DOCSLIB.ORG

Cumberland and the Slavery Issue Sally A

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Cumberland and the Slavery Issue Sally A Maine State Library Maine State Documents Cumberland Books Cumberland, Maine 10-27-2017 Cumberland and the Slavery Issue Sally A. Merrill Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalmaine.com/cumberland_books Recommended Citation Merrill, Sally A., "Cumberland and the Slavery Issue" (2017). Cumberland Books. 62. http://digitalmaine.com/cumberland_books/62 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Cumberland, Maine at Maine State Documents. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cumberland Books by an authorized administrator of Maine State Documents. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cumberland and the Slavery Issue (1830-1865): Facts, Legends, and Context Sally A. Merrill Cumberland and the Slavery Issue Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii Preface v Part One: What are the known facts about status of slavery in Maine? 1 How did slavery in Maine differ from slavery in the South? 4 Part Two: How did Cumberland residents learn about the slavery issue? 5 Newspapers 6 Speakers 7 William Lloyd Garrison 7 Samuel Fessenden 8 Reverend Austin Willey 9 Reverend Oren Burbank Cheney 10 Francis O. J. Smith 11 Frederick Douglass 13 Henry Bibb 14 Frances Ellen Watkins Harper 15 Eyewitness accounts 16 Political parties 19 Presidential politics and responses to slavery issues, 1828-1856 24 Mainers involved in slavery events with national ramifications 40 Atticus Case: a fugitive 41 Elijah Parish Lovejoy: abolitionist 41 Nathaniel Gordon: slaver 44 Clifton Harris: murderer? 47 Part Three: How did Cumberland residents respond to the slavery issue? 48 Position of church 48 Response to “Strangers” 53 Underground Railroad 56 Voting records 58 Congressional District Two 58 Chart One: District votes for Congressional representative, 1833-1871 62 Gubernatorial contests 64 Rise and fall of Governor Smith, 1829-1833 65 Emergence of Jacksonian Democrats, 1833-1837 66 Seesaw between Kent and Fairfield, 1837-1842 69 Decade of Democratic rule, 1841-1851 73 Parties Splinter and Realign, 1852-1860 78 Chart Two: Cumberland votes for Governor, 1833-1871 99 Summary of Voting trends in Cumberland 102 Ambivalence and voter vacillation in Cumberland 112 Part Four: Conclusions 114 Timeline 149 Bibliography 183 ii Cumberland and the Slavery Issue Acknowledgements This examination of Cumberland and the Slavery Issue 1830-1865 has been made possible through the generous support of a training grant from Goodwill Industries. Under the auspices of Prince Memorial Library and its director Thomas Bennett, the purpose of this grant is to provide sufficient training so that the recipient eventually can continue on his or her own. The project is designed to provide community service. This program is known as the Senior Community Service Employment Program, and in the State of Maine, it is operated by Goodwill Industries of Northern New England. Insofar as possible, I have used primary source material. Among this material, I have examined Cumberland Town Meeting Records, Volume I (1821-1851) and Volume II (1851- 1898). From these records, I have designed two charts depicting how Cumberland voters cast ballots for Congressional Representative from District Two and Governor (1833-1871). In addition, I have included direct quotations from newspapers of that period. It is important to remember that although Cumberland seemed to be a small, rural community somewhat isolated from the issues of the day, it was also the home of early families who played a decisive role in local and state politics. Even these early families were divided on the issue of slavery. As a student of history, I can never be certain I have captured events and motives as they actually were. Events thirty to forty years prior to Civil War are many generations removed from the present day. Recognizing my imperfect knowledge of prevailing conditions, I focus on key questions, relevant for the current generation. The Narrative is organized around three key questions. The Timeline provides a chronological of relevant events. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. In preparing this material, I have reflected on the legacy of my two grandfathers, both born in Cumberland, and both connected with events of this period. My paternal grandfather, Wallace Lincoln Merrill (1865-1947), lived his entire life in Cumberland. By trade, he was a farmer and a “building contractor.” As such, he built many homes, barns, and sheds in the town and adjacent communities. A man of few words, he was steeped in the values of hard work, honesty, and fairness. As a child, I reveled in his hearty laughter. Disciplined and dedicated to the temperance movement, he led his life in harmony with the values of his namesake, Abraham Lincoln. iii Cumberland and the Slavery Issue My maternal grandfather, Harry Percy Sweetser (1873-1952) grew up in Cumberland, and later became a lawyer with offices on Exchange Street in Portland. He “read the law” with lawyers having links to abolitionists Samuel Fessenden and Francis O. J. Smith. His first born son, he named Douglass in honor of Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist and statesman. His only daughter, he named for Clara Sturdivant Sweetser, his foster mother who served as a station- master for the Underground Railroad in Cumberland. To the memory of these two grandfathers, this manuscript is dedicated. iv Cumberland and the Slavery Issue Preface Why is the issue of slavery still so important? The Civil War (1861-1865) has ended. The system of slavery has been abolished by law. And yet, repercussions still reverberate today. What lingers is racial profiling. Today, it takes the form of prejudice not only against Blacks, but also against Muslims and Immigrants. We are reminded of George Santayana’s warning, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Chiming in with a bleaker view, Eugene O’Neill observed, “there is no present, no future, only the past happening over and over again.” Prejudice is not an accident. It has causes and consequences. Often prejudice is accumulated generation after generation until we recognize it for what it is and discover how to break through its barriers. Often prejudice persists because we are unwilling to abandon ingrained views. Sometimes it persists because we are unaware our views reflect prejudice. Significantly, prejudice is something that can be eliminated. However, it will persist until we realize its roots and eradicate them. The aim of this narrative is to examine, insofar as can be determined, the slavery issue, how it influenced residents of Maine and especially how it influenced residents of Cumberland. To that end, three basic questions are considered. First, what are the known facts about the status of slavery in Maine? When, where, and who in Maine was involved? How well were slaves integrated into society, namely schools and churches? How did slavery in Maine differ from slavery in the South? Second, how did residents learn about slavery? Viewing the slavery issue through the perspective of newspaper editors, itinerant speakers, eyewitness accounts, political party leaders, and presidential politics, Cumberland residents garnered information from secondary sources. Occasionally, slavery events involving Maine residents would have national ramifications, and invariably these events would reach the attention of Cumberland residents. Third, how did residents respond to the issue of slavery? In word and deed, how did Cumberland residents respond to the slavery issue? The evolving position of the church and its pastors indicate shifting positions, as events unfolded and passions intensified. Early responses to “strangers” such as Native Americans were imbedded in family oral traditions, and easily were passed down from generation to generation. For several residents, the Underground Railroad offered an opportunity to help fugitive slaves. Finally, Cumberland’s voting records for Governor and Congressional Representative for District Two suggest trends in party identification, party disintegration, and realignment, each of which was influenced by the v Cumberland and the Slavery Issue slavery issue. To facilitate organization of the material, two charts are presented, one for Cumberland’s Congressional vote (1830-1865) and one for its gubernatorial vote. Events happen in sequence, amid a steady stream of changing circumstances subjected to cross-currents. To provide a context for this sequence of events, a Timeline is provided at the end of the narrative. By reviewing the chronological sequence, new connections, causal and non-causal, may be discovered. In conclusion, this is a story of two world views colliding: pro-slavery and anti-slavery. After identifying these views, what lessons are learned? Alas, lessons are repeated until they are learned. Patterns of prejudice persist until they are identified and eliminated. We may ignore the past or we may deny it, but no one can escape it. This is a study of a tempestuous period, in which we witness mob riots, hangings, and vitriolic arguments. Recognized or not, causes and consequences prevail. We revisit the past in order to release it. While it is painful to reflect on so much suffering, these reflections are helpful in explaining past discrimination, avoiding such misdeeds in the present, and moving forward toward the future. ……………………………………………………………. Just inside the gates of the Unitarian Church in Charleston, South Carolina, is a slab of salvaged bricks. Attached to the front is a metal bird looking backwards. The plaque explains that this bird is a West African symbol which means “learning from the past in order to move forward.” The inscription dedicates the slab of salvaged bricks to “the enslaved workers who made these bricks and helped build our church.” vi Cumberland and the Slavery Issue Cumberland and the Slavery Issue Why is it so important to understand the Slavery Issue? During the nineteenth century, no issue was more divisive. This is true for the nation at large. This is also true for the state of Maine and for residents of Cumberland. Different parts of the country and different parts of the community responded very differently.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Summer Newsletter Museum LA Final.Indd
    VOICES Newsletter of Museum L-A Summer 2018 See page 6 to learn more about this artwork Tourism in Lewiston-Auburn? Members of the Gendron Franco Center We are already there! and Museum L-A met to review the Franco assets that exist in the area that Many people don’t realize that between could be featured in the trail, including Bates College, Museum L-A, the the Franco Center, The Basilica, Little Gendron Franco Center, and the Public Canada, the University of Southern Theatre—not to mention our numerous Maine L-A’s Franco Collection, the Maine festivals, cultural happenings, and Genealogical Society, and Museum L-A. sporting events—we already host tens of thousands of tourists annually that Simultaneously, a Francophone inject millions of dollars into our local tourism route was being developed by the Museum of Work and Culture in economy. in each city is being developed that Woonsocket, Rhode Island to include will include historical places, cultural Woonsocket; Manchester, New Now a new initiative to capitalize on centers, local hotels, restaurants, annual Hampshire; Biddeford and Lewiston/ the beautiful history of the Franco events and Chambers of Commerce. Auburn, Maine; and north to Quebec. population is underway. After attending We will keep you updated as these It was felt that these four cities were the International Francophone/ exciting opportunities develop, but connected by a common history: textile Francophile Conference in Quebec you may start seeing more bus tours industrialization that permitted many last summer, a local group felt it was appearing in our cities in the near future! important to develop its own Franco Quebecois to immigrate to these areas Trail in Lewiston-Auburn.
    [Show full text]
  • African American Literature in Transition, 1850–1865
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-42748-7 — African American Literature in Transition Edited by Teresa Zackodnik Frontmatter More Information AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE IN TRANSITION, – The period of – consists of violent struggle and crisis as the United States underwent the prodigious transition from slaveholding to ostensibly “free” nation. This volume reframes mid-century African American literature and challenges our current understand- ings of both African American and American literature. It presents a fluid tradition that includes history, science, politics, economics, space and movement, the visual, and the sonic. Black writing was highly conscious of transnational and international politics, textual circulation, and revolutionary imaginaries. Chapters explore how Black literature was being produced and circulated; how and why it marked its relation to other literary and expressive traditions; what geopolitical imaginaries it facilitated through representation; and what technologies, including print, enabled African Americans to pursue such a complex and ongoing aesthetic and political project. is a Professor in the English and Film Studies Department at the University of Alberta, where she teaches critical race theory, African American literature and theory, and historical Black feminisms. Her books include The Mulatta and the Politics of Race (); Press, Platform, Pulpit: Black Feminisms in the Era of Reform (); the six-volume edition African American Feminisms – in the Routledge History of Feminisms series (); and “We Must be Up and Doing”: A Reader in Early African American Feminisms (). She is a member of the UK-based international research network Black Female Intellectuals in the Historical and Contemporary Context, and is completing a book on early Black feminist use of media and its forms.
    [Show full text]
  • Twelve Years a Slave. Narrative
    FIFTH THOUSAND TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE. NARRATIVE OF SOLOMON NORTHUP, A CITIZEN OF NEW-YORK, KIDNAPPED IN WASHINGTON CITY IN 1841, AND RESCUED IN 1853, FROM A COTTON PLANTATION NEAR THE RED RIVER, IN LOUISIANA. AUBURN: DERBY AND MILLER. BUFFALO: DERBY, ORTON AND MULLIGAN. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, SON & COMPANY, 47 LUDGATE HILL. 1853. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, by D E R B Y A N D M ILLER , In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Northern District of New-York. ENTERED IN LONDON AT STATIONERS' HALL. TO HARRIET BEECHER STOWE: WHOSE NAME, THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, IS IDENTIFIED WITH THE GREAT REFORM: THIS NARRATIVE, AFFORDING ANOTHER Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED "Such dupes are men to custom, and so prone To reverence what is ancient, and can plead A course of long observance for its use, That even servitude, the worst of ills, Because delivered down from sire to son, Is kept and guarded as a sacred thing. But is it fit, or can it bear the shock Of rational discussion, that a man Compounded and made up, like other men, Of elements tumultuous, in whom lust And folly in as ample measure meet, As in the bosom of the slave he rules, Should be a despot absolute, and boast Himself the only freeman of his land?" Cowper. [Pg vii] CONTENTS. PAGE. EDITOR'S PREFACE, 15 CHAPTER I. Introductory—Ancestry—The Northup Family—Birth and Parentage—Mintus Northup—Marriage with Anne Hampton—Good Resolutions—Champlain Canal—Rafting Excursion to Canada— Farming—The Violin—Cooking—Removal to Saratoga—Parker and Perry—Slaves and Slavery— The Children—The Beginning of Sorrow, 17 CHAPTER II.
    [Show full text]
  • Wedge-Issue Dynamics and Party Position Shifts: Chinese Exclusion
    Article Party Politics 17(6) 823–847 Wedge-issue dynamics ª The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav and party position shifts: DOI: 10.1177/1354068810376184 Chinese exclusion ppq.sagepub.com debates in the post-Reconstruction US Congress, 1879–1882 Jungkun Seo University of North Carolina, Wilmington, USA Abstract Even when the stakes of party-building are high, political parties often find their members divided over a key policy position. In post-Reconstruction America, the hot-button issue of excluding Chinese immigrant workers strengthened Democratic cohesion while splitting the ‘party of Lincoln’. Previous research has not completely investigated the role of party competition and cohesiveness in paving the way for passage of the Chinese exclusion laws. In this investigation of the legislative politics of banning the Chinese from 1879 to 1882, it is found that cross-pressured members sometimes facilitate party transformation. The evidence demonstrates that partisan responses to potential wedge issues are a previously unnoticed source of explanation of eventual party position changes. Keywords Chinese exclusion laws, party position change, rank-and-file members, wedge issue Paper submitted 4 June 2009; accepted for publication 15 September 2009 Corresponding author: Jungkun Seo, Department of Public and International Affairs, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC 28403, USA. Email: [email protected] 823 824 Party Politics 17(6) ‘Ought we to exclude them? The question lies in my mind thus; either the Anglo Saxon race will possess the Pacific slope or the Mongolians will possess it. We have this day to choose ... whether our legislation shall be in the interest of the American free laborer or for the servile laborer from China.’ Senator James G.
    [Show full text]
  • Anson Burlingame: Diplomat, Orator
    Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research Volume 7 Number 2 JAAER Winter 1997 Article 4 Winter 1997 Anson Burlingame: Diplomat, Orator Tim Brady [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/jaaer Scholarly Commons Citation Brady, T. (1997). Anson Burlingame: Diplomat, Orator. Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research, 7(2). Retrieved from https://commons.erau.edu/jaaer/vol7/iss2/4 This Forum is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Brady: Anson Burlingame: Diplomat, Orator FORUM ANSON BURLINGAME: DIPLOMAT, ORATOR Tim Brady Like a previous article titled "Cross-Cultural Underpinnings of the Taiping Rebellion: Potential Modem Applications" (Brady, 1993), this article too is somewhat out of step with the mainstream of information normally presented in JAAER, but in this author's opinion it is an important deviation. Why? Because it looks into the essential character of an important civilization that we know very little about, the Chinese, and it provides a glimpse of what happened in the past when our two cultures came into significant contact. The relevance of this paper to aviation is that it posts warning signs as to what can happen if we are not properly prepared to deal with that great civilization on terms that are mutually beneficial. As reported in Aviation Week and Space Technology, China is expected to have the highest growth in air traffic of all Asian countries in the firsthalf of the next decade (Mecham, 1993).
    [Show full text]
  • Can Words Lead to War?
    Middle School Uncle Tom’s Cabin Inquiry Can Words Lead to War? Full-page illustration from first edition Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Hammatt Billings. Available in Uncle Tom’s Cabin & American Culture. Supporting Questions 1. How did Harriet Beecher Stowe describe slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin? 2. What led Harriet Beecher Stowe to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin? 3. How did northerners and southerners react to Uncle Tom’s Cabin? 4. How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin affect abolitionism? THIS WORK IS LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION- NONCOMMERCIAL- SHAREALIKE 4.0 INTERNATIONAL LICENSE. 1 Middle School Uncle Tom’s Cabin Inquiry Can Words Lead to War? Framework for Summary Objective 12: Students will understand the growth of the abolitionist movement in the Teaching American 1830s and the Southern view of the movement as a physical, economic and political threat. Slavery Consider the power of words and examine a video of students using words to try to bring about Staging the Question positive change. Supporting Question 1 Supporting Question 2 Supporting Question 3 Supporting Question 4 How did Harriet Beecher What led Harriet Beecher How did people in the How did Uncle Tom’s Stowe describe slavery in Stowe to write Uncle North and South react to Cabin affect abolitionism? Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Tom’s Cabin? Uncle Tom’s Cabin? Formative Formative Formative Formative Performance Task Performance Task Performance Task Performance Task Complete a source analysis List four quotes from the Make a T-chart comparing Participate in a structured chart to write a summary sources that point to the viewpoints expressed discussion regarding the of Uncle Tom’s Cabin that Stowe’s motivation and in northern and southern impact Uncle Tom’s Cabin includes main ideas and write a paragraph newspaper reviews of had on abolitionism.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Catalog
    Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Inc. Catalog 183 Holiday/Winter 2020 HANDSOME BOOKS IN LEATHER GOOD HISTORY -- IDEAL AS HOLIDAY GIFTS FOR YOURSELF OR OTHERS A. Badeau, Adam. MILITARY HISTORY OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, FROM APRIL 1861 TO APRIL 1865. New York: 1881. 2nd ed.; 3 vol., illus., all maps. Later full leather; gilt titled and decorated spines; marbled endsheets. The military secretary of the Union commander tells the story of his chief; a detailed, sympathetic account. Excellent; handsome. $875.00 B. Beveridge, Albert J. ABRAHAM LINCOLN 1809-1858. Boston: 1928. 4 vols. 1st trade edition in the Publisher’s Presentation Binding of ½-tan leather w/ sp. labels; deckled edges. This work is the classic history of Lincoln’s Illinois years -- and still, perhaps, the finest. Excellent; lt. rub. only. Set of Illinois Governor Otto Kerner with his library “name” stamp in each volume. $750.00 C. Draper, William L., editor. GREAT AMERICAN LAWYERS: THE LIVES AND INFLUENCE OF JUDGES AND LAWYERS WHO HAVE ACQUIRED PERMANENT NATIONAL REPUTATION AND HAVE DEVELOPED THE JURISPRUDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES. Phila.: John Winston Co.,1907. #497/500 sets. 8 volumes; ¾-morocco; marbled boards/endsheets; raised bands; leather spine labels; gilt top edges; frontis.; illus. Marshall, Jay, Hamilton, Taney, Kent, Lincoln, Evarts, Patrick Henry, and a host of others have individual chapters written about them by prominent legal minds of the day. A handsome set that any lawyer would enjoy having on his/her shelf. Excellent. $325.00 D. Freeman, Douglas Southall. R. E. LEE: A BIOGRAPHY. New York, 1936. “Pulitzer Prize Edition” 4 vols., fts., illus., maps.
    [Show full text]
  • Catalogue of the Athenaean Society of Bowdoin College
    The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Maine History Documents Special Collections 1844 Catalogue of the Athenaean Society of Bowdoin College Athenaean Society (Bowdoin College) Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistory Part of the History Commons This Monograph is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maine History Documents by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Pamp 285 CATALOGUE OF THE ATHENANE SOCIETY BOWDOIN COLLEGE. INSTITUTED M DCCC XVII~~~INCORFORATED M DCCC XXVIII. BRUNSWICK: PRESS OF JOSEPH GRIFFIN. 1844. RAYMOND H. FOGLER LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF MAINE ORONO, MAINE from Library Number, OFFICERS OF THE GENERAL SOCIETY. Presidents. 1818 LEVI STOWELL . 1820 1820 JAMES LORING CHILD . 1821 1821 *WILLIAM KING PORTER . 1822 1822 EDWARD EMERSON BOURNE . 1823 1823 EDMUND THEODORE BRIDGE . 1825 1825 JAMES M’KEEN .... 1828 1828 JAMES LORING CHILD . 1829 1829 JAMES M’KEEN .... 1830 1830 WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN . 1833 1833 PATRICK HENRY GREENLEAF . 1835 1835 *MOSES EMERY WOODMAN . 1837 1837 PHINEHAS BARNES . 1839 1839 WILLIAM HENRY ALLEN . 1841 1841 HENRY BOYNTON SMITH . 1842 1842 DANIEL RAYNES GOODWIN * Deceased. 4 OFFICERS OF THE Vice Presidents. 1821 EDWARD EMERSON BOURNE . 1822 1822 EDMUND THEODORE BRIDGE. 1823 1823 JOSIAH HILTON HOBBS . 1824 1824 ISRAEL WILDES BOURNE . 1825 1825 CHARLES RICHARD PORTER . 1827 1827 EBENEZER FURBUSH DEANE . 1828 In 1828 this office was abolished. Corresponding Secretaries. 1818 CHARLES RICHARD PORTER . 1823 1823 SYLVANUS WATERMAN ROBINSON . 1827 1827 *MOSES EMERY WOODMAN . 1828 In 1828 this office was united with that of the Recording Secretary.
    [Show full text]
  • An Investigation Into British Neutrality During the American Civil War 1861-65
    AN INVESTIGATION INTO BRITISH NEUTRALITY DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 1861-65 BY REBECCA CHRISTINE ROBERTS-GAWEN A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MA by Research Department of History University of Birmingham November 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract This thesis sought to investigate why the British retained their policy of neutrality throughout the American Civil War, 1861-65, and whether the lack of intervention suggested British apathy towards the conflict. It discovered that British intervention was possible in a number of instances, such as the Trent Affair of 1861, but deliberately obstructed Federal diplomacy, such as the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. This thesis suggests that the British public lacked substantial and sustained support for intervention. Some studies have suggested that the Union Blockade of Southern ports may have tempted British intervention. This thesis demonstrates how the British sought and implemented replacement cotton to support the British textile industry. This study also demonstrates that, by the outbreak of the Civil War, British society lacked substantial support for foreign abolitionists’’ campaigns, thus making American slavery a poorly supported reason for intervention.
    [Show full text]
  • Afua Cooper, "Ever True to the Cause of Freedom – Henry Bibb
    Ever True to the Cause of Freedom Henry Bibb: Abolitionist and Black Freedom’s Champion, 1814-1854 Afua Cooper Black abolitionists in North America, through their activism, had a two-fold objective: end American slavery and eradicate racial prejudice, and in so doing promote race uplift and Black progress. To achieve their aims, they engaged in a host of pursuits that included lecturing, fund-raising, newspaper publishing, writing slave narratives, engaging in Underground Railroad activities, and convincing the uninitiated to do their part for the antislavery movement. A host of Black abolitionists, many of whom had substantial organizational experience in the United States, moved to Canada in the three decades stretching from 1830 to 1860. Among these were such activists as Henry Bibb, Mary Bibb, Martin Delany, Theodore Holly, Josiah Henson, Mary Ann Shadd, Samuel Ringgold Ward, J.C. Brown and Amelia Freeman. Some like Henry Bibb were escaped fugitive slaves, others like J.C. Brown had bought themselves out of slavery. Some like Amelia Freeman and Theodore Holly were free-born Blacks. None has had a more tragic past however than Henry Bibb. Yet he would come to be one of the 19th century’s foremost abolitionists. At the peak of his career, Bibb migrated to Canada and made what was perhaps his greatest contribution to the antislavery movement: the establishment of the Black press in Canada. This discussion will explore Bibb’s many contributions to the Black freedom movement but will provide a special focus on his work as a newspaper founder and publisher. Henry Bibb was born in slavery in Kentucky around 1814.1 Like so many other African American slaves, Bibb’s parentage was biracial.
    [Show full text]
  • The Pine Cone, Autumn 1949
    AUTUMN, 1949 25 Cents (A privately supported, state-wide, non-partisan, non-profit organization for the promotion and development of Maine’s agricultural, industrial and recreational resources.) 1949 AUTUMN 1949 Jn 7lU J* Page M a in e “ P o in t s T h e W a y ” Richard A. Hebert 3 The story of the “Boost Maine” movement Governors Of Maine, 1860-1900 Reginald E. Carles 11 Further life sketches in Maine's history T h e Jackson Laboratory .... Dr. Clarence C. Little 16 Disaster serves a noted cause A mos Solves A T horny Problem .. John C. Page, Jr. 21 Another epic by our Outdoors in Maine Editor So You T h in k You K now Ma in e ? Stanley B. Attwood 24 More quiz questions with answers Maine Summer Events, 1949 .........William A. Hatch 25 Pictorial review of the Season’s highlights A round T he Cracker Barrel . Elizabeth A. Mason 30 Statewide ramblings M in s t r e l s y Of M a in e . Edited by Sheldon Christian 33 Poetic inspiration in the Pine Tree State Famous Maine Re c ip e s ...................... June L. Maxfield 38 Maine A u t u m n ........... Pearl LeBaron Libby Back Cover THE PINE CONE AUTUMN, 1949 VOL. 5, NO. 3 Published Quarterly by THE STATE OF MAINE PUBLICITY BUREAU PORTLAND . KITTERY . BANGOR . NEW YORK a Main Office: 3 St. John St., Portland, 4 Maine GUY P. BUTLER RICHARD A. HEBERT Executive Manager Editorial Manager PINE CONE SUBSCRIPTION: $1 A YEAR (Printed in Maine on Maine-made Paper) Maine “Points The Way” By Richard A.
    [Show full text]
  • Luke F. Parsons White
    GO TO LIST OF PEOPLE INVOLVED IN HARPERS FERRY VARIOUS PERSONAGES INVOLVED IN THE FOMENTING OF RACE WAR (RATHER THAN CIVIL WAR) IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HDT WHAT? INDEX RACE WAR, NOT CIVIL WAR HDT WHAT? INDEX RACE WAR, NOT CIVIL WAR Luke Fisher Parsons was a free-state fighter seasoned in “Bleeding Kansas.” He took part in the battle of Black Jack near Baldwin City on June 2d, 1856, the battle of Osawatomie on August 30th, 1856, and the raid on Iowa during Winter 1857/1858. His name “L.F. Parsons” was among the signatories to “Provisional Constitution and Ordinances for the People of the United States,” per a document in John Brown’s handwriting that would be captured when the raiders were subdued at Harpers Ferry. He had gone off toward a supposed Colorado gold rush and, summoned by letters from Brown and Kagi, did not manage to make it back to take part in the raid on the federal arsenal, or to attempt to rescue the prisoners once they were waiting to be hanged, at the jail in Charlestown, Virginia. He started a family and lived out a long life as a farmer in Salina, Kansas. HDT WHAT? INDEX RACE WAR, NOT CIVIL WAR THOSE INVOLVED, ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY SECRET “SIX” Person’s Name On Raid? Shot Dead? Hanged? His Function Age Race Charles Francis Adams, Sr. No No No Finance white Charles Francis Adams, Sr. subscribed to the racist agenda of Eli Thayer’s and Amos Lawrence’s New England Emigrant Aid Company, for the creation of an Aryan Nation in the territory then well known as “Bleeding Kansas,” to the tune of $25,000.
    [Show full text]