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Up From Slavery:
A Documentary History of Negro
Education
Compiled By
Rudolph Lewis
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Interest of the Baptists in the Education of
the Negro in Alabama Is Reported, 1847
The State if Alabama, contains upon an estimate fifty
thousand Baptists and it may be considered the leading State in
the instruction of the negroes.
The
REV. B. MANLY, D.D., President of the
State College in Tuscaloosa, chairmen of a committee on the
religious instruction of the coloured people, brought into the
Alabama Baptist State Convention a report, from which we give
the following extract, as indicative of the feeling and action
of the brethren of that church in the State.
"We rejoice in the abundant evidence that
the subject is receiving continually deeper and wider attention.
One most cheering fact is, that such has been the success every
where met with, that no effort, once begun, has been abandoned;
but there has been a continual progress. In every Association
from which we have heard, some action more or less vigorous has
been taken, and it is hoped the influence of their
recommendations will be felt all over the State. A large
majority it is believed, of all the ministers connected with
this body, have separate exercises for the coloured people, in
addition to the regular services of the churches, which, as
usual, they also attend in considerable numbers."
The report considers the negroes the most
neglected class of our population, calling loudest for Christian
sympathies and labours, and it offers very many reasons to
excite to more zeal and activity in the work.-
Thirteen Annual Report of the Association
for the Religious Instruction of the Negroes in Liberty County,
Georgia, p.24.
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Religious Instruction of Negroes in South
Carolina, 1847
A large and respectable
meeting was held at the Second Presbyterian Church, on Sabbath
morning, May 9th, alter a discourse by
Rev. J. B. Adger and an
address by
Rev. C. C. Jones, D.D. on the best mode of securing,
in an efficient and proper manner, the religious instruction of
the colored people. After the reading of the resolutions adopted
by the Session of the Church.
On motion of W. C. Dukes, Esq.
the Hon. R. B. Gilchrist took the Chair, and introduced the
subject with some most appropriate remarks, expressive of the
importance and interest of the occasion. Mr. William Miller was
requested to act as Secretary.
The following resolutions were
then introduced in a very full and able speech by
Hon. F. H.
Elmore, and seconded, with some additional remarks, by Alexander
Black, Esq.:
Resolved, That, in the opinion
of this meeting, the proper religious instruction of the colored
population is a duty pressed upon us by considerations of sound
policy, as well as Christian obligation.
Resolved, That we concur
entirely in the opinions expressed by the Session of this Church
and by the Presbytery of Charleston, that, in order that such
instruction should be given efficiently, and, at the same time,
with proper safe-guards, it must be afforded by thoroughly
educated ministers, of sound principles, who are devoted to the
welfare of that people, and who understand our institutions.
Resolved, That the offer of
the
Rev. John B. Adger, to devote himself gratuitously to this
work of piety and usefulness, embodying, as he does, in himself,
all the qualifications desirable for this delicate and
responsible office, should be accepted, and the funds be
immediately subscribed for the erection of a Church for a
colored congregation under his ministry.
Resolved, That a subscription
for this object be now opened to raise the funds necessary, to
be received by the committee appointed by the Session, and
expended under their management.
The Charleston Courier, May 13, 1847
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Sources:
Chapter VI. "The Instruction of Negroes." In Edgar W.
Knight..
A Documentary History of Education in the South before 1860. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, 1953
Chapter 10 "Up From Slavery: Educational and
other Rights of Negroes." In Edgar W. Knight and Clifton L. Hall.
Readings
in American Educational History. New York Appleton-Century-Crofts,
Inc., 1951. Many states had laws prohibiting
the education of blacks; here black youngsters are turned away at the
school door |
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Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin
Banneker
Philadelphia Aug. 30. 1791
Sir,
I thank you sincerely for your
letter of the 19th. instant and for the Almanac it contained. no
body wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that
nature has given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of
the other colours of men, & that the appearance of a want of them is
owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence both in
Africa & America. I can add with truth that no body wishes more
ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition
both of their body & mind to what it ought to be, as fast as the
imbecillity of their present existence, and other circumstance which
cannot be neglected, will admit. I have taken the liberty of sending
your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, Secretary of the Academy of
sciences at Paris, and member of the Philanthropic society because I
considered it as a document to which your whole colour had a right
for their justification against the doubts which have been
entertained of them. I am with great esteem, Sir,
Your most obedt. humble servt.
Th. Jefferson
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Report of the Research
Committee
on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
January 2000
Conclusions
Based on the examination of
currently available primary and secondary documentary evidence,
the oral histories of descendants of Monticello's
African-American community, recent scientific studies, and the
guidance of individual members of Monticello's Advisory
Committee for the Robert H. Smith International Center for
Jefferson Studies and Advisory Committee on African-American
Interpretation, the Research Committee has reached the following
conclusions:
Dr. Foster's DNA study was
conducted in a manner that meets the standards of the scientific
community, and its scientific results are valid.
The DNA study, combined
with multiple strands of currently available documentary and
statistical evidence, indicates a high probability that Thomas
Jefferson fathered Eston Hemings, and that he most likely was
the father of all six of Sally Hemings's children appearing in
Jefferson's records. Those children are Harriet, who died in
infancy; Beverly; an unnamed daughter who died in infancy;
Harriet; Madison; and Eston.
Many aspects of this likely
relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson are, and
may remain, unclear, such as the nature of the relationship, the
existence and longevity of Sally Hemings's first child, and the
identity of Thomas C. Woodson.
The implications of the
relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson should
be explored and used to enrich the understanding and
interpretation of Jefferson and the entire Monticello
community.—Monticello
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Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: A Brief Account
Thomas Jefferson
(April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was
the principal author of the
Declaration of Independence
(1776) and the
Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom
(1777), the
third
President of the United States
(1801–1809) and founder of the
University of Virginia (1819).
He was an influential
Founding Father and an exponent
of
Jeffersonian democracy.
Sarah "Sally" Hemings (Shadwell,
Albemarle County, Virginia,
circa 1773 –
Charlottesville, Virginia,
1835) was a
mixed-race
slave owned by
President
Thomas Jefferson through
inheritance from his wife. She was the
half-sister of Jefferson's
wife,
Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson by their father
John Wayles. She was notable because most historians now
believe that the widower Jefferson had six children with her,
and maintained an extended relationship for 38 years until his
death. When Jefferson's relationship and children were reported
in 1802, there was sensational coverage for a time, but
Jefferson remained silent on the issue. Four Hemings-Jefferson
children survived to adulthood. He let two "escape" in 1822 at
the age of 21 and freed the younger two in his will in 1826.
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Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy
By Annette Gordon-Reed
Attorney Gordon-Reed (law,
New York Law Sch.) presents a lawyer's analysis of the evidence
for and against the proposition that Jefferson was the father of
several children born to his household slave Sally Hemings.
Gordon-Reed is not concerned with Jefferson and Hemings as much
as she is with how Jefferson's defenders have dealt with the
evidence about the case. Her book takes aim at such noteworthy
biographers as Dumas Malone, who has been quick to accept
evidence against a liaison and quick to reject evidence for
one.—Library Journal
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The Women
Jefferson Loved
By Virginia
Scharff
According to historian Scharff,
Thomas Jefferson’s “most closely guarded secrets,
the most fiercely maintained silences, all had to do
with the women he loved.” It stands to reason that
in order to fully understand a man as tremendously
gifted and as deeply flawed as Thomas Jefferson, one
must also understand and appreciate the women who
collectively formed the foundation of his life and
shaped the nature of his legacy. Although
Jefferson’s mother, daughters, granddaughters, wife,
and enslaved mistress were all fascinating women who
played distinct roles in his life and legend, they
were also creatures of their time and place, living,
enduring, and playing by the rules of a patriarchal,
male-dominated society. By studying these women
Scharff not only opens a window to the heart and
soul of one of our nation’s founders but also
resurrects their own contributions to our nation’s
history.—Booklist |
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The chapter on Sally
Hemings does not add much new information, but it certainly lays
out the facts we know in a comprehensive and well organized
fashion. Much like Professor Gordon-Reed, the author carefully
explains the strange dual-family existence that prevailed at
Monticello, and how servants integrated with the Jefferson
family as they all lived together. As regards the two daughters,
they too emerge from the historical darkness and we learn a
great deal about them and their important role in TJ's life and
activities. As I read each chapter, I learned all manner of
things of which I had not been aware, and I have read a lot of
material on TJ. So women are central to the story, but there is
also an abundance of additional facts and perspectives that very
much enhance the book. —Ronald
H. Clark
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Audio:
My Story, My Song (Featuring blues guitarist Walter Wolfman Washington)
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The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
By Annette
Gordon-Reed
This is a scholar's
book: serious, thick, complex. It's also fascinating, wise
and of the utmost importance. Gordon-Reed, a professor of
both history and law who in her previous book helped solve
some of the mysteries of the intimate relationship between
Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, now brings to
life the entire Hemings family and its tangled blood links
with slave-holding Virginia whites over an entire century.
Gordon-Reed never slips into cynicism about the author of
the Declaration of Independence. Instead, she shows how his
life was deeply affected by his slave kinspeople: his lover
(who was the half-sister of his deceased wife) and their
children. Everyone comes vividly to life, as do the places,
like Paris and Philadelphia, in which Jefferson, his
daughters and some of his black family lived. So, too, do
the complexities and varieties of slaves' lives and the
nature of the choices they had to make—when they had the
luxury of making a choice. Gordon-Reed's genius for reading
nearly silent records makes this an extraordinary work.—Publishers
Weekly |
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update 10 May 2010
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