Black History SHOULD BE INCLUDED With American History
It's February Again
I love when Black History Month comes back around. I mean, it is completely necessary, right? Otherwise, when else would you hear about great black American heroes like James Armistead, Harry Hoosier, Lemuel Haynes...and so many more?
Wait...you're telling me you haven't heard of these guys? Isn't that why we've devoted an entire month to Black History? If you haven't heard about the great American patriots (even though we've dedicated every February since 1976 to supposedly do just that) then what ARE they teaching during this month every year? Are you saying that our world-leading education system - with an entire month dedicated to teaching our kids "true black history"....may actually be dismissing true black history?
Well then, let me give you some of the amazing highlights of American history....history that just happens to be black.
James Armistead
Not just the first black secret agent in American history, but the first American double-agent of any race. The mission that he planned and carried out essentially allowed us to win the American Revolution
James went to his personal friend, French general Lafayette and volunteered to impersonate a slave to the British military. After some time, James found himself waiting on American traitor Benedict Arnold. Later he was even the assistant to Lord Cornwallis himself - the commander-in-chief of the entire British military! The whole time, he was passing along British secrets to Lafayette and Washington, giving them the upper hand in battle after battle.
It wasn't too long, and Lord Cornwallis realized that he must have a spy in the camp. However, because of James’ skill, he was never a suspect. Cornwallis actually went to James and made a proposition: “We have a spy and need to do something about it. I know you hate the Americans, but will you go and pretend to be a slave to them and feed us information about Washington?”
What an opportunity! As James fed the Americans solid intelligence, and fed misinformation to the British...he was able to direct British forces to Yorktown and isolate them for the last battle of the Revolution. This man was true a black patriot, a true American hero that used intelligence and counterintelligence to help turn the tide against the largest military on earth.
Lemuel Haynes
What about Lemuel Haynes, ever heard of him?
Abandoned as a child, Lemuel gave himself up to indentured servitude until his mid-twenties. During this time he took it upon himself to learn reading and writing. Even as a teenager, Lemuel began to preach his own sermons to anyone who would listen. (Definitely a growing number of people as he became more famous.)
After the war, Lemuel became the first Black man to be ordained as a minister by a mainstream denomination. Many of the congregations he ministered to were entirely white....a fact that weakens the narrative that all white Americans were racists.
He was the first Black minister to have a major sermon published. He was also the first black minister to receive an honorary university degree.
He married Elizabeth Babbitt, a white elementary school teacher, and had ten children with her.
No matter what congregation Lemuel ministered to, every year on George Washington’s Birthday, he made it a tradition to deliver a sermon in honor of his great Commander-in-chief.
Lemuel Haynes is another name that should be commonly spoken...especially during Black History Month!
John Marrant
Here’s another black first that you won't hear about: John Marrant, the first black preacher to reach American Indians in a major way.
In 1768, when he was thirteen years old, John entered a tent meeting held by none other than George Whitfield himself. John wasn’t there to hear the message, though - he actually came intending to disrupt it.
But before John could do anything, Whitfield looked straight at him and declared, “Prepare to meet thy God!” Overcome with the power of God, John collapsed on the floor! He ending up listening to the rest of Whitfield's message while laying flat on his back. After praying a with an associate of Whitfield, John gave his life to the Lord.
His family didn’t appreciate John's conversion, though...and he was forced to live on his own at only fourteen years of age. He met up with Cherokee man and lived with him in the woods for a time - learning to fish and hunt. The Cherokee man asked John to return to the his village with him, but John was imprisoned there and then sentenced to die a gruesome death. (Cherokee law prohibited any non-Cherokee from entering their villages.)
As he prayed and read his Bible in the cage, John made an impact on the guard, who was converted after talking to him. Then the executioner converted also and then took John to the chief. When the chief's daughter heard John’s message, she gave her heart to Jesus, eventually followed by the chief himself...and then the rest of the village.
After that, the Cherokee braves (even the chief's own bodyguards) from that village escorted John to other villages, protecting him while he would minister and lead a revival. Countless native lives were changed by the gospel of Christ, because of this one brave, black teenager.
Black Harry (Hoosier)
Have you ever heard of the preacher that was sometimes called “Black Harry”? This nickname was by no means derogatory...it was actually what the black man preferred to call himself.
Enormous crowds - both black and white - flocked to hear Black Harry’s preaching. Thousands converted during his messages. Thousands repented of their sin. Surprisingly enough...two of the major sins that were confessed and forsaken in his crowd were the sins of slavery and bigotry. Whites and blacks together gathered around the cross of Jesus Christ.
Harry's followers were famous for their insistence that black and white TOGETHER could become sons and daughters of God. Many of his converts were frontiersman that were still in the process of moving west and settling down. As they traveled many of them took Black Harry’s teachings with them. When they reached the territory of Indiana, these people continued to live out what they believed. Some of the other settlers noticed their morality, their mannerisms, and their attitudes toward other races.
To explain why they so different from others, these converts of “Black Harry” were given a nickname by the other settlers in Indiana. These radical Christians began to be called by “Black Harry” Hoosier’s last name, claiming, ”they act differently because they’re HOOSIERS.” Eventually the entire state of Indiana became known as the Hoosier state.
Did you know that one of our states is actually nicknamed after a powerful BLACK minister from our founding era?
Jack "Prince" Sisson
The story of Jack “Prince” Sisson is legendary. (Or, it should be)
At the beginning of the revolution Jack was a slave, but also an enlisted man in the American army. Prince was a MASSIVE physical specimen...making him an invaluable volunteer in one of our first ever commando raids.
Washington’s second-in-command was captured and being held by the British as a Prisoner of War. The only hope to get his freedom was to offer a prisoner exchange, and that would only work if the Americans had a prisoner of equal value. This meant the Patriots had to capture the British second-in-command, a man named General Richard Prescott.
This was a dangerous mission, with little chance of success. It would be an amphibious operation; involving boating across an open channel, through the midst of British warships, infiltrating a heavily guarded Island, capturing the general from his headquarters, and then backtracking without being detected.
Forty men stepped forward to volunteer, including Prince Sisson. This man steered the lead rowboat silently through the night, right under the bows of the enemy ships, to the island. When they approached the building where the General was housed, one of the guards called to them, asking who they were. Although the patriot who answered got the code wrong, Prince rushed the guard and overpowered him before he could get a shot off.
The raiding party entered the building, but found the General was locked in his bedroom, safe behind a “stout” (or very solid) wood door. Undeterred, prince slammed his body hard against the door. On his second try, the door gave way - blown completely off its hinges. Prince then charged in without hesitation, hoisted the British general over his shoulder (still in his nightshirt!), and carried him all the way back to the boat.
The raid was a success, without a man lost, and the Americans were able to trade General Prescott back to the British in exchange for the freedom of their own officer.
After this, Prince volunteered to the First Rhode Island regiment - which was almost completely composed of free blacks and former slaves. In exchange for his joining the regiment, Prince was emancipated, and lived the rest of his life as a free man. He died in peace on his own property, at the good old age of 78!
Frederick Douglass
Fredrick Douglass was born as a slave in 1815, while the nation was still young. He was initially taught by his master’s wife how to read and write. But after her husband reprimanded her, she stopped the lessons. The man’s objection was along these lines, “slaves that learn to read will then begin to chase their freedom.” Douglass later called that the first “anti-slavery lecture” he had ever heard.
He continued learning to read and write on his own, and then he even began to secretly teach other groups of slaves. When he was caught, he was beat severely, but he kept at it. He believed that learning to read and think for themselves was a ticket to freedom for his fellow slaves.
He escaped his slavery in the south and moved to Massachusetts. There, he fell in with a radical group of abolitionist, led by a man who hated this nation - William Lloyd Garrison. This radical group led Douglass to believe that the United States was inherently racist, and that its constitution was a PRO-SLAVE document. Douglass wrote and lectured along these lines for a while….even publicly burning copies of America’s founding documents.
But then later, he began to do something that we should all follow: HE BEGAN TO STUDY FOR HIMSELF. Douglass began to read the constitution itself. He read the writings of the founders. He studied their beliefs, their goals, and their ideas
In 1847, Douglass had a change of heart when he realized the truth: America’s constitution was, in reality, an ANTI-SLAVERY document. After intensive study, Douglass made this astonishing claim; “Now, take the Constitution according to its plain reading, and I defy the presentation of a SINGLE pro-slavery clause in it. On the other hand it will be found to contain principles and purposes, ENTIRELY HOSTILE to the existence of slavery.”
But there is so much more to his story! There are many volumes about this man’s life, a lot of them written by his own hand. How is it we don’t know more about him today? I would suggest it’s because he doesn’t fit the modern narrative of how civil rights are supposed to work.
As a child, Frederick didn’t even know his birthday, only the general year that he was born. He was removed at a young age from his parents, and “given” to Thomas Auld. He explained that he would often cry himself to sleep, wondering how it was that God could make a race of people only to make them slaves of another. It wasn’t until he learned about HOW his people became slaves that he realized he could become free!
I mentioned in the last post that Douglass would teach other slaves how to read and write for themselves. What do you think it was they learned from? Go on, I bet you could guess! He taught them what real freedom was from THE BIBLE. Repeatedly, he’d be beaten for it. The only term that can describe what he went through is “torture”. The scars on his back never went away.
Finally, he escaped to the Freedom of the North. He discovered what it was like to work “and keep what I earned!” He married and had children “who were my own, never to be taken away and sent to a plantation!”
Ten years after escaping, Douglass wrote an open letter to Auld, his former master. In it, he recounted the horror he experienced as a slave and his reasons for running away. He spoke of the joys of freedom that he now experienced. He asked about his family members that were still likely owned by Auld.
Then he asked an emotional question: What would Auld think of him if he kidnapped Auld’s daughter Amanda? What would he think about her being forced to labor, whipped, and given over to violent men?
But, even after Douglass’ powerful letter attacked Auld for his behavior and treatment of “his” slaves, Frederick concluded it this way: “In doing this I entertain no malice towards you personally. There is no roof under which you would be more safe than mine, and there is nothing in my house which you might need for your comfort, which I would not readily grant. Indeed, I should esteem it a privilege, to set you an example as to how mankind ought to treat each other.” Wow!
This letter must have had an impact. It was written in 1848. Twenty-nine years later, in 1877 - after the Civil War and the legal freedom of all slaves - Douglass and Auld met again. Forty years after Frederick escaped to freedom, he and his former master made amends and reconciled!
THAT’S how real, personal change happens. Not by force or violence. Not by laws or regulations. And not by fake fads, popular trends, or speech codes. Real change happens - on the personal level - through the grace and forgiveness of God...shining out through His people.
Richard Allen
Richard Allen is proof that doing things GOD'S way is more effective than coming up with your own plan.
Richard was born as a slave in 1760. He and a lot of his family were sold when their former master had some financial problems. Although Richard called his new master, Stokely Sturgis, "tenderhearted" and "what the world calls a good master." Still, he and his brothers still had the
innate, God-given desire to be free!
innate, God-given desire to be free!
These studies began to concern their white neighbors. They told Sturgis that, if they kept learning for themselves, his "Negroes will soon ruin him." Their concern was that educated and religious slaves would soon rise up and rebel against their master.
But Richard and his brothers took a different route. They took a cue from the writings of Paul. First, from Ephesians 6:5-6, where he tells slaves to sincerely obey their masters as if it were Jesus himself giving them orders. And then from 1 Corinthians 7:21, where he tells them not to worry about their condition of slavery - but to still watch for the opportunity to gain their freedom.
Using these concepts, Richard Allen was determined to become a blessing to his master. He and his brothers served Sturgis so well that the man declared "religion makes better slaves, not worse." He freely allowed more and more Bible studies, more and more sermons, and even hosted traveling preachers on occasions!
One of these preachers was a man named Freeborn Garretson. During his sermon, Sturgis gave his life to Jesus and became Richard's brother in Christ! Later, Sturgis became convicted over his ownership of slaves. He gave all of the slaves in his home a pathway to freedom, which Richard Allen eagerly took. Within a year, he had earned his freedom and left Sturgis on good terms.
Once he was free, he traveled and preached the Gospel everywhere he went. Together with Absalom Jones, Richard became on of the first Black preachers ordained in the Methodist Church. Later, he went on to found the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church.
It's easy to think that violence or escape was the best way for slaves to obtain their freedom. Certainly, there were times when this appeared to be true - especially after slavery was becoming less popular, and there were free areas to run away to. But in the case of Richard Allen we see a third option - one that we also saw in Paul's letter to Philemon. This is the strategy of the slave winning over their master and turning them into brothers in Christ!
Weren't Our Founders All Racist Slaveholders?
“The United States didn’t inherit slavery from anybody. We created it.” - Senator Tim Kaine
This is the mentality of a large portion of the American public. The consensus opinion seems to be: “America was uniquely evil in it’s institution of black slavery. It was racist at the beginning, and fought tooth and nail to keep it.”
Excuse me, but this is a remarkably IGNORANT idea - and one that has absolutely NO historical basis. If Senator Tim Kaine was trying to suggest that the majority of our founders were racist and pro-slavery…then the man clearly knows nothing about our founders.
But how about you?
What do you know of the history of American slavery (other than the simple fact that it existed)?
Let me ask you some questions:
1 - Did you know that every culture has practiced slavery at some point in its history - but America was always on the cutting edge of the Anti-slavery movement?
- The majority (at least 75%) of the colonist were already opposed to slavery before the Revolution
- The slavery that did exist in the colonies was not exclusively white-on-black - but covered many races, both as perpetrators and victims
- Actually, the first permanent slave in the colonies (as opposed to indentured servants working off debt) was owned by a black man who was a former indentured servant himself - the slavery ordered by the court to repay the man’s debt.
2 - Out of the 12.5 million African slaves that were barbarically kidnapped and transported across the world, what portion do you think were sent to America?
- Believe it or not - less than 5% were destined to the American colonies
- From what you hear today, you’d think Americans were the ONLY importer of slaves - but the colonists were nearly at the bottom of the “customer list”.
3 - Did you know that, out of the hundreds of nations in the world - American was number four to outlaw slavery?
(Actually, a handful of nations still have yet to outlaw it)
- The Declaration of Independence originally had a blatant and fierce anti-slavery paragraph in it - and it was agreed to by all but two colonies (It was only removed because of the need for all the colonies to come to a UNANIMOUS decision.)
- The first government IN THE WORLD to abolish slavery was the state of Vermont. They immediately banned slavery as soon as it free from Great Britain...oficially outlawing it in 1777.
- After the Revolution, many more states made it a priority to end the practice immediately.
- As the Constitution was ratified, this infant nation INSISTED that any new state coming into the union must be a free state before it could join - this would doom the institution of slavery permanently, as free states gained more influence.
- This agreement was known as the "Northwest Ordinance, and led to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota joining the nation as free states
- The so-called “three-fifths” compromise in the constitution actually LIMITED the representation of slave-holding states in Congress. The pro-slavery South wanted slaves to count as a whole person in the census (which decided the number of representatives in Congress), while the anti-slavery North wanted them excluded from the census completely
- The compromise didn’t mention race at all - mainly because slavery could affect any race at the time
- We outlawed the slave trade in 1808 - stopping the importation of slaves only 21 years after adopting the constitution
- The first decade after the constitution was signed, the free black population rose by 82%, then the second decade saw it go up another 72% - this was all due to VOLUNTARY emancipation of slaves
- Even before the Civil War, America’s navy patrolled the coast of Africa, trying to stop slaver ships and return the Africans back to their land.
America wasn’t “founded for slavery”.
It didn’t create it. It didn’t advance it. And it was actually instrumental in ending it.
Were we perfect? No - unfortunately we were not. Slavery and discrimination was a stain on our national history. We made the same mistakes and fell into the same practices as the rest of the world. But we were by no means UNIQUE in that evil - and our national intention was always to end it.
Make no mistake about it - Freedom was ALWAYS going to be the destiny of this nation.
We defeated the most powerful empire in the world to make sure we were free.
And then, 89 years later, we even fought against ourselves to make sure no American was excluded from that freedom.
this needs to be taught and published in EVERY public and private school. I was never taught this in school and I graduated 25 years ago.
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