Black History Thread #4: "Did You Know?" (Quaker Protests Against Slavery)

[Hissyspit]

Every day for the rest of February, I am posting some form of interesting information regarding African American history.

Quaker Protests Against Slavery

Possibly the oldest official opposition to slavery came from the Religious Society of Friends, known as the Quakers, who maintained that the proper response to injustice was neither violence nor acquiescence, but peaceful non-cooperation.

In 1652: "A Rhode Island colony document is said to be the first act of any government designed to prevent enslaving the negroes. It is copied from the records of the colony:

'At a general court held at Warwick, the 13th of May, 1652.
Whereas, there ia a common course practised among Englishmen, to buy negroes to that end they may have them for service or slaves forever; for the preventing of such practices among us, let it be ordered., That no black mankind or white being shall be forced, by covenant, bond, or otherwise, to serve any man or his assignees longer than ten years, or until they come to be twenty-four years of ago, if they be taken in under fourteen, from the time of their coming within the liberties of this colony; at the end or term of ten years to set them free, as the manner is with the English servants. And that man that will not let them go free or shall sell them away elsewhere, to that end they may be enslaved to othere for a longer time, he or they shall forfeit to the colony forty pounds.'

The prevalence of slavery and the briskness of the slave trade in Rhode Island, long after the enactment of this law (which does not appear to have ever been repealed), furnishes another illustration of the fact that slavery grew up in the colonies in violation of law."

Quakers continued protests into the next two centuries:

Benjamin Franklin printed Benjamin Lay's Treatise on Slave-keeping in 1737, the title showing that Lay "opposed not merely the slave trade and slave buying, but likewise the practice of slaveholding, and denounced it as a high crime.

'Calling-on a Friend in the city (Philadelphia), he was asked to sit down to breakfast. He first inquired, 'Dost thou keep slaves in thy house?' On being answered in the affirmative, he said, 'Then I will not partake with thee of the fruits of thy unrighteousness.' — After an ineffectual attempt to convince a farmer and his wife in Chester county of the iniquity of keeping slaves, he seized their only child, a little girl of three years of age, under pretence of carrying her away, and when the cries of the child and his singular expedient alarmed them, he said, 'You see and feel, now, a little of the distress which you occasion by the inhuman practice of slave-keeping.' — First Annual Report, New Hampshire A. S. Society, by John Farmer, Esq. — Emancipator for August, 1835..."

Benjamin Lay, early 18th-century Quaker vegetarian, Roughwood Collection


Modern Quaker logo

SOURCES:
http://medicolegal.tripod.com/goodellsaas.htm#p32
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaker_history
http://food.families.com/vegetarianism-488-491-efc

Yesterday's Black History Month Thread #3: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x462041

[Blue_Tires]

1. ttt

i just wanted to thank you for the work and research you've put into these

[Hissyspit]

3. Thanks, Blue_Tires

[JDPriestly]

2. Great post. I think we should study the techniques of the

abolitionist movement carefully. The abolitionists created a great and positive movement and faced down a horrible crime.

[proud patriot]

4. I did not know that , Thank you for informing me

:think:

[Hissyspit]

5. Sure thing.

:patriot:

[northofdenali]

6. K & R - great info.

I did NOT know that the Quakers had embraced their anti-slavery stance this far back.

Thanks :toast:

[NMMNG]

7. Another excellent post

The Quakers, from what I've learned of them, have made some worthy stands against injustice.


BTW, Benjamin Lay could not have been a vegetarian. He looks far too plump. Everybody knows vegetarians are skinny and malnourished. ;-)

[EFerrari]

8. They were more than 200 years ahead of the rest of the country.

That's pretty amazing. :)

[Dunvegan]

9. The same Quakers that are "terraists" to Bush. Yes...I thought so.

You're either with goodness or against it.

Bush...to the dark side with thee.

[xchrom]

10. k & r

[malaise]

11. More importantly

the Quakers were the first group to start a protest using banners and pins.


Quakers, who believe in simplicity in all things, tended to view the arts as frivolous; but when the Quaker-led Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade met in London in 1787, three of its members were charged with preparing a design for "a Seal be engraved for the use of this Society."

Later that year, the society approved a design "expressive of an African in Chains in a Supplicating Posture." Surrounding the naked man was engraved a motto whose wording echoed an idea widely accepted during the Enlightenment among Christians and secularists: "Am I Not A Man and A Brother?" The design was approved by the Society, and an engraving was commissioned.

The design was symbolic both artistically and politically. In addition to evoking classical art, the figure's nudity signified a state of nobility and freedom, yet he was bound by chains. Black figures, usually depicted as servants or supplicants, typically knelt in the art of the period, at a time when members of the upper classes did not kneel when praying; this particular image combined the European theme of conversion from heathenism and the idea of emancipation into a posture of gratitude.

Josiah Wedgewood, who was by then a member of the Society, produced the emblem as a jasper-ware cameo at his pottery factory. Although the artist who designed and engraved the seal is unknown, the design for the cameo is attributed to William Hackwood or to Henry Webber, who were both modelers at the Wedgewood factory.

In 1788, a consignment of the cameos was shipped to Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, where the medallions became a fashion statement for abolitionists and anti-slavery sympathizers. They were worn as bracelets and as hair ornaments, and even inlaid with gold as ornaments for snuff boxes. Soon the fashion extended to the general public.

That same year, the image also appeared in London on the covers of a pamphlet addressed to Parliament and a book about a voyage to Guinea, presumably with the Society's approval.
http://www.americanrevolution.com/AmINotaManandaBrother.htm

[blindpig]

12. In Maryland

one of the Anabaptist groups, Mennenites I think, had the practice of buying and freeing slaves and settling them in one of the Eastern Shore counties, Talbot or Dorchester, can't remember which. At the time of the Civil War that county had a majority free black population.

Please feel free to correct me, this is from deep memory and a little fuzzy.

[kainah]

13. my Quaker ancestors

were involved in the underground railroad in Ohio. They lived up above the Ohio River and the little town of Martin's Ferry, OH where abolitionists (both Seceder Presbyterians and Quakers) managed to buy up the entire riverfront facing what was then Virginia (now WV). Any slave who could manage to get across the river at Martin's Ferry knew s/he would land on abolitionist lands and be helped. The riverfront folk got the escaped slaves safely on their way to the Quaker (and Seceder Presbyterian) town of Mt. Pleasant. Today, Mt. Pleasant is a wonderful place with lots and lots of historic buildings, including the old Quaker meeting house. On many of these old homes, you see widow's walks along the roof. Why a widow's walk when you are so far from the sea? They were used to watch for the flags down in the valley, next to the river, that told them if there were escaped slaves en route.

Here's to the bravery of my McGrew, Carr, and Wallace ancestors.

[Blue_In_AK]

15. Kainah, you may be a relative of mine...

My Quaker ancestors in Ohio were active in the Underground Railroad, also. Perhaps you know of my ancestor Benjamin Lundy http://www.strattonhouse.com/index.php?section=history&content=31135108 who was an ancestor of my paternal grandmother's family. Interestingly, I went to first and third grade at a Mount Pleasant school, a three-room school with first through eighth grades. It wasn't in the town of Mount Pleasant, though -- it is north of Wilmington a little ways.

[Catherine Vincent]

14. Thanks!

[Pithy Cherub]

16. A 5 star WOW post!

It is absolutely an imperative to make it real and a testament to all the horror. This selection makes it real and moving. Principle stands through the worst of times. Unrighteousness, that is a most excellent descriptor.

:applause:
:toast:

[LiberalEsto]

17. Quakers are some of the bravest people I've ever met

I worked with them on some protest actions during the Vietnam War and was impressed with the risks they took and the serenity with which they faced the consequences.

[DemoTex]

19. Did you know Norman Morrison (11/2/1965)?

He was the American Quaker who died from self-immolation on the Pentagon steps (just below the office of Robert McNamara, who was shaken by the event that he witnesssed) on November 2, 1965. A few days later the infamous set-piece battles in the Ia Drang developed in Viet Nam. November 1965 was a bad month for Johnson and McNamara. The rest is history.




Crossing the Rubicon, without a clue to what that means!

[LiberalEsto]

22. No, I was too young

I was 13 in 1965, and had no political awareness at the time.

[Hissyspit]

18. Today's Thread #5, a special Presidents Day thread:

Be sure and read all the way through it. It is longer than usual, but there are very interesting stories in there.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x476679

[theHandpuppet]

20. Thanks for this thread!

For those interested in the history of the Underground Railroad in Southern Ohio, here's a good place to start: http://www.angelfire.com/oh/chillicothe/ugrr.html

The names of families and individuals, both black and white, involved in this historic effort are listed there and some of you may find relatives or ancestors' names. Local Quaker and Presbyterian families were prominent in assisting runaway slaves on their dangerous journeys to freedom.

[OldHistoryBuff]

21. Thanks!

Thanks again for a great post!!