The American Colonization Society
In the midst of questions about slavery and racial co-existence, the American Colonization Society was created in 1817. The involved politicians sought to find a middle ground by suggesting that emancipated people be sent to western Africa to form a colony of their own. This, they hoped, would satisfy those who saw slavery as a great evil while comforting those who feared that a freed Black population might turn against their former oppressors or otherwise upset the social order of the United States.[1] The movement gained support and funding from its founding to the time of emancipation: in 1827, Liberia was founded, and by 1867, more than 13,000 colonists had been sent to Liberia.[2]
The colonization movement gained momentum in Ohio, and within Athens County it found its supporters. Robert G. Wilson, Ohio University’s president from 1824 to 1839, was involved in the colonization movement, involvement that was shared by some students at Ohio University.[3] Wilson paved the way for Ohio University’s first Black student, who was a vocal supporter of the colonization movement during his time at Ohio University.
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John Newton Templeton was a former slave, and the first Black student at Ohio University. While he was a student, he lived with Robert Wilson. More on Templeton’s life and career can be found here. Templeton gave a speech on July 4, 1828, that supported Liberia’s colonization. Templeton’s speech is a thoughtful one, emphasizing the humanity and intellectual abilities of Black Americans.
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Ohio University President Robert G. Wilson. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections.
In the same condition in which they were when they left their native wilds of Africa; their minds are suffered to remain without the least degree of improvement, or the acquisition of knowledge -- in a land of civil and religious liberty, they enjoy neither -- in a land where men are stimulated by interest, the love of distinction, and future felicity, the lash of a task-master is the only stimulus which excites them to action. Now, I would ask you, if God had designated the man of color for this degraded condition, can we suppose that he would have blessed him with powers capable of intellectual improvement, and eternal joy; and not have created him so unlike that genius of animals, of which, by some, he is considered to be a species? [4]
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Templeton’s focus on the enslaved person’s inability to improve their lives through knowledge or moral pursuits is a point that demonstrates the inhumane nature of slavery. Templeton’s rhetorical question and the tone of his speech stresses the potential for Black Americans to improve themselves, a cause Templeton advocated throughout his life as an educator and an abolitionist. While these points were moral abstractions to white abolitionists like Wilson, they were lived experiences for Templeton. As a former slave, he had experienced the lack of agency millions of Americans continued to experience; as a Black man in the United States and the first Black student at his university, he would have been aware of the many challenges that faced his fellow freedmen due to the barriers set by white Americans who feared Black progress.
Ohio University Commencement Program, 1828. Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections.
Templeton’s speech was artfully crafted to appeal to his white audience as potential supporters of the colonization effort. He makes references to classical literature, marking him as an educated man who was familiar with Western culture. In his speech, he highlighted African achievements within classical civilizations, as well as the progress of Black Americans in his own time:
To such individuals, I would ask this question, were not Aesop and Terence Africans, whose writings are read in almost all institutions of learning to this day? And have not recent events brought into view, multitudes who are capable of the highest improvement in all the arts and elegancies of life. Cast your eye back for half a century, and scarcely an African could be found who could read, and fewer still who could write; now there are multitudes who can do both -- the genius of Africa begins to shine forth in spite of every obstacle, and dispel that rubbish which has for ages concealed her beauty; and ere long will exhibit to the world, those productions which have been disputed to have existed in the African race. Yes, that time spoken of by the Prophet of old, is not far distant, when Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God.[5]
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Templeton’s clever connection between these popular classical figures and contemporary Black academics like himself presented his audience with proof of the potential of Black Americans. His further appeal that supporters of colonization could present non-Christian Africa with “the knowledge of Christianity, civilization, and the arts” also drew on Ohio Christians’ desire for moral improvement, unity within their churches, and the spread of Christianity to what they perceived to be a pagan land.[6]
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Templeton’s speech was well-received. The Lynchburg Virginian, reporting on the speech, commented “Where, then, will these people go? Where can they go, but to Africa? If they stay among us, the policy of the country, which has fixed upon them the stigma of a degraded caste, will inflict upon them duties unequal and unjust in their character, while it denies them the slightest pretentions to an equality of rights.”[7] Those who supported the colonization of Liberia saw it as the clearest way around the struggle for racial equality, and speeches like Templeton’s inspired those who hoped to ease the divide among white Americans. For white Americans, the colonization movement offered them a way to reject slavery, which they viewed as morally repugnant, while escaping the discomfort of the idea of a multi-racial society.[8]
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Not all Black Americans shared Templeton’s hope for the colonization movement. In the North and South alike, many free Black Americans rejected colonization. As free Black communities continued conversations about race in the United States, they focused on challenging racism and slavery in the United States and were critical of those who chose colonization. Nat Turner’s Rebellion, an enslaved people’s revolt in Virginia in 1831, brought new life to the question of colonization. Many Black Americans feared that the white community would turn against them in retribution, so the number of emigrants increased in the years following the rebellion. However, many northern Black communities, frustrated with the treatment they received from white northerners, resented that colonization was the only option offered to them, and they rejected Liberia.[9]
Woodcut of Nat Turner's Rebellion, 1831. Library of Congress.
Templeton’s involvement with anti-slavery causes shifted in future years. In 1834, he served as corresponding secretary of the Chillicothe Colored Anti-Slavery Society.[10] In a time when many Black Northerners pushed against colonization attempts and instead resolved to seek solutions within their home communities, Templeton’s abandonment of colonization and involvement in an anti-slavery organization is part of a wider rejection of the American Colonization Society. For many Black Northerners, their future was in the United States, not abroad.
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Despite this rejection, there were many Black Americans who felt that emigration offered them a better future than they could find in the United States. Edward James Roye, a former Ohio University student, immigrated to Liberia in 1846. He operated his own trade vessel was successful “not only in Monrovia, but along the African coast, and in England and the United States, running a vessel owned by himself, and carrying the flag of his adopted country.”[11] Roye was also a politician. He served as Chief Justice from 1865 to 1869, and in 1870 he became the fifth president of Liberia.[12] For Roye, Liberia allowed him opportunities in business and in politics that were unavailable in the United States. Thousands of settlers, including Roye, saw the value in colonizing Liberia.
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Portrait of Edward James Roye, Fifth President of Liberia. Library of Congress.
Notes
1. Thomas D. Matijasic, “The African Colonization Movement and Ohio’s Protestant Community”, Phylon 46, no. 1 (1st Qtr., 1985) 16.
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2. Library of Congress, “Colonization”, The African American Mosaic (1994). Accessed January 8, 2021. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam002.html#:~:text=In%201822%2C%20the%20society%20established,colonization%20as%20a%20slaveholder's%20scheme.
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3. Thomas D. Matijasic, “The African Colonization Movement and Ohio’s Protestant Community,” 21.
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4. John Newton Templeton, Connie and Michel Perdreau (eds.), “The Claims of Liberia”, 1828 (1978). Accessed January 8, 2021. http://www.seorf.ohio.edu/xx057/john_newton_templeton.htm.
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5. John Newton Templeton, “The Claims of Liberia.”
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6. Thomas D. Matijasic, “The African Colonization Movement and Ohio’s Protestant Community” 21-23.
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7. Lynchburg Virginian, “Intelligence,” in The African Repository and Colonial Journal, Volume 5, ed. American Colonialization Society (Washington: American Colonialization Society, 1830), 248.
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8. Eric Burin, Slavery and the Peculiar Solution: A History of the American Colonization Society (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005), 34-35.
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9. Eric Burin, Slavery and the Peculiar Solution, 16-27.
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10. “Chillicothe Anti-Slavery Society, Organized June 30, 1834. Constitution.” Liberator, September 13, 1834. Perdreau Collection, Multicultural Genealogical Center.
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11. “Liberia,” New Orleans Tribune, April 18, 1867. Readex.
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12. Association for the Study of African American Life and History, “Edward James Roye: Fifth President of Liberia,” Negro History Bulletin 16, no. 2 (November 1952), 45. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44214502.
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Image 1: “Robert G. Wilson, Ohio University president portrait painting.” Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections. https://media.library.ohio.edu/digital/collection/archives/id/415/rec/27
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Image 2: “Ohio University Commencement Programs,” September 17, 1878. Early Ohio University Documents Collection, VFM 72. Ohio History Connection. https://cdm16007.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p267401coll36/id/16489
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Image 3: “Horrid massacre in Virginia,” woodcut, 1831. Illus. in F232.S7 W2 [Rare Book RR]. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98510363/
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Image 4: “Portrait of Edward James Roye, American-Liberian political figure,” LOT 11192-1, Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2005684096/
