently cited works for information about who was who in black freedman's circles is Martin Robison Delany's

^Vishnu V. Oak3 , The Neero Newspaper (Westport, Conn.i Negro Universities Press, 19^8), p. 122 and I. Garland Penn, The Afro-American Press and Its Editors (New York* Arno Press and the New York Times, 19&9» originally published New York: Wiley and Co., 1891), p.2-18 . Penn's book is considered by many to be the first classic in the field on the black press. ^Frederick G. Detweiler, The Negro Press in the United States (College Park, Md.: McGrath Publishing Co.), p.3 9 • In discussing the early black press, Detweiler said* "Apparently, the proportion of news as compared with editorial content must have been very slight." (italics added) 11

Condition. Elevation. Emigration and Destiny of the Colored

People of the United States. Written in 1852 by Delany, the first black man to study medicine at Harvard, and a former editor of a black newspaper himself, this work represents what has to be called the encyclopedia for black achievement at the time of its publication. Benjamin Quarles declared that as an author,

Delany "had compiled an astonishing variety of solid infor- 7 mation on the Negro American."'

In his chapter on "Professional Colored Men," Delany details the activities of many of the ministers, doctors, printers and lawyers produced in the black community. In a lengthy footnote, Delany makes one of the earliest surveys of the black press when he writesi

During the last twenty years there have been, at different periods, published among the colored people of the United States, twenty odd newspapers, some of which were conducted with ability. Among them, the 'Colored American,* in New York Cityj Samuel E. Cornish, Phillip A. Bell, and Charles B. Ray, at different times, Editors. 'The Demosthenian Shield,' issued from a Literary Society of young colored men, in the city of Philadelphia. ’The Struggler,' by Phillip A. Bell, New York, out of which the Colored American took its origin. The ’National Reformer,* an able monthly periodical, in pamphlet form, in Philadelphia; Willim Whipper, Editor. ’The

Martin Robison Delany, The Condition. Elevation. Emigration and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States (Philadelphia* published by the author, 1852. Re- printed New York* Arno Press and the New York Times. 1968), p. vii. 12

Northern Star,1 a Temperance monthly news­ paper, published in Albany, N.Y.; Stephen Myers, Editor, still in existence — changed to ______. 'The Mystery,' of Pittsburgh, Fa.j Martin Robison Delany, Editor -- succeeded by a committee of colored gentlemen as Editors. The 'Palladium of Liberty,' issued in Columbus, Ohio, by a committee of colored gentlemen* David Jenkins, Editor,® This reference to the Palladium is the earliest dis­

covered in this research, short of that information gleaned

from the paper itself. Delany's reference to the Palladium is also the only one that indicated that the Palladium was recognized by contemporaries outside of Ohio.

The next evidence of the Palladium in other sources was published in 1906 in An Official History of the Most

Worshipful Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons for the

State of Ohio compiled by William Hartwell Parham and

Jerimiah Arthur Brown. This account of the Masonic fraternity was, until

this dissertation, the most detailed information available

on the life of David Jenkins and his paper that this re­

search has discovered, and served as the source for several

of the references to Jenkins in other sources. The refer­

ence to the Palladium was brief: "In 1 8 ^ Jenkins established 'The Palladium of Liberty,' a weekly newspaper

devoted to the advancement of his race and the abolition of

^Delany, 12?. 13 slavery."^ The Masonic account of the activities of Jenkins is the only one which simultaneously recognizes both his personal activism in the anti-discrimination arenas, and his contributions to the field of journalism. The only other direct reference to the Palladium discovered to date was made in a listing in an article by

Carter R. Bryan which appeared in Journalism Monographs.

Bryan's article, "Negro Journalism in America Before

Emancipation," lists the results of a search through the holdings of scores of libraries in this country to compile a list of 43 papers edited by black people before the Civil

Bryan's article was the basis for much of the sections on the earlier black newspapers in other journalism histories.^ However, the principal contribution that Bryan has made is in removing the excuse for not investigating

^William Hartwell Parham and Jeremiah Arthur Brown, An Official History of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge Free and Accented Masons (holdings of the Ohio Histori­ cal Society* n.p., 1906), p. 26?. The Masons mis­ takenly reported that the Palladium was published first In 1844, however. The first issue was in December 1843, though the next issue was not printed until Feb. of 1844.

■^Carter R. Bryan, "Negro Journalism in America Before Emancipation," Journalism Monographs. September, 1969i p. 31* ^References to Bryan's article appeared in Emery, 218, and in one of the better books on the black press, Roland E. Wolseley, The Black Press. U.S.A. (Ames, Iowa* The Iowa University Press, 1971) i pp"* IB-19 * 14

these earlier papers based on the assumption that they were

no longer in existence.

Discovering information about David Jenkins was

somewhat less frustrating than trying to uncover references

to his paper, primarily because unlike the Palladium.

Jenkins and his influence in the early black Ohio community

lasted significantly longer than one year. What we know about Jenkins* life is like an historic

Doppler Effect; his early life is distant, and clouded, his

middle years are clearer and impressive, but what we know of

his life fades away into a mass of confusion and speculation.

The problem in trying to learn about Jenkins as a

person is that the information that tells us the most about

his life is so obviously biased in support of Jenkins that it

is difficult to sift the fact from the legend. Nevertheless, what can be confirmed is still fascinating.

According to the Masonic history previously cited,

Jenkins was born in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1811, the son of 12 one, William Jenkins. Attempts to learn more about

Jenkins through the Masonic lodge still in Columbus were largely fruitless. The office secretary, Jacqueline Porter, who runs the office of William W. Browning, Jr., the Grand

Secretary of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Ohio, F. & A.M.,

is in charge of all the office's historical records. She

12 Parham and Brown, 26?. 15 said that all the information known about the earlier Free­ masons is contained in the Parham and Brown work, which is considered definitive. Ms. Porter has promised to ask other members if they might have any additional information, but she said that when the subject was first mentioned to Masons visiting from out of town, they reacted towards her inquiries with laughter. No one expected that any additional infor­ mation might be hidden away in someone’s attic for 13^ years, so the Parham and Brown work is what we know about the early years of the Masons in Ohio. The Masons added that they would be very interested in the completed history of the life of Jenkins and his paper. According to the Masonic history, his father,

William Jenkins, with rare good knowledge, saw in his boy David the buds of promise and profiting, thereby engaged for him a private tutor. After David had been advanced to a degree that satisfied his father, his knowledge was utilized 13 in the instruction of his younger brothers and sisters. A trip to the Virginia State Library to locate evidence of Jenkins' Virginia origins proved interesting, if not conclusive. Bob Clay, an archivist at the library, suggested that while Lynchburg might have been listed as the place of birth, many people in rural counties will claim the nearest large town as a birthplace. The Lynchburg tax roles

^ P a r h a m and Brown, 267. 16 for 1834 listed a "William Jenkins," but that Jenkins listed no black slaves on which he would have had to have paid taxes. However, on Mr. Clay's suggestion, a search of the adjacent Amherst County tax records for 1832 lists a

"William Jenkins," who does list as taxable property "1 slave over 12," on whom he paid "25/" in taxes. The possi­ bility of Jenkins* father being white, and having the "rare good knowledge" to hire a tutor for him is not something which could be verified. However, at least one scholar,

John Russell, The Free Negro in Virginia. 1619-1865

(Baltimore 1 The John Hopkins Press, 1913)* points out that practice of owning one's own children, or spouse, in order to avoid residence prohibitions against free blacks was fairly common, pp. 90-91* which does not make unlikely at all that tne William Jenkins discovered here could very well have recorded the ownership of his own son. However, no other records of black Jenkins*, nor of other William

Jenkins were discovered during the research in Virginia. In any event, Jenkins himself listed Virginia as his home in the U.S. Census for 1850, so that part is at least con­ clusive . Parham and Brown then reported that Jenkins "came to

Columbus, Ohio in 1837, having reached his twenty-sixth year. At this time, being a painter, he followed his trade and by thrift and industry became the owner of considerable real estate and accumulated a good sum of money." Seven 17

years after his move to Ohio, Jenkins then founded "in 1844

. . . 'The Palladium of Liberty,' a weekly newspaper devoted

to the advancement of his race and the abolition of 14 slavery." A slightly less romantic view of the earlier Jenkins

days in Columbus is presented by an old friend of Jenkins,

John P. Ward, who is probably the most widely cited

chronicler of the life of David Jenkins. Ward, who knew

Jenkins well, described the Columbus years when Jenkins

arrived this wayi Coming from a slave state he had neither education nor money. He found the condition of the colored people here little better than it was in Virginia, and though circumstances were against him, he commenced in earnest his labors, looking to the elevation of his people.

According to Ward, one of the ways that Jenkins

helped elevate his people was in active participation in the

Underground Railroad, helping to spirit escaped slaves out

of the country through Ohio.^

Parham and Brown, 267. The actual date of the first issue of the Palladium was December 27, 1843. The Masons’ date is incorrect. The Masonic account offered no documentation for their information about Jenkins.

"^Letter from John P. Ward, Ohio State Journal. Feb. 25, 1870. ^ I t is believed that this John P. Ward was the same "John T. Ward" who told of the Underground Railroad activities of himself and Jenkins in Wilbur, H. Siebert, "The Underground Railroad in Ohio," (unpublished papsrs at the Ohio Historical Society), Vol. 5- Ward’s name pops up frequently in literature dealing with the period of Jenkins’ Ohio activities. 18

Parham and Brown agree, adding that Jenkins was

". . . one of the pioneers of and active co-workers in the underground railroad, thus bringing him into the acquaintance of many of the noted abolitionists not only of Ohio but of the nation as well. He believed that in constant agitation against slavery, its ultimate overthrow would be accomplished, and he never failed to improve an opportunity 17 to put his thoughts before the people." The image of Jenkins as an early activist in the anti-slavery cause is further enhanced by Ward, who noted thati "The first public meeting of colored people ever held in Columbus was held at the house of Mr. Jenkins, on Front

Street, in a small 10 by 12 room. The meeting was a small one, but David Jenkins there commenced his career as a public man."

This period in Jenkins* life is one that launched his career as a champion for freedom; yet we know little of it.

The Parham and Brown reference to Jenkins reports that he was a painter, and this occupation is the one listed in the earliest City Directory reference to Jenkins. Yet, the various references to Jenkins suggest that he was a

^P arham and Brown, 267. T ft Ohio State Journal. February 25, 1870. No verification of any Jenkins-owned dwelling on Front Street has been found. Probably, Ward’s memory failed him here. 19 fairly versatile individual who did plastering, paper hanging, glazier work, and other tasks common to interior 19 work on buildings, Jenkins' handiwork as a skilled tradesman, or

"mechanic" during his time was much admired and respected, according to Delany, who reported in the Fall of 1847 that Jenkins was "extensively patronized," and "much respected in the capital city of his state" for work he had done on re­ finishing "many of the largest gentlemen's residences in the city and neighborhood," as well as on "the great 'Neill

House,*"(sic.)

Carter Woodson cites Jenkins in his classic work,

The Negro in Our History as one of a number of free black people before the Civil War who "exhibited not only the power to take care of themselves in old communities, but blazed the way for progress of the race in new commonwealths and in all but forbidden fields." "David Jenkins," Woodson wrote,

^Columbus City Directory (1845-6), p. 45 and Parham and Brown, 267. Jenkins lists himself as a "painter" in the U.S. Census for Columbus. 1850 and in i860. However, he only lists "paper hanger" for the I870 Census. Delany wrote that Jenkins was "a good mechanic, painter, glazier, and paper-hanger by trade." Obviously, these were the days before unions. 20 Delany, 9 9 . An ongoing investigation to delve further into Jenkins and his work on the Neill House by Ohio Historical Society archivist Juanita Moore has to date proven fruitless. 20

21 "was then a wealthy planter, glazier, and paper hanger," Woodson does not indicate from what source he determined that Jenkins was a "wealthy planter." The Franklin County Recorder*s Office does list Jenkins as a property holder, but all of the plats registered under his ownership were within the city proper of Columbus, and were not farmland. Jenkins purchased a home on Mulberry Street in Columbus for $200 on October 15» 1838, and another dwelling on Elm Street for $139*66 in 1847. Jenkins did show himself to also be a sharp businessman. According to county records, he purchased a building in January of I865 22 for $200, then sold it three months later for $300. At a time when few possessed ready cash, those who did were likely to prosper through wise investments. In addition to his painting and real estate holdings,

Jenkins also ran a boarding house, advertisements for which ran frequently in the pages of the Palladium. J An ad carried in this issue of the paper read* "BOARDING The sub­ scriber can accommodate young men by the week, day, or month on reasonable terms. Also persons travelling through our

O 1 Carter G. Woodson and Charles Wesley, The Negro in Our History. 12th ed., (Washington, D.C.* The Associated Publishers, Inc.), p. 259* 22 Franklin County Recorder*s Office, Deed Books, Vol. 19» p. 3901 Vol. 35t P* 220j Vol. 82, p. 368.

^-^Palladium of Liberty. February 28, 1844. 21 city and wish to stop a short time can be accommodated.

Feb. 26. David Jenkins.” The idea of having boarders would explain the listing of people in the household of Jenkins in the 1840 Census. Jenkins listed five persons in his house­ hold; one male under 10 (possibly this was Jenkins' son,

Cyrus, aged around four), one male under 24, but over 10, one male over 24 but under 3^, and two females, over 24 and under 36. Unfortunately, there is no way to know whether these persons staying with Jenkins were boarders or family or friends. In this way it is easy to see how Jenkins could have conceived of the idea of launching a newspaper. As a reliable workman, he came to know the wealthiest and probably the most influential men in the capital; men likely to determine the direction and pace of black equality in

Ohio. At home, Jenkins was renting out rooms to travellers and newcomers to town, all bringing news from their own sections of the state and nation. But Jenkins was not content merely to learn all the news in Columbus. He had friends in all parts of the country, and there is evidence of his having travelled out­ side Ohio to participate in the burning issue of his life and times, abolition. Late in the summer of 1843, during

August of the same year that he would launch his own paper,

Jenkins attended the National Convention of Colored Citizens, 22

24 held at Buffalo, New York. This participation m the

Buffalo convention is all the more indicative of the in­

volved and activist nature of Jenkins' life when it is

pointed out that Jenkins went to the Buffalo convention only

three days after participating in the first black state 26 convention in Ohio in Columbus. This inaugural issue of

the Palladium begins with the words "The Committee appointed by a Convention of the colored people of this State, held in

the city of Columbus, on the 10th, 11th and 12th days of

August, would respectfully address you on certain points. ."

This is probably the convention Ward mentions in his letter

that Jenkins called, and in all probability was the germinating force which inspired the Palladium* s publication.

Ward adds significantly* The next move of Mr. Jenkins was for a State Convention of colored people. This met with much opposition among his own people, and many said the Jenkins movement would result in the destruction of the lives and property of the colored people in Ohio. The convention was called in 1843 or 1844, was very well attended, and was the beginning of a new era in the history of the colored people of Ohio, and brought them untold blessings.26

o /l Howard H. Bell, ed.. Minutes of the Proceedings of the National Negro Conventions 1830-1864 (New York* Arno Press and the New York T imes,19^9)» 1843 Convention, p. 1-26, passim.

^ Palladium of Liberty. December 27, 1843*

2^0hio State Journal. February 25* 1870. 23

Ward does not detail what those "untold blessings" were, but probably he was referring to the fact that this meeting marked the first time that blacks in Columbus attempted to become agents of their own destinies, instead of waiting to see what white Columbus residents had in store for them. The fear of a hostile reaction to this meeting from the white residents of the city was real, yet by calling such a meeting, Jenkins made black Columbus resi­ dents take a large first step towards realizing their shared dreams for true equality through the consequences of their own actions. Both the local state convention and the national colored convention passed resolutions calling for the establishment of a paper "to be the organ of the colored people," so it was probably with these resolutions in mind that Jenkins returned home and late in 1843, just two days after Christmas, brought into existence the type of publi- 27 cation alluded to by the conventions.

The period from 1837, when Jenkins first arrived in Columbus, and 1844 when his paper folded were busy ones for him. During this time, Jenkins not only attended the aforementioned conventions as an active participant, but he % .so married and started a family, as well as both his news­ paper and business. The earliest evidence of Jenkins being

^ Palladium of Liberty. December 27, 1843 and Minutes. Convention 1843. 24 married occurs in the U.S. Census. I850, where David Jenkins is listed as a 40-year old painter with $1500 of real estate

from Virginia. His wife is listed as "Lucy Ann," 36, and a third person, Cyrus Jenkins, was listed, aged 14, with the

indication that he had attended school in the last year.

Assuming legitimacy of Cyrus, one of the "two females, 24 under 36" years old that the census reported in Jenkins’ household in the 1840 census, as well as the "1 male under

10" could well have been his family. There is no listing of

David Jenkins in the Marriage Fecords for Franklin County. 28 1803-1897. Unfortunately, since the research at the Virginia State Library failed to turn up any reference to

David Jenkins, it is impossible to know whether Jenkins married in Virginia and brought Lucinda and Cyrus with him, or married in Ohio. However, previously no information on

Jenkins’ family was known, so their significance lies in their discovered existence. The rest of Jenkins' life in Ohio would be spent in a variety of activities designed to improve the lot of blacks in the state. It was David Jenkins who called a meeting to order at the black Second Baptist Church on

October 7, I850 to protest the recent passage by the Congress of the Fugitive Slave Law, According to the Ohio State

Jenkins' wife's name was listed as "Lucinda" in the I860 Census, and was probably mispelled "Sucinda" in the 18?0 Census. There are several references to a "L. Jenkins” in the Palladium, possibly the names were interchangeable. 25

Journal. a "large and enthusiastic meeting of the colored citizens of Columbus" turned out for the meeting and passed resolutions condemning the Fugitive Slave Law as "unconsti­ tutional, because it takes from a person his or her liberty

’without due process of law;’" and resolving to oppose

"this nefarious and abominable Law by all the means in our power." The group also suggested that any fugitives from slavery should "seek asylum in a land of liberty, beyond the lakes,” and expressed the confidence that the "philanthropy and benevolence the patriotism and humanity which character­ ize the people of this community will not allow them to 29 enforce such a law so nefarious in its machinery."

As other colored state conventions were held during the 1850’s, Jenkins was an active participant who made his 30 presence felt.

When the state convention of the colored citizens of

Ohio convened at Columbus January 15th through 18th in 1851i the convention named David Jenkins as its president. Upon taking the chair, Jenkins said* Gentlemen of the Convention, the honor you have conferred upon me is undeserved, and never before having the privilege of occupying

^Ohio State Journal. October 22, I850. -^°J. Reuben Sheeler, "The Struggle of the Negro in Ohio for Freedom," Journal of Negro History. April, 19^6, p. 22^. 26

a position so responsible in your deliberations, I shall look to you for support in the faithful discharge of the arduous duty devolving on me, as President of this Convention. The object of this Convention has already been stated by gentlemen who prec:eded me, and it only re­ mains for me to thank you for this token of your approbation. I have been battling for the last ten years in this State, for the attainment of the elective franchise, with what success I leave you to judge. I only claim for myself sincerity of purpose, the Emanci­ pation of the Slave, and the Elevation of the Colored American, half free, has been the loftiest aspirations of my heart. For the attainment of this object, I have ever strove to be at my post, ready to march in any direction to meet a subtle foe. It is true that the 'Aldebarian of our hope' is obscured and 'may not shine upon us for many days,* yet success is certain and victory sure, let us put our trust in him, 'Whose cause is ours, In conflict with unholy powers, We'll grasp the weapons he has given, The light, and truth, and love of Heaven.' Gentlemen, again thanking you for the honor you have done me, I resume my seat.31

The rest of the minutes reveal the convention was mainly occupied with speeches sharply critical of the recent passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, and the difficulties encountered by some of the Cincinnati delegates who had tried unsuccessfully to start another black newspaper in the state. While every indication suggests that the honor of being the president of this convention was a real one, the

-^Proceedings of the State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio (Columbusf E. Glover, 1851) , p. 27 position apparently was more symbolic than critical to the 32 functioning of the convention's business.

Jenkins was a member of the state central committee of the convention of colored freemen held in Cincinnati in

1852. As a member of this committee, Jenkins' name appeared on all letters addressed to the convention, expressing support for the goals of black elevation and the eradication of slavery. 33 ^ The position on the central committee of the state convention was significant in that all correspondence to the convention throughout the year was addressed to the committee members, making them the ones in communication with influ­ ential friends of black equality throughout the state.

At the convention of 1856, Jenkins was elected president of the permanently organized State Central Com­ mittee of the black citizens of Ohio. It was while serving in this capacity that Jenkins' committee received this letter from Congressman Joshua R. Giddings, who encouraged the activities of the state colored conventions when he wrotet

. . . There can be no doubt among intelligent men that knowledge is power. The more our colored friends increase their intelligence, elevate their moral being, the greater influence they will

32Ibid.. pp. 6-17.

-^Proceedings of the Convention of the Colored Freemen of Ohio (Cincinnati* Dumas and Lawyer, 1852) , p. 2, 2*4—28. 28

exert, and the sooner will they he admitted to all the privileges which the whites possess. I know of no absurity in morals or in politics more palpable than that of making the complexion of a man the criterion of their moral or political worth. While our colored friends should be constant in their demand for a respectful consideration of their claims to the rights and privileges to which their intelligence and moral worth entitle them* while they continue to do this, the philanthropists will of course use their influence to extend to the colored portion of our people equal rights and privileges. As Jenkins' statewide recognition increased, so too did he receive national acknowledgment as one of the new breed of black leaders coming up in the west, determined to achieve their goal of total black equality. Frederick

Douglass, in the pages of his newspaper, Douglass* Monthly. printed an account of the Ohio black citizen's convention held in 1859 in Cincinnati, and remarked:

When we remark that such men as Jno. I. Gaines, Peter H. Clark and A. N. Sumner, of Cincinnati! the Langstons of Oberlin; Booker, Jenkins and others of Columbus; Oliver of Cleveland; Anderson of Hamilton; Devine of Oxford . . . Malvin, Johnson, and a host of others of the same stamp, were present, and took an active part in the convention; we need no other evidence of the fact that solidity, rather than show, brains rather than lungs, assumed and maintained the mastery during the protracted session of this earnest and faithful body.35

J Proceedings of the State Convention of Colored Men (Columbus: n.p., 1856), p. 8 .

•^Douglass* Monthlv (Rochester, N.f.), January, 1859* 29

Throughout the 1860's and 1870's, Jenkins continued to build on the foundations he laid in the decades before.

It was reported by Minor that during the Civil War, Jenkins, who would have been around ^9 at the start of the war, served as a recruiting agent for the 5th U.S. Colored

Infantry encamped at Camp Delaware, Ohio (subsequently changed to the 27th Regiment U.S. Colored Troops), though verification of this claim was not possible.Minor took many of his facts from oral histories and interviews with old members of Columbus' black comnunity. A search of the

Records for the Adjutant General's Office. Colored Troops

Division for the period of the Civil War does not list

Jenkins' name. Nor is there any reference to Jenkins in the

National Archives' collection of Circulars. Circular Letters and Special Orders. A. A. Provost Marshall General Ohio: nor in the Letters Sent and Letters Received to Military District Commanders in Ohio from the Office of the Acting Assistant

Provost Marshall General for Ohio, nor is Jenkins listed in the Regt.11 Personal Descriptions. Orders. Letters. Guard Reports. Council of Administration. Fund Accounts. Telegrams and Clothing Accounts of the U.S. Colored Troops. 5th

^Slinor, 6. In a letter to an unnamed Major from Lt. Col. Mantiiff- recently placed in charge of Camp Delaware wrote on Sept. 18, 1863, "The recruiting for this regt. has been very informal so far as I can learn, different persons having constituted themselves re­ cruiting officers, and send men to camp . . I have no evidence that those who are not mustered or have not enlisted since I took command, were even legally en­ listed." 30

Colored Calvary as neither a correspondent, one of the troops, nor one of the officers. Letters in the records searched would seem to suggest that merely mustering in and keeping track of the many blacks wandering into Camp

Delaware was so difficult a job that keeping track of the recruiters as well must have been more than the system could cope with. Though his role as a recruiter during the war is in doubt, there is still evidence that Jenkins kept busy in the decade following the Civil War. In I867 Jenkins, still in his capacity as a member of the State Central Committee, wrote a letter to the Christian

Recorder, the newspaper of the African Methodist Episcopal church. This letter announced that the convention of colored men of Ohio was to be held on July 3 in Columbus, and praised the Recorder by saying, "I ask a place for this note in your noble paper . . . as your paper has a large circulation in our State, and is as widely known as any journal, not only in the State, but in all the States."^ With Jenkins' letter there was a circular, also published by the Recorder which read, in parti

At a meeting of colored citizens, held in this city, April 8th, the undersigned were appointed a committee to take the necessary steps to call a State Convention of Colored Men, to devise the best means by which we can

^ The Christian Recorder (Philadelphia), May 18, 1867. 31

most effectually assist in having the word 'white' stricken from the Constitution of our State. . . We have received letters from prominent men in various parts of the State endorsing our action. We hereby request the hearty co-operation of all who feel interested in the ratifi­ cation of the Constitutional Amendment and enfranchisement of the colored men of Ohio. We sincerely hope you will interest yourself in holding meetings, and use your influence to send the best men in your county as delegates.

The letter was signed by Jenkins, as well as other members of the state committee, including James Poindexter and John T. Ward.-^® When John Ward wrote his biographical

letter to the Ohio State Journal in February of 1870,

Jenkins was by then regarded as something of a local legend, an aging veteran of the earliest battles in behalf of

Human rights. Jenkins was now around 59 years old, but he was hardly retiring to the sidelines to let others wage the battles.By the early 1870's, many of the battles that

Ibid. Poindexter was one of the leading black citizens of Columbus who carried on the work started by Jenkins into the post-slavery era. For a scholarly examination of his role and importance in Ohio politics and society, see Minor's "James Freston Poindexter, Elder Statesman of Columbus," Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly. 1947. pp • 266-278.

-^Jenkins' age is based on the Masons' reference to an 1811 birthdate, which coincides with the ages of 40, on the 1850 Census and 49 on the i860 Census. Unaccountably, Jenkins' age is given as 54 on the 1870 Census. but then on this Census his wife's name is spelled "Sucinda," and for the only time her home state is given as Kentucky. Whether this is evidence of sloppy data collection, or the truth after the threat of slavery was removed from the Jenkins family is unknown. 32

Jerikins had fought for all his adult life had been resolved

in ways he doubtless favored. The seventies brought with them the promise of the rosy future that blacks expected after the final eradication

of slavery during the Civil War, and the passage of the 14th amendment granting the right of equal protection under the

law. However, the promises and dreams of the antebellum

days gave way to the harsh realities of continued widespread prejudice against blacks in many areas. Black people faced new difficulties in trying to determine the best ways to

grasp the sweeping changes taking place all around and turn

them into the favor of the black community. Jenkins was not the sort of man to sit on the side­ lines, and consequently Ward wrote of him that from the time

of the first colored convention in the early 1840*s Jenkins ". . . attended all succeeding conventions, whether state or national, and everywhere was his influence felt and his time 40 and money freely given."

^Ohio State Journal. Feb. 25, 1870. Again Ward's affection for or memory of Jenkins' activities causes him to perhaps overstate the facts. Jenkins is not mentioned as an active participant in the National Negro Con­ ventions in Philadelphia, 1855» nor the Syracuse con­ vention in 1864, nor the convention in Troy, N.Y. in 1847. He may have attended, however, and not played a role in the proceedings, but that seems out of character and at odds with everything that is known about him. Minutes of the Proceedings of the National Negro Con­ ventions 1830-1864. 33

A year after Ward’s letter appeared in the Ohio State Journal. Jenkins attended another State Convention of

Colored Men, held in Columbus in February of 1871. This account of the convention in the Ohio Convention Reporter is especially interesting in that it records another of the rare times that Jenkins* direct words as a public speaker are noted verbatim.^ Jenkins did not hold an official part at the convention, but after the formalities of opening took place, he was called upon to address the convention. His address was short, and interesting for what it reveals about Jenkins* view of his agei Since we met in this city last, great changes have taken place - changes which no human being would have dreamed of. When we met then, we were supplicants before the law; petitioners before the people* today we meet as American citizens. We ought to be exceedingly glad that we meet under such favorable auspices at this time in the capital of the third state in the Union. Great political struggles are going on in this country, and the day is not far distant when every state in the Union will be represented in the national legislature by colored men. I do not know how soon the people of this State will send me to the legislature. I know I should not refuse the nomination if I could get it. Very recently two colored men were sworn in and took their seats in the House in Congress as members from North Carolina. We have now representatives in both branches of the national legislature;

ET "Proceedings of the Ohio State Convention of Colored Men," Ohio Convention Reporter. February 15, 1871» p. 79* 34

we have colored men filling other important offices also. . . We ought to rejoice, and give praise to Him who made the earth and all things for giving us these rights as American citizens.42

Jenkins at the time of his address apparently hoped

to eventually be a participant in full in the national

Legislature. Jenkins' political expertise was documented

by Ward when he wrote: In addition to this convention work, Mr. Jenkins is well-known as the oldest and most regular lobby member of the Legislature. For the last twenty-five years, every session saw Jenkins in his place and old and new members learned to know and respect him. His presence there meant labor for his people and it had the desired effect. 3 Ward added that "when questions in which interests

of colored people were at stake. . . he was always present

to shape the current right as far as his influence could ixit shape it." Another example of Jenkins' involvement in political

activism was a story which appeared in the Athens, Ohio

newspaper, the Messenger. Jenkins was one of several men who spoke at an August 1 Day celebration in that town.

August 1 Day celebrations were held in many cities by black citizens to commemorate the emancipation of all the slaves

^Ohio State Journal. February 25, 1870. hi Ibid. 35 in the British West Indies which took effect August 1, 183^.

Such celebrations were usually joyous affairs, similar in spirit to July ij- celebrations, and in the town of Athens, Jenkins was called upon to address those present after a day of parades, picnics, and ringing speeches by the

Rev. Poindexter, and Gen. Charles H. Grosvenor. The Messenger1s account reads as follows*

The next speaker introduced was Mr. David Jenkins (colored), of Columbus, who retrospected somewhat in regard to the past history of slavery in this country, from the time of the first Colonial agitations down to our present rebellion. Mr. Jenkins is well posted in historical events, and many of his humorous hits ’brought down the house,’ (or, rather, the trees). As a stump speaker, he seems perfectly at home, and, although not possessing the elegance of diction, fiery eloquence nor graceful delivery of Mr. Poindexter, we have no doubt he would prove equally as effective, if not more so, as a public speaker during a heated campaign. He also paid his respect to the Democratic party and their New Departure, and hit that unfortunate pet child of Ohio Democracy some merciless and savage blows. At the close of Mr. Jenkins' address, the hymn: "Praise God from whom all blessings flow,' was sung, a benediction pronounced, and the audience dispersed, in perfect good humor and with a quiet sense of real enjoyment.^5

Of particular note here is the comparison of the description of Jenkins' ability as a speaker with those of the others who spoke. The Messenger said of Poindexter,

^Athens Messenger. August 3, 1871. 36 he was "an able and effective speaker, and one who is well posted both in the past and present political history of this country." Grosvenor gave a speech described as "one of the most apropos and entertaining addresses which could possibly have been prepared for the occasion. . . (the speech) was one of the neatest we ever heard him deliver."

In contrast, however, Jenkins? delivery, while informative and humorous, was not of the same calibre as the speeches given by the other men, in the opinion of the

Messenger's reporter. Assuming this to be a representative example, it can only be surmised what effect this "problem" presented for Jenkins' political aspirations.

However, despite his knowledge and long experience,

Jenkins' political ambitions were not to be realized in

Ohio. As Ohio blacks soon discovered, in the post war period eradication of slavery is one thing! eradication of prejudice and discrimination is another. Possibly discouraged by the chances for an elected office, Jenkins attempted to become the Sergeant-at-arms of the Republican controlled state legislature. According to an address by another influential Ohio black, Peter H.

Clark of Cincinnati, to the Ohio Colored Convention held

August, 18?3 in Chillicothe, Jenkins was "refused . . . by a Republican Legislature, when there was no pretense that 37

Ll? he was not fitted for the position." ( Clark slipped m his speech and referred to David Jenkins as "Daniel Jenkins," a regretable, yet common error. However, the fact that it occurred at all suggests that Jenkins himself was not present at this convention, and the tone of the reference would also support evidence which suggests that Jenkins left

Ohio sometime in 1873* Jenkins also disappeared from the

Citv Directory after the 1872-73 issue. Jenkins' rejection was part of a statewide pattern of discrimination against blacks which Clark pointed out when he added: Except in Toledo, there are no (black) policemen, nor have there been any. No colored man has attained to the dignity of a deputy sheriff, deputy auditor, deputy recorder or deputy clerk. . . Visit our State House and inspect every office in the building, that of Governor, Secretary, Treasurer, Commissioner, and so on, and in not one does the shadow of a colored clerk fall upon the several white walls. y

There is no way of knowing how badly Jenkins wanted the Sergeant-at-arms position in the Sta+o Legislature, but he could not have felt too pleased about being denied a chance to actually join the body he had kept a check on for better than 30 years. The bleak consequences of prejudice against blacks in Ohio painted by Clark were probably all

5*7 ! 'Cincinnati Commercial. August 23, 1873*

48Ibid. 38

too visible to Jenkins also. Consequently, according to Parham and Brown, it was about this time that Jenkins left Columbus, Ohio and settled in Canton, Mississippi, becoming, ", . , a school teacher, buying property and improving it according to his Northern

ideas. In 1875, he was elected a member of the Mississippi

Legislature, serving his full term and making a very useful member."^ An inquiry about the attributed activities of

Jenkins in Mississippi was made to the Mississippi Depart­ ment of Archives and History. Their response from Michelle

Hudson, a research assistant in the Archives and Library

Division, said, in part, "In answer to your request, I have made a careful search for material on Jenkins, David. I regret that after much searching, I could not find any

information on Mr. Jenkins. Since he lived in Madison

County only from 1873-1877» he would not be listed on a census. We do not have tax rolls for those years, and he is not listed in the will index. He is not listed in the

OFFICIAL AND STATISTICAL REGISTER as either a senator or a representative." According to the Masons, Jenkins should have appeared in the Official Register if he was a legis­ lator, but he does not.

Why a prosperous 63-year old man would uproot his family after a lifetime in the same community and move

^Parham and Brown, pp. 267-268. 39 nearly a thousand miles away is unclear. But move he did.

According to Minor, Jenkins left Columbus to accept a position in Mississippi with the Freedman’s Bureau, but this does not seem likely, nor is this view corroborated by other

sources. Minor's interviewees are also the source of the idea that Jenkins was the recruiting officer for the Camp

Delaware troops. Again, this may be the truth, or it may be

the normal inclination of his interviewees to view the past more romantically than it was. A search of the records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands does not turn up the name Jenkins either in the Duty Book, among the officers and men, nor in the Roster of Civilian

Employees. for the Bureau’s camp at Canton, Mississippi.

According to the Bureau's records at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., the Bureau, which was established under the War Department in March, 1865, was phased out of existence beginning January, I869 and terminated in 1872 - the year before Jenkins supposedly left Columbus to take a job there. This version of Jenkins* Mississippi hiatus was probably due to the faulty memories of some of Minor’s interviewees. It is pure speculation, but in the absence of

evidence that he moved to Mississippi as the direct result of an offered position, perhaps it could be argued that

-^Minor, 168. ko

Jenkins moved south because in the early days of* Recon­ struction, the opportunities for a black man were greater there than in Ohio. As blacks became Congressmen and legis­ lators throughout the South, the footdragging of northern politicians to pay northern blacks back for debts owed could have been a factor in Jenkins* abrupt exit from the land of his adult life. Perhaps Jenkins felt that after a lifetime of battling in behalf of the formerly enslaved blacks, it was only putting his money where his mouth was when he chose to go South to live and teach these new citizens all he was able. It would be easy to romanticize Jenkins, to make him out to be a noble champion of the oppressed. But with the scanty evidence available, it would be just as easy to argue that the large, uneducated black population, and the large tracts of land and other real property abandoned by the vicissitudes of war presented a tempting target to a smart northerner of a base nature.

However, based on the evidence that does exist from

Jenkins* Ohio experiences, perhaps it would be safe to argue that for Jenkins to go southward with malice In his heart towards the freedmen would seemingly be a contradiction to all his life*s work, and in direct contrast to the favorable image he left in the minds of those he knew and worked with in Ohio. kl

Parham and Brown report that "On September 5» 1877, after an illness of five days, he became immortal." As with much of his life, even his death eludes verification, though

it could possibly be assumed that Jenkins' fraternity brothers would have taken the time and effort necessary to verify such a critical date. Assuming that the dates of

Jenkins’ birth and death as reported by the Masons are accurate, Jenkins died at the age of 66.^ None of the papers publishing in Columbus at the time of Jenkins’ death carried an obituary for him. There were no newspapers being published in Canton, Mississippi at the time of

Jenkins* death which are available for examination, at this time. There is not very much known about David Jenkins,* whether or not he was a brute, or a saint; whether he was a devoted family man, or a wandering libertine. All that is known is that this man founded the first newspaper edited by blacks in Ohio much too soon for any chance of success; that those who knew him had nothing for him but the highest praise and the greatest respect for his vision, his energy and his courage. Though no real obituary of Jenkins was printed in the Columbus press after the death of one of the city’s leading pioneers for justice, perhaps Ward's letter serves

^^"Parham and Brown, p. 268. hZ just as well. It was Ward who wrotei

He (Jenkins) has lived to see his fondest hopes realized and all that he labored for accomplished. Few men can say as much, and measured by the common standard the life of David Jenkins has been a grand success. For all that he has done in their behalf will the colored people ever honor him.52

Perhaps that is obituary enough.

52Ibid. CHAPTER III Purpose and Plan of Research

The purpose of this research is to draw some conclusions about the effectiveness of the Palladium of

Liberty as a persuasive vehicle.

At first glance, the idea of doing an analysis of a newspaper would seem to be out of synch with most rhetorical analyses which stress great orators or their

great orations. There is no evidence to suggest that Jenkins was much of an orator, and there is agonizingly little that

can actually be recognized as from his own hand. Yet, Franklyn S. Haiman answered many questions about

the role of verbal communication in rhetorical criticism in

the opening paragraphs of his article, "The Rhetoric of the

Streets: Some Legal and Ethical Considerations.” When he wrote his article which discussed the "rhetoric" of protest

demonstrations, he said: The term 'rhetoric* as used here is put in quotation marks because only by the broadest definition do some of the activities to be discussed fall into what has traditionally been called the province of rhetoric. If rhetoric means only verbal communication, we are clearly dealing here with matters outside that boundary. If, however, we take Aristotle's

4 3 44

phrase to mean literally * all the available means of persuasion* then we do have here a problem in rhetorical criticism.^ The Palladium of Liberty is seen as an example of rhetorical discourse of David Jenkins, and will be examined as such. Considering the autocratic and total control that

even newspaper editors in New York exerted over their papers in the 1830's and 1840*s, it is not unreasonable to assume that the copy selected for inclusion into the Palladium by its presence reflects something of the character, beliefs, 2 intelligence and goals of Jenkins, much as any speech would.

The methodology selected for this research reflects both the disciplines of communication and journalism as fields of study. Consequently, this paper will seek first to utilize the analytical techniques which Harold Nelsen alluded to in his article, "Immersion and Guided Entry into

Journalism History" as well as all the standard techniques of professional historians for discovering relevant source materials, and thus setting the scene upon which the

Franklyn S. Haiman, "The Rhetoric of the Streets* Some Legal and Ethical Considerations," Quarterly Journal of Speech. April, 196?, p. 99- 2 Emery devotes much of his book to such high-powered editors of the 1830's and 40fs, men like Benjamin Day of the New York Sun* James Gordon Bennett's N.Y. Morning Herald, and William Garrison's Liberator. For a full discussion of the dominant role of 19th century editors, see Chapter 11, "A Press for the Masses,” and Chapter 13, "The Press and the Rise of Sectionalism," pp. 165-190 and pp. 207-230, respectively. ^5

3 rhetorical analysis will be based. Once the historical scene is reconstructed, then the paradigm of analysis set forth by Lawrence Rosenfeld will be used. Rosenfeld argued thati

If we schematize an instance of public communication encountered by the critic, we intuitively recognize four gross variables: the source(s) or creater(s) of the message, the message itself, the context or environ­ ment in which the message is received (in­ cluding both the receivers and the social 'landscape1 which spawns the message), and the critic himself (who, especially in the study of public address of the past, is in a sense a unique receiver). For the sake of convenience, let us label the variables 'S* (source), 'M* (message), *E* (environment), and * C (critic). Obviously, in a total interpretation of the communicative act all four variables are relevant. But equally obvious from past critical practice, such all-encompassing analysis will be rare if not impossible for the single critic . . . We are therefore forced to recognize that critics will have to concentrate on some permutation of the four variables as a means of making their critical tasks manageable. . . The critic therefore occupies himself with some combination of variables which focus on the message: S-M, M-E, M-C, S-M-E, S-M-C, or M-E-C. These are combinations . which constitute genuine critical options. The permutation that will be used for this research is the S-M-E, one that will allow investigation of not only

-^Carter G. Bryan, Unpublished speech, Madison, Wis. , 1975- Lawrence W. Rosenfeld, "The Anatomy of Critical Discourse," Methods of Rhetorical Criticism. eds. Robert L. Scott and Bernard L. Brock (New York: Harper & Row, 1972), p. 1^2. 4-6

Jenkins as communicator, but also the message which he attempted to deliver to the people of Ohio, as well as the circumstances leading up to the publication of the Palladium to put Jenkins' work in a historical perspective.

Rosenfeld calls the S-M-E permutation the es­ sentially "pragmatic" one, and he adds that the relatively

extensive use of the S-M-E framework can be justified if we accept the notion that public address is, literally, dis­ course addressed to a public by a speaker who is carrying on public business by his act of communication. Consequently,

the S-M-E critic emphasizes in his study the mediating nature of the message in moving (or failing to move) the audience toward the speaker's vision of how the demands of 5 occasion ought to be met and resolved. Usually the Message part of such an analysis would

delve into the skill and style of the speaker, concerning

itself both with what was said and how well it was said. However, in this study the Palladium will be judged less on

its own style than on its relationship to the dominant

themes of the anti-slavery and abolitionist movements of its day. How well those themes are represented, and how well

they were tailored to the Palladium * s audience will be the criteria for deciding how effective the paper was as persuasive discourse,

^Ibid.. pp. 1^5-1^6. 4?

The first section of this paper gives the background of this study, a review of the pertinent literature containing references to both Jenkins and his paper, and the methodology to be employed. The second section of this paper will concern itself mainly with historical reconstruction of the environment which existed during the time of the Palladium* s publication.

Though what is known about the source, Jenkins, will be contained largely in the first section, references will be made to events in Jenkins' life in this section which will further add to the understanding of the historical period under examination. The third section of this paper will deal with the

M» or the actual content of the Palladium. As the liter­ ature review pointed out, very little has been done of the content of the antebellum black newspapers, and in this study, a detailed examination of the message of one of these papers could prove extremely helpful to other researchers of the genre. The fourth section of the paper deals primarily with the audience of the Palladium, and like the other chapters, will seek to tie in what was known about Jenkins and his paper to what types of audiences he had to make his appeals to. The final section of the paper will draw summary conclusions about the effectiveness of the Palladium in 48 bringing about the changes that Jenkins wanted, as well as offering suggestions for further study. CHAPTER IV Environment

People do not live in a vacuum; they are part and parcel of the times in which they live. Attempting to study an individual like David Jenkins without making an attempt to study his era would have proven to be misleading and

frustrating. As Robert Berkhofer pointed out, the human

organism responds to the situations which life presents in

terms of how it 'defines or interprets the situation.^ If a

study of Jenkins’ rhetorical response to his environment was

to be made, then some attention must be paid to what life was like for him at the time he published the first issue of

the Palladium. Attempting to reconstruct what life was like for

someone living in Columbus, Ohio in 1843 presented a set of problems which were largely solved by consulting any of

several histories of the city and state of that time. Most

readers agree that the best history of Ohio is the six- volume one by Carl Wittke, The History of the State of Ohio.

_ Robert F. Berkhofer, Jr., A Behavioral Approach to Historical Analysis (New York* The Free Press, 1969), pp. 32-33-

4 9 50

(Columbus, The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 19*+1)• Though edited by Wittke, the most relevant to this historical period would be the 3rd volume, by Francis P. Weisenburger, The Passing of the Frontier. 1825-

18SO. Also helpful to understanding events in Columbus proper would be those works by Alfred E, Lee, History of the City of Columbus. Capital of Ohio. (2 vol. New Yorki

Munsell & Co., 1892) and Jacob H. Studer, Columbus. Ohiot

Its History. Resources, and Progress. (Washington, D.C.i 2 Library of Congress, 1873)• But the problem of attempting to see the world of

David Jenkins through his eyes was made much more difficult because being black in Ohio in the 1840's was not a view­ point utilized by most of the historians of the period. And there was a vast difference in perspective depending on whether a person was black or white. This chapter attempted to reconstruct what life was like from Jenkins* perspective, but of necessity, will also deal with the viewpoint of the white majority with which Jenkins had to contend. When Jenkins arrived in Ohio in 1837» he was part of a migration which had swelled the state's population from about *+2,000 in 1800 to nearly one and one half million by

1840. Ohio was at that time predominantly an agricultural state, whose typical citizen lived in the country surrounded o These works form the basis for much of the historical back­ ground of this chapter. 51 3 toy vast stretches of unimproved land. Columtous became only the second city in the then third most populous state to incorporate in 183*+1 after Cincinnati which would remain the largest and most important cily in Ohio until late in the 19th century. Numerous towns and villages had been incorporated by this time, though large stands of black walnut, mulberry, black and lowland chestnut, beech, and sweet buckeye trees still existed.

Most of the Indians and large animals that had originally roamed the state were gone by the time of Jenkins' arrival.

However, the opossum, raccoon, fox, polecat, mink, squirrel, ground-hog and rabbit still existed in great numbers, though by this time beavers had been virtually hunted out of existence in the state, and free-roaming deer were becoming increasingly rare.** A visitor to Columbus in 1832 described the scene which greeted him thuslyi

The sidewalks are broad, paved with brick and present quite a busy scene, and the middle of the street is kept in a state of constant and lively animation by an endless train of wagons, horses, and horse- men-long-springed, four-horse stages rattling through at intervals - and a great variety of travelling and pleasure taking vehicles. Casting the eye along

-^Weisenburger, 3-*+* ^Ibid. , *+-6. 52

the line of buildings to the right, a large Hotel . . . and 2 blocks of handsome, well-built stores (of three stories) form the principal features. The intermediate houses, too, good and all of brick - many of them with arcades of wood in front shading the sidewalks.5 For the visitor to Columbus in 1843, the most out­ standing feature of the city would have been the omni­ presence of horses. Just as cities today are dominated by automobiles and their trappings, so the pages of the

Columbus newspapers and city directory are filled with references to saddle makers, wagon makers, bridles, harnesses, and blacksmiths. Undoubtedly, during winters or heavy rains, the sight of horse-drawn wagons and carriages mired in the mud of the unpaved streets was a common sight.^ While public schools offered education in the basics, it was possible for Columbus parents to obtain a more private and classical education for their children.

J. Bousall and R. Matthewson offered instruction in Greek and Latin at $15 for a 22-week long course. An English course was also offered for $12, but the schoolmasters warned that no refunds would be given for student absences 7 except in cases of genuine illness.

5Ibid., 21. ^The Columbus Business Directory for 1843-44. (Columbusi J. R. Armstrong, 1843), pp. 65-I66, passim.

^Ohio State Journal. January 16, 1844. 53

In this agricultural community, the prices seem quite low fey today's standards. A bushel of corn could be purchased for twenty cents; a pound of beesewax was a quarter; lard was going for four and a half cents a pound g and butter was a nickel a pound. Columbus was more important as a market town for the farm goods produced in this fertile region, and as a center of State government than it was as a manufacturing center.

But the beauty of the town was strictly in the eye of the beholder. Charles Dickens passing through wrote in 1842 that Columbus was "clean and pretty,” but another Englishman in 1840 reported that he doubted whether there was a capital "in all the United States so unattractive and un­ dignified" in its public buildings.^ Still, regardless of the physical beauty (or lack thereof) of Columbus, the Scioto abounded with black bass, the woods offered plenty of game, the surrounding lands were fertile, and in 1843, the year the Palladium was founded, life must have seemed pretty promising for the 6,048 white residents of the state capital.10 It was the contrast be­ tween white Columbus, and the lives of the 573 black

8Ibid.

9Ibid.. 21-22.

10Lee, 299. 54 residents of the town that concerned David Jenkins.11

In order to understand the difficulties facing blacks in Ohio in the 1840*s, it is necessary to understand

Ohio's legal and social position towards them since the state's inception. Ohio was formed by Congressional action in the so- called Northwest Ordinance of I787. This Act provided for the establishment of a republican form of government which would eventually become a state, and be liable for its full 12 share of the Federal debt.

The significance of this ordinance is that the

Congress made it expressly clear that "after the year 1800 of the Christian era, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of said States, otherwise than in punishment for crimes, whereof the party shall have been 13 duly convicted to have been personally guilty."

This Act, which clearly prohibited slavery in what was certainly to become a territory of several states, was supported by the delegates of every southern slave holding state. Various reasons have been given for why the southern­ ers went along with the strong anti-slavery requirements for

Columbus Directory for 1843-4. (Columbus: J. R. Armstrong, 1843) , p. §3"! Source for population figures for Columbus.

12Charles T. Hickok, The Negro in Ohio 1802-1870. (Cleveland: AMS Press, 1896), p. 10.

13Ibid.. 10-11. 55

the new territory, but whatever the reason, Ohio was from 14 its birth flatly prohibited from becoming a slave state.

But as was quickly seen when the newly designated

territory convened its state Constitutional Convention in

1802, to be anti-slavery is not nearly the same thing as

being pro-black, or even tolerant of blacks. Rodabaugh

reported that while the anti-slavery promise of the new

territory attracted many New Englanders and Quakers, morally

opposed to slavery and sympa+hetic toward equality for

blacks, it also attracted those persons who were opposed

both to slavery and to granting equality to free blacks.

Free black people, on the other hand, saw the new territory

as a Congressionally guaranteed haven from the threat of

slavery. Unfortunately, their aspirations ran counter to

those of the many southerners who flocked into the region

from across the lengthy Ohio River border, bringing with

them strong pro-slavery and even stronger anti-equality 1*5 attitudes. Barnhart reported that the southerners, a group of

Jeffersonian Republicans who came to be known as the

"Chillicothe Junto," controlled the convention. Two of the

leaders among this group, Edward Tiffin and Thomas

Worthington, were former slaveholders themselves who had

TZl Ibid.. 20-21. ^James H. Rodabaugh, "The Negro in Ohio," Journal of Negro History. January, 1946, pp. 12-14. 56

freed their slaves in order to move to Ohio.1^ According

to Rodabaugh, 28 of the 35 delegates to the convention were

Jeffersonians, while 17 of the Democratic Republican were

from the South. It is small wonder that when the anti­ slavery section of the state Constitution was voted on it 17 only passed out of committee by a majority of one vote. That decision was virtually the last one reached that gave comfort to free blacks in Ohio. Before they

finished their business, the state convention made the enumeration for purposes of apportionment for senators and representatives from all of the white male inhabitants of the state, and restricted the elective franchise to "all 18 white male inhabitants above the age of twenty-one years."

In fairness, there were only 337 black people reported to be living in Ohio in 1800, less than 1 per cent of the popu­ lation, and the state constitutional convention did refuse to restrict a broad range of activities from blacks ranging from rights of settlement, eligibility for the state militia and the ability to give testimony in court cases.

This restraint was probably due less to the humanitarian

^ J o h n D. Barnhart, "Southern Influence in the Formation of Ohio,” Journal of Southern History. February, 1937i pp * 29 ~31• ^Rodabaugh, 13.

18Frank U. Quillin, The Color Line in Ohio, (org. Ann Arbor* University of Michigan Press, 1913* reprinted New York* Negro Universities Press, 1969)» P* 21. 57 impulse among the voting delegates than it was the fear that the closeness of the votes to deprive the black man his equality would lead to a split during the convention that would have guaranteed the rejection of the state constitution

- a dreaded consequence. 1 9 ^ For the most part, Gerber reports, Ohio's founding fathers intended to allow blacks to live in the state and to enjoy the protection of its laws, but were careful to exclude him from having any part in its 20 governing. Unfortunately for those black people then living in the state, the Ohio legislature elected following ratifi­ cation had no such inhibitions in deciding the fate of those black people living in Ohio. The legislature, more directly responsible and more directly representative to the racial views of the white majority, lost little time in more sharply defining the role that blacks in the state would play - namely that of second class ”citizenfe."

In 180^, the legislature passed the first of what was to become known as the "Black Laws," a series of acts which were designed to restrict black civil rights to a degree deemed necessary by the majority of citizens in the state at that time.

19Ibid.. 13-22. 20David A. Gerber, Black Ohio and the Color Line 1860-191S. (Urbana, Ill.i University of Illinois,1976), p p .3^4. 58

The first of these laws declared that "no negro or mulatto should be allowed to settle in the State unless he could furnish a certificate from some court in the United

States of his actual freedom." Quill in wrote* The blacks already living in the State must register before the following June with the county clerk, giving the names of their children. For each name a fee of twelve and one-half cents was to be charged. No white man could employ a negro for one hour unless the negro could show a certificate of freedom, and any violator of this law was subject to a fine of from ten to fifty dollars. The same penalty was attached to harboring, or hindering the capture of a fugitive slave.

But the people of Ohio were not yet satisfied, and in 1807 the legislature, acting in the face of fears of increasing black immigration into the state, amended the previous act. The new laws stipulated that no black person could settle in Ohio unless he could within twenty days give bonds to the amount of $500 signed by two bondsmen, who should guarantee his good behavior ana support. Further, the fine for harboring or concealing a fugitive was raised from fifty to one hundred dollars, one- half to go to the informer who fingered the person violating the law. And, the prohibition of black people from giving evidence against a white person in any court trial, any cause, or matter of controversy when either party to the

21Quillin, 21-22. 59 controversy was white, was enacted into law. 22

The year 1803 had seen the militia barred against

sable soldiers, and in 1831 Ohio strengthened its prohi­ bitions against the black man by declaring that all jurors should have the "qualifications of electors," keeping an 23 effective color bar across the door to the jury box.

Perhaps most damaging of all the "Black Laws" were those passed by the state in 1829 which closed the public schools to black children. The law went further and prohi­ bited black people from all "institutions, asylums and poor houses." However, the closing of the doors to the school house to black children doomed them to a state of ignorance which could not but help further degrade them.

Hickok wrote that the laws prohibiting black people

from testifying in court were particularly troublesome to black residents of the statet This law worked incalculable mischief to the negroes. It put them at the mercy of un­ scrupulous white men. A white man could rob, beat and kill a colored man, and unless some white person was present he could escape all punishment. A case is recorded where a white man escaped conviction of murder where there were eight colored eye witnesses, simply

Ibid.. 21-23. Quillin reports that this particularly vile law was the first of its kind passed by any northern, non-slave holding state. Worse, the example set by Ohio resulted in similar laws being passed in Illinois and Indiana in 1827 and a belated 1865» respectively.

23Ibid.. 22-23.

2^Sheeler, 211. 60

because sufficient testimony of white men could not be found. ^ Such was the rigidity with which the prohibition against black testimony was held that when the state supreme court ruled that a black man could testify in court to swear to the authenticity of his signature, the case set a 26 precedent as the first and only exception to the law. The "Black Laws" were a reflection of the feelings of the majority of the lawmakers in Ohio towards the free black population in the state. Ohio's population of free blacks, while measuring only about one per cent of the total population, was viewed officially as far more than enough.

A report from a committee on the colored population, presented to the State legislature in 1832, suggested the exclusion of "a people whose residence among us is degrading to themselves, and fraught with so much evil to the community. The negroes form a distinct and degraded caste 27 and are forever excluded. . . from all hopes of equality. ." While various sections of the "Black Laws" were strictly adhered to, the provisions of the codes which sought to register bonds on newly arrived black people did not have the desired effect of virtually stopping black immigration into the state. Many of those black people coming into the

25Hickok, iJ-2-^3.

26Ibid.. 45. 2^0hio State Journal. February 1, 1832. 61

state were leaving slave states like Virginia where their

status there as free blacks could turn very easily back into

a situation of virtual ownership. History does not record what factors made Ohio look

like a better home to David Jenkins than the Virginia he

left behind, but the description of life for even free

blacks by another Virginia-born Ohio black pioneer suggests

that even with black laws, Ohio was a better situation. In his autobiography, Malvin wrote that in Virginia, he was the son of a slave father and a freed mother. He was apprenticed to the clerk of his father*a owner, silently resentful of the degrading way in which he was treated. Each year, Malvin recalled, he was given "one pair of shoes, two pairs of tow linen pantaloons, one pair of negro cotton pantaloons, and a negro cotton round jacket. My food 28 consisted of one peck of corn meal a week."

Malvin said that occasionally he was given a supply

of salt, but this was rare. To avoid starvation, Malvin would steal and eat pigs and lambs from farms in the area.

Often he would milk a neighbor*s cow. After a brief period of this, and with no prospect of things getting any better, Malvin went to the County Clerk's office and obtained his

freedman*s papers in 1827, walking the 300 miles to Marietta,

John Malvin, North Into Freedomi The Autobiography of John Malvin. Free Negro. (Cleveland* Press of Western Reserve, 1966), pp. 2 9 -3 2 . 62

Ohio in six days. His reward was the discovery that once he obtained work in Cincinnati, he found the treatment in his new state "little better than in Virginia."29 The prejudice against black people in Ohio was so prevalent that Malvin wrote that he seriously thought of returning to slave state Virginia, rather than staying where he was.^° That he stayed is less an endorsement of the favorable climate which produced Ohio's "Black Laws" than it was a bottom line assessment that despite the worse that could befall a black person in Ohio, here at least was a place where black people could not be bought and sold.

But Ohio's treatment of its black citizens drew national condemnation from those persons who saw a common humanity between black men and white. In I838, a year after

Jenkins had settled in Columbus, William Jay, son of the first Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay, published a report on the condition of "Free People of Color” which blasted the Ohio codes as being among the most repressive anywhere in the nation. Jay wrote that despite the severity of anti-black laws in the South, the prejudice against the

-persons of blacks was far weaker than in most northern states. "Were we to inquire into the geography of this prejudice," Jay wrote, "we should find that the localities

29Ibid.. 2 9 -3 9 .

3°Ibid.. fcO. 63 in which it attains its rankest luxuriance are not the rice swamps of Georgia, nor the sugarfields of Louisiana, but the hills and valleys of New England, and the prairies of Ohio I"31

Of course, while prospects for equality were not great in Ohio by the time Jenkins edited the first issue of the Palladium, neither were things totally bleak and devoid of hope. As already discussed, the votes in favor of granting full rights of citizenship to the black man were very close in the earliest days of the territory of Ohio.

It was solid opposition from anti-slavery forces which prevented the passage of a motion to repeal the anti-slavery provisions of the Northwest Ordinance. 32

The majority of whites in the North felt jointly that slavery at its worse was a tolerable wrong, even if it 33 was something that they did not want in their state. ^ But at the same time, most of the citizens of Ohio also felt strongly that immigration of blacks into the state should be discouraged as strongly as possible. A glimpse at a map quickly points out the concerns of many white Ohioans

^^William Jay, "Condition of the Free People of Color The Free People of Color. (New Yorki Arno Press & The New York Times. 1969)i pp- 373-377* ■^2Quillin, 15. This move was defeated by a single vote. 33C . Duncan Rice, The Rise and Fall of Black Slavery. (New Yorki Harper & Row, 1975)* P* 309- 64

uuring the first few decades of the state's existence.

From the slave holding South the shortest distance

to freedom in Canada was across the Ohio River, through

Ohio, a distance of less than 250 miles. Even with its anti-black codes, Ohio was still free territory and as such, the goal of border state blacks who sought to escape from

slavery. A mental image of thousands of black people,

fleeing from the two slave states which shared Ohio's borders, many of them stopping to settle in the state, was

disturbing to most Ohioan citizens of the period.

Still, the plight of the slave stirred some Ohioans

to compassion, even if the sight of the mistreated blacks in

their own neighborhoods left them indifferent. Newspaper accounts discussing the slavery issue as early as 1825 in

Chillicothe declared that "the evils of slavery are acknowledged by all candid men to be very great, and daily

increasing in magnitude; and unless means can be devised

effectually to check their progress, and in due time to

eradicate them, they must, before any great time, be wholly

irremediable.

The activities of the anti-slavery movement in Ohio have been well detailed in many other works, but it must be noted that despite their fervor and dedication, through the

^ Weisenburger, 363-36k, Reprinted from Chillicothe Scioto Gazette. October 13, 1825- 65

1830's until the publication of the Palladium in 18^3» "the early abolitionists fought a tough, lonely, unpopular and dangerous campaign on behalf of the slave. The earliest anti-slavery activity took place through the established churches, whose members found them­ selves morally opposed to slavery as an abomination in the eyes of God. In particular, the Quakers, led in their earliest days in the state by Benjamin Lundy, organized the first society with anti-slavery principles in Ohio in 1815»

The first anti-slavery newspaper in the state, Charles

Osborn*s Philanthropist. began publication in Mt. Pleasant,

Ohio two years later. Opposition to the anti-slavery movement was concerned with more than merely the struggle to free the slave.

Implicit in any scheme to emancipate the blacks of the South was the financial loss of those individuals who had purchased slaves and viewed them as valuable personal property. The prospect of losing that investment tended to

■^The abolition movement in Ohio has been well documented in several works. Especially useful, in addition to works already cited by Weisenburger, Rice and Gerber, are Gilbert H. Barnes, Anti-slaverv Impulse. 1830-1844. (New Yorki Harcourt, Brace & World,Inc., 1933)i Ernest G. Bormann, Forerunners of Black Poweri The Rhetoric of Abolition. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.i Prentice-Hall, 1971)1 Avery Craven, The Repreasible Conflict 1830-1861. (Baton Rougej Louisiana State University Press, 1939)1 and Dwight Lowell Dumond, Anti-slavery Origins of the Civil War in the United States, (Ann Arbor1 University of Michigan Press, 1939)•

^^Weisenburger, 36^. 66 push the slaveholding states, and their friends and sympathizers in the north, into extreme reactions against 37 the meddling of the abolitionists. This vested financial interest in the slave, coupled with widespread Northern fear and distrust of the abo­ litionist and the free black resulted in a violent history 38 for the American abolitionist movement. Particularly in the mid-1830's, riots and mob actions marked the conservative

Ohioans' response to the increasingly vocal pleas of the abolitionists. Theodore Dwight Weld, the pre-eminent evangelist for the abolition movement, would often attract violent mobs when he toured Ohio in the 1830's to give anti­ slavery speeches. At one point, while attempting to speak at an anti-slavery gathering in Circleville, Ohio, Weld was struck by a large stone hurled through a window and 39 momentarily stunned. ^

With the exception of the proselyting efforts of the students at Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, few abolitionists could dare to include black activists in the anti-slavery battle. The students at Lane, swept to a fever pitch by

Weld's anti-slavery convictions, openly risked life and limb

3^In Kentucky alone, for example, the value of the 160,000 slaves in the state in 184-1 amounted to $62,218,000 on which $275,358 in taxes was paid. Ohio State Journal. January 14, 1841; Gerber, 305-3°6.

38Rice, 306.

3^Weisenburger, 370-372. 67

for the twin goals of immediate emancipation and total social bo and political equality for the black man. As Dumond

reported, when Weld tried to include blacks in his activities,

every kind of outrage was committed against him. Black

people who dared to participate in the movement would lose

their jobs* prosecutions under the vandal laws would begin, and entire communities would have their homes systematically

torn down. The one time that a black man attempted to serve

as a delegate to one of the anti-slavery conventions, a group

of blacks came to Weld in terror and begged that he not be

allowed to attend the meeting for fear of the deadly *4-1 consequences to their lives and their communities. A white abolitionist might lose his property, he

might be stoned or battered, or receive a coating of tar and

feathers as a reward for his work, but rarely was death a

consequence for his beliefs. A black person, however, was

in constant danger of being seized and sold down the river

to the living death of slavery. Dumond adds that there was nothing that the state government would or could do in many k2 cases to prevent such occurrences. While prevented from openly participating in the

abolition movement, it would be wrong to assume that black

people did not embrace the movement, viewing its goals to be

^Barnes, 6^-78.

^Dumond, 57~58.

^2Ibid.. 61-62. 68

closely allied with their own. Indeed, there is evidence that the name of Jenkins* paper, the Palladium of Liberty. may have taken its inspiration from a description of the

role of the press in the minutes of the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society's anniversary report for I836. J The report, which was listing the successes and opposition the society had

received in the previous year, mentioned the general hostility of the state's newspapers by reporting! "The

press, that palladium of our liberties as we have hereto­

fore considered it, has not only failed to condemn the guilty and refused to defend the innocent, but by systematic misrepresentation has been the chief instrument in formenting

the mind of the disorderly and goading them on to outrage."

(italics added) There is, of course, no way to know whether

Jenkins decided that his paper would be the "palladium of

liberties" that other state papers were not, but the reports of the society were circulated and it is quite possible that

this one, published within a year of his arrival in the

state, was the source of the rather unusual name of his paper. Black people did protest against both their political

haplessness and the plight of their brethern in the South.

The two forms which were actively pursued by blacks were

^ O h i o Anti-Slavery Society 1 Report of Anniversary, (Vol. 1), I836. 69

the use of conventions, called to protest their precarious

conditions, and the underground railroad.

From the perspective of today, it is tempting to

dismiss the conventions of antebellum America as either

quaint or insubstantial, but this was not the case. The

conventions of this period were important forums where

significant debates on all major issues could be aired and

discussed. According to Howard H. Bell, the so-called

"Negro Conventions" made specific demands for the elimination

of slavery and frequently criticized the abolition movement

for its reluctance to embrace racial equality as a desired goal. The Negro Conventions were interested in temperance,

education, and moral reform for al'l black citizens.

According to Bell, the delegates to those conventions used the expected means of spreading their viewpoints to the wider audiences beyond the convention floor. Debates would

establish positions which were voted on as resolutions from

the assembly as a whole. Then public addresses from the

convention or petitions to state legislatures and the

Congress would be issued stating the goals or the conclusions 44 of the conventions. m i------Howard Holman Bell, A Survey of the Negro Convention Move­ ment 1830-1861. (New Yorkt Arno Press and the New York Times. 1969^. pp. 1-4. This book is the published version of Bell's 1953 dissertation at Northwestern University. For the actual proceedings of the national conventions, see also by Bell, Minutes of the Proceedings of the National Negro Conventions. 1830-1864, (New York* Arno Press and the New York Times. 1969)• 70

The first national black convention was held in

Philadelphia in 1830, and for the next five years, the conventions were held on a more or less regular basis. That first convention was called in response to the serious situation in Cincinnati, brought about by that city’s decision to begin enforcing the bond provisions of the

Black Laws. This enforcement, brought about by white annoyance at the increasing competition for jobs between black and white laborers in the city, amounted to an order for expatriation. The blacks of Cincinnati had found an area in

Canada where they planned to emigrate, and had sent a delegation to New York to seek support for the program of transplantation. It was from this crisis situation that the first convention sprang. However, as the minutes of the convention show, the delegates to the first black convention actually took little action other than to generally support cooperative aid for the proposed move. ^

The conventions of the 1830's eventually became dominated by the white supporters of William Lloyd Garrison and other members of the radical Boston abolitionists, who, according to Bell, were more or less responsible for the split of the national conventions into rival black

Philadelphia and New York factions. This phase of the conventions was important, however, in giving black people

^Bell, Survey. 12-18. 71 a chance to emerge on the national stage where their hopes and aspirations could be made known. It was a chance for black people to demonstrate that within the black community there did exist an intelligent, concerned group which was capable of defining for itself what role blacks could play 46 in society. The national convention of 1843, to which Jenkins was a delegate, was the first since 1835, and marked for the first time the growing influence of the western black, not bound to support the helpful, but paternalistic white hands of the large eastern cities. By the 1840*s, the abolition movement in Ohio had succeeded to a large degree in moving the state increasingly towards a consensus anti-slavery stance. Subsequently, the abolitionists began to see that further progress for their positions would be better obtained by switching from the speakers platform to the political arena. Prior to the 1840*s, primarily under the Garrisonian influence which viewed working within the system as a sell­ out of the abolitionist cause, the anti-slavery movement avoided the electoral process altogether. However, the rise of the influence of the western regions of the nation, and the subsequent rise of local petition drives and anti-slavery organizations made the political arena a more attractive

^6Ibid.. 27-37. 72

47 alternative than had been believed previously. In the black communities, black men were coming forward and defining for themselves, with or without white blessings, what means they would use to obtain black liberation and equality.

In 1843, this rise in the awareness of black citizens was most apparent in the calling of a "state con­ vention of colored citizens,1' on August 10-12 in Columbus, to protest the continuing threat of the "Black Laws." The first issue of the Palladium was ostensibly published as a 48 report to the people of Ohio on that convention.

Less than a week after the Columbus state convention,

Jenkins travelled to Buffalo, New York to participate in the first national black convention since 1835* It was at the Buffalo convention that Henry Highland Garnet, a former slave from Maryland, shocked those present by exhorting the slaves still in bondage to go to their masters and "tell them plainly that you are determined to be free . . . If they then commence work of death, they, not you, will be responsible for the consequences. You had far better all die - die immediately, than live slaves, and entail your 49 wretchedness upon your posterity."

^Dumond, 83-971 Barnes, 161-190.

^ Palladium of Liberty. December 27, 1843.

^Bormann, 146-152. 73

Though Garnet's speech was electrifying and

discussion of its consequences dominated the rest of the

convention, Jenkins voted with the majority of delegates not

to give the convention* s blessings to the speech by en­

dorsing it.^° The speech was not printed until five years

later, but the impact of the speech on those who heard it

was indelible. Clearly by this period, while the black man

remained interested in "temperance, peace, education and moral reform . . . he was no longer willing to turn the <1 other cheek. Now, force was to be met by force."^

It cannot be said that Jenkins left the Buffalo convention radicalized. The minutes of the convention show

that Jenkins agreed with other Ohio delegates that publi­

cation of the speech would be a provocation of the white

community that could have disasterous consequences, and he

addressed the convention to that point. But upon returning

from Buffalo, Jenkins was secure enough to take the Buffalo

Daily Gazette account of the convention to John Duffey, the

editor of the Columbus Weekly Herald. And Duffey, without

too much editorial pomp, published it in the columns of his

Whig newspaper, for all the citizens of Columbus to read. Before printing the article, at the "request of a

-^Minutes of the National Convention of Colored Citizens Held at Buffalo. 1843. pp. 15-19. The vote was 18 to 19.

^Bell, Minutes of 18^3 Convention, n.p. 74 respectable colored mechanic of this city, who attended the convention" (most probably Jenkins), Duffey covered himself by writing, "Conventions are the order of the day, for every practicable or impracticable purpose . . . and among the rest, our sable brethern of the African race, have held a convention recently at Buffalo, N.Y., to devise measures for their elevation and an amelioration of their condition among the children of the Great Father of all . . . we publish a brief but complimentary notice of its proceedings from the

Buffalo Gazette - and sincerely hope that for so doing we shall not be charged with entertaining Johnsonian principles of amalgamation, or of an intention to divide either the <2 Whig or democratic parties.' A clear change from just two years before when the Columbus Ohio State Journal. another

Whig paper, refused to carry pro-abolition stories for fear they would seem to be taking a stand against the right of the 53 slave states to continue to enjoy their slave status.

By the publication of the Palladium in 1843, the situation for blacks in Ohio was still precarious, but had improved greatly from the period of just a decade before.

By the 1814*0 * s, while blacks still suffered under the fears of

-*2Columbus Weekly Herald. September 2, 1843.

^Ohio State Journal. April 20, 1841. The other major Columbus paper, the Statesman, refused to even apologize for its anti-abolition stance and printed nothing about either abolition or Columbus' blacks in their quest for equality throughout the life of the Palladium* 75 kidnapping and the "Black Laws," the mood in the state had mellowed to the point that abolitionists saw their argu­ ments could be made with some success through using the political arena, both through the ballot box and the use of petitions. The principal means of bringing about this evolution

in public opinion had been through the use of skillful speakers like Weld, and his followers, through the circu­ lation of pamphlets from anti-slavery societies, and through the use of newspapers, like the Cincinnati-based Philanthro-

When the national black convention endorsed the

Liberty Party in 18^+3, many of the delegates could not them­ selves vote for this new party dedicated to the abolition of slavery.^ But the significance of this action was that a national party existed with the dearest dreams of black people as its chief goals. Abolition and abolitionism could no longer be safely ignored by politicians. Too many people now considered themselves part of the movement, so it was not a totally idle gesture that in the first issue of his paper Jenkins not only reported on the presentation of anti­ slavery petitions, but printed a model form that such petitions should take to encourage others to join in deluging

'^Dumond, 55-56.

^Bell, Survey. 75* Dumond, 83-97* details Liberty Party. 76 the lawmakers of the state in expressing the mounting will of the people. ^ While working within the system to sway public opinion to bring about slavery's demise was certainly i effective, perhaps more satisfactory action against slavery in the short term was the physical removal of slaves from beyond the clutches of their masters.

The underground railroad was the general term used to describe the confederation of individuals who hid runaway slaves and aided them on their way to freedom, usually to

Canada. Prom the Ohio River to Canada was the shortest route to freedom, slightly more than 200 miles. Consequently,

Ohio became the favorite route, and many people in Ohio became "conductors" for the fleeing "passengers" using the railroad. Knabenshue reported that there were 22 or 23 river towns along the Ohio River which served as the starting points for the railroad, with individuals who were morally opposed to slavery serving as saviors for those escaped 57 slaves lucky enough to get across the Ohio.

The most noted chronicler of the underground rail­ road's existence in Ohio, Wilbur H. Siebert, reported that

^ Palladium of Liberty. December 27, 18^3* *

S. Knabenshue, "The Underground Railroad," Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications. (Vol. l4( 1905), p. 396. 77 once in the state the escaped slaves would be passed quickly and stealthily northward to any one of several points bordering with Canada. Though usually the conductors along the route were Quakers, Covenanters, Wesleyan Methodists or

Free Presbyterians, Siebert points out that "the little communities of free negroes in different parts of the State became at once important centres of underground enterprise.

Such localities were fearless in the defense of their visitors and sometimes induced fugitives to settle among them."-58 Such a community was the free black population of

Columbus in the days before the Civil War, and as described by John Ward, David Jenkins was one of those people in the community that fearlessly aided runaways in their search for *59 freedom. ' From 1793 in Ohio there had been a fugitive slave law, according to Knabenshue, which imposed penalties of fines and imprisonment for aiding runaway slaves. These laws, coupled with the legal limbo imposed by the "Black Laws"

^^ilbur H. Siebert, "The Underground Railroad in Ohio," Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications. (Vol. k,~ 1^95)7 pp* 59-6l7 ^Wilbur H, Siebert, "The Underground Railroad in Ohio," (unpublished papers at the Ohio Historical Society, Vol. 5)* For additional information on the U.G.R.R., see also by Siebert, "Beginnings of the Underground Railroad in Ohio," Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly-! (Vol. 5^* 19^-7), PP* 70-93; also, Levi Coffin, Reminiscences of Levi Coffint The Reputed President of the Underground Railroad. (2nd ed. Cin­ cinnati! Robert Clark and Co., 1880). 78 makes the courage of* men like Jenkins and Ward all the more

impressive* A white person who aided a slave could expect

jail or a fine if he was caught by a slave catcher in the act of helping‘h fugitive. That same slave catcher could,

if he chanced upon his quarry in the company of free blacks, shoot them all dead on the spot with no legal repercussions at all. More likely, however, the slave catcher could, and often did, simply kidnap any black person that he could, and make off with them back to a slave state.

This then was the situation in Ohio at the time of the publication of the Palladium. Conditions for the black people living in the state were bad, but not as bad as they had been. The hated black codes were still in force, but at least in Columbus, they were not being actively enforced, though the threat still existed. Politically, the strength of the abolition movement was enough that petitions were viewed as an effective way of swaying lawmakers into easing the restrictions of the black codes. Prejudice was still rampant against blacks, but there were many whites who were openly supportive of black aims.. Newspapers, speakers, and pamphlets were the principal means of affecting opinions, as were conventions. Black people were secure enough in their position by 1843 to call and attend a state convention of colored men openly in Columbus to call attention to their grievences. And in Columbus, Ohio one black man felt the 79 time was right to boldly start his own newspaper, and take the concerns of his brethern directly to the people of Ohio,

« CHAPTER V

Message

David Jenkins' Palladium of Liberty has been referred to as a "newspaper" throughout this study, but this term is slightly misleading in view of the modern papers which come to mind when examples of a newspaper are considered.

The Palladium was a news source, insofar as it did carry items of current events of interest to the readers of the paper. But the Palladium had a much more important function than that of merely spreading the latest news. The

Palladium had a critical, specific rhetorical function - that of helping to create and shape a reality that would bring about both the eradication of slavery, and an end to the severe discrimination, enforced by law, against black

Ohioans. It is therefore useful to examine the rhetorical strategies which Jenkins used in his effort to create his new reality, and to compare those strategies with the pre­ dominant rhetoric of abolition which was in use during his time.

"Rhetorical strategies" are here defined as those means employed by David Jenkins, through the principal means of his public discourse, the Palladium of Liberty, to bring

80 81 about the popular acceptance of his views. Through the selection process of newspaper editing, Jenkins sought to persuade people to adopt and support the positions stressed in his newspaper which would lead to general adoption of his vision of society. In some ways this concept of a rhetorical strategy bears some resemblance to the concept of rhetorical stance, as described by Wayne Booth and other rhetoricians. Both concepts seek to examine the relationship between the rhetor, his audience, his own ideas, a specific occasion, and the desired response of the audience.^ However, where rhetorical stance is primarily used to examine the oral rhetorician speaking on a specific occasion, the focus in this study was on the cumulative rhetorical impact of a weekly newspaper, whose editor attempted to persuade his audience to adopt his views, through a controlled mix of articles designed to promote his own world view.

Like white abolitionists, Jenkins adopted the effective rhetorical strategy of portraying slavery as a vile sin, and opposition to slavery as God’s work on earth.

Also, like the white abolitionists, Jenkins supported the

^Wayne C. Booth, "The Rhetorical Stance," College Compo­ sition and Communication. October, 1963» PP« 139~1^5« Also see, "The Nature and Impact of Rhetorical Stance," The Rhetoric of Western Thought. eds. James L. Golden, Goodwin F. Berquist and William E. Coleman (Dubuque* Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1976), PP- 219-224. 82 petition movement which sought to impress lawmakers with the strength of popular sentiment against slavery, in spite of the ban on the discussion of slavery in Congress. Jenkins realized that it would be the combined weight of many that would crush slavery, and his support to the white abo- litionists was both correct and vital. However, the needs of the black community of Ohio in

1843 and 1844 were too diverse and pressing to allow a black newspaper editor to be responsive to only one issue, no matter how critical. Consequently, Jenkins' rhetorical strategy was a three-pronged effort which took the unique problems of black Ohioans into full consideration. Jenkins probably realized that the most important scarcity in the black community was knowledge. Black people needed to know what was going on nationally in the struggle against slavery, but also, they needed to know what was happening to other black people closer to home, and what they could do directly to improve their lives. Further, the black community as a whole needed to have clear cut goals and opportunities for advancement clearly defined. Conse­ quently, Jenkins adopted a rhetoric of black elevation which was designed to bring about the general uplift of his community by educating and informing them about events which were of special concern to black Ohioans. Jenkins' rhetoric of black elevation was comprised of three components which sought to bring about Jenkins' 83 envisioned elevation. The first was the "Political” component, the second the "Moral" component, and the third the "Informational" component. The overwhelming majority of the sundry articles, essays, poems and letters which comprised the critical discourse of the Palladium can generally he sorted into one of these three component 2 groups. Political information in the Palladium generally tended to he reprints from other newspapers, often discussing Washington politics, or news of interest from the statehouse.

Jenkins would frequently write stories ahout political events, informing and editorialing all at once, and many stories were actually letters from "agents" who wrote in items of interest in the hotly contested election year of

1844. However, the Palladium did not merely concern itself with the national campaign. Jenkins gave ample room in his columns for accounts of actions taken locally to hring ahout the repeal of the black codes, as well as continuing support for the Ohio petition campaigns of the abolitionists, and their political actions.

The component parts of Jenkins' rhetoric of black education were derived from critical examination and sorting of the contents of the Palladium of Liberty into like categories. No suggestion should be taken, nor is any implied that these categories are impermeable, or manifest themselves by design in the layout of the paper. 84

One such example of the use of the Palladium for political education was an article which appeared in the

February 14, 1844 issue of the paper under the headline, "State Liberty Convention;" a story about the Columbus-held convention of the Liberty Party one week before, which read in partt . . . a good number of delegates from different parts of the State being present; after going through with the ordinary business, which took but a short time, Walter C. Yancy, Esq. was called upon, by general acclamation, who rose and addressed the convention with a spirit of enthusiasm that would have shook the pillars of slavery, from the centre to circumference, South of Mason and Dixon's line; a system that Governor M'Duffee so much loved as the pillar and corner stone of the American edifice. . . In the afternoon the convention was addressed by several distinguished speakers, who done honor to the cause. All Speakers differ with Mr. Clay about slavery being sanctified by legislation. We here take occasion to remark that if slavery is sanctified by legislation, why is it that same process has not made everything else undefiled. . . We intend publishing from time to time that part of the proceedings that may be interesting to our readers, as we think that our people should know what our friends are doing for us.3

■^Palladium of Liberty. February 14, 1844. As the man with full editorial control of the paper, an assumption is made here that most, if not all, the unattributed stories in the Palladium are from Jenkins himself, just as an assumption is made that editorial opinion in the paper is that of Jenkins. 85

Particularly interesting here is the fact that

Jenkins acknowledges his obligation to the reader to print news of an encouraging nature, while also feeling free to criticize the Whig party candidate for President, Henry Clay, for his statements on slavery. Clay would eventually carry Ohio in the election of 18^*4, but only by about 5,000 votes out of 312,000 cast. However, the anti-slavery vote, split between the Whigs and James Birney, the Liberty Party candidate, would be cited by some historians as the contributing factor in the election of James K. Polk. Of a more direct and visible nature, Jenkins had as one of his leading goals the eradication of the Ohio black codes. Several instances in the columns of the Palladium point to the concern felt by Jenkins and other black Ohioans about the continuing evil of the codes. The first issue of

the Palladium. December 27, 18^3, begins with an "Address to the citizens of Ohioj" an open letter from "the convention of the colored people of this state," requesting that the black codes be repealed. In part, the letter argued)

The prejudice of which we are the objects is the most vindictive, cruel, and un­ precedented of the age, in p.n enlightened and christianized country; being interwoven throughout the ramifications of the civil, political, social and religious institutions. Thus the law, which should constitute the bulwark of our liberties, is employed as the instrument to hunt us down to degradation and

Weisenburger, ^35-^0. 86

shame. . . When we speak of the Declaration of Independence, we do not mean that unhallowed construction of it which would bound 'Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' by color, and mete out equality to the enjoyment of a few, favored portions of the human racej But the Declaration itself, pure and unspotted as it was when it received the signatures of the immortal 56 * ■ • . . . 'All men are created ecual.' In this truth we most heartily acquiesce. WE ARE MENt all the heaven-born attributes of humanity find place in our being, and are cherished by us with the same fond regard that any other beings who claim the earth as their abiding place, cherish them ...... we declare it to be our FIXED and ETERNAL RESOLVE to do everything in our power which will conduce to our becoming respectable intelligent and useful citizens of our beloved country.5

This message is interesting both because of the general obsequious tone of its authors (its arguments are pleas, not demands) and because it tells us about the way black Americans went about arguing for equal rights under the law, while living without the protection of the law.

The worshipful regard for the Declaration of Independence with Its promise of freedom for all men in the nation leaves

-''Palladium of Liberty. December 27, 1843. This address from the black convention held in August of this year in Col’unbus was signed by four delegates to the convention, A. M. Sumner, G. B. Vashon, W. P. Newman and L. Watson. The language and imagery employed in this message is far superior to the language used in addresses attributed to Jenkins, and may be one of the factors which call into question Jenkins' suitability for his editor's position. 8? small doubt that intense love of country was a central tenet of the effort to persuade white Ohioans to grant black

Ohioans equality under the law.

Jenkins, though much concerned with other matters, did not tone down his paper's continuing attacks on slavery, nor was his support for the abolition movement slighted. Abolitionist speakers who came to Columbus were routinely covered by the Palladium, an important task, in light of the indifferent and hostile attitudes towards abolitionists demonstrated by the two leading papers in Columbus in 1844, the Ohio State Journal and the Ohio Statesman. The demo­ cratic Ohio Statesman did not carry any news about abolitionist speakers or activity in Columbus throughout the life of the Palladium. The Whig paper, Ohio State Journal did admit that abolitionism existed, but avoided carrying stories about their activities on the grounds that "discussion of the Abolition question . . . would produce no good. We are opposed to slavery . . . but believe Constitution was adopted in an honest spirit of compromise and we feel that our Southern brethern are as well entitled to a peaceful enjoyment of all the rights and privileges secured to us. . This account of an anti-slavery meeting in Jenkins' own Baptist church is particularly poignanti

^hio State Journal. January 12, 1841. There were few enough articles about abolitionist activity in the city and state during 1843 and 1844 to suggest that that policy stated in 1841 was still in effect. 88

On last Monday evening, at the Baptist church, a fugitive from slavery, lectured on the subject of slavery. The house was crowded to overflowing. . . He . . gave an outline of his own experience with the system of slavery. He has been bought and sold several times. He told of a master who at one time owned him, who was a deacon of a Baptist church, and was by far the worst tyrant he has fallen into. The separation of him from his wife, is certainly beyond all circumstances of the kind we have heard of in the whole course of our life. It is of no use to labor in words to describe only what can be conceived; by the poor unhappy creature who has endured its aching pangs. She clung to his neck until she seemed as though her heart would break, then both him and his wife fell on their knees and prayed that he would keep or sell them both together; but his master refused, and tore her from his bosom and bid her go to work, but like all women, as the speaker remarked, she still clung to her husband*s neck until her master (the aforesaid deacon) dragged her from him and applied the cowhide at the same time, Mr. Bibb states that until he was out of hearing, his wife was still screaming.? Jenkins' description of the audience's reaction to this story draws a scene of the powerful emotions left raw by the tragic tale by adding: It is not in the power of language to describe the sensation of the audience. As he pronounced these words, the coldest hearts were warm, and every eye gave a tear. We are certain that Mr. Bibb will make abolitionists wherever he goes . . In all our past life, we do not believe we have witnessed such an universal sympathy in so numerous a congregation.®

^Palladium of Liberty. August 14, 1844,

8Ibid. 89

As Bormann pointed out, speakers with actual, first­ hand accounts of the evils of slavery were among the most a effective tools in the abolitionist arsenal,- Jenkins reports that this audience, confronted by such a person, was deeply moved. For Jenkins, stressing a moral viewpoint of society was a normal outgrowth of a time when a church was often the only meeting place, and anti-slavery speakers sought to prove the illegitimacy of slavery by quoting chapter and verse from either Testament.^-0 Jenkins sought to create a society that would be God-fearing, temperate, and respectful of authority, black womanhood and the family. Jenkins sought to constantly reinforce these themes by inclusion of a variety of articles from many far flung areas which tended to instill a sympathy for moral uplift. For example, the earlier issues of the Palladium contained serialized light fiction which had, as central to their themes, the triumph of some virtuous person over a scoundrel. In one such story, "Lucy Heathwood", the heroine, is out walking with her aged mother when she is accosted by Ralph Ashton, who has seized a damaging note and turned it to his evil purposes*

^Bormann, 24-25. 10Rice, 311. 90

He produced a neatly folded billet, and opening it with a leisurely malice, read as followsi ’Dear Ashtont -- I will go with you wherever you choose. Yours in haste, Lucy.' Lucy was thunderstruck! It was a note she had written to a young friend by the name of Amy Grey, in answer to one sent by the latter expressing a wish to visit a mutual acquaintance in company. She had simply addressed it, ’Dear A.’ Ashton had filled up the blank and * . had written his own name in the place of the other. . . 'What think you now!' continued he. 'If I am rejected, who would have you?* ’Ralph Ashton!' exclaimed the widow, rising up with superhuman energy, 'you are a villain!* 'Peace, Crone!' he said sharply, ’peace or I will strike you.' 'It must be then, when I am powerless!' replied Lucy, flinging herself before her mother, and calling aloud for help. 'You shall have it!' responded a manly voice from behind, and springing forward, the stranger, by a well-directed blow, felled the insulter to the earth. . . Then turning to the ladies, he said respectfully: 'If you will honor me by accepting my protection to your homes, I will do my poor endeavers to see that you meet with no violence by the way.

It is interesting to note that the principal threat made against Lucy was to her honor, and that a stranger was so outraged by this that he moved to knock the lowly Ashton down. Emery reports that light fiction such as this story was an integral part of the earliest black newspapers, which borrowed the idea of the Penny Press papers then flourishing

^ Palladium of Liberty. February 28, 18*4-4. 91

12 in New York. However, the important thing here is that this story, as well as others in the Palladium, sought to establish a moral climate where good triumphs over evil, strong protects weak, and Christian converts non-believer.

It is doubtful that these stories were as effective as Jenkins wanted, however, since after the 13th issue of the paper, April 24, 1844, the use of such stories ceased in the Palladium. A concern with establishing a moral and ethical climate in the black community did not cease then, however.

Numerous comments on articles and pieces which appeared in the Palladium chide the black community for failing to meet or maintain the high standards that Jenkins demanded of them. In the May 22, 1844 issue, in an article with the head, "What do the Ladies think?," Jenkins seemingly lists those characteristics which he finds personally offensive:

What do the excellent Ladies of our country think of young men who are guilty of the following habits and vices: 1st. Chewing tobacco. 2nd. Smoking cigars at the doors of the Church. 3rd. Go often to the Coffee House. 4th. Seldom ever do any work. 5th. Borrow money and never pay it.

12Emery, l65-170j 206-219- 92

6th. Hollow and whoop on the street night and day, and those gentle­ men who come in and go out of Church, while the Minister is in the most important stages of his sermon. 7th. Don't take a newspaper, and if they do, never pay the poor editor for it. 8th. Never buy any books, but Sinbad, Munshawsen, or Charlotte Temple. And, if they borrow a book, never read it nor bring it home. 9th. To see these gentlemen leaning on the railing as regularly as the sun shines. 10th. We say, from our knowledge of female worth and good sense, such as the above will stand a poor chance for favors in the midst of the enlightened of the fair s e x . 3

Clearly, Jenkins is here attempting to discourage the listed behavior by making those that practice it appear buffoonish in the eyes of the young women in the neighbor­ hood.It is also interesting to note the esteem in which the young black women in the community were held by Jenkins. The battle against the use of alcohol in the black community was another cause that the Palladium championed.

In this "Temperance Address" which appeared in the June 19,

1844 issue, it is clear that the speaker, N. Smith, sees intoxicating spirits as one of the worse forces on earthi

There is nothing prevents any colored man from being respected by all whose respect is worth having, but his own bad conduct and negligence. May I not say that the principle cause of this is to be attributed to intemperance which creates

^Palladium of Liberty. May 22, 1844. This passage, as well as all the others presented here, are taken exactly as they appeared in the Palladium of Liberty. 93

other bad habits and induces idleness, poverty and crime. This every gentleman here will admit, and hence it is not necessary for me to spend time in showing the pernicious effects in this particular. When we see the ruinous effects of intemperance upon the souls and bodies of men, ought we to hesitate for a moment in regard to what is our duty in reference to this subject. If there is a vast river running through the heart of our country and spreading out its branches through every county and town of every state, which would poison all that would drink of its waters; what would you do? Would you not determine never to touch its deadly waters? This would be the resolve of every one. This fiery river of death does flow through our country, and it not only poisons the body; but the soul, and those who continue to drink it will perish for­ ever. The antidote to this poison is the Temperance pledge. Resolve never to touch, taste, or handle the accursed thing, and you are safe. Temperance is the moderate use of that which is in itself good, and total abstinance from that which is evil. Every blessing of God is good, and was designed to be used with moderation; but ardent spirits are not to be regarded in the light of a blessing from God. It is not found in a natural state and hence, cannot be regarded as a blessing of God, but is the fruit of an agency which if we should judge from, the effects it produces is infernal. Interesting here is how the arguments made against the use of alcohol are based both on the concept of

^ I b i d . . June 19, 18^4. 9^ drunkenness leading to vice, and the idea that because alcohol does not occur naturally, it cannot be viewed as a blessing from God. Repeatedly in the rhetoric of this era, the use of arguments which stress the righteousness of a position in the eyes of God reappear. In this view, to drink if one accepted these arguments could only be inter­ preted as sinning against the Lord.

Also of note here is the subtle suggestion that blacks in Jenkins’ day saw their destiny as being something that they could control. Smith said that "there is nothing prevents any colored man from being respected by all whose respect is worth having, but his own bad conduct and negligence," which does not sound as if blacks saw them­ selves as helpless victims of white racism, but rather as the principal agents for improving their own fate.

Jenkins' own endorsement of these views is evidenced by the fact that the article occupied two of the three front page columns of the issue in which it appeared.

One other point is obvious here, if a comparison between the last two excerpts from the Palladium is made.

The language and grammar used in this essay is clearly superior to that which is attributed to David Jenkins' own pen. Consequently, Jenkins, who was aware of his own limitations as a writer, frequently opened the columns of his paper to various contributors whose letters he would publish. Often these letters also called upon elements in 95

15 the black community to adopt virtues and avoid vices.

Jenkins was complaining about the fact that abolitionist

papers written by Dr. Baily and "Mr. Garrison" wouldn't

exchange issues of their papers with the Palladium. If this

Garrison is the William Garrison of The Liberator, and if he

did indeed refuse to exchange papers with the Palladium. it would suggest a much more separate but equal policy of white abolitionists towards black abolitionists. In this article,

Jenkins wrote, "We are aware of our inferiority to them; but can't we do some good?"

A frequent theme in many of these letters was the idea that particularly black women should not take menial

jobs which encouraged whites to continue to view black people in subservient and docile roles. One such letter

from Lloyd S. Lewis in the May 8 , 1844- issue said in part:

What must be done in order that we may become a cultivated people? Sir, as no other gentleman will try to impress into the minds of my colored citizens, of Ohio, and else­ where, the great necessity of our people having their minds elevated by means of edu­ cation and an acquaintance with the useful Mechanical trades, and a general attention to agriculture -- It is these principles, I believe ever can, or ever will raise our people out of the servile drudgery in which they have been for ages, and in which they unavoidably must remain for ages to come, without the actual possession of these very blessings. We are aware by experience that all men are looked upon according to their different stations of life which they hold

15Ibid. . May 15, 18W-. 96

in communityf . . . Why Sir, if you are a merchant you are looked upon . . as such . . If our people, who are in limited circumstances would leave the citys and villages, and move out in the country, and if they are not able to purchase land, let them rent . . . raise their children up to be economical and industrious, give them a liberal education and mechanical trades so as to prepare them for the different stations in life, - science would issue forth as a mighty torrent Along with the stressing of the value of education, the basic concept of the American work ethic is clearly at work in this piece of discourse. The idea that those who have no jobs in the city are far better off going out to the countryside to raise their families suggests that even at this time, a return to a rural situation was viewed by some as a solution to the problem of prejudice and indolence, fostered by the urban situation. One other interesting means of supporting the concept of a God-fearing community existed as a regular feature in. the Palladium - the publication of "Liberty

Hymns" and poetry. "Liberty Hymns" were songs, reprinted in the

Palladium which, like most of the poetry, stressed the blessings of freedom and the damnation of slavery. While

^ b i d . . May 8, 18^+4. The "N . Smith" who wrote this letter was one of the "traveling agents" or contributors to the PalRadium scattered throughout the western U.S. and Ohio Smith was from Lancaster, Ohio. Again, note the mis­ spellings, which were copied as they appeared. 97 many of the poems which were published appeared as part of the "Liberty Hymns" collection, several others were printed as "For the Palladium of Liberty," suggesting local author­ ship, and further evidence of the egalitarian nature of the

Palladium1s columns. "Liberty Song," published March 20, 18*4-4, is typical of the genre* Come join the Abolitionists Ye young men bold and strong, And with a warm and cheerful zeal Come help the cause along. CHORUS 0 , that will be joyful, joyful, joyful, 0 , that will be joyful when slavery is no more When slavery is no more, When slavery is no more, Its then we'll sing and offering bring, When slavery is no more. Come join the Abolitionists Ye men of riper years, And save your wives and children dear, From grief and bitter tearsj 0 , that will be joyful, & c. Come join the Abolitionists Ye dames and maidens fair, And spread around us in our path, Affections hallowed air* 0 , that will be joyful, & c. Come join the Abolitionists, Ye who the weak enslave, Who sell the Father, Mother, Child, Whom Christ has died to savej 0 , that will be joyful, & c. Come join the Abolitionists, Ye sons and daughters all, 98

Of this our own America, Come at the friendly callj 0 , that will be joyful, & c.1?

The ringing, evangelical tone of this song strongly

suggests the close relationship between the church and the abolition movement. Also of note is the appeal in the song

to all segments of the population, and especially to women. As Bormann pointed out, the opportunities for activism presented to women in the abolition movement would grow over

the years to become a Women's Rights Movement, and here the 18 Palladium joins in calling on support from women. The most expansive component of Jenkins' rhetoric of

black elevation was the "Informational" incorporating as it

does the concept of new information, which is the central concern of most newspapers. However, in the Palladium. the

news and information presented within its columns was about black people - a group that was systematically ignored by the establishment white press, of l S ^ . The effect of the publication of meetings of black citizens throughout the state of Ohio, in addition to the publication of news which often pointed to bright areas in the battle against slavery and oppression ahd a positive persuasive effect.

•^Ibid. . March 20, 18W-. "As sung by F. Douglass. Presented to Mrs. C______, of Pittsburgh." Whether this is the same person as Frederick Douglass is unknown, but the suggestion is intriguing.

■^Bormann, 17^-176. 99

News of black happenings recorded in the Palladium offered black people a chance to see their activities and efforts portrayed in a serious light. The Palladium was a mirror which allowed black people to see their triumphs and failures* the paper served something akin to a bulletin board function - it was a sounding board for the rate of progression of black citizen's groups throughout the state.

News of an informational nature in the Palladium generally took one of four principal formsi letters from meetings of "colored citizens" around the state for the purpose of agitating for black rights* news of an encouraging

(or particularly revolting) nature, for Jenkins' black readers, reprinted from various newspapers around the country* activities of the local Columbus black community

(which throughout the life of the paper was preparing for a black state convention) and news of almost a journal-like character on the continuing status of the Palladium from issue to issue.

Because of the amount of space devoted to the address from the convention of colored citizens in the first issue, the prospectus, giving news about the "why" of the founding of the Palladium of Liberty, did not appear until the second issue of the paper, February ?» 18*44-. As with most new beginnings, this statement of the hopes and goals of the paper rings with the spirit of anticipation and exhortation. 100

OUR PROSPECTS -- We hope our friends will send in their names with the money enclosed for the 'Palladium of Liberty.' Having taken a great responsibility on ourselves, we look to the 1700 colored citizens of Ohio, for their sympathy and aid, in the great cause of constitutional liberty. Shall it be said that we cannot support the press, devoted as it is, to a glorious cause, and aiming at the establish­ ment of our rights, upon the broad basis of the laws of God, the laws of mankind? No, banish the idea forever. Come up to the work nobly. Come with your money, friends and your influence, and strike, not with the sound of steel, but with that moral power of truth, before which the mist of error must banish, giving place to principles, that have their formations deep in the bosom of humanity; and, which, even now is sounding in our ears, by 3000,000 of our countrymen who are still bound in the shackles of slavery, in this free American Republic. To our friends throughout the country, we say, we have received letters of encouragement from different portions of the State, and that meetings have been held in Lancaster, Hamilton and other places; which by their proceedings, we are induced to believe that a new era is opening up to the colored man, the brightest prospect to the ultimate success of our cause. Let us then not be idle, while all others are at work, but come, come one, come all, and take the 'Palladium o Liberty.*^9

Of particular note here is the way that Jenkins makes failure to support his paper tantamount to failing to support progress for the race. In no uncertain terms,

Jenkins was out to seek as many paid subscribers as he could for his paper.

^Palladium of Liberty. February 7» 1844. Note Jenkins* typographical error in claiming that 1700, as opposed to the actual 17,000 blacks living in the state at the time. 101

News from "proceedings of public meetings" of

"colored citizens" were reported from at least five Ohio 20 towns in the Palladium. One account of such a meeting in

Zanesville reported that David Jenkins attended and addressed the gathering, in the African Methodist Episcopal

Church, on the legislative history of the black codes in

Ohio, Jenkins apparently sounded knowledgeable enough to convince 35 people to subscribe to his paper after his talk. Like the other towns, the account of the meeting of colored citizens in Hamilton, Ohio in the March 20, 18^4 issue reports the black citizens of that town formed to seek ways to bring about the "moral and political improvement of the condition of the colored people," The group drew up a constitution which read in part; The object of this Society shall be to use every exertion in trying to elevate our MORAL, MENTAL and POLITICAL condition. First, by recommending a compliance with morality and religion. Second, by encouraging Lectures, Schools, Literature and all enterprises that tend to the improvement of our minds so far as we shall feel ourselves able. Third, by using every peaceful exertion for the abolishment of all laws thatpinake distinction on the account of color.

Based on a count of the 32 whole and partial issues of the Palladium, the towns named were* Hamilton, Zanesville, Hillsborough, Circleville and Newark. In addition, re­ ports of religious "Camp meetings" were recorded for Urbana and Cincinnati. Of course, all Columbus meetings were reported in addition to these.

21Palladium of Liberty. March 20, 18^^. 102

The principal persuasive function of notices like these was the image they built of a growing movement of black awakening throughout the state, increasing a feeling of optimism as the inevitable day of black equality moved nearer. Also of note is the intertwining of religion, morality and political action) to work for black equality is viewed as working for the Lord's work. In recounting news and current events, Jenkins depended heavily on articles that were reprinted in other papers previously. Consequently, he made the news appealing in his paper by the emphasis he gave a story, or because of how an individual story was shown to affect black interests.

An example of Jenkins' black emphasis appeared in the October 2, 1844 issue of the Palladium. The story is a recounting of a conversation overheard on a coach traveling from Mt. Vernon, Ohio to Columbus, between a black man from

Cleveland, "Watson," and a white democratic party candidate for congress, "Mr. McNulty," The September 26, 1844 issue of the Ohio State Journal printed the conversation as an example of how extreme some members of the opposition "Locofoco,” or democratic party, were. When the story appeared in the Journal. it was buried on page three. Jenkins considered it significant 22 to run on the front page of two issues of his paper. The

220hio State Journal. Sept. 26, 1844; Palladium of Liberty. Oct. 2 and 9, 1844. "Locofoco" was a derisive term used by Ohio Whigs to castigate the Democratic party. Con­ versely, "Coons" was the term used against the Whigs. 103

offensive conversation begins when McNulty discovers that

Watson is traveling to Columbus to participate in the black political convention being held that month. Watson has just

said the convention has been called for the purpose of

asking the people of Ohio for just rights*

McN. What rights? Why do you not go off out of the country? W. We think we have rights in common with all men. McN, You are not men, nor are you entitled to privileges any more than the dumb brutes. You are only the third grade of the brute creation, and second to the Orang Ontang. You have no souls any more than the beasts. W. We have ever been acknowledged as men and as rational beings . . I cannot believe that a man of your intelligence and education can believe such assertions as you have put forth, because you never knew a dumb brute capable of reasoning or talking as I do to you. . . McN. Why do you not go off? You have no claims here and should be driven out of the country. . . If you should not go, we would cut your throats and hang you all. W. We will have our throats cut and be hanged before we will be driven from our native country. . . McN. I should think no more of killing a negro than I would of killing a skunk, for they smell just alike; and in the Southern States, the people keep their negroes and hogs and cattle all in one pen, nor do they think of the negro any more than they do of their cattle.23

^ Palladium of Liberty. October 2, 1844. 104

Significant here is the fact that the Ohio State

Journal ran this story, but did not report the name of the person who overheard the conversation, and transcribed it, 24 writing that it was from "A Passenger in the Stage." Jenkins, however, reported that the author of the article was one, Captain Stanton Sholes, a man who is, according to Jenkins, "considerably known in this State, and wherever known his reputation is unblemished, he is known as a man of high moral worth, is now about sixty years of age, for more than 20 years he has been a member of the Methodist church. Of note is how Jenkins sought to enhance the repu­ tation of Capt. Sholes, thereby giving greater credibility to his account of the conversation when he added*

He (Capt. Sholes) was an active officer in the last War. He is now living a quiet and retired life, and nothing but duty to his country would induce him to enter the political arena -- We have been intimately acquainted with Capt. Sholes since the early part of our residence in this City and do vouch for his candor and truth. °

Of the two accounts of this conversation published in the two Whig newspapers in Columbus, Jenkins chose the

2^0hio State Journal■ September 26, 1844.

^ Palladium of Liberty. October 2, 1844. Jenkins reprinted this favorable picture of Sholes from the other Whig paper in Columbus, the more liberal Ohio State Tribune.

Ibid. The Ohio Statesman carried nothing on this event. 105 one which would tend to give greater credibility to the story, thus performing an editing function for his readers that would probably result in a more concerned response.

But not all the news that Jenkins printed was bad.

It was part of the rhetorical function of the Palladium to encourage its readers with examples of black people doing positive things in positive ways. August 1 was celebrated as a holiday of sorts by antebellum black Americans since the freeing of 800,000 blacks in the British West Indies had taken place on that date. The account of the August 1 celebration in Columbus read in parti According to previous notice, a very large concourse of people assembled at the grove of Mr. Holme's about one mile north of Columbus, where they found a very sumptuous dinner served up under the superintendence of Mr. William M'Afee and Mr. H. Bennett. . . Elder Shelton then proceeded to address the people on the great subject of emanci­ pation which took place in the British West India Islands on the first day of August in the year of our Lord 1838, at which time eight hundred thousand of our fellow beings were set at liberty. But when we come to consider that there are three millions of your fellowmen yet under the oppressive yoke of the tryantf we still have much to pray for. During the time that the Elder was addressing the assembly, a small cloud passed over and the audience was somewhat disturbed by the falling of a little rain. Here the Elder told the people not to be disturbed, for God had a hand in the matter. . Mr. Sightford . . said that we have not gathered here together for the purpose of showing our fine clothes, neither to eat and drink, but it was for the purpose of talking about the oppressed. . . 106

Dinner being announced we all assembled at the table, and it was understood that about 158 persons dined. After the dinner was over Mr. Sightford resumed his remarks in a very plain but touching manner. We all then returned to our respective places of abode? and all seemed highly pleased with the proceedings of the day.*7

One of the many interesting things about Jenkins' paper was his frequent references to the difficulties that he faced in trying to maintain enough paying subscribers to keep his newspaper financially afloat. As early as the ninth issue in the brief life of the

Palladium■ Jenkins began to insert notices into his columns complaining about the money problems his paper was experiencing. In this first plea for help Jenkins wrote:

LOOK AT THIS! All those in the City who have sub­ scribed for this little sheet, and have not paid up, will please read the terms and send in your change by the carrier when he comes around. As all work and no pay, Makes J.R.E. a dull boy. Therefore, as we have made the machine and as you have promised us steam, do send it in by the carrier.2® Financially, things did not go well for the paper, and by the 24th issue, July 10, 1844, Jenkins was reduced to practically pleading, listing the amount of money taken in from subscribers for the month of June ($12.23 from 23

^ Palladium of Liberty. August 14, 1844.

28Ibid., March 2, 1844. 107 people). He reported: We insert this week our receipts of last month. It has fallen short, very much, We hope that everyone who will take the pains to look at this, and know at the same time that he or she has not complied with the requisition of paying, or that they have not done what is right in this matter . . Recollect my friends, we mean those who are in the back ground, that we want your money as we are behind the time with the printer. . By September 10, the financial position of the paper had apparently worsened to the point where Jenkins threatened to print the names of delinquent subscribers by name, arguing, "... there is no excuse for you, as the rule is on the first page of every paper, our city subscribers are as bad as any, we have about two hundred in the city, and 30 they are just as if they did not owe us. . .

Things did not improve financially for the paper, and by October 9, Jenkins wrote in futility: We don’t know how long we will be able to continue -- we are behind with our Printer -- if we don't get what is due us. We have enough out in the hands of our subscribers to go on eighteen months longer. We don't know why it is our patrons treat us as they do, our patience is almost thread bare. It seems very strange to us that our agents has not done what we think they might have done for us. We have received their good wishes, but no money. . . Now agents, we want you to do

^ Palladium of Liberty. July 10, 1844

^ Ibid. . September 10, 184-4-. 108

your best. . . One cent and a half per week will pay for the paper one y e a r . 31

Unfortunately, the handwriting was on the wall for the

Palladium, and the last issue of November 13 surrendered the cause gracefully with this notice*

DELAY OF OUR PAPER We neglected to mention this in our last, that we intend to discontinue our paper for a short time, to enable us to make new arrangements, and the course we intend to pursue for the future. We are much embarrassed in the finances of our paper, in consequence of the backwardness of our subscribers. If you intend to pay us, now is your time. It will be some weeks before we shall be able to send you the next number, but don't forget what you owe us, send it in.32

What is interesting here is the fact that the

Palladium covered itself as well as the black community at large. As the only black newspaper in Columbus, and one of only three black newspapers in publication in the western

U.S., Jenkins evidently felt that his difficulties as an 33 editor were as worthy of note as anything else. J

Comparing the Palladium with the two papers with which it had the most in common, the Pittsburgh Mvsterv and

Ibid** October 9* 1844. The cost of the paper was $.?5 yearly, though records in the paper suggest that single issues and partial payments were quite common.

^2Ibid.. November 13* 1844. ■^Palladium of Liberty. May 1, 1844-. Article lists the three black papers as Martin Delany's Mvsterv. out of Pitts­ burgh! A. M. Sumner's Disenfranchised American, out of Cincinnati, and Jenkins' paper. Of the three, the Palladium is the only one known to still exist, in any completeform. 109

the Cincinnati Disenfranchised American would have been a totally impossible task had it not been for the discovery,

in 19?1» of two issues of the Mvsterv in the holdings of the

Carneigie Library in Pittsburgh by Ullman Victor. The

Mvsterv was a frequently cited source in the pages of the

Palladium, and a comparison between the two papers is help­

ful in assessing the Palladium.

The Palladium was a rather small, three-column paper, measuring about 12 inches by 9 inches in size, compared to

the Mvsterv* s 13 by 18 inches across a five-column format.

Both papers were four pages long, and ran poetry on the front page, and printed listings of the respective agents for their

papers. Delany published his traveling agent's names on the

front page, however, while Jenkins placed them on the last

page. Beyond that rather minor difference, the layout of

both papers, both in the types of articles printed and the

-^Victor mentioned his discovery in a footnote for a book he had written about Martin Delany for young adults, Martin R. Delanv: The Beginning of Black Nationalism. (Bostont Beacon Press, 1971)» p . . 5 3 1 * This researcher is indebted to Michel Perdreau, a librarian at Athens University, for graciously allowing the use of his copy of the paper, December 16, 1846, for this research, and April 16, 1845.

■^By contrast, the two major papers in Columbus, the Ohio Statesman and the Ohio State Journal were 18" x 23" and 14" x 19" respectively. 110 location of items within the paper were quite similar, suggesting that Jenkins may have borrowed rather heavily the design of his paper from the Mvsterv. This is not too surprising since both papers carried articles of national concern, letters from readers, reprints from other papers, local advertisements and local news; however, the principal newspaper cited most frequently in the pages of the Palladium was the Mvsterv. Lack of the corresponding issues of the Mvsterv prevent a determination of how frequently cited the Palladium was in return.

The Mvsterv being a larger paper, and printed in a larger city, Pittsburgh, which was much closer to the popu­ lation and news centers of the east, was much more varied and informative than the Palladium. The Palladium* s re­ prints, while occasionally from the New York Tribune. the

Richmond Whig, or the Louisville Journal, were largely from newspapers within the state, making the Palladium far more provincial in tone than the Mvsterv. Within one issue of the Mvsterv. reprints were carried from the Cleveland American. New Orleans Correspondence Courier. Danville

(Kentucky) Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the St. Louis Liberia Advocate and the New Jersey Freeman, suggesting that overall, the Mvsterv was a much more national black paper than the

erv. December 16, 18^6. Ill

Subjective as such an evaluation may be, based as it is on such limited evidence, the writing in the Mystery also appeared to be of a higher quality than that in the Palladium.

This is not entirely unexpected, however, as Delany, who studied medicine at Harvard, was one of the most educated black men of his times, while Jenkins was, in his own words, forced to steal his "limited education while in Virginia, from the Slaveholders, and (was) deprived of the benefit of 37 common schools. ■ In comparison with the Mvsterv. the Palladium was much more provincial, and more limited in geographical concern and scope. The Palladium was almost small-townish in its concerns, the paper occasionally becoming mired in minor local disputes between individuals which tended to make all concerned look petty and unprofessional. Ironi­ cally, such an incident, which was reported in the pages of the last two issues of the Palladium, was alluded to within the pages of the December 16, 1846 issue of the Mvsterv. nearly two years later.

In the second last issue of the Palladium. October

23, 1844, there appeared an article reporting on a public meeting held in Columbus ten days previously. The meeting was called, according to the report in the paper, to deal with accusations that a black man in Columbus, W. McAfee,

■^Palladium of Liberty. March 27, 1844. 112 had "betrayed a voter" by pointing the person out as a

fugitive slave from Kentucky who had no right to vote.

In response to this situation, the citizens gathered at the meeting passed a series of resolutions which readi

Whereas, certain reports have gone out in relation to voting, and said report is calculated to do great injustice amongst us as a community, therefore, Resolved. That the severest censure should rest upon all such persons who are guilty of such disturbance, and whereas, W. McAfee is said to be author of said report, therefore, Resolved. That he is guilty of the above crime, and for said conduct we censure him and publish him to the world as a disturber of public peace, and should be shunned by all who love union, freedom and liberty. Resolved. That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the Palladium of Liberty, Disfranchised American, and Mystery.

Jenkins added his own opinion to the resolutions, sayingi

One remark from us will suffice; and that is, if said report is true (which we have no doubt of in the least) the public done right to see to it. We have no safe­ guard if we have such men as this amongst us. It is nothing more than right that the public should know them. He had no right to tell that this man was a fugitive from slavery, and was voting. This matter was with the man himself, and none else. He went up and voted peaceably, and no one doubted or tested his vote from this expression of the man in the above reso­ lutions. We don't know how far this will go, but will be able to judge after the Presidential election. This is the same individual who run as a delegate for the convention at this place in * At that time he was a warm advocate of the convention, but after his defeat he turned a somerset, and went against that 113

convention. He was a candidate for the one that met last month and met with the same defeat. We leave this subject for our readers to judge for themselves in this important matter.3° The matter did not end here, however, as in the

November 13» 1844- issue of the Palladium, the last one published, Jenkins was forced by pressure from his community to explain and justify the article which had run in his paper the previous issue. This follow-up article, headlined,

"Editors Are Slaves," was a long, rambling, frequently confusing piece which read in parti

We take this method to lay our position before the public, as we are in our own defence, we have to appear before the public on this occasion, to answer for the publication in our last number of a set of resolutions that were before a public meeting that was held about three weeks ago. After the meeting the object was stated by some one. We then read the resolutions referred to, when a set of resolves were offered by A. Barrett, censuring us for our course. They were postponed indefinitely. Another set of resolutions came up headed with a long preamble the ideas of which, were that the citizens did not know of said resolutions and public meeting until they came out in the paper. If we had the preamble and resolutions, we would expose them word by word, but we have not got them, as they were torn up as soon as they were lost. We here remark that the authors of all those resolves are all opposed to the paper and have been ever since we commenced,

^ Ibid. Light skinned blacks, who obviously had more white than black features were able to vote under Ohio law. See p. 109. Note grammar and spelling in this passage, which was copied exactly as it appeared in the Palladium. 11^

therefore, we cannot wonder at this course to trip us up, but no! never! no, never! « • » If the man that is named in the reso­ lutions did not say that the voter was a negro, also a slave, when at the sametime he knew nothing of the matter one way or the other, but to raise a confusion in our ranks. If these men will go and make oath before some justice of the peace that he is notguilty, then we will take back all that we have said. . . We were also blamed for saying that we believed the report to be true, our grounds were good, and the remarks we have made, are enough on this point for the p r e s e n t . 39

This entire matter no doubt cast Jenkins and his paper, as well as all concerned, in a poor light. Certainly the act attributed to McAfee was a serious one, but the subsequent response by Jenkins indicates that there was apparently no clear certainty as to exactly what occurred.

It is perhaps only coincidence that this entire episode appeared just as the Palladium was passing from the scene.

But it is hard to imagine how such a soap opera of events could have enhanced the reputation of either the paper or its editor. This unfortunate episode did not end here, however, for in an ironic twist of history, this entire affair was alluded to two years later in the December 16, 18**6 issue of the Mvsterv. A letter in the Mvsterv from A. M. Taylor of

-^Palladium of Liberty. November 13» 18*14. Spelling and grammar appear as they were copied from the Palladium. 115

Columbus was printed in the paper concerning unspecified charges against the Rev. M. M. Clark, a respected, early black pioneer from Cincinnati, who had written, on occasion, some letters which appeared in the pages of the Palladium.

Taylor, who was a member of the Executive Committee appointed to edit the Palladium from the first issue, wrote from

Columbusi There is some excitement here among our people respecting the letter that was published in the last number of the Mystery, from the pen of D. Jenkins, respecting the Rev. M. M. Clark, public meeting &c. It is true, that Mr. D. Jenkins had a meeting called at the Baptist church on Monday in the afternoon, a few persons strolled down to see the Elephant, or to act as spectators. I was not present, but was creditably informed of the proceedings &c, they finally organized and appointed a committee of three to draft resolutions which was done, and reported to the meeting for their consideration after some considerable time was spent in discussing the resolutions, the meeting adjourned to meet the following Wednesday evening, at which time pursuant to adjourn­ ment, some four or six persons met, but those said resolutions never was adopted, so un­ popular was the whole proceedings, and got up the way that they were, our good citizens would not have any thing to do with the meeting but chose rather to wait until facts could be ascertained respecting the conduct of M. M. Clark, and if such should have proven to be facts, then all would rise up against him and censure him, but those who had been acquainted with Mr. Clark, could not think him guilty of the charge, but not so with Mr. Jenkins who I fear is striving more for popularity than he is for the good of our degraded race, with his five or six comrades. Mr. Jenkins was guilty of an act similar to this, some two or three years since, when he had called a public meeting 116

to censure Mr. McAfee, as in this case. Where this matter will end I am unable to say. Pardon me if I have trespassed. Yours, &c.^0 Regardless of whether Taylor's assessment of Jenkins is valid, there is little doubt that the Palladium was a much more personal journal than Delany's Mvsterv. With the exception of advertisements, letters, poetry, the list of traveling agents, and a single column of "local news", every article which appeared on the first three pages in the issue of the Mvsterv was a reprint from another paper, with only an infrequent introduction to each article which was probably penned by Delany. For whatever reasons Delany expressed his views in his paper through the articles selected for inclusion within the pages of his paper. While this style produced a much more professional looking paper, written as it was largely by others, the Palladium was much more reflective of the life for blacks in Columbus than the Mvsterv was for blacks in Pittsburgh. Like Jenkins, Delany stressed a political and infor­ mational rhetoric, but unlike Jenkins, the moral elevation of blacks was not given as much emphasis. Of the twenty

17-inch columns in the Mvsterv, only 10 inches in one column were devoted to something of a moral stance, namely the "Religious Matters" column on the third page of the paper.

^Mvsterv. December 16, 184-4. 11?

Again, it is not possible to really know how representative the limited evidence is of the entire paper. An example of Delany*s presentation of material of an informational nature would be this story, reprinted from the New Orleans Correspondence Couriert

ATTEMPTED ESCAPE OF A SLAVE -- The cases of negroes secreting themselves on board vessels bound for the Northern ports, are getting to be of frequent occurrence. The bark New England left this port for Boston a week ago, and after getting fairly out to sea, a negro appeared on deck, and attracted the notice of the captain, to whom he reported himself as a runaway, who had been induced by one or two of the crew to hide himself on board, with the promise that on getting into blue water he would be safe. Though at great inconvenience to himself, the captain returned to the Balize, and put him on board of the Filot-boat, which brought him back to the city last evening. The runaway on the brig Otoman, whose capture in Boston excited such a burst of philanthropic feeling there, arrived here on the 13th on the bark Niagara, and has been handed over to his master Delany wrote a small introduction to the following political information story, reprinted from the Cleveland

American! MORE TESTIMONY We are not in receipt of the New York Tribune. and read it only occasionally! but an exchange paper (the Hampshire Herald) has the following! ‘Whig Abolitionism.* -- A good deal has been said about the Anti-slavery course and character of Mr. Bebb, the

^Ibid. 118

newly elected Whig Governor of Ohio -- that is, before the election. But since then, it is announced by a correspondent of the N. York Tribune, that Mr. Bebb took the ground that we mav with -perfect propriety discourage or prohibit the immigration of Blacks, or remove them from here * So we suppose, this must be regarded as a genuine sample of Whig Antislavery. We will endeavor to look up this letter in the Tribune, that we may add it to the proof on the first page of this paper, of the duplicity of Wm. Bebb -- in professing up here on the Reserve to be a friend of the colored people, and down yonder inventing and defending new disability to inflict upon them. 2 The Mvsterv was in many respects a superior news­ paper to the Palladium, but likewise, the Palladium was in many respects a superior newspaper to another black newspaper published during the 1840's. The Northern Star and Freeman's

Advocate. edited out of Albany, New York by Stephen Myers, was a Temperance newspaper which sought to serve a black 43 constituency. J Like the Palladium, the Northern Star was a three- column, four-page paper, but the resemblance virtually ends there. The Northern Star was strictly a local paper, carrying virtually no reprints of articles from other areas.

Where the Palladium and the Mvsterv used the small type face common to most newspapers in its columns, the Northern Star

^2Ibid. ^Delany, Condition, p. 127. Delany lists this paper in his book as a monthly, yet the issues of the paper itself suggest that at least at the beginning of 1842, it was a weekly. 119 used a larger type face throughout similar to that used for 44 headlines in the Palladium * The front page of the third number of the Northern Star. February 3, 1842, provides an example of the dominant form of writing which appeared in the paperj long, fairly well-written essays which carried no bylines or source, and which discussed the condition of blacks with little or no references to specifics* Oh Africa, unhappy, ill-fated■region, how long shall thy savage inhabitants have reason to utter complaints and to imprecate the vengeance of Heaven against civilization and Christianity? . . . Must rapine and violence, captivity and slavery be super­ added to thy torments and be inflicted too by men who wear the garb of justice and humanity, who hypocritically adopt the . accents of the benevolent religion of Jesus? ^

Another article which appeared in the following issue, February 10, more clearly illustrates the nebulous nature of the Northern Star's articles. The piece purports to be an accounting of the state of black America. After mentioning that there has been an "increase" in literature and art among blacks in the country, the article goes on* The morals of our people have very much improved and religion, with its sin destroying and benign influences is

References to the Northern Star are based on examination of scattered issues of February 3, 10 and 17; March 3» 31; April 7, 14; and December 8 , all of 1842. The last issue of the paper was apparently January 2, 1843.

^ Northern Star and Freeman* s Advocate. (Albany, New York) , February 3» 1842. 120

spreading peace and happiness around us, and filling the hearts of many with the blissful consolations of the Divine Spirit. We have a large number of literary benevolent, and debating societies, some of which are in possession of large and well- selected libraries and a considerably amount of funds and have in connection with them some of our most talented and enter­ prising men . . . The importance of edu­ cation has been deeply felt . . . In the city of New York and many other places there are large schools . . . We have several newspapers circulating among us . . We have not the presumption to number oup little sheet among those alluded to. M

With the exception of the February 17 and the March 3 Northern Star, which printed the text of the New York State Temperance Society meeting in the Spring of 18*4-2, the bulk of the articles in the paper were similar to the ones mentioned; well meaning, but devoid of specific facts or

details. Apparently this style of publication caused Myers some difficulty} at least one other black man in town who criticized his work. Myers wrote, in the March 31 issue

of the paperi We have a word of advice to give to a certain colored acquaintance of long standing} that he would be far better employed, were he attending to his ordinary business - together with his other religious trusts - than to be daily heard descanting his unmeaning nonsense about this paper. Let him have a care in future. '

^ Nopthern Star and Freeman1 s Advocate. February 10, 1842.

^Northern Star. March 31, 1842. 121

Advertisements are a critical part of* most news­ papers, and in the 1840 *s ads played a dominant role in the appearance and viability of most papers. In examining the content of the Palladium ads yield some insight into the

life and times of David Jenkins' short-lived enterprise. As with many of the papers of the day, the front pages of the two large dailies in Columbus, the Ohio State Journal and the Ohio Statesman, were devoted entirely to advertisements. Beyond that, the Statesman, which was 18 by

23 inches in size, ran ads across its seven column front page, across its entire last page, and across four columns of its third page. The Journal. which used a five-column

format across its 14 by 19-inch pages, ran ads across both

the front and last page, and across three columns on page three. On any given day throughout 1843 through 1844, the percentage of space devoted in the Journal or the Statesman

to advertising was approximately 65 per cent.

The first ads which appeared in -he Palladium were in the fourth number, February 21, 1844, occupied five total

inches of column space, and constituted about 3 P©1* cent of the space in the paper. The number of ads increased steadily

in subsequent issues of the Palladium reaching a peak of

32i inches with the May 15 issue of the paper. But even at

this high point, the percentage of space devoted to advertisements in the paper only reached a total of just under 25 per cent of the space in the paper. 122

Most of the advertisements carried in the Palladium were placed on the last page of the paper, though occasionally a small one or two-inch long ad would be placed on the front page. Like their counterparts in the larger white newspapers, the ads in the Palladium, with some notable exceptions, offered a variety of goods, services, medicines and books available from merchants and pro­ fessionals in the Columbus area. In addition, some of the ads in Columbus papers were want ads, or announcements which sought to alert readers to the needs of those who placed the ads in the paper. All of the first ads purchased in the Palladium were placed by J. B. Wheaton’s, a combination drug store and general mercantile store located on the corner of High and

Broad Streets in the center of downtown Columbus. Among others, Wheaton's was a major advertiser in all the Columbus papers, and the ads placed by the store in the Palladium offered, in one instancei

Physicians and surgeons have decided in favor of Scarpa's Oil for Deafness -- So frequent and extraordinary have been the cures that have come under their observation that most of them now keep it and prescribe it for their patients as the only medicine that can cure. A physician in extensive practice in Delaware has just sent for a dozen bottles and says* that his father who has been deaf for a number of years has been cured by using this Oilj and that he has seen such wonderful benefit accrue from 123

the application. For sale at the corner ^„ of High and Broad Streets by J. B. Wheaton.

Among sale items available at Wheaton's were some

50 pounds of arrowroot, "warrented not to be starch;" 120 pounds of chrome yellow," (orange and lemon colors) of the best qualityj" "show bottles, tincture bottles, specie jars,

&C..&C., of all sizes*” "trusses," a large assortment -- at prices that cannot fail to suit purchasers," and window glass, a "full assortment . . comprising all sizes . . and Zj, 9 for sale at reduced prices." The ads for merchandise which ran in the Palladium were repeated in the pages of the two major papers in

Columbus, but some ads which ran in the Ohio State Journal and the Statesman did not appear in the pages of the Palladium.

Ads for property sales of large tracts of land; new digests of Ohio Reports, or new law books; announcements that new surgeons had set up practices in Columbus -- these ads did not run in the Palladium. Nor did legal pronouncements, such as announcements of public auctions, appear in the Palladium. The poverty, powerlessness, and oppression of the black community was clearly implied by the large amounts of daily ads which did not affect them as a community.^0

178------Palladium of Liberty. February 21, 1844.

^ Ibid. Arrowroot is an edible, starch-like material produced from the roots of certain South American plants.

^ Ohio State Journal. February 10-24, 1844, passim. 124

There were ads in the Palladium. however, which did

not run in the major newspapers in town. Like those ads which only ran in the white newspapers in Columbus, the

special ads which ran in the Palladium reflected the

exclusive concerns of the black community. One such ad was addressed "To The Public," and was an announcement from one

Asa Pratt sayingi Those who wish to employ a teacher this winter to teach a common English school (viz.* such as spelling, reading, writing, cyphering, and grammar), will apply to the subscriber by writing to the Harveysburg P.O., Warren Co., 0.51 In another issue of the Palladium. Pratt and Alfred

Winslow advertised in the paper for people to come to the

"First of August" celebration to be held at Harveysburg, Warren County Ohio. "A splendid dinner will be prepared,"

it was promised, there would be "several speakers from

different places," and tickets were 25 cents for gentlemen, 52 and ladies were admitted "gratis."^

Public notice ads which ran in the Palladium also

reflected the special audience of the paper. One such

notice, under the heading, "Prospectus," was offering for

sale, "A Pamphlet of Instruction by A Colored American," whose author wrote* I have written several dialogues which will make about forty pages,

^ Palladium of Liberty. October 23, 1844.

52PPof. June 4, 1844, Palladium. 125

duodecimo on the present social and religious state of society* and as some of my friends think them worthy of publishing, 1 have thought fit to do so, and if a sufficient number of subscribers can be obtained, they will be published immediately. . . The price will be 15 cents per copy, . . . The Pamphlet will be free from anything like sectarianism. 1st. Its object will be to describe the present state of religious society. 2d. To show the cause of it. 3d* To point out a remedy for its defects. The money to be paid when the Pamphlet is delivered. Allan E. Graham^^

One type of ad which ran in the Palladium was more sobering than most. This was an ad in which a black family, separated by the vicissitudes of slavery, sought each other out after obtaining their freedom. Such an ad appeared from June 5 to August 1^ in the paper and readi Information Wanted. Mr. Editor -- Nature prompts me to action. Some eighteen or twenty years ago, my father assumed the privilege of wringing from the hard hands of tyrants, and his unfortunate son has done the same thing; and it is my design to find him if it is possible. Thomas Fisher was his name, from Nashville Tennessee. He left a wife and two children. Mary Stump was his wife's name, and his son T. Fisher is now in Oberlin, Ohio. I suppose these lines will be sufficient. He lived four miles north of Nashville. The man's name that he lived with was Rice. I think that if

^ Palladium. August 28, 18^4. 126

this letter should reach him, I would be very much gratified if they would write to me. L T. Fisher.-5

Maintaining advertising was apparently a problem in

the Palladium. The number of column inches which peaked at

32^- inches with the May 15 issue dropped slowly but steadily

over the rest of the life of the paper, ending up with only

9 inches of ads in the final issue (November 13) of the paper.

It is difficult to determine which came first,

dwindling revenue from subscribers, or lack of business confidence in the paper*s ability to reach its selected audience, but whatever the reason, Jenkins' revenue from advertising dropped steadily during the same period in which he exhorted his readers to pay up for their back issues of

the paper. Perhaps a partial reason for the decline in advertise­ ments in the Palladium is explained by an article which appeared in the August 28 issue of the paper. In this article, headlined, "Don't Stop," blacks in Columbus were urged to boycott a "certain confectionary" in town. The article (which was very poorly written) explained* There is a certain confectionary, in our city, that don't like to see colored gentlemen and ladies, come in his store, when the whites are in. he told some of

^ Palladium, June 5 - August 14, 1844. 127

our young men, that he did not want them to come into his store, when any white gentlemen, was in, this is too plain for us to be silent, he did not want any of our colored men or women to come into his store, when a white man or women was in, we say to such men as the owner of this establishment, or any other like him, that they had better not have any thing to do with the men of color, because we think that their money is good at any time. . .55

Before this article appeared, the two largest advertisers in the Palladium were J. B. Wheaton, and another man who owned a general store, James Beckwith. Beckwith averaged several ads in each issue of the Palladium for several weeks before the appearance of the boycott article, mostly advertising silks, a variety of cloth, looking glasses, and a wide assortment of clothes, for each season. The

Beckwith ads remained unchanged in the following September

10 issue of the paper, but dropped noticeably in number in the next issue, September 25- By the October 2 issue of the paper, ads for goods in James Beckwith's store had disappeared entirely from the pages of the Palladium. For the three months prior to the August 28 issue of the Palladium. Beckwith averaged more than nine ads an issue, with an average of 7 inches of total advertising space. The next issue after the August 28 (September 10), only three ads from his store were published, totalling only two column

^ Palladium. August 28, 1844. This article is so markedly poor writing that it is difficult to believe that Jenkins actually wrote it. Regardless, as editor of the paper, the publication of the article was his responsibility. 128 inches. This figure remained constant in the September 25 issue, and disappeared completely by the October 2 issuer rather a dramatic and sudden reversal from earlier, but again, purely substantial evidence that Beckwith was the offending, and offended, merchant. Whether or not Beckwith was the merchant alluded to in the article, his ads did disappear from the paper, while the J. B. Wheaton ads ran unchanged. Whether Beckwith pulled his advertising out of the paper in anger over the boycott suggestion is not some­ thing which can be determined with any real degree of uncertainty. Advertising was an apparent problem area in most black newspapers. The Northern Star never attained more than one column out of the 12 published, or about 8 per cent of it- space. The Mystery ran three columns of ads on its last page, but filled two of its columns on the last page with a lengthy prospectus of the Mvstery. and a complete listing of current wholesale prices for a variety of goods.

Of the space available in the paper, only 15 per cent was devoted to advertisements.^ While it may not have compared with the size of its ads with the leading white newspapers in Columbus, the

Palladium was seemingly growing and attracting more ads up until the middle issues of the paper. Then the ad lineage

^ Figures for all the papers mentioned were obtained from examination of the issues of the Northern Star and the Mystery already cited. 129

began a nosedive which continued until the paper folded.

There is no way to gauge how important advertising was to

the Palladium, hut considering the frequent pleas which

Jenkins made to subscribers to pay up, financially the paper was hurting, and could have used every cent available. Unfortunately for David Jenkins' paper, advertising was not

able to extend enough support to keep his little paper alive. CHAPTER VI

Audience

Robert Berkhofer argues that to adequately under­

stand the behavior of an individual under historical

investigation, it is necessary to understand the objective reality of that individual’s era as he or she subjectively views it.^ In examining the critical discourse of David

Jenkins, a determination can readily be made that from his

subjective viewpoint, the matter of race dominated his public activities, and consequently was the leading factor

that determined the composition of the audience which read and responded to the Palladium of Liberty.

Though frequently and continually appealing to a mass, i.e. white audience, the Palladium was primarily a paper of, by, for and about black people and black interests.

However, the racism which was responsible for bringing the paper into existence was also the primary force which insured that whites would reject the Palladium as a means of influencing their attitudes and behavior towards Ohio's small black population.

^"Berkhofer, p. 38.

130 131

From Jenkins* perspective, the potential audience of the Palladium was sharply defined along either side of the pervasive color line of the 1840's. The difficulties that Jenkins faced as an editor in attempting to reach this audience likewise shifted, depending upon the color of his potential readers. Both races, in reflecting the prevailing attitudes and behavior of the times, presented unique and enormous challenges which had to be met for the Palladium to have been an effective and persuasive paper. An examination and comparison of this potential audience from both sides of the color line demonstrated the severe problems with which the Palladium was burdened throughout its brief 11 month existence. The decade of the 1840's saw Ohio's population swell from about 1.5 million to nearly 2 million persons. During this time, the black population of the state rose from

17t345 to 25,279 with the majority of them living in the southern half of the state, and more than one-third residing in the counties of Hamilton, Franklin, Ross and Gallia.

Thus, throughout the decade the black population of the state did not rise above approximately 1.2 per cent of the total 2 population.

^eisenburger, pp. 3“ 4 j U.S., Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Negro Populations. 1790-1915 (Washington, C.P.O., 1915), pp. 44-45, cited in Thomas C. Nelson, "The Alienated American* The Free Negro in Ohio, 1840- 1851," (Master's Thesis* University of Toledo, 1969), pp. 5-6. 132

As evidenced by the strenuous and lengthy battles fought for the repeal of the black laws, and for general acceptance of the principles of abolition, a significant portion of the white citizens of Ohio exhibited strong prejudice against the small black population within the state's borders. By the mid-l8if0's while many white Ohioans had given up on the dream of preventing blacks from living within the state, the determination to keep black people as a separate, segregated- community, inferior to whites, remained strong. Many white Ohioans were not content merely to have the legal prohibitions against black people legislated by the black laws. Like the abolitionists, these white people attempted to persuade public opinion to maintain pressure on blacks through the use of pamphlets, reports, speeches and newspapers. Further, mob actions and sporadic violence contributed to make the position of free blacks in Ohio as precarious as possible. As the abolitionist movement gained strength in the nation, some white people distributed essays attacking both the anti-slavery movement, and the contention of abolitionists that black people had a valid claim to either citizenship or humanity. H. F. James probably spoke for many white Ohioans when he wrotei 133

The arogant pretensions and atrocious mendacity of the abolitionists, are no where more strikingly glaring than in their state­ ments of the past and present history of the negroes, and their barefaced forgeries of the negro capacity for mental and moral improve­ ment * . . (one) abolition Titan, named Hon. A. H. Everett, says that to the 'negroes, were the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Moses, indebted for intellectual, moral, and scientific light!' So astoundingly mendacious a statement, never was made to an intelligent public before. . . Chambers, whose reputation is world-wide, in his history of man, says, ’The negro race are easy and indolent, but in intellect they stand lowest in the human race. . . it is impossible to shut our eyes to the fact that the race have never shown an inventive genius. They would otherwise have originated the arts of civilization for themselves, as other varieties of men certainly did.* . . . The negroes . . were sunk in the grossest apathy and most damning degradation. (Mr. Combe says) 'I do not think the negroes can be improved either by culture or intermarriage with the white, race, unless transferred to their native climate and country, and even there, the race seem more degraded than here. However, our duty is to send them back.'3 Given the existence of sentiments such as those expressed by James, it is hardly surprising that prejudice against blacks in the state was fostered by the belief that blacks constituted a culturally and biologically inferior species. The laws of the state of Ohio stripped from black people a public education, and any participation in the government of the state. What the legislature left, the

F. James, Abolitionism Unveiled! Hypocrisy Unmasked! and Knavery Scouraged!, (New Yorki T. V. Paterson, Publisher, I850). 13^ strict, but unspoken racial customs of the state took care of. Widespread poverty was the normal state of affairs in the numerous little black communities around the state.

David Jenkins was in a unique and enviable position in that he was able to learn and earn a living as a skilled crafts­ man. Jenkins' boarding house business, however, was greatly aided by the fact that few white hotels, restaurants, theaters, infirmaries, or public conveyances accepted black business. Even those theaters, streetcars, and railroads which accepted black dollars usually would cater to the white desire to sit apart by restricting blacks to the balcony, the worst, or most rearward seats available.

White mechanics' associations attempted to stop the hiring or training of blacks for many jobs, and white refusal to work with black laborers prevented blacks from taking jobs in the growing factories and mills in the state. Though black tax dollars supported orphanages and asylums, white prejudice against social contact with blacks barred these facilities from black use. The humanistic teachings of

Christ were blatantly ignored by white churches which either refused to allow black worshippers, or admitted them, and forced them to sit in "negro pews." As one early black resident of Ohio described it, the only doors open to blacks were those of the jails and penitentiaries, and the doors of those places were "thrown wide open to receive him."

The prejudice against persons of color was un­ relenting even if it resulted in inconvenience for whites. The Philanthropist reported that blacks were denied jobs in the skilled trades for which they were qualified despite a shortage of workers in those areas. Dr. Gamaliel Bailey, who assumed the editorship of the anti-slavery paper when

James Birney left to run for President on the Liberty Party ticket, wrote that black workmen, or "mechanics" as they were then called, received far too little business for their skills, and that mostly from other blacks. Even their children were prevented from obtaining positions as apprentices Newspapers around the state reflected the dominant opinions of white society in their references to blacks in the columns of their papers. The majoritarian press routinely ignored the black community, unless an opportunity arose to either attach that community, or ridicule its

Malvin, pp. 11-12. Several works already cited discuss the nature of racial restrictions imposed upon blacks by white society, among them; Gerber, pp. 3-24; Rodabaugh, pp. 9-29; Nelson, pp. 5-9; Delany, pp. 11-30; Hickok, pp. 77-122; in addition to these works, also see Leon Litwack, North of Slavervi The Negro in the United States. 1790-1860. (ChicagoiUniversity of Chicago Press,196l), pp. 64-112; Richard W. Pih, "Negro Self- Improvement Efforts in Antebellum Cincinnati, I836- 1850," Ohio History. (Summer, 1969), PP- I8O-I85. ^Cincinnati Philanthropist. May 26, 1841. 136

inhabitants. The attitude toward the free black community in Cincinnati was described by a local editor when he stated* In what does their freedom consist? Is it in being permitted to earn their bread by the sweat of the brow, or if incompetent, as many of them seem to be, to obtain a livelihood, to be allowed to starve or resort to crime? He is and must always be, disenfranchised . . . He is constantly subjected to the contumely and insults of the white man. . . His fate is to toll and drudge for a subsistence . . . Whether bondsman or freeman he must be a hewer of wood and a drawer of water. . Nature has gecreed it and her laws cannot be changed.6

Newspapers in Columbus by the time of the publication of the Palladium were not nearly as outspoken in their treatment of the black Ohioan, but those references about black people or their concerns that did make the Columbus papers were hardly comforting to blacks in the city. One paper in the city, the Whig supporting Columbus Weekly

Herald, reported to city residents details of the black poli­ tical convention held in August 18^3 in Buffalo, but like the two leading papers in the city, no mention was ever made in its columns of the existence of the Palladium throughout its nearly year-long existence. The democratic supporting Ohio

Statesman printed nothing about abolitionists that might have given comfort to Columbus' black community. The Ohio r------Daily Cincinnati Republican and Commercial Register. August 1, 1836, cited in Pih, p. 180. 13?

State Journal, the leading Whig paper in town, described its policy towards coverage of abolitionist activities in an editorial by stating that it was the policy of the paper to avoid "discussion of the abolition question because we thought it would be productive of no good." A detailed examination of the major Columbus papers throughout the years from 1840 through 1845 was made for references and articles about blacks and abolitionism in the area. Speci­ fically, every issue of the Ohio State Journal, the Ohio Statesman, the Cross and Journal (a religious paper), the

Weekly Herald and the Ohio State Tribune for the years 1843 and 1844 was searched for references about the existence of the Palladium. Jenkins' paper was never mentioned, nor has a continuing search of several other contemporary Ohio papers revealed that any editor in the state considered the publication of the only black newspaper in the state a news event worthy of note. Discussion of Columbus papers and their relationship with the black community is based on this research. The Journal addedi We are opposed to slavery in the abstract and as citizens rejoice in the Ordinance of *87 on the subject but believe Constitution was adopted in an honest spirit of compromise and we feel that our Southern brethern are as well entitled to a peaceful enjoyment of all the rights and privileges secured to us by the Ordinance of '8? of this same Consti­ tution. . . We have always considered these abolition movements not only unjust to our 138

Southern brethern, but impolitic on the part of those who desire the ultimate emancipation of the slave.?

Coverage of actual news events of the black community in most Ohio newspapers was virtually non-existent.

When blacks were mentioned at all, it was usually to ridicule them, using ’'Sambo" stereotypes to portray blacks as superstitious, illiterate, and dim-witted. Nelson re­ ports that such "humor" lacked the lightheartedness of normal ethnic jokes, with the anti-black ridicule containing a cutting edge which stressed not the difference so mucn as Q the inferiority of black culture. In an article about a light-skinned black from Cleveland who was eligible to vote because of his mixed parentage, the Columbus Ohio Statesman typified this kind of humor when the paper quipped that the g man, Bill Ray, had "rather a brilliant name for a darkey."'

Widespread, deep-seated white prejudice against blacks doubtlessly played a significant role in reducing the potential impact of the Palladium on the mass audience in

Ohio, However, probably the most distressing instances of prejudice from Jenkins' viewpoint were those instances when abolitionist whites were involved. Presumably, white people

^Ohio State Journal. January 12, 184-1. Q Nelson, p. 16. Nelson cites examples of deprecating racial humor existed in newspapers throughout the statej Cincinnati Enquirer. February 18, 1840; Ohio State Journal, April 12, 1842; Akron Beacon. November 30, 1842.

^Ohio Statesman, December 8, 1843* 139 involved in the struggle to free the black slave in the

South would feel more than the average amount of concern for the plight of free blacks in the North. However, the be­ havior of many white abolitionists revealed that like most of their non-abolitionist neighbors, intolerable attitudes towards blacks elsewhere were perfectly acceptable towards the residents of the "Bucktowns" and "Nigger Hollows" of their own cities.

White abolitionists, often at the cost of severe public censure, violence, or great personal sacrifice, worked ceaselessly in what must have frequently seemed a thankless, if noble, task. But as Benjamin Quarles pointed out, conquering an aversion to social contacts with blacks was not easy; "abolitionizing one's own heart was a formidable assignment.10 Litwack reported that the Quakers, long one of the bulwarks of the abolition movement, were just as likely as other whites of the period to restrict black worshippers in their churches to separate pews "for people of color."

Further, Quakers, though they rarely excluded blacks from membership in the Society of Friends strictly for racial reasons, "instead discouraged colored applicants, postponed consideration, or cited other reasons for rejection."^

10Benjamin Quarles, Black Abolitionists (New Yorki Oxford University Press, 1969), p. 4 9 .

1LL itwack, pp. 204-208. 140

Despite their positive efforts on behalf of the 3laves, few white abolitionists desired, or dared to main­ tain, social contacts with northern free blacks. Indeed,

Lewis Tappan, a noted New York abolitionist, in a letter to

Theodore Weld, wrote that he considered himself "slandered" when he was accused of encouraging "amalgamationism." The

incident involved an accusation that Tappan allowed a black church and a white church choir to sit together during a meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Tappan swore that this incident was "the only attempt I ever made to mix up the two colors in any public assembly or 12 elsewhere." There were more reasons to observe the social ostra­ cism of blacks than just prejudice on the individual level. Weld wrote Tappan on another occasion to report that he had once avoided social contact with black people because "to 13 do it would bring down a storm of vengeance" upon them. ^ Still, reports from the Philanthropist showed that a big complaint from black tradesmen in Ohio was the lack of trade 14 from the local white abolitionists.

Gilbert H. Barnes and Dwight L. Dumond, ed. Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld. Angelina Grimke Weld and Sarah Grimke. 1822-1844 (New York: D*.Appleton-Century Co., 1934), pp. 275-276. Tappan did admit to occasionally dining "with colored * gentlemen' (quotation marks his) as they called on business."

13^Barnes and Dumond, Letters. p. 273.

^ Philanthropist. November 10, 1841; December 22, 28, 1842, cited in Pih, p. 181. 141

David Jenkins was aware of the reluctance of white abolitionists to have a too close relationship with blacks.

In an editorial comment in his Palladium, he complained that neither Dr. Gamaliel Bailey, editor of the Philanthropist.

nor Garrison of the Liberator. would exchange issues of their papers with the Palladium, despite the fact that "several political papers, Whig and Democratic, in the State" did.

Jenkins questioned why this should be since there were "no two greater champions of human liberty on this side of the

Atlantic than these two men." He added, referring to his

efforts with his own paper, "We are aware of our inferiority

to them: but can't we do some good?. . . If they should * occasionally see something in our columns that is not right, we are willing they should correct us."1"* Undoubtedly, the level of prejudice which existed during the publication of the Palladium was a major factor

in reducing the level of persuasion the paper may have had

for the majority of Ohioans. It may have been virtually impossible for many white residents of the state to accept the idea of a black newspaper while a debate went on in some

segments of the white community questioning whether black people were human beings at all.

But Jenkins' problems with the white community,

severe as they were, were not the only concerns facing him

^ Palladium of Liberty. May 15, 1844. 142 as the editor of a black newspaper in 1844. It was the black community which was Jenkins' true constituency, and conditions in that community presented a separate, unique set of difficulties that any editor of a black publication would have to deal with in order to survive and flourish. Ironically, the general level of prejudice against blacks which influenced the persuasive value of the paper in the white community brought about conditions in the black community that were not favorable to the survival of the ■

Palladium as a vehicle for social change. The biggest problem facing any black newspaper in

Ohio in the 1840's was the generally low level of education among black citizens. Many of the state's black people were escaped slaves, or free blacks who had migrated into the state from slave states, who had had no formal education at all. Until 1848, no public funds were available for the education of black children, so learning in the black community tended to be a sporadic, hit or miss, proposition.

Consequently, illiteracy in the black community was probably greater than the one illiterate person out of four reported by government statistics.^

Erickson reported that in I836 blacks in Columbus founded their own school as part of a state wide program instituted by John Malvin. This group, known as the "School

^ Gerber, p. 95* 1^3

Fund Society," solicited contributions from the public in order to hire teachers and operate tiny schools around the state. David Jenkins himself, along with two other Columbus men, C. Lewis and B. Roberts, were trustees for the school in Columbus. While depending in large part on financial assistance from benevolent whites, the significance of the

School Fund Society is that it marked the earliest black run and managed attempts to guarantee basic education for black children. About 63 persons were enrolled in the Columbus school.^ The hunger in the black community for knowledge is best demonstrated in a letter from Weld to Lewis Tappan shortly after the opening of the first school for blacks in

Cincinnati, in March of 183^+. Weld wrote that the first day of the school the room to be used was filled, and for days afterward the teacher hired to lecture had to turn away "from ten to twenty daily," many of those seeking admission adults. It eventually became necessary to begin evening classes three and four evenings a week to accommodate the 18 large numbers of individuals wanting an education.

Support for the local school was a priority item for black state residents. When the black state convention

^Leonard E. Erickson, "The Color Line in Ohio Public Schools," (Ph.D. dissertation* Ohio State University, I960), pp. 61-71. 18 Barnes and Dumond, Letters, p. 133* 144 convened in Columbus on September 18, 1844, the first reso­ lution passed by the convention was a call for blacks to unite and demand "the right to the enjoyment of common school privilege under the public school system of the

State." The resolution addedt . . . consequently, it devolves upon this Convention, as one of its highest duties, to devise some means of testing the validity and constitutionality of those statute laws by which a large majority of the colored citizens of Ohio are excluded from those high and important privileges so essential to the elevation of any people.-^

The black residents of Ohio and Columbus had good reason to want their children educated along side white youngsters in the public schools. The black schools were beset with numerous problems, ranging from poor facilities, lack of sufficient funds, and a chronic difficulty of finding qualified teachers to conduct classes. Many of the teachers of the black children came from

Oberlin, which had been admitting blacks to study at the college there since the I83<7s. However, despite the availability of teachers, a letter from one, D. Day, at

Oberlin wrote to the Palladium that one problem faced by the black schools was the failure of "our colored friends" who

"neglected to make application for teachers, either from this or any other place, until all the teachers who had any

•^Palladium of Liberty. September 25, 1844. 145 thought of teaching had engaged other schools."

Day went on to add that each black community which desired to run a school during the winter months needed toi

. . , ascertain what the prospects are for having a winter school - how large a school you can probably make up, and what you can afford to pay for a teacher. Then appoint someone to make application for a teacher . . . those of you who have not yet attended to this matter, don't put it off any longer - don1t wait for teachers to come to you. .20

Black citizen's concern with education was a natural reaction to their condition in the society of Ohio in the mid-1840's. Denied by and large access to jobs in the upper stratum of white society, blacks largely held jobs as common laborers in commerce and construction. Blacks held down jobs as cooks, bellhops, doormen, barbers, waiters and shoe blacks. Black women were often forced to take jobs as washerwomen and cleaning ladies in order to help support families where black men were denied an opportunity to earn enough money to carry the family alone. Gerber reported that late into the 19th century, proportionally twice as many black women as white women were employed in jobs out­ side the home.2^

Palladium of Liberty. October 16, 1844; For detailed information on the struggle to integrate Ohio's public schools, see Litwack, pp. 113-152; Erickson, pp. 54- 296 passim. 2^Gerber, pp. 93-96; Pih, p. 181. 1 4-6

Despite discrimination, Jenkins was part of a growing black middle class in the mid-184-O's which consti­ tuted the upper third of the black community. This rising black middle class, which emulated its white counterpart, often suggested in the columns of the Palladium the means that those less well-off in the community should employ in order to elevate themselves above the menial existence that their menial jobs provided them.

Members of the black middle class formed temperance and moral reform societies which reported their activities in the pages of the Palladium. An account of one such society which formed in Butler County, showed that its members were interested in compiling a list of the number of black people in the area who were members of religious societies, as well as a listing of the taxable property owned by black people in the county. The society ended its meeting by acknowledging the existence of the Palladium as a worthy means of bringing about the "general improvement of our condition," and requested that all blacks in the state 22 offer the paper strong support.

A letter written to the Palladium in May of 1844 characterized the growing spirit of elevation in the black community when its author wrote* Young sable sons and daughters of America, whose minds are as yet uncultivated,

22Palladium. March 27, 18441 May 8, 184-4* June 12, 1844. 14?

do you not feel the heavy burdens that has so lonfe kept us in a state of degradation and blindness. I ask those of you wno are employed in the most degrading occupations of life, will you not give up those offices and seek for more elevated ones. . . We are in a very sma.,'t minority at this time; and the great ma-’">rity look upon us with contempt, and derision. Not simply because we are black, but because we are ignorant and oppressed. . . My heart has been pained within me to see my young colored brothers and sisters waiting on those who oppress us, and would take all our rights away from us. . . Mechanics among our people are like Angels visits, few and far between . . . Their is not as many mechanics among our people as there ought to be.^3

Despite the prodding from the more affluent segments of the blac^ community, many blacks apparently did not rush to learn skilled trades when the opportunities were presented.

Beginning with the eighth number of his paper, March 20,

1844, Jenki'ns regularly ran in every issue of his paper an ad asking for one or two boys, 15 or 16 years of age to apprentice under him in order to learn the painting business.

Apparently, right up until the time of the paper's demise, nearly eight months later, the offer was still available.

Another tradesman reported similar problems in trying to find a young buy to apprentice under him to learn the shoe making business. "1 have wanted a boy to work with me . . during the past v/inter,” hhe shoe maker complained, "and still am in great reed of one. Will not colored people wake up, and

^^Falladium. May 15, 1844. come to the work." According to Gerber, many blacks in the lower

economic straits had little incentive to try and break out of the vicious cycle of poverty and discrimination which

conditions of the times imposed on them. With opportunities

for improvement sharply limited, and with widespread and intense discrimination providing obstacles in the path of

upward mobility and advancement, many black people resigned

themselves to the fact that escape from their poor circum- 25 stances would be difficult, if not virtually impossible.

This acceptance of a second class existence was

something which Jenkins and other writers to his paper

continually deplored. Jenkins chided black parents who let

their children "run at large in the streets of our city,

even on the Sabbath." Some 15 to 20 boys would gather just

outside the city to play "catball," and generally hang around, doing nothing useful. Jenkins complained to the parents of the youths that allowing such behavior brought

"a reproach upon us as a people." Jenkins addedi

We.are determined to speak out against every evil of this sort; that is, or may be practiced among our people. . . You know it is said that you should train up a child in the way it should go and when it gets old it would not depart from it. . . many of you my friends have already seen the evil of letting

2b Ibid. ^Gerber, pp. 9^-95* 149

your boys run at large . . . we cannot become a people as long as a course like this is pursued . . . a large portion of you have sons large enough to be at school or at some mechanical trade, so as to raise him up a man among m e n . 26

Despite the constant urgings to seek improvements in their own lives, many black people needed dramatic reminders of the precarious position they occupied in Ohio during the decade of the 1840's, in order to take seriously the arguments of Jenkins and other blacks concerned with the existing situation. One person from Zanesville wrote to the Palladium that citizens in his town had been made to suddenly feel the helplessness before the law of all blacks in the state only after a gang of three white "villainous rascals" attacked a black man, Edward Pierce, returning home from church. Pierce was struck in the head with a stone hurled by one of the men, and ten days later, after never really regaining consciousness, he died.

The author of the letter who called himself, "A colored person just wakened up," wrote* Shall fellow countrymen whose notice this article may fall under, the lamentable Pierce's blood cry out to us arouseJ arouse!! from our lethargy. Mount the watch tower and cry for liberty from a people that holds us in nominal slavery. Why, we are deprived of our rights to testify in the courts of justice against such villains as murdered Pierce. . . We

Palladium. April 10, 1844. 150

are a people and can have our rights that we have been deprived of ever since Ohio has been a state if we commence right. Let us show the world that we are men and patriots.^7 Economic variat: ns were not the only sources of division which existed in the black community during the

time of the Palladium. According to W. H. Yancy, a

Cincinnati minister who wrote a two-part article for the paper, religious sectarianism was one of the leading sources of divisiveness which created disunity in the black community of Ohio. At the time of the Palladium1s publication, there were two black churches in Columbus, the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded in 1823i and the Second

Baptist Church, of which Jenkins was a member, founded in

I836, According to Minor, both churches in Columbus exhibited a large degree of cooperation in activities which

sought to benefit the black community.

However, Yancy complained that "it is an admitted

fact that our people are not united, this being conceded. . my opinion relative to the cause of a disunion among our people, are founded in this one factj and that is, a spirit has got hold of us, which fosters and cherishes the principles of sectarianism."

^Minor, pp. 8O-83, 1 M

Yancy complained that the black community’s

interests were not served by any force which divided it, and he argued that the existence of several different churches

created the potential for alienation among the rival

church's members to the point of impeding the moral, 28 intellectual and political elevation of the black race.

Yancy's criticisms of the "spirit of sectarianism"

apparently struck a nerve in the church-going black popu­

lation. In two subsequent Issues of the Palladium, he

further explained his charges that rival churches caused

disunion within the black community.

Yancy argued that generally the churches exerted a

strong moral force for good, which was "really necessary when properly directed, but whenever a moral effort is made

having for its object the present or future benefit of our

people, it must come under the provincial guardianship of

some of the different churches." Yancy addedi

What is their policy? Why it is just this, they seek alone their own individual benefit and aggrandisement notwithstanding the detriment of the entire community; for it does seem (judging by their actions) as though they were jealous of each other's prosperity, and all their so-called holy ambition, instead of being devoted to the universal salvation of mankind, and infusing a righteous and holy feeling within

■pjs------Palladium. March 20; 2?, 184^+s Yancy's article was a two- part letter which began and ended in consecutive issues of the paper. 152

the bounds of their influence, they exert an influence quite to the contrary.

Yancy wrote that if one church in a community under­ took a project, it would receive no help from other churches while everyone else, instead of helping out, simply waited to see if the project would rise or fall. "The cause of temperance, education, and in fact every mode of improve­ ment scarcely is attached to anything save that which concerns their own individual prosperity,” Yancy wrote, "It does appear they lose sight of the great end to be 2g accomplished." 7

In the absence of contemporary confirmation from other sources, it is difficult to assess the impact of the

Palladium upon its potential audience. Jenkins* paper is virtually all there is to go on in trying to determine how important, or persuasive, the paper was during its existence.

Jenkins hoped that among the 1?,000 blacks then in the state, he could achieve a subscription rate of about 2500.

He reported at one point that the paper had 600 subscribers, which he considered a good sign. From Jenkins* comments, it was clear that he expected little or no support from white Ohioans, and there is little evidence that he was 30 wrong.

^ Palladium. April 24, 1844.

•^Palladium. December 2?, 1843 j May 22, 1844. 153

Letters to the Palladium suggest that many black Ohioans regarded the paper as a good thing, and urged blacks

to support it. Yet, throughout the life of the paper, it was ever clear that while black people may have supported the paper with their hearts, the money behind their senti- 31 ments was not forthcoming.

Quarles reports that Garrison's Liberator, as well as several other black newspapers, frequently depended on interracial financial support in their formative months to keep them alive. ^ Yet, there is no evidence that the white community in any way provided financial or other assistance

to Jenkins' paper. Certainly, there were a large number of white Ohioans to whom racism was a stain to be scrubbed from the land. But somehow the Palladium missed becoming a beneficiary of white benevolence. Frustrating as it undoubtedly was for Jenkins, his paper apparently passed beneath the notice of most white people in the state. In addition, the black audience for his paper was barely in a position to support the paper, for all the reasons cited

earlier. As (for a time) the only black newspaper publishing

in the state, the Palladium of Liberty represented a tremendous opportunity for blacks to have their own forum from which to speak, and for whites to realize that blacks

-^For more details on Jenkins' financial difficulties, see pp. 96-100.

-^Quarles, pp. 19-20; 8^-89* were capable of intellectual activity beyond that required to shine a pair of boots. That opportunity was apparently wasted. CHAPTER VII

Summary and General Conclusions

The Palladium of Liberty was a small, four-page weekly newspaper edited by a black man, David Jenkins, in

Columbus, Ohio from December 27, 1843 until November 13, 1844, Of the 37 issues of this black newspaper which were published, 33 issues have survived, providing a rare, virtually complete record of the birth, maturation, problems and demise of an antebellum black newspaper. More importantly, the Palladium, through its re­ prints of articles of interest to black readers, its coverage of local events in the Columbus black community, the letters from readers published in its columns, and its advertising, provides a first-hand glimpse at the lives and thinking of a group of people frequently overlooked in most traditional histories of the period. The purpose of this research was to draw some conclusions about the effectiveness of the Palladium of Liberty as a persuasive vehicle. Generally, the data suggests that the Palladium was not as persuasive a vehicle for improving the condition of black Ohioans as its editor

Jenkins probably hoped. Several factors can be cited to

155 156 explain why this belief is held. Perhaps the most apparent reason why any venture fails lies in the individuals involved, particularly, how their backgrounds and characters helped or hindered their efforts. Generally, in the study of rhetoric, the message is the most important aspect in communication, but it is the source's perceived relationship with that message which is the most critical persuasive factor. Golden, Berquist and Coleman listed four qualities in a communicator which affect that individual’s "ethos," i.e. the image held of a communicator at a given time by a receiver - either one person or a group. As the receiver's perception of the communicator is so critical to the persuasive force of his message, it is useful to examine what is known about David Jenkins in light of these qualities to support the contention that his paper was not as persuasive as it perhaps could have been.^ The first component of ethos, character (or trust­ worthiness) was apparently a quality which many of those who knew Jenkins believed he possessed. With virtually no exceptions, all the accounts of Jenkins* behavior indicate that he was viewed as a reliable, credible individual whose behavior was in keeping with what he preached.

^James L. Golden, Goodwin F. Berquist and William Coleman, The Rhetoric of Western Thought. (Dubuque, Iowai Kendall/Hunt, 1976)~, pp. 205-209• 157

As was described in Ward's letter to the Ohio State

Journal. virtually all of Jenkins* adult life was devoted to the elevation of black people to a level of equality with whites. Jenkins attended both national and state con­ ventions with regularity, enmeshing himself fully in these early forums for black protest. At a time when poverty was the norm in most of Ohio's black communities, the money involved in travel, room and board to attend these con­ ventions could leave no doubts that Jenkins was ready to support black advancement at cost to himself. He was a man who put his money where his mouth was. Jenkins argued in the Palladium that black people should strive to attain economic self-sufficiency, and his successful painting business was an example for other black people to imitate. His insistence that black people should participate in the political process to as great a degree as was possible is reflected not only in his convention parti­ cipation, but also his attendance of the sessions of the state legislature in hopes of being able to affect, in some 3 fashion, the laws affecting black hopes.

Black Ohioans of the 1840's trusted Jenkins enough to respond when he called for the first black state con­ vention in 1843, even as black residents of Columbus responded

2February 25, 1870.

3Ibid. 158 to his first public meeting of blacks in the city a few years earlier* Jenkins was an officer in most of the earlier black political conventions, and newspapers in the state recorded the fact that Jenkins was one of those regularly called on to speak at black events of significance. Two of the leading black men of the age, Martin Delany and

Frederick Douglass, knew Jenkins and applauded his work and leadership. The only report that Jenkins was perhaps more interested in himself than in the welfare of his people was the letter from A. M. Taylor to Delany*s Mystery. December

16, 1846, which mentioned Jenkins' hasty censuring of an­ other black person who apparently fell from Jenkins' 4 standards of behavior. Based on the little information presented in the letter, it is difficult to determine if this incident adversely affected how other black Ohioans viewed Jenkins' character. It could be argued, in the absence of any real evidence, that Jenkins* behavior was an expected reaction to what he felt was a situation which threatened the goal of black elevation. If this was the case, then instead of this incident being a blow to Jenkins' perceived character, it may have served to make him seem like an ever vigilant watchdog for black interests. Consi­ dering the mass of subsequent pro-Jenkins praise and

Mystery. December 16, 1846. 159 behavior, it seems a safe assumption that Taylor's charges d.i d not appreciably harm Jenkins as an individual for whom most blacks maintained a large degree of respect and admi­ ration. ^ The second component of ethos, intelligence, was a characteristic which appeared to be ambivalently represented in Jenkins, the communicator. It is difficult to look back through the obscuring years in order to assess something as relative as intelligence and the lack of sufficient infor­ mation about Jenkins does not make the task easier. One could question how intelligent the idea of forming a black newspaper in Columbus in 184-3 was, especial­ ly in light of Jenkins' inability to obtain enough support to keep the Palladium financially afloat. But it can be argued that a less intelligent person might not have had the vision to see black Ohioans not as they were, but rather, as they could be. On at least two occasions, however, Jenkins was praised in publications for his knowledge and understanding of the Black Laws, and the battle to repeal them. The

Athens Messenger account of his 1871 August 1 Day speech specifically noted that Jenkins was "well posted in historical events," from "the time of the first Colonial agitations down to our present rebellion." The report added that

^For a detailed discussion of this episode, see pp. 100-108. 160

Jenkins* speech was humorous and that he was well received.^

That same grasp of the political and historical position of

black people in the country was mentioned earlier in 1844 when Jenkins addressed a meeting of colored citizens who had

gathered in Zanesville to form a black elevation committee.

Jenkins was apparently so knowledgeable and affected his

audience so strongly that after he spoke, some 35 people n came forward to subscribe to his paper.(

On the other hand, Jenkins' intelligence must have

been called into question in the face of the frequent mis­

spellings and poor grammar which appeared in the pages of

his newspaper. The difference between his paper and Delany*s

Mystery must have been apparent to many black Ohioans and

the comparison was not favorable to Jenkins. Jenkins wrote

in his paper that he was aware of his own shortcomings, and

at one point brought out that he was forced to "steal" his g education from the slaveholders in Virginia. However, whether or not his humble beginnings were acceptable excuses

for the shortcomings of his paper would be difficult to

determine.

Good will towards, or identification with, his audience, the third characteristic of ethos, is evident in

Athens Messenger. August 3* 1871.

^Palladium of Liberty. March 20, 1844.

^Palladium of Liberty. March 27, 1844. 161

David Jenkins’ behavior throughout his life. Virtually all the evidence available on Jenkins concurs that he was a lifelong champion for the eradication of all discrimination against black people. Jenkins wanted nothing less than full citizenship and equality for all of his people. It can only weakly be argued that anyone ever attributed to Jenkins any but the highest motives for his activities on behalf of black Ohioans. To a certain degree, anyone who thrusts himself into the public arena engages in activity which to some extent results in self-aggrandizement, and the same could be said about Jenkins. But Jenkins had something to lose as well as to gain by agitating openly for black equality. While mob violence had largely died down by the time of the Palladium1s publication, the pages of the paper still reported sporadic o acts of racially motivated violence.

Beyond the threat of physical violence, Jenkins, as a fairly well off black man dependent largely upon white business, could have become the target of a boycott of his services as a painter, just as one Columbus store apparently boycotted advertising in his newspaper.'*'0 Jenkins could easily have avoided controversy or any involvement in black activities which might have antagonized his patrons, but by

^Palladium of Liberty. April 3, 184^.

■*"0For a detailed discussion of this matter, see pp. lOOt- lOOv. 162 taking an active role in the struggles of his time, he set a strong example for others less fortunate than himself to follow. James Golden and Richard Rieke in their book The

Rhetoric of Black Americans discussed the various rhetorical strategies which black rhetoricians and leaders have adopted in response to racism in this country. According to Golden and Rieke, the most widely held strategy among black

Americans of all eras and backgrounds was the strategy of assimilation) i.e. the policy of attaining full rights and citizenship within the existing structure of the American

"melting pot" society.^"1 Jenkins, like many other black men and women through­ out American history, also embraced the strategy of assimilation, supporting goals long cherished by the over­ whelming majority of black people. Golden and Rieke described the sub-strategies of the rhetoric of assimilation as a three-pronged campaign* (1) the need to rely upon the Christian message; (2) the need for personal worth and achievement through education, industry and temperance; and (3) the need to press for legislative and judicial action which would lead to full 12 acceptance and equal treatment under the law.

James L. Golden and Richard D. Rieke, The Rhetoric of Black Americans. (Columbus, O.i Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co., 1971)» pp. 51-52.

12Ibid. 163

Jenkins, in the pages of his paper, followed this description of the rhetoric of assimilation exactly. Every issue of the Palladium contained frequent references to

Christian teachings and church activities. Ministers were frequent contributors to his paper, and it was no coincidence that the meeting which led to the creation of the Palladium IT took place in the Second Baptist Church in Columbus. J Jenkins constantly exhorted his readers to obtain as much education as they could. Further, he argued that young black men and women should resist the easy path of obtaining jobs as unskilled menial laborers for the better long range goal of learning trades. In keeping with the rhetorical strategy of assimilation, Jenkins gave space in his paper to temperance writers who viewed alcohol as a

"fiery rivei of death" to be avoided by all black people who 14 were interested in the elevation of race. In many respects, it could be argued that the very existence of the Palladium was an attempt to encourage greater black participation in the political process. The early issues of the Palladium described fully not only the activities of the first state convention of.colored citizens, but also gave information on the existing black laws, and details on how to go about submitting petitions to

1^Palladium of Liberty. December 27, 1843.

^ Palladium of Liberty. June 19* 1844. 164 the state legislature to help black aims. Jenkins' partici­ pation both in state and national black political con­ ventions, in addition to his lobbying work with the state legislature, clearly demonstrates that he saw the political process as the chief means of ending the discrimination which mandated black people as inferior to white people. The most elusive and difficult to define quality of ethos is charisma, a mixture of intelligence, status, personality, style and experience which makes one individual stand out from the rest as a person of exceptional powers or qualities. It is charisma, perhaps more than any of the other qualities of ethos which it appears clearly that

Jenkins lacked. To be sure, many black Ohioans apparently had a great deal of respect and admiration for Jenkins, as evidenced by the fact that he was spoken of so highly by contemporary black Americans. Jenkins was an officer in the early black political conventions in Ohio; a delegate to the national convention of colored citizens; a frequent speaker at black conventions and social affairs and editor of the first black newspaper to be published in the state. Yet, years later when the leading black men of Jenkins' lifetime are mentioned, the names of Frederick Douglass, Henry

Highland Garnet and Martin Delany are recalled and Jenkins' is virtually forgotten; as alien to the social memory as he is to the pages of the general histories of his state. 165

There is no secret formula to grant persons the qualities which would make them charismatic figures. Perhaps the most obvious shortcoming Jenkins had was the fact that in an age of orators, he was apparently only an adequate speaker, and not a spellbinder like Douglass and Garnet.1^

When Jenkins spoke at the Athens August 1 Day celebration, the newspaper account of the festivities pointedly recorded that in relation with the other speakers present, Jenkins was inferior in "the elegance of diction, fiery eloquence

(and) graceful delivery" to a fellow Columbus resident,

James Poindexter.^ How much more of a ^.p existed between

Poindexter and speakers like Douglass it is impossible to know. While as elusive a quality as charisma is not solely a function of speaking ability, Jenkins certainly was not helped by his lukewarm speaking style. In trying to gain readers for his paper, Jenkins made visits to groups of black Ohioans to point out his need of their support. To what extent his lack of charisma played a part in his failure to obtain enough subscribers to keep his paper going it is impossible to judge, yet the Mystery of Martin Delany, which published before the Palladium began, was still going

^Golden and Rieke, pp. 148-153*

^Athens Messenger. August 3» 1871* 166 along years after the Palladium folded. At least some part of the reason why black people supported Delany*s paper (and failed to support Jenkins') may have been that Delany seemed more a leader} a black man whose personality made people believe in him and want to follow him. In evaluating Jenkins' overall ethos and the effect that is had on the persuasive appeal of his paper, it can be said that there was much about the man that was favorable. His knowledge of the condition of black Ohioans and their plight was well founded, and he apparently was able to identify himself .»ell with the aspirations of his people. In addition, his strategy of assimilation was in keeping with the historical preference of the majority of black

Americans who wanted their fair share of the American promise of a nation of people who were equal before the law.

Jenkins' inability to overcome the limits of his poor edu­ cation seems to have been the weakest part of the image that he projected to other black Ohioans. Despite having the will and the means to persuade black Ohioans to rally around him and his paper, Jenkins' poor grammar and diction may have masked his efforts to reach his community in such a way that they would support him.

Jenkins' image may have presented problems for him in his attempts to persuade his audience, but the very society in which he lived was itself a formidable environ­ ment in which to argue in behalf of black equality. 167

Relatively speaking, the period from 1843 through

1844 was the "best time up to that point in the history of the state of Ohio to found a black newspaper. This is based mainly on the fact that anti-black feelings had run at much higher levels earlier in the state's history, but by the

1840's had calmed down to less violent degrees. Those who had argued strongly for the prohibition of black settlement in Ohio were being subplanted by the increasingly numerous proponents of abolition and increasing black equality.

By 1843, Ohio, like much of the rest of the north, was swept up in the growing level of anti-slavery activity.

Frederick Douglass wrote that 1843 was a year of "remarkable" anti-slavery agitation which saw the New England Anti-

Slavery Society plan a series of 100 abolitionist con­ ventions to be held in New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, 17 Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The year 1843 was significant further in that the national convention of colored citizens was held in Buffalo, the first such convention to be held since 1835. Following his participation in the Buffalo convention, Douglass him­ self spoke and participated in an anti-slavery meeting in

Clinton County, Ohio. While Douglass wrote that "thousands” attended the Ohio meeting, and that the effect of the

^Frederick Douglass, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. (New Yorki Collier Books, 1962; reprint 1892 ed.), p. 226. 168 meeting was considerable, he admitted that the meeting only took place over the difficulties imposed by those in 18 opposition to abolitionist goals. Probably as a reaction to the increasing abolitionist sentiment around them, the black citizens of Ohio also convened, for the first time, in Columbus, Ohio in 184-3*

It was their intention to add their voices to arguments that black people should attain all the rights and privileges of full citizenship within the state. Taken in the aggregate, these events would seem to suggest the time was ripe for a newspaper like the Palladium in Ohio, but the forces of abolition were not the only ones at work in the mid-184-O's in Ohio.

Richard Whately, in formulating his Elements of

Rhetoric. stressed the advantage in a debate of having

"preoccupation of the ground," i.e. being in a position 19 where the burden of proof for change is on the other side. 7

Prom this standpoint, the oppression of black Ohioans, and the existence of pro-slavery sentiment in Ohio was the established order, and the abolitionist and black rights advocates had to prove that their positions should be adopted.

18Ibid., 230. 19 7Whately’s work cited in James L. Golden, Goodwin F. Berquist and William Coleman, The Rhetoric of Western Thought. (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1976), pp. 105- 106. 169

When a person argued for the granting of full citizenship to black people during this period, he or she did so in the face of laws which had as their purpose the denial of such citizenship. Arguments were made by some of the leading citizens in the country that black people were not only inferior to whites, but also were not human beings.

Blacks were seen as "only the third grade of the brute 20 creation, and second to the Orang Ontang.” This decidedly racist view of black people was enforced ironically enough by the downtrodden position brought about because of the racism against them.

Ignorant and uneducated, because of the state's denial of public education) poor, because of social and legal prohibitions against hiring them for many jobs and strangely alien, because of their numerical insignificance, dusky skin, and social ostracism, the condition of black people was pointed out as proof of their natural inferiority to whites. White Ohioans paid little attention to Jenkins’

Palladium as they paid little attention to the black citizens who comprised the paper's primary audience.

While the white audience generally ignored the

Palladium, the black audience of the paper presented Jenkins with a different, though no less formidable, problem in his effort to persuade them. Black illiteracy was widespread,

^ Palladium of Liberty. October 2, 18 170 running as high as one person out of four. Black people, including Jenkins himself, organized tiny school systems throughout the state, funded by private contributions, to insure education for black youngsters. However, some schools found that they had to establish separate classes for adults who also wanted to escape the grip of ignorance by gaining even a rudimentary education. These early black-run schools encountered many problems, but many persons in the black communities of the state considered the edu­ cation of their people to be too important to be dissuaded by a few difficulties.

Most blacks in Ohio at the time of the Palladium* s existence held jobs as common laborers, cooks, bellhops, doormen, barbers, waiters, and shoe blacks. Well into the

19th century, more than twice as many black women as white women were employed in jobs outside the home. Despite the relative lack of opportunity, a black middle class was emerging in the state in the 1840*s, and its members urged other black people to avoid menial jobs and to try to learn skilled trades to break the cycle of poverty and hopeless­ ness. Unfortunately, many blacks, even when offered an opportunity, failed to take advantage of apprenticeships which offered a better living than menial jobs. In fairness, learning a skill was often valueless if white prejudice prevented it from being practiced, but failure to at least attempt self-improvement guaranteed that many black people 171 would never escape the downtrodden roles white society had prepared for them. Adding to the problems of the black community, black people who were members of one church or another tended to act clannishly toward one another, allowing membership in one church or another to become a source of divisiveness in the small black community. Adding to the problems which the black audience presented to Jenkins was the rather unfortunate fact that the black community did not support his paper with their pocketbooks, as well as with their letters. Jenkins continually, throughout the life of his paper, begged for money owed him by subscribers. In the last issue of the paper, Jenkins was still trying to obtain money owed him in order to pay for expenses he had incurred in the publication of his paper. Yet, for all its problems, the Palladium did fill a necessary space in black society of that time. The minutes of state conventions of colored citizens, and the minutes of the national black political conventions show that the delegates consistently felt the existence of a black news­ paper was of critical importance in order for black people to speak directly about their needs, and to keep themselves informed about events in black communities other than their own. The many letters which appeared in the paper, and the stories about black awareness meetings held by groups of blacks across the state indicate that for all its faults, 172

black people used the Palladium as a forum, and as a means

of staying in touch with each other. The Palladium of

Liberty may not have been all that David Jenkins or other

black Ohioans wanted, but it was definitely superior to

having no newspaper about black needs at all.

No research can answer all possible questions on

any subject, but further inquiry would seem to be indicated

across three main areas, based on this research.

First, the lack of information about Jenkins' life

in Mississippi remains a mystery which was not solvable

through predictable documents and archives. Perhaps a

Southern-based researcher who is more familiar with black

families in the Canton, Mississippi area could launch an

inquiry through personal family papers and locate the missing details of the last years of Jenkins' life. Second, the use of Rosenfeld’s paradigm of rhetorical analysis proved extremely useful as a means of organizing the large body of data relating to the publication of a black paper in Ohio. Other researchers could, by similarly using his method as adapted to this research, bring out of obscurity

the circumstances surrounding the publication of other antebellum black newspapers. If enough other papers are brought to light, it would increase the likelihood that these early black papers, and the brave men and women who published them, would earn their rightful place in the journalism histories which now pass over their 173

accomplishments for lack of that information. Finally, a detailed examination needs to be made of

several black newspapers of this period to see to what extent the papers shared agents, audiences, stories and

issues. Particularly, an examination of the reprints and

letters which appear in other black newspapers of the period

might suggest to what degree black people actually used the

black press as a means of maintaining a network of infor­ mation and accomplishment within the national black

community. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources (newspapers)

Christian Herald. Cincinnati, 30 November 1844.

Christian Recorder. Philadelphia, 13 July 1854; 18 May I867.

Commercial. Cincinnati, 23 August 1873*

Daily Chronical. Cincinnati, 3 January 1844.

Democratic Guard. Circleville, 0., 20 September 184*+.

Enquirer and Message. Cincinnati, 4 January 1844.

Evening Herald. Cleveland, 4 January 1844.

Frederick Douglass* Monthly. January 1859- Intelligencer. Hamilton, 0., 27 February 1844.

Liberty Courier and Register of Facts. Cadiz, 0., 8 May - 31 July 1844. Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette. 8 February 1844.

Messenger. Athens, 0., 3 August I87I.

Mvstery. Pittsburgh, 16 April 1845; 16 December 1846.

Northern Star and Freedmans Advocate. Albany, 3 February 1842 - 2 January 1843 * Ohio State Journal. Columbus, 1 January 1840 - 31 December 1845; 22 October I85O; 25 February 1870.

Ohio Statesman. Columbus, 8 December - 27 December 1843; 15 April 1870. Ohio State Tribune. Columbus, 10 February - 1 November 1844.

174 175

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Plain Dealer. Cleveland, 21 February 1844.

Sentinel■ Xenia, 0., 20 January 1865*

Springfield (Ohio) News. 11 January 1865*

Torch-Light. Xenia, 0., February - April 1844.

Weekly Herald. Columbus, 2 September 1843.

Primary Sources (minutes, records)

Columbus, Ohio. Franklin County Recorder's Office, Deed books* (1838) 19* 390; (1847) 35* 220; (1865T“82i 368.

Columbus, Ohio. Ohio Historical Society Archives. Box 105* Wilbur Henry Siebert, "Materials on American Loyalists, East Florida and the underground rail­ road," ca. 1740-ca. i860.

Proceedings of the State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio. Columbus* E. Glover, 1851.

Proceedings of the Convention of the Colored Freemen of Ohio. Cincinnati] Dumas and Lawyer, 1852.

Proceedings of the State Convention of Colored Men. Columbus: n .p., 1856.

Proceedings of the National Emigration Convention of Colored People. Held at Cleveland. Ohio. 24-26 August. 1854. Pittsburgh] A. A. Anderson, 185^*

State Convention of the Colored Citizens of Ohio Convened at Columbus. January 10-18. 1849. Oberlin, Ohio* J. M. Fitch Power Press, 1849•

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