Henry Highland Garnet
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Henry Highland Garnet (December 23, 1815 - February 13, 1882), an African-American abolitionist and orator, was born a slave near New Market in Kent County, Maryland. He and his family escaped to Pennsylvania in 1824, before moving to New York, where from 1826 and 1833, Garnet attended the African Free School, and the Phoenix High School for Colored Youth. Two years later, in 1835, he started to attend the Noyes Academy in New Hampshire, but was driven away by an angry segregationist mob.
In 1839, after graduating from the Oneida Theological Institute in Whitesboro, Garnet moved to Troy, New York. He served as the pastor of the Liberty(Fifteenth) Street Presbyterian Church from 1864 until 1866, and during this time he became the first black minister to preach to the House of Representatives. He joined the American Anti-Slavery Society and frequently spoke at abolitionist conferences. One of his most famous speeches, "Call to Rebellion," was delivered August, 1843 to the National Negro Convention in Buffalo, New York.
In addition, by 1849 Garnet began to support emigration to Liberia. He was appointed president of Avery College in Pennsylvania, and became minister to Liberia in 1881, but he died two months later.
Henry Highland Garnet was a black minister who was for total abolition and black separation from the United States. Henry Highland Garnet was born in New Market Maryland as a slave, in 1815. His grandfather was an African warrior prince, captured in combat, which might have been the source of Garnet's fiery spirit. Garnet’s family had permission to go to a funeral, but instead of going they escaped over the state line into Pennsylvania. He got some education in Pennsylvania before he moved with his family to New York City at the age of ten. Garnet first attended the African Free School in 1826, where he became friends with future abolitionists. With them, he established the Garrison Literary and Benevolent Association, but had to move the club because of racist feelings. Throughout his childhood Garnet was happy, which would change in his later years. He spent two years at sea, as a cabin boy, cook, and steward. When he returned, he discovered that his family had split up due to threats of slave catchers. At age fourteen, he started working on a farm on Long Island, where the farmer's son tutored him. The next year he injured his knee playing sports. It never recovered and his whole leg was amputated in 1840. Near that time his family rejoined in New York, and his schooling continued. Around 1834, Garnet became interested in pursuing a career in the ministry. Five years later, he graduated from Oneida Theological Institute in Whitesboro New York. The remarkable thing was that for an African American, after losing some of his years in slavery, got fourteen years of school, which was a lot for a white, let alone black, man. The next year, Garnet married Julia Ward Williams, four years his elder. Out of his three children, one died in childhood, and one has been lost to history. After experiencing the same kindness as a child, he adopted a fugitive slave girl. In 1842, Garnet became pastor of the Liberty Street Presbyterian church, a position he would hold for six years. Garnet held abolitionist meetings and hid slaves escaping north there. The next year, Garnet said his famous speech "An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America" at the National Negro Convention in Buffalo, New York. The speech shared his views that slaves should act for themselves to achieve total emancipation. Garnet made references to some slave rebellions, stating that that cold be a quick way for abolition if the slaves were brave enough. Douglass and Garrison thought his ideas were too radical, along with many others. He supported the Liberty Party, a party of reform. But, the Liberty Party was sucked into the Republican Party after a few years, whose views Garnet disagreed with. Around 1849 Garnet started thinking about black separation. He thought free blacks should move to Mexico, Liberia, or the West Indies where they would have more opportunities. If they couldn’t do that, Garnet wanted black sections of the country, not for the white man’s convenience but for equal rights for blacks. Many thought those ideas were too radical, but with the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act, they started to make sense. In 1850 he went to Britain on request of the Free Labor Movement, a group against slave produced goods. He was popular, and spent two and a half years lecturing. In 1852 Garnet was sent to Kingston, Jamaica as a missionary. He spent three years there, until his health forced him back to the states. Although Garnet's abolition and political views weren't widely liked, he was very popular as a minister. Many of his sermons were reprinted. Garnet made a small civil rights breakthrough. Free blacks in America had sketchy passports, usually not looking official. Garnet made the authorities give him an official passport labeled “Negro”, not “Dark”. When the Civil War came along, his hopes for emigration dissolved. Instead, he turned his attention to the founding of black units. In the New York draft riots of 1863, mobs were targeting everything and everyone they had the slightest problem with. Garnet was saved from death when his daughter quickly chopped their nameplate off their door before the mobs found them. When the authorization for black units came, Garnet helped recrution and then supported the troops, preaching to many of them. Garnet was given the post of president of Avery College in Pittsburgh in 1868. He was coming to his waning years. Garnet had always been sickly, but his health and mind really started to deteriorate in 1876. Garnet’s last wish was to go to Liberia, live even just for a few weeks, and die there. His wish was granted. The United States made him minister to Liberia in late 1881. He only lived for two months there before dying in early 1882. Garnet was given a state funeral by the Liberian government. Even Fredrick Douglass, who wasn’t on speaking terms with Garnet for many years, mourned his loss.
External links
- Underground Workshop (http://www.ugrworkshop.com/hgarnet.htm)
- Spartacus Schoolnet (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USASgarnet.htm)
- Article from the Star Tribune (http://www.startribune.com/stories/1389/646719.html)fr:Henry Highland Garnet