The Liberator Files

Feb 12, 1831 

 “Prejudice may be compared to a misty morning in October .  A man goes forth to an eminence, and sees at the summit of a neighboring hill, a figure of apparently gigantic stature, for such the imperfect medium through which he is viewed would make him appear;  he goes forward a few steps, and the figure advances towards him; his size lessens as they approach; they draw still nearer –and the extraordinary appearance is gradually, but sensibly diminishing; at last they meet – and, perhaps, the person he had taken for a monster, proves to be his own brother.”

May 26, 1837

Items from a lady who has resided in North Carolina for some time, tells accounts of how slaves celebrate Christmas.  One is a story of witnessing a slave celebration, which includes a slave dressed in mask and “grotesque” costume, whom the slaves address as John Cooner, whom the writer presumes to be acting the role of the Devil.  Her account deprecates the slave actions:  “They think singing and dancing in rags in mud so delightful!  They being so foolish and stupid!…”

July 28, 1837 

Here Goodell argues against the common assumption that all knowledge has come from descendants of Europeans:  “To whom did the Greeks and the Romans look for instruction in letters and the arts?  To the Egyptians!  Where did the wealthy citizens of Athens and Rome, in their prouder days, send off their princely sons for education ….. they sent them to Egypt – to Ethiopia!  But who are Egyptians and Ethiopians?   Negroes!..”

Nov. 10, 1837

This meeting held in Greenville, R.I., October 10 includes four resolutions, gives strong support to the American Anti-Slavery Society, and to immediate emancipation.

Prejudice in the Church

From the New York Colored American, there is an article, citing specific instances of prejudice in churches.  They cite refusals to rent pews to colored members, refusal to sit in council and vote with white brethren, or refusal to be accommodated with seats except in the aisle.

December 15, 1837

Notice of appearance in a Kentucky court of a woman in slavery, who alleged she was white.  It was claimed that she had been in slavery from childhood until about two years ago when she was released on writ of habeas corpus.  The Judge placed upon the jury the necessity of establishing the presence or absence “of any of the characteristics of the
African.  None of these appearing to the jury, their verdict was in favor of the woman, and she was set free.”

July 15, 1842

Here is an “Interesting Letter from England”, signed only W.H.Ashurst, from Musell Hill, Hornsey, April 30, 1842
The letter makes a number of points:
“We are struggling here against white slavery, the slavery of caste, as you are struggling against the slavery of skin.  The working man, in Europe, is a slave in fact, though a freeman in name; with you the name and the fact go together.  We mask it here, but the Pariahs are beginning to look underneath, and to push aside the vizor.

“There is no distinction between the two systems in principle; they work out their effects differently. You carry your scourge openly, and avow your right to be unjust; whilst we here work through the gastric juice, and starve them into submission…….”

The letter also indicates a positive confidence that “truth has carried humanity onwards. Truth never sleeps.”   The letter affirms the idea of non-resistance, but cautions that Garrison may, on this subject,  go “a leetle too far” ….. Also asks to be remembered to James and Lucretia Mott, and expresses thanks for the works of Maria Chapman.

August 26, 1842

Here is an essay on the means of removing prejudice against color, by S. Linstant, of Paris.  Garrison introduces it by citing the qualifications of its author, a Haitian man. Here are a few sentences:  “God has not created men black, white, yellow; he has created MAN, a being social and perfectible.  Now, if you recognize on that dark face the characteristics of man, you ought to admit that he may possess, in the same degree as individuals of another color, those distinquishing attributes of the human race….”

June 11, 1847
 
Under the column, Refuge of Oppression there are two brief notes about Bibb; one tells of Bibb, saying that he will probably go to England, as did Douglass, probably be a passenger “in one of the Cunard nigger steamers, and perhaps make as great a sensation as Douglass himself..”  this from the N.Y. Sunday Atlas.    Then, from Noah’s Messenger is a note titled, Black Orators and Minstrels: “Negro oratory, like negro minstrelsy, is getting to be an indispensable amusement.  One Mr. Bibb, a runaway slave, is brought forward as a rival of Fred. Douglass, and has been ‘enlightenin de folks ob Brooklyn’”

August 30, 1855

Under the Refuge of Oppression, a column from the New York Evening Mirror comments on the assertion of abolitionists, that a Negro man is like a White man save for the color of his skin.  Then it cites the studies of Dr.Van Evrie, who has proved that the Negro is not like the White man, that his condition is such that he could never be raised to equality with the White man.

September 24,  1858

From the Chelsea Telegraph & Pioneer, there is an article in which reference is made the record of Robert Morris, Esq.  “The world is full of prejudices of one kind or another; but among them all, perhaps there is none so singular as that which exists in the mind of the white man against his brother who happens to be born with a skin a few shades darker than his own.”   The article then speaks of Morris, praising him as one who disproves the validity of color prejudice, and is much admired  as lawyer, as Justice of the Peace , and as neighbor.