The Early Negro Convention Movement: The American Negro Academy, Occasional Papers No. 9Cromwell, John Wesley
History
The Early Negro Convention Movement: The American Negro Academy, Occasional Papers No. 9
Cromwell, John Wesley
African Americans -- Colonization; Antislavery movements -- United States
The roll of delegates, reveals the presence of many of the pioneers.
Hezekiah Grice did not attend--in fact he was never a delegate at any
subsequent convention, for two years later he emigrated to Hayti, where he
became a foremost contractor. Richard Allen had died, after having
completed a most remarkable career. Rev. James W. C. Pennington, who for
forty years bore a conspicuous place as a clergyman of sound scholarship,
was a new figure and thenceforth an active participant in the movement.
This convention aroused no little interest among the foremost friends of
the Negro and was visited and addressed by such men as Rev. S. S. Jocelyn
of New Haven, Benjamin Lundy and William Lloyd Garrison. In the "Life of
Arthur Tappan," written by his brother Lewis Tappan, we find the
following:
"A convention of people of color was held in Philadelphia in 1831 of
delegates from several States to consult upon the common interest. It was
numerously attended and the proceedings were conducted with much ability.
A resolution was adopted that it was expedient to establish a collegiate
school on the manual labor system. * * A committee appointed for the
purpose made an appeal to the benevolent. * * * New Haven was suggested as
a suitable place for its location * * * Arthur Tappan purchased several
acres of land in the southerly part of the city and made arrangements for
the erection of a suitable building and furnished it with needful supplies
in a way to do honor to the city and country * * * The people of New Haven
became violently agitated in opposition to the plan. The city was filled
with confusion. They seemed to fear that the city would be overrun with
Negroes from all parts of the world * * * A public meeting called by the
Mayor September 8, 1831, in spite of a manly protest by Roger S. Baldwin,
subsequently Governor of the State and U. S. Senator from Connecticut,
adopted the following:
"Resolved, by the Mayor, Aldermen, Common Council and freemen of the city
of New Haven, in city meeting assembled, that we will resist the
establishment of the proposed college in this place by every lawful
means."
The attempt at the founding of a college in Connecticut was abandoned. It
is hardly necessary to more than mention the Prudence Crandall incident
that disgraced the name of Connecticut at the same period.
What was a kind of National Executive Committee, and known as the
Convention Board, issued the calls for the convention from time to time.
When the next convention was held in 1832, there were eight States
represented with an attendance of thirty delegates, as follows: Maryland
had 3; Delaware, 5; New Jersey, 3; Pennsylvania, 9; New York, 5;
Connecticut, 2; Rhode Island, 1; Massachusetts, 2.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account