Biographical sketches and interesting anecdotes of persons of color. To which is added, a selection of pieces in poetry

Front matter

to BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

AND

INTERESTING ANECDOTES

Preface

The object of this selection is not to set forth the exploits of the warrior, who has drenched fields in blood, destroyed cities by fire, and their inhabitants by famine ; wno has made the mother a widow, and her children fatherless, and deprived the aged of their comfort and support in declining life. It is not to rehearse the harangues, nor to set forth the eloquence of the man of science ; but to encourage virtue and morality in the difrerent classes of society ; and, by briuging into view the effects which a system of slavery has on the human mind, and the dreadful consequences of that arbitrary power invested in the slaveholder over his fellow-being, to show how it hardens the heart and petrifies the feelings.

No doubt there are some men, who, in early life, and oefore they were placed in authority, like Hazael, would nave been shocked to hear predicted what they have afterward, and under different circumstances, put in practice ; but there are others, who, being trained up in the midst of slavery, and inured from their infancy to see the sufferings of the poor slaves, and to hear their cries, become almost insensible to the responsibility of their station, and the enormity of the evils they are committing. For these, as well as for the slaves, our tenderest sympathy ought to be awakened, and our aspirations to ascend before Him who can unstop the deaf ear, and open the eyes even of those who are blind.

The design of this selection is also to show the bane-

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ful effects of that degradation to which the children of Africa have, in an especial manner, been subjected by the slave trade ; and to exhibit, for encouragement and imitation, the salutary and cheering influence of the Christian religion on such as have faithfully followed its dictates, though some of them have been held in bondage.

Here we may observe, that it is not the inhabitants of any particular country or climate that are the favorites of Him who, without respect of persons, judgeth every man according to his works, and the integrity of his heart ; but it is the faithful, and those only, who can look forward to the termination of their pilgrimage here, wish, a hope that they will then be admitted into the mansions of bliss, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary find rest.

Some instances will be found, where men, by yielding to the convicting power of truth, and the noble feelings of justice, have broken the chains of slavery, and said to the captive, Go free. May others, by following their example, share in the reward attendant on such acts of benerolence. And may those persons of color who enjoy the inestimable privilege of freemen, either by birthright or by emancipation, always bear in mind, that by their good conduct they not only promote their own happiness, but that tiny advocate the cause of Universal Emancipation, by showing to the wurld their . -inability of enjoying tin- benefits of society, and providing comfortably for ih> mseli

In preparing these pieces for the press, I have taken the liberty of a'.iridging some of those which have al- , eady appeared in print And in some instances, where.

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in the first narration, the character was not fully delineated or finished, I have supplied that deficiency from later writers, or from inquiries of those who had been personally acquainted with the individual ; as in the cases of Joseph Rachel, Phillis Wheatley, &c.

The following remarks, as well as divers other pieces in this selection, are generally taken from " An Inquiry into the Intellectual and Moral Faculties of the Negroes," by Gregorie.

" Many authors have borne testimony to the pleasantness and fertility of Africa, and to the generosity and filial affection of its inhabitants. In reading Ledyard, Lucas, Mungo Park, Hornman. and others, we find that the inhabitants of the interior are more virtuous and more civilized than those on the sea coast ; surpass them also in the preparation of wool, leather, cotton, wood, and metals; inweaving, dying, and sewing. Golberry says that ' in Africa there are no beggars except the blind.'

"Adanson, who visited Senegal in 1754, when describin 0, the country, says, ' It recalled to me the idea of the primitive race of men. I thought I saw the world in its infancy. The negroes are sociable, humane, obliging, and hospitable, and they have generally preserved an estimable simplicity of domestic manners. They are distinguished by their tenderness for their parents and great respect for the aged — a patriarchal virtue, which in our day is too little known.'

" Robin speaks of a slave in Martinico, who, having

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gained money sufficient for his own ransom, purchased with it his mother's freedom. The most horrible outrage that can be committed against a negro, is to curse his father or his mother, or to speak of either with contempt.

" Btungo Park obseryes, that a slave said to his master, 'Strike me, but curse not my mother.' And that a negress having lost her son, her only consolation was, that he had never told a lie. Casuaux relates, that a negro, seeing a white man abuse his father, said, 'Carry away the child of this monster, that it may not learn to imitate his conduct.'

" The Bishop Jacquemin had been twenty-two years at Guiana, where he was much beloved. When they ceased to employ him as a pastor, those Indians said to him, 'Father, thou art aged: remain with us, and we will hunt and fish for thee.'

" Many others might be added from the official depositions made at the bar of Parliament, and before the select committee of the House of Commons, in England, in 1790 and 1791 ; but these may suffice to encourage others ti sim acts of piety and filial affection, remembering a we must expect our children to follow our example.

■ Ab nu hum. ui being can chouse the place of his birth or tin adrantagi - of ancestry, so it mani - real folly to build our fam< on the virt . rich ft, or honor? of those win' have gone before us, or to despise a fellow-being on account of the poverty or obscurity of his birth. In bo doing, we arraign the goodness of oof < Sreator, and act inconsistently trith our dependent situation."