Would these professions of interest in the mental development of the
blacks be translated into action? What these reformers would do to
raise the standard of Negro education above the plane of rudimentary
training incidental to religious instruction, was yet to be seen.
Would they secure to Negroes the educational privileges guaranteed
other elements of society? The answer, if not affirmative, was
decidedly encouraging. The idea uppermost in the minds of these
workers was that the people of color could and should be educated as
other races of men.
In the lead of this movement were the antislavery agitators.
Recognizing the Negroes' need of preparation for citizenship, the
abolitionists proclaimed as a common purpose of their organizations
the education of the colored people with a view to developing in them
self-respect, self-support, and usefulness in the community.[1]
[Footnote 1: Smyth, "Works of Benjamin Franklin", vol. x., p. 127;
Torrey, "Portraiture of Slavery", p. 21. See also constitution of
almost any antislavery society organized during this period.]
The proposition to cultivate the minds of the slaves came as a happy
solution of what had been a perplexing problem. Many Americans who
considered slavery an evil had found no way out of the difficulty when
the alternative was to turn loose upon society so many uncivilized men
without the ability to discharge the duties of citizenship.[1] Assured
then that the efforts at emancipation would be tested by experience,
a larger number of men advocated abolition. These leaders recommended
gradual emancipation for States having a large slave population, that
those designated for freedom might first be instructed in the value
and meaning of liberty to render them comfortable in the use of it.[2]
The number of slaves in the States adopting the policy of immediate
emancipation was not considered a menace to society, for the schools
already open to colored people could exert a restraining influence
on those lately given the boon of freedom. For these reasons the
antislavery societies had in their constitutions a provision for
a committee of education to influence Negroes to attend school,
superintend their instruction, and emphasize the cultivation of the
mind as the necessary preparation for "that state in society upon
which depends our political happiness."[3] Much stress was laid upon
this point by the American Convention of Abolition Societies in 1794
and 1795 when the organization expressed the hope that freedmen might
participate in civil rights as fast as they qualified by education.[4]
[Footnote 1: Washington, "Works of Jefferson", vol. vi., p. 456;
vol. viii., p. 379; Madison, "Works of", vol. iii., p. 496; Monroe,
"Writings of", vol. iii., pp. 321, 336, 349, 378; Adams, "Works of
John Adams", vol. ix., p. 92 and vol. x., p. 380.]
[Footnote 2: "Proceedings of the American Convention", etc., 1797,
address.]
[Footnote 3: The constitution of almost any antislavery society of
that time provided for this work. See "Proc. of Am. Conv.", etc.,
1795, address.]
[Footnote 4: "Proceedings of the American Convention of Abolition
Societies", 1794, p. 21; and 1795, p. 17; and "Rise and Progress of
the Testimony of Friends", etc., p. 27.]
This work was organized by the abolitionists but was generally
maintained by members of the various sects which did more for
the enlightenment of the people of color through the antislavery
organizations than through their own.[1] The support of the clergy,
however, did not mean that the education of the Negroes would continue
incidental to the teaching of religion. The blacks were to be accepted
as brethren and trained to be useful citizens. For better education
the colored people could then look to the more liberal sects, the
Quakers, Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians, who prior to
the Revolution had been restrained by intolerance from extensive
proselyting. Upon the attainment of religious liberty they were free
to win over the slaveholders who came into the Methodist and Baptist
churches in large numbers, bringing their slaves with them.[2] The
freedom of these "regenerated" churches made possible the rise of
Negro exhorters and preachers, who to exercise their gifts managed in
some way to learn to read and write. Schools for the training of such
leaders were not to be found, but to encourage ambitious blacks to
qualify themselves white ministers often employed such candidates
as attendants, allowing them time to observe, to study, and even to
address their audiences.[3]
[Footnote 1: The antislavery societies were at first the uniting
influence among all persons interested in the uplift of the Negroes.
The agitation had not then become violent, for men considered the
institution not a sin but merely an evil.]
[Footnote 2: Coke, "Journal", etc., p. 114; Lambert, "Travels",
p. 175; Baird, "A Collection", etc., pp. 381, 387 and 816; James,
"Documentary", etc., p. 35; Foote, "Sketches of Virginia", p. 31;
Matlack, "History of American Slavery and Methodism", p. 31; Semple,
"History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia", p.
222.]
[Footnote 3: "Ibid.", and Coke, "Journal", etc., pp. 16-18.]
It must be observed, however, that the interest of these benevolent
men was no longer manifested in the mere traditional teaching of
individual slaves. The movement ceased to be the concern of separate
philanthropists. Men really interested in the uplift of the colored
people organized to raise funds, open schools, and supervise their
education.[1] In the course of time their efforts became more
systematic and consequently more successful. These educators adopted
the threefold policy of instructing Negroes in the principles of
the Christian religion, giving them the fundamentals of the common
branches, and teaching them the most useful handicrafts.[2] The
indoctrination of the colored people, to be sure, was still an
important concern to their teachers, but the accession to their ranks
of a militant secular element caused the emphasis to shift to other
phases of education. Seeing the Negroes' need of mental development,
the Presbyterian Synod of New York and Pennsylvania urged the members
of that denomination in 1787 to give their slaves "such good education
as to prepare them for a better enjoyment of freedom."[3] In reply to
the inquiry as to what could be done to teach the poor black and white
children to read, the Methodist Conference of 1790 recommended the
establishment of Sunday schools and the appointment of persons to
teach gratis "all that will attend and have a capacity to learn."[4]
The Conference recommended that the Church publish a special text-book
to teach these children learning as well as piety.[5] Men in the
political world were also active. In 1788 the State of New Jersey
passed an act preliminary to emancipation, making the teaching of
slaves to read compulsory under a penalty of five pounds.[6]
[Footnote 1: "Proceedings of the American Convention of Abolition
Societies", 1797.]
[Footnote 2: "Proceedings of the American Convention of Abolition
Societies", 1797.]
[Footnote 3: Locke, "Anti-slavery", etc., p. 44.]
[Footnote 4: Washington, "Story of the Negro", vol. ii, p. 121.]
[Footnote 5: "Ibid.", p. 121.]
[Footnote 6: Laws of New Jersey, 1788.]
With such influence brought to bear on persons in the various walks of
life, the movement for the effective education of the colored people
became more extensive. Voicing the sentiment of the different local
organizations, the American Convention of Abolition Societies of 1794
urged the branches to have the children of free Negroes and slaves
instructed in "common literature."[1] Two years later the Abolition
Society of the State of Maryland proposed to establish an academy to
offer this kind of instruction. To execute this scheme the American
Convention thought that it was expedient to employ regular tutors,
to form private associations of their members or other well-disposed
persons for the purpose of instructing the people of color in the most
simple branches of education.[2]
[Footnote 1: "Proceedings of the American Convention of Abolition
Societies", 1796, p. 18.]
[Footnote 2: "Ibid.", 1797, p. 41.]
The regular tutors referred to above were largely indentured servants
who then constituted probably the majority of the teachers of the
colonies.[1] In 1773 Jonathan Boucher said that two thirds of the
teachers of Maryland belonged to this class.[2] The contact of Negroes
with these servants is significant. In the absence of rigid caste
distinctions they associated with the slaves and the barrier between
them was so inconsiderable that laws had to be passed to prevent the
miscegenation of the races. The blacks acquired much useful knowledge
from servant teachers and sometimes assisted them.
[Footnote 1: See the descriptions of indentured servants in the
advertisements of colonial newspapers referred to on pages 82-84; and
Boucher, "A View of the Causes", etc., p. 39.]
[Footnote 2: "Ibid.", pp. 39 and 40.]
Attention was directed also to the fact that neither literary nor
religious education prepared the Negroes for a life of usefulness.
Heeding the advice of Kosciuszko, Madison and Jefferson, the advocates
of the education of the Negroes endeavored to give them such practical
training as their peculiar needs demanded. In the agricultural
sections the first duty of the teacher of the blacks was to show them
how to get their living from the soil. This was the final test of
their preparation for emancipation. Accordingly, on large plantations
where much supervision was necessary, trustworthy Negroes were trained
as managers. Many of those who showed aptitude were liberated and
encouraged to produce for themselves. Slaves designated for freedom
were often given small parcels of land for the cultivation of which
they were allowed some of their time. An important result of this
agricultural training was that many of the slaves thus favored amassed
considerable wealth by using their spare time in cultivating crops of
their own.[1]
[Footnote 1: "Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed.", 1871, p. 196.]
The advocates of useful education for the degraded race had more to
say about training in the mechanic arts. Such instruction, however,
was not then a new thing to the blacks of the South, for they had from
time immemorial been the trustworthy artisans of that section. The aim
then was to give them such education as would make them intelligent
workmen and develop in them the power to plan for themselves. In the
North, where the Negroes had been largely menial servants, adequate
industrial education was deemed necessary for those who were to be
liberated.[1] Almost every Northern colored school of any consequence
then offered courses in the handicrafts. In 1784 the Quakers of
Philadelphia employed Sarah Dwight to teach the colored girls
sewing.[2] Anthony Benezet provided in his will that in the school
to be established by his benefaction the girls should be taught
needlework.[3] The teachers who took upon themselves the improvement
of the free people of color of New York City regarded industrial
training as one of their important tasks.[4]
[Footnote 1: See the "Address of the Am. Conv. of Abolition
Societies", 1794; "ibid.", 1795; "ibid.", 1797 "et passim."]
[Footnote 2: Wickersham, "History of Ed. in Pa.", p. 249.]
[Footnote 3: "Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed.", 1869, p. 375.]
[Footnote 4: Andrews, "History of the New York African Free Schools",
p. 20.]
None urged this duty upon the directors of these schools more
persistently than the antislavery organizations. In 1794 the American
Convention of Abolition Societies recommended that Negroes be
instructed in "those mechanic arts which will keep them most
constantly employed and, of course, which will less subject them to
idleness and debauchery, and thus prepare them for becoming good
citizens of the United States."[1] Speaking repeatedly on this wise
the Convention requested the colored people to let it be their special
care to have their children not only to work at useful trades but also
to till the soil.[2] The early abolitionists believed that this was
the only way the freedmen could learn to support themselves.[3]
In connection with their schools the antislavery leaders had an
Indenturing Committee to find positions for colored students who had
the advantages of industrial education.[4] In some communities slaves
were prepared for emancipation by binding them out as apprentices to
machinists and artisans until they learned a trade.
[Footnote 1: "Proceedings of the American Convention", 1794, p. 14.]
[Footnote 2: "Ibid.", 1795, p. 29; "ibid.", 1797, pp. 12, 13, and 31.]
[Footnote 3: "Ibid.", 1797, p. 31.]
[Footnote 4: "Ibid.", 1818, p. 9.]
Two early efforts to carry out this policy are worthy of notice here.
These were the endeavors of Anthony Benezet and Thaddeus Kosciuszko.
Benezet was typical of those men, who, having the courage of their
conviction, not only taught colored people, but gladly appropriated
property to their education. Benezet died in 1784, leaving
considerable wealth to be devoted to the purpose of educating Indians
and Negroes. His will provided that as the estate on the death of
his wife would not be sufficient entirely to support a school, the
Overseers of the Public Schools of Philadelphia should join with a
committee appointed by the Society of Friends, and other benevolent
persons, in the care and maintenance of an institution such as he
had planned. Finally in 1787 the efforts of Benezet reached their
culmination in the construction of a schoolhouse, with additional
funds obtained from David Barclay of London and Thomas Sidney, a
colored man of Philadelphia. The pupils of this school were to study
reading, writing, arithmetic, plain accounts, and sewing.[1]
[Footnote 1: "Special Report of the U.S. Com. of Ed.", 1871, p. 375.]
With respect to conceding the Negroes' claim to a better education,
Thaddeus Kosciuszko, the Polish general, was not unlike Benezet. None
of the revolutionary leaders were more moved with compassion for the
colored people than this warrior. He saw in education the powerful
leverage which would place them in position to enjoy the newly won
rights of man. While assisting us in gaining our independence,
Kosciuszko acquired here valuable property which he endeavored to
devote to the enlightenment of the slaves. He authorized Thomas
Jefferson, his executor, to employ the whole thereof in purchasing
Negroes and liberating them in the name of Kosciuszko, "in giving them
an education in trades or otherwise, and in having them instructed for
their new condition in the duties of morality." The instructors were
to provide for them such training as would make them "good neighbors,
good mothers or fathers, good husbands or wives, teaching them the
duties of citizenship, teaching them to be defenders of their liberty
and country, and of the good order of society, and whatsoever might
make them useful and happy."[1] Clearly as this was set forth the
executor failed to discharge this duty enjoined upon him. The heirs of
the donor instituted proceedings to obtain possession of the estate,
which, so far as the author knows, was never used for the purpose for
which it was intended.
[Footnote 1: "African Repository", vol. xi., pp. 294-295.]
In view of these numerous strivings we are compelled to inquire
exactly what these educators accomplished. Although it is impossible
to measure the results of their early efforts, various records of the
eighteenth century prove that there was lessening objection to the
instruction of slaves and practically none to the enlightenment of
freedmen. Negroes in considerable numbers were becoming well grounded
in the rudiments of education. They had reached the point of
constituting the majority of the mechanics in slaveholding
communities; they were qualified to be tradesmen, trustworthy helpers,
and attendants of distinguished men, and a few were serving as clerks,
overseers, and managers.[1] Many who were favorably circumstanced
learned more than mere reading and writing. In exceptional cases, some
were employed not only as teachers and preachers to their people, but
as instructors of the white race.[2]
[Footnote 1: Georgia and South Carolina had to pass laws to prevent
Negroes from following these occupations for fear that they might
thereby become too well informed. See Brevard, "Digest of Public
Statute Laws of S.C.", vol. ii., p. 243; and Marbury and Crawford,
"Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia", p. 438.]
[Footnote 2: Bassett, "Slavery in North Carolina", p. 74; manuscripts
relating to the condition of the colored people of North Carolina,
Ohio, and Tennessee now in the hands of Dr. J.E. Moorland.]
A more accurate estimate of how far the enlightenment of the Negroes
had progressed before the close of the eighteenth century, is better
obtained from the reports of teachers and missionaries who were
working among them. Appealing to the Negroes of Virginia about 1755,
Benjamin Fawcett addressed them as intelligent people, commanding
them to read and study the Bible for themselves and consider "how
the Papists do all they can to hide it from their fellowmen." "Be
particularly thankful," said he, "for the Ministers of Christ around
you, who are faithfully laboring to teach the truth as it is in
Jesus."[1] Rev. Mr. Davies, then a member of the Society for Promoting
the Gospel among the Poor, reported that there were multitudes of
Negroes in different parts of Virginia who were "willingly, eagerly
desirous to be instructed and embraced every opportunity of
acquainting themselves with the Doctrine of the Gospel," and though
they had generally very little help to learn to read, yet to his
surprise many of them by dint of application had made such progress
that they could "intelligently read a plain author and especially
their Bible." Pity it was, he thought, that any of them should be
without necessary books. Negroes were wont to come to him with such
moving accounts of their needs in this respect that he could not help
supplying them.[2] On Saturday evenings and Sundays his home was
crowded with numbers of those "whose very Countenances still carry the
air of importunate Petitioners" for the same favors with those who
came before them. Complaining that his stock was exhausted, and that
he had to turn away many disappointed, he urged his friends to send
him other suitable books, for nothing else, thought he, could be a
greater inducement to their industry to learn to read.
[Footnote 1: Fawcett, "Compassionate Address", etc., p. 33.]
[Footnote 2: Fawcett, "Compassionate Address", etc., p. 33.]
Still more reliable testimony may be obtained, not from persons
particularly interested in the uplift of the blacks, but from
slaveholders. Their advertisements in the colonial newspapers furnish
unconscious evidence of the intellectual progress of the Negroes
during the eighteenth century. "He's an 'artful,'"[1] "plausible,"[2]
"smart,"[3] or "sensible fellow,"[4] "delights much in traffic,"[5]
and "plays on the fife extremely well,"[6] are some of the statements
found in the descriptions of fugitive slaves. Other fugitives were
speaking "plainly,"[7] "talking indifferent English,"[8] "remarkably
good English,"[9] and "exceedingly good English."[10] In some
advertisements we observe such expressions as "he speaks a little
French,"[11] "Creole French,"[12] "a few words of High-Dutch,"[13] and
"tolerable German."[14] Writing about a fugitive a master would often
state that "he can read print,"[15] "can read writing,"[16] "can read
and also write a little,"[17] "can read and write,"[18] "can write
a pretty hand and has probably forged a pass."[19] These conditions
obtained especially in Charleston, South Carolina, where were
advertised various fugitives, one of whom spoke French and English
fluently, and passed for a doctor among his people,[20] another who
spoke Spanish and French intelligibly,[21] and a third who could read,
write, and speak both French and Spanish very well.[22]
[Footnote 1: "Virginia Herald" (Fredericksburg), Jan. 21, 1800; "The
Maryland Gazette", Feb. 27, 1755; "Dunlop's Maryland Gazette and
Baltimore Advertiser", July 23, 1776; "The State Gazette of South
Carolina", May 18, 1786; "The State Gazette of North Carolina", July
2, 1789.]
[Footnote 2: "The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser" (Charleston,
S.C.), Sept. 26, 1797, and "The Carolina Gazette", June 3, 1802.]
[Footnote 3: "The Charleston Courier", June 1, 1804; "The State
Gazette of South Carolina", Feb. 20, and 27, 1786; and "The Maryland
Journal and Baltimore Advertiser", Feb. 19, 1793.]
[Footnote 4: "South Carolina Weekly Advertiser", Feb. 19 and April 2,
1783; "State Gazette of South Carolina", Feb. 20 and May 18, 1786.]
[Footnote 5: "The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advocate", Oct. 17,
1780.]
[Footnote 6: "The Virginia Herald" (Fredericksburg), Jan. 21, 1800;
and "The Norfolk and Portsmouth Chronicle", April 24, 1790.]
[Footnote 7: "The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser", Jan. 20 and
March 1, 1800; and "The South Carolina Weekly Gazette", Oct. 24 to 31,
1759.]
[Footnote 8: "The City Gaz. and Daily Adv.", Jan. 20 and March 1,
1800; and "S.C. Weekly Gaz.", Oct. 24 to 31, 1759.]
[Footnote 9: "The Newbern Gazette", May 23 and Aug. 15, 1800; "The
Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser", Feb. 19, 1793; "The City
Gazette and Daily Advertiser" (Charleston, S.C.), Sept. 26, 1797; Oct.
5, 1798; Aug. 23 and Sept. 9, 1799; Aug. 18 and Oct. 3, 1800; and
March 7, 1801; and "Maryland Gazette", Dec. 30, 1746; and April 4,
1754; "South Carolina Weekly Advertiser", Oct. 24 to 31, 1759; and
Feb. 19, 1783; "The Gazette of the State of South Carolina", Sept. 13
and Nov. 1, 1784; and "The Carolina Gazette", Aug. 12, 1802.]
[Footnote 10: "The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser", Sept. 26, 1797;
May 15, 1799; and Oct. 3, 1800; "The State Gazette of South Carolina",
Aug. 21, 1786; "The Gazette of the State of South Carolina", Aug. 26,
1784; "The Maryland Gazette", Aug. 1, 1754; Oct. 28, 1773; and Aug.
19, 1784; and "The Columbian Herald", April 30, 1789.]
[Footnote 11: "The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser", Oct. 5, 1798;
Aug. 18 and Sept. 18, 1800; "The Gazette of the State of South
Carolina", Aug. 16, 1784.]
[Footnote 12: "The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser", Oct. 5, 1798.]
[Footnote 13: "The Maryland Gazette", Aug. 19, 1784.]
[Footnote 14: "The State Gazette of South Carolina", Feb. 20 and 27,
1780.]
[Footnote 15: "The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser", Oct.
17, 1780. "Dunlop's Maryland Gazette and Baltimore Advertiser", July
23, 1776.]
[Footnote 16: "The Maryland Gazette", May 21, 1795.]
[Footnote 17: "The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser", Oct.
17, 1780; and Sept. 20, 1785; and "The Maryland Gazette", May 21,
1795; and January 4, 1798; "The Carolina Gazette", June 3, 1802; and
"The Charleston Courier", June 29, 1803. "The Norfolk and Portsmouth
Chronicle", March 19, 1791.]
[Footnote 18: "The Maryland Gazette", Feb. 27, 1755; and Oct. 27,
1768; "The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser", Oct. 1, 1793;
"The Virginia Herald" (Fredericksburg), Jan. 21, 1800.]
[Footnote 19: "The Maryland Gazette", Feb. 1, 1755 and Feb. 1, 1798;
"The State Gazette of North Carolina", April 30, 1789; "The Norfolk
and Portsmouth Chronicle", April 24, 1790; "The City Gazette and Daily
Advertiser" (Charleston, South Carolina), Jan. 5, 1799; and March 7,
1801; "The Carolina Gazette", Feb. 4, 1802; and "The Virginia Herald"
(Fredericksburg), Jan. 21, 1800.]
[Footnote 20: "The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser", Jan. 5, 1799;
and March 5, 1800; "The Gazette of the State of South Carolina", Aug.
16, 1784; and "The Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser", Sept.
20, 1793.]
[Footnote 21: "The City Gazette of South Carolina", Jan. 5, 1799.]
[Footnote 22: The City Gazette and Daily Advertiser (Charleston, South
Carolina), June 22 and Aug. 8, 1797; April 1 and May 15, 1799.]
Equally convincing as to the educational progress of the colored race
were the high attainments of those Negroes who, despite the fact that
they had little opportunity, surpassed in intellect a large number of
white men of their time. Negroes were serving as salesmen, keeping
accounts, managing plantations, teaching and preaching, and had
intellectually advanced to the extent that fifteen or twenty per cent.
of their adults could then at least read. Most of this talented class
became preachers, as this was the only calling even conditionally
open to persons of African blood. Among these clergymen was George
Leile,[1] who won distinction as a preacher in Georgia in 1782, and
then went to Jamaica where he founded the first Baptist church of that
colony. The competent and indefatigable Andrew Bryan[2] proved to be a
worthy successor of George Leile in Georgia. From 1770 to 1790 Negro
preachers were in charge of congregations in Charles City, Petersburg,
and Allen's Creek in Lunenburg County, Virginia.[3] In 1801 Gowan
Pamphlet of that State was the pastor of a progressive Baptist church,
some members of which could read, write, and keep accounts.[4] Lemuel
Haynes was then widely known as a well-educated minister of the
Protestant Episcopal Church. John Gloucester, who had been trained
under Gideon Blackburn of Tennessee, distinguished himself in
Philadelphia where he founded the African Presbyterian Church.[5] One
of the most interesting of these preachers was Josiah Bishop. By 1791
he had made such a record in his profession that he was called to
the pastorate of the First Baptist Church (white) of Portsmouth,
Virginia.[6] After serving his white brethren a number of years he
preached some time in Baltimore and then went to New York to take
charge of the Abyssinian Baptist Church.[7] This favorable condition
of affairs could not long exist after the aristocratic element in the
country began to recover some of the ground it had lost during the
social upheaval of the revolutionary era. It was the objection to
treating Negroes as members on a plane of equality with all, that led
to the establishment of colored Baptist churches and to the secession
of the Negro Methodists under the leadership of Richard Allen in 1794.
The importance of this movement to the student of education lies in
the fact that a larger number of Negroes had to be educated to carry
on the work of the new churches.
[Footnote 1: He was sometimes called George Sharp. See Benedict,
"History of the Baptists", etc., p. 189.]
[Footnote 2: "Ibid.", p. 189.]
[Footnote 3: Semple, "History of the Baptists", etc., p. 112.]
[Footnote 4: "Ibid.", p. 114.]
[Footnote 5: Baird, "A Collection", etc., p. 817.]
[Footnote 6: Semple, "History of the Baptists", etc., p. 355.]
[Footnote 7: "Ibid.", p. 356.]
The intellectual progress of the colored people of that day, however,
was not restricted to their clergymen. Other Negroes were learning to
excel in various walks of life. Two such persons were found in North
Carolina. One of these was known as Caesar, the author of a collection
of poems, which, when published in that State, attained a popularity
equal to that of Bloomfield's.[1] Those who had the pleasure of
reading the poems stated that they were characterized by "simplicity,
purity, and natural grace."[2] The other noted Negro of North Carolina
was mentioned in 1799 by Buchan in his "Domestic Medicine" as the
discoverer of a remedy for the bite of the rattlesnake. Buchan learned
from Dr. Brooks that, in view of the benefits resulting from the
discovery of this slave, the General Assembly of North Carolina
purchased his freedom and settled upon him a hundred pounds per
annum.[3]
[Footnote 1: Baldwin, "Observations", etc., p. 20.]
[Footnote 2: "Ibid.", p. 21.]
[Footnote 3: Smyth, "A Tour in the U.S.", p. 109; and Baldwin,
"Observations", p. 20.]
To this class of bright Negroes belonged Thomas Fuller, a native
African, who resided near Alexandria, Virginia, where he startled
the students of his time by his unusual attainments in mathematics,
despite the fact that he could neither read nor write. Once acquainted
with the power of numbers, he commenced his education by counting the
hairs of the tail of the horse with which he worked the fields. He
soon devised processes for shortening his modes of calculation,
attaining such skill and accuracy as to solve the most difficult
problems. Depending upon his own system of mental arithmetic he
learned to obtain accurate results just as quickly as Mr. Zerah
Colburn, a noted calculator of that day, who tested the Negro
mathematician.[1] The most abstruse questions in relation to time,
distance, and space were no task for his miraculous memory, which,
when the mathematician was interrupted in the midst of a long and
tedious calculation, enabled him to take up some other work and later
resume his calculation where he left off.[2] One of the questions
propounded him, was how many seconds of time had elapsed since the
birth of an individual who had lived seventy years, seven months, and
as many days. Fuller was able to answer the question in a minute and a
half.
[Footnote 1: Baldwin, "Observations", p. 21.]
[Footnote 2: Needles, "An Historical Memoir", etc., p. 32.]
Another Negro of this type was James Durham, a native slave of the
city of Philadelphia. Durham was purchased by Dr. Dove, a physician
in New Orleans, who, seeing the divine spark in the slave, gave him
a chance for mental development. It was fortunate that he was thrown
upon his own resources in this environment, where the miscegenation
of the races since the early French settlement, had given rise to a
thrifty and progressive class of mixed breeds, many of whom at that
time had the privileges and immunities of freemen. Durham was not long
in acquiring a rudimentary education, and soon learned several modern
languages, speaking English, French, and Spanish fluently. Beginning
his medical education early in his career, he finished his course,
and by the time he was twenty-one years of age became one of the most
distinguished physicians[1] of New Orleans. Dr. Benjamin Rush, the
noted physician of Philadelphia, who was educated at the Edinburgh
Medical College, once deigned to converse professionally with Dr.
Durham. "I learned more from him than he could expect from me," was
the comment of the Philadelphian upon a conversation in which he had
thought to appear as instructor of the younger physician.[2]
[Footnote 1: Brissot de Warville, "New Travels", vol. i., p. 223.]
[Footnote 2: Baldwin, "Observations", etc., p. 17.]
Most prominent among these brainy persons of color were Phyllis
Wheatley and Benjamin Banneker. The former was a slave girl brought
from Africa in 1761 and put to service in the household of John
Wheatley of Boston. There, without any training but that which she
obtained from her master's family, she learned in sixteen months to
speak the English language fluently, and to read the most difficult
parts of sacred writings. She had a great inclination for Latin and
made some progress in the study of that language. Led to writing by
curiosity, she was by 1765 possessed of a style which enabled her to
count among her correspondents some of the most influential men of her
time. Phyllis Wheatley's title to fame, however, rested not on her
general attainments as a scholar but rather on her ability to write
poetry. Her poems seemed to have such rare merit that men marveled
that a slave could possess such a productive imagination, enlightened
mind, and poetical genius. The publishers were so much surprised that
they sought reassurance as to the authenticity of the poems from such
persons as James Bowdoin, Harrison Gray, and John Hancock.[1] Glancing
at her works, the modern critic would readily say that she was not a
poetess, just as the student of political economy would dub Adam Smith
a failure as an economist. A bright college freshman who has studied
introductory economics can write a treatise as scientific as the
"Wealth of Nations". The student of history, however, must not
"despise the day of small things." Judged according to the standards
of her time, Phyllis Wheatley was an exceptionally intellectual
person.
[Footnote 1: Baldwin, "Observations", etc., p. 18; Wright, "Poems of
Phyllis Wheatley", Introduction.]
The other distinguished Negro, Benjamin Banneker, was born in
Baltimore County, Maryland, November 9, 1731, near the village of
Ellicott Mills. Banneker was sent to school in the neighborhood, where
he learned reading, writing, and arithmetic. Determined to acquire
knowledge while toiling, he applied his mind to things intellectual,
cultivated the power of observation, and developed a retentive memory.
These acquirements finally made him tower above all other American
scientists of his time with the possible exception of Benjamin
Franklin. In conformity with his desire to do and create, his tendency
was toward mathematics. Although he had never seen a clock, watches
being the only timepieces in the vicinity, he made in 1770 the first
clock manufactured in the United States,[1] thereby attracting the
attention of the scientific world. Learning these things, the owner of
Ellicott Mills became very much interested in this man of inventive
genius, lent him books, and encouraged him in his chosen field.
Among these volumes were treatises on astronomy, which Banneker soon
mastered without any instruction.[2] Soon he could calculate eclipses
of sun and moon and the rising of each star with an accuracy almost
unknown to Americans. Despite his limited means, he secured through
Goddard and Angell of Baltimore the publication of the first almanac
produced in this country. Jefferson received from Banneker a copy,
for which he wrote the author a letter of thanks. It appears that
Jefferson had some doubts about the man's genius, but the fact that
the philosopher invited Banneker to visit him at Monticello in 1803,
indicates that the increasing reputation of the Negro must have
caused Jefferson to change his opinion as to the extent of Banneker's
attainments and the value of his contributions to mathematics and
science.[3]
[Footnote 1: Washington, "Jefferson's Works", vol. v., p. 429.]
[Footnote 2: Baldwin, "Observations", etc., p. 16.]
[Footnote 3: Washington, "Jefferson's Works", vol. v., p. 429.]
So favorable did the aspect of things become as a result of this
movement to elevate the Negroes, that persons observing the conditions
then obtaining in this country thought that the victory for the
despised race had been won. Traveling in 1783 in the colony of
Virginia, where the slave trade had been abolished and schools for
the education of freedmen established, Johann Schoepf felt that the
institution was doomed.[1] After touring Pennsylvania five years
later, Brissot de Warville reported that there existed then a country
where the blacks were allowed to have souls, and to be endowed with an
understanding capable of being formed to virtue and useful knowledge,
and where they were not regarded as beasts of burden in order that
their masters might have the privilege of treating them as such. He
was pleased that the colored people by their virtue and understanding
belied the calumnies which their tyrants elsewhere lavished against
them, and that in that community one perceived no difference between
"the memory of a black head whose hair is craped by nature, and that
of the white one craped by art."[2]
[Footnote 1: Schoepf, "Travels in the Confederation", p. 149.]
[Footnote 2: Brissot de Warville, "New Travels", vol. I., p. 220.]
