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
These facts were more fully authenticated by Major Delany while
on his famous exploring tour, of which we will speak hereafter.
While he travelled from Golah to Central Africa, through the Niger
valley regions, he recognized his opportunity, and consulted, among
others, as he travelled, that learned native author, Agi, known to
fame as the Rev. Samuel Crowther, D. D., created by the Church of
England Bishop of Niger, the degree of Doctor of Divinity having been
conferred by the University of Oxford. From all information obtained,
it is satisfactorily proved, that, his grandmother having died about
forty-three years ago, at the advanced age of one hundred and seven
years, as before stated, then his grandfather’s age, being the same as
hers, would correspond with that period, which is about one hundred and
fifty years, since the custom of an heir to royalty taking the name
of a native deity was recognized; and, further, that his grandfather
was heir to the kingdom which was then the most powerful of Central
Africa, but lost his royal inheritance by the still prevailing custom
of slavery and expatriation as a result of subjugation.
Some day, then, perhaps before the “star of empire westward takes its
way,” “the petty chiefdoms and principalities south of the Sahara” may
yet be “gathered into one grand consolidated kingdom” by some negro’s
intellect and might.
To possess himself of the early origin of his family was in keeping
with a mind so richly endowed, and soaring always far beyond the
confines which the prejudices of this country apportion him. Not that
he expected it to elevate him in America, knowing that custom and
education are alike averse to this--scarcely allowing him to declare
with freedom from derision the immortal sentence, “_I am a man_,” and
claiming rights legitimately belonging to its estate. For by observing
his history, it may yet prove that the sequel is but the goal of his
earliest determination, and not of recent conception, but nursed from
his high-minded Mandingo-Golah mother, and heard in the chants of a
Mandingo grandmother, depicted with all the gorgeous imagery of the
tropics, as the story of their lost and _regal_ inheritance. Thus
becoming imbued with its spirit, it shaped itself in the dreams of his
childhood, it entwined about the studies and pursuits of his youth,
and, through that remarkable perseverance which characterizes him, it
was realized in the full vigor of manhood to trace satisfactorily his
ancestors’ history on the soil of its origin.
Thus Africa and her past and future glory became entwined around every
fibre of his being; and to the work of replacing her among the powers
of the earth, and exalting her scattered descendants on this continent,
he has devoted himself wholly, with an earnestness to which the
personal sacrifices made by him through life bear witness.
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