Chapter VIII: General Observations (4)

As an illustration of pupil self-government, I quote the following from the _Memoir of M. Miner_ by Mrs. Ellen M. O'Connor, concerning a visit made by Miss Margaret Robinson of Philadelphia to Miss Miner's school: "In the winter of 1853 accompanied by a friend, I visited the school of Myrtilla Miner, under circumstances of peculiar interest. Arriving about ten A. M., we learned from a pupil at the door that the teacher was absent on business of importance to the school. We were not a little disappointed, supposing all recitations would await her coming. What was our surprise on entering to find every girl in her place, closely occupied with her studies. We seated ourselves by polite invitation; soon a class read; then one in mental arithmetic exercised itself, the more advanced pupils acting as monitors; all was done without confusion. When the teacher entered she expressed no surprise, but took up the business where she found it and went on." On one occasion, being obliged to leave for several days, Miss Miner propounded to the pupils the question, whether the school should be closed, or they should continue their exercises without her? They chose the latter. On her return she found all doing well, not the least disorder having occurred.

As to vitalized teaching, Matilda Jones Madden, one of Miss Miner's pupils, wrote the following: "She gave special attention to the proper writing of letters and induced a varied correspondence between many prominent persons and her pupils, thus in a practical way bringing her school into larger notice with many of its patrons and friends and vastly increasing the experience of her pupils."

Mrs. John F. N. Wilkinson, a former pupil of Miss Miner, of Washington, D. C., states that Miss Miner held classes in astronomy with the larger girls who were required to meet at the school in the evenings to study their lessons from nature. Mrs. Amelia E. Wormley, the mother of the writer, residing in Washington, also a pupil of Miss Miner, recalls vividly the emphasis which Miss Miner placed upon the teaching of physical culture and the tenderness with which she handled the younger children of her school.[7]

The school increased in usefulness and importance. As a result of this, on March 3, 1863, the Senate and House of Representatives passed an act to incorporate this institution for the education of girls of color in the District of Columbia. By the act William H. Channing, George J. Abbot, Miss Miner, and others, their associate and successors were constituted and declared a body politic and corporate by the name and title of "The Institution for the Education of Colored Youth," to be located in the District of Columbia. Though this act of Congress legalized the institution, the school appears to have lapsed into inactivity from 1863 to 1871 because of the absence of its guiding spirit, Miss Miner. On account of ill health she was compelled to give up the work, and the strain and stress of civil affairs reduced national interest and support to a minimum. After a sojourn of three years in California in search of renewed energy and more funds for the fulfillment of her plans and the consummation of her ideals, Miss Miner departed from this life at the home of Mrs. Nancy M. Johnson of Washington, D. C., on the 17th of December 1864.

In 1871 the work of the school was resumed in connection with Howard University. A preparatory and Normal Department was opened and controlled by this institution but supported by the Miner Funds. The school existed in this connection until September 13, 1876, when it began a separate and independent existence which lasted until 1879 when it was taken over by the school system of the District of Columbia. From 1879 to 1887 the Miner Normal School was jointly controlled by the Board[8] of Trustees of the Public Schools of the District and the Miner Board of Trustees, the principal's salary being paid by the Miner Board to which she made her reports while the obligation of keeping up the enrollment of the school was assumed by the Trustees representing the District Government.

In 1887 the Trustees of the District assumed full charge of the school thus centralizing authority and management. The unification of the dual management under District authority added keener interest on the part of the citizenship of the community and a deeper feeling of responsibility on the part of the faculty. Fortunately for the institution, moreover, the women who succeeded Miss Miner as the heads of this institution caught the great spirit of their predecessor and in their efforts to continue the useful work which she had done, followed so closely in the path which she had trodden as to assure success and preclude any necessity for general reorganization.

The first of these women to take up the work of Miss Miner, was Miss Mary B. Smith, of Beverly, Massachusetts, who was assisted by her sister Miss Sarah R. Smith. These two worthy ladies were succeeded by Miss Martha Briggs who is characterized by Dr. W. S. Montgomery in his _Historical Sketch on Education for the Colored Race in the District of Columbia, 1807-1905_, "as a born teacher whose work showed those qualities of head and heart that have made her name famous in the annals of education in the character of the graduates. The student teachers caught her missionary spirit and went forth from her presence stronger souls, full of sympathy to magnify the teacher's vocation and to inspire the learner. Many of the women who sat at her feet are laboring in the schools here now, filling the highest positions and in beauty and richness of character running like a thread of gold through the teaching corps."

Miss Briggs was succeeded in 1883 by Dr. Lucy E. Moten, who after faithful and successful service for thirty-seven years, retired June 20, 1920. As principal of the Miner Normal School, Dr. Moten graduated the majority of the teachers now employed in the public schools of the District. She saw the Normal course lengthened from a one year course to that of a two year course, offering greater opportunity for broader professional equipment of the student teachers, the results of which are manifest in the Washington Public Schools today. This school, however, is destined in the near future to undergo other changes in the line of progress. It may be the extension of the course to three years or the development of a Teacher's college of four years which will offer courses leading to a degree. With an enthusiastic whole-hearted response of the teaching corps of Washington, D. C., to the slogan of the new Superintendent, Dr. Frank Washington Ballou--"Hats off to the past and coats off to the future," The Miner Normal School will reach higher in its aim to serve and realize the ideals of its noble founder and benefactress, whose struggles and sacrifices are sacred in the memory of every teacher of color in the District of Columbia.

G. SMITH WORMLEY.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The facts set forth in this sketch were obtained largely from Ellen M. O'Connor's _Myrtilla Miner, A Memoir_; W. S. Montgomery's _Historical Sketch of the Education for the Colored Race in the District of Columbia, 1807-1905_; and _The Special Report of the Commissioner of Education_ on the condition and improvement of the Public Schools in the District of Columbia, submitted to the Senate June 1868 and the House, with additions, June 17, 1870-1871. Some valuable facts were also obtained from former pupils of Miss Myrtilla Miner now residing in the District of Columbia and from public spirited citizens who cooperated with her.

[2] O'Connor, _Memoir of Myrtilla Miner, Letter of Frederick Douglass_, p. 23.

[3] _Special Report of Commissioner of Education_, Washington, D.C., Henry Barnard, 1868, p. 207.

[4] She had some friends, however, as the following shows:

"There are in the United States 500,000 free people of color.
They are generally, although subject to taxation, excluded by law
or prejudice from schools of every grade. Their case becomes at
once an object of charity which rises infinitely above all party
or sectional lines. This charity we are gratified in being able
to state has already been inaugurated, through the devoted labors
of an excellent young lady from Western New York by the name of
Miss Myrtilla Miner who has established and maintained for the
past four years in the city of Washington a school for the
education of free colored youth. This school is placed there
because it is national ground, and the nation is responsible for
the well-being of its population; because there are there 11,000
of this suffering people excluded by law from schools and
destitute of instruction; because there are in the adjoining
States of Maryland and Virginia 130,000 equally destitute, who
can be reached in no other way; and because it is hoped through
this means to reach a class of girls of peculiar interest, often
the most beautiful and intelligent, and yet the most hopelessly
wretched, and who are often objects of strong paternal affection.
The slaveholder would gladly educate and save these children, but
domestic peace drives them from his hearth; he cannot emancipate
them to be victims of violence or lust; he cannot send them to
Northern schools, where prejudice would brand them, and it is
proposed to open an asylum near them, where they may be brought,
emancipated, educated and taught housewifery as well as science,
and thus be prepared to become teachers among their own mixed
race.

"In its present condition this school embraces boarding, domestic
economy, normal teachers and primary departments, and is placed
under the care of an association consisting of the following
trustees: Benjamin Tatham, New York; Samuel M. Janney, Loudoun
County, Virginia; Johns Hopkins, Baltimore; Samuel Rhoads and
Thomas Williamson, Philadelphia; G. Bailey and L. D. Gale,
Washington; H. W. Bellows, New York; C. E. Stowe, Andover; H. W.
Beecher, Brooklyn, together with an executive committee
consisting of S. J. Bowen, J. M. Wilson and L. D. Gale, of
Washington; and M. Miner, Principal, and William H. Beecher, of
Reading, Secretary.

"The trustees state that a very eligible site of three acres,
within the city limits of Washington, of the northwest, has
already been purchased, paid for and secured to the trustees, and
that all which is now wanted is $20,000 wherewith to erect a
larger and more suitable edifice for the reception of the
applicants pressing upon it from the numerous free colored blacks
in the District and adjacent States. The proposed edifice is
designed to accommodate 150 scholars and to furnish homes for the
teachers and pupils from a distance. The enlarged school will
include the higher branches in its system of instruction.

"There was a meeting yesterday afternoon, in an ante-room of
Tremont Temple, of gentlemen called together to listen to the
statements of the Secretary of the Association regarding this
school. The meeting was small, but embraced such gentlemen as
Hon. George S. Hillard, Rev. Dr. Lathrop, Rev. C. E. Hale, and
Deacon Greele, all of whom are deeply interested in the project.

"The meeting decided to draw up and circulate a subscription
paper, and counted upon receiving $10,000 for the purpose in this
city. The pastors of several churches in New York had pledged
their churches in the sum of a thousand dollars each. Mr. Beecher
will solicit subscriptions in most of the principal towns of
Massachusetts. The designs and benefits of the project will be
fully set forth at a public meeting in this city in the course of
a fortnight."--_The Boston Journal_, April 18, 1857.

[5] An extract from Walter Lenox's article opposing Miss Miner's School, follows:

"With justice we can say to the advocate of this measure, you are
not competent to decide this question: your habits of thought,
your ignorance of our true relations to the colored population,
prevent you from making a full and candid examination of its
merits, and, above all, the temper of the public mind is
inauspicious, even for its consideration. If your humanity
demands this particular sphere for its action, and if, to use
your own language, prejudice would brand them at your northern
schools, establish institutions in the free States, dispense your
money there abundantly as your charity will supply, draw to them
the unfortunate at your own door, or from abroad, and in all
respects gratify the largest impulses of your philanthropy; but
do not seek to impose upon us a system contrary to our wishes and
interests, and for the further reason that by so doing you injure
the cause of those whom you express a wish to serve."--_National
Intelligencer_, May 6, 1857.

[6] _Special Report_, Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C., 1868, p. 207.

[7] This statement is based on information obtained from Mrs. John F. N. Wilkinson and Mrs. Amelia E. Wormley, who were pupils of Myrtilla Miner.

[8] _Report of Board of Education_, Dr. John Smith, Statistician.

COMMUNICATIONS

During the last five years a number of valuable facts have come to the office of the editor in various communications from persons interested in the work which the Association has been promoting. While these communications do not as a whole bear upon any particular phase of Negro history, they will certainly be valuable to one making researches in the general field. Some of these follow.

A SUGGESTION

WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 23, 1916.

CARTER G. WOODSON,

_My Dear Sir:_ I notice by the press your Connection with the
"Douglass" celebration. It might interest you to receive the
enclosed from a rank abolitionist of the John Brown School. After
service in Kansas with the Brown element, then in open rebellion
against the United States, as typified in men like Judge Taney,
who decided that the black man had no rights the white man was
bound to respect, I entered the Union army and served in it as a
private in the 5th Wis. Infy and as Adjt. of the 7th Eastern
Shore Md. Infy--3 years and 6 mos.... I wish some of your
influential men would start a movement to erect a monument here
for old John Brown, who gave his life to free the country from
the great curse of slavery.

Cordially,
(Signed) JOHN E. RASTALL.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS

MARION, ALABAMA
July 7th 1916

DR. C. G. WOODSON

_Dear Sir:_

Absence from home has prevented my replying to your request
sooner.

The majority of masters in this section of the country were kind
to their slaves. They gave them plenty of good wholesome food,
good clothes, (warm ones in winter) comfortable homes and
attention from Doctors when sick. There were churches on nearly
every plantation and ministers provided to preach to them. The
_only very cruel_ masters were _Northern men_ who treated their
slaves like _beasts_. For many years it was against the law to
teach negroes to read or write because some of them would read
things from the North that made them dissatisfied but our family
owned such good negroes, who had principle like white people we
did not think it could hurt them, and we taught them to read and
write. There has always been a kind feeling between the whites
and slaves in this country. The young ones were our playmates in
childhood. The older ones our nurses and cooks who petted us and
loved us as their own color. They were faithful during the War
when our protectors were in the Army, and now altho' it is fifty
years since they were freed, many of them are our best
friends.--I do not know of anything else you wanted to know or I
would gladly write you. In some sections of the South there may
have been cruel treatment but it was generally from the overseers
who were ignorant men and took advantage of their position to
give license to their cruel natures.

James Childs and all of his family and many of his relatives
belonged to my mother, and there still exists a kind feeling
between us that will only be severed by Death. I would like to
hear from him. I am nearly 75 years old and cannot be here much
longer but want to do all the good I can before I am called.

Respectfully
(Signed) MRS. JAS. A. SMITH,
Marion
Alabama

23 DRYADS GREEN,
Nov. 7, 1916.

_My dear Mr. Woodson:_

Your letter in the interest of THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY is
welcome. I will try to send you a subscriber or two.

Allow me to suggest a point. It may have been well covered
already without my knowing of it. In Louisiana and, I think, in
some other states, in Reconstruction days, the
lieutenant-governorship was conceded by the Republican party,
regularly, to a man of color. These men were sometimes, to say no
more, of high character and ability. Such a one in Louisiana was
Oscar J. Dunn, the first of them. He was of unmixt African
origin. His signal ability and high integrity were acknowledged
by his political enemies in the most rancorous days of his
career, and his funeral was attended by Confederate generals.

I wish your enterprise the fullest measure of success.

Yours truly,
(Signed) GEO. W. CABLE.

WASHINGTON, D.C.
1443 R ST., N. W.,
NOV. 1 --17.

MR. CARTER G. WOODSON,
1216 You St., N.W.,
Washington, D. C.

_Dear Sir:_

I recently received from you a letter followed soon by a volume
of THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY edited by yourself which I have
scanned and am much impressed with its merits and consider a
valuable contribution to our historical literature.

It is somewhat unusual to find colored men in America of American
birth who are individually conversant with all of the West Indies
a part of South America and the western part of Europe.

My advent in life began at an epoch in the early history of
Baltimore when incidents occurred that seem to have escaped the
notice of the numerous writers of the history of our race which I
shall briefly relate.

Owing to the rapid decadence of the sugar industries of the
British West Indies on the Abolition of Slavery and the gravity
anent the threatened ruin of the peasantry, some philanthropists
and business men from England were sent to Baltimore to try to
get free colored people to go to Trinidad. They spoke in many
colored churches and succeeded in interesting them so that
several shiploads were sent. My father and mother and three
children were of the number. I was an infant in arms.

I received an education there and after I grew up was variously
employed as bookkeeper, clerking in dry goods stores, in the City
Hall, overseer on sugar estate, coach and sign painter, was
afterwards sent for by my father who was at the gold mines of
Caratal in Venezuela and on my return to Trinidad visited several
other islands of the West Indies.

I next returned to America my natal home the second year of
Andrew Johnson's term.

I have not since led an idle life. For nearly 25 years I have
been engaged as an itinerant private tutor teaching adult folks
and I flatter myself that I was very successful among the
hundreds of my pupils.

I found on my arrival in America that education was at a very low
ebb amongst the members of my race perhaps not more than 15% of
adult folks one would encounter in the streets could read and
write.

When the Amendments were passed by Congress conferring
citizenship upon colored people I threw myself into the political
current and was the first vice president of the 11th ward of
Baltimore city which a few years subsequently chose a colored
councilman, Harry Cummins.

I became a merchant meanwhile experimenting in groceries, but
after a year relinquished this for dry goods for which my early
acquaintance therewith amply fitted me. I kept a dry goods store
in Baltimore for seven years then went to Jacksonville, Fla.
where I successfully continued the business for eighteen years.

While I was in Baltimore I twice passed the Civil Service
examination with a handsome percentage this I did simply from
curiosity. I kept strictly to merchandise and have never earned a
dollar of Uncle Sam's money.

In 1909 and again in 1912 myself and wife, both of us having a
knowledge of French and Spanish and I a little Italian made a
tour of Western Europe viz, Gibralter Italy Switzerland France
Germany Holland Belgium and England plodding on foot amongst the
common people studying sociological conditions and comparing with
our own people. I find the contrast of the humbler class of
Europe also the colored races of the West Indies and South
America with less opportunities possessed of more enterprise and
ambition than the colored people of America.

It is a lamentable fact that the principal attraction of those
who should be our strong men and leaders in enterprise those of
high school and college training consists of Uncle Sam's bounty
and in the absence of this to cling to some white man in private
life.

I have for many years been an ardent advocate of business amongst
our people and to this end I have written contributions to the
_Commonwealth_ of Baltimore a paper once edited by John E. Bruce
(Bruce Grit) the Colored American of Washington, and to other
papers edited by our race.

My attitude towards other enterprises is that we are sufficiently
and disproportionately represented in other branches, especially
teaching preaching politics governmental patronage &c which
require no financial responsibility; consequently the results
place us in the attitude of a Castillian gentleman who is
facetiously described thus--_Caballero sin caballo, Mucho piojo,
poco dinero_, that is, a knight without a horse, Plenty of lice,
little money.

As a race we are the poorest numerically of any race in America.
We have so little ambition and so envious and void of race pride.
We don't mind a white man climbing over our heads but a colored
man never and if you doubt me keep a store.

I have grown weary of the struggle and am leaving the fight to
the younger men who I hope may prove vigorous champions.

I have done my part, I am

Yours very truly
(Signed) STANSBURY BOYCE.

LONDON, ONT. October 25/1918

DR. CARTER G. WOODSON,
_Journal of Negro History_,
Washington, D. C.

_Dear Dr. Woodson_,

I have been reading your "Century of Negro Migration" with
interest. On page 36 you speak of a change of attitude on the
part of Canadians towards the refugees. I do not know to what
this refers. The attitude of the Canadian government never
changed--it granted asylum and protection right up to the Civil
War and afterwards. From the very earliest days there was an
occasional show of prejudice but I doubt if this was greater in
1855 than in 1845 or 1835. The laws were administered fairly, the
Negro exercised his vote, could get land cheaply if he desired to
farm. The chief prejudice was shown in the schools though this
only in some places, this city for instance. But this was only
occasional, not general, and you are quite correct in saying that
"these British Americans never made the life of the Negro there
so intolerable as was the case in some of the free States."

On the same page there is a slight error in the use of the word
"towns" in connection with the settlements of refugees in
Southern Ontario.

"Dawn" was not a town but a farming community, "The Dawn
Settlement" "Colchester" was the same, it is the name now given
to a township in Essex county.

"Elgin" was not the name of a Settlement but of the association
which managed the settlement. Buxton was the settlement founded
by the Elgin association.

"Bush", _i.e._ "The Bush" is the term applied to a great tract of
country north of Toronto, bushland, in which there were some
Negro farmers.

"Wilberforce" was also a tract of land divided into farms and
termed the Wilberforce settlement. It is in Middlesex county,
near London.

"Riley" should be "Raleigh," it is the township in which the
Elgin association's settlement was located. It is in Kent County.

"Anderton" is also the name of a township in Essex county.

"Gonfield" should be "Gosfield." It is also a township in Essex
county.

These are only minor matters but you might desire to make the
change in another edition.

I think I shall write something dealing with the Canadian end of
your subject, from the economic standpoint. The _Journal_ is a
publication of which as Editor you can be proud. It maintains a
high standard. I intend to have it added to the Western
University's list of periodicals this year.

Sincerely yours,
(Signed) FRED LANDON.

BIRD-IN-HAND, PA., Aug. 21, 1918.
CARTER G. WOODSON, ESQ.,

_Dear Mr. Woodson_:

I have read most of the articles in the JOURNAL with deep
interest and think it a valuable periodical. One or two mistakes
I noticed; one writer says that President Lincoln thought that
"the war should be over in ninety days." It was Seward, _not_
Lincoln that cherished this almost insane idea.--Please do not
set me down as a carping critic when I say that I am very sorry
that the long article on "Slavery in Kentucky" was printed
without comment or correction. To speak of Henry Clay as an
anti-slavery man seems absurd to people like myself, born into
_real_ anti-slavery families and familiar almost from infancy
with the anti-slavery struggle. The interview with Mr.
Mendenhall, a Friend (Quaker) is told somewhat differently from
what I heard it in my childhood. I always understood that a
delegation of Friends called upon him and he told them to go
home, that his "Negroes were sleek and fat." The comparison
between Friends and his negroes, as given in Mr. McDougle's
article is even more insulting than is anything in the story as I
heard it. One of my earliest recollections is seeing in my
grandmother's kitchen in Phila., "Clary" a little octoroon woman,
who was, I was told, either once the mistress or else the
daughter of Henry Clay. From this you may judge what his moral
reputation must have been.

Very truly yours,
(Signed) (MRS.) MARIANNA G. BRUBAKER.

SOME CORRECTIONS

BIRD-IN-HAND, PA., April 21, 1920.

MR. CARTER G. WOODSON,

_My dear Mr. Woodson:_

On the next page will be found a correction of the article "The
Negro Migration to Canada after 1850," which you may print or
not, as you choose. In a historical periodical, accuracy is
important, is it not?

Very truly yours,
Signed (MRS.) MARIANNA G. BRUBAKER.

On page 30 of the _Journal of Negro History_ for January
reference is made to the famous Christiana Riot of Sept. 11,
1851. Christiana is about nineteen--not two--miles from
Lancaster. Parker, the hero of this event, was a wonderful man.
He returned to Christiana in the summer of 1872, spoke at a
political meeting there and spent some time visiting friends, by
whom he was greatly admired and respected. The exact distance
from Lancaster is important because of the very different
character of the two communities.

(Signed) MARIANNA G. BRUBAKER.

BIRD-IN-HAND, PA., April 21.

DOCUMENTS

The following letter was addressed to the City Council of Washington, D.C., July 15, 1833, by Joseph Jefferson, Sr., and Mr. Mackenzie, managers of the Washington Theatre.[1]

_Dear Sir:_

"Permit us to take the liberty of representing to you a burden
that oppresses us most heavily, and of requesting your kind
endeavors so to represent the case before the mayor and council
that we may obtain all the relief that it is in their power to
grant.

"You must be aware that we pay nightly to the city a tax of $6
for permission to perform in the theater; in the year 1832 this
amounted to nearly $1,400 in the aggregate; we pay this tax
cheerfully, and all we ask in return is a liberal protection and
support from the city authorities.

"There is at present a law in force which authorizes the
constables of the city to arrest the colored people if on the
street after 9 o'clock without a pass. A great proportion of our
audience consists of persons of this caste, and they are
consequently deterred from giving us that support that they would
otherwise do.

"Can there be any modification of that law suggested, or will the
mayor and council authorize us to give passes to those colored
persons who leave the theatre for the purpose of proceeding
directly to their homes?

"In the city of Baltimore, where we have a theatre, and pay a
smaller license than we do here, the law, as regards the colored
people, is not acted upon when they are coming or going to the
theatre.

"In a pecuniary point of view, we look upon this law as a
detriment to us of $10 nightly, and we have great reason to hope
that a law that rests so heavily upon us alone may meet with the
kind consideration of the mayor and council, and be so modified
as to relieve us from the heavy loss that it causes us at present
to incur.

"We have the honor to be, dear sir, your obedient servants,

"JEFFERSON & MACKENZIE,
"Managers of the Washington Theater."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Submitted by Professor Walter Dyson.

Lee, Mass. April 23, 1917.

CARTER G. WOODSON,
Editor, _Journal of Negro History_,
Washington, D. C.

_Dear Sir:_

The enclosed tracing of a manuscript in my possession may, or may
not be of interest enough to publish in your magazine. The Ms.
came into my hands in the autumn of 1863 while I was serving in
the ranks of the 10th Mass. Inf. At that time the regiment was
stationed at Bristoe Station, on the R. R. between Alexandria and
Fredericksburg. A detail which had been sent to Prince William
Court House at Brentsville for some purpose brought to our camp
some manuscripts, among them that from which the tracing has been
made, and which I thought of interest enough to preserve.

Yours very truly,
(Signed) D. M. WILCOX.

A Marriage Contract made this 12th day of January in the Year of
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Fifty six Between John
Brunskill of the Parish of Hamilton and County of Prince Willm
Clerk, and Edward Humston of the above said Parish and County
Witnesseth that the sd John--Brunskill doth Contract & agree with
the said Humston, that he the said John Brunskill will have to
his wife Ann Humston, daughter to the said Edward Humston and in
Consideration of which the said Humston doth agree to & with the
said Brunskill that he the said Humston will at the day of
Marriage Lend unto the sd Ann Humston as a Maintenance during her
life The Following Negroes, To wit, Jude, Lucy & three children
John, Mary and Betty, and also one Negroe man named Tom, Jun. on
proviso yt the said Brunskill doth pay unto ye said Humston ten
pounds P Ann for four years in Consideration of the hire of the
said Negroes, And at her ye said Ann Humstons death ye sd Negroes
to fall to her Eldest son by the ye sd Brunskill but if she
shou'd not have a son by the said Brunskill they are to fall Heir
by the sd Brunskill they are to fall to her Eldest Daughter by
the said Brunskill, but if she should die without Heir by the sd
Brunskill they are at the Death of her and the said Brunskill to
fall to the Heir at Law. And for the Performance of the above
Contract. We do bind ourselves our heirs &c Either to other in
the Penal sum Of five hundred Pounds Sterlg. In witness whereof
We have set our hands & seals the day and Year above Written--

[Transcriber's Note: In the signature below, {X} signifies
where a larger X appears in the text.]

Signed sealed and Deliver'd }
in the Presence of-- }

EDWARD HUMSTON (L.S.)
JOHN BRUNSKILL JUNr (L.S.)

THO. MARSHALL
his
JOHN {X} WARRING
Mark

At a Court held for prince William County the 22. of March 1756
This Marriage Contract was proved by the oaths of the witnesses
hereto & ordered to be recorded.

Test JOHN GRAHAM _Clerk_.

LETTERS ON RECONSTRUCTION RECORDS

TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, ALABAMA.
July 3, 1920.

DR. C. G. WOODSON,
1216 U Street, N. W.,
Washington, D. C.

_My Dear Dr. Woodson:_

Attached are names of additional Negro members of the North and
South Carolina legislatures and a letter from Mrs. M.E.
Richardson about an additional member of the Alabama legislature.
Attached also is a letter by Mr. John W. Cromwell. These should
be published in the _Journal_. Kindly publish the same in the
_Journal_, under documents and oblige,

Yours very truly,
(Signed) MONROE N. WORK.
Monroe N. Work,
Editor, Negro Year Book.

MNW/FEH
Three enclosures.

To the Editor of _The Planet_:

Will you for the sake of history allow this communication in your
columns? It has been repeatedly charged that we have no racial
history. If we are challenged with respect to certain events we
admit the imputation by our silence. A different course would
correct much error. _The Journal of Negro History_ for January
has rendered a very great service by publishing the names and
number of Negroes who have been members of their respective State
Legislatures since the Civil War reconstruction. It was
interesting and informative to note the names and numbers of
members of our race from these different States.

When it came to Virginia the contrast was most painful. To behold
the absence of detailed information similar to that supplied the
other States, from North Carolina to Florida, from the Atlantic
to the Rio Grande. For a time I felt like disowning that Virginia
was my native State. Finally the obligation incumbent on all
those who have lived in Virginia during the last fifty years or
familiar with its history asserted itself, hence I begin but I
must acknowledge my sense of gratitude to Rev. G. F. Bragg, Jr.,
who in the current number of _The Journal of Negro History_ has
contributed from his recollection and given names of members whom
he knew.

Peter J. Carter, Northampton
George Teamoh, Norfolk County
John Brown, Southhampton
Peter G. Morgan, Petersburg
John Watson, Mecklenburg
Resa Hamilton,
Jas. W. D. Bland, Prince Edward
Frank Moss, Buckingham
Caesar Perkins, Buckingham
Willis A. Hodges, Princess Anne
John Q. Hodges, Princess Anne
Littleton Owens, Princess Anne
John M. Dawson, James City
John B. Syphax, Alexandria, Co.
Robert D. Ruffin, Alexandria, Co.
Miles Connor, Norfolk, Co.
William H. Andrews, Surry
Henry Cox, Powhatan
Peter K. Jones, Greenville
William P. Mosely, Goochland
Rufus S. Jones, Hampton
Daniel M. Norton, Yorktown

Most of these are recollected by Professor Cromwell and those
with the asterisk are furnished by others.

Robert Norton, Yorktown
David Canady, Halifax
John Freeman, Halifax
Henry Clay Harris, Halifax
John Robinson Cumberland
John W. Poindexter, Louisa
Alfred W. Harris,
Robert G. L. Paige, Norfolk, Co.
*Alexander Lee, Elizabeth City.
*Robert M. Smith, Elizabeth City.
*John H. Robinson, Elizabeth City.
*James Fields, Warwick
---- Lipscomb, Cumberland
---- Matthews, Petersburg
B. F. Jones, Charles City
---- Lyons, Elizabeth City

Rev. Mr. Bragg mentions those whom I do not recall:

Armstead Green, Petersburg
Neverson Lewis, Powhatan
Guy Powell, Brunswick
Shed Dungee, Cumberland
Batt Greggs, Prince Edward
Archie Scott, Amelia and Nottoway
J. R. Jones, Mecklenburg

A. A. Dodson was another from Mecklenburg, a senator as I
remember. I have a vague recollection that Tazewell Branch was at
one time a member, also that Nansemond county sent a
representative.

I make no claim to accuracy in every case, but unless there is
specific contradiction I will claim these named as men who played
an honorable though an humble part in framing the laws of the
commonwealth which has given eight Presidents to our Republic. I
will be glad to hear from any one who can give further
information on this subject.

Respectfully yours
(Signed) J. W. Cromwell
1429 Swann St., N. W.
May 13, 1920.

WASHINGTON, D. C.
July 6, 1920.

DR. C. G. WOODSON
_Journal of Negro History_.

Sir:

In addition to the Negro members in the Virginia legislature
mentioned in my letter published in the Richmond (Va.) Planet of
June. There should be included,--

Rev. Ceasar Perkins, Buckingham
" Fountaine M. Perkins, Louisa
William P. Lucas, "
Samuel P. Bolling, Cumberland.

This makes the number forty-nine (49)

Respectfully yours,
(Signed) J. W. CROMWELL.

Tuskegee Institute Alabama
May 13, 1920.

MR. M. N. WORK,
Department Records and Research,
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.

_Dear Mr. Work:_

In looking through the last number of _The Journal of Negro
History_, I note that you are asking for information concerning
those Negroes who were members of the State Legislatures during
reconstruction days, just following the Civil War.

I do not know if it has already been called to your attention or
not, but my grandfather, Shandy Jones, was at that time a member
of the Alabama Legislature. I do not know the year, but think I
can get the dates for you if it is of interest to you.

His early life was spent in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was a very
successful business man, barber by trade. His later life was
actively spent in church work. He was presiding elder in the A.
M. E. Z. church and was nominated for bishop, but his age was an
obstacle.

He lived in Mobile, Alabama at the time of his death at 70 years.
He was still in the ministry at this time.

Very truly,
(Signed) MRS. M. E. RICHARDSON.

245 WEST 139TH ST.,
NEW YORK CITY,
July 22, 1920.

CARTER G. WOODSON, Ph.D.,
Editor _The Journal of Negro History_,
1216 You St., N. W.,
Washington, D. C.

_Dear Sir:_

You have presented the matter of the Reconstruction Period in
splendid shape and no doubt it will be read with much interest
especially by the few "old timers" who can recall those halcyon
days.

There are some errors I would like to correct and a few additions
I would like to make as it was not my intention to slight any
person engaged in that laudable work of making Negro history, and
I would like to know at your earliest convenience if there will
be time before the July number goes to press. There is just one
error I want to correct now and that is relative to myself. In
the foot notes it is stated that I was a page in the House of
Representatives in the Reconstruction Period. I do not know how
Mr. Work made the error as there is nothing in my retained carbon
copies to show that I gave him that information. It was my
brother, Dr. J. E. Wallace, now with the Standard Insurance
Company of Atlanta who occupied that position. I certainly would
have preferred that job as it was more remunerative than the one
I held. I was employed in the post office at Columbia, S. C.,
from March 1, 1871 to August 15, 1886, when I resigned under the
democratic postmaster, Major W. H. Gibbes, notwithstanding the
fact that he requested me to continue in the position. It was
owing to my position that I came in contact with the prominent
people from all over the State and was thus enabled to get much
information that has helped me greatly in compiling the data.
Handling the mail for several years of these Reconstructionists
made me quite familiar with their names and as the impressions of
youth are lasting they remained with me.

As I understand it the Reconstruction Period is from the close of
the civil war to April 20, 1877, when the United States troops
were withdrawn from the New Orleans, La., state house, the troops
having been withdrawn from the state house in Columbia, S.C.,
April 10, 1877. Therefore data since then would not be considered
as belonging to the Reconstruction Period.

Very Respectfully,
(Signed) HENRY A. WALLACE.

245 WEST 139TH ST.,
NEW YORK CITY,
August 6, 1920.

DR. CARTER G. WOODSON
1216 You St., N. W.,
Washington, D. C.

_Dear Sir:_

In looking over the data published in the January number of _The
Journal of Negro History_ relative to the Reconstruction period
in South Carolina I find several errors which I would be glad to
have you correct in the next number:

Page 81--The christian name of Senator Bird is Israel.

Page 83--The initials of Fraser, representative from Colleton
County are W. H.

Page 84--Aaron Logan was from Charleston county and Samuel P.
Coker from Barnwell county.

Page 89--Opposite name of Joseph H. Rainey, strike out 46th, 47th
and 48th and insert 43rd. See sketch on page 95.

Page 90--F. B. Perry should be B. F. Perry.

Page 97--under Robert C. DeLarge, should be 1868-1870 as a member
of the House of Representatives.

Page 98--Under Francis L. Cardozo--four years as State Treasurer
instead of two. See page 89.

Pages 103 and 104--A. Q. Jones should be A. O. Jones.

Page 104--countries should be counties.

Page 85--Jervay, Page 107--Jervay and Jarvey--should be Jervey.

Page 100--Under Thomas E. Miller--1866 should be 1886 as member
of the S. C. House of Representatives.

Additional members of the Senate:

Jared Warley--Clarendon County Dublin I. Walker--Chester County
J. L. Duncan--Orangeburg County Additional Members of the House
of Representatives: Abbeville Co.--Everett Cain, H. A. Wideman,
Aiken Co.--Gloster H. Holland, W. B. Jones Barnwell Co.--B. W.
Middleton, E. M. Sumpter Charleston Co.--R. B. Artson, P. P.
Hedges, J. J. Hardy, J. J. Grant, J. W. Lloyd, C. F. North, Lewis
Simmons Chester Co.--Ceasar Simmons Colleton Co.--Sherman Smalls,
R. S. Tarlton Edgefield Co.--David Graham, Augustus Simpkins
Georgetown Co.--Charles H. Sperry Kershaw Co.--Frank Adamson
Laurens Co.--James Young Marion Co.--William A. Hayne Marlboro
Co.--Jacob Allman Newberry Co.--Isham Greenwood Orangeburg
Co.--John Dix, Abram Dannerly, H. Reilly Sumter Co.--W. W.
Ramsey, J. C. Wilson Williamsburg Co.--Fortune Giles, E. H.
Gourdin, Thomas Pressley

Relative to Hon. J. H. Rainey I would state that he was the only
Negro Congressman who presided over the U. S. House of
Representatives. That courtesy was extended to him by Speaker
James G. Blaine.

The following may be interesting in connection with Senator W. B.
Nash:

"It is not too much to say that the leading man of the
Republican party in the Senate is Beverly Nash, a man wholly
black. He is apparently consulted more and appealed to more,
in the business of the body, than any man in it. It is
admitted by his white opposition colleagues that he has more
native ability than half the white men in the State" _The
Prostrate State_--J. S. Pike.

"Beverley Nash of Columbia is probably the foremost Negro in
the State. He has made many speeches, which, homely in
manner, have, nevertheless, a subsoil of strong common
sense. He has been employed by the Military authorities from
time to time in aiding, by "moral suasion" to preserve
peace; is about 45 years of age; was formerly a hotel
servant in Columbia where he still resides. Some months ago,
on the same platform with Gen. Wade Hampton and other
distinguished citizens he made a speech to the colored
people recommending qualified suffrage; but subsequently was
obliged by high-pressure to recant, and to set himself right
has since become intensely radical. His idea now is that the
Negro is entitled to everything the white man enjoys--an
opinion which has been encouraged by his appointment as
magistrate, General Sickles having conferred the office upon
him to punish the citizens of Columbia for an assault made
by two intoxicated young men on a itinerant radical speaker
and his traveling companion while in that town"

"Q" in _New York Times_--March 23, 1868.

The above would indicate that Senator W. Beverly Nash was the
first Negro to exercise judicial power in the United States.

Concerning Associate Justice J. J. Wright I would add that he
graduated from the Lancaster, Pa., High School--studied law at
Montrose, Pa.,--admitted to the Bar in Susquehanna county, being
the first Negro to practice law in Pennsylvania--four years
before going to South Carolina.

Very respectfully,
HENRY A. WALLACE.

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 9, 1920.

_Dear Mr. Woodson:_

_The Journal of Negro History_ is among the most valuable
periodicals that it is my privilege to receive. I make it a rule
to read all the articles of a _purely historical_ nature.

Your recent effort to gather and print a list of the Negro
officeholders of the reconstructive period is highly commendable,
and should be aided by all persons possessing accurate or
approximate facts on the subjects. There were numerous such
holders of small offices, national, state, county and municipal,
in the Southern states in that period. As a boy, I knew two such
in the town and county in which I lived. Doubtless many other
persons of 50 years or less know of several.

Mr. John W. Cromwell's articles in the April number, "The
Aftermath of Nat Turner's Insurrection," is not only scholarly
and interesting but a very valuable contribution to history.

There is a vast amount of _fact_ reposing only in the memories of
elderly people now living that should be rescued and recorded
while they live, lest it is lost forever. Perhaps the record of
it will not be _history_ proper but only _annals_, or a record of
events. It is none the less important to secure it. It is of
minor importance whether it be written in polished literary form.
It will constitute source matter for the future historian. For
some time to come we shall be in less need of dissertations that
are philosophy of Negro history than of accurate records of
events--facts, facts, facts!

I have conversed with a number of elderly colored men and women
in this city who have a wonderful fund of recollection of
interesting and valuable historical data never in print. There
are such people everywhere. Some cannot write, others will not
write. If discriminating chroniclers are encouraged to write down
the stories of such people for publication in your Journal, the
result should be fruitful.

I congratulate you on the average excellence of the subjects
covered by the Journal and the scholarly editing thereof.

Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) R. C. EDMONSON.

DR. CARTER G. WOODSON,
Editor, _Journal of Negro History_.

SOME UNDISTINGUISHED NEGROES

FRED FOWLER

Fred Fowler was born about 1832 in Frederick County, Maryland. His first master, Michael Reel, had a farm and a flour mill about four miles from Frederick City. Reel owned sixteen slaves, among whom were Fred's mother and her eight children. Fred's father belonged to a man named Doyle, who had an adjoining farm. Doyle sold the father to a man named Fisher, who subsequently put up the first gas factory in Frederick.

On the death of Michael Reel, in 1847, his estate had to be divided. Some of the slaves were disposed of according to appraisement, others at auction. Fred, then about fifteen years old, was taken at the appraised value of $400 by a son of the deceased Reel. If auctioned off, he thought he might have brought somewhat more.

At this sale his mother and one child were bought for $500 by a man named Todd, who subsequently sold her to Dr. Shipley. Four children were purchased by men supposed to be traders, who presumably took them to Georgia, which, according to the sentiment of "Nellie Gray," was the slave's notion of some far-away place where the speculators found a market. No one of these four was ever seen or heard from after they were put on the train for Baltimore. The other children, two sisters, were taken away by a man named Roach, but that was all that was then known. The almost invariable rule in the inter-state slave-trade was that separation ended all communication with those left behind. In 1887--forty years after the sale--these sisters wrote a letter to a colored church in Frederick asking for information about the slaves that belonged to the Reel family. Someone in the church knew that Fred Fowler was living in Washington, D.C. The letter was forwarded to him and from it he learned that these sisters had been taken to Columbia, Tennessee and were still living. A meeting soon followed.

When Fred was twenty years old, young Reel, who was about to move to Springfield, Illinois, sold him privately for $1,000 to Dr. Willis who lived in New Market, Frederick County, Maryland. That was a high price for the time and place. Fowler was with Dr. Willis for three or four years as a farmhand. The Doctor was the physician for the notorious inter-state slave traders B. M. and W. L. Campbell. They had a large jail in Baltimore for their purchases in Maryland. In New Orleans they had another, where most of their sales were made. The Doctor went to Baltimore once or twice a week to examine and prescribe for the Campbell slaves. In the farming season, when there was need of extra labor, he would bring some of them out to work for him.

Mrs. Salmon, a Quaker, told Fowler that Dr. Willis contemplated selling him the following winter, probably because some less valuable slave could do the work. All slaves dreaded being sold, for, if young and strong, it usually meant being "sold South." So in the spring of 1858 Fowler made up his mind to run away. He and another slave started one Saturday night and safely walked to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by the early morning.

Promptly on Monday Dr. Willis issued a handbill offering $200 reward for the recovery of his runaway. Fowler knew no details of this until perhaps thirty or forty years later, when a son of Dr. Willis gave him one of the handbills. It was shown about 1905 to the present writer who had it carefully typewritten as to the lines and capitalization, but the size of the letters could not be reproduced. The original was duly returned to Fowler, but unfortunately he subsequently lost or mislaid it. It was tiny for a handbill--only about six inches long and four inches wide and was worded and lined thus:--

"$200 REWARD!

Ranaway from the subscriber, living at New Market, Frederick Co.,
Md., ON SATURDAY NIGHT, THE 8TH. OF MAY inst., a Negro Man, named
FRED FOWLER, aged about 26 years, five feet ten or eleven inches
high, stout made, dark copper color, round full eye, upper teeth
full and even, has a down look when spoken to, lisps slightly in
his speech, and has small hands; no other marks recollected. Had
on when he left, dark pants and coat and light-made shoes.

The above reward will be given for the arrest of said Negro, if
taken out of the State of Maryland, and his delivery to the
subscriber; or one hundred dollars, if taken in the State, and
secured in jail.

Dr. W. L. Willis.
New Market, Md., May 10, 1858."

The same wording long appeared as an advertisement in the Baltimore _Sun_. Both were all in vain.

A free Negro, associated with the underground railroad in Pennsylvania and working as a mason for a company of men who built large barns in Maryland, had told Fowler to report in Gettysburg to a man by the name of Mathers. The runaways did so and were concealed until the next night. They then walked to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There they remained that day. During the night they went on to Harrisburg. Some Abolitionists took charge of them and put them on a farm about eight miles from town. In August, they proceeded to Bradford, Canada West. There Fowler found an aunt who had run away with a party of twelve, many years before. He worked on a farm until May, 1862, when he went to the American Hotel in Lockport, New York to become a waiter. In August, 1863 he left for Hartford, Connecticut, to enlist in the 29th Regiment of Connecticut Colored Volunteers. The regiment was turned over to the Government in March, 1864, and was then taken by boat from Hartford to Annapolis Maryland, and there transhipped to Beaufort, South Carolina.

At Beaufort they had a few little skirmishes. Once they were about surrounded by the Confederates for five days, and were without food a part of the time. The Confederates were between Beaufort and Hilton Head, but did not know to what disadvantage they had the colored regiment.

In the summer of 1864 the regiment was moved to Bermuda Hundred, Virginia. On the day of landing they took part in an engagement at Malvern Hill. They were in several skirmishes and were finally attacked at Strawberry Plains. From there they were taken to the Weldon railway, for the purpose of cutting off the southern connection with Richmond. They fought there three days and tore up the track. To make the rails useless they were heated red-hot and twisted around trees. Later, the regiment was taken back to the neighborhood of Fort Harrison, on which they made an attack. After a few weeks they took the Fort and remained there all winter and until a few days before the fall of Richmond.