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1999 American Legacy; Fighting Spirit The hC urch in Action; 1999 Dale Edwyna Smith

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THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY THE fN AMER­ ica has represented spiritual resilience, supporting faith and endurance through centuries of trial. But beyond fulfilling the religious needs of a people, the church has also served as what one historian calls a "political sys­ tem," a training ground for social change. While saving souls, black ministers have had to lead their congregants through a hostile and often cruel earthly world. Almost by default they've found themselves at the forefront of black America's long struggle for racial justice. Martin Luther King, Jr., is the most famous black preacher who took on the fight for civil rights from the pulpit, but of course he had many predecessors. In April 1787 and , two former T HE W ORK OF THE P REACHERS THE MINISTERS WHO HEADED BLACK AMERICA'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM IN THE 1960s DREW ON A LONG TRADITION OF CHURCH-BRED ACTIVISM, AND LIKE THEIR MANY PREDECESSORS, THEY FOUND THE WEAPONS THEY NEEDED IN SCRIPTURE

BY DALE EDWYNA SMITH

slaves who attended St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in , founded the Free African So­ ciety, one of the country's first social and economic wel­ fare organizations for blacks. Seven months later, after they were forcibly removed from the sanctuary of the church for praying in a "whites only" section, they led the other black members out of St. George's to form a separate congregation where they could worship in dignity. "We all went out of the church in a body," Allen remembered, "and they were no more plagued with us in the church." Allen eventually went on to found the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) church, the first independent black denomination; Jones became the country's first black Episcopal priest. Allen and Jones, both evangelists, worked to spread Christianity as broadly as possible among African-Amer­ icans, but the institution of impeded them. From the earliest days, slave owners feared that a true under­ standing of the Bible would plant revolutionary ideas of spiritual equality in the minds of their captives. The re­ sult was their deliberate invention of a theology in which the Bible and thus God Himself not only tolerated slavery but supported it. For the plan to work, it was essential that slaves not be allowed to learn to read. MARTIN LUTHER A Virginia slave named Nat Turner understood the KING, JR. (LEFT), Bible in a different light; he saw that its message was I· one of justice. Turner could read, having been consid- (CENTER), AND A ered a "favored" slave. As a young man he preached SUPPORTER KNEEL to other slaves on the plantation, and he may even IN PRAYER. I

16 AMERICAN LEGACY· WINTER 1999 UPI/CORBIS-BETTMANN

RICHARD ALLEN, SLAVE OWNERS FEARED THAT A TRUE UNDERSTANDING FOUNDER OF OF THE BIBLE THE AFRICAN WOULD PLANT REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS IN THE MINDS OF THEIR CAPTIVES METHODIST . EPISCOPAL CHURCH, have converted a few whites. men, and that I should take it on and fight against the IS SURROUNDED The physical se tting for Nat Turner's epiphany is Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the BY SUCCEEDING striking because it was so ordinary and so typical of first should be last and the last should be first." The IN AN slave life. One day, while he labored in the fields, a vision convinced Turner that the moment had come 18805 BROADSIDE. vision came to him. He told Thomas Gray, a white for action, and he began to preach of Jesus as a liber­ lawyer down on his luck, whose transcription has ator. After he organized a slave uprising remem­ provided historia ns with the only face-to-face "inter­ bered for its bloodshed, in October 1831, he was view" of Turner, that he had seen "white spirits and apprehended and hanged. black spirits engaged in battle-and the sun dark­ Tales of Nat Turner's exploits became legend in ened-the thunder rolled in the Heavens, and blood African-American communities across the South, flowed in the streams." A few days later Turner and more and more enslaved blacks followed his ex­ noticed "drops of blood on the corn as though it ample in seeking solace and courage from biblical were dew from heaven," a sign that, along with the stories of freedom and redemption. The book of appearance of a solar ec lipse, he interpreted as God's Exodus inspired many to try to escape to the North or express message to him. He subsequently heard a to Canada; ministers and abolitionists in the North voice say that " the Serpent is loosened and Christ routinely compared the plight of blacks to that of had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of the Hebrews fleeing enslavement and persecution in

18 AMERICAN L EGACY · W I N TER 1999 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS hierarchy, nearly 25,000 blacks attended his funeral service in in 1915, paying their final respects to a man who had worked tirelessly to boost their own racial pride.

uring much of the nineteenth century, at­ taining freedom for blacks in the here a nd D now was a primary goal of the black church. After the Civil War the focus was on securing civil rights. The black community was changing as it be­ gan to move from the rural South to cities, especially in the North, and black women, whose roles had pre­ viously been restricted to domestic work, began to have a voice in church affairs. The historian Jac­ quelin Grant notes that traditionally women had been the "backbone" of the church, by which black men of the church meant "background." Now some women tried to break that mold, among them Nannie Helen Burroughs, who combined work in the wom­ en's club movement with a voice in Baptist church BLACK MINISTERS business. She created a powerful woman's auxiliary, WHO BLENDED which around the turn of the century had more than RELIGION AND one mi llion African-American members. She would POLITICS: ABSALOM have made a very good minister, but the Baptist JONES (TOP), HENRY Church of her time didn't ordain women. McNEAL TURNER ancient Egypt; and Harriet Tubman, one of the In the 1920s the great migration of blacks to (RIGHT), AND Underground Railroad's most successful conduc­ Northern industrial cities fueled further growth in tors, came to be known as the "Moses" of her people. the black church. Northern Baptist and Methodist (ABOVE). After the Civil War, black denominations began to congregations saw their numbers swell along with flourish, and a new generation of preachers emerged. their responsibilities for helping rural Southern One of the most outspoken was Henry blacks adjust to the big city. They fed the hungry, McNeal Turner, a founder of the A.M.E. church in found jobs and housing for new arrivals, and tried Georgia. Joining Christian zeal to political purpose, to connect newcomers with r elatives. Turner served in the Georgia legislature during Re­ Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who inherited the pulpit construction and organized various church-based of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church from his charities to assist the freedmen. In 1868 he led thirty­ father in 1937, came to symbolize the strength of the two other black elected officials out of the assembly black church in the cities. In his very first sermon he chamber when it became clear that most of their borrowed a slogan from a billboard-"I'd walk a white colleagues were intent on disenfranchising mile for a Camel" - and asked his congregation of blacks. From the pulpit he preached racial pride, gamblers, bootleggers, and chorus girls how far they arguing that God Himself was black. would walk for Jesus. Turner also called on blacks to move to Africa, In 1930 Powell organized demonstrations against both to secure their rights and to help uplift their Harlem Hospital, which had refused to permit black ancestral homeland by spreading the Gospel. Dur­ doctors to practice there. The success of that cam­ ing the Spanish-American War, he stated that blacks paign, resulting in an interracial staff and a rejuvena­ should never volunteer to fight for a country that tion of training programs for black nurses and doctors, had treated them so shabbily. Even several years af­ inspired Powell to expand his boycotts to white­ ter the war, he was still angry enough to remark that owned Harlem businesses that refused to hire blacks. he "used to love the Grand Old Flag ... but to the "Don't Buy Where You Can't Work" marches carried Negro ... the American flag ·is a dirty and contempt­ him from the church into politics. Thus, in 1941 he ible rag." But Turner's was a voice crying in the became the first black on the New York City Council, wilderness-the vast majority of African-Ameri­ and in 1944 he was elected to the U.S. Congress. cans could not afford to pull up stakes and sail for There can be no greater example of the black Africa. Though his increasing militancy over the church ministering to both spiritual and social needs years had alienated him from the A.M.E. church than the role it played during the civil rights move-

20 AMERI CAN LEGACY · W IN TER 1999 TOP LEFT: DELAWARE ART MUSEUM; BOTTOM LETT: OBERLIN COLLEGE ARCHIVES; RIGHT: MOORLAND-S PINGARN RESEARCH CENTER, HOWAR D UNIVERSITY DURING THE EARLY DAYS OF THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT, MARTIN LUTHER KING, OF LOVE BUT WHO WOULD SURELY "BREAK THE BACKBONE" OF ANY NATION THAT DI

NANNIE HELEN ment of the 1950s and '60s. Martin Luther King, Jr., istry was better suited to his goal of serving human­ BURROUGHS, was particularly adept at articulating the philosophy ity than the study of medicine or the law would be. FAR LEFT, URGED of nonviolent protest to a people grounded, as one After completing doctoral studies at Brown Uni­ WOMEN TO BECOME historian puts it, in "folk religion and revival tech­ versity, in Rhode Island, King accepted the pastor­ LEADERS IN THE nique." King had not always intended to enter the ship of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Mont­ BAPTIST CHURCH. ministry. He was, first and fo remost, a true intel­ gomery, Alabama. H is controversial predecessor lectual (it is said that he loved having books around there, the Reverend Vernon Johns, had drawn a him even before he could read), and during his firestorm of criticism from both blacks and whites years as an undergraduate at Morehouse College he for speaking out against an elitist African-American thought that education might be a more useful tool ministry as well as Jim Crow. for overturning injustice; the emotional displays of The grandson of a slave, Johns began Jue as a farm religious Southern blacks embarrassed him, and he boy, but his intellectual abilities, which included didn't consider the black church "intellectually re­ a command of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, earned spectable." Ultimately, of course, he decided the min- him a degree from Oberlin Seminary in 1918. His

24 AMERICAN LE GACY · WINTER 1 999 LI BRARY OF CONGRESS activism, and in 1952 the church deacons forced his LEFT:THE resignation. REVEREND ADAM In 1960 Martin Luther King, Jr., having heard of CLAYTON POWELL, Johns's energetic attacks on social ills, began to JR., LEADS STRIKING search for the aging minister so he could borrow his HOSPITAL WORKERS old sermon notes. Johns had continued to preach, IN 1959. BOTTOM and he died in 1964, shortly after King located him. LEFT: JESSE JACKSON SPEAKS OUT FOR he replacement in 1954 of Johns with King, AFFIRMATIVE a soft-spoken academic with Southern roots ACTION IN 1995_ T and three years of Northern education, was meant to restore the status quo. In keeping with his new position, King was asked in 1955 to head the Montgomery Improvement Association-in part be- cause he was new in town and· hadn't yet alienated anyone important, but also because local blacks felt that he could communicate as an equal with whites. The Montgomery Improvement Association, a coali- tion of ministers and community leaders, had been formed during the massive boycotts sparked by Rosa Parks's refusal to give up her bus seat to a white pas- senger in 1955. In King's first speech during the boy- cott, he linked the fledgling civil rights movement to the long tradition of black Christian activism. When he preached that God was not only a God of love, but one who would surely "break the back­ bone" of any nation that did not follow His com­ mandments, he outraged Southern whites. Facing death threats, he prayed for guidance and then said that he had received God's reassurance that he was on the right track and must "stand up for justice." King's speeches during the early days of the boycott merely hinted at what was to come. His spiritual and political leadership and that of other black clergy would inspire ordinary men, women, and children not only to continue the 1955 bus boycott (when in­ dividuals formed car pools or walked for miles in the J R., PREACHED OF A Goo NOT! ONILY rain rather than accept Jim Crow), but also to risk vio­ lence and death in countless other civil rights cam­ D NOT fOLLOW Hrs COMMANIDMJ£N'TS. paigns over the following decade. Though religiously inspired reform movements in theology professors promoted what was called the the black community have sprung mainly from the Social Gospel, espousing the use of Scripture for black church, non-religious leaders have also made ·guidance in actively combatting the various evils fac­ theology a component of their philosophy. In the ing hwnan society. In Montgomery, Johns, a master 1920s the activist Marcus Garvey based his plans for orator, tried to shake up entrenched patterns of sending black Americans to Africa on Old Testament segregation with sermons on race and class. He references to "princes" coming "out of Egypt." Like criticized not only the white power structure but his Henry McNeal Turner, he preached that God was own bourgeois parishioners who, for example, black and that people of African descent should take looked down on Negro spirituals as heathen music. pride in their color. His message attracted millions of Johns's sermons chastising his congregation about blacks, and at one time his Universal Negro Improve­ class divisions among blacks, and his support for ment Association had chapters across the country. public school desegregation in the South, were the Elijah Muhammad, who founded the Nation of Is­ straws that broke the camel's back. His sedate con­ lam in the 1930s, similarly preached that God was gregation at Dexter Avenue Baptist wasn't ready for black, using examples and language from the Old

TOP: CORBIS-BETTMANN; BOTTOM: LISA QUINONES/BLACK STAR WINTER 1 999 · AMERICAN LEG A C Y 25 THE WORK @:IF iBIL.A<.Ctt: JBii.O>il,lY' :M1E$:JJ JI'"B:!l AMiEIB-JI«CA 'SH:O)WMMO:NALITY OF PURP.OS_E.

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Testament that would have been familiar to his contact with religious ideas outside of America. followers. For Malcolm the inspiration arose from Mecca; fo r One of those attracted to Muhammad's message King, from India. Both men would come to urge was a man who in his early life had been exposed to African-Americans to gain a world perspective and the teachings of Garvey through his parents. The identify with oppressed people everywhere. King said, Nation of Islam gave Malcolm X, as it did so many "What affects one directly, affects all indirectly.. . : others, an opportunity to develop spiritually by offer­ I can never be what I ought to be until you are what ing a theology infused with . Mal­ you ought to be." Shortly before his death Malcolm colm said that he was attracted to the Nation because X planned to bring the plight of African-Ameri­ its ministers did not preach to him but rather gave him cans to world attention by addressing the United his history. And Malcolm followed that example after Nations. For him, the struggle was more than a he became a minister, emphasizing not theology but domestic issue. "It's not a question of civil rights," history. His admirers remembered how he would he often said, "but a question of human rights." THE PASTOR hold an audience enraptured with his carefully con­ AND CHOIR OF structed parables about black life in America. The he work of black holy men in America SAVANNAH'S FIRST mainstream press interpreted his preaching as "anti­ shows a commonality of purpose. Almost al­ AFRICAN BAPTIST Christian," and in the early 1960s his critics made a T ways, the preachers' religious outlooks have CHURCH CELEBRATE point of drawing moral distinctions between Mal­ overlapped into daily life-from Nat Turner's vi­ TWO CENTURIES OF colm and Martin Luther King, Jr. sions for overturning slavery to Martin Luther King's FAITH AND WORKS. Both King and Malcolm X were changed by their head-on confrontation with American racism. In the late 1960s, when the term "black pow­ er" came into vogue, white clergymen criticized black clergymen for not de­ nouncing it. In July 1966 the National Committee of Negro Clergymen (which would soon change its name to the National Committee of Black Church­ men) responded by taking out a full­ page ad in The New York Times: "The fundamental distortion ... in the con­ troversy about 'Black Power' is root­ ed in a gross imbalance of power and conscience between Negro and white Americans .... White people are justi­ fied in getting what they want through the use of power, but .. . Negroes must make their appeal only through conscience . . .. We regard as sheer hypocrisy or as a blind and dangerous illusion the view that opposes love to power. .." With this, America's black preach­ ers told America they would continue to fight for freedom-just as they al­ ways had done. *

Dale Edwyna Smith, formerly an as­ sistant professor of American history at Washington University in St. Louis, writes frequently on issues relating to the African-American experience.

26 AMERICAN LEGACY · W INTER 1999 DANA FINEMAN/ NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY COLLECTIO N r

-

HUNDREDS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANS WROTE

TO DURING THE CML WAR

ASKING FOR HELP OR OFFERING ADVICE

EDITED BY .HAROLD HOLZER

"NEARLY EVERY LETTER WRITTEN TO PRES­ I beg leave to apply to you for ident Lincoln during the Civil War by an an appointment as surgeon to African-American was routinely ... [for­ some of the coloured regi­ warded] to the War Department's Bureau ments, or as physician to some of Colored Troops," writes Harold Holz­ of the depots of "freedmen." I er. "They had been received at the White was compelled to leave my House, reviewed by secretaries, and sent native country, and come to on through the bureaucracy- formidable this on account of prejudice even then- where they were sometimes against colour, for the pur­ answered by functionaries. . .. " The pose of obtaining a knowledge President is not known to have person­ of my profession; and having ally answered any. accomplished that object, at one of the serve in the American military because While gathering materi al for his lat­ principle educational institutions of this he was a British subject and "a person est book, The Lincoln Mailbag, Holzer, Province, I am now prepared to practice of African descent. " But Augusta a renowned Lincoln scholar, turned up it, and would like to be in a position would not give up. He journeyed to previously unpublished examples of where I can be of use to my race, Washington and appealed the decision. this poignant and powerful correspon­ If you will take the matter into favor­ The board reversed itself, and Augusta dence. A selection, with his comments, able consideration, I can give satisfactory went on to serve as a military surgeon in appears below. reference as to character and qualifica­ the Seventh U.S. Colored Troops. tion from some of the most distinguished members of the profession in this city where I have been in practice for about six years. I Remain Sir Black Doctor Wants to Serve Yours Very Respectfully Hero's Mother Worries Over A. T. Augusta Treatment of Black War Prisoners Toronto Canada West Jan 7/63 Bachelor of Medicine President Abraham Lincoln Trinity College Toronto Buffalo [New York] July 31 1863

Sir, The letter was forwarded to the Army Excellent Sir Having seen that it is intended to garri­ Medical Board, which ruled in March My good friend says I must write to son the U.S. forts &c with colored troops, that Alexander T. Augusta could not you and she will send it My son went

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ADAM LOWENBEIN W I N TER 1999 · AMERI CAN LEGACY 67 in the 54th regiment. I am a colored as have come away and got some edica­ if we are free. and what i can do. I write to woman and my son was strong and able tion. It must not be so. You must put the you for advice. please send me word this to fight for his country and the colored rebels to work in State prisons to making week. or as soon as possible and oblidge. people have as much to fight for as any. shoes and things, if they sell our colored Annie Davis My father was a Slave and escaped from soldiers, till they let them all go. And Belair Thorfad County MD. Louisiana before I was born morn forty give their wounded the same treatment. years agone I have but poor edication it would seem cruel, but their no other Annie Davis was not free . The but I never went to schol, but I know way, and a just man must do hard Emancipation Proclamation ordered just as well as any what is right between things sometimes, that shew him to be a the liberation· only of slaves in the great man. They tell me some do you rebellious states, and Annie Davis will take back the Proclamation, don't lived in Maryland, a slave state that do it. When you are dead and in Heaven, had remained loyal to the Union. in a thousand years that action of yours The Republican platform for 1864, will make the Angels sing your praises adopted in June, urged an "amendment I know it . . .. to the Constitution ... as shall Will you see that the colored men terminate and forever prohibit the fighting now, are fairly treated. You existence of slavery within the . .. ought to do this, and do it at once, Not jurisdiction of the United States." But let the thing run along meet it quickly it would be more than a year before and manfully, and stop this, mean cow­ the Thirteenth Amendment became ardly cruelty. We poor oppressed ones, law. For now, Annie Davis's letter appeal to you, and ask fair play. remained unanswered and her hopes of Yours for Christs sake freedom unfulfilled. Hannah Johnson

Lincoln did not reply to Hannah Johnson; her letter was forwarded to the War Department's new Bureau Mother of Black of Colored Troops, established on Soldier Asks for His Release May 22, 1863. Two weeks before she wrote, her son, along with his comrades Carlisles [Pennsylvania] nov 21 1864 man and man. Now I know it is right from the 5 4th Massachusetts, had led that a colored man should go and fight the fateful assault on Battery Wagner, Mr abarham lincon for his country, and so ought to a white near Charleston, South Carolina, I wont to knw sir if you please wether I man. I know that a colored man ought suffering major casualties. Hannah can have my son relest from the arme he to run no greater risques than a white, Johnson did not yet know it, but the is all the subport I have now his father his pay is no greater his obligation to very day that she wrote this tautly is Dead and his brother that wase all fight is the same. So why should not our reasoned demand for equal treatment the help that I had he has bean wonded enemies be compelled to treat him the for black prisoners of war, Lincoln twise he has not had nothing to send same, Made to do it. issued an order of retaliation, vowing me yet now I am old and my head is My son fought at Fort Wagoner but to enslave a Con(ederate prisoner for blossaming for the grave and if you dou thank God he was not taken prisoner, as every black Union prisoner enslaved I hope the lord will bless you and me many were I thought of this thing before by the enemy. if you please answer as soon as you can if I let my boy go but then they said Mr. you please tha say that you will simpe­ Lincoln will never let them sell our thise withe the poor thear wase a white colored soldiers for slaves, if they do jentel man told me to write to you Mrs he will get them back quck he will jane Welcom if you please answer it to rettallyate and stop it. Now Mr Lincoln A Slave Wants "To Be Free" he be long to the eight rigmat co a u st dont you think you oght to stop this colard troops mart welcom is his name thing and make them do the same by Belair [Maryland] Aug 25th 1864 he is a sarjent the colored men they have lived in idle­ ness all their lives on stolen labor and Mr president Lincoln's office sent Mrs. We/cam's made savages of the colored people, but It is my Desire to be free. to go to see my plea on to the Bureau of Colored they now are so furious because they people on the eastern shore. my mistress Troops. The surviving file includes a are proving themselves to be men, such wont let me you will please let me know draft reply, dated December 2, 1864,

68 _AMERI CAN LEGA CY · W INTER 1999 that indicates that the impoverished them Close if I had them I raise them mother's plea was denied. The draft up but I am here and if you will free explained that "the interests of the me and hir and heir Children with me I service will not permit that your Can take Cair of them She lives with request be granted. " David Sparks in Oldham Co Ky . . . my name is George Washington heir in Taylors Barrecks and my famaly suffering I have sent forty dollars worth to them cence I ha~e bin heir and that Black Soldier's Wife is all I have and I have not drawn any Needs Husband's Pay thing cence I have bin heir I am forty eight years my woman thirty three I Mt Holly [New Jersey], ask this to your oner to a blige July 11 1864 yours &c Abraham Lincoln your un Grateful Servent President George Washington

OF ONE BLOOD Sir, Washington's letter pointed out the Abolitio nism and the O rigins of my husband, who is in Co. K. 22nd bitter irony facing black soldiers from Racial Equality by Paul Goodman Reg't U.S. Col'd Troops, (and now in the loyal border states. While they Foreword by Charles Sellers the Macon Hospital at Portsmouth with fought in the ranks, their families "This superb study... puts scho larship a wound in his arm} has not received remained in slavery, unaffected by the about the antislavery movement any pay since last May and then only Emancipation Proclamation. But like back on the track from which it was thirteen dollars. I write to you because all such letters to Lincoln from non­ derailed thirty years ago." whites, this one was merely forwarded -James M. McPherson, author of I have been told you would see to it. I Battle Cry of Freedom have four children to support and I find to the Bureau of Colored Troops. $35.00 hardcover this a great struggle. A hard life this ! I being a col'd woman do not get JUST MY SOUL any State pay. Yet my husband is fight­ RESPONDING ing for the country. Rhythm and Blues, Black Con­ Very Resp'y yours sciousness, and Race Re lations Rosanna Henson by Brian Ward "An uncommonly compre hensive introduction to the formative de­ Lincoln's staff forwarded this letter to cades of black rock-and-roll, which the War Department, but there is no Ward situates more single-mindedly record in Mrs. Henson's file to indicate than most in black history." whether any action was taken. -Robert Christgau, Folk. Blues, New York Times Book Review Bluegrass, sacred sounds which honors the $24.95 paperback, $60.00 hard cover Jazz, American rich music tradition created and BOB THOMPSON Indian, sustained withi n the African Black Soldier Wishes Classical, by Thelma Golden American community. Spirituals, With an Essay by Judith Wilson Reunion With Enslaved Family World, Children's In this first book devoted solely to congregational singing, Music, figurative expressionist painter Bob Taylors Barrecks [Louisville, Kentucky] Spoken pioneering composers of Thompson, the life and work of t his December 4th 1864 Word, gospel, and 20"' century gospel; and more. figure in modern American art 4-CD set of music from the history and African Ame rican culture Available from record Peabody Award-winning NPR receive the attention they deserve. Mr Abrham Lincoln scores o r $34.95 paperback, $50.00 hardcover I ha ve one recest to make to you that is I series produced by Bernice mail o rder. Published in ,mociation with the Whitney ask you to dis Charge me for I have a 800 4109815 Mu,eum of American Art. An Johnson Reagon. wife and she has fo ur Children thay Ahmamon·Murphy Fine Art, Book 0 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings have a hard master one that loves the www.si.edu/folkways At bookstores ol order 1-800- 822- 6657. South hangs with it he dos not giv University of California Press tham a rage nor havnot for too yars I ·-~~!!l!!Y!r>•oJ Presenting African American poetry, L;, ------:.kl :;:~ music, and culture for fifty years www.ucpress.edu have found all he says let old Abe Give

70 AMERICAN LEGACY · W INTER 1 999 I ~ -

I VISITORS GUIDE Is the Colored Kansas City is Population to Suffer? alive with exciting activities! Washington D. C. • 18th & Vine Historic Jazz Joy 22 1864 District • Negro Leagues Baseball Museum • Kansas City Jazz Museum • Riverboat Gaming • Fabulous restaurants • Live jazz and blues clubs Dr Sir • Endless shopping. Some Reckon and others guess But what I wish to know is this. what do you mean to do with us Col[ore]d. population are we to suffer and our enemies reap or can we Reap now I was brought up a

FREELouisiana Tour Guide

For your FREE 300-page Louisiana Tour Guide including information on FrancoFete '99, our celebration of 300 years of French culture, call 1-800-944-0673. www.louisianatravel.com ~ Come As You Are . !,eave Different'" farmer and if I can have a hut in my Cll998 Louisiana O ffice of Tourism own native land and a little help that will suffice me, then I have a family you Mo'fun. Mo'sun. Mo' beaucy. MoBay. know well do the best you can and ·· , Advertise. your travel. oblige yr obt Servant guide here.In the Ed. D. Jennings American Legacy If Lincoln replied to this plea, his Visitors Guide sectiop!/, · response has never been found. But Jennings' letter was, unusually, Contact your local retained in the President's own files . * Amer1can'Legqcy sales represer:itative Come to Jamaica and feel aJJ right. to place ym:ir ad or call: This excerpt is from The Lincoln Mail­ 212-620-2204 bag: America Writes to the President, 1861-1865, edited by Harold Holzer, Call your Travel Agent or I-BOO-JAMAICA. Southern Illinois University Press, 1998. www.jamaicatravel.com

©1998 Jamaica Tourist Board