[African-Americana] [Anti-Colonization] Reporting on the January 15, 1817 Mass Meeting at Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia, the First Large-Scale Black Protest in the United States

The Weekly Recorder
Chillicothe, Ohio: John Andrews, September 18, 1817. Volume IV, No. 7, Whole Number 163. Printed newspaper. 4to. pp. (49)-56. Disbound; library ink stamp at bottom of p. 53; foxing.

On p. 54 is reported the January 15, 1817 meeting at Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia, where 3,000 African American men--nearly the entire Black male population of Philadelphia--met to voice their opposition to the American Colonization Society (ACS) and their plan to resettle Free Blacks to Western Africa.

James Forten, a prominent Black businessman in Philadelphia who initially sympathized with colonization, convened a meeting to discuss the American Colonization Society's (ACS) proposal for resettlement. He was joined by three distinguished Black ministers, Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and John Gloucester, who helped organize the gathering and initially spoke in favor of the plan. However, when Forten called for a vote, the room's reaction was immediate and overwhelming. Not a single voice voted "yes." Instead, when he asked for "nays," a single, thunderous "no" erupted from the crowd, reportedly shaking the walls of the church. The attendees had realized that the colonization scheme posed a grave threat to their entire community, both free and enslaved. They understood that removing Black individuals who could challenge slavery would ultimately weaken resistance and strengthen the institution of slavery itself.

The meeting adopted five resolutions, opening with the statement, "Whereas our ancestors (not of choice) were the first cultivators of the wilds of America, we their descendants feel ourselves entitled to participate in the blessings of her luxuriant soil, which their blood and sweat manured; and that any measures, or system of measures, having a tendency to banish us from her bosom, would not only be cruel, but in direct violation of the principles which have been the boast of the republick." The following resolutions enumerated the community's stance, in part expressing, "deep abhorrence the unmerited stigma attempted to be cast upon the reputation of the free people of colour, by the promotors of this measure...That we never will separate ourselves voluntarily from the slave population in this country: they are our brethren by the ties of consanguinity, of suffering, and of wrongs; and we feel that there is more virtue in suffering privations with them, than fancied advantages for a season." The final resolution called for the creation of a committee to communicate the meeting's sentiments to Congress.

A search of contemporary newspapers shows that this event was scarcely covered, and this newspaper is apparently one of only a few that did so.

Lot includes another issue of the same newspaper (September 11, 1816, Vol. III, No. 7, Whole No. 111), reporting the opening of the Augustine Society, an African American seminary in Philadelphia for the "education of Africans in the higher branches of literature and in sacred theology." The Society was formed by John Gloucester, William Allen, and Absalom Jones. Largely separated along central vertical fold.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

[African-Americana] [Anti-Colonization] Reporting on the January 15, 1817 Mass Meeting at Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia, the First Large-Scale Black Protest in the United States