H. Blackmarr to Frederick Douglass, February 2, 1856

For Frederick Douglass' Paper.

EDUCATION OF THE COLORED PEOPLE—NO. 2.

FRIEND DOUGLASS: SIR:—In my former article I referred briefly to the condition of the colored people in this country. In this I propose to allude to the part they are to act in the struggle now going on which is destined ultimately to secure to them the right so dear to every freeman. The present agitation of the subject of American Slavery is nothing arbitrary or unnatural. It is what might be expected in this age of improvement. It is the vitalizing influence of truth, like leaven in the soul. It is mind seeking its native element; principle against power, working to its result in society. In short, it is the legitimate result of human progress. Man, to enjoy life, and appropriately use his power and faculties, must be free. But human depravity has ever been opposed to progress and reform, and every step gained in that direction, has been contested. No wonder, therefore, that the friends of slavery should rise up in opposition. They are driven to an extremity; things have come to a crisis, and their "beloved institution" is upheaving to its foundation and trembling to its center, and the elements of its destruction are in its own bosom. The time has come when some valid excuse, it it can be found, must be rendered for chattel slavery; and its advocates to quiet their consciences, and appease the public indignation, have undertaken the Herculean task, of showing the African to be neither a man nor a monkey, but a connecting link between the two. A task, indeed; and, truly, it is like a drowning man catching at straws.— While engaged in this great work, will some one, please, show us where the monkey ends and the man begins? The distinguishing characteristics of man are spirituality, intelligence, affection, voluntariness, and moral character, which character he derives from his relations to the divine government. And has not the negro all

these? Has the monkey any of them? The truth is, there is strictly no such thing as a connecting link between man and brute. Man forms a connection between spiritual beings and animals, by possessing the attributes of both, but no where are his distinguishing peculiarities bound, except in himself. In his organic structure, he is made lower than the angels, but in his governmental relations he is vastly higher.

Heb. 2. 5-8. It matters not what his complexion, symmetry, or the conformation of the cranium is, it is the image of God that makes the man; and the being who bears that image is man, nothing else. Take that away, and it would reduce man to a brute. Invest a brute therewith, and it would elevate him to a man.— The miserable subterfuge referred to, will, doubtless, receive more or less countenance, till the facts appear to explode it; and it seems left to the colored people to settle this question before the world, and end the controversy. Argument upon the unity or plurality or origin of the human race, will never do it; facts are what is needed. Is the negro a man? "That is the question." Douglass, Garnett, Ward, W. J. Watkins, Dr. J. Mc. Smith, Vashon, Reason, Dr. J. S. Rock, and other distinguished colored men may be referred to, as proof in point; but the advocates of slavery would regard them as honorable exceptions, or claim that their superiority is due to a sprinkling of Anglo-Saxon blood. What is needed, is, for the pure African, to exemplify his identity by evolving the native elements of his manhood. He is a man, or he is not, and education will demonstrate it. Light, knowledge, liberty, are in reality convertible terms, and light, and knowledge are deadly poison to slavery. Slaveholders know this, and, therefore, it is made a penal offence to teach free colored children, and much more, slaves, to

read and write. O, shame, where is thy blush! Why, as soon as one ray of light pierces the dark recesses of his mind, he grows restless and uneasy. Another ray awakens more fully his sensibility, as he learns, that yonder, at the North, just beyond the line of the United States, the colored man is free. By a third, he gets an idea of that glorious boon, and with palpitating heart, imploring look, and uplifted hands, he cries, "give me liberty," "give me liberty or give me death;" "give me my wife, my husband, my children and let us go away and be free." His sable countenance, crisped hair, and all the woes of slavery, have not annihilated his manhood, nor blotted out the image of God. He is man still, advertised, sold and bought as man, and in the fact that he is man, lies his commercial value. Now, the part that colored people are to act, is that of witnesses, to demonstrate the living truth that "God has created of one blood all nations of men, to dwell in all the earth." Colored freemen of the North! to you the appeal is made. Your brethren are in chains; they are crippled; you can act. Establish your schools, educate the masses, and you will do more to advance the cause of freedom, than natural history, phrenology, physiology, and ethnology, put together.

H. BLACKMARR.

ROCHESTER, Feb. 2nd.