One Common Country for One Common People: Selected Writings and Speeches of Dr. John Jefferson Smallwood

By Mary E. C. Drew

“The negro will not be alarmed at the unjust talk against him, as is often uttered by Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina. He will not be sent to the island of the sea to please Mr. Graves, of Georgia. The negro is here to stay, to work, to learn, to obey, to pray and to accumulate property and to become a responsible factor in his own country and nation.”

--Dr. John Jefferson Smallwood
September 25, 1903

“John J. Smallwood is the most eloquent negro orator that has ever spoken in Steubenville. He is dark in complexion, rather fine looking, a plain but substantial dresser, unassuming in his manners, a profound scholar, and a master of the pure English. He has a full round voice, very eloquent as a speaker, logical, graceful, and convincing. Upon the subject of the “Negro Problem” he has no equal in this country.”

The Steubenville Weekly Herald Star
September 25, 1903

“His style of oratory, which is dignified and graceful, is suggestive of that of Hon., Frederick Douglass, and his friends, of whom he has a host, numbering among them some of the leading men and women in New England, say that in time he will surpass Douglass.”

The Boston Globe November 16, 1890

“On my return to America, on the question of labor, I learned that a colored man could better represent his race upon such issues when they came before the public.”

Dr. John Jefferson Smallwood
The Boston Sunday Globe
November 16, 1890

“But through the broader knowledge which cultivated intelligence brings, Dr. Smallwood has not stopped at the race question, but has entered upon the agitation of temperance and labor, topics affecting American citizens, white and colored.”

The Boston Globe, November 16, 1890.

“I was only twelve years of age when I ran away from my birthplace of Rich Square, NC . . . I walked sixty miles from N.C. into the town of Franklin [VA] where my poor, slave-born father and mother once lived and where my great but misguided grandfather was executed Aug. [1831]. I speak of my grandfather (Nat Turner) who led the Southampton Insurrection in [1831] as being “great.” I do not mean in a foolish, unselfish way but as a fact.” November 16, 1890, Dr. John Jefferson Smallwood. December 26, 1903.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 13, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462887217

Mary E. C. Drew

Mary E.C. Drew is a native of Northampton County, North Carolina, and the great, great niece of Dr. John Jefferson Smallwood. She is also the author of Divine Will, Restless Heart: The Life and Works of Dr. John Jefferson Smallwood.

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Copyright © 2011 by Mary E.C. Drew.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2011909687

ISBN: Hardcover    978-1-4628-8720-0

ISBN: Softcover      978-1-4628-8719-4

ISBN: Ebook            978-1-4628-8721-7

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Finding My Mother

What Are Our Morals?

Was Born A Slave

The Career Of A Brilliant Young Colored Orator

Letter To Mr. E. W. Fox

Letter To Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Letter To Frederick Douglass

Vindicated

Let Us Become Intelligent Men and Women

My Getting Married

Our Growth and Work

Views of A Southerner and A Slaveholder

The Most Eloquent Negro Orator

Moonlight on The James

Letter To Rev. Dr. Frissell

From Bootblack To College President

Negro Educator Puts Forth Startling Views

A Natural-Born Orator

An Interesting and Learned Man

Selected Bibliography

Photography Credits

Notes

This book is dedicated to my mothers—

Mary Eliza[beth], Mary Eliza, Annie, Marge, Georgianna,

Obelia Elizabeth, Caroline, Cherry, Vinnie, Ruby and Nancy—

of all of whom I am an integral part.

Mary E. C. Drew

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful for and indebted to Amanda Mathis, who has again applied her remarkable editorial skills to my material. For this book, she has done far more than just editing by providing a tremendous amount of insightful suggestions.

Thanks to Joyce V. Davis, Lois V. Duncan, Edna Stewart, Stella Rondo, Amber A. E. Duncan, Glenn Davis Jr., Lloyd Chadrick Vinson, Charlotte Brown, and James Brown IV, who continuously provided unwavering support, encouragement, and invaluable information.

INTRODUCTION

Before he became founder and president of an institution that would eventually educate over two thousand young African American boys and girls during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Dr. Smallwood had already made a name for himself. Known as one of the most eloquent Negro orators in America and England,¹ as well as the best-known colored orator in New England during that era,² Dr. John Jefferson Smallwood was no stranger to the lecture circuit. From 1886 until his untimely death in 1912, he was a familiar face on the platform, giving lectures throughout the United States and abroad on the American colored man. That he was successful as a lecturer and popular as an orator was apparent from the fact that, wherever he was announced to lecture, the houses were invariably filled.³

But through the broader knowledge that cultivated intelligence brought him, Dr. Smallwood did not stop at the race question; he entered upon the agitation of temperance, labor, and education, topics affecting all American citizens, white and colored.⁴ As an international speaker and a polished orator on race relations, Dr. Smallwood had made over two hundred fifty speeches and traveled over ten thousand miles by 1896.⁵ Additionally, he was a teacher, preacher, and founder and president of an institution of higher learning—the Temperance, Industrial and Collegiate Institute—which he established on October 12, 1892, as a school for instilling Temperance and Morality, Industry and Economy, Intelligence and Race-Pride in black Americans.⁶ A profound scholar in German, Greek, Latin, Italian, French,⁷ and Hebrew,⁸ Dr. Smallwood canvassed the states of Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois in 1888 and 1892 and talked to thousands in German, French, and Italian as he actively campaigned on behalf of President Benjamin Harrison.⁹

Despite being born at a time when racial prejudice in America was at its peak, Dr. Smallwood, grandson of Nat Turner, who had led the 1831 slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia,¹⁰ never stopped fighting for the true liberation of his people. Dr. Smallwood, like his grandfather, strove to bring about a revolution in American society, but in an entirely different way.

On August 22, 1831, Nat Turner and a band of armed slave revolutionaries¹¹ had burst out of the dense forest of southeastern Virginia and embarked on a bloody mission to throw off the institution of slavery by armed struggle.¹² The revolt rocked the foundation of the slaveholding South and shattered its complacency forever.¹³ Dr. Smallwood’s revolution, however, was not accomplished by bloodshed, but by a social, moral, and spiritual uplifting of the African American people through a message of race and self-pride. He devoted his life to advocating for the education of emancipated blacks because it was only through education, he believed, that blacks across the country could reach their potential as citizens and as Americans. Despite the fact that his actions are part of the rich fabric of experiences that helped shape the nation’s perceptions of race and race relations, his life and works have remained largely unknown.

An ex-slave and a self-educated man, who worked his way through school and college,¹⁴ Dr. Smallwood was devoted to books,¹⁵ but his true life’s passion was advocating for the rights of black Americans. He stated, in fact, that his reason for striving to become well-educated was to make himself better able to reveal the wrongs perpetrated against his race and to propose remedies for them.¹⁶ Physically, he was brown in complexion, with expressive brown eyes, and curly hair.¹⁷ And although he stood only about five feet eight inches tall, he was reportedly well-built, with square shoulders.¹⁸ His contemporaries described him as a fine-looking man with a plain but substantial way of dressing, who was unassuming in his manners, despite the fact that he was a profound scholar and a master of the pure English (probably a euphemism for white English). A very friendly and polite gentleman,¹⁹ he had a deep full round voice, and was a most eloquent speaker—logical, graceful, and convincing in his delivery. On the subject of the Negro Problem (how black Americans could become productive members of society amid the high racial tension of the post-slavery era), he had no equal in the country.²⁰ His style of oratory, which was dignified and polished, was suggestive of that of Frederick Douglass, and his friends, among whom were several of the leading men and women of New England, said that in time he would even surpass Douglass. In speaking, Dr. Smallwood used many gestures and illustrated and emphasized his arguments with witty anecdotes. Though he was highly sought after for speaking engagements, he neither cared for nor sought the limelight.²¹

Known as a powerful and dynamic speaker, Dr. Smallwood was often referred to as a natural-born orator. According to an article in the Norfolk-Virginia Pilot in 1904, he was undoubtedly the most powerful and most eloquent speaker in the South.²² This pronouncement notwithstanding, Dr. Smallwood’s lectures took him to the North too, and he remained in high demand throughout the United States over the course of his speaking career. In the state of Wisconsin during the fall of 1904, for example, he endured great pressure to canvass the state and speak.²³ This request was repeated in most parts of the country. Often, when people heard that he was going to speak in a town in their area, they would travel great distances to get a glimpse of him and to hear him speak. Many times, his speaking venue had to be changed to accommodate the large crowd.

Dr. Smallwood’s style of speaking, oratorical prowess, and profound messages would often leave an indelible impression upon his audience, both black and white. On one such occasion, in May 1903, George W. L. McLaughan, a white southerner who had also been a slaveholder, went to the AME Church in Steubenville, Ohio, to hear Dr. Smallwood speak. Incognito, McLaughan occupied an unnoticed seat in the back of the church, where he was unknown to and unobserved by anyone. After the speech, McLaughan stated, he made no attempt to meet Dr. Smallwood because he did not want to be seen in an entire strange audience of Negroes, but he admitted that he had never heard a Negro take such a polite and dignified stand for the Negro race as Dr. Smallwood had taken.

After listening to Dr. Smallwood’s speech on the race problem, McLaughan stated in an editorial for the Steubenville Weekly Herald-Star, I too thank God for such intelligent men in the Negro race at the South as Professor John J. Smallwood, and I again confess that he in his most wonderful speech has made me to see the Negro as I have never looked at him before . . . . Mr. Smallwood speaks for reason and with good common sense. As an American I love an honest brave American man.²⁴ McLaughan further stated that he agreed with Dr. Smallwood’s point that the Jim Crow laws in effect at the time