I

PRE

Series 0

Rich

THE

ERICK DOUGLASS PAPERS

e: Speeches. Debates. and Interviews

Volume 2: 1847-54

ohn W. Blassingame, Editor

rd G. Carlson and Clarence L. Mohr, AssociaJe Editors

ulie S. Jones, John R. McKivigan, Day;. R. Roediger, and Jason H. SilYerman.

_Frederick Douglass, 1979 [1854]. "The Clai

Assistant Edilors

s of the Negro Ethnologically Considered: An Address, Before the Literary Societies ofWes em Reserve College, at Comrnencment, July 12, 1854." Reprinted in John W. Blassingame (ed. ,The Frederick DouBlass Papers Series One: Speeches. Debates, and Interviews. Vol. 2: 18 7-54. Yale University Press, pp. 497-525.

Yale Diversity Press New Haven and London

TORONTO. C"NADA WIl.ST 12 JULY 18~ 497.96

of its public men thereby displayed, to the Declaration of Independence, lellm !iomething regarding slavery itself. It requires something of common which asserts that "God hath created all men equal, and endowed them I honc!ity to keep a bargain to one hint. When you learn the real character of with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty. nnd the slavery. you may learn that its atmo!iphere is the most unfavorable of alI to pursuit of happiness;" and on which its constitution, intended to "secure , the growth of the commonest kind of honesty, You will learn that when Freedom and establish Justice." is properly based; and would, therefore,t men have become slaveholders, they have qualified themselves for the emphatically call upon the people of this country. without distinction of 1 perpetuation of any crime, known or unknown to the laws. When a man has party and more particularly on every section of the Christian church, to ) broken faith with God by the enslavement of the children of God. how can confederate to the defence of common rights. and for the utter overthrow of ! you expecl Ihnt !iuch a man will keep fnith with his fellow-man when Slavery. as they value the future peace. prosperity. nnd stnhility of the \ interest demnnds otherwise. He won't do it. He is prepared for commission Union. And desire to extend the blessings of Freedom throughoul the world. I of IIny crime nnd for breaking nny treaty, The slaveholders have never kept

I take greal pleasure in moving this resolution. I rejoice Ihlll the com- n treaty when it wns [in] their interest to break it. The history of the poor mittee has gone so thoroughly into the queslion ns they have in this resolu- 't Indians of this country has yet to be wrillen-Ihe history of Ihe southern tion. It covers the whole ground of the present issue, now forced upon the , tribes hall yet to be told. and a tale of woe, of blood. of tears, and of perfidy northern States and upon the world, and upon this conlinent more espe- " will then be loki of the southern States, sufficient to make men black as dally. by the slave power of the United States. pandemonium itself. They have broken faith with every Indian tribe,lO

The designs of the slave power of the States are but feebly underst~od f Mr, Dougla!is commented at great length upon the latter part of his even in the northern States. TheIr amoition pa~1 bounds. Nothi resoluTion and showed that while the Conslllullon of Ihe [Unlled] State[s} short. in my judgment, of the subjugation of this entire conlinent to t~e wns di vested of every idea of Slavery. yet, under thaI Constitution. slavery control and sway of Slavery is contemplated by the slave power. at th~s, of the gro!i!iest kind is countenanced. They have made it a crime to obey moment. New York, Massachusetts, New England, even Canada Itself IS ': God, lind to olley the deepest and the purest up-gushings of the unsophisti­looked upon as the last spot. perhaps, on the continent 10 be r.educed t~ t~e • \ caled humnn heart. They have made it a crime to be merciful, a crime to be control and the assistance of the slave power in the States. It IS only Within \ humane, a crime to do good, He then expressed his thanks that the commit-the last 30 or 40 years that anybody of distinction in the States thought of ; tee had given him such n resolution to speak upon, and concluded his enlarging the borders of the States. The first attempt made wa!i the purchase remarh amid!it great applause. of Loui!iiana; the next attempt was the purchase of Florida.' After this they determined upon the dismemberment of Mexico, but the history of all these transactions is well known to the people of Canada. I shall not. therefore,

TUE CLAIMS OF THE NEGRO ETHNOLOGICALLYgo into it. But let me telI you Ihat no one north of Mason & Dixon's line. 30 CONSIDERED: AN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN HUDSON, OHIO.years ago. thought that Texas would be annned to the Slave States. B~t

ON 12 JULY 1854 Texas was annexed. war followed. and the consequence was a large addi­

The Clallll.' of TI,r Nrllrr> f:lh"nl"lIlcally CmlJl/lrre": An Ad/lrCJ,'. 8('/nrc Ih(' Llltrarytion to the territory of the Slave Slates. And every time anything is con­SOdell,." tlf IVr",,.rll Rorn'r CIII/"Ke, al Cllllllllcnrcm('nt. Jllly 11, 1854 (Rochesler. N, Y"ceded to them they demand more. This is the nature of !ilavery, 18.54), Other leXls in F".,/rr;cA Dill/glass' Paptr. 21 July 18.54; Rochesler Daily Amtricon.

Some men affect surprise-and, perhaps. they really are surprised­that the South, after having received its fuJI share of Loui!iiana. should at 10. Prr..urrd!ly .outhrrn Malr., whrrr Indian lribts rdalnrd conlrol oYrr yulartU of land.lhe

Jackson admlni.tration, undu Ihe IUlhorily of Ihr Indian Rrmoyal Acl of 1830, nrgollalrd I suirs of Irrltir. !ly .....hich Ihr lril><:. urhongrd Ihdr landholding. In Ihr East for tands wrsl of Ihr Mlni.sippl

the end of34 years, demand the share received by the Free Statcs. But those who think any aggression on the part of the slave power !itrange have yet to

Rlyrr. Thr trulir_, somr or whleh wur undrnlably fraudulenl, Ignorrd tribal opposilion 10 rrmoval Ind ltd 10 wnrs with the Crrrh (1836) and wllh lhr Srmlnoles (18J~-42). Oranl Fortman. '"din" Rtmm'"I: Thr EmlRrn/im' oJ ,ht Fh,t Civil/ltd TrlbCJ oJ 'ndlonJ (Nonnan, Okll" 19~3); Arthur H. 9. Thr Unitrd SUlr_ purchurd Loui.llnl from Frlner In 1803, In thr ""om.,Onl. TrUly of DeRosirr. Jr., TIlt Rtmm'nl 'if'ht ChorlnK' '"dinrl.l (Knonllle. Teno.• 1970), 1819 Splin ",nouncrd III cI.ims 10 WUI florida Ind crdrd ElM Florida 10 Ihr Unllrd Slatrs,

t9

\

I I:

498 IIUDSON, OHIO

27 July 1854; Ubtrator, 28 July 1854; New York Dally TrlbJlnt, 31 July 1854; Anti· Slavtry Buglt, 5 Augusl 1854; Glasgow Chrlsllan Ntws, 9 Seplember 1854; Speech File, reel 14, frames 106-26, reel 19, Crames 324-51, FD Papers, DLC; Gregory, Fmltrick Douglass, 106-15; Foner, Lift and Writings, 2 : 289-309.

When il was announced Ihal Douglass would address Ihe presligioul' Philoze­lian and Phi Della lilerary socielies of Weslem Reserve College in Hudson, Ohio, during commencemenl week in 1854, Ihe news wo~ greeled wilh in­

f.'

credulily, praise, and disapproval. Never before had a blnck rerson been Ihe keynole speaker al Ihe gradual ion exercise,; of a mojor Americnn university. Weslem Reserve was one of Ihe firl'l colleges el'lablil'hed in Ihe We~1 and had an antislavery tradilion doling back 10 Ihe early 1830~. It~ monagemenl, however, was In Ihe hands of colonizationlsls and orthodox ColvinislS who, according 10 the New York Tdbl/llt of 31 July 1854, "inclined to conser­vali~m in mosl respecls." The facully, lruslees. and pre~idenlof Ihe college

,I ;j

criliciled Ihe invilalion In public and In privale and lried 10 gel Ihe (!rnduallng class 10 wllhdlaw II. Unsure aboul whallo l'ay on such on occol'lon, Douglass

------la~.~g!Pre~c~d.-f110~speak-ooly-al'te-r-Dr.M. B. ARde.J'59n-.-Hte-lJre~-the-lffltverflty-------;

of Roehe~ler and "a di5llngui~hed elhnologisl," and Dr. Henry Wayland, a . member of Ihe Rochesler facully, advised him 10 do so, laler providing him wilh infonnalion and books. Douglass labored "mony days and nighls" on lhe speech. "Wrillen orations had nol been in my line, ,. and Ihi~ fir~t effort, he laler felt, "was a very defective produelion. "Yellhe nearly Ihree Ihousllnd pelsons who filled Ihe spacious lenl on Ihe campus al 1:00 P. M. on 12 July f

1854 did nOllhink so, even Ihough some of Ihem had come hoping 10 ~ee Ihe :1quondam slave fall on his face. "Dougla~s commanded Ihe moM fixed nllen­

lion for lwo hours, on a hOI ~ummer afternoon." reported Ihe Ilud~lln (Ohio) Obun·u. His eloquence broughl "many glislening lear~" 10 Ihe eye~ of Ihe audience. said Ihe Chrol/ic/t and Trmuaipt. Doultla~l' wrole laler Ihal his rcmark~ "were enlhu~iaslically received" only when he departcd from his lelll and spoke eXlemporaneou~ly. BUI his memory hnd plnyed Iricks on him. Every newspaper lhal reponed Ihe speech or look nolice of Ihe prinled version was impressed wilh Ihe deplh of Douglass's re~earch ondlhe cllgency of his Ihoughl. The Worcesler (Mass.) Spy expressed a general vlewpoinl: "He showed Ihal he was familiar wilh Ihe general and nalurnl hislory of man. His language was chasle, and his reasoning slrong. able ond logicnl. "The ocea· sion proved 10 be an overwhelming succe~s for Douglus and l'omewhol of an embarrassmenl 10 Ihe college admlnislralion. which wa~ under fire for poor financial managemenl. To some crilles of Ihe admini~lrolion iI ~eemed a vole of no confidence Ihal for Ihe firsl lime in Ihe college 's hi~lory more people allended Ihe lilerary sociely's funclion Ihan Ihe gradualion ceremony proper. Douglass slayed for Ihe laller ceremony on Ihe following day, sreoking briefly

l.J) l.

12 JULY IBM 499

in Ihe morning and aHending Ihe oralorical and musical perfonnances In the afternoon and evening. FDP. 14, 28 July, 4, II August 1854; New York Alllerican J/lbflu, Augusl 1854; Lib., 18 Augusl 1854; New York lndtptn­dC'"" 27 July 1854; "Juslice"lo Ihe Edilor, "Trulh" 10 the Editor, in New York Indeptndent. 11 Augusl, 1 Seplember 1854; Audrey McCluskey and John McCluskey, "Frederick Douglass on Elhnology: A Commencemenl Addrel's al We~lem Reserve College, 1854." NHB, 40: 747- 49 (Seplembcr­OCloher 1977); Douglass, LIfe and Timts, 413-14; Carroll Culler, A History (If IVCJtUII Rcun't Colltgt, 1826-1876 (Cleveland, 1876), 24-53; (Henry n. Loomisl, 0111' Hlmdrtd Ytars of Wt.fttrn Rtsuvt (Hudson, Ohio, 1926), 24-26; Frederick C. Woile, WtSt/'rn Rtsuvt U"ivuslty: The HJldson Era (Cleveland. 1943),228-36; Lora Case, HJldson ofLong Ago: Rtminlsctncts (Hud~on, Ohio, 1963),29-30.

Gentlemen of the Philozelian Sociely: I propose 10 submil 10 you a few Ihoughl~ on Ihe subjcci of Ihe Claims of Ihe Negro, suggesled byelhnologi­cal science. or Ihe nalural hislory of man. BUI before eOlCring...upon.-that-t ~ _ subject, I lrusl you will allow me 10 make a remark or Iwo, somewhal pcrsonallo myself. The relalion belween me and Ihis occasion may JUSlify whal. ill others, mighl seem an offence againsl good lasle.

This occasion is 10 me one of no ordinary inleresl, for many reasons;

and Ihe honor you have done me, in selecling me as your speaker, is as

gralefullo my heart, 85 il is novel in the hislory of American Collegiale or

Literary Inslilutions. Surprised as I am, Ihe public are no less Surprised, at

Ihe spiril of independence, and Ihe moral courage displayed by the genlle­men al whose call I am here. There is felt 10 be a principle in Ihe maller, placing il far above egolism or personal vanity; a principle which gives 10 this occasion n general, and J had almoSI said, an universal inlerest. J engage IIl·day, for the firsl lime, in Ihe exercities of any College Com­mCIIC'emcnl. II is a new chapter in my humble experience. The usual coursc, OIl such limes. I believe. is 10 call 10 Ihe plalform men of age and

dislinclion. eminenl for eloquence, menIal abilily, and scholarly allain­ments-Illen whose high cullure, severe Iraining. greal experience, large observalion. and peculiar aplilude for leaching qualify Ihem to instruct

even Ihe already well inslrucled, and 10 impart a glow. a luslre, 10 Ihe acquiremenls of Ihose who are passing from Ihe Halls of learning, 10 Ihe broad lhenlre of aclive life. To no such high endeavor as Ihis is your humble spenker filled; nnd il was wilh much dislrusl and hesilalion Ihal he accepled Ihe invitalion. so kindly and perseveringly given, 10 occupy 8 portion of your aHenlion here to-day.

,I,~ HUDSON, OHIO

, i I 12 JULY 1854 SOt

J express the hope, then, gentlemen, that this acknowledgment of the '{; novelty of my position, and my unaffected and honest confession of inap­titude, will awaken a sentiment of generous indulgence townrds the seat­tered thoughts I have been Able to fling together, with a view to presenting them as my humble contribution to these Commencement Exercises.

Interesting to me, personally, as this occasion is, it is still more in­teresting to you; especially to such of you as have completed your educa­tion, and who (not wholly unlike the gallant ship, newly launched, full i

rigged. and amply fitted, about toquit the placid waters of the harbor for the boisterous waves of the sea) are entering upon the active duties nnd mea­sureless responsibilities incident to the grent voynge of life. Before such, the ocean of mind lies outspread more solemn than the sen. studded with difficulties and perils. Thoughts, theories, ideas, and systems. so vnrious, and so opposile, and leading to such diverse results, suggest the wisdom of the ulmosl precaution, and the mosl careful survey, at the start. A false light. a defective chart, an imperfect compass, may cause one to drift in,

---------.e""nirldTessoewtMennent, orlO1le landed at last amid s~' ;: On Ihe other hand, guided by wisdom, manned wilh truth, fidelity and

industry, the haven of peace, devoutly wished for by all, may he reached in t,

safety by all. The compensalion of the preacher is full, when nssured that ~ his words have saved even one from error and from ruin. My joy shall be full. if, on this occasion, I shall be able to give a righl direction to any one ~

mind. touching Ihe question now to be considered. ~ Gentlemen, in selecting the Claims of the Negro as the suhject of my

remarks to-day, I am animated by a desire 10 bring beforc you n mailer of living importance-I a) mailer upon which action, as well as thought, is required. The relation subsisting belween the white and hlnck people of this i. counlry is the vilal question of the age. In the solution of this question, the scholars of America will have to take an important and controlling part. ; This is Ihe moral bailie field to which their country nnd their God now call them. In the eyelsl of both, Ihe neutral scholar is an 19nohle man. Here, a man must be hOi. or be accounted cold, or, perchance, something worse than hot or cold. The lukewann and the cowardly. will be rejected by earnest men on eilher side of the controversy. The cunning lIIan who avoids it, to gain the favor of both parties, will be rewarded with scom; and the timid man who shrinks from it, for fear of offending either party, will be despised. To the lawyer, the preacher, the politicinn, and to the man of '! ! leiters, there is no neutral ground. He that is not for us, is against us. ' Genllemen, I assume at the start, that wherever else J may be required to

(J'I speak with bated breath, here, at least, I may speak with freedom the 9J

thought nearest my heart. This liberty is implied, by the call Jhave received to he here; and yet I hope to present the subject so that no man can rellsonably sny, that an outrage has been committed, or that I have abused (he privilege with which you have honored me. I shall aim to discuss the cillims of the negro, general and special, in a manner, though not scientific, slill sufficiently clear and definite to enable my hearers to fonn an in­telligent judgment respecting them.

The first general claim which may here be set up, respects the manhood of the negro. This is an elementary claim, simple enough, but not without question. It is fiercely opposed. A respectable public joumal, published in Richmond, Vn., bases its whole defence of the slave system Upon a denial of the negro's manhood.

"The white peasant Is free, and if he is a man of will and intellect, can rise in the scale of society; or at least his offspring may. He Is not deprived by law of those 'inalienable rights,' 'liberty and the pursuit of happiness, ' by the use of it. But here is the essence of slavery-that we do declare the neg. 0 destitute of these powers~btffd1iim by "la"'w"'I'-;;o"t~he~co:O-:n=-:dF.I.,tiocc·n=-=-oT( t;Th--:-e----------- ­laboring peasant for ever, without his consent, and we bind his posterity after him. Now, the true question is, have we a right to do this? If we have not, all discussions about his comfortable situation and the actual condition of free laborers elsewhere, are quite beside the point. If the negro has the same right to his liberty and the pursuit of his own happiness that the white man has, then we commit the greatest wrong and robbery to hold him a slave-an act at which the sentiment of justice must revolt in every heart-and negro slavery is an institution which that sentiment must sooner or later blot from the face of the earth. "-Richmond Examiner.

After staling the question thus, the Examiner boldly asserts that the negro has no such righl--BECAUSE HE IS NOT A MAN!

There are three ways to answer this denial. One is by ridicule; a second is by denunciation; and a third is by argument. I hardly know under which of these modes Illy answer to-day will fall. I feel myself somewhat on trial; and that this is just the point where there is hesitation, if not serious doubt. I cannot. however, argue; I must assert. To know whether [a) negro is a man, it mllst first he known whllt constitutes a man. Here, as well as elsewhere,) take it. that the "coat must be cut according to Ihe cloth. "It is not neces­sary, in order to establish the manhood of anyone making the claim, to prove that such an one equals Clay' in eloquence, or WebsterJ and Cal­

•. Henry Clay, 2. Daniel Weh~'er.

HUDSON.OHto502

houn} in logical force and directness; for, tried by such standards of mental power as these, it is apprehended that very few could claim the high designation of man. Yet something like this folly is seen in the arguments directed against the humanity of the negro, His faculties and powers, uneducated and unimproved, have been contrasted with those of the high­est cultivation; and the world has then been called upon to behold the immense and amazing difference between the man admitted. and the man disputed. The fact that these intellects, so powerful and so controlling, are almost. if not quite, as exceptional to the general rule of humanity in one direction, as the specimen negroes are in the other, Is quite overlooked.

Man is distinguished from all other animals. by the pnssessinn of certain definite faculties and powers, as well as by physicnl orgnnlzation and proportions. He is the only two-handed animal on the earth-the only one that laughs. and nearly the only one that weeps. Men instinctively distinguish between men and brutes. Common sense itself Is scarcely needed to detect the absence of manhood in a monkey, or to recognize its presence in 8 negro. His speech. his reason. his power to acquire and to retain knowledge, his heaven-erected face. his habitudes, his hopes, his fears, his aspiration5, his prophecies. plant between him nnd the brute creation, a distinction as etemalas it is palpable. Away, therefore, with all the scientific moonshine that would connect men with monkeys; that would have the world believe that humanity. instead of resting on its own charac­teristic pedestal-gloriously independent-is a sort of sliding scale. mak­ing one extreme brother to the ou-rang-ou-tang, and the other to angels, and all the rest intermediates! Tried by allihe usual, and all the "t/usual tests, whether mental, moral, physical, or psychological, the negro is a MAN­

considering him as possessing knowledge, or needing knowledge. his ele­val ion or his degradation, his virtues. or his vices-whichever road you take, you reach the same conclusion, the negro is a MAN. His good and his bad, his innocence and his guilt. his joys and his sorrows. proclaim his manhood in speech that all mankind practically and readily understand[s],

A very recondite author says that "man is distinguished from all other animals, in that he resists as well as adapts himself 10 his circumstances. ,.,.

). John C. Calhoun. 4. Onugla" probably rden 10 lhe educator Samuel Slanhope Smllh (l7~O-1 R19), whose

ethnological "lews predominated among American nalurallsts unlillhe emergence In Ihe I840s of Ihe

American School of Ethnology, In All fua}' 011 Ih, CauJrJ o/Ihr Varlrty o/Complr.rloll alld FI,urr In,h, Human Sp,eI,s (New Brunswick, N.1 .. 18101, Smhh reasoned Ihat human\. unlike onimals. could

eli'l in numerous en"lronmenls because of Ihelr ability 10 adapl. William Stanlnn, }'h, I""pard' J

SpolJ: Sci,nllfic Allillldo Tolt'ard Raa ill Amtrlca, /815-1859 (ChlcaBo, 19601; nAD, J7: 244-4S.

~

12 JULY 18S4 S03

l" He does not take things as he finds them, but goes to work to improve them, Tricd by thi~ test, too, the negro is a man. You may see him yoke the oxen, harness the hor~e, and hold the plow. He can swim the river; but he prefers to ning over it a bridge. The horse bears him on his back-admits his mastery and dominion. The barn-yard fowl know his step, and nock around to receive their morning meal from his sable hand. The dog dances when he come~ home, and whines piteou~ly when he is absent. All these know that Ihe negro is a MAN. Now, presuming that whal is evident to beast and to bird, cannot nced elaborate argument to be made plain to men. I assume, with this hrief statement, that the negro is a man.

The first cillirn conceded and sell led , let u~ attend to the second, which is beset with ~orne difficullies, giving rise to many opinions, different from Illy own, and which opinions J propo~e to combat.

There was a time when, if you established the point that a particular being is a nlan, it was considered that such a being, of course, had a common ance~try with the rest of mankind. But it is not so now. This is. you know. an Ilge 01 SCience, and science is favorable to division. It must explore and analyze, until all doubt is sel at rest. There is, therefore, another propo~itionto be ~tated and maintained, separately, which, in other lIny~. (the lIay~ before the Notts, the Gliddens, the Agassiz[esJ, and Mortons. made their profound discoveries in ethnological science),5 might have hcen included in the (jr~1.

It is ~omewhat remarkable, that, at a time when knowledge is so generally diffused, when the geography of Ihe world is so well

under~lood-whentime and space, in the intercourse of nations, are almost annihilated-when oceans have become bridges-the earth a magnificent ball-the hollow sky a dome-under which a common humanity can meet in friendly conclave-when nationalities are being swallowed up--and the ends of lhe earth brought together-I say it is remarkable-nay, it is strange

~. 'lI,e elhn"I",;".1 cunclu'i"ns of Jo'ioh Clnrk Noll (I R04-73I, Gcorge Robert QlIddon

(IR09-~71. Jenn Loui, Rodolphe Agnsil (IR07- 731, and Samuel George Morton (\ 799-18S I) eollec­lively fonllellihe h,,;c c1nclnne\ of whal came 10 he known a\ Ihe Americao School of Elhnology. The

Americnn Schnol qlle\lion.d the theorie' of Ihe emlncnl Brill\h phy,lcian aod elhnologlSI James CowIe.' Prkh..d (11Rfo-1 R4R) nnd of Ihe prominenl American nalurallsland educalor Samuel Slanhope

Smilh. I'rkhnrll And Srnllh propounded Ihe monogeni,' theory lhol the~ was a unified origin of Ihe separate rnce\ nnd Ihol Ihe differenl races thus eonstlluted one species, In conlradislincllon, Ihe American School pmilcd a poly~enlsl Iheory. claiming thai each race had I "parlle origin aod was therefore R Ili\linel 'pecies. Sianlon, I.lopnrd· > 5pnt", 3-12; Fredrickson, Black ImaRr. 74.76;

ACAD, I: .14-.16, 2: 66~, 4: S40; NCAR, 2: 360-62,10: 26S-66, 19: 84-8S; DAB, I: 114-22, 3: S82-B.l, 16: .144.

I

IlUDSON.OHtOS04

that there should arise a phalanx of learned men-speaking in the name of scienct-to forbid the magnificent reunion of mankind in one hrotherhood. j

A mortifying proof is here given, that the moral growth of a nation, or anl age. does not always keep pace with the increase of knowledge, and (' suggests the necessity of means to increase human love with human learn- L ing.

The proposition to which I allude, and which I mean nellt to assert. is this: that what are technically called the negro race. nre 0 port of the human family, and are descended from a common ancestry, with the rest of man­kind. The discussion of this point opens a comprehensive field of inquiry. It involves the question of the unity of the human roce. Much has and can be

said on both sides of that question. Looking out upon the surface of the Globe. with its varieties of climate,

soil. and fonnations, Its elevations and depressions. its rivers. lakes, oceans. islands. continents. and the vast and striking differences which mark and diversify its multitudinous inhabitants. the question has been

___----'-'rn;uiMsed.-anrl--Pie~~~~d~ithincreasing ardor and pertinacity. (especially i~~ modem times), can all these various tribes. nations. tongues. kindred. so widely separated. and so strangely dissimilar, have descended from a common ancestry? That is the question, and it has been answered variously hy men of learning. Different modes of reasoning have been adopted, but' Ihe conclusions reached may be divided into two-the one YES, and the olher NO. 1Y1Iic11 of these answers is most in accordance with facts, with reason. with the welfare of the world. and renects most glory upon the wisdom, power. and goodness of the Author of all existence. is the ques­lion for consideration with us. On which side is the weight of the argument, rather than which side is ahsolutely proved? 'W',

It must be admilled at Ihe beginning. that. viewed npar1 from the au­Ihority of the Bible. neither the unity. nor diversity of ori[!in of the hu­man family. can be demonstrated. To usc the terse expression of the Rev. Dr. Anderson.~ who speaking on this point. says: "It is impossible to get far enough back for Ihal. .. This much. however. cnn be done. The

6 Mlr'Iin B",wer Andtnon (IHI ~-901 wu bom In Brun~wick. Maine. ~rad"ated from Walerville (now Coll>YI College In 1840. and ",malord lhere for anolher decDde leochln~ rhelorie and modem hi<lory. From Ill~O In 18~l he ediled Ihe New York R,em.lu. a weekly 1"1'11'1 new~rnrcr. AnderlOn ~e",cd M l're~idenl Ollhc Uni"c"hy 01 RochC<lerlrom 11\ loundin~ In IRH 10 hh ",'iremenlln 1889.10 Iddilion 10 hi' work a, an educllor. l>e l'ubli~hcd numerous .rticle~ on I .ariely of loplcllncludlnl

elhnolol)'. hi'tory. and ",1I~\on. William C. Mo",y. ""p'" nnd A,/,/"."" n! M.",ln n. AnduJolt, 2 .oh (Philldelphla. 189~1; Calhcart. Baptl.,' EnC)'dnpn,tlln. D-3~; NCAn. 12 ; 243-44; DAB,

1 ; 269-10.

~ -t.. {;

12 JULY 18S4 .50.5

evidence on both sides, can be accurately weighed, and the truth arrived at wilh almost absolute certainty.

II would be interesting, did time pennit , to give here, some of the most striking fealures of the various theories, which have, of late, gained allen­tion and respect in many quarters of our counlry-touching the origin of mankind-bull musl pass Ihis by. The argument to-day, is to the unity, as against that Iheory, which affinns Ihe diversity of human origin.

THE BEARINGS OF THE QUESTION.

A mornenl's reflection must impress all, that few questions have more importanland solemn bearings, than the one now under consideration. II is connecled with elemal as well as wilh lerrestrial inlereslS. II covers the

.earth and reaches heaven. The unily of the human race-the brotherhood of man-Ihe reciprocal duties of all to each. and of each to nil. are 100 plainly IAught in the Bible 10 admit of cavil. The credit of Ihe Bible is at stake-and if il be 100 much 10 say Ihal it must stand or fall by Ihe decision of this quest ion. ;I is pf1)-P~J'lrtsa.¥-t-1 hat the va Ille of Ihat sncrcd-Book,-as-a-reGGl'd--­of the early history of mankind-musl be materially affecled, by the deci­sion of the question.

For myselfl can say, my reason (not less than my feeling, and my faith) welcomes with joy. the declaralion of the Inspired Aposlle •• 'Ihal God has made of one blood all nations of men for 10 dwell upon all the face of the earth. "7 BUI this grand affirmation of Ihe unity of the human race, and many others like unto it, logether with Ihe whole accounl of Ihe crealion. given in Ihe early scriptures. must all get a new inlerpretntion or be over­thrown allogelher, if a diversily of human origin can be maintained. Most evidently. this aspect of Ihe queslion makes it importanllo those who rely upon the Bihle. os Ihe sheet anchor of their hopes-and Ihe framework of all religious tnlth. The young minisler must look inlo Ihis subject and sellle it for himself, before he ascends the pulpit, to preach redemption 10 a fallen race.

The bearing of the question upon Revelation, is not more marked and decided than ils relalion 10 Ihe silualion of Ihings in our counlry. al this momenl. Olle .tel'Clltlr part of Ihe population of Ihis cO\lnlry is of negro descenl. The land is peopled by what may be called Ihe most dissimilar races on Ihe globe. The black and Ihe while-the negro and Ihe European-Ihese constilute the American people-and, in all the Iikeli­

1. A paral'hra~e of ACI' 11 ; 26.

.. "ol' ,HUDSON. OHIO506

hoods of the case. they will ever remain the principal inhabitants of the United States, in some form or other. The European population nre greatly in the ascendant in numbers, wealth and power. They are the rulers of the country-the masters-the Africans are the slaves-the proscrihcd portion of the people-and precisely in proportion as the truth of human brother­hood gets recognition, will be the freedom and elevation. in thiliCountry, of persons of African descent. In truth. this question is at the hollom of the whole controversy, now going on between the slaveholders on the one hand, and the abolitionists on the other. It is the same old question which II

has divided the selfish from the philanthropic part of mankind in nil ages. It \ is the question whether the rights, privileges, and immunities enjoyed by some ought not to be shared and enjoyed by all.

It is not quite two hundred years ago, when such was the simplicity (I will not now say the pride and depravity) of the Anglo-Saxon inhahitants of the British West Indies, thnt the learned and pious Godwin, n missionary to the West Indies, deemed it necessary to write a book, to remove what he

---------1c~o)lnl(cev...ed_tO_be the injunousJ>eUeLtbat it was sinful in the sighl of God 10

baptize negroes and Indians.- The West Indies have made progress since thaI time. God's emancipating angel has broken the fetters of slavery in those islands, and the praises of the Almighty are now sung by the sable lips of eight hundred thousand freemen, before deemed only fit for slaves, and to whom even baptismal and burial rights (rites?) were denied.

The unassuming work of Godwin may have had some agency in pro­ducing this glorious result. One other remark before entering lIpon the argumenl. II may be said that views and opinions favoring Ihe unily of the human family, coming from one of lowly condition, are open to the suspi­cion that "the \l'ish is/ather to the thou!:}", '''I and so, indeed, il may be. nUl let il be also remembered, that this deduction from the weight of the argument on the one side, is more than counterbalanced by the pride ofraee and position arrayed on the other. Indeed, ninety-nine oul of every hundred of the advocates of a diverse origin of the human family in this country, are among those who hold it to be the privilege of the AnR'n,SlI.wlI to enslave and oppress the African-and slaveholders, not a few. like the Richmond Emllliner to which I have referred, have admitted, that the whllie argument in defence of slavery, becomes utterly worthless the moment the African is proved to be equally a man with the Anglo-Saxon. The temptation, there­

8. Douglan refers to Oodwyn, N"ro'1 and Indian' J At/,·nrlllr. 9. An IlIu,ion 10 Hrnry IV. Part II. leI 4, SC. ~, line 91.

CO\

'

12 JULY 1854 507I. '.',

fore. to read the negro out of the human family is exceedingly strong, and may account somewhat for the repeated attempts on the part of Southern pretenders to science, to cast a doubt over the Scriptural account of the origin of mankind. If the origin and motives of most works opposing the doctrine of the unity of the human race could be ascertained. it may be douhlcd whether 011(' such work could boast an honest parentage. Pride and selrishness. combined with mental power, never want for a theory to justify the Ill-and when men oppress their fellow-men, the oppressor ever finds, in the character of the oppressed, a full justification for his oppression. Ignorance and depravity, and the inability to rise from degradation to civili7.ntinn IIIIII respectability, nrc the most usual allegations against the oppressed. The evils most fostered by slavery and oppression are precisely those which slaveholders and oppressor!'> would transfer from their system to the inherenl Chllnlcter of their viclims. Thus the very crimes of slavery become slavery's best defence. By making the enslaved a character fit only for slavery, they excuse themselves for refusing to make the slave a Treelllan. A who Icsnle melhod of accomplishing th1s~~re=s=u""I'-t:-Cls--'t=o--=o~vO:::e-:::'rt"'h-::Cro=-:wC:-:--------------the instinctive consciousness of the common brotherhood of man. For, let it be once granted that the human race are of multitudinous origin, naturally different in their moral, physical. and intellectual capacities, and al once you Illake plausihle a demand for classes, grades and conditions, for dif­ferent methods of cullure, different moral. political. and religious instilu­tions, and a chance is left for slavery. as a necessary institution. The dehales in Congress on Ihe Nebraska Bill during the past winler, will show how slilveholtlcrs have availed lhemselves of this doclrine in support of slaveholding. There is nodoublthnt Messrs. Noll. Glidden. Morton. Smith and Agassiz were duly consulted by our slavery propagating statesmen.

ETHNOLOGICAL UNFAIRNESS TOWARDS THE NEGRO.

The lawyers tell us that the credit of a witness is always in order. Ignorance, malice or prejudice. may disqualify a witness, and why not an author? Now. the disposition everywhere evident, among the class of writers alluded to. to separate the negro race from every intelligent nation and tribe in /\fricn. may fairly be regarded as one proof, that they have staked oul the ground beforehand, and that they have aimed to construct a theory in support of a foregone conclusion. The desirableness of isolating the negro race. and especially of separating them from the various peoples of Northern Africa, is too plain to need a remark. Such isolation would

501 12 JULY IRS4IIUOSON. OHIO ~09

remove stupendous difficulties in the way of gelling the negro in a favor- the presence of "even negro blood." A man. in our day, with brown able alJitude for the blows of scientific Christendom. complexion, "nose rounded and wide, lips thick, hair black and curly,"

Dr. Samuel George Morton may be referred to as n fnir sample of would. Ithink. have no difficulty in gelling himself recognized as a negroll American Ethnologists. His very able work Cral/ia Amaic(l//(l. published The same authority tells us that the "Copts are supposed by NEIBHuR, in Philadelphia in 1839. is widely read in thiscountry.'o In thi~ grent work DENON nnd others, to be the descendants of the ancient Egyptians;" and his contempt for negroes is ever conspicuous. Itake him ll~ nn illue;tration of Dr. Morton ndds, that it has often been observed that a strong resemblance whal had been alleged as lrue of his class. mOlY be trnced between Ihe Coplic visage and Ihal presented in Ihe ancient

The fact that Egypt was one of the earliest ahelllec; of Il':tming and mUl11mies and statues. Again, he says, the "COpt.f COl/ be, at most, but the civilizalion. is as firmly estnblished a~ are the everlnc;ling hille;. defying, drRrl/rratC' rC'main.f, botl, physically and intellectually, of that mighty wilh a calm fronl Ihe boasted mechanical and architectural c;kill of the pC'oplr 11'/10 "m'C' cll'ill/ed tl'e admiratioll of all age.f . .. Speaking of the nineleenth century-e;miling e;erenely on the ae;~nultc; nnd the l1Iutntions of Nubianc;. Dr. Monon says, (page 26)­time, there she stands in overshadowing grandeur, riveting the eye and the , "The hair of the Nubian is thick and black---often curled, either by mind of the modem world-upon her. in silent and dreamy wonder. Greece I' nature or nn, nnd sometimes partially frizzled, but never woolly. " and Rome-and through them Europe and America-have received their Again:­civilization from the ancient Egyptians. This fact is not denied by anybody. "Although the Nubians occasionally present their national characters But Egypt is in Africa. Pity that it had not been in Europe. or in Asia, or unmixed, they generally show traces of their social intercourse with the beller sllll. In Amenca! Another unhappy cIrcumstance ie;, thnt the ancIent ilhs-;-nnd C"I'" wittrlhe ncgroe~ll-'-------------------------Egyptinns were not white people; but were, undoubtedly ,just about as dark • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • in complexion as many in this country who are considered genuine negroes;: The repetition of the adverb here' 'even• •, is important, as showing the and thaI is not all, their hair was far from being of that graceful lankness: spirit in which our great American Ethnologist pursues his work, and what which Rdorns the fair Anglo-Saxon head. But the next hcc;t thing, after deductionc; mny be justly made from the value of his researches on that thec;e defects, is a positive unlikeness to the negro. Accordingly, our . Rccount. In everything touching the negro, Dr. Morton. in his Crarria learned author enters into an elaborate argument to prove that the ancient ~ AII/aic(l//(l, betrays the same spirit. He thinks that the Sphinx was not Egyptians were totally distinct from the negroes, nnd to deny all relation- t the representative of an Egyptian Deit~. but was a shrine. worshiped at by ship between. Speaking of the "Copts and Fellahs." whom every body I the degraded I/C'Kroes of Egypt; and thiS fact he alleges as the secret of the knows are descendants of the Egyptians, he says, "TI.C' C"I'ts. t",,"gh now ~. mistake made by Volney, in supposing that the Egyptians were real ne­rell/arkalJly distinct from tl.C' people that sllrround tl.C'1II. da/l'C' from their groee;. The nbc;urdity of this assertion will be very apparent, in view of the rl'm,,'e al/ceslOrs some mlxtllre ofGreek. Arabian, (/1111 pl'rl,a,H l'vl'n negro fact thai the grent Sphinx in question wn!i the chief of a series. full two miles blood . .. Now. mark the description given of the Egyptians in this same in length. Our nuthor again repels the supposition that the Egyptians were work: "Complexion brown. TI.e nose iJ straight. excepti1lK tl,l' e1ld, where related to negroes. by saying there is no mention made of color by the il i.\ rOll"ded ami wide; tl.e lips are rallla tl.ick. (lml tl,l' '/(/ir Mack a"d historian, in rcillting the marriage of Solomon with Pharaoh's daughter; CIIrl." . .. This description would certainly seem to make it snfe to suppose and. with genuinc American feeling, he says, such a circumstance as the

marrying of an European monarch with the daughter of a negro would not 10. Oou~lan Idrn 10 Samurl O. Morlon, Crnnln Am"lrnnn; "', A Co",,.,,,,,,"" Vir ... o/'ltt have been pase;ed over in silence in our day. This is a sample of the

Slulll 0/ l'a,/oUf Abo,IK;nal N(l/lonJ 0/ No"h and 50",/, Am"lrn (l'hllRddl'hla. IRW). Publllhrd by reasoning of men who reason from prejudice rather than from facts. Itlub\Cription. C,onla Am"lrona brcRmr lhr mOll ramou~ or Monon'\ ....ork'. II comprndlum or el­

'ay\ and lilho,raphs on Ihr relallon\hip bc,wrrn Ihr craniR and cU~lom~ or thr IImrricRn Indlanl, the assumes thnt " Mack skin in the East excites the same prejudice which we work ar,urllha' diHrrenl racr\ wrre crea'rd 10 adapllo lhrlr ori,lna' envlronmrnh nnd lhal ulemal cau~\ do not errrci physical characlrriltlc~. Jo\lah G. Noll and Ckor(!r R. Ollddon. Ty~s of "'""llnd; or E,hnolo«lral Rrsra,rhr.I ... tl'hlladrlphla. 11~41. llll-Ivll; Sianlon. t"0l'a,d's Spoil, II. tn lhr nhovr l'afl(!rRl'hl. Dougla\1 quolC\ and c1o~ly paraphrllCl Monon. C,a"'a

Am,,;rann. 24-21>.30.40.

~

511 510 HUDSON. OHIO

see here in the West. Having denied all relationship of the negro to the

ancient Egyptians, with characteristic American assumption, he SllYS. "It

is easy to prove, that whatever may have been the hue of their skin, they

belong to the same race with ourselves. "12 IOf course, I do not find faull with Dr. Morton, or llny other American, .!

I for claiming affinity wilh Egyptians. All that goes in that direction belongs 10 my side of the question. and is really righl.

The leaning here indicated is natural enough. and may be explaincd by Ihe faCI Ihal an educated man In Ireland ceases to be an Irishman: and an inlelligent black man is always supposed to have derived his inlelligence

from his connection with the while race. To be intelligenl is to have one's

negro blood ignored. There is. however. a very important physiological fact, contradicting

this last assumption; and thai fact is. that intellect is uniformly dcrived from the maternal side. Mulattoes, in this country. may almost wholly boast of

Anglo-Saxon male ancestry. It is the province of prejudice to blind; and scientific writers. not less

lhan others, write to please. as well as to instruct. and even unconsciously

10 themselves. (sometimes). sacrifice what is true to what is popular.

Fashion is not confined to dress; but extends to philosophy as wcll-and it

is fashionable now, in our land, to exaggerate the differences hetwcen the

negro and the European. If, for instance, a phrenologist or naturalist under­lakes to represent in portraits, the differences between the two races-the

negro and Ihe European-he will invariably presenllhe hiX'IC.tt Iype of the European, and Ihe lowes' Iype of Ihe negro.

The European face is drawn in harmony with Ihe highest ideas of beauty, dignity and intellecl. Features regular and brow after Ihe Webste­rian mold. The negro. on the olher hand. appears wilh fcalurcsllistorled. lips exaggeraled, forehead depressed-and the whole exprcssion of the

countenance made 10 harmonize with the popular idea of negro imbecility

and degradation. I have seen many pictures of negroes and Europeans. in phrenological nnd ethnological works; and all. or nearly all. exccpting the work of Dr. Prichard, and that other great work. Combs' Cmwi,,,,iml of MOil, Il have been more or less open to this objection. I think I have never

12 In the preeedinB paraBrlph, DouBlus quotes and closely "arl"hrue~ Mllrtnn, Crm,/" Am";,,,no. 29. 1I.

11. DouBlus probably refers 10 James Cnwle. Prichard. R,.•,arrh,,'n,a ,h, rh'·..,....llIislotyof MonA in". 5 .ols. (I81l; london, 1841)and GcorBc Combe, Th, ConJlI,u,'m, of At"" (,,,,,,/lirr,d In R,/",ion '0 flltrn,,1 ObjulJ. 1d American cd. (Boslon, IH34).

l!'\ -...1

•

12 JULY 18~

seen a single picture in an American work. designed to give an idea of the

mental endowments of the negro. which did any thing like justice to the

subject; nay. that was not infamously distorted. The heads of A. CRUM­

MEI.. 14 HENRY H. GARNET. SAM'L R. WARD,15 CUAS. LENOX REMOND,I6

W. J. WII.SON,I1 J. W. PENNINGTON,IH J. I. GAINES,I9 M. R. DELANY,20

14. Alclnnde, Cnrmmell. I~. S.muel nin~~nld Ward. 1(,. ehnrle' Lenol Remond. 17. lIum and r.i",d In Wuhlnt:lon, D.C., William J. Wilson was a bllck schooheacher in

Droull)·n. New York. In Ihe 1840, and 1850s. WH,on helped found the New York SocielY fOI Ihe Promoli"n of EdocAti"n Among Colorcd Children and Ihe "Commluee or Thirteen. " an organlZlllon lu a...ht fu~lli.e sl.yc•. He WI' adelegate 10 ~e.eral Nallonal NeBra Con.enllons and alupporterofthe rlojeci In e..ahli,h Ahlack induslrial college. In the 18S0, Wilson became a frequent contributo, 10

FrrdrrirA O""XI,,.... · Poprr and Ihe Anlfl,,·Afrlcan Mallazln" writln8 under Ihe pen name "Elhlop." Ourin~ Ihe ('i.iI War he Ilughl fnr Ihe American MI"lonaty Auoclallon In WuhlnBlon, D.C., and worked fill the Army rAy Ocrartmenl. In July IBM he wBO arpoinled head cuhler of Ihe Washington branch nf thc Frcedman's Sa.ing, Bnnk. Allhough WH,nn Imacled many deposilon to the bank, he conlinunlly had dHfocuhy balandng hi, hook, Aod woo demoled 10 a Ir..ellnB agenlln 1813. Durin8 ReCnn\lruction Wil,on wa, a ddcB.le In Ihe Colored Nallonal Lahor Union conyenlion of 1869 and ACl'e,1 "' 0 prtlJ"Onenl or A"FrecdmAn', lIomeMud Com"any. "He IAtcr served a' alruslee of Howard Uni.e"h)·. FOr. 22 Arril. 17 December 1852, II March, /5 April. 10 June, 30 September 1853.9 Serleml>cr IR'4. 2(, lnnuAry, 2S Moy 18S5; WuhinBlnn (D.C.) Nel<' Na,iollal Era, II May, 14,28 Deccml>cr IR71; AIIIl/"·Afrimn Mogazill', I : 52-55 (Fcbruaty 18591, I ; 87-90 (March 1859), I ; 100-03 (A"ril IR'Ql. I : 173-77 (lune 18S9). I ; 216-19 (July 1859), I ; 243-47 (AUBUSI 1859), 1 : 121-24 (Oelohcr 1859), 2 : 41-45 (Februaty 18(0); Brown, Tit. RiJinR Son. 443- 45; Manin R. Dcl.ny. 1111' C"",Ii,jlll,. flr'·'I1;"". f"'/Xra,'"". and Drs,illY of,h, Cololtd P.opl. of ,h. Ulllltd S''''rs (18'2: New Yo'k. IQ('81. 34; Freeman. "Free Negro In New Yo,k Chy," 46,353; Carl R. Oslhaus, Frr'III'II. /'/'//",,,h"'PL "",/ Fraud: A II/J'''')' af ,h, FIt,limnn's Sal'/nR" Oank (Urbana, III .. 1976), 17. H. 4~. 1114 -O~. H.8 -70. IRI. 237; Pea<e Ind Pco,e, Th'J' Wh" W,,"lli fl, Fit,. 80. 85, 108.243, 2'JS; rhillip S. f'oncr An,1 Rnnold L. Lew,", cds .• Th, Rlack Work,,: A Docu""n,a')' /IIs',,'Y from Co'"''i''' n",,·, ,,, ,IIr rrrum (Philadelphia, 1978-). 2 ; 47-49, 130-32; WIlier Dyson. 1I0...ard U,,/Iu.,i'L rll, Cop""''' ..fNrxr" Ed"catlnn (Wuhinlllnn. D.C.. 1941).418.

IH. Jome.' Willi.", (,hnrle.' Pennio~lon (IH09- 71 J. known u Jim Pembroke 10 .IA.ery. ned from bon<ln~e III htcnlllC Ale"llng .nll,IA.ety wriler. aCli.i~t. and mlni.ler. Penninllion was bom on Ihe Ea,tem Shurc nf Mntylond where he l>cclme Ihe 51••e or FriAhle TilBhman and wu trained as a black'milh. IIi, nillhl north ailite D~C of Iwenly·one Icd him 10 the home of a Penn,ylyania Quaker who 'aullht him In Icnd and wrilc. Afler re,lding In CheSlcr Counly, Penn~yl.anll, wjlh another Quaker ramlly. "enninlliun found wo,k in Lon8 "land and auended nlBhl school and "riyale lUIorial•. Five yea,. Inter he bc~.n leoching bllck children In Newlown. LonB hland. and Ihen In New Hayen, Conneclicllt. where he al<o ~Iu(lie<llhcnlogy. Pcnnlnglnn's ministerial career began in 1818 In New. tnwn "ntl in IR40 hc cnle,ed .he CnngreBntional mini.,ty In Hartford, Conneclicul. where he served unlil IR4 7.100er ,e,.inll D< "a"or (I 848-S5J or Shiloh Pre,bylerian Church In New York C1ly. The only black mcmhtrnr thc IInrtrord CenlrDl A..oclAllon or ConBregallonal MinISlCIS. Pennln810n ",ulwice elected II, ",e,ldenl. In 1843 Penninglon lra.eled 10 England I! a deleBale·al·1orlle 10 the World'i Anli.SI.-cry Conference in London. Ile leclured In London, France, and Belgium and auended peace confercnce' In Lon<l"n. nru..e1" And "ari~, 10 impres<ing hi, audience a'ihe lauer occuion thallhe Unl.erolly IIr Ilei<lell>crll a...arded him an honoraty D.O. Furinll recapturc afler lhe passaBe of Ihe Fuglli.e Siaye LOlli, Pennington again lraycied abrood, bUI only arln he broke his mlny yeus of

SI2 "UPSON, OHIO

J. W. LooUIN,11 J. M, WHITFlELD,n J. C, HOllY,1) and hundreds ofothers I could mention, are all better formed, and indicate the presence oflntellecl I .. .b<olule ~lIence .nd confe~oed hh fu,i1ive ".Iu, to. H.rtford friend, John Ilonker. ThmulIh lfooker'l ~ neBolillloni. Ihe .boli'ionl~u of Berwlckthlre bouBhl PennlnBton', heedom In lA' I for SI~O. In 18~4 ~ Pennln"on purchued the freedom of hl~ brolher Slephen PemhRlk.e, who ••lonB with hi' Iwo ~on,. h.d been .rTuled ., fUBitlve d.vu .nd relumed 10 Ihdr Maryllnd owner. Allhnu,h Pennln~lon 10M .Iuit thll chillen,ed ",re,alion on New York's SI~lh Avenue R.llmld In Ift~~. hi' ,ult rrompled Ihe fonnllion of Ihe Ltlll Ri,hl. Assocl.llon. In orllniullon de.oted 10 Ihe de ... ,re,llion of public Ir.Mportllion In New York. An .ctlve member oflhe AmeriCftn MI"lon.ry A..ocillion.lhe Americ.n Tracl Socle'y, Ihe Americln .nd Forei,n An'i.SI••ery Soclely••nd Ihe Ocne,al Con"cnllon for Ihe Impro.emen' of Free Peorle of Color. Penoln,lon occ.don.lly endor..d Ifenry Ili,hlAnd a.mel'l Africln CI.lllullon Sociely, untillftM, when he withdrew .lIaurl"'rt. In oddIlion 10 m.ny .ennonl, .ddresses ••nd reBullr conlribullon. 10 Ihe An~/n.Afrkon Mo~oztn" Pennln,lon Willie A T,." Roo. of ,I" Or/~/n. o"d HIJ,ory, tic .• tic. of ,h, Colored 1',01'" (1841) •• query, h.,ed on hihllc.r references. Inlo Ihe Ne,ro', Ince"ry·.nd chll.cler, .nd .n .uloblolr.rhy, Th, F,,~/r/,·, mil,'. II"ilh (I A49), Vb., 20 June 18'1; New York Doll." TI",tJ, 29 MlY 18", 1ft. 20 Dtcemher 1ft".; New York Dolly Trl1",,,,, 26 M.y IftH; FOP. 8 June IftH; AII,n,d A",,,kon, 9 Arril IftH; ,"rilll"n II'/In,•• , 6,461-67 (1849); RFASR, ..r. I, 4 :99-100 (21 June 11I4~): OcIDny. ,,,,,,lIr/,,,, of Ih, C"/ored 1"01"" I D; J W. c. Pennln"on. Th, FlI~/II,., nlocA.",IIh, 3d ed. (londnn, ",III; Ornwn, R/./nt Son, 461-63; CV1er O. Woodson. Th, Mind of rh, N,~ro o. R,flecl"lln &11". lI'r/ll,n /J"rint Ih, Cr/.h, IIIOO-/MO (1926: New York. 1969). 642-~1; Freemln. "Free Nelm In New York Clly," 49-~1, ~3, 88-89.108-10,418; NCAR, 14: :107; DAB. 14: 441-.42.

19. mlck buslnessmln John hom Gllne. (1821-~9) of Clnclnnlli. Ohlll, n"'nc,1 • rl.erimnt store fmm which he ~upplied Ile.mballl wllh provl,lon•. Thou,h he Ileked Rfnm'AI <dllc.llon. allncs look .n .ctive Inlere,' In lhe educ.llnn of bllck youlh in hi' hOllle lnwn. Afler Ih. Ohio Ic,lslllure IUlhorired lhe creilion of free ~chooll for hllck children In 1849. Ooln.. rl.yed. rmmlnenl mlr In lhe mo-emenl 10 force city lulborill.. 10 tum o.er money 'A Ihe newly formed hlock hoArd of school In"lee' IIi. !l<'cvlces IS clerk of Ihe hllck .chool bolld were Il'er recoiled when I lOCAl hlack Ichool w., nlmed in hi, hnnor. A ItmrellnCe Id.ocAle .nd I freqll<nl conlrihutor 10 Oou,ln .. '~ r.rer, Ollntl of'T"'«d r~lony'~ cIII for In eml,lIl;on con.enlion 10 mcet In Clevelon,1 In I ft,4. R.."'ninllh.1 "mulOII derendence Is Ih< ballnce wheellhAt holds socltly lo,elher." Ooin« ur~ed hllcks nol 10 emi,"te hUI "to de.elop our 010111 .nd inlelleclual Iocullies, Ind hy Indu"ry And economy, ecqulte c.ril.1 10 rlace ounel." in .uch I 'rrimlry Ind Ind<rendent l'O.ltlon' .' 10 cnmrel o"r enemies 10 rt'reC' u' " John I. Olines 10 OoU~II'~, 16 lollulry 1854, In Ff>p. 27 lonuDry Ift,4; UI>., 27 April 1860. Cleveland GOUII" 21 OClober 1886; Dlbney. ClnclnllO/f.' Co/or..1CII/u"'. 4~-44. 10~-07.

20 Rom to. free mol her Ind ••llve hther In Chlrlellown,In weslem VIr,lnIA, M.rtln Robison 1~I.ny 111112-85) WIS In edilor, rhy~iclln••nd leldin, .d.oclle of hlnck emi~rAlion. In 1822 Otl.ny·~ mnlher moved 10 Chambe"bur~, Penn,yl.lnl•. where hi' h'her Iller jnlne" Ihem, .nd Ihe yo"n, Otllny ""ended I loc.lochon!' In Ift~r he mo.ed 10 Pituhur,h whcre he ,,·orkc,I., I bllber, ."ended 0 «honl ron by I hllck Methodi.I mlnl'ter, .nd .lUdied medicine, "r,rA,lIn, hi' oceur"llon Irom "currel Ind leecher "III rhy,lelln. Belween Ift43 Ind Ift47. OctRny wI..dltor of Ihe M.•.lI'ry••

hlack ri",hur,h new_r"rer. For Ihe nelt Iwo yea" he .ecved "' co·edilor 01 {)nulle..·' Norlh SI"r.nd leclUrtd Ind Irlveled e.ten<l.ely In ,"in new ouhscripllon, Inr Ihll pDrer. In 1ft~O- ~ I 1~lany .lIendrd Illrvlrd Medicil Colle8' bu!' owing 10 rrnlesl. from while lI"den", .... , d<nled ftd",I.~lnn Illthe rlnll I,rm needed to complele hi. medlc.l de,ree. The followin, )'tRr he wmte TI" C"".lil/on_ £Ir.ollon, F: ",i~,ol;on, ond D,1/;",. IIf rhr Cll/ore,IP'''pl, of Ih, Unitt,l S',,'r.', Pnlir/r"lh' Cml.• /drr../IPhllldel· rhia, 111~21.ln .. hleh he Ir,ued Ihll eml~r.llon wu Ihe only remedy for Ihc orrr..,,,1 OlDte olbllCk Americln,. When mlny hllck lholitionllU, Indudlnl Doull.... rejecled 1)e1.ny'~ ro~ltlon, he or· ,.nlltd • series of N.lionll Emllrilion Conventions Ihal mel In Ift~4, IA~6. nnd Ift'8. These II ­

~

12 JULY 18~ ~13

morc than any pictures I have seen in such works; and while it musl be admillcd that there are negroes answering the description given by the

..cnhlie~ creAIt" Arennnnenl Nltlonll Bo.rd of Comml,~lonen,of which Delany wu rresldenl .nd chief rrnr.,ondl.!' In 18'6 Dellny moved In Ch.lham, Canadl Wesl ••nd three yean Iller elplored lhc Ni,rr river v.lIey In Arrie.looklng for l'O..ible emlgrilion siles. Ills novel Blolt WI5 "rilli,.ed In Ihr II'rrl'''' Anlll,,·Afr;"on from No.ember lR61 Ihrough May 1862, During Ihe Civil Wlr. Delany .erved Ihr North fi,,' II ft recroller Ind u.mlning lurgeon Ind eventually 15 • major 01 the 104lh U.S. e"lmrd Trnnp'. From I1I6~ In 1868 Del.ny WII5 I Freedmen's Bureau officer In South Carollnllnd laler

wa' .cll.e in IhDI "alt's pollllcs, running un~uccesdully for lIeulenanl ,ovemor on lhe Independent ReruhlicAn lickelln 1874. Ullman, MOrll" R. D,Ion.,', ~2-103, 11~-2I, 140-71,211-46; Dorolhy Slerlln~, Thr At,,"n~ nf "n Afro.A",,,knn: MorrIn R"h"on D,/"ny, 18/2-1885 (Oarden Clly. N. Y" 1971); Thoma' II nil , nloc. 0,'" Whitt: NeRro Pollr/col z.,,,drrJhtp In Soulh Carolina durlnR Ru"n­","clion (Urnana, III .• 1977" 14-1~, 116-77; Miller, S,orrh far a Blad Nallon"lIty. Il~-33,

171-IP; Martin R. Ocl.ny, BI"l,; or, Th, /luI. oJ Amrrlco, ed, Floyd J. Miller (BaSion. 1970), b; nAn, , : 219-20.

21 J<rmnin Wesley loguen (e.1810. 72), son of I sl••e mother Ind his Tennessee owner. ..c.red I" frcedom In Canad.ln 1835. Allcr worklnB a~. flJlTlllborer .nd. hOlel porter, he .uendcd Ihe Oneldl In,li'ule In Whlleshoro, New York. l.oguen llughl school In severll New York com· munill.. DOl'lhcn hecame. mlnlsltr in Ihe Africln Melhodill Episcopal Zion Church. Aller pl5l1ge of Ihe Fugilive Shve LRW. Loguen mo.ed 10 Ihe compalllive IIfely of Syrlcuse where he WI! ellremely Ictlve In 'he Under,round Rallrold. In 18' I. when indicted for his pV1 In Ihe Jerry Rescue, Lo,uen brieny ncd 10 Canld•. lie Iller supmrted OecrH Smllh', R.dlell Abolirlon plrty .nd alded John Brown 10 recroll men for Ih< 1I.'T"'rs Ferry IIld. After lhe Civil Wor Lo,uen WIS elecled I bishop of hia denominllion and chomrloned mlsslonlry work Imong lhe freedmen. New York Dolly Trlbun•• I Oclober 11172: Sin Fronel«o EI,.olor, ~ Oclober 1872; Quules, Blad Abolltlon/.,., 66-61. 154, IR8; OcnjAmln QUid... Allitl for Fre,do",: Blocb and John Brow" (New York, 1974).39-44, 6~-66, 73- 75, /JAB. \I : 368-69.

22 lom« Monmc Whitfield (1822-71), b.rber Ind rocI, WI' born in New Ihmr,hire. During Ihe winler nl 111311-."1, Ihe Young M,n'o Union Soclely ofClevellod "rminted Whllneld 10 deliver.n .ddre'~ on Ihe suhjeci of eml,r.llon. Thus, as I youlh of ,llleen, Whllfield urged Ihal blacks esllbllsh &trarlle wlle"'enl' in Ihe Unhed Slales or on III borders. By Ihe mld-18~Os hr hid become. majolr, spokesm.n for black emlgrallon, Aflerhe mo.ed 10 Buffllo, New York .In 1841. Whilfield worked 15.

i t bllher Ind wmlt roelry. Several of hls roem, hid llre.dy becn rubllshed In Ihe Norlh S,or when

[)ou,la" vi,iled Whhneld In Buff.lo In Ille June 18'0. Recounllng Ihell vi.it, Douglass lamented. "Thlll.lenl~ ~o Cllmnlandinl, Ilfll so lire. rotlic powenso dislingulshed.,hould be lied to Ihe h.ndle of I rnor and huried In the preelnct! of I barber's shop, and Ihal he who posscsses them should be consigned, by Ih< mlll,nlnl .crlnBemenll of ,oclely, 10 occury • m.llion 00 menial, Is painfully di~h..nenin,." A deleRale 10 Ihe bllck convenllon meellng In Rocheller In 18H. Whhfield .1'0 endor\td Ind .ltendcd Ihr 1RH emlgrallon con.en,lon In Clevellnd Ind wa~ commls.loned 10 Invesll­BDI< Cenlr.1 Am<rici •• a silt for rmsrecll.e hllck ..lIlem,nll. Convinced thaI "full .nd flir equalily can be looked for, only throuBh Ihe edllence of nalion.1 org.nlUlions of Ihe differenl races," Whitfield hored ,h.1 the em1lrallon of bllck Amerlc.ns would contribule 10 lhe emergence of • poweriul .nd Inderenden' bl.ck n.,lon In Ihe American hemisphere. Before lea.lng Buffllo around 111'9, Whillitld ruhll.hed I .olume of roetry. Amrrlco and Olh" Poem. (Buffllo, 18~3), which he drdicoled 10 Mortln R. Ocl.ny. Lalcr poem. Irreared In Ihe Lll>rrnror, lh< San Francisco I'orlflc App,,,/, .nd Ihe Snn Frond.co Elr.,,'or. Aflel Ihe Civil War. Whllneld's prinelrll residence leem~ 10 have been in Son FrDnel~co,lhough he Il~o lived in Portllnd, Oregon .•nd In Idaho. Belween 1864 .nd 1869 he wa~ M.~nnlc Ound M..ler of C.lifornl•. Jo.n R. Shennan, "lomes Monroe Whllfield, Poet .nd Emlgr.lioni.!: A Voice of ProleSi Ind Despall, " JNH, ~7 : 169-76 (April 1972); Miller, Seorch

~14 IIUDSON,OIllO

American elhnologists and others, of the negro race, I contend that there is every descriplion of head among them, ranging from the highest Indoo Caucasian downward. If the very best type of the European Is always presented, I insist that justice, in all such works I demands that the very best type of the negro should also be taken. The importance of this criticism may nol be apparent to all;-to the black man it is very apparent. He sees the injuslice, and wrilhes under its sting. But to return to Dr. Morton, or rather 10 Ihe question of the affinity of the negroes to the Egyption!i.

II seems to me that a man might as well deny the affinity of the Americans 10 Ihe Englishmon, as to deny such affinily between Ihe negro and Ihe Egyplian. He might make oul as many points of difference, in Ihe case of the one as in thai of the other. Especially could this be done, if, like elhnologists, in given cases, only typical specimens were resorted to. The lean, slender American, pale lind swarthy, if exposed to the sun I wears a very different appearance to the full, round Englishman, of clear, blonde

'0' II Blar1 Nallonallty. 137-40; £Xllny. Condition ollh~ Colll'~d P~op/~. D2; J. M. Whllneld 10 E.dilol. I~ Novembel 18H, In FDP, 2~ November 18H; ASB. H AuaUSl III~O.

2J. JO"'l'h Cephas Holly (\1I2~-n) Ind his younllel brolhel, em"'ltlnnl~t ~""kelmln and EpllCnpal bishop of lIaltl James TheodolC lIolly, welC bom In Washln,Ion, D.C. The rlmlly dlled hi rrte sialUs hom 1772, when a Seol.llaveownel nlmed James TheodolC 1I0lly mlnumltlCl.lln Maryland Ihe son who bort his nlme. lIerort Ihelt hmlly moved 10 1l1ooklyn, New York, In 1"44. the 1I0lly h,olhen Sludied al I blld ""hooltluahl by I Dlslrlel or Columhll phyalclln whn'e me,lIell edueallon hid been pl,l1y finlneed by lhe American Colonlution Soclely. In 8rooklyn, \lolly. like hll rllher. wOlked IS I shoemlkel. Amon, Ihe carly lubscrlbel'< 10 Ihe No"h SIll', he wrnle five Illicles on Ameri,"n slavery rOl the piper belwcen Februlry Ind June 11148. Althou,h he doe~ nol leem to hIVe joiMd In Inlisllvery ors"nlullon. Holly Iddrtssed numerous Inlililvery Il'pclh 10 nollhem blleh Ind whilu Ind 10 soulhem nonslaveownen. In hll atlempllo build mlu suppot1 ror anlhllvcry, he reasoned fhll "The pool while min wilileam Ihll hil n,hls arc wral'pcd up In Ihe Ume bundlt wllh (he hlack min ·s. Ind Ihll Ihe rilhll or Ihe one clnnol be vlollfed wilhout ai/celina Ihou of Ihe olher." AIle, mOVinalo BUllin£1on. Vennonl. In 18~O, he oflen lellthe Ih.xmlkel·s toeneh 10 spelk on behllr or OoullIss's p3pel. 10 debale publicly tht merits or L1beriln emill.llon wllh hil hrolher. and 10 ollanile ,elid for ncedy rUlilive Illve•. lIy 18H, Holly 'I oppodllon 10 colonilllinn euended 10 black sponsored emi'fIlion mcasUIC' as well. He objected 10 Millin Dellny's CIII rOl a nil ion II emiSlllion ,onvenllon 10 mcclln Cltvcllnd In 18~4, arluins thlllO emlllile was 10 de 'Crt Ihe "g,cal billie 0/ human rilhls Ind humin brolherhood now beln, Wised in Ihh counlry. " Shollly lreel he moved 10 Roche ..er In 18H, he WIS Ippoinled a de leS"ie lolhe black nillonil convenlion Ihal .ssembled In Rochcslel Iller Ihll ycal Ind published I volume of poclry. F,udom'J OJJrrlnx (Rochcsler. 18~3).

Joseph C. Holly to lIenry If:llyl, n.d., In NS. I February 18~0; Jo.eph C. 1I0lly 10 DouBla.., 31 Decemhcr 18~I,ln FDP. 22 January 18~2; Idem to Douslln, n.d., Ibid., ~ Februlry 1852; Idem to

()oullan.23 M.rch 18~2,lbid.. I Apn11852; Idem 10 Doullass, ~ ApriI18~2. ibid., 15 AprlI18~2;

Idem 10 Dou,llu, 13 June 18H,ibld., 17 June 18~); Idem 10 Doullln, n.d.,lbld., 28 October 18~);

NS. 4,18 February, 10 March. 7 April, 9 June 18411,6 July 11149; FOP, 2 FebfUQry 11I~2, 22 July 18~3,

4 Janulry 1855; Miller, S~a'ch Fo, Q Blael NQI/"nllllry. 108-10; Dlvld M. flun, n~/,nd~, oJ'ht Raft: Jam" Th",dort Holly, Blar1 Nallonlll/J/B/Jhllp (lloston, 19791, 3-20; OenldlM O. Mallhew. el II., eomp'., Blar1 Am,rirlln W,;ltrJ, 1771 -1949: A 1I1h1loll'llph.l· and Union UJI (80slon, 19n),

148.

12 JULY 18~ ~u

,I complexion, One may trace the progress of this difference in the common f. portraits of the American Presidents. Just study those faces, beginning with

WASIIINGTON; and as you come thm' the JEFFERSONS, the ADAMSES. and the MADISONS, you will find an increasing bony and wiry appearance about those portraits, & a greater remove from that serene amplitude which charnclcrises Ihe countenances of the earlier Presidents. I may be mistaken, but I think this is a correct index of the change going on in the nation at lorgc.---conver1ing Englishmen, Germans, Irishmen, and Frenchmen into Americans, and causing them to lose, in a common American character, all troces of thcir former distinctive notional peculiarities.

,!

AUTHORITIES AS TO THE RESEMBLANCE OF THE EGYPTIANS TO NEGROES,

Now, let us see what the best authorities say, as to the personal appear­ance of thc Egyptians. I think it will be at once admilled, that while they differ very strongly from the negro, debased and enslaved, that difference is not grcater Ihan may be observed in other quarters of the globe, among peoplc notoriously belonging to the same variety, the same original stock; in a word, to the same family. If it shall be found that the people of Africa havc an African character, as general. as well defined, ond as distinct, as havc the pcoplc of Europe, or the people of Asia, the exceptional dif­ferences among thcm afford no ground for supposing a difference of race; but, on Ihe contrary, it will be inferred that the people of Africa constitute one grcat branch of the human family. whose origin may be as properly referrcd 10 thc families of Noah, as can be any other branch of the human family from whom they differ. Denon. in his Travels in Egypt, describes the Egyplillns, liS of full, but "delicale and voluptuous forms, counte­nanccs scdatc and placid, round and soft features, with eyes long and almond shaped, half shut and languishing, and turned up at the outer angles, as if hahitually fatigued by thc light and heat of the sun; cheeks round; Ihick lips, full and prominent; mouths large, but cheerful and smil­ing; complcxion dark, ruddy and coppery, and the whole aspect displaying-as one of the most graphic delineators among modem travel­ers has observed-the genuine African character, of which the negro is the exaggeraled and extreme representation, "24 Again, Prichard says, (page 152)­

24. Oou,I." nli'quolt, I I'."oge from the "ovelogue or F,tnch en"over Ind odmlnl'IIalol Dominique VlvBnl Dcnnn (1747-11I25). who "'Iuolly d..erihed ElYl'lion remRlc /olms as "Iound and volul''''ou~,. ~nlBII nme, Ihe eye~ long. hllr ,hul, and lurned up Illhe OUlel Ingle, like Ihose 01011

pclS"n, wh",e ,i~hl i' h.hiluBlly hligued by Ihe buminl hCBI of lhe sun, 01 Ihe dazllinl while or snow;

.j ~16 HUOSON,OHtO

"Herodotus traveled in Egypt, and was, therefore, well acquainted with the people from personal observation. He does not say anything di~ctly. as to the descriptions of their persons, which were too well known to the Greeks to need such an account, but his indirect testimony is very strongly expressed. After mentioning a tradition, that the people of Colchis we~ a colony from Egypt, Herodotus says, thnt 'there was one fact strongly in favor of this opinion-the Colchians were Mael.: in complexion and woolly hai~d. ' "

These are the words by which the complexion and hair of negroes are described. )n another passage, he says that

"The pigeon, said to have ned to Dodona, and to hnve founded the Oracle. was declared to be black, and that the meaning of the story was this: The Oracle was. in reality, founded by a female cnptive from the Thebaid: she was black. being an Egyptian. " "Other Greek writers," says Prichard, "have expressed themselves in similar terms."

Those who have mentioned the Egyptians as a sII'art"y pcople. accord­ing to Prichard, might as well have applied the term black to them, since they were doubtless of a chocolate color. The same author brings together the testimony of EschylusH and others as to the color of thc nncient Egyp­tians, all corresponding, more or less, with the foregoing, Among the most di~cttestimony educed by Prichard, is, first that of Volney, who, speaking of the modem Copts. says:

"They have a puffed visage, swollen eyes, nat nose, nnd thick lips, and benr much resemblance to mulatloes. "

Baron Larrey says. in regard to thc same people: "They have projecting cheek bones, dilating nostrils, thick lips, and

hair and beard black and crisp. " Mr, Ledyard, (whose testimony, says our lenmed authority, is of the

more value, as he had no theory to support), says: "I suspect the Copu to have been the origin of the IIt'/{ro race: the nose

and lips correspond with those of the negro; the hair, wherever I can see it among the people here. is curled, flo/like that of the negroes, but like the mulalloes. "26

Ihe check! round Ind n'~r thlck.l~ IiI'S pnu1inl. Ihe mouth 11'le. but cheerfullnd Amlllnl; In ahon, lhe Alrie An ehulelel, of which Ihe ne,m I~ the eUB,enled plclure. Ihou,h pt,hll'~ lhe "ri,lnlllypc," Dominique VI'lnl Denon. T,m',h in Upp" and lflK'" '-1I1'pl, du,inll II" Calflp<1/lln nl a,nr,ol Ban<1f'11'tr in Tl,o, CO,,"'':''. Illns. AMhu, Aikin, 2 vols. (New York. 1110)),2 : ol4,

B. Ae"hylu~ (n~-4~(' n.e). Gltek I'llywri~hl.

2(,. The ohse""llions of Heroclntu~ Ind Ihe pI~slles 'mm Con~llnl'n de Volney. Ollon I..utty, and John udyard thl' Doullilu quoles Ind closely plnph,.,.cs Ippel' In Priehlrd. rh.vJlrol HIJloryo! MOll1i"". 2 : 228-29. 238-39.

~

12 JULY 1854 ~t7

Here I leave our learned authorities, as to the resemblance of theitl: \ Egyptians to negroes.

\I is not in my power, in a discourse of this sort, to adduce more than a very small part of the testimony in support of a near relationship between the present enslaved and degraded negroes, and the ancient highly civilized ond wonderfully endowed Egyptians, Sufficient has already been adduced, to show II marked similarity in regard to features, hair, color, and I doubt not thot the philologist can find equal similarity in the structures of their languages, In view of the foregoing, while it may not be claimed that the ancient Egyptians were negroes,-viz:-answering, in all respects, to the:It nations and tribes ranged under the general appellation, negro; still, it may safely be affinned, that a strong affinity and a direct relationship may be claimed by the negro race, to THAT GRANDEST OF ALL THE NATIONS OF

ANTIQUITY, TIlE BUILDERS OF TIll! PYRAMIDS, But there are other evidences of this relationship, more decisive than

those allegcd in a general similarity of personal appearance. Language is held to be very important, by the best ethnologists. in tracing out the

/.., remotest affinities of nations, tribes, classes and families. The color of the skin has sometimes been less enduring than the speech of a people. I speak by authority, nnd follow in the footsteps of some of the most learned writers on the natural and ethnological history of man. when I affion that one of the most direct ond conclusive proofs of the general affinity of Northern Afri­can nations with those of West, East and South Africa, is found in the general similarity of their language[s). The philologist easily discovers, and is able to point out something like the original source of the multiplied tongues now in use in that yet mysterious quarter of the globe. Dr. R. G. LATlIAM. F. R, S., corresponding member of the Ethnological Society, New York-in his admirable work. entitled "Man and his Migrations"­soys:

"In the languages of Abyssinia. the Gheez and Tigre, admilled, as long as they have been known at all. to be Semitic, graduate through the Amharic, the Talasha, the Harargi, the Gafat and other languages, which ,.1 may be well studied in Dr, Beke's valuable comparative tables, into the Agow tongue, unequivocally indigenous to Abyssinia, and through this into thc true negro classes. But, unequivocal as may be the Semitic ele­f mcnts of the l3erber, Coptic and Galla, thcir affinities with the tongues of Western and Southern Africa are more so, I weigh my words when I say, not ('ql/nlly. hut more; changing the expression, for every foot in advance which cnn be made towards the Semitic tongues in one direction, the African philologist can go a yard towards the negro ones in the other."

511 ItUDSON, omo ,~

In a note, just below this remarkable statement, Dr. Latham says: "A short table of the Berber and Coptic, as compared with the other

African tongues, may be seen in the Classical Museum of the nritish Association, for 1846. In the Transactions of the Philologicnl Society is a grammatical sketch of the Tumali language, by Dr. S. Tutsbek of Munich. The Tumali is a truly negro language, of Kordufan; whilst, in respect to the extent to which its inflections are fonned, by internal changes of vowels and accents, it is fully equal to the Semitic tongues of Palestine and Arabia. "27

This testimony may not serve prejudice, but to me it seems quite sufficient.

SUPERFICIAL OBJECTIONS.

Let us now glance again at the opposition. A volume, on the Natllral Hislory of Ih~ Human Speci~s, by Charles Hamilton Smith, quite false in many of its facts, and as mischievous as false, has been pUblished recently in this country, and will, doubtless, be widely circulated, especially by those to whom the thought of human brotherhood is abhorrent. This writer says, after mentioning sundry facts touching the dense and spherical struc­ture of the negro head:

"This very structure may influence the erect gait, which occasions the practice common also to the Ethiopian, or mixed nations. of carrying burdens and light weights, even to a tumbler full of water, upon the head. "

No doubt this seemed a very sage remark to Mr. Smith, and quite imponant in fixing a character to the negro skull, although different to that of Europeans. But if the learned Mr. Smith had stood, previous to writing it, at our door, (a few days in succession), he might have seen hundreds of Germans and of Irish people, not bearing burdens of' 'light weight, .• but of hea~'Y weight, upon the same venical extremity. The carrying of burdens upon the head is as old.as Oriental Society; and the man writes himself a blockhead, who allempts to find in the custom a proof of original dif­ference. On page 227, the same writer says:

"The voice of the negroes is feeble and hoarse in the male sex. II The explanation of this mistake in our author is found in the fact that an

oppressed people, in addressing their superiors-perhaps I ought to say, their oppressors-usually assume a minor tone, as less likely to provoke

27. Th~ quoled Irllument or British scholar and physician Roben Gordon ulham 11112-88) •ppun in Robtn Gordon ulh.m, MDfI ofld HlJ MI,rOlIOflJ (New York, 18S2), 1S6-57.

£.

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5t9 12 JULY 18S4

the charge of intrusiveness. But it is ridiculous to pronounce the voice of the negro feeble; nnd the learned ethnologist must be hard pushed, to estahlish differences, when he refers to this as one. Mr. Smith funher

declares, that "The typical woolly haired races have never discovered an alphabet,

framed a grammatical language, nor made the least step in science or on. "lR

Now, the man is still living, (or was but a few years since), among the Mondingoes of the Western coast of Africa, who has framed an alphabet; nnd while Mr. Smith may be pardoned for his ignorance of that fact, as an ethnologist, he is Inexcusable for not knowing that the Mpongwe language, spoken on both sides of the Gaboon River, at Cape Lopez, Cape St. Cntharine, and in the interior, to the distance of two or three hundred miles, is as truly a grammatically framed language as any extant. I am indebted, for this fact, to Rev. Dr. M. B. ANDERSON, President of the Rochester University; and by his leave, here is the Grammar-(holding up the Grammllr). Perhaps, of all the allempts ever made to disprove the unity of the humnn family, and to brand the negro with natural inferiority, the most compendiolls and barefaced is the book, entitled Types of Mallkilld, by Noll ;md Olidden.19 One would be well employed in a series of Lectures directed to on exposure of the unsoundness, if not the wickedness of this

work.

THE AFRICAN RACE BUT ONE PEOPLE.

But I must hasten. Having shown that the people of Africa are, proba­bly, one people; that each tribe bears an intimate relation to other tribes and nations in that quarter of the globe, and that the Egyptians may have nung off the different lribes seen there at different times, as implied by the evident relations of their language, and by other similarities; it can hardly' be deemed unreasonable to suppose, that the African branch of the human

2ft. DOII!!la., quote, Charle. "amllton Smith. Tltt N(l/urollll.l/ory of tltt Ullmafl SptrltJ: It. T)pic'al F"rlll'. PrinJtl'ol f)/J/flh"tlo". Flllallofl.l. ofld MlgralionJ (18S I; Boslon, 18S4). 226-29. The f1emi.h.Nlm Smith (l17fo-18S9) aUlhored-and \Ometlmes iIIustraled-numerous IrCilises on bolh

na,".,1 anti milltory hi'lory. DNO. 18: 432-33. 29. DOllgla" refers to T.\'ptJ ofMOllk/ml. eonulhorcd hy soulhern surseon and elhnoloslst Josiah

C. Null nn,l En,li\l,.l>om Irchoeologisland Egypiologisl George R. GIi,Idon. This work hroadcned lhe polHeni\t Ihenrie\ of Ihe American School of Elhnology 10 include the theory lhallhe Negro race was permanently inferior. Finlluued in April 18S4. T)'ptJ wid oullmmedlalely and wenllhrough nine mnre edition. hy Ihe end of Ihe century, 51.nlon. uopord'J SpOIJ. 163; Fredrickwn. Black In/ogt,

74-H. 82,187,233 .

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HUDSON, OHIO ';huv~20

species-from the once highly civilized Egyptian to the barbarians on the banks of the Niger-may claim brotherhood with the great family of Noah, spreading over t.he more Northern and Eastern parts of the globe. I will now proceed to consider those physical peculiarities of fonn, features. hair and color, which are supposed by some men to mark the Africnn. not only as an inferior race, but as a distinct species, naturally and originally different from the rest of mankind, and as really to place him nearer to the brute than 10 man.

THE EFFECT OF CIRCUMSTANCES UPON THE PHYSICAL MAN.

I may remark, just here, that it is impossible, even were it desirable, in a discourse like this, to allend to the anatomical and physiological argu­ment connected with this part of the subject. lam not equal to that. and ifl were, the occasion does nol require it. The form of the 11£'81"0-(1 use the tenn /legro, precisely in the sense that you use the term Anglo-Saxon: and I believe, too, that the fonnerwill one day be as illustriou!: as the Intter)-has oflen been the subject of remark. Hi!: nat feet, long nnm, high check bones and retreating forehead are especially dwelt upon, to hi!: disparagement, and just as if there were no white people with precisely the !:allle pecu­Iiarilie!:. I think it will ever be found, that the 1\'('/1 or i/l condition of any part of mllnkind, will leave its mark on the physical as well as on the intellectual part of man. A hundred instances might be cited, of whole families who have degenerated, and others who have improved in personal appearance, by a change of circumstances. A man is worked upon by whal Ire works on. He may carve out his circumstances. but his circllnJstances will carve him out as well. I told a boot maker, in Newcastle.upon-Tyne, thai I had been a plantation slave. He said I must pardon him; but he could not believe it; no planlalion laborer ever had a high instep. He said he had noticed that the coal heavers and work people in low condition had, for the most part. nat feet, and thnt he could tell, by the shape of the feet. whether a man's parents were in high or low condition. The thing was worth a Ihought. and I have thought of it, and have looked around me for facts. There is some truth in it; though there are exception!: in individual cases,

The day I landed in Ireland. nine years ago, I addressed, (in company with Father SPRAn.lO and that good man who ha!: been recently made the subject of bitter attack; I allude to the philanthropic JAMES HAlICillTON, of Dublin), R large meeting of the common people of Ireland, on temperance.

.'0 John Spun.

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12 JULY IR54

Never did human faces tell a sadder tale. More than five Ihousand were assembled; and I say, with no wish to wound the feelings of any Irishman, thatthe!:e people lacked only a black skin and wooly hair, 10 complete their likeness to the plantation negro. The open, uneducated mouth-the long, gaunr amI-the badly fonned foot and ankle-the shufning gait-the re­treating forehead and vacant expression-and, their petty quarrels and fights-all reminded me of the plantation, and my own cruelly abused people. Yet, 'hat is the land OfORATTAN, of CURRAN, of O'CONNELL, and of SitE RIOAN.)I Now, while whall have said is true of the common people, the fact is, there are no more really handsome people in the world, than the educated Irish people. The Irishman educated, is a model gentleman; the Irishman ignorant and degraded, compares in form and feature with Ihe negro!

I am stating facts. If you go inlo SOUlhern Indiana, you will see what climate and habit can do, even in one generation. The man may have come from New England, but his hard features, sallow complexion, have lefl little of New England on his brow. The right ann of Ihe blacksmith is said to be lurger and stronger (han his left. The ship carpenler is al forty round­shouldered. The shoemaker carries the marks of his trade. One localily becomes famous for one thing, another for anolher. Manchesler and low­ell, in America. Manchesrer and Sheffield, in England, allesl this. But \IIhal docs it all prove? Why, nothing po!:itively, as to the main point; slill, it raises the inquiry-May not the condition of men explain Iheir various appearances? Need we go behind the vicissiludes of barbarism for an explanation of the gaunt, wiry, ape like appearance of some of the genuine negroes? Need we look higher than a vertical sun, or lower than the damp, black soil of the Niger, the Gambia, the Senegal, with their heavy and enervating miasma, rising ever from Ihe rank growing and decaying vege­tat ion, for an ex plunation of the negro's color? If a cause, full and adequale, can be found here. wiry sl'l'k fllrtller?

The eminent Dr. LATIIAM, already quoted, says that nine-tenlhs of the white population of Ihe globe are found between 30 and 65 degrees North latitude. Only about one-fifth of all the inhabitants of the globe are white; and Ihey are liS far from the Adamic complexion as is the negro. The remninder are-wlwt? Ranging all the way from Ihe brunette 10 jel black, There arc the red, the reddish copper color, the yellowish, the dark brown, the chocolate color, and so on, to Ihe jel black. On Ihe mounlains on the

31. IIrnry Ornllnn, John Phllpol Cunan, n.nirl O'Connrll. Richard B. Shrrldan .

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North of Africa, where water freezes in winter at times. branches of the same people who are black. in the valley are ",/rile on the mountains. The Nubian, with his beautiful curly hair, finds it becoming frizzled. crisped, and even woolly, as he approaches the great Sahara. The Portugue!;e. white in Europe, is brown in Asia. The Jews, who are to be found in all countries, ncvcr inlennarrying, are white in Europe. brown in AlOia. nnd black in Africa. Again, what does it all prove? Nothing. absolutely; nothing which places the question beyond dispute; but it does ju!;tify the conjecture before referred to, that outward circumstances may have something to do with modifying the various phases of humanity; and that color itself is at the control of the world's climate and its various concomitants. II is the sun that paints the peach-and may it not be, that he paints the ma" as well? My rcading. on this point, however, as well as my own observation. have convinced me that from the beginning the Almighty. within certnin limits, endowed mankind with organizations capable of countless vnriations in fonn. feature and color. without having it necessary to begin a new creation

.! for every new variety.

A powerful argument in favor of the onenes!; of the humnn family, is afforded in the fact that nations, however dissimilar. may he united in one social stale, not only without detriment to each olher, but. most clearly, to the advancement of human welfare. happiness and perfection. While it is clearly proved, on the other hand, thaI those nations freest from foreign elements present the most evident marks of deterioration, Dr. JAMES MCCUNE SMITH. himself a colored man, a gentleman and lOcholar, alleges-and not without excellent reason-thatthilO. ourown great notion, so distinguished for industry and enterprise. is largely indebted to its com­ ;tposite character.n We all know, at any rate, that now, what constitutes the

J2. Pou,la" mlY reler 10 'he Inicle "Civllintlon: liS Dependence on Physicl' Clrcumstlnces" hy 'he prominent bllck physlclln. lbolitionist, Ind wri'er, James McCune Smllh 11111 3.6~), In the .,,anick, which WIS Iller published in Ihe fust Issue 01 the Anl/n·A/,iCfln MOlflli." Sml1h c1limed thlt '; . 'civiliution de~nds upon the frequenl Inlert'oursc 01 men dillerin, In phy\icallntl mentll endow. ments." The son 01 I sllve lither Ind I $C1I-emlnciplted bond.wnman. Smilh WIS hom in New York

Cit) ....·here he auended Ihe New York AIricln F~e School. Denied Idmlulon In Columhil. Genen Med'cil Colle,e. Ind Ihe New York Academy 01 Medicine. Smith sel SIll Inr Scotl.nd In 1832.

,ecei.inr. hi\ a.A. 118H). M.A. f1R361. Ind M.D. 11837/ Irom Ihe University til Glas"ow. Smllh n~n"t1. pharmacy upon hi\ return 10 New York Cily. 5Ct up I medicil pracllce Ihnt catered 10 both

hlock' ond whlre" and devoted hi, ellnn\ In lholillonhi cnncem•. lie hrleny ",rvetl n, nn lS.ocllle

etli'nr nl the (',,'nud Am"iflln In 1839 Ind contrihuled rer.ullrly 10 the A",/,,·A/,In.. AI"Rnl/nt Ind,

undu Ihe p...udnnym •'Communip.w. "to Ihe NOr/II SI'" Ind Futt"trllJnulhm' r"f'''' A lonstlme oppnnent of blld colonlnlinn Ind emisrltion. Smllh hel~d finance Ihe revivil 01 Ihe WttA:ly An,la.Af,lcon II In Inli-cmigrltionisl orSln in 186\. In 1863 Smllh WIS Ippolnted prolessor or

12 JULY 1854 ~..

very heart of the civilized world-(I allude to England)-has only risen from barbarism to its present lofly eminence, through successive invasions and arliance~ with her people. The Medes and Persians constituted one of the mightiesl empires Ihal ever rocked the globe, The mosl lerrible nalion which now threatens the peace of the world, to make its will the law of Europe, is a grand piece of Mosaic work, in which almosl every nation has its characteristic feature, from the wild Tartar to the refined Pole,n

But, gentlemen, the lime fails me, and I mUsl bring these remarks 10 a close. My argument has swelled beyond its appointed measure. What I intended 10 make special, has become, in its progress, somewhat general. I meant to speak here to-day, for the lonely and the despised ones, with whom I was cradled. and with whom I have suffered; and now, gentlemen, in conclusion, what if alllhis reasoning be unsound? What if Ihe negro may not be llhle 10 prove his relalionship to Nubillns, Abyssinians and Egyp­tians? What if ingenious men are able to find plausible objections to all arguments maintaining the oneness of the human race? What, afler all, if they nrc ahle to show very good reasons for belieVing the negro 10 have been crealed precisely as we find him on the Gold Coast-along the Senegal and the Niger-I say, what of all Ihis? "A lIIal/' s a man for a' Ihal, "\4 I lOincerefy believe, that the weight of the argument is in favor of the unily of origin of the human race, or species-thaI the arguments on Ihe olher side arc panial, superficial, utterly subversive of Ihe happiness of man, nnd insulting to the wisdom of God. Yet, what if we grant they are not so'1 What. if we gfilnl Ihal Ihe case, on our part, is not made out? Does it follow, lhnt Ihe negro should be held in contempt? Does it follow, Ihat to enslnve and imhrule him is either jusf or wi.fe? I think no\. Human rights stand upon il common basis; and by all Ihe reason that they are supported, nJnintnincd and defended, for one variety of the human family, Ihey are

anlhrnpnlnty nl Wi/Perlnrce College bUllllness kept him (rom his post. He WI' aprominenl memhero(

the New Ynrk City Ynung Men's Associalion. Ihe American and Foreign Anli-Slavery Sociely. Ind Ihe New York Mrle.n Sociely lor Mu'ua' Relie(. He was also the sole Illending physician 01 'hc Sociely Inr Ihe Promotinn 01 E.lucllion Amnng Colored Children, I member end veslryman 01 51. Philip's

Epi""np.1 Church, anti a IruMee 01 Ihe New York Sociely (or the Promolion nl Etlucllion Among Colorcd Children. FOr, III May 1855: Uh" I June 1838. I Februlry 1839; Jem"s McCune Smith, "Ci.ili,.ntinn: I" ()e~ndcoce on Phy,icar Circum\lenc"," AnRI"·A/,irfln MORnri." I; ~-11 (JnnuM~' III~Ql: frccmnn, "Free Netlro In New York Ci,y." 40-42. /17, 1116, 19~, 200,241,216.

286• .12~, ~B .."14: (}u.,Ic., nt""l Ahnlill"ni.uJ. II~. 1~4; Pco-e Ind Pea-e, TlIf.I' Wh" IV""", n, F'r" Ij(l,"2. 1111, 110: Miller, Srnr,.h/", n ntflcl Nflll"fIfIUry, 243; OAR. 21 : 2RR-R9.

B. Dnu~ln\\ allutle, In Ruul. and Ihe events Icntlingtn Ihe Crimun Wer. nH. Il ugln\\ qunle.1 I line Irom Roben Rums's song "For a' Thar and a' That. " Smilh, Wa,t!

0/ R"hnl Hurn.!, 227. b"­lJ,)

HUDSON. OHIO 324

supported. maintained and defended for all the human family; because all mankind have the same wants. arising out of a common nilture. A diverse origin does not disprove a common nature. nor does it disprove a united destiny. The essenlial characteristics of humanity arc everywhere the same. In the language of the eloquenl CURRAN, "No milller whnt complex­ion. whether an Indian or an African sun has burnt upon him." his tille deed to freedom. his claim to life and to liberty. to knowledge nnd to civilization. to society and to Christianity. are just and perfect. Jj It is registered in the Courts of Heaven. and is enforced by the eloquence of the God of all the earth.

I have said that the negro and white man nre likely ever to ren"'in the principal inhabitants of Ihis country. I repeal the statellleni now, to submit the reasons lhat support il. The blacks can disappear from the face of Ihe country by three ways. They may be colonized,-they may be ex­tenninated.-or. they may die oul. Colonization is out of the question; for I know not what hllrdships the laws of the Innd can impose, which can induce the colored citizen to leave his nalive soil. lIe WilS here in ils infancy; he is here in lis age. Two hundred yeors hove pussed over hilll. his tears and blood have been mixed wilh the soil. and his nllochlllent to the place of his birth is stronger than iron. It is not prohilhle thnt he will be eXlerminated; two considerations must prevent a crime so slupcmJous as Ihal-the innuence of Christianity on the one hond, lind the power of self intereSI on the other: and, in regard to their dying out. Ihe stnlislics of the counlry afford no encouragement for such a conjeclure. The history of the negro race proves them 10 be wonderfully adnpted 10 all counlries, all climates, and all conditions. Their tenacily of life, Iheir powers of endur­ance, lheir malleable toughness, would almosl imply especial interposition on Iheir behalf. The ten thousand horrors of slavery. striking hard upon the sensitive soul. have bruised. and baltered, and stung. but have nOI killed. The poor bondman lifts a smiling face above the surface of a sea of agonies. hoping on, hoping e\'er. His tawny brother. the Indian, dies, under the nashing glance of the Anglo-Saxon. Not so the negro: civili7.nlion cannot kill him. He accepts it-becomes a part of it. In the Church. he is nn Uncle Tom; in the State, he is the most abused amllenst offensive. All the filCtS in his history mark out for him a destiny. united 10 America lI/1d Amcricans. Now, whether Ihis population shall. by FREEOOM, tNUUSTRY, VtRTUE and

H. Thomos Divis. cd .• 11" SpuchtJ o/Iht Rllfhl Hono,nhlt J"hn Philp,,! Curran (Dublin,

t84SI.182.

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3 AUGUST 18~ SH

INTELI.IGENCE. be made a blessing 10 the counlry and the world, or whelher their muJriplied wrongs shall kindle Ihe vengeance of an offended God. will depend IIpon the conduct of no class of men so much as upon the Scholilrs of the counlry. The future public opinion of the land, whelher anti-slavery or pro-slavery, whelher just or unjusl, whelher magnanimous or mean, must redound 10 Ihe honor of Ihe Scholars of Ihe country or cover them with '1r shame. There is but one safe road for nations or for individuals. The fale of a wicked man and of a wicked nalion is lhe same. The naming sword of

i offended justice falls as certainly upon Ihe nation as upon Ihe man. God has I <'~ no children whose rights may be safely Irampled upon. The sparrow may \; ( nor fall to the ground wilhout the nolice of his eye. and men arc more Ihon;1 sparrows . .~i I Now, genllemen, I have done. The subject is before you. I shall not

undertake to make the application. I speak as UnlO wise men. I stand in the presence of Scholars. We have met here lo-day from vastly different poinls

" in the world's condilion. I have reached here-if you will pardon the \'II' egotism-hy liltle short of a miracle: at any rate, by dint of some applica­l'

lion lind perseverance. Born, as I was, in obscurily, a stranger 10 Ihe halls of learning. environed by ignorance, degradation, and their concomilanls, from hirth to manhood, I do nol feel at liberty to mark out. wilh any degree of confidence. or dogmatism. whol is Ihe precise vocation of the SCholar. ), Yel, this I Call say. as a denizen of the world. and as a citizen of a country

.\ rolling in the sin and shame of Slavery, the mosl nagranl and scandalous that ever saw the sun, "Whatsoever things are lrue, whatsoever things are honest, whalsoever Ihings are just. whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever Ihings arc lovely, whalsoever Ihings are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these Ihings.")6

ADVICE TO MY CANADIAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS: AN ; ADDRESS DELIVERED IN CHATHAM, CANADA WEST,

ON 3 AUGUST 1854

Chalham IVl'.'IUII Plnn~/. 9 Augu~l 1854. Olher lellts in Frtduick Douglass' Papu. 18 Augu~1 IR54; Foner, LiJ~ t1l1tllVrili"gs. 5 : 330-40.

.~ .. On 31 July 1854, Douglass set oUI from Rochesler on on arduous three­hundred-mile train and wogon lrip to visit black settlements near Chatham,

36. Phil. 4; 8.

I