THE GERMANTOWN PROTEST AND AFRO- GERMAN RELATIONS IN AND BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR

German- and abolitionism — if ment in Maryland and most recently by one believes the history books — are syn- LaVerne J. Rippley. Both authors differen- onymous. Motivated by their own experiences tiate the anti-slavery attitudes of the older in Europe, German immigrants reportedly German migration (pre-1800's) from that of were repulsed by the proliferation of slavery the group which arrived as refugees from the in the new homeland and both actively and political turmoil of the 1840's.1 If the German- passively opposed what they considered an town Protest has value as a source document inhumane system. One measure of their pas- for German anti-slavery sentiment then one sive anti-slavery activity was a refusal to might expect some sort of casual relationship exploit the labor of Africans in any form. The between the Protest and German-Black inter- popular histories, that is, the textbooks util- actions between 1700-1860. ized to teach American history in our schools, When the Germanic settlers arrived in state unequivocally that as a group Pennsylvania in 1683 Africans and African did not own slaves. Increasingly, the German- slavery had already been present in the Dela- town Protest is used to explain the origins of ware Valley for at least four decades. In Mary- this humanitarian struggle against popular land it had been tolerated since at least 1642.2 opinion and convention. In both areas African laborers had been One need not be a professional historian to obtained, presumably from the flourishing discover how deeply slavery was rooted in the seventeenth century slave trade that con- American system both before and after the tinued the process begun in the sixteenth cen- creation of the Bill of Rights. Slavery and the tury of depopulating Western Africa to meet issue of equal rights for Blacks were and are the labor needs of Spanish and Portuguese the political controversy that threatened the New World colonies. The establishment of Constitutional Convention, engendered the English colonies in North America did Fugitive Slave Acts of 1797 and 1850, necessi- nothing to impede or reduce the spread and tated the Missouri Compromise and the growth of this trade in human beings. Compromise of 1850, contributed to the out- Quaker Pennsylvania also required labor- break of the Civil War, and precipitated the ers and embraced slavery as a convenient Civil Rights Movement which in recent years solution. In 1684 a consignment of one has floundered because it has collided with hundred-fifty slaves was sold to the highest the bedrock problem of economic justice. bidders in Philadelphia3 and slavery began its Within that context, the Germantown Protest slow but steady infiltration of all levels of would seem to have been the most important colonial society. From a prerequisite for sur- document for Black Americans before the vival of the colony, slavery soon evolved into a Declaration of Independence and the Consti- status symbol, an outward sign of wealth and tution itself. So it would seem. position. At that point it had become so In the following I propose to re-examine intertwined with Pennsylvania's social fabric the Germantown Protest from the perspective that its removal was unthinkable and fraught of its impact on Afro-German relations in with the danger of extensive social disruption. Pennsylvania and Maryland during the suc- The Germantowners arrived early in this ceeding two centuries, up to the Civil War. process and thus witnessed the rapid prolifer- Specifically, I am interested in testing a ation of Africans and slavery. Their reaction hypothesis formulated forty years ago by was the Germantown Protest. It is misleading, Dieter Cunz in his book on the German ele- however, to read a special empathy for Afri-

[ 23 ] cans into that document. The German- not as much right to fight for their freedom, towners' condemnation of slavery was moti- as you have to keep them slaves? vated in part by self-interest. Slaves were These protesters argue here very pragmat- unpaid laborers and as members of a ically. working-class settlement the Germantowners The spectre of slave revolt — a not un- were understandably apprehensive at the common phenomenon in the Spanish and prospect of a large pool of cheap labor with Portuguese colonies — was an intimidating which they would have to compete. prospect. But potentially even more threaten- Furthermore, although the protesters use ing to Quakers was the likelihood that such the Golden Rule to argue cogently against the revolts could test Quaker commitment to paci- inhumanity of involuntary servitude, their fism as a way of life. In effect the German- underlying perception of Africans is not towners were saying that slavery was not only entirely free of ego-and ethnocentrism. The morally wrong but its presence created a situa- core of their argument is contained in the tion which would ultimately challenge a basic following passage:4 tenet of the Society of Friends, possibly de- You surpass Holland and in this stroying in the process the source of that thing. This makes an ill report in all those group's moral authority. Self-interest was an Countries of Europe, where they hear off that important motivation for the protest because ye Quakers doe here handle men licke they some of the Germantowners were beginning handle there ye Cattel. And for that reason some have no mind or inclination to come to identify themselves with the Society of hither, and who shall maintaine this your Friends as is manifest in the audience chosen cause or plaid for it? for the protest. A second motive — concern The oblique reference to Holland and Ger- for the plight of the African — is not as many was intended as a comparison. Dutch uncomplicated or unambiguous as historians and German traders had been engaged in the would have us believe. slave trade for some time but to the The text of the protest provides brief Germantowners Quaker involvement far 5 glimpses of the Germantowners' attitude exceeded that of the other groups. Appar- towards Africans. A central concept is the ently, it was not only the intensity of Quaker notion of servitude. Coming from Central involvement in the trade that was disturbing Europe the Germantowners were well ac- but also its proximity to Germantown that quainted with servitude. Seldom still existed prompted the protest. there as well as the ever present danger of The Germantowners would have us believe that Quaker involvement in the slave trade enslavement from marauding Turks. This was turning public opinion against Pennsyl- experiential background lent added fervor to the protest's denunciation of involuntary vania in some parts of Europe. As a conse- 7 quence, potential colonists were reconsider- servitude: ing whether or not they should emigrate There is a saying that we shall do to all men, there. A reduction in the flow of colonists to licke we will be done our selves; making no difference of what generation, descent or Pennsylvania was certainly not a prospect Colour they are. And those who steal or robb which the colonial government would wel- men, and those who buy or purchase them, come. The Germantowners had an even direr are they not all alicke? Here is liberty of con- prediction should the slave trade not cease:6 science, whch is right & reasonable/likewise If once these slaves (wch they say are so liberty of ye body./ But to bring men hither, wicked and stubbern men) should joint them- or to robb and sell them against their will, we selves, fight for their freedom and handel stand against. their masters & mastrisses as they did handel These are strong sentiments indeed. them before; will these masters & mastrisses But what sort of men were these enslaved tacke the sword at hand & warr against these Africans? As noted above, the German- poor slaves, licke wee are able to believe, some towners believed many of them to be will not refuse to doe? Or have these negers "wicked" and "stubborn." This mildly nega-

[ 24 ] tive characterization is strengthened by a tell- usage clearly indicates at least tacit accept- ing reference to the Africans: "Now tho' they ance of the ethnocentrism then current in are black, we cannot conceive there is more contacts between Europeans and dark- liberty to have them slaves, as it is to have skinned races. More significantly, it signals an other white ones."8 Color is a critical issue for ambivalence in the perception of Africans the Germantowners. Their demand is for fair that would influence future contacts between treatment despite the Africans' skin color — at the two groups. least a tacit recognition that skin color can The Protest's latent ambivalence stems in negatively affect social status. Equally interest- part from the fact that it was intended for ing is the term used to identify the Africans. internal rather than public discussion. The African identity has been a controversial Yearly Meeting's minutes show subject for centuries. Racism decreed an infer- clearly that for almost three generations the ior role for all people of color and therefore question of slavery was discussed in the as recently as 1941 in his The Myth of the Negro Monthly Meetings without any resolution Past Melville J. Herskovits felt compelled to until the two decades before the Revolution- defend the notion that Egyptians were Afri- ary War when the Quaker leadership in Penn- cans and that dark-skinned races were capa- sylvania successfully curtailed Quaker in- ble of creating great civilizations such as the volvement in the slave trade by disowning all Egyptian. The Germantowners were obviously offenders against this self-imposed ban. aware of the danger of using race to stigma- A similar development among Maryland's tize individuals but nevertheless referred to Friends was not completed until 1780,11 the Africans as "negers." year in which Pennsylvania began the process The word "neger" uses, of course, color as of phasing out its slave population by enact- the sole designation of racial group. Other ing the Gradual Abolition Act. racial groups are identified by a region where German involvement in this early anti- they allegedly originated. The etymology of slavery activity was minimal. Indeed in 1844 "neger" is also very instructive. A quick glance when the existence of the Protest was "dis- in Grimm's Deutsches Wörterbuch confirms that covered",12 Quakers presented it as a Quaker the word used most frequently to refer to Afri- document and as early evidence of their anti- cans by Germans before 1800 was "Mohr."9 slavery activity. That action ignored, of There was, however, some confusion in the course, the fact that the protest was directed use of the term since it was applied indiscrim- against Quaker merchants who bought, sold, inately to refer to Ethiopians, Turks, North and used slaves. With the exception of an Africans, and to a lesser extent to dark- editorial in Christopher Sauer II's German- skinned Sub-Saharan peoples — the latter town newspaper "Pennsylvania Berichte" groups were relatively unknown in Europe from 1761, evidence of German-Black rela- before 1600. It is worth noting that according tions can be extrapolated only by an analysis to Grimm the term "Neger" first came into of diverse information sources such as church common German usage near the end of the records, newspapers, court records, census eighteenth century when it found its way as a returns, and — in the case of Frederick French loan word into Johann Christoph County, Maryland — Jacob Engelbrecht's Adelung's dictionary. marvelously detailed record of daily life in The Germantowners' use of the word Frederick during the Antebellum Period. "neger" could indicate either English or Let us then extract some information from Dutch influence. The Oxford English Dic- these sources. Surveying the entire period tionary documents the use of the word under discussion, one is stuck not just by the "negro" as early as 1555 when it was used as a coexistence of Blacks and Germans but also synonym for "Ethiopian."10 Whatever the by the variety of their interactions. Moravian, source of their term, the Germantowners' Lutheran, and Reformed Church records

[ 25 ] from both Pennsylvania and Maryland doc- dorf on his return to Germany in 1743 and ument a significant Black presence. It is not died the next year in Marienborn.15 always clear whether the Blacks listed in those Even Moravian philanthropy had over- records were accepted as members of the var- tones of ambivalence. In volume one of "The ious congregations, but they were unques- Bethelhem Diary," the minutes of the meet- tionably baptized, married, and buried by the ings of the congregation council between clergymen of those churches. A few brief ci- 174244, the protocol for October 31/Novem- tations from several churches in both states ber 11, 1742, contains a very revealing can perhaps illustrate the range and depth of passage:16 Black involvement in German churches dur- It was further proposed to get rid of our white ing the period. hired hands, because to present they have The Moravian settlement at Bethelhem, behaved so arrogantly and insolently. And Pennsylvania, exemplifies one aspect of Afro- should we be compelled to keep hired hands, it would be preferable to buy Negroes from St. German interaction that was transatlantic in Thomas and employ them as regular servants nature. Among the residents there in the who would receive wages, to show Pennsylva- 1740's was:13 nia and a conscientious author, who in his Andrew, alias York, alias Ofodobendo writing has opposed slavekeeping, how one Wooma, a native of Ibo, Guinea. Baptized at can treat even Negroes. Bethelhem 1746, and presented to Span- We would always simply deceive ourselves genberg by Thomas Noble of New York. He should we have dealings with such people married Magdalen alias Beulah Brockden, a with the laudable intention of converting native of Great Popo, Guinea. Died at Bethel- them. hem, March 1779. No one becomes converted in a state of This terse notice is complemented by a refer- servitude; such folk seek their own advantage 14 and harbor false designs. ence to another Andrew. The second If one should wish to help people pay off Andrew apparently played an important role their debts one should do so out of pity and as in the history of the Moravians. A slave on St. an act of mercy, and then let them go their Thomas in the Danish West Indies, Andrew way again. came to Denmark as the possession of a Court This homespun pragmatism is perhaps a Laurwig around 1730. There Count Zinzen- humane way of not exploiting the misfor- dorf, spiritual leader of the Moravians, tunes of others, but it gives an unsympathetic reportedly made his acquaintance and had view of Blacks. This Moravian brother, and him brought to his estate at Herrnhut. perhaps the entire council, obviously consid- In Herrnhut Andrew so eloquently repre- ered Blacks to be a deprived and thus sented the plight of his people on St. Thomas depraved species. Such an attitude, steeped as that the Moravians reportedly were moved to it is in an ambivalent sense of charity, might begin missionary and philanthropic work that easily be transformed into hostility should the would take them to Greenland, Lapland, objects of that charity and pity not adhere to Africa, and the Americas. In the New World, the giver's expected behavioral norms. especially in North America, settlements such Even more importantly, the Moravian as Bethelhem, Nazareth, and Winston Salem experience in Bethelhem leads us to a most were established as operational bases from complex problem: German involvement in which the Moravians launched their fre- slavery. Were Germans slaveholders? If so quently perilous missions to christianize and then to what extent? If one considers the early educate Indians and Africans. Thus a triangle German settlement areas in Pennsylvania exchange came into being. Through their and Maryland, namely, Lancaster, York, missions Moravians and their Africans con- Frederick, and Washington Counties, then we verts moved from the West Indies to Pennsyl- must affirm that Germans were indeed slave- vania, to Germany, and back. Andrew from St. holders but not major slaveholders. Admit- Thomas, for example, lived for a time in tedly, the existing data for those areas during Bethelhem and then accompanied Zinzen- the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is

[ 26 ] too sketchy to render a definitive answer but lated event From 1684 to the appearance of even a cursory glance at the 1790 Census Sauer's editorial in 1761 there are numerous reveals an interesting contradiction of tradi- documented references to Germans and Afri- tional assumptions about Germans and cans in a master-slave relationship. For slaveholding. example, the German Lutheran pioneer John In Pennsylvania in 1790, York and Lancas- Caspar Stoever recorded his baptism of ter Counties had the largest and third largest "Johannes Jung's Negro children" on July 23, slave populations. In fact, 22% of all the slaves 1733 in Schifenthill (Montgomery County?). held in the Commonwealth were housed in Their names were Sybilla, Daniel, Margare- the two counties considered today to be the tha, Ludwig, Jacob, and Johannes and their heart of the Pennsylvania Dutch country. In ages 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, and 5 months.18 Maryland, whose slave population in 1790 of One of the more unusual cases of German 103,036 ranked third among the sixteen slaveholding is that of Gideon Moor,19 the states, only 4.8% of that population was found slave of Rev. George Michael Weiss, who pas- in those counties with a significant German tored at — among others — the New Gosho- population as a result of eighteenth century hoppen Reformed Church in Montgomery migrations. However, the total of 4,927 slaves County. His master died in 1761 and was fol- in Frederick and Washington Counties con- lowed a few years later by his mistress. From trasts markedly with York and Lancaster's the late 1760's up to the eve of the Revolution- total of 847. Of course, not all of the slave- ary War, Gideon and the Goshohoppen con- owners in the four counties were German, gregation were embroiled in one law suit after but a survey of the census comparing slave another. Gideon claimed that his mistress had ownership and German surname shows that willed her house to him which the congrega- in Lancaster and York Boroughs 24 of 59 and tion refuted. There followed a series of nui- 15 of 30 slaves, that is, 41% and 50% respec- sance actions filed by Gideon such as trespass, tively of the salves in those boroughs were malicious mischief, etc. Finally in 1776 owned by individuals with German surnames. Gideon's lawyers tried a new tactic: they pro- Census returns for Frederick County, Mary- posed to prove his right to the property by land's earliest German settlement area, unfor- questioning the validity of the church's tide to tunately do not reflect governmental subdivi- the land. Unfortunately, there seems to be no sions but 115 slaveholders with German record of how the dispute was settled. surnames owned 282 slaves of 7.8% of the A similar set of circumstances can be found total slave population in the County. In in Maryland. Frederick County's Monocracy Washington County 63 slaveholders with Lutheran Church records contain a reference German surnames owned 248 slaves or 19% of to a baptism on May 31,1749 of Jacob, son of the County total of 1,286. Slavery was an aspect "Richard Wosle, Negro,"20 but potentially of Afro-German relations in Pennsylvania more sensational are two references to a cer- and Maryland but what was its origin and tain James who was "of Ethiopian nationality what conclusions can be drawn about the in service with Johannes Hoffmann." This nature of the relationship between master James has two sons baptized on April 13,1743: and slave? one named Samuel and one who was the Perhaps the earliest reference to German illegitimate offspring of a liaison with "the slaveholding in Pennsylvania is a letter writ- white servant girl, Eva Margaretha (surname ten by Cornelius Bom, a former resident of not given), member of the so-called Reformed Philadelphia who joined the Germantown church standing in service with him at settlement. Writing to Rotterdam in 1684 Bom Johannes Hoffman."21 In Colonial America commented on his living arrangements in fornication and bastardy were punishable Germantown by noting: "I have no regular offenses; miscegenation was also. servants except one Negro whom I had The above entries can be multiplied sev- bought."17 Bom's purchase was not an iso- eral times over and found replicated in the

[ 27 ] German congregations at Graceham (Mary- ethnocentrism when they attempt to portray land), Lancaster, York, Hagerstown, etc. It forceful abduction, sale, and involuntary ser- is not surprising therefore that in his Febru- vitude as Christian benevolence vis-a vis a ary 13, 1761, editorial Christopher Sauer primitive race. Such logic files in the face of all commented. we know about the level of culture and civili- It has been noted with dismay that Germans zation in West Africa before and during the [in the area] have gotten involved in the period of European colonial expansion. Also inhumane practice of buying negros because the number of runaway slave advertisements they can no longer have German servants.22 demonstrate the willingness of many Blacks Sauer's consternation was engendered in part to escape bondage whenever the opportunity by German involvement in the slave trade. presented itself. Equally lamentable to his mind was the Maryland newspapers for the Post-Revolu- expansion of the trade itself, Quaker mer- tionary War period are a gold mine of infor- chants seemed on the verge of establishing a mation for local history enthusiasts, genealo- direct link to Africa that might guarantee a gists, and researchers interested in Black veritable flood of slaves. Three ships had history. A typical example of the sort of been sent directly to Africa perhaps in the information to be found is contained in this hope of reducing the time and expense advertisement from the Maryland Journal and involved in having Africans "seasoned" in the Baltimore Advertiser of December 1,1789:23 West Indies. Should this scheme be success- Eight Dollars Reward ful, Sauer feared conditions similar to those in RAN AWAY, from the subscriber on the Night the Carolinas would soon obtain in Pennsyl- of the 18th Inst. a NEGRO WENCH called ELEANOR, alias NELL, but supposed will vania. According to Sauer's report White change her Name, and, probably, call herself Carolinians were so outnumbered by Afri- LINDY: She is about 20 years of Age, about 5 cans that they could not sleep at night for fear Feet 3 Inches high, stout made, bold Look, of slave insurrections. It is interesting to note swallow Complexion, short wooly Hair, the parallels between Sauer's warning and the which is very knotty, has a scar on one of her premonition of the Germantown protesters Cheeks, near the Temple, walks very brisk, understands and can speak German; has a about the dangers of the slave trade. soft Voice, and speaks fast, fond of Dress, and Clearly, Black and Germans experienced has a great Variety of Clothes with her [....] each other at close quarters. Such contacts George P. Keeports much have had some impact on attitudes and Baltimore, November 29,1789 perceptions. Here again the dearth of in- The important bit of information in this depth documentation and an overabundance notice is something that researchers have lar- of minutiae hinder generalization. Obviously gely ignored. In some cases a significant part nothing definitive can be said about Afro- of the acculturation process for Afro- German relations until more research is con- Americans has been the contact with ethnic ducted on individual responses to such con- groups and a resultant need to acquire profi- tacts. Increasing the sample can perhaps ciency in languages other than English. establish patterns which in turn can lead to Where is the research on the Black enclaves hypotheses about group behavior. Three that were proficient in Pennsylvania German? final sources of information provide at least Newspaper advertisements can also shed initial movement in that direction. light on the nature of the master-slave rela- Eighteenth and nineteenth century news- tionship. An appropriate example is the fol- papers from Maryland and Pennsylvania pro- lowing notice from the October 1, 1788, edi- vide useful insights into everyday interactions tion of the Neue Unpartheyische Lancaster of Germans and Blacks. Some, but unfortu- Zeitung: nately not all historians have long since dis- For Sale at a good price with favorable terms carded the myth of slavery's essential benevo- A negress and two beautiful children, lence. Apologists for slavery betray their own A boy and a girl (both duly registered accord-

[ 28 ] ing to the law). The woman is a slave for life, the following remarkable entry in his diary:26 the children are indentured to serve until the "We hold these truths to be self=evident, that age of 28. The woman is herself only 25 years all men are born FREE, that they have been old, able to serve in either the city or the endowed by their creator with certain un= country, she can speak both English and German. Several types of grain, flour, whis- alienable rights among which are Life, Liberty key, or other produce will be accepted at the and the pursuit of happiness" Declera. of prevailing market price as payment and the Independence, I was forceably Struck by the terms made easy for the buyer. Interested above Sentence, this morning, at Seeing a parties can inquire as to price and terms. Ask drove of fellow beings whose chance of birth for the undersigned at the Lancaster hath put them in perpetual Slavery — I mean Courthouse. a set of "Soul-drivers" who in two instances, Salomon Etting two & two hand-cuffed together — Shame, N.B. The negress would prefer to be sold to a Shame for this land of Liberty— "Remember German farmer who lives reasonably close to God the revenger reigns" Lancaster.24 Engelbrecht's anti-slavery sentiment which Generalizations are not feasible on the basis surfaces so forcefully here led him to support of this one advertisement but here is proof the Union cause forty years later. Throughout that the slavery experience was not uniform. his long life he maintained many friendships The slave's opinion was not only solicited but among Frederick's Black community as is evi- also considered in the plans to sell her and dent in the last entry in the diary made by her family. Furthermore, her preference of a Englebrecht's son on the occasion of his German farmer as a future master is signifi- father's death and funeral. It was noted that: cant and indicates a positive attitude at least of "a large number of Colored persons came to pay their last respect, a class among whom he this slave towards Germans. Obviously, more 27 had many friends." material must be gathered before a valid Despite his obvious empathy for Blacks hypothesis can be formulated. there are still unexplained lapses, ambiguities Our third and final source of information is which seem to suggest an ambivalence The Diary of Jacob Engelbrecht (1818-1878). towards Blacks in certain circumstances. On The three volume edition of the diary edited several occasions Englebrecht came forward by Prof. William R. Quynn provides a plethora as a witness to corroborate that this or that of everyday events in Frederick during six Black individual was indeed a free person. decades. Many of the events which Engel- Yet, though he frequently refers to Blacks as brecht noticed or participated in also had "Negroes" or "Colored friends" later in the relevance for Black history. For example in diary — and here the editor is perhaps at fault December 5,1820, he wrote in his diary a list 28 — one finds references to "Darky." Also in of various Blacks who lived in Frederick 1823 after observing the public whipping of a Town. This list documents who owned black man convicted of theft Englebrecht's slaves:25 S almost gleeful remark on the punishment: Schley Jacob Livers Steiners Moses Graham "His dose consisted of 25 pills which were & Philip Mercer S administered by Dr. Jacob Myers Constable Bradley Tyler Daniel Anderson Shrivers 29 Abraham Brightwell 'Honesty is the best policy' " contrasts stran- HelfensteinS William Brown Bealls Robert gely with the empathy displayed elsewhere. S Magruder Taney Equally anomalous is Engelbrecht's lack of Romico Price & Cyrus Jenkins MurdockS Wm. Warfield RossS comment on an event that occurred in Febru- Frederick Hillman PottsS Cornelius Thompson ary 1826. Jacob C. Nicholson, a resident of Here as elsewhere in his diary Engelbrecht's Frederick, punished one of his Black inden- comments are objective and devoid of editor- tured servants, a certain James Toogood age ializing. Occasionally, however, his true feel- seven, by incarcerating him overnight in a ings do rise to the surface. cold closet. Because he was naked, except for On October 19,1822, at 9:00 AM he wrote a shirt, Toogood's legs and feet froze and he

[ 29 ] died eight days later. An inquest was held in brecht describes how a free Black named Frederick Court and after almost ten hours of Thomas Jackson, formerly owned by Ritchie deliberation Nicolson and his wife, who had of Frederick, spoke at the Lutheran church on been tried as an accessory, were both found his experiences in Maryland's African colony not guilty of manslaughter. Other than since 1831. Still the objective observer, Engle- recording the facts, Engelbrecht voiced no brecht remarked on Jackson:" he will find it opinions. difficult, to get those of his own Color, to Similarly, throughout his diary there are believe his Statements, too many of them have many references to events among Frederick's no faith in the Colonization Scheme."31 But free Black community: church events, activi- where does our diarist stand? The answer is ties of various Black organizations such as the silence until April 18,1853 where we find the masons and beneficial societies, and mar- note that "Cornelius Campbell (of Robt) & riages or deaths in the community. Yet, two wife Mary Thomas. Ford & wife Rebecca events that had the greatest impact on free Thom Smith all colored" were leaving that Blacks during the Antebellum period receive afternoon to sail for Liberia. only cursory attention from Engelbrecht. The ambivalence and contradictions which Those events were the urban riots and the we have found in the diary of Jacob Engel- activities of the American Colonization brecht are typical of the entire development Society. On August 14, 1835, for example, it of Afro-German relations since the German- was reported:30 town Protest. During the almost two centuries They had a kind of mob in Baltimore last week between the formulation of the protest and — about the "Poultney Bank" business — it the outbreak of the Civil War it is not possible happened between 7. & 10. of this month.& on to refer to Germans as an ethnic group united Monday or tuesday night, they had a small by commonalities of language, , and Spree in Washington, about the "Nigg" busi- custom. Similarly, it is impossible to comment ness Torn down Several black school houses on Afro-German relations as group interac- & burnt a black Church & c. tions; instead we find a myriad of individual The "'Nigg' business" is a reference in this case to the infamous "Snowhill Riot" of 1835 responses in which numerous discrepancies which sough to destroy the advances made by and contradiction are present. The response free Blacks in Washington, D.C. through wan- of German-speaking individuals of the first ton destruction of property and random vio- migration to the African presence varied from lence directed at individuals. Englebrecht's group to group. comments are remarkably casual. Wealth and standing were an important Just as casual are his references to the factor in so far as only wealthy and socially organization of a branch of the Colonization prominent members of the Lutheran and Society of Friedrick. Although an auxiliary Reformed churches could afford to own was organized there in 1831, as early as August slaves. Moravians, however, bought slaves 13,1825 Engelbrecht reported being present and made them indentured servants with at a lecture given in Frederick's German results such as we have seen. The pietistic Reformed Church by Rev. Ralph R. Gurley, groups such as Dunkards, , and agent of the American Colonization Society. Brethren have no documentable evidence of Lectures given ten days later by Gurley and a stand on slavery and their preference to Francis Scott Key at the church presumably shun worldly matters removes them from also dealt with the program for returning free consideration on this issue. Given our current Blacks to Africa but Englebrecht was more information we can only conclude that Afro- concerned with Key's excessively long speech German relations before the Civil War in the than with its content. older German settlement areas can only be The only interesting note which is offered fully understood if we divorce ourselves from on the entire colonization scheme is found in the ideology imposed by an incorrect inter- the September 21,1838 entry in which Engel- pretation of the Germantown Protest. The

[ 30 ] Protest was the laudable result of a few con- well. Their descendants and successors have scientious individuals who were able to wed not always been able to measure up to their self-interest and a humanitarian concern for achievement. a subjugated race. In the process they were able to overcome an ethnocentrism which — Leroy T. Hopkins affected not only their time but themselves as Millersville State University

NOTES 1cf. LaVern J. Rippley, The (Lanham: 19"Gideon Moore: Slaves, Freedom and Litigant," The University Press of America, 1984), 163f.; Dieter Cunz, The Penn Germania, l, No. 5 (May 1912), 365-368. Maryland Germans (Princeton U. Press, 1948), 284. 20Frederick S. Weiser (trans.), Maryland German Church 2Helen Tunnicliff Catterall (ed.), Judicial Cases concern- Records, Vol. 3: Monocacy Lutheran Congregation and ing American Slavery and the Negro, Vol. IV: Cases from the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Baptisms 1742-1779, Fred- Courts of New England, the Middle States, and the District of erick, Frederick County, 10. Columbia, 1926 edition repr. (New York: Negro Universi- 21ibid, 16. ties Press, 1968), 8. 22Pennsylvanische Berichte oder Sammlung wichtiger Nach- 3Joseph E. Illick, Colonial Pennsylvania: A History (New richten aus Natur-und Kirchen-Reich, 250, p. l, col. l f. York: Scribner, 1976), 63. Original text: Es ist mit grossem Jammer wahrgenommen 4Louisa M. Waddell (ed.), "The Germantown Protest," worden, daß die teutsche Nation sich nun auch gefallen Unity from Diversity (Harrisburg: Penna. Historical and läßt, in den unmenschlichen Handel des Negerkauffens Museum Commission, 1980), 36f. sich einzulassen, weil sie keine teutsche Serven mehr 5The historical record is not entirely clear but the haben können. assientos or trade monopolies were given to entrepre- 23Lathan A. Windley (ed.), Runaway Slave Advertise- neurs from many countries, including Germany. With the ments. A Documentary History from the 1730s to 1790, Vol. 2: ascendancy of Holland and England as sea powers the Maryland (Westport, CN: Greenwood Press, 1983), 399. entire transatlantic slave trade became the sole property 24Unpartheyische Lancaster Zeitung und Anzeigs-Nachrich- of one power. ten, Nr. 61, Mittwoch, den 1. Oktober 1787. 6Waddell, Germantown Protest. 25William R. Quynn (ed.), The Diary of Jacob Englebrecht, 7ibid. 1818-78 (Historical Society of Frederick County: 1976), 8ibid. Vol. I: 1818-32, p. 38. 9Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (eds.), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 26ibid, 179. 6. Band: "L.M." (bearbeitet von Dr. Moriz Heyne)(Leip- 27ibid., Vol. Ill: 1858-78, p. 523. zig: S. Hirzel, 1885), Sp. 2472-2473. 28ibid., Vol. II: 1832-1858, p. 215 and p. 236. 10The Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. VI "L-M" and Vol. Es ist um billigen Preißund sehr billige VII "N-O" (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933), p. 645 and Zahlungstermine zu Verkaufen p. 82, resp. Eine negerfrau und 2 schöne Kinder, 11Kenneth L. Carroll, "Maryland Quakers and Slavery," Ein Knabe und ein Mädchen, (alle gehörig in der Amts- in Quaker History, Vol. 72 (Spring 1983), No. 1, 41. stube nach einer Acte der Assembly registrirt). Die Frau 12The Friend. A Religious and Literary Journal 17, No. 16 ist ein Sclav auf ihre Lebzeit, die Kinder sind verbunden (March 13,1844), 125. zu stehen bis sie 28 Jahr alt sind, sie ist nur 25 Jahr alt, 13W. C. Reichel (trans.), A Register of the Members of the schickt sich in die Stadt oder aufs Land, sie kann sowohl . . . (Nazareth: 1873), 365. Deutsch als Englisch sprechen. Einige Art Getreide, 14J. Taylor Hamilton, A History of the Church known as the Flauer, Whisky oder andere Landes=Produktionen Moravian Church (Bethelhem: 1900), 50. werden nach dem Marketpreiß in Zahlung angeommen und 15Reichel, Register, 333. die Bedingungen dem Käufer erleichtert werden. Wer 16Kenneth G. Hamilton (ed.), The Bethelhem Diary, Vol. I: Lust hat sie und die Kinder zu kaufen, kan den Preiß und 1742-1744 (Bethelhem: Archives of the Morvian Church, die Zahlungstermine erfahren bey dem Endsbenannten 1971), 105f. wohnhaft bey dem Courthaus in Lancaster 17in Samuel Pennypacker, "The Settlement of German- Salomon Etting town," Pennsylvania Magazine IV (1880), 25f. N.B. Sie wolle über an einen Deutschen Bauer der nicht 18John Casper Stoever, Early Lutheran Baptism and Mar- zu weit von Lancaster wohnt, verkauft seyn riages in Southeastern Pennsylvania (Baltimore: Genealogi- 29ibid.,VoI.I,p.220. cal Publ., 1982), 5. 30ibid.,Vo\. II, p. 171. 31ibid., p. 317.

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