Letter from James Forten, Philadelphia, [Pennsylvania], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1831 Oct[ober] 20

Item Information

Title:
Letter from James Forten, Philadelphia, [Pennsylvania], to William Lloyd Garrison, 1831 Oct[ober] 20
Description:
James Forten writes to William Lloyd Garrison pleased that Garrison "is still urging onward unintimidated by the many threats of personal violence from the South." He discusses the Southern hatred for the Liberator and how supporters of slavery see the Liberator "as one of the preminent agents, if not the sole cause of the late disturbance" [the slave rebellion led by Nat Turner]. He hopes that the insurrection "will be the means of bringing the evils of slavery more prominently before the public" and then calls the opposition in New Haven to a college for free African-American men "one of the most discreditable things for a free state that I ever heard of." He commends the role Simeon Smith Jocelyn in advocating for the college but regrets that "in that large assemblage ... none was willing to bring odium on themselves by taking the part of the oppressed of their own country, it is only foreign oppression, which calls forth the sympathy of the Americans." After the autograph, Forten shares his opinion of the term "Afric Americans" saying "it is generally disliked, that is by all I have heard express an opinion on the subject." He also tells Garrison about a family of 31 people, from Ohio, of whom 30 died after traveling to Liberia. Forten warns Garrison that American Colonization Society secretary [John Brown] Russworm "states in his paper that only two had died and they were children - mark his deception." In the postscript, he tells Garrison that Simeon Jocelyn has since joined him.
Author:
Forten, James, 1766-1842
Addressee:
Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
Date:
October 20, 1831
Format:
Letters/Correspondence
Manuscripts
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Anti-Slavery Collection
Subjects:
Abolitionists--United States--19th century--Correspondence
African American abolitionists--History--19th century
African American universities and colleges--History--19th century
Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century
Social reformers--United States--History--19th century
Abolitionists--United States--History--19th century
African American abolitionists
African American universities and colleges
African Americans--Colonization--Africa
Antislavery movements--United States
Social reformers--United States
Nat Turner's Rebellion, Virginia, 1831
Forten, James, 1766-1842
Jocelyn, Simeon Smith, 1799-1879
Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879
Liberator (Boston, Mass. : 1831)
Extent:
1 leaf (4 p.) ; 25 cm.
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/2z10zf980
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
Philadelphia, [Pennsylvania]
Language:
English
Notes:
Holograph, signed.
Title devised by cataloger.
On verso, the letter is addressed to "Wm. Lloyd Garrison Esqr. Boston (Mass.)" and is postmarked with a brown, circular stamp reading "Phil 21 Oct".
Identifier:
5142987
Call #:
MS A.1.2 v.1, p.40
Barcode:
39999085506176