Henry
Highland Garnet was
born a slave in New Market, Maryland, in 1815. He escaped in 1824
and made his way to New York where he studied at the Oneida Theological
Institute in Whitesboro before becoming a Presbyterian minister in
Troy, New York.
Garnet joined the Anti-Slavery Society
and became one of the organizations leading lecturers. However, in
1843 he was disowned by the society when he called upon slaves to
murder their masters.
Garnet served as a pastor in Jamaica (1853-56) but returned to the
United States during the Civil War and
demanded that Abraham Lincoln permit
the enlistment of African-American soldiers.
In 1864 Garnet was appointed pastor of the 15th Street Presbyterian
Church in Washington. During this period he became the first African-American
to deliver a sermon before the House of Representatives. He also worked
for the Freedmen's Bureau, where he
was involved in developing programs to help former slaves.
In 1881 Henry Highland Garnet was appointed minister to Liberia. However,
he died two months later on 13th February, 1882.
(1)
Henry Highland Garnet, speech on slavery in Buffalo, New York (16
August 1843)
Two hundred and twenty-seven years
ago, the first of our injured race were brought to the shores of America.
They came not with glad spirits to select their homes, in the New
World. They came not with their own consent, to find an unmolested
enjoyment of the blessings of this fruitful soil. The first dealings
which they had with men calling themselves Christians, exhibited to
them the worst features of corrupt and sordid hearts; and convinced
them that no cruelty is too great, no villainy, and no robbery too
abhorrent for even enlightened men to perform, when influenced by
avarice, and lust. Neither did they come flying upon the wings of
Liberty, to a land of freedom. But, they came with broken hearts,
from their beloved native land, and were doomed to unrequited toil,
and deep degradation. Nor did the evil of the bondage end at their
emancipation by death. Succeeding generations inherited their chains,
and millions have come from eternity into time, and have returned
again to the world of spirits, cursed and ruined by American Slavery.
The propagators of the system, or their
immediate ancestors very soon discovered its growing evil, and its
tremendous wickedness and secret promises were made to destroy it.
The gross inconsistency of a people holding slaves, who had themselves
"ferried o'er the wave," for freedom's sake, was too apparent
to be entirely overlooked. The voice of Freedom cried, "emancipate
your Slaves." Humanity supplicated with tears, for the deliverance
of the children of Africa. Wisdom urged her solemn plea. The bleeding
captive plead his innocence, and pointed to Christianity who stood
weeping at the cross. Jehovah frowned upon the nefarious institution,
and thunderbolts, red with vengeance, struggled to leap forth to blast
the guilty wretches who maintained it. But all was vain. Slavery had
stretched its dark wings of death over the land, the Church stood
silently by—the priests prophesied falsely, and the people loved
to have it so. Its throne is established, and now it reigns triumphantly.
Nearly three millions of your fellow citizens,
are prohibited by law, and public opinion (which in this country is
stronger than law), from reading the Book of Life. Your intellect
has been destroyed as much as possible,
and every ray of light they have attempted to shut out from your minds.
The oppressors themselves have become involved in the ruin. They have
become weak, sensual, and rapacious. They have cursed you—they
have cursed themselves—they have cursed the earth which they
have trod. In the language of a Southern statesman, we can truly say
"even the wolf, driven back long since by the approach of man
now returns after a lapse of a hundred years, and howls amid the desolation
of slavery."
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
