Life and public services of Martin R. Delany: Sub-Assistant Commissioner Bureau Relief of Refugees, Freedmen, and of Abandoned Lands, and late Major 104th U.S. Colored TroopsRollin, Frank A.
History
Life and public services of Martin R. Delany: Sub-Assistant Commissioner Bureau Relief of Refugees, Freedmen, and of Abandoned Lands, and late Major 104th U.S. Colored Troops
Rollin, Frank A.
African Americans -- Biography; Delany, Martin Robison, 1812-1885; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Participation, African American; United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands
Much good was done through the influence of that little sheet, and it
is indisputable that to its influence originated the Avery Fund. Once,
on the subject of female education, through the columns of his paper,
he argued that “men were never raised in social position above the
level of women; therefore men could not be elevated without woman’s
elevation; further, that among the nations of the world where women
were kept in ignorance, great philosophers or statesmen failed to
be produced, as a general rule. And under the then existing state of
female education among the Americans of African descent, the hope of
seeing them equal with the more favored class of citizens would be
without proper basis.”
After reading his editorial on the social requirements of the colored
people, it is said that the Rev. Charles Avery determined to do
something tangible for them. The reverend gentleman, after consulting
some of the most prominent colored men, among whom was the Rev. John
Peck, established a school for males and females. This was the first
step towards that which is now known as Avery’s College, at the head
of which was placed, as senior professor, Martin A. Freeman, M. A.
(now professor of mathematics in the University of Liberia). He was
succeeded by George B. Vashon, M. A., a most accomplished scholar. The
Rev. Mr. Avery did not stop in the work so well begun. He died in 1858,
bequeathing in his will “one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the
education and elevation of the free colored people of the United States
and Canada, one hundred and fifty thousand for the enlightenment and
civilization of the African race on the continent of Africa,” all in
trust to the American Missionary Association of New York city; making
in all a grand bequest of three hundred thousand dollars, exclusive of
the college. We do not claim more than is evident--that the Mystery
deserves the credit of having brought these wants before the public,
and one humanitarian responded to the call most liberally.
While he was editor, on the Centennial Anniversary of Benjamin
Franklin’s birthday, he received from the committee an invitation,
among the editorial corps, to attend an entertainment given by the
Pittsburg Typographical Society at the Exchange Hotel. At the head of
this, as president of the occasion, was an honorable ex-commissioner to
Europe under President Tyler, and the position of vice-president was
filled by a judge of the County Court. This mark of courtesy to him,
in the days when Slavery held her carnival over the land, will serve
to indicate the standing of his paper and the triumph of genius over
brutal prejudice.
While editor of the Mystery, he was involved in a suit, the occasion
of which will serve the double purpose of showing the estimate placed
upon the merit of his paper, and the respect in which the ability and
character of the man were held in Pittsburg.
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