Chapter IV: Conclusion (2)

"Dere's no rain to wet you,
O, yes, I want to go home.
Dere's no sun to burn you,
O, yes, I want to go home.
O, push along believers,
O, yes, I want to go home.
Dere's no hard trials,
O, yes, I want to go home.
Dere's no whips a crackin'
O, yes, I want to go home."[86]

"Oh de hebben is shinin', shinin',
O Lord, de hebben is shinin' full ob love.
Oh, Fare-you-well, friends,
I'm gwine to tell you all,
Gwine to leave you all a-mine eyes to close;
De hebben is shinin' full ob love."[87]

"How sweet a Sabbath thus to spend,
In hope of one that ne'er shall end."[88]

"Yes my mother's goin' to heaven to outshin the sun,
An it's way beyon' the moon."[89]

"Po' man goin' to heaven,
Rich man goin' to hell,
For Po' man got his starry crown,
Rich man got his wealth."[90]

"Well there are sinners here and sinners there,
An' there are sinners everywhere,
But I thank God that God declare,
That there ain't no sinners in heaven."[91]

"O join on, join my Lord,
Join de heaven wid the angels;
O join on, join my Lord,
Join de heaven wid de angels."[92]

"I'm gwin to keep a climbin' high
Till I meet dem angels in de sky.
Dem pooty angels I shall see--
Why doan de debbil let a me be?
O when I git to heaven goin sit an' tell,
Three archangels gwin er ring dem bells
Two white angels come a walkin' down,
Long white robes an' starry crown.
What's dat yonder, dat I see?
Big tall angels comin' after me."[93]

The following spirituals emphasize what the slave felt that he would do in heaven.

"Heaven, heaven,
Everybody talkin' bout heaven an' goin' there
Heaven, heaven,
Goin' to shine all 'round God's heaven."[94]

"Oh, I wish I was there,
To hear my Jesus' orders,
Oh, how I wish I was there, Lord,
To wear my starry crown."[95]

"A golden band all 'round my waist,
An' de palms of victory in-a my hand,
An' de golden slippers on to my feet,
Gwine to walk up and down o' dem golden street.
Oh, wait till I put on my robe.
An' a golden crown-a placed on-a my head,
An' my long white robe a-com a dazzlin' down,
Now wait till I get on my gospel shoes,
Gwine to walk about de heaven an' a-carry de news,
Oh, wait till I put on my robe."[96]

"You can hinder me here but you can't hinder me dere
For de Lord in Heaven gwin' hear my prayer.
De evening's great but my Cap'n is strong,
U'm fightin' fer de city an' de time ain't long."[97]

"Well, my mother's goin' to heaven,
She's goin' to outshine the sun, O Lord,
Well, my mother's goin' to heaven,
She's going to outshine the sun, O Lord,
Yes, my mother's goin' to heaven to outshine the sun,
An' its way beyon' the moon.
The crown that my Jesus give me,
Goin' outshine the sun,
You got a home in the promise lan',
Goin' outshine the sun,
Goin' to put on my crown in glory,
An' outshine the sun, O Lord.
'Way beyon' de moon."[98]

"Gwine hab happy meetin',
Gwine shout in hebben,
Gwine shout an' nebber tire,
O slap yo' han's chilluns,
I feels de spirit movin',
O now I'm gittin' happy."[99]

"Gwine to march a-way in de gold band,
In de army bye-and-bye;
Gwine to march a-way in de gold band,
In de army by-and-bye.
Sinner, what you gwine to do dat day?
Sinner, what you gwine to do dat day?
When de fire's a-rolling behind you,
In de army bye-and-bye.
Sister Mary gwine to hand down the robe,
In the army bye-and-bye;
Gwine to hand down the robe and the gold band,
In the army, bye-and-bye."[100]

"You got a robe, I got a robe,
All God's children got a robe,
Goin' try on my robe an' if it fits me,
Goin' to wear it all round God's heaven."[101]

"We'll walk up an' down dem golden streets,
We'll walk about Zion.
Gwine sit in de kingdom,
I really do believe, where sabbath have no end.
Look way in de heaven--hope I'll jine de band,--
Sittin' in de kingdom.
I done been to heaven an' I done been tried.
Dere's a long white robe in de heaven for me,
Dere's a golden crown, golden harp, starry crown, silver slippers,
In de heaven for me I know."[102]

"I want to go to heaven when I die,
To shout salvation as I fly.
You say yer aiming fer de skies,
Why don't yer quit yer tellin' lies.
I hope I git dere bye-an' bye,
To jine de number in de sky.
When I git to heaven gwine to ease, ease,
Me an' my God goin' do as we please,
Sittin' down side o' de holy Lamb.
When I git to heaven goin' set right down,
Gwiner ask my Lord fer starry crown.
Now wait till I gits my gospel shoes,
Gwin-er walk 'bout heaven an' carry de news."[103]

A boy of ten, being sold from his mother, said,

"I'm gwine to sit down at the welcome table,
Den my little soul's gwine to shine.
I'm gwine to feast off milk and honey,
Den my little soul's gwine to shine.
I'm gwine to tell God how-a you sarved me,
Den my little soul's gwine to shine."[104]

The place that heaven must have had in the attitude of the slave we shall now consider, by an examination of the slave's mental world. To do so we must feel the hand of slavery holding him in subjection to the will of the master. The inner voices that called the black slave at his task, clothed in simple garb, and living on homely fare, we also must hear speaking to us, and invoking the same response. Then we shall be able to appreciate the religious significance of the situations.

The bell upon the white pole in the great-house yard summons the slaves to their daily tasks in the fields. Quickly, the slave-mother, rising from the cabin-floor, and taking her babe upon her back, sets out to join the crowd. With brawny arms around his mother's neck, the young child glares at the red rising of the sun, until he is left at the end of the row. Then as mother's hoe cuts grass from the tender corn, he hears her foot-steps blend with those of the plowman, her voice of love mingle with the mumble of slaves, and the songs of birds, that play in the warm sunlight of the morning. With longing eyes the child watches her who, last night, when her work was done, fed him from her breast, as she sat upon the cabin-floor, murmuring of a better world, where child and mother would know no weary sun. Sitting upon the green grass that fringes the end of the long rows, he watches her toiling, disappearing into the distance.

Taken from his mother at the age of seven, the child is transferred to the great-house yard, where the harsh voices of slave-children, conscious of their lot, fill the air. Yesterday he sat in the cabin-door, upon grandmother's knee, listening to the grinding of the big mill down by the pond, and watching the squirrels drop acorns from the old oak tree. Last night he opened the door for father, who, worn from being away so long, brought few potatoes and corn. Then there was a great time. Father, in overalls, grandmother with a "slat-bonnet" upon her gray head, mother with a "grass-sack" around her waist, all knelt upon their knees in prayer to God above, father leading mournfully. "Get up in heaven by-and-by," he said, until all were filled with joy. How different things are today. The old mill by the pond is now seen lifting its white, bird-like wings into heaven, where mother, father and grandmother may be. They may be up there in the sunlight, singing and shouting with the angels.

The dawn of another day comes in the life of the slave. Now all must help kill the "fatted hogs." The knives have been sharpened, the scaffolds built, the ashes brought up from the ash-heap. The slaves are gathered around the fire, warming themselves and waiting for the water in the big black pots to boil. They hear the shrill voice of the cock and the noise of the mules heralding the coming of day, when the presence of old master will stop their friendly discussions. While fading stars twinkle in the pines that cast ghost-like shadows upon the white-washed cabins, the slaves talk of their religious experiences, how they "overcame the devil in the wilderness" through the help of Christ. The stars were shining thus a year ago, when Aunt Lucinda died. She had been a good woman, never receiving a flogging. She used to make cakes for the neighbors and tell them when to plant their crops. When she died a bright star, like an angel, lit upon the cabin-roof, to take her soul away. This morning she is in heaven, wearing golden slippers, long, white robe, and starry crown, about which she used to sing in the camp-meetings.

The big hogs killed and put into the "smoke-house" and the coming of night ending the slave's work, he is now allowed to attend the camp-meeting, in the log-house, down by the side of the river, that lies behind the big woods. In the leaves of the old red oak, that stands upon the shore and that is said to be the place of ghosts, he hears the noise of the wood owl, calling to him, as he takes his boat and glides silently away amid the solemn shadows that lie upon the deep, moon-lit waters. Unconsciously he sings the words of his comrades as they marched last night to the grave-yard:

"I know moon-rise;
I know star-rise;
Lay dis body down
I march to the grave-yard,
I march through the grave-yard
Lay dis body down
I lay in de grave-yard and stretch out my arms,
Lay, dis body down."

At the meeting-house, not only does he sing and shout, but each slave for some sinner-friend or relative who has been sold away, sincerely asks the prayers of the other. There parent prays for child and child for parent. "Sister Martha," dressed in gingham, is there, that gray-haired woman, who goes each day to the river, hoping that some message may come floating from her "Tom." She is there to weep and to rejoice and to talk with "Brother Robert" about the cross of Christ. The slaves, singing and shouting, tearfully kiss each other's cheek, shake hands, and part. They were there to worship and not to play.

Inevitable then is the conclusion that the religion of the American slaves was decidedly different from the prevailing religion found among the peoples of Africa. We saw that fetishism was the prevailing religion found in Africa; that the few American slaves who maintained any of their African religious heritage were considered grossly superstitious by the American slaves generally; that the slave-groups brought to America from Africa were so broken up and scattered that the old group-habits did not continue to exist. We found on the other hand that the slaves of America, who were in contact with Christianity, became very enthusiastic over the Christian religion; that they developed a sorrow for this world and a joyous longing for heaven, as they showed by their shouts and songs. This emphasis upon a place of rest in heaven, we conclude, helped the American slave adjust himself to his particular environment. As it helped him to live, so it helped him also to die.

G. R. WILSON.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This dissertation was submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Literature of the University of Chicago in candidacy for the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, March, 1921, by Gold Refined Wilson.

[2] Working toward this end, I have examined a vast amount of material on slavery, much of which is controversial, having been written by men who favored slaves, or by abolitionists and slaves who were able to see only one side of the question discussed. Such literature, being biased, so distorts the truth that it is extremely difficult to discover what is social fact. As sources, however, I have used books and magazine-articles, written from a more scientific point of view. There are a few representative ones. Kingsley's _West African Studies_, which, although expressing the attitude of the author, gives us a comprehensive picture of what the life in Africa is. Washington, in the _Story of the Negro_, in a simple, sincere manner, sets forth the struggles of the Negro in his contact with a higher civilization. Woodson's _Education of the Negro prior to 1861_ shows to what extent effort was made by the whites to bring the slaves into contact with the white civilization. _The Religious Development of the Negro in Virginia_, by Earnest, shows how the church of the Negro slave, beginning in the church of the whites, grew to be an independent organization. Fragmentary evidence in the histories of the religious denominations shows the same progressive development. A few of the stories of fugitive slaves, though written for other purposes, still speak very clearly of how dependent the slave was upon his cultural surroundings for his religious ideas. The stories of the lives of Nat Turner, the Virginia slave insurrectionist, and of _Harriet, the Moses of Her People_, are filled with apocalyptic imagery. Concerning the phenomena of cultural contacts, the most scholarly piece of work yet produced is that by Prof. Park, which shows the tendency of one civilization to accommodate itself to another, by assimilation of concepts, expressed in language and custom. For a study of the religion of the slave, however, the best of all the sources is that spontaneous, naive body of literature consisting of the slave-songs, sometimes called "spirituals," which were sung by individuals upon various occasions, and by shouting groups of religious enthusiasts. Krehbiel, who set many of these primitive verses to printed scales, made of them a psychological interpretation that has given the slave-mood. Colonel T. W. Higginson, the commander of a "black regiment" in South Carolina, during the Civil War, an eyewitness of many of the slave religious meetings, gives the circumstances under which a number of the "spirituals" arose. But Odum, in Volume III of the _Journal of Religious Psychology and Education_, makes of all the classes of slave-songs a psychological interpretation that is unsurpassed. The value of these collections is the common longing found therein, a burning enthusiasm to live in heaven.

[3] In the preparation of this dissertation the following works were used: R. H. Nassau, _Fetichism in West Africa_, 1904; Mary H. Kingsley, _West African Studies_ (London, 1901); J. B. Earnest, _The Religious Development of the Negro in Virginia_ (Charlottesville, Va., 1914); H. M. Henry, _Slavery in South Carolina_ (Emory, Va., 1914); Ivan E. McDougle, _Slavery in Kentucky, 1792-1865_ (Reprinted from THE JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY, vol. III, No. 3, July, 1918); H. A. Trexler, _Slavery in Missouri, 1804-1865, Being a Dissertation in Johns Hopkins University Studies_ (Baltimore, 1914); J. C. Ballagh, _Slavery in Virginia, Johns Hopkins University Studies, vol. XXIX, 1902_ (Baltimore); J. H. Russell, _Free Negro in Virginia, 1619-1865, Johns Hopkins University Studies, Series 31, No. 3_ (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1913); J. R. Brackett, _Negro in Maryland_ (Baltimore, 1889); G. H. Moore, _Slavery in Massachusetts_ (New York, 1866); R. Q. Mallard, _Plantation Life before Emancipation_ (Richmond, Virginia, 1892); Frances Anne Kemble, _Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-9_ (New York, 1863); C. G. Woodson, _The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861_ (New York, 1915); _The Journal of Negro History_, edited by C. G. Woodson, vols. I-IV, 1916-1919 (The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc., Washington, D. C.); Alcee Fortier, _History of Louisiana_, 4 vols. (New York, 1904); Code Noir, I (Published 1724); M. W. Jernegan, _Slavery and Conversion in the American Colonies_ (Reprinted from _The American Historical Review_, vol. XXI, No. 3, April, 1916); G. M. West, _Status of the Negro in Virginia during the Colonial Period_ (New York); L. A. Chamerorzow, _Slave Life in Georgia; Narrative of John Brown_ (London, 1865); B. T. Washington, _Story of the Negro_, 2 vols. (New York, 1909); _Baptist Annual Register_; A. N. Waterman, _A Century of Caste_ (Chicago, 1901); Geo. Thompson, _Prison Life and Reflections_, 3d Edition (Hartford, 1849); Jacobs, _Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl_ (Boston, 1861); Sarah H. Bradford, _Harriet, The Moses of Her People_ (New York, 1861); Thos. W. Higginson, _Life of a Black Regiment_ (Boston, 1870); Jas. B. Avirett, _The Old Plantation, Great House and Cabin before the War, 1817-65_ (New York, Chicago, London, 1901); Jno. S. Abbott, _South and North_ (New York, 1860). Lucius P. Little, _Ben Harding, His Times and Contemporaries_ (Louisville, 1867); _De Bow's Commercial Review_ (New Orleans, 1847); _Life of Josiah Henson_ (Boston, 1849); _Baptist Home Missions in America_ (New York, 1883); _Presbyterian Magazine_, I (Philadelphia, 1851); _Methodist Magazine_, X (New York, 1827); W. L. Grissom, _History of Methodism in North Carolina, 1772-1805_, vol. I; _Sermons by John Wesley_, 3d Edition, vols. I-II (New York); B. F. Riley, _History of Baptists in Southern States East of Mississippi_ (Philadelphia, 1888); _John Rankin, 1793-1886, Letters on Slavery_ (Boston, 1833); W. G. Hawkins, _Lunsford Lane_ (Boston, 1863); Frederick Douglass, _My Bondage and Freedom_ (New York, 1857); K. E. R. Pickard, _The Kidnapped and the Ransomed, Recollections of Peter Still and His Wife Vina_, 3d Ed. (Syracuse, 1865); _Fifty Years in Chains, Life of an American Slave_ (New York); H. E. Krehbiel, _Afro-American Folk-Songs_, R. E. Park, _Education, Conflicts, and Fusions, American Sociological Society_, vol. XIII (Sept. 3, 1918); _Journal of American Folk-Lore_, vol. XIV (1901), pp. 1-11, vol. XXVII (1914), pp. 241-5, vol. XXIII, p. 435, vol. XXIV, p. 255; _Songs by Thos. P. Fennes_; W. F. Allen, _Slave Songs of the United States_ (New York, 1867); _Twenty-two Years Work of Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute_ (Hampton, 1893); T. P. Fenner, _Hampton and its Students by Two of its Teachers, with 50 Cabin and Plantation Songs_ (New York, 1875); _American Journal of Religious Psychology and Education_, vol. III, pp. 265-365; _Negro Year-Book_; E. W. Pearson, _Letters from Port Royal_ (1916); C. H. Jones, _Instruction of Negro Slave_ (1842).

[4] Tylor's _Anthropology_.

[5] Earnest, p. 28.

[6] _Fifty Years in Chains_, p. 14.

[7] Jernegan, pp. 506-7.

[8] _Education, Conflicts, and Fusion_, p. 47.

[9] Washington, _Story of the Negro_, pp. 260-261.

[10] Earnest, p. 19.

[11] Woodson, _Education of Negro Prior to 1861_, p. 23.

[12] Earnest, p. 60.

[13] Woodson, _Education of Negro Prior to 1861_, p. 21.

[14] Woodson, _Education of Negro Prior to 1861_, p. 26.

[15] _Ibid._, p. 29.

[16] Earnest, _Religious Development_, p. 17.

[17] _Ibid._, p. 45.

[18] _Ibid._, p. 66.

[19] Ballagh, p. 114.

[20] In 1841, there were 500,000 slaves who were church members, or 1/5 of total number of slaves. 2,000,000 were regular attendants. J. C. Ballagh, p. 114.

[21] _Story of the Negro_, p. 257.

[22] _Story of the Negro_, p. 268; Quoted from Ballagh.

[23] Washington, _Story of Negro_, p. 266.

[24] Quite different from the early experiences of Bryan and Samson, who made adversity serve them, the beginning of Jasper's Christian career was greatly aided by his master, a man with a similar conversion and a similar faith in Christ. Using the Bible as the norma of all truth, in his attack upon current scientific knowledge, Jasper impressed all men by his sincere conviction and devout Christian life. A contemporary said of him: "Jasper made an impression upon his generation, because he was sincerely and deeply in earnest in all that he said. No man could talk with him in private, or listen to him from the pulpit, without being thoroughly convinced of that fact.... He took the Bible in its literal significance; he accepted it as the inspired Word of God; he trusted it with all his heart and soul and mind; he believed nothing that was in conflict with the teachings of the Bible."--See Washington's _Story of the Negro_, p. 264.

[25] Washington, _Story of the Negro_, pp. 260-1.

[26] _Ibid._, pp. 254-5.

[27] _Ibid._, pp. 255-6.

[28] Earnest, p. 72.

[29] _Ben Harding, His Times and Contemporaries_, p. 544.

[30] Earnest, p. 73.

[31] Jacobs, _Life of a Slave-Girl_, p. 112.

[32] Coffin, p. 60.

[33] Higginson, p. 26.

[34] Henson, _Life of Josiah Henson_, p. 12.

[35] Earnest, p. 42.

[36] _Plantation Life before Emancipation_, p. 164.

[37] _Life of John Thompson_, p. 19. See _Methodists in N. C._, p. 238.

[38] Earnest, _Religious Development_, p. 54.

[39] _Life of Douglass_, p. 82.

[40] _Presbyterian Magazine_: 1831, p. 27; See vol. 6, pp. 8-9; Woodson, _Education of Negro Prior to 1861_, p. 49; _Sermons of Wesley and Whitefield_.

[41] _Journal of Negro History_, vol. I, p. 70.

[42] _Twenty-two Years Work at Hampton._

[43] _Journal of Religious Psychology and Education_, vol. 3, pp. 290-1.

[44] Higginson, _Life of a Black Regiment_, p. 133.

[45] _Twenty-two Years at Hampton._

[46] _Hampton and its Students_, p. 182.

[47] Henry, p. 141.

[48] _Life of Black Regiment_, by Higginson, pp. 51-2.

[49] _Ibid._, pp. 35, 198.

[50] My position is that the shout was a natural and spontaneous creation of group-phenomena. It differed from the whites' behavior in ceremonial emphasis. Neither the shout nor the antiphonal song was brought from Africa. The real religious significance of both, however, is not in external behavior, but in content.

[51] _Am. J. Rel. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 287.

[52] _Story of the Negro_, p. 260.

[53] Fenner, _Hampton and its Students_, p. 223.

[54] _Am. J. Rel. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 303.

[55] _Ibid._, 340.

[56] _Ibid._, 3: 321.

[57] Fenner, _Hampton and its Students_, p. 190.

[58] Higginson, _Black Regiment of South Carolina_, 200-1.

[59] _Am. J. Rel. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 351.

[60] Krehbiel, p. 75.

[61] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 304.

[62] _Ibid._, 320.

[63] Allen, 30-1.

[64] Allen, _Slave Songs_, 113, p. 94.

[65] _Ibid._, 112, p. 93.

[66] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 304.

[67] Allen, _Slave Songs_, 124, p. 101.

[68] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 288.

[69] Jacobs, p. 109.

[70] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 309.

[71] Allen, _Slave Songs_, 120, p. 98.

[72] _Ibid._, 107, p. 86.

[73] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 365.

[74] Allen, _Slave Songs_, 80, p. 60.

[75] Allen, _Slave Songs_, 108, p. 87.

[76] _Plantation Life Before Emancipation_, p. 168.

[77] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 331.

[78] Atlantic Monthly, 19: 687.

[79] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 317.

[80] Fenner, _Hampton and its Students_, p. 215.

[81] Fenner, _Hampton and Its Students_, p. 188.

[82] Allen, _Slave Songs_, p. 73.

[83] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 334.

[84] Krehbiel, p. 99.

[85] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 362.

[86] Atlantic Monthly, XIX, 687.

[87] Fenner, _Hampton and Its Students_, p. 219.

[88] _Am. J. Rel. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 279.

[89] _Ibid._, 337.

[90] _Am. J. Rel. Psy. and Ed._, 336.

[91] _Ibid._, 328.

[92] _Ibid._, 332.

[93] _Ibid._, 298.

[94] _Ibid._, 328.

[95] _Life before Emancipation_, p. 163.

[96] _Hampton and its Students_, p. 187.

[97] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 323.

[98] _Ibid._, 337.

[99] _Ibid._, 299.

[100] Allen, _Slave Songs_, Song 103, p. 83.

[101] _Am. J. Relig. Psy. and Ed._, 3: 328.

[102] _Ibid._, 294.

[103] _Ibid._, 293.

[104] _Hampton and its Students_, p. 173.

PRUDENCE CRANDALL

Prior to the Civil War, education for the American of color, was for the most part surreptitiously obtained. There were, however, a few fearless men and women of the white race, who, endowed with a magnanimous spirit and indomitable will, rose above the sordid plane of self-advancement and comfort, brooked the tide of social ostracism and censure to a realm of true altruism in behalf of the circumstantially weak and defenseless race.

Many of these noted benefactors belonged to that sect known in American history as Friends. True to their noble heritage, they faced the facts of social crises with intrepidity and strong convictions. They acted with unerring judgment and penetrating vision upon those principles sacred to the life and happiness of all mankind. In the vanguard of this honorable group, of martyrs to the cause of justice, stands an American school teacher, born of Quaker parentage, at Hopkinton, Rhode Island, September 3, 1803--Prudence Crandall. The noble purpose and sympathetic nature of this great teacher are clearly demonstrated in this extract from a letter addressed to William Lloyd Garrison, January 18th, 1833:[1]

"Now I will tell you why I write you, and the object is this:
I wish to know your opinion respecting changing white scholars
for colored ones. I have been for some months past determined
if possible during the remaining part of my life to benefit the
people of color. I do not dare tell any one of my neighbors
anything about the contemplated change in my school and I beg of
you, sir, that you will not expose it to any one; for if it was
known, I have no reason to expect but it would ruin my present
school. Will you be so kind as to write by the next mail and give
me your opinion on the subject.

"Yours, with greatest respect,
"PRUDENCE CRANDALL."[2]

This letter shows clearly that Prudence Crandall foresaw that any undertaking of an educational nature in behalf of Negroes would meet with opposition, require personal sacrifices, and demand unfaltering courage and patience.

That she was willing to undergo these tests was proved when a young Negro girl applied for admission to the school which she was then conducting for white girls only. This ambitious pupil of color was Sarah Harris, seventeen years old, the daughter of a respectable man who owned a small farm near the village of Canterbury. Sarah had attended the same district school in which the majority of Prudence Crandall's students had received their elementary training and had proved herself a bright scholar and a pious young lady. So deeply impressed was the teacher with this girl's plea and her earnest desire to get a broader education to teach other girls of color, that Prudence Crandall admitted Sarah to her school.

The students themselves offered no opposition nor manifested any objection to her presence. Parents, however, began to complain and informed Prudence Crandall that her school would not be supported if she kept the Negro girl as a student. To this threat Prudence Crandall replied: "It might sink then for I should not turn her out." Soon the white girls began to leave the school, but the philanthropic teacher was determined to adhere to the principles of democratic education. She finally gave up the teaching of white girls entirely and brought a number of Negro children into her school, then situated in the most aristocratic part of the town of Canterbury. "If the Canterbury people," said Ellen D. Larned, "had quietly accepted the situation and left them in peace the difficulty would soon have ended. Even if the children had remained they would have given them little annoyance. Twenty Indian lads were received into Plainfield Academy a few years later, and few outside of the village even heard of them."[3]

This step, however, aroused the most intense feeling of the town people and met with strong and immediate opposition. A committee of four of the chief men of the village, Adams, Frost, Fenner and Harris, visited Prudence Crandall and attempted to show her that such an undertaking was decidedly objectionable and seriously detrimental to the welfare of the whites of the community. One Esquire Frost intimated that Prudence Crandall's project fostered social equality and intermarriage of whites and blacks. To this insidious insinuation, she bluntly replied: "Moses had a black wife." To emphasize their decided opposition to this project, the people called a public meeting and drew up and adopted resolutions of a hostile nature. One of the leading politicians of that day, Andrew T. Judson, was so incensed at Miss Crandall's action that he denounced her in the most severe and scathing terms.

The Rev. Mr. May and Mr. Buffum, who were present on behalf of Miss Crandall, made several attempts to speak in her defense but were rudely and abruptly prohibited. Denied the privilege of espousing her cause in this meeting, Mr. May, upon adjournment, rose from his seat and addressed the people as they were leaving the hall: "Men of Canterbury, I have a word for you! Hear me!" A few turned to listen, and he pleaded with force and feeling the cause of the noble little teacher of Canterbury. He told them that Prudence Crandall was willing to move her school from its present situation, which was next door to the residence of Mr. Judson, her bitterest enemy, to some more retired part of the city.

May's arguments, however, were of no avail and only drew forth tirades of invective and abuse; for Mr. Judson responded: "Mr. May, we are not merely opposed to the establishment of that school in Canterbury; we mean there shall not be such a school set up anywhere in our state. The colored people can never rise from their menial condition in our country; they ought not to be permitted to rise here. They are an inferior race of beings, and never can or ought to be recognized as the equals of the whites. Africa is the place for them. I am in favor of the colonization scheme. Let the niggers and their descendants be sent back to their fatherland and there improve themselves as much as they can. I am a colonizationist. You and your friend Garrison have undertaken what you cannot accomplish. The condition of the colored population of our country can never be essentially improved on this continent. You are fanatical about them. You are violating the constitution of our Republic, which settled forever the status of the black men in this land. They belong to Africa. Let them be sent back there or kept as they are here. The sooner you abolitionists abandon your project the better for our country, for the niggers and yourselves."[4]

In answer to this outburst of feeling, typical of ignorance and prejudice, though it came from the lips of a prospective judge of the Supreme Court, Mr. May replied: "Mr. Judson, there never will be fewer colored people in this country than there are now. Of the vast majority of them, this is their native land as much as it is ours. It will be unjust, inhuman in us to drive them out, or to make them willing to go by our cruel treatment of them ... and the only question is whether we will recognize the rights which God gave them as men and encourage and assist them to become all he has made them capable of being, or whether we will continue wickedly to deny them the privileges we enjoy, condemn them to degradation, enslave and imbrute them; and so bring upon ourselves the condemnation of the Almighty, Impartial Father of all men and the terrible visitation of the God of the oppressed. I trust, sir, you well e're long come to see that we must accord to these men, their rights or incur justly the loss of our own. Education is one of the primal fundamental rights of all the children of men. Connecticut is the last place where this right should be denied."

These eloquent remarks truly portrayed the difference in the character of the two men. Encouraged by such noble characters as May and Garrison, Prudence Crandall was determined not to be deterred in her purpose by men like Judson. Her lofty ideals of service to humanity and to the humbler lot especially were evidenced in this extract from Garrison's letter to Isaac Knapp, April 11, 1833:

"She is a wonderful woman, as undaunted as if she had the whole
world on her side. She has opened her school and is resolved to
persevere. I wish brother Johnson to state this fact particularly
in the next _Liberator_ and urge all those who intend to send
their children thither, to do so without delay."[5]

Despite all vicissitudes, Miss Crandall opened her school for girls of color early in April, with an enrollment of fifteen or twenty students. These for the most part came from Philadelphia, New York, Providence, and Boston.

The townspeople, greatly incensed, resorted to every foul means possible to destroy the school. At first, they searched for some obsolete vagrancy law for the purpose of intimidating those who came from other cities to attend school. One Negro girl, Anna Eliza Hammond, seventeen years of age, from Providence, was arrested, but Samuel May and other residents of Brooklyn gave bonds for $10,000 and thus defeated this plan. Frustrated in their first efforts, the townspeople held an indignation meeting at which they expressed their sentiment in the following resolutions:

"Whereas, it hath been publicly announced that a school is to be
opened in this town, on the first Monday of April next, using
the language of the advertisement, 'for young ladies and little
misses of color,' or in other words for the people of color, the
obvious tendency of which would be to collect within the town
of Canterbury large numbers of persons from other States whose
characters and habits might be various and unknown to us, thereby
rendering insecure the persons, property, and reputations of our
citizens. Under such circumstances our silence might be construed
into an approbation of the project: Thereupon, Resolved That the
locality of a school for the people of color at any place within
the limits of this town, for the admission of persons of foreign
jurisdiction, meets with our unqualified disapprobation, and it
is to be understood, that the inhabitants of Canterbury protest
against it in the most earnest manner.

"Resolved, That a committee be now appointed to be composed of the
Civil Authority and Selectmen, who shall make known to the persons
contemplating the establishment of said school, the sentiments
and objections entertained by this meeting in reference to said
school--pointing out to her the injurious effects and incalculable
evils resulting from such an establishment within this town, and
persuade her to abandon the project."[6]

The people then influenced the Legislature to enact a disgraceful but well-named "Black Law,"[7] amid the ringing of church bells and great rejoicing. This act outlawed Miss Crandall's school. The people closed all shops and meeting houses to the teacher and her pupils. Stage drivers refused them transportation in the common carriers of the town. Physicians would not attend them. Miss Crandall's own family and friends were forbidden under penalty of heavy fines to visit her. The well near her house was filled with manure and water was denied her from other sources. The house itself was smeared with filth, assailed with rotten eggs, stormed with stones, and finally set afire.

Not only was Prudence Crandall herself assailed with threats of coming vengeance and ejection, but her father in the south part of the town was insulted and threatened. "When lawyers, courts and jurors are leagued against you," said one to him, "it will be easy to raise a mob and tear down your house." "Mr. Crandall, if you go to your daughter," they said, "you are to be fined $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second and double it every time; Mrs. Crandall, if you go there, you will be fined and your daughter Almira will be fined, and Mr. May and those gentlemen from Providence (Messrs. George and Henry Benson), if they come there, will be fined at the same rate. And your daughter, the one that established the school for colored females, will be taken up the same way as for stealing a horse or for burglary. Her property will not be taken but she will be put in jail, not having the liberty of the yard. There is no mercy to be shown about it!"[8]

Miss Crandall was arrested and cast into prison, where she spent the night in a cell previously occupied by a murderer. She was twice tried. The first trial was held before the county court on August 22, 1833. The attorneys for the prosecution were Jonathan A. Welch, Andrew T. Judson and Ichabod Bulkley, while those for the defense were Calvin Goddard, W. W. Ellsworth and Henry Strong. The latter were secured by Samuel May and paid by Arthur Tappan.

The counsel for the defense argued that the "Black Law" conflicted with that article of the Federal Constitution which granted to citizens of each State all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States. The counsel for the prosecution argued that people of color were not and could not ever be citizens of any State. The judge, Mr. Eaton, gave the decision that the law was constitutional and binding upon the people of that State. The jurors, however, could not agree and so the case went over to the October term. It was then tried before the Superior Court of Windham County and its constitutionality again pronounced by Judge Daggett, who expressed himself as follows: "It would be a perversion of terms and the well-known rule of construction to say that slaves, free blacks, or Indians were citizens within the meaning of that term as used in the constitution." The jurors thus influenced gave their verdict against the defendant. Prudence Crandall's counsel then appealed to the Court of Errors, where the decision was reversed, July 22, 1834, upon the ground of "insufficiency of the information," which omitted to allege that the school was opened without necessary license.[9]

While the decision of the Court of Errors was pending, Prudence Crandall and her pupils were the victims of other fiendish acts of the townspeople. Having failed in their attempt to burn down her school, a number of them, with heavy clubs and iron bars, crept stealthily upon her house at midnight on the 9th of September, and simultaneously smashed in the windows with such force and suddenness that all the occupants were terror stricken. Even Prudence Crandall, for the first time, trembled with fear. Realizing that she and her pupils would ever be the object of insult and injury, she decided, upon the advice of Mr. May and other friends, to give up the school and send her girls back to their homes. Samuel May said that when he stood before Prudence Crandall and her pupils and advised them to leave, the words blistered his lips and his bosom glowed with indignation. "I felt ashamed of Connecticut," said he, "ashamed of my state, ashamed of my country, ashamed of my color."

The burden of these terrible ordeals was somewhat alleviated by the fidelity of her friends, the love and faith of her pupils and the devotion of her sister, father and husband. Having recently married the Rev. Calvin Philleo, a Baptist clergyman of Ithaca, New York, Prudence Crandall upon solicitation left Windham County never to return again. Tis true she had but little opportunity to teach the young women of color, nevertheless through sacrifice and service she taught the people of Connecticut a lesson of philanthropy and sacrifice.

G. SMITH WORMLEY.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Garrison's _Garrison_, I, Chap. X, p. 315; B. C. Steiner's _History of Slavery in Connecticut_ (_Johns Hopkins University Studies_, XI, 415-422).

[2] May's _Antislavery Conflict_.

[3] _Johns Hopkins University, Studies in Historical and Political Science_, XI, p. 417. Larned's _Windham County_, p. 493.

[4] May's _Antislavery Conflict_, p. 47.

[5] Garrison's _Garrison_, I, p. 341.

[6] Larned's _Windham County, Connecticut_, II, 490-502.

[7] This law was:

Whereas, attempts have been made to establish literary institutions in this State, for the instruction of colored persons belonging to other States and counties, which would tend to the great increase of the colored population of the state, and thereby to the injury of the people: Therefore,