Slavery
Led by his father George Garnett, Henry Highland Garnett escaped from Maryland slavery in 1825 to New York. Henry attended the New York African Free school. Among his classmates were Alexander Crummell, Ira Aldridge and Thomas Ringgold Ward. His goal was to continue his education in New Hampshire but a group of whites decided to eliminate the school for educating blacks and dragged the building into the swamp. Under his leadership, Garnett and the other black students (including Alexander Crummell) prepared for an attempt on their lives which would come one night before they could leave town. They successfully defended themselves against the nighttime attack.
Garnett’s ideas about black liberation came to a national audience. He was convinced that in spite of the admirable efforts of the white abolitionist, that the battle for black liberation belonged in the hands of blacks. Garnett would say that, “They are our allies – Ours is the battle.” He took revolutionary stands about slavery. Inspired by David Walker, he wrote to slaves: “you had better all die – die immediately than live lives as slaves and entail wretchedness upon your posterity. . . Where is the blood of your fathers? Has it run out of your veins? . . . Awake, awake, millions of voices are calling you. Your dead fathers speak to you from their graves.”
Garnett traveled to England to try to encourage a worldwide boycott of cotton. He knew that if the market for cotton collapses, slavery would not survive. Garnett would live his life with many ideas that opposed those of Frederick Douglass. Eventually however, his ideas about liberation, politics and economics would be embraced by many black leaders of his day.
Slavery
(July 2, 1839), slave rebellion that took place on the slave ship Amistad near the coast of Cuba and had important political and legal repercussions in the American Abolitionist movement (see abolitionism). The mutineers were captured and tried in the United States, and a surprising victory for the country’s antislavery forces resulted in 1841 when the U.S. Supreme Court freed the rebels. A committee formed to defend the slaves later developed into the American Missionary Association (incorporated 1846).
On July 2, 1839, the Spanish schooner Amistad was sailing from Havana to Puerto Pr
Slavery
c. 1744?1803. A self-educated slave freed shortly before the uprising in 1791, he joined the black rebellion to liberate the slaves and became its organizational genius. Rapidly rising in power, Toussaint joined forces for a brief period in 1793 with the Spanish of Santo Domingo and in a series of fast-moving campaigns became known as L’Ouverture [the opening], a name he adopted. Although he professed allegiance to France, first to the republic and then to Napoleon, he was singleheartedly devoted to the cause of his own people and advocated it in his talks with French commissioners. Late in 1793 the British occupied all of Haiti’s coastal cities and allied themselves with the Spanish in the eastern part of the island. Toussaint was the acknowledged leader against them and, with the generals Dessalines and Christophe, recaptured (1798) several towns from the British and secured their complete withdrawal. In 1799 the mulatto general Andr
Slavery
A slave and volunteer soldier who, upon killing a British soldier to avenge the murder of his commander, was bayonetted 33 times by other British. Despite Latham’s valiant act and death, his only recognition is at the bottom of a Boston monument, which insultingly misstates his nickname, Lambo, as Sambo.
Slavery
also called GABRIEL PROSSER (b. c. 1775, near Richmond, Va. [U.S.]–d. September 1800, Richmond), American bondsman who planned the first major slave rebellion in U.S. history (Aug. 30, 1800). His abortive revolt greatly increased the whites’ fear of the slave population throughout the South.
The son of an African-born mother, Gabriel grew up as the slave of Thomas H. Prosser. Gabriel became a deeply religious man, strongly influenced by biblical example. In the spring and summer of 1800, he laid plans for a slave insurrection aimed at creating an independent black state in Virginia with himself as king. He planned a three-pronged attack on Richmond, Va., that would seize the arsenal, take the powder house, and kill all whites except Frenchmen, Methodists, and Quakers. Some historians believe that Gabriel’s army of 1,000 slaves (estimates range from 2,000 to 50,000), assembled 6 miles (9.5 km) outside the city on the appointed night, might have succeeded had it not been for a violent rainstorm that washed out bridges and inundated roads. Before the rebel forces could be reassembled, Governor James Monroe was informed of the plot and ordered out the state militia. Gabriel and about 34 of his companions were subsequently arrested, tried, and hanged.
Slavery
Alexander Crummell’s father (Boston Crummell) announced to his master that he would serve him no longer and left for freedom. Alexander was happy to be known as the boy who’s father could not be a slave. Boston Crummell lived in New York City among the most freedom conscious blacks of the time. Passing through the Crummell household would be John Russwarm, Samuel Cornish and other prominent blacks of the time. Among Alexander’s classmates at the New York African School were Henry Highland Garnet, Ira Aldridge and Samuel Ringgold Ward. Alexander was destined for greatness and his father assured his academic success by hiring private tutors.
Until recently, Alexander Crummell was not often discussed in black history yet his influence on Black people during his time has survived to this day. He was a scholar, college professor, preacher, advocate for the emigration of Blacks to Africa and advocate of African self help.
Crummell left the United States in 1847 for England and Liberia for nearly a quarter century. During his stay in Liberia he worked as a missionary for the Episcopal Church and professor at Liberia College. Crummell found the racism of the mulattos in Liberia to be intolerable which caused him to return to the United States.
In 1873 he returned to Washington DC. There he was appointed “missionary at large of the colored people.” In Washington he planned and realized his vision of the church in the black community. His vision was that the black church should be a place of worship and social service. In 1880 he established Saint Luke’s Church that would fulfill his vision. Many younger black ministers would seek to duplicate Crummell’ss achievements in shaping the role of the black church in the community. Crummell took the lead in encouraging black ministers in Washington to join together and establish charitable institutions for the race. He organized the Black Episcopal clergy to fight racism in the church.
His contribution to African American life went beyond the doors of the church. He was instrumental in establishing the American Negro Academy, a national organization of the best educated an prominent African Americans. There is little doubt that this organization and Crummell inspired W.E.B. DuBois’ idea of a “talented tenth.”
Crummell emphasized African-American self help and the need for education that was solid and practical. He developed this idea independent of Booker T. Washington of whom he was highly critical. Alexander Crummell was among the first black nationalist. His ideas to improve the moral, intellectual, economic and cultural conditions of black people played an important role in preparing Blacks for the twentieth century.
