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Ontario History
On Their Own Terms Temperance in Southern Ontario’s Black Community (1830-1860) Lorene Bridgen
Volume 101, Number 1, Spring 2009 Article abstract This article examines the role of African Canadians in southern Ontario’s URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1065675ar temperance movement and the extent to which temperance offered them DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1065675ar freedom. It discusses African Canadians who drank, including the Reverend John Jackson and James T. Rapier, and the participation of key figures such as See table of contents Henry Bibb, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, William Whipper and the Reverend Israel Campbell, who supported the cause of temperance by offering individual support, organizing voluntary reform and endorsing legal enforcement. Also Publisher(s) analyzed are the contributions of Whites to African-Canadian temperance. It concludes that African Canadians played a more important role in the cause of The Ontario Historical Society temperance than previously known.
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Cite this article Bridgen, L. (2009). On Their Own Terms: Temperance in Southern Ontario’s Black Community (1830-1860). Ontario History, 101(1), 64–82. https://doi.org/10.7202/1065675ar
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This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ 64 ONTARIOOn Their HISTORY Own Terms: Temperance in Southern Ontario’s Black Community (1830-1860) by Lorene Bridgen
uring the mid nineteenth cen- or. Black leaders believed that remaining tury, African Americans entered temperate would prove to Whites that Canada in search of freedom. they were a moral people, who deserved DThey found their place in Southern On- their freedom. tario through their participation in the The Black community was far from temperance movement, which played homogeneous, as their attempts to a major role in the African-Canadian achieve a temperate society clearly dem- community’s struggle for equality and re- onstrate. Some believed in the right to spect. Through it, Black temperance ad- drink any kind of alcohol, either all the vocates sought to improve the lives and time or in moderation, while others only reputations of their fellow community accepted beer and wine. Of those who members. This paper will document the practised temperance, some believed in extent and diversity of this significant ac- organized voluntary temperance, while tivism in Southern Ontario’s Black com- others preferred the rigours of legally en- munity and the degree to which temper- forced temperance. Still others followed ance offered freedom.1 the ideal of individual temperance which Enslaved and free Blacks continu- consisted of practising temperance in all ously struggled for freedom in the Unit- things, without the assistance of laws or ed States; the law kept many enslaved, societies. No matter the method, temper- while many Whites refused to recognize ance advocates chose to be involved. the citizenship of those who were free. This article begins with a brief de- As a result, many free Black leaders en- scription of the historiography of tem- couraged temperance, which was linked perance before going on to discuss drink- to respectability. The fight for freedom ing among African Canadians, including through temperance was also critical to the negative stigma that some associated African Canadians, but there has been with it. Finally, there will be a discussion little discussion of it in Canada, possibly of African-Canadian temperance in three because Canadian Black history empha- groups: individual supporters, organized sizes issues such as the incoming of refu- voluntary temperance reformers, and ad- gees. Although Canadian Blacks were vocates of legally enforced temperance. legally free after 1834, Whites still saw These types will also include Whites who them as economically and socially inferi- worked with Black leaders directly or on
1 I would like to thank Dr. Christina Simmons and Dr. Nina Reid-Maroney for their advice and as- sistance in writing this article. Ontario History / Volume CI No. 1 / Spring 2009 65 a more independent level.2 Primary documents such Abstract as personal narratives, and This article examines the role of African Canadians in south- newspapers such as the ern Ontario’s temperance movement and the extent to which Voice of the Fugitive and temperance offered them freedom. It discusses African Cana- the Provincial Freeman dians who drank, including the Reverend John Jackson and illustrate the extent to James T. Rapier, and the participation of key figures such as Henry Bibb, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, William Whipper and which these groups were the Reverend Israel Campbell, who supported the cause of tem- or were not involved. perance by offering individual support, organizing voluntary reform and endorsing legal enforcement. Also analyzed are A Brief the contributions of Whites to African-Canadian temperance. It concludes that African Canadians played a more impor- Historiography of tant role in the cause of temperance than previously known. Temperance Résumé: Dans cet article nous examinons la participation emperance in the Af- des Afro-Canadiens dans les mouvements de tempérance dans rican-Canadian com- le sud de l’Ontario, et dans quelle mesure ces mouvements pu- T rent contribuer à leur libération. Nous étudierons le cas d’Afro- munity has long been over- Canadiens comme le Révérend John Jackson ou James T. Ra- looked. Historians have pier, qui buvaient, et le rôle clef joué par des personnes comme written about Whites and Henry Bibb, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, William Whipper et le Aboriginals in Canada, Révérend Israël Campbell. Offrant des soutiens individuels, incitant à des réformes volontaires, appuyant le recours à des and Whites and African mesures légales, ils se firent les champions de la tempérance. Americans in the United Les contributions des Blancs à l’action des Afro-Canadiens States. But temperance dans les mouvements de tempérance, seront aussi analysées. was a critical issue to Af- De cette étude, il ressort que les Afro-Canadiens ont joué un rican Canadians as well, rôle beaucoup plus important que celui qu’on leur accorde généralement dans la défense de la cause de la tempérance. mainly because temper- ance offered them a way to take control of their lives in a country without slavery. This is a key dustrial English working class used al- point that scholars have ignored. cohol to escape the pressures of labour, Drinking and temperance were af- but with industrialization time became fected by the broad cultural changes money to employers and drinking was brought about by industrialization. E.P. seen to hamper discipline and produc- Thompson argues that a change in the tivity. As pre-industrial, home-based sense of time affected labour discipline, production was replaced by a more ef- including the use of alcohol. The pre-in- ficient, factory model, drinking, once
2 The Reverend William King, a White minister, worked independently with African Canadians. In 1849, he established the Buxton/Elgin settlement which voluntarily abstained from all intoxicating liquor. Donald George Simpson, Under the North Star: Black Communities in Upper Canada Before Confedera- tion (1867) (Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc., 2005), 267. 66 ONTARIO HISTORY
part of familial bonding, was now dis- drank, arguing that the production and couraged.3 consumption of alcohol corresponded to While labour provides a deeper social and cultural categories such as la- understanding as to why people would bour, family life, and economic develop- practise temperance, it is not the only ment. He examines the social history of catalyst at work. Paul Johnson, in his drinking in Canada and shows that tem- study of Rochester, New York, argues perance advocates drastically changed that the middle class saw evangelical- perceptions of alcohol over the course of ism as a way to rid the world of sin while the nineteenth century.6 providing a more efficient workplace. These sources provide a clearer- un And Sharon Anne Cook argues that in derstanding of temperance, but they do the late nineteenth century the Ontario not include the Black community. In Women’s Christian Temperance Union a valuable American source that does, (WCTU) had a vision for society which Donald Yacovone argues that the organi- resulted in an “evangelical feminism;” a zational experience African-American climate in which women felt liberated leaders gained in the fight for temperance from the constraints of their inferior helped the emergence of an independent status just as working-class men might. black nationalist movement, and also that The emancipating theology of evangeli- Black leaders joined this cause in support calism eventually caused them to view of principles such as industry and econo- temperance as a moral and religious is- my designed to uplift the race. Although sue.4 Yacovone mentions African Americans Jan Noel, in her study of abstinence in who owned property in Canada, he does British North America, argues that tem- not investigate how their time in Canada perance evolved from a zealous, religious might have contributed to their thoughts movement into a more worldly concern on temperance.7 This study will demon- and that temperance altered factors such strate how active the cause of temperance as labour, and the economy.5 was in the African-Canadian community Rather than emphasizing abstain- and therefore how it influenced incom- ers, Craig Heron discusses those who ing African Americans.
3 E.P. Thompson, “Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism,”Past and Present 38 (1967), 57, 61, 74-76. 4 Sharon Anne Cook, “Sowing Seed for the Master: The Ontario WCTU and Evangelical Feminism, 1874-1930,” Journal of Canadian Studies, 30:3 (1995); Paul Johnson, A Shopkeeper’s Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 (New York: Hill and Wang, 1978), 3-4, 39-48, 55-60, 121-23. 5 Jan Noel, Canada Dry: Temperance Crusades before Confederation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995), 8-9, 12, 16, 40, 150. 6 Craig Heron, Booze, A Distilled History (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2003), 51. 7 Donald Yacovone, “The Transformation of the Black Temperance Movement, 1827-1854,”Journal of the Early Republic, 8:3 (1988), 282-83, 297. on their own terms 67
African Canadians in Canada tion. Fortunately there were exceptions: frican Canadians from all classes par- Samuel Ringgold Ward, a dark-skinned ticipated in the temperance move- former slave, rose to middle-class status A through his activism and his role as edi- ment. Middle-classAfrican-Canadian/ 9 American narratives contribute most of tor of the Impartial Citizen. the information on this group,8 but mem- bers of the working class were sometimes Choosing to Drink active supporters. During lthough many Afri- the early and mid-nine- Acan Canadians hoped teenth century many work- that temperance would ing-class African Americans lead to respectability, not came to Canada working, everyone chose that path. for example, on the tobacco People who supported the crops. But Blacks in Canada right to drink saw them- were not restricted to the selves as pragmatic because lower class; many, through they realized that White their work as teachers, society would never fully doctors and business own- accept them, whether ers, achieved middle-class they drank or not. Those status. In addition to their Samuel Ringgold Ward. From who chose to drink did labour, the colour/caste sys- Samuel Ringgold Ward, Auto- so for many reasons. For tem, a practice among some biography of A Fugitive Negro, example, informal groups His Anti-Slavery Labours in antebellum free Blacks, de- the United States, Canada, & of Masonic lodges in the termined class; factors such England (London, 1855). United States often cre- as free-born status and skin ated bonds through activi- colour established social position, with ties such as gambling, story telling and lighter skin being equated with the high- drinking.10 Some individuals just wanted er class, a factor that prevented the lower a break from the new demands of work, class, often darker-skinned, from eleva- while others may have wanted to rebel
8 Class among African Canadians was a bit ambiguous during the nineteenth century, mainly because even Canada’s White working class did not emerge until the 1840s and 1850s. Heron, Booze, 64. 9 People such as Mary Ann Shadd Cary, the free-born editor of the Provincial Freeman and wife of Thomas F. Cary, rejected this colour/caste system because she wanted to erase boundaries that caused con- flict between refugees and free Blacks. Although figures from all classes supported temperance, not every- one followed their lead. Robin Winks, The Blacks in Canada: A History 2nd ed. (London: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1997), 144-46, 167; Christian Olbey, “Unfolded Hands: Class Suicide and the Insurgent Intellectual Praxis of Mary Ann Shadd,” Canadian Review of American Studies, 30:2 (2000), 154, 161; Jane Rhodes, Mary Ann Shadd Cary: The Black Press and Protest in the Nineteenth Century (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1998), 45, 53, 112; C. Peter Ripley, The Black Abolitionist Papers (BAP), vol. II Canada 1830-1865 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1986), 23, 177. 10 James Oliver Horton, “Freedom’s Yoke: Gender Conventions among Antebellum Free Blacks,” Feminist Studies, 12:1 (1986), 65. 68 ONTARIO HISTORY
Henry Bibb. From to debate the issues of the day, the newcom- Henry Bibb, Nar- ers joined together in smoke-filled gaming rative of the Life houses and noisy midnight frolics. Their and Adventures of boisterous lifestyle, colorful dress, plaited Henry Bibb, An hair, eelskin queues, and swaggering gait American Slave (New York, 1849). scandalized the respectables, who saw such behaviour as a calumny upon the race and a against a society special threat to their own efforts to secure that fundamen- full recognition. The newcomers sneered at tally restricted their pretensions.11 their rights. That many former slaves chose to ignore Freed Blacks the advice of the Black leadership is also wanted to cel- evident in African-Canadian newspapers. ebrate, but in doing so they often clashed The Voice of the Fugitive (edited with the ideals of respectable leaders and by Henry Bibb, a former slave and the activists who did not hesitate to lecture manager of the Refugee Home Society former slaves on how to live good lives [RHS],12) and the Provincial Freeman, characterized by hard work, frugality and two Southern Ontario Black newspapers abstinence. According to Ira Berlin, de- that published in the 1850s, provided scribing northern free Blacks in the early important information on community nineteenth century: members who chose to keep drinking Much of [the leaders’] intended audience alcohol.13 The Voice of the Fugitive clearly hardly heard the message...More impor- assumed the temperance stance when it tantly, many of their black compatriots also reported, “There are but two hard cases paid them no mind. Eager to enjoy the im- in the place, and those we have never suc- mediate rewards of liberty, these new arrivals to freedom spent their wages on new frocks ceeded in geting [sic] out to our meet- 14 and waistcoats. While the respectables met ings.” Also mentioned is a fugitive slave, in the quiet decorum of their sitting rooms living in Sandwich, who frequented the
11 Ira Berlin, Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American Slaves(Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003), 110. 12 The RHS began as a Detroit-based society in 1851, and merged with the Fugitive Union Society, a Windsor-based moral improvement association, to form a new RHS in 1852. Although White aboli- tionists controlled the settlement from afar, they gave local leadership to David Hotchkiss, and Mary and Henry Bibb. At the Sandwich Convention on 11 November 1850, Ezekiel Cooper opposed temperance as a prerequisite for membership in the Fugitive Slave Union. At a later date, he shared a similar opinion to- ward the RHS. Afua Cooper, “Doing Battle in Freedom’s Cause”: Henry Bibb, Abolitionism, Race Uplift and Black Manhood, 1842-1854” (Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto, 2000), 227-28, 257; Ripley, BAP, 23, 217, 147 n. 13 Bibb published the Voice of the Fugitive from 1851 to 1853, with the help of James T. Holly in 1852, while Ward held nominal editorship of the Provincial Freeman when it first appeared on 24 March 1853. Shadd Cary, William P. Newman, Isaac D. Shadd and H. Ford Douglass became the editors of the Provincial Freeman until 1856, after which Shadd Cary was no longer editor. Ripley,BAP , 23-24. 14 “Temperance Among the Fugitives,” Voice of the Fugitive, 23 April 1851. on their own terms 69
local rum-shop.15 “Messrs. William and Brent,” Newspapers often Voice of the Fugitive, 23 April 1851. remained silent about the identity of drunk- him of this fact. When ards, but sometimes confronted, Jackson de- they named them. Their nied the accusations, be- stories demonstrate two came enraged and threat- things: that drinkers ened them.17 Fifield said were on the defensive, that he “appeared more and that, even though like a demon than a gos- the middle class drank pel minister.”18 He also themselves, it was the added, “if he is [guilty], working class that was it may prove his ruin for stereotyped as drinkers. time and eternity–be as- One fascinating example from the Voice sured gentlemen, that I am the last man of the Fugitive showed how one landless that would injure one of your race, mar Black minister living in the Windsor bar- the peace, or defame their character.”19 racks16 fought back against his accusers. The Rev. Jackson, who was an agent for On 26 February 1851, the Voice of the Fu- the Colored Industrial Society,20 felt his gitive printed a letter from O.H. Fifield, reputation was at stake which explains a White man, who stated that the Rev. why he reacted the way he did; the nega- John Jackson, a Black man from Canada tive stigma of drinking could ruin a per- West, came to his door with whiskey on son’s reputation. Henry Bibb, George his breath. Another witness, Lonson Wil- Williams and others, concerned about cox, claimed that the Rev. Jackson was in the reputation of the Society, even cau- his store, with the smell of liquor on his tioned people against the minister, de- breath, the same day that Fifield encoun- spite that fact that there had been no tered him. Fifield added that the accusa- witnesses to his actual drinking. As well, tions against the Rev. Jackson were true many of Fifield’s accusations were based and that, although he did not witness him on his unfounded belief that Jackson had drinking, his sense of smell convinced lied about how he obtained a silver watch.
15 Ibid. 16 Ministerial positions generally linked people to middle-class status, but it was possible for ministers to fall into a different class, as in the case of the Reverend Jackson. 17 “Caution,” Voice of the Fugitive, 26 February 1851; “Messrs. William and Brent,” Voice of the Fugi- tive, 23 April 1851; “Caution,” Voice of the Fugitive, 23 April 1851. 18 “Caution,” Voice of the Fugitive, April 23, 1851. 19 Ibid. 20 The Colored Industrial Society later became the RHS. Simpson, Under the North Star, 288-89; “Is This True?,” Voice of the Fugitive, 23 April 1851; “Colored Settlements,” Voice of the Fugitive, 12 February 1851. 70 ONTARIO HISTORY
When the accusations against him went fall of 1856, he travelled from Florence, to court, Judges Freeman and Walker Alabama, to Buxton, Canada West, to ruled that the Rev. Jackson was “clear.” further his education. Shortly before and Bibb and Williams, on the other hand, during his time in Buxton, Rapier was were found guilty of spreading lies about known to gamble and drink, which vio- Jackson while he worked for the settle- lated Buxton’s strict moral code:22 “noth- ment. In a final newspaper article, Wil- ing that intoxicates is made or sold in the liams and William Keyes retracted their settlement.”23 Yet he changed during his previous opinion of the Reverend.21 Jack- Buxton experience, as was evident on 24 son’s story clearly demonstrates the polic- September 1858 when Rapier wrote, “I ing that occurred. In this case, a lower class have not thrown a card in 3 years touched man, who supposedly a woman in 2 years smoked nor drunk drank, found himself any liquor in going on 2 years[.]”24 This in conflict with mid- demonstrates that, although he eventu- dle-class supporters ally became temperate, during the early of temperance. But part of his stay in Buxton, he drank. As members of the mid- a young man, Rapier was not a model ex- dle class also drank. ample for the middle class, but with time People associ- he changed his ways. ated with intemper- Rapier is a rare case in that he admit- ance were not only ted to drinking; the Rev. Jackson, by con- working class. For trast, was associated with intemperance James T. Rapier. Buxton Na- example, the middle- because of accusations. These cases dem- tional Historic Site & Mu- class James T. Rapier onstrate how easy it was for temperance seum Website
21 “Caution,” Voice of the Fugitive, 23 April 1851; “Is This True?,” Voice of the Fugitive, 26 February 1851; “Imposition on the Public,” Voice of the Fugitive, 23 April 1851. 22 John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger, In Search of the Promised Land: A Slave Family in the Old South (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 37, 142-44. 23 Benjamin Drew, The Refugee: Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada (Hawaii: University Press of the Pacific, 2004), 295. 24 Howard University Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Rapier Family Papers, Box 84-1, Folder 12, James T. Rapier to John H. Rapier Jr., Florence, Alabama, 27 September 1858. 25 “LETTERS FROM CANADA.-NO. III”, Frederick Douglass’s Paper, 12 February 1852; on their own terms 71
were accused or openly chose to drink, whisky in his general store. But the settlers, their association with drinking gave them along with the community’s founder, the a negative reputation. This explains one Rev. William King, worried that the sale of the many reasons why a number of Af- of liquor would demoralize the residents rican Canadians chose temperance, but of Buxton. Having no legal recourse to their decision goes beyond this point. close Woods’ store, the settlers decided to boycott his store until he stopped selling Why Temperance? alcohol, and in the end the settlers were frican Canadians, like Whites, had successful.27 There was clearly pressure to Atheir own reasons for supporting abstain from alcohol; to oppose temper- temperance, including economic incen- ance often meant to risk being employed. tives, religion, the desire to combat preju- Economic incentives played a large dices, and the desire for freedom from the role in one’s choice to be temperate, bonds of liquor; at times their reasoning but religion was just as important. Dur- echoed that of Whites. As Johnson stat- ing the nineteenth century, many slaves ed, Whites experienced pressure to be embraced Christianity, something their temperate at the workplace, but the Black ancestors had not done. Slaves who ex- community also experienced a similar perienced changes in slavery and the cot- pressure as well as business opportuni- ton revolution, being torn violently from ties for being temperate. For example, the their homes and families on the eastern Voice of the Fugitive offered employment seaboard during the 1810s through the as a travelling temperance lecturer and 1830s and taken to the frontier lands of agent, when it stated, “if an experienced Alabama and Mississippi, formed bonds laborer in this reform would come well as a result of these hardships. The Chris- recommended to us, and will take the tian message offered a way to understand field under our direction, we will hold their suffering and to survive it. Turning ourself responsible for his being liberally their lives over to Christ gave the enslaved sustained for two or three months.”26 In a sense of value and offered them an op- this case, temperance created employ- portunity to take greater control of their ment, but this was not always the result. lives, which was a new concept for them. Endorsers of the liquor trade often In the evangelical religion God spoke di- faced the harsh tactics of those supporting rectly to his followers, which convinced temperance. In Buxton, an Englishman slaves that they were God’s children and named Woods acquired a license to sell possibly the chosen ones.28 As a result
Shirley J. Yee, Black Abolitionist Women: A Study in Activism, 1828-1860 (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1992), 83. 26 “An Advocate of Temperance Wanted,” Voice of the Fugitive, 19 November 1851. 27 Sharon A. Roger Hepburn, Crossing the Border: A Free Black Community in Canada (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2007), 82. 28 Berlin, Generations of Captivity, 162, 192-94. 72 ONTARIO HISTORY
of their new found faith, evangelicals gave up alcohol, completed his education adopted practices such as temperance as and became, for a time, a teacher in Bux- a form of discipline. ton,32 which is an ironic twist, consider- A key aspect of evangelicalism is the ing he originally defied the rules of the religious revival, a conversion to evan- community by drinking. He was able to gelicalism, and according to the Provin- alter his reputation after his conversion. cial Freeman, such revivals did occur in An additional reason for practising Ontario’s Black community. In an article temperance was to fight prejudice. Af- from 6 May 1854, William P. Newman, a rican Canadians constantly faced racist former slave and editor of the Provincial thinking that judged an entire group by Freeman, stated that there had not been the behaviour of individuals. As a result, too many revivals this past winter, “yet Black leaders felt pressure to police the several have enjoyed seasons of refresh- unrespectable, like drinkers, even though ing from the Lord, and among them we they were aware, from experience, that may number our own.”29 An 1857 article racism was a prior judgement that actual- noted that there had been revivals at sev- ly had nothing to do with behaviour. But eral churches, while the minutes of the this did not stop many African Canadians Amherstburg Regular Missionary Bap- from trying to change how Whites per- tist Association state that during 1851 ceived them. According to Afua Cooper, the Rev. Horace Hawkins converted for- “among Blacks, like whites, allegiance ty-eight members.30 to temperance signified middle-class re- As further evidence, James Rapier spectability and good moral character,”33 drank until his conversion in the spring which is why many adopted temperance; of 1857, at a Methodist revival, where it gave them, at least in their own eyes, he, along with seventy residents of Bux- equality with Whites. Temperance could ton accepted Christ into their lives. Ra- serve this function because of its growing pier wrote, “the spirit of the living god power in Ontario’s Protestant culture. changed me from very old ways and I Even for Whites temperance was a way am endeavouring to walk in the newness to maintain decency and respectability of life and his ways are paths of peace[,] in the community, but it must have been it is pleasant and Eternal life [that] is that much more important for Blacks promised to all them that endureth to who carried the added stigma of being the e[nd.]”31 After his conversion, Rapier former slaves. For example, a Voice of the
29 Ripley, BAP, 302-303n; Provincial Freeman, 6 May 1854. 30 “Local Matters,” Provincial Freeman, 21 February 1857; Pathfinders of Liberty and Truth: A Cen- tury with the Amherstburg Regular Missionary Baptist Association (Compiled from the Minutes and His- torical Essays, 1940), 77. 31 Howard University Moorland Spingarn Research Center, Rapier Family Papers, Box 84-1, Folder 8, James T. Rapier to John H. Rapier Jr., Buxton, Canada West, 29 August 1857. 32 Franklin and Schweninger, In Search of the Promised Land, 148-49. 33 Cooper, “Doing Battle in Freedom’s Cause,” 288 n. on their own terms 73
Fugitive article discusses Edwin Larwill, lieved that each was a form of bondage.36 a man known for his racist views, who In an address delivered before the Color- cancelled his subscription to the Essex ed Temperance Society of Philadelphia, Advocate when it included an article sup- Whipper stated, “All that I have said, or porting the establishment of that can be said against slav- Black settlements in Cana- ery, is truly applicable to in- da. Larwill stated that, in his temperance.”37 He added: “opinion, every decent white If the slave has wealth, he may man is opposed”34 to Black purchase his freedom. But to the settlements. In response, the subject of intemperance, wealth author, who was White, stat- only strengthens his chains: for ed that Blacks owned land, [it] furnishes him with materi- had churches, and partici- als to revel in his guilt, and fans the flame of his destruction. The pated in temperance socie- William Whipper. From Wil- slave [has] his situation, and only ties, factors clearly suggest- liam Still, The Underground remains in it because [his] bonds 35 ing respectability. When Railroad (Philadelphia, are forcible. The other loves it, Whites respected African 1872); Richard P. McCor- because [hav-] ing slain his reason Canadians, many thought, mick, “William Whipper: and self-respect, it promotes [his] Moral Reformer,” Pennsylva- 38 social elevation was possible, nia History 43 (1976). animal luxury. and temperance was clearly Slavery and intemperance viewed as a way to gain such elevation. were seen as one and the same, except one Temperance became symbolically was forced upon people, while the other and practically caught up with the idea was self-inflicted; temperance gave the of freedom from slavery, as the language Black community a way to combat these showed, when it was described as “free- forms of bondage. James Forten, a man dom from the bonds of liquor.” Many devoted to reform, believed that through figures such as Samuel Ringgold Ward, temperance “the black community would Henry Bibb and William Whipper, a take out of the mouths of the enemies of wealthy, educated, African American liberty their objections to the colored with a history of activism, equated in- man’s liberty.”39 Forten, along with other temperance with slavery because they be- African Americans, used temperance as a
34 Heron, Booze, 12; “Prejudice against Color in Canada,” Voice of the Fugitive, 26 February 1851. 35 Ibid. 36 Richard P. McCormick, “William Whipper: Moral Reformer,” Pennsylvania History 43 (1976): 23-28, 40-41. 37 The Liberator, “Address Delivered Before the Colored Temperance Society of Philadelphia, 8 Janu- ary 1834,” 21 June 1834. 38 Ibid. 39 Julie Winch, A Gentleman of Color: The Life of James Forten (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 4, 318. 74 ONTARIO HISTORY
way to take what was rightfully his and that of others. For example, the Provin- because temperance was so absorbed into cial Freeman stated: the anti-slavery cause it was possible to There is an importance in the position of the celebrate the two as one. For example, on Colored Population of Canada....which we, 1 August 1842, a group of African Amer- nor our friends here, or in the United States, icans in Philadelphia participated in an sufficiently estimate. In no country, in the organized temperance march which was world, does the condition of our people bear a joint celebration of emancipation in relation so important to the cause of the en- the British Empire and temperance.40 slaved, as here. We have....two great Yankee The two causes were so closely linked lies that we....know, are doing us the greatest mischief, on more than one Continent. They that temperance, the marchers believed, are, 1st. The Negro is unfit for Freedom. 2nd. offered an important way to attain and The Negro cannot live on terms of equality celebrate their citizenship. with the white man. All we ask attention Even in Canada, the Black commu- to....is, that the development, educating and nity felt that its freedom was limited. Ca- progress of Canadian colored men, will do nadian Blacks were legally free, but many more to stamp those two Anglo-Saxon asser- tions with their native falsity, than anything Whites still saw them as inferior and 42 undeserving of citizenship and felt that else this side of Heaven, can do. granting them citizenship would taint Shadd believed that what happened in Canadian society. Choosing temperance, Canada could have repercussions in the an exercise of freedom in itself, allowed United States, which is why she encour- Blacks to take control of their own lives aged others to be temperate; “Canada and convince Whites that they were was a showcase, where African-descend- worthy.41 Thus many American Black ed people could demonstrate their equal- leaders brought their preoccupations ity.”43 African Canadians believed that with sobriety to Canada, where they ap- they were equal and were determined to plied temperance principles, developed have Whites acknowledge this.44 societies, and created temperance work. Thus the Black community support- This is contrary to many representations ed temperance for the economic benefits of the African-Canadian community, it conferred, for religion, for personal which assume they had more important needs, and as a way to combat prejudice. issues to deal with than citizenship and But how African Canadians supported respect. African Canadians were vitally temperance also demonstrates their di- concerned with their own freedom and versity.
40 Ibid., 351. 41 Yacovone, “The Transformation of the Black Temperance Movement,” 284. 42 “NUMBER TWO,” Provincial Freeman, 25 March 1854. 43 James Walker, “Approaching African-Canadian History,” in Multiple Lenses: Voice from the Diaspo- ra Located in Canada, edited by David Divine (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), 5. 44 Ibid., 6. 75
Individual Temperance angry that he be- frican Canadians supported temper- gan swearing at Aance in a variety of ways; some acted Campbell and left as individuals, others joined organized the house-raising. voluntary temperance societies and still Because of this, others urged the government to enforce Campbell real- sobriety. Individual supporters of temper- ized the hold that ance believed that they could self-regu- liquor had on Jus- late their habits, abstaining from alcohol tice and he never without relying on the guidance of socie- drank again. ties or laws. Figures such as the Rev. Israel These encounters Israel Campbell. From Israel Campbell, a former slave, Baptist minis- changed his opin- Campbell, An Autobiography. Bond and Free: or, Yearnings for ter and educated activist from Greenville ion of liquor, but he said “I have Freedom, From My Green Brier County, Kentucky, who came to Canada House (Philadelphia, 1861). West in the late 1840s supported indi- never joined any 45 Temperance Societies, for I believe in be- vidual temperance. He came to this 47 decision because of two encounters, the ing temperate in all things.” Campbell first being with Miss Gibb. He encoun- is a rare case; advocates of temperance tered her while asking the Rev. Isaac Rice, were more likely to join societies. a White Presbyterian missionary, for clothing in Amherstburg; she was assist- Organized Voluntary ing Rice. When Miss Gibb asked Camp- Temperance bell never to drink again, he said that he bstaining from alcohol was a serious did not like to make such promises and Aissue for many, especially for those that he never drank enough to hurt him- who voluntarily joined temperance so- self. It took another meeting with an Ed- cieties and took a pledge. Michael Gau- ward Justice to fully convince him. While vreau states that evangelicals based social at a house-raising, Campbell confronted integration on the principle of “voluntar- Justice, a man who “took his liquor pret- yism,” which “implied not only the free ty freely,”46 because he was worried that association of equal individuals, but so- this man’s intoxication would cause him cial participation and fellowship for the to fall off the house. Justice became so achievement of a common purpose.”48
45 Israel Campbell, An Autobiography. Bond and Free: or, Yearnings for Freedom, from My Green Brier House. Being the Story of My Life Bondage , and My Life in Freedom (Philadelphia: C.E.P. Brinckloe & CO., Printers, 1861), 208; Ripley, BAP, 164-65 n. 46 Campbell, An Autobiography, 208; Ripley, BAP, 164-65. 47 Campbell, An Autobiography, 208. 48 Michael Gauvreau, “Protestantism Transformed: Personal Piety and the Evangelical Social Vision, 1815-1867,” In The Canadian Protestant Experience: 1760-1990, George A. Rawlyk (Burlington, Canada: Welch Publishing Company Inc., 1990), 57. 76 ONTARIO HISTORY
These factors would have appealed to agree to abstain from the use of INTOX- slaves who recently found freedom. ICATING LIQUORS, as a beverage Temperance societies emerged in & from the use of TOBACCO, in any British North America in 1826-1827 and form.”51 The Provincial Freeman report- by 1855, “between a quarter and a third ed that former drinker William Johnson of the population in the Province of Can- had signed a temperance pledge that ada had taken the [temperance] pledge.”49 he created for himself after a cold water Organized voluntary temperance became lecture. According to the Rev. John Ab- popular among African Canadians at the bott, Johnson wrote, “I William Johnson, same time in Southern Ontario, especial- pledge myself to drink no more intoxicat- ly in Essex County where they had their ing liquor for one year.”52 Many believed own societies. An article from the Voice of that he would not last three days, but the Fugitive stated that in 1826 there had after the year had passed, he signed the been 623,600,000 gallons of spiritous liq- pledge again, this time in a different way. uors, wines and beers consumed in “this He wrote, “I, William Johnson, sign this country,” but that by 1850 that number pledge for nine hundred and ninety-nine had been reduced by 40,000,000 gallons. years; and if living at the end of that time, Such a reduction at a time when the pop- I intend to take out a lease for life.”53 Even ulation was increasing shows, at least in after being told by his landlord that alco- the opinion of the newspaper, that tem- hol was the only cure for a lump Johnson perance was gaining ground. Temperance had discovered on his side, he was still de- support was also strong in specific areas; termined to follow the pledge.54 in July 1851, 1,634 people of Sandwich A large percentage of those who and 1,100 from Malden signed a temper- supported temperance organizations ance pledge.50 Clearly, organized volun- were social activists, including Whipper, tary temperance made a difference. Bibb, and the Rev. Charles C. Foote, a Temperance pledges, often associated White minister, who worked alongside with temperance societies, took many Henry Bibb, until Bibb’s death on 1 Au- forms. Frequently people signed a univer- gust 1854, after which he became a chief sal pledge while others created pledges of spokesperson for the RHS.55 Whipper their own. One pledge stated, “I hereby strongly endorsed organized voluntary
49 Heron, Booze, 53-54. 50 In 1851, Sandwich had a population of 4,928 while Malden totalled 1,315. Census of the Canadas, 1851-2, Personal Census, Vol. I (Quebec: John Lovell, 1853), 44; Cooper, “Doing Battle in Freedom’s Cause,” 327; “GREAT LIQUOR COUNTRY,” Voice of the Fugitive, 18 June 1851; “Great Temperance Reformation,” Voice of the Fugitive, 2 July 1851. 51 Heron, Booze, 54. 52 “Signing the Pledge,” Provincial Freeman, 29 April 1854. 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid. 55 Provincial Freeman, 12 August 1854; Simpson, Under the North Star, 297. on their own terms 77
temperance, but in a more traditional they feared the power of organized way. His support of temperance began in groups policing the behaviour of others, the earlier years of the movement, which which was an infringement of their free- is why he favoured temperance socie- dom. In response to supporters of indi- ties that banned ardent spirits only, not vidual moderation, Whipper wrote: beer and wine.56 Whipper believed that under [a moderate drinker’s] very system of the Black community needed to join the self-government, has the evil arisen with all organized temperance movement to gain its accumulated power. Will the same evil status and respect: “If it be left to the or the same legislation cure itself? Certainly whites, we shall be as widely separated not. And if this ‘uncontrolable [sic] liberty’ is to be the ruling monitor, it will be impos- in morals as complexion: and then our sible to fix a moral boundary. The man who elevation is scarcely to be hoped for. To drinks his small glass of brandy in a day or a succeed and be respected, we must be week, will infringe on another’s rights, if he superior in morals, before the balance reproves him who drinks his quart a day or an of power will allow us to be admitted as hour – for each, in the exercise of his guaran- their equals.”57 Whipper felt that being teed liberty, only satisfied his own thirst.60 individually temperate was not enough, Whipper believed that when people African Americans had to be involved claimed individual control of their drink- in the organized temperance movement. ing they affected themselves and those Much earlier, at an 1832 convention, he around them because they could not had resolved that the convention rec- set a fixed moral boundary. He believed ommend the creation of a temperance instead that through organized temper- society to achieve total abstinence from ance societies, making the best moral ardent spirits.58 choice could give the Black community Whipper did not accept individual true freedom. When moderate individu- moderation as an alternative. He stated als practised their “freedom” they took that moderate drinkers were “strictly in away the freedom of others, while col- favor of temperance, but [they] hate....fa- lective organized temperance activities natical denunciations,....[and] cold water could have a larger impact on the Black societies for reform. Let every man be his community’s public image because news- own guardian. [They] hate both drunk- papers and societies made their support ards and drunkenness. [They] like mod- of temperance visible to the public. eration in every thing.”59 In other words, Bibb also strongly advocated organ-
56 Yacovone, “The Transformation of the Black Temperance Movement, 285. 57 The Liberator, “Address Delivered Before the Colored Temperance Society of Philadelphia,” 21 June 1834. 58 McCormick, “William Whipper,” 28-29. 59 The Liberator, “Address Delivered Before the Colored Temperance Society of Philadelphia,” 21 June 1834. 60 Ibid. 78 ONTARIO HISTORY
ized voluntary temperance in the RHS McArthur, the society’s president, gave and the Voice of the Fugitive whose stated an address, followed by a speech from the purpose was the causes of moral reform Rev. Hoag of Detroit. Before the conclu- and temperance. He felt money for alco- sion of the meeting they circulated their hol could be utilized for more important temperance pledge.63 things, such as clothing, food, and land The Rev. Foote also believed in or- purchases. Numerous articles in the Voice ganized voluntary temperance. The Voice of the Fugitive expressed his sentiment, in- of the Fugitive noted on 17 March 1851 cluding one that discussed a large group that Foote attended a temperance festi- of “colored inhabitants” who gathered val, during which he presented an “old- in Sandwich for a temperance meeting. fashion, soul-stirring temperance speech,” At this meeting Robert Ward offered a after which the temperance pledge was prayer, while Bibb read the temperance circulated.64 He also supported the cause pledge. After several people signed the through the RHS, in particular his con- pledge, Bibb and others gave addresses on tribution to its constitution and by-laws the issue. It was at this meeting that Ward that restricted alcohol. was appointed president of the society The creation of the WCTU, formed and Bibb the secretary. Additionally, it in both Canada and the US in 1874, was Bibb’s leadership that made the RHS made temperance into a distinctive wom- committed to achieving moral elevation en’s issue. However, even in the earlier through industry, education, and tem- period, both Black and White women perance.61 The constitution and by-laws such as Laura Smith Haviland and Miss of the RHS, created by Bibb and the Rev- Gibb, were advocating temperance socie- erends Foote and McConoughey, state ties among African Canadians. Haviland, that, “No house shall be used for manu- an abolitionist born in Kitley Town- facturing or vending intoxicating liquors ship, Canada West, taught at a Windsor on any lot received from this Society.”62 school, and in a letter published in the The RHS, along with his newspaper, thus North Western Christian Magazine, she stood firm in the cause of temperance. discussed her time with Black settlers in Bibb also founded a temperance so- Canada West. She stated that, although ciety in Windsor, recorded in the 16 No- there had been a few people with intem- vember 1852 Voice of the Fugitive as meet- perate habits, it should not be consid- ing in a brick school room. The Rev. A. ered a characteristic of their class or their 61 “Introduction,” Voice of the Fugitive, 1 January 1851; Peter Carlesimo, “The Refugee Home Society, Its Origin, Operation and Results, 1851-1876” (Master’s thesis, University of Windsor, 1973): 6; “Tem- perance Meeting in Sandwich,” Voice of the Fugitive, 1 January 1851; Ripley, BAP, 147 n. 62 “Constitution and By-Laws of the Refugees’ Home Society,” Voice of the Fugitive, 29 September 1852. 63 Cooper, “Doing Battle in Freedom’s Cause,” 257; “The Windsor Temperance Society...,”Voice of the Fugitive, 16 November 1852. 64 “Our temperance festival on the 17th...,” Voice of the Fugitive, 26 March 1851. on their own terms 79
race.65 She added that the Black commu- and the RHS. Though not officially in nity organized temperance societies and charge of the newspaper, recent scholars that Black people were “generally indus- have included her as a possible co-editor trious, temperate and law-abiding.”66 and co-publisher, especially during 1851 In addition to Haviland, a Miss Gibb when Henry was away on lecture tours.70 contributed to the temperance cause. In In addition to the Voice of the Fugitive, the autobiography of Israel Campbell, he Mary was active in the RHS whose local reports that she asked him if he drank spir- leadership fell upon her and her husband. itous liquor. When Campbell responded They shared a common interest in activism that he only drank a dram67 in the South for racial uplift through education, indus- to keep warm, Miss Gibb replied that wa- try and temperance.71 Henry even stated, ter was just as good. She then asked him to “I found that her principles and my own promise that he would never drink again, were nearly one and the same.”72 In Bibb’s and handed him a Bible. She then remind- efforts at Black uplift, he was “at all times ed him that “when you take a dram,....God aided by his wife and partner, and fellow- sees you.”68 Miss Gibb strongly encour- abolitionist, Mary Miles Bibb.”73 Her in- aged Campbell not to drink, but female volvement in the RHS gave her a visible support extended beyond Whites. profile in the temperance movement. Black women such as Mary Bibb, an The Voice of the Fugitive does not spe- educated, middle-class abolitionist and a cifically label Mary a temperance advocate, Black Quaker turned Methodist who was but many women supported this cause. The known for her activism in anti-slavery and newspaper stated that a committee of ladies Black uplift even before marrying Henry, was sent to visit members of the Sandwich also supported temperance.69 This is clear community, after those members refused in her work with the Voice of the Fugitive to attend temperance meetings.74
65 Cook, “Sowing seed for the master”; Laura Haviland, A Woman’s Life Work: Including Thirty Years Service on the Underground Railway and in the War (Chicago: S.B. SHAW Publisher, 1881), 9, 119, 192; Simpson, Under the North Star, 291; “From the North Western Christian Magazine...,” Provincial Free- man, 13 October 1855. 66 From the North Western Christian Magazine...,” Provincial Freeman, 13 October 1855. 67 A dram is a measurement roughly equal to 1/8 of an ounce, rather than a specific type of liquor. 68 Campbell, An Autobiography, 207. 69 Ripley, BAP, 110-11n, 147n. 70 “Fugitive slave Henry Bibb founded and edited the Voice, but the contrast between his private cor- respondence and the paper’s polished style suggests that his well-educated wife, Mary E. Bibb, had a good deal to do with the paper’s style and content.” Ripley, BAP, 108, 110-11n. 71 Ripley, BAP, 147n; Cooper, “Doing Battle in Freedom’s Cause,” 178, 219. 72 Henry Bibb, 1815-1854 Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave, Written by Himself (New York, Author, 1849), 191. 73 Cooper, “Doing Battle in Freedom’s Cause,” 219. 74 “Temperance Among the Fugitives,” Voice of the Fugitive, 23 April 1851. 80 ONTARIO HISTORY Elizabeth Shadd Shreve. Buxton Na- tional Historic Site & Museum Although it was possible for support- ers of legislation to endorse organized We have no voluntary temperance, which carried on evidence that into the 1870s, the point of legislation Black women was the belief that results would only oc- organized clubs cur with strict laws; that people would and conven- not abstain voluntarily. In the 1840s the tions until the Government of Canada West passed laws last quarter of against public drunkenness, including the the nineteenth first Lord’s Day Act in 1845, which disal- century. Their lowed drinking on the Sabbath. How- later efforts are ever, temperance supporters, including evident in a letter addressed to Eliza- African Canadians, wanted stricter leg- beth Shadd Shreve of Buxton, from S. islation. In the 1850s, they demanded Walker in 1881. Walker, a member of the a ban on liquor in each province; they WCTU writes, “Your name was given me were inspired by the 1851 Maine Liquor as an earnest worker. Do you think a Un- Law, which outlawed the sale and con- ion could be formed in your settlement? sumption of all intoxicating beverages.77 And if so will you make an effort to have Support of stricter legislation remained one formed?”75 Clearly Black women strong, as is evident in African-Canadian were organizing, but it was not until they newspapers. created their own temperance societies, In the Provincial Freeman, Shadd much later, that they were recognized by Cary demanded a prohibitory liquor law men and White females.76 when she responded to an article in The Planet, which called for a law that tar- Legally Enforced Temperance geted African Canadians: ome supporters of voluntary pledges, The colored people are notwild Indians, nei- a method that once dominated the ther do they drink more whiskey than their S white friends hereabouts. One colored man temperance cause, accepted the stricter passed under your office window drunk, and alternative of prohibitory legislation if he had not “hurt” somebody he might have during the decade and a half after 1840. done so, bah! They must be out of a subject
75 University of Western Ontario Archives and Research Collections Centre, Papers of Mary Shadd Cary, Teacher, Black Spokesman and Editor of Provincial Freeman, Canada West, 1851-1859 [microform] Series B: Cary-Shreve Correspondence, S. Walker to Elizabeth Shadd Shreve, Chatham, Canada West, 27 December 1881. 76 In those later organizational efforts, Black women were restricted not only from male groups, but also those of White females; for some time Black women were excluded by White organizers of the WCTU in Canada. As well, these same White women used “racialized language when describing the “evils” of intemperance on Canadian society.” Cooper, “Doing Battle in Freedom’s Cause,” 327. 77 Noel, Canada Dry, 150; Heron, Booze, 133, 136, 146, 152; “The Maine Liquor Law in Canada,” Frederick Douglass Paper, 20 January 1854. on their own terms 81
to write about down at that office! Every to abolish the use of liquor as a beverage, colored man must be prohibited from drink- it would be a good thing for Canada.”80 ing because one drank freely. Who patronize Canada did not achieve full-fledged the saloons, taverns &c., in this place? Indi- ans and colored men only? No! We believe prohibition until the end of World War 81 in passing a strictly prohibitory law that will I, which demonstrates that not everyone not only prevent Indians and colored men supported legislation. In the 1850s many from getting drunk, but will stop white men African Americans in Canada had just from drinking as well and not only the ‘infe- been emancipated and may have viewed rior’ classes about Chatham, but a drunken 78 legislation as a violation of their rights, Editor occasionally. just as individual temper- Shadd Cary supported ance supporters viewed or- the Maine Liquor Law ganized voluntary temper- and published extensively ance as violating freedom. on the subject. After she It is reasonable to assume stepped down as editor in that they would want to 1856, however, the number take control of their lives; of articles decreased signifi- being under the watchful cantly. Nevertheless, Shadd eye of the policing middle Cary remained loyal to class must not have ap- temperance and continued pealed to them. Still many to support it.79 supported the promising While not as well Mary Ann Shadd Cary. Courte- path of legislation; to them sy of Public Archives of Canada/ known as Shadd Cary, Wil- C 29977; C. Peter Ripley, The it was the only way. liam Henry Bradley openly Black Abolitionist Papers, Vol. supported liquor legisla- II Canada 1830-1865 (Chapel Conclusion Hill: The University of North tion. Bradley, who may Carolina Press, 1986). t is clear that many, di- also be recognized by his Iverse African Canadians slave name Abram Young, was a land were involved in the temperance move- owner and former slave living in Dres- ment and that it occasioned a consider- den, Canada West. When interviewed able amount of cooperation between by the American abolitionist, Benjamin Whites and African Canadians. As a Drew, Bradley said, “If there were a law result, many Blacks became loyal to tem-
78 “INTEMPERANCE,” Provincial Freeman, 26 July 1856. 79 Shadd Cary never joined the WCTU but, after the 1870s, temperance became a dominant theme in her lectures; at her appearances she strongly encouraged her audience to sign the temperance pledge while she sang temperance songs that she wrote. Shadd Cary linked temperance to other causes such as education and women’s suffrage and by 1888, she was still lecturing on temperance. Rhodes,Mary Ann Shadd Cary, 198-99; “For the attention of all temperance reformers...,” Provincial Freeman, 28 March 1857. 80 Drew, The Refugee, 312-13. 81 Heron, Booze, 151. 82 ONTARIO HISTORY
perance principles. Eager to gain respect, Temperance in Canada affected visit- advance economically and combat preju- ing African Americans. They experienced dice, they embraced temperance, whether activism outside of a pro-slavery society as individuals, as voluntary members of a and developed new approaches and ideas society, or as champions of legal enforce- that they could take back to the US. Can- ment. ada became a showcase for Black achieve- In many cases, Black leaders, regard- ment and respectability. less of class, who were active in other Many scholars have overlooked or freedom causes such as anti-slavery and underestimated the role of African Ca- moral reform, also strongly supported nadians in the temperance movement. temperance. Thus temperance too be- This article helps develop another aspect came a path to freedom–moral, social of Canadian and Black history while and political freedom. Through it Blacks creating an additional link to African- could show, by example, that they de- American history. It also demonstrates served both liberty and citizenship. And that Blacks were deeply concerned with by choosing for themselves not to drink critical issues once associated only with they could gain both self-respect and the Whites. Temperance reform gave Afri- approval of the African Canadian com- can Canadians the opportunity to fight munity as a whole. for a cause significant to their race.