Journey to the Promised Land

By Dwayne Makala

The Liberia Exodus of 1878 was the one of the biggest events in African American history. It certainly rivaled the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of slavery in the nineteenth century, as the grand event and the most talked about until the coming of Marcus Garvey some forty years later.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9781493198757

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Copyright © 2014 by Dwayne Makala.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4931-9874-0

                eBook          978-1-4931-9875-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Rev. date: 04/09/2014

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Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1: The Christening of the Azor

Chapter 2: The Liberian Exodus Association of Charleston, South Carolina

Chapter 3: Cry of the Pepper Bird

Chapter 4: The Middle Passage

Chapter 5: Revenge of the Benton Cross

Chapter 6: Dreams, Stories and Tall Tales

Chapter 7: Edward Wilmont Blyden: The Father of Pan-Africanism

Chapter 8: Behold! The Promised Land

Chapter 9: Letters to America and Liberia

Chapter 10: The Parade

Chapter 11: Liberia and America In the 20th Century

Chapter 12: The Tribes of Liberia

Chapter 13: The Children Of God

In 1878, the United States of America was torn apart after the Civil War between the States. The Northern victors wanted newly freed African-Americans to have equal rights within a white-dominated population. Most white Americans who were accustomed to viewing fifteen generations of African-Americans being dehumanized and degraded were not readily willing to allow such freedoms. The South, now under Union Army occupation after the war, allowed some former slaves to enable themselves with certain social advances. But after 13 years of terrorist violence, acts of intimidation and legislative filibusters in the U. S. Congress, this unprecedented social experiment collapsed into another phase of delimiting experiences for African-Americans. Journey To The Promised Land: Voyage Of The Bark Azor is a hidden treasure that exemplifies the bravery, pioneering spirit and resilient hope that all human beings desire in this life on Earth. The story of the voyage upon the Bark Azor to Liberia contradicts familiar narratives of African-American history as we know it, and hopes to shed light on the contradictions of racism within the U. S. that has had a polarizing effect on generations of Americans Black or white. The peculiar plight of Black people from the end of slavery to modern times has been something most often wish can be easily forgotten. This book questions the former ideals behind Black integration as it was applied within a reluctant American society, while also presenting the various challenges Black people have encountered in pursuit of treatment as complete citizens

The story begins within the setting of the first days of the Liberian Exodus of 1878, a time that was not much different than that of the Pilgrims’ era of escaping to the New World to flee from oppression in Western Europe. They traveled to the Western Hemisphere, seeking a promised land on which to live fulfilled lives. The Liberian Exodus of 1878 would later give rise to the likes of Marcus Garvey and the UNIA Movements of the 1920s. This little-known episode of African—American history exemplifies Black peoples’ desire for nationhood and freedom from the same type of oppression they experienced in a whitedominated world. Ever since the first Africans were brought to the shores of America, the concept of living within a society controlled by Black people has never been acknowledged by modern academia, often summarily dismissed as racist, radical, and a form of selfmarginalization expressed by Black people against whites. It is my hope that readers of Journey To The Promised Land will begin to see the Black experience through unbiased eyes. The overriding question that one should ask is not what you think should have been done, but rather what you would have done while under such circumstances? Hopefully, the revealing of an untold chapter in African-American history will help shed more light in recognizing us as full human beings.

Contrary to popular belief, Liberia’s experiment with repatriation had the support of many educated African-Americans during the late 19th century, including world-class scholars and statesmen such as John Brown Russwurm, Alexander Crumwell, Martin Delaney and Edward Wilmont Blyden. The failures of integration can be traced back to the challenges faced by Black America during the postbellum period of the Civil War. Although Journey To The Promised Land is actually a fictional work based upon true historic events, the novel seeks to elevate Black people to higher levels as done by all oppressed people since the dawning of civilization, in their quest to be free while fulfilling a desire for liberty and self-determination. This drive for independence can be exemplified throughout American history where numerous exodus movements among African-Americans occurred. For example, there were many migrations to the American West that brought Black settlers to states such as California, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. One of the largest of these journeys occurred after the Compromise of 1877, which was the result of a controversial settlement to conclude the 1876 presidential election between Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. The legislative act virtually ended the Reconstruction Period that had been hugely beneficial to the Black population after the Civil War. As a condition of accepting Hayes as the next U.S. President, Southern Democrats (ex-Confederates) were allowed to regain their power status through an agreement of having federal troops removed from the southern states of Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina.

Many questions will be asked once the reader finishes Journey To The Promised Land: The Voyage of The Bark Azor. Can we conclude that the American experience was considered a zero sum gain from the African-American perspective? If so, what does this fact say about America’s claim to being the epitome of freedom and the hope of mankind? Is American exceptionalism a myth? Or a horrible reality born on the backs of oppressed Blacks living within its borders? If more choices and options were made available, would there have been a larger number of African-Americans seeking independence? Why are there currently so many African-Americans still living on the fringes of American society? Even as well-educated and prosperous Black people, why haven’t this particular group been assimilated into the American mainstream? Journey to the Promised Land: Voyage of The Bark Azor hopes to transcend culture, time and nationality in answering these questions. It is my hope that this novel will begin an honest discussion on race and race relations in America and the world. Dwayne K. Makala

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Foreword

First and foremost, I would like to dedicate this book to my late father, Mr. Linwood Overton, who loved and showed me what a man of God was all about. I would also like to dedicate this novel to my mother, who never stopped believing in me. To all my family, friends and loved ones, readers of my blog The Kala Nation, I thank you for your support. To the people of the great Republic of Liberia and to all my ancestors who died in the Trans-Atlantic slave holocaust, I hear your voices speaking to me. It is because of my ancestors I will always do the right thing and build a world based on justice and the brotherhood of all men. I will never let hate destroy me. Finally I dedicate this to my Lord God and thank him for sending his son Jesus Christ to die for my sins. Africa will rise. Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands and bring her sons and daughters home to Zion. Dwayne Makala Virginia Beach, Virginia

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Chapter 1

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The Christening of the Azor

On the warm morning of April 21,1878, in Charleston, South Carolina, a large gathering of Black people were standing in the Charleston Harbor. They were there to witness the maiden voyage of the sail ship Bark Azor as it prepared to set off for unprecedented trek to the country of Liberia. The crowd of well-wishers and selected passengers were exchanging goodbyes and expressing support. Around the docks,some of the ship’s crew were bringing stowaways off the prepared ship shit-kicking and screaming. This unusual expulsion of freeloaders had been going on for days prior to the ship’s launching.

Of the five to eight thousand people who signed up for the first voyage, only 320 would be fortunate to make it aboard the initial trek. As expected, this caused quite an amount of mass confusion and disappointment among the supporters, some of who were already prepared but did not understand why they were turned away. An older and distinguished preacher, with his Bible in his hand, brings a light-skinned young lady with him to do the ship’s christening. The preacher name is Reverend Thompson of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Charleston, South Carolina, a church founded by Bishop Henry McNeal Turner. The young lady was Ophelia Jackson, who was eighteen years-old and had been chosen because of her desire to perform missionary work in Africa.

Reverend Thompson asked everyone around the ship to bow their heads and close their eyes for a prayer. He then reads the eleventh chapter of Deuteronomy from the Bible. It is the passage where God explains to the Children of Israel of how they will be blessed by Him with their own land as they ventured into Canaan, where land flowed with milk and honey but on the condition that they obey His laws.

Reverend Thompson finished up with an inflamed tone in his voice and said:

Amen. Ophelia, it’s time for the Christening.

He looks over at a thirteen year-old young boy named James Tolbert.

James, give her the bottle.

James looks at Ophelia.

I wanted to do it!

Ophelia felt that she did not have to answer to this child.

Boy, give me the bottle!

The princess of the Exodus people swung the bottle and broke it at the bow of the Azor. Everyone clapped and cheered as Ophelia gave a smile that lit up the world. James watched the procession as other viewers began to tear up. The young boy was more concerned about seeing whales, dolphins, sharks and sea-monsters than this dramatic formality. He wore a mini-seaman’s uniform and a captain’s hat that was given to him by the Azor Captain Blake Carrington. He had volunteered as the Captain’s mate, although it was not official. But many thought it would keep the boy out of mischief.

As the voyagers stepped up the plank to enter the ship, James greeted everyone coming aboard. This included Josiah Freeman, one of the first-class passengers.

Hello James.

Hello Mr. Freeman, he replied back.

I see you have made it.

"Yes youngin’. I prayed and the good Lawd told me, ‘Josiah! Don’t you go miss that boat!’"

James chuckled as more of the patrons ingressed and made their way onto the ship pass him. Then Ophelia appeared.

James, help me with my things. By the way, who is taking care of you on this ship?

James drew a stunned face at her inquiry.

Nobody. I am a man now.

Raising her eyebrows, Ophelia replied with incredulity.

"You are a what? Remember, I saw you when you were a baby."

A man, the young dressed sailor insisted with bravado as she walked off laughing.

She wondered why James seemed more brave than most of the adults boarding the ship. There was a slight hesitation from everyone. Once that last step was taken aboard the ship, a slight hesitation came across everyone, with a foreboding aura that gripped each of them as the hour passed.

A young man by the name of Josiah Freeman notices this peculiar mood permeating the air and offers words of encouragement.

We is all we got now. Ain’t no turning back.

Then, along comes the famous Black newspaper columnist and former Republican legislator from Columbia, South Carolina, Matthew Locke. Although he is now boarding this ship to Africa, he was once an opponent of the Exodus movement, even while being a proponent of civil rights and integration.

James my boy, I’m 35 years old. When I was your age, I taught school to runaway slaves in Washington, D.C. How old are you anyway?

Thirteen sir, James replied.

James, never forget it is knowledge that is most important. More than how big your muscles are. I think it is brave to travel at your age alone.

Well Mr. Locke, I have some of my relatives as hold passengers. I am in first class, he replied.

James, think of me as adopting you.

James looked puzzled at the strange suggestion.

Okay sir.

Suddenly, a thirty year-old woman comes on and grabs James up into her arms. To the young boy, she felt quite strong for her size. Her name was Agnes Mills and an accomplished seamstress by trade.

"Sir, I will take care of this handsome little man. He is braver than most of the men in the Carolinas. They will all die sharecroppers and serfs. I will never wed a slave. And who are you?

Mr. Matthew Locke, the former educator replied. Former legislator from Columbia South Carolina. Impressed by his description, Agnes began rubbing James on the head.

This child is going to be President of Africa one day!

He will learn from the best.

Is that so?

I was elected to the state legislature twice, even with a few white votes. I was one of the last Republicans kicked out after the Union troops withdrew.

Agnes then looked over at John Wilson as he was being greeted by the youngster James. It is clear with her stares that he was husband material. However, she decided that she wouldn’t let him on to this just yet, but rather wait and see how the men will sell themselves to her. She was a strikingly beautiful lady and was quite accustomed to being chased by men.

At twenty-five years-old, John Wilson came off as a mixed-race man. He been selected for the trip because of his bookkeeping and accounting skills, having been educated at a college in Petersburg, Virginia. Standing on the deck along with him were a group of other men. More voyagers come aboard as James did his job of directing the first-class passengers to their respective cabins. People greeted each other with warm but distant greetings. James noticed Mr. Thurston Reed and his wife Sue Reed and eagerly ran over to help them. Thurston Reed was a man of forty-five years and his wife Sue was thirty-eight. They had no children, but dreamed of adopting some one day.

Let me get your bags, ma’am.

Mrs. Reed seemed gracious for his help.

James, you’re a good boy.

A rustic, brown-skinned man appeared, coming up the stairway from the ’tweendeck of the ship. His tall frame was slim but powerfully built. He wore a cowboy hat atop his head, a bandana around his neck and military-style boots on his large feet. A banded Cuban cigar protruded from his lips. This was the cowboy James had been seen previously stocking the Azor with cannons, rifles and other munitions. He looked at James.

Howdy. I am Clinton Maximore. I do believe I have a cabin?

Yes sir, you do, James answered back. Can you show me how to shoot a gun?

Sure. I was a little older than you when I shot my first gun. I fired at slave catchers. And I never missed. When we hit ground, I want us all to know how to fire guns, men and women.

An elderly woman, Mother Ruth Hill, arrives with the Reverend William Thompson. She is the head of the mothers of the church and a lead singer in the choir. She along with the pastor want to build a new church in the promised land.

Mr. Simon Lewis, a businessman from Nantucket, Massachusetts, is followed by Ms. Emma Graceland, a school teacher from Philadelphia as they appear on the deck of the Azor. They are followed by a slender, dark-skinned young woman wearing eyeglasses and hair coiffed in a conservative ponytail. Her name is Emily Price, and she is a gospel singer from New York City who moved to the South after the Civil War.

The last of the first-class passengers walks up. He is from the Gullah Geechee people from the rice-growing Gullah Islands of South Carolina. His name is Sylvester Coleman, who is also a blacksmith. Each of the passengers had a special profession or skill and mostly all were able to farm. An obnoxious and rather large man smelling of alcohol that no one else knew, comes aboard the ship. His only license for having a ticket for the steerage compartment James let him on. He catches the attention of both Josiah Freeman and Clinton Maximore, neither of whom were introduced to each other, and suddenly look eye to eye with similar concern.

Many were thinking, isn’t this what we are leaving behind in South Carolina?

Why is this degradation following us to our fatherland? This was going to be a long voyage. The man happens to be Rufus Porter, a hired hand who worked on a farm in Savannah, Georgia.

The voyage of 1878 came at an arduous time of Black missionary work directed toward Africa and the rest of the world. Liberia was founded by white missionaries whose initial aims concentrated on the superficial displays of Christianity, worship, dress, manners, etc. But what was excluded were the true teachings of Jesus Christ and his message of love, forgiveness and brotherhood. The early Liberian leaders instead used the church as a tool to separate Africa into two factions. Christianity soon became known less known as a redeeming religion and more of as being white or European. In contrast, the African Methodist Episcopal Church was distinguished as being the first organized Black church in the world, and now had branches on all continents. It was an Africanized version of Christianity, even going as far as depicting God as Black. The Liberian ambassador had previously went to Charleston, South Carolina, on personal mission to recruit the A.M.E. Church for the Exodus movement. His ultimate hope was that the church could replace the older Anglican style of worship, and help in turning Liberia into a more stronger Black nation. During Liberia’s colonial phase, there had been only one known Black missionary sent to Liberia. The world famous Lott Carey, although someone who spoke highly of Liberia’s experiment, was very critical of the treatment and marginalization of the native peoples there at the hand of the ruling elite. From his perspective, this was the result of white missionary’s influence and the lack of Black ordained ministers.

It was around noon when all of the passengers were finally on board. For over two hours, most of the stowaways were caught but some still eluded capture. Now the tugboats are positioning the massive ship to begin sailing out of the harbor. Some people started mumbling Bound for the Promised land, while others were already tired of the the song. The captain was in the ’tween decks helm with ten men and three women who were some part of the ship’s crew. The women work mostly in the galley, performing duties such as assisting the ship’s cook and catering to the cabin passengers and dining hall.

Lay aloft and furl! Captain Carrington began yelling to one of his men on the ropes.

Aye-aye, captain!

As one of the men raced up the ropes of the mast, James became so fascinated by all this that even he now wanted to be a sailor. As the ship began to move, everyone’s heart started racing. This was it, and the life they once knew was changing within a split second. Captain Carrington let James play with the helm of the ship as it slowly pulled out of Charleston’s harbor. People were lined along the port for what seemed miles, waving and crying to the departing passengers as they bidded farewell. Although not capable going to the promised land this time, their hopes still lied within eventually joining their brothers and sisters in Zion in the future. A reporter from the Charleston Tribune was on site to witness the whole event. Although the media tried to black it out, this was the biggest event since the announcement of the Union’s withdrawal of Federal troops by President Rutherford B. Hayes, a political move made in exchange for avoiding another civil war. There was even a reporter from New York City’s Harper’s Weekly was on the deck asking questions about this marvelous event. Our readers want to know about Negroes making an exodus, a young reporter yelled as he came walking off the ship at the last minute. All aboard! A crew member yelled as the ship began leaving, as certain boats took away the last stowaways found and well wishers back to shore. With everyone waving goodbye over the ships edge on both sides, the ship began sailing through the Charleston Harbor toward the Atlantic Ocean. Friends and family members were in tears, knowing this may be last time they might see each other. The cabins of the first-class passengers were in the rear deck that was slightly elevated by a stairway and a door leading to a narrow hallway. There were twenty smaller compartments that were fully furnished. These units provided premier accommodations for those classified as the royalty of the Exodus, and allowed for exclusive arrangements during the voyage.

The best food was kept in a refrigerated storage area, where ammonia was used as a supplement in making dry ice to keep the stock of edible goods and foodstuffs frozen. When meals were ordered by passengers, these requests were made 3 hours prior to dining. This allowed the galley to retrieve food items from the ship’s general store and prepare selected menus. All remaining passengers received meal rations of corn beef hash, pork, corn, carrots, beef, bread and oats. But the upper-class excursionists would dine on more specialized culinary delights such as eggs, chicken, apple pie, ham, peas, potatoes, cornbread, bread rolls, pot roast and sweet potatoes. Lemonade would be served with breakfast and ice tea with dinners. Breakfast began at 11:00 A.M. and at noon while dinner was served at 4:00 P.M. And 5:00 P.M. The two shifts were scheduled as such because the dinning hall’s maximum capacity was held to one-hundred and fifty people per serving.

As the ship began to exit the Charleston Harbor, everyone began to settle in. The ship passed by the ruins of Fort Wagner within every passenger’s view in the distance. There wasn’t much conversation, and everyone had their own reason for being here.

James and the children were the free spirits of the ship. As long as it wasn’t the worrisome Ophelia, he didn’t care with whom he spoke. He was everywhere with everyone. To him, these people were his family, and in his innocent mind he did not understand adults.

Why did the first-class passengers insist on having their own table? he wondered as he was walking down the central ship’s narrow hall. Looking at the ship’s main sail post, He admired how polished the main sail post that was in the center of the dinning hall. James walks into the Choir room where Mother Ruth Hill, Rev. William Thompson and Mr. and Mrs. Reed were sitting and having church. They were singing. God’s not dead, he’s still alive! when Mr. Reed stopped them. James, what is going on?

There is chow ready in the galley.

Well, in twenty minutes.

We have beef, rice, cornbread and pudding. Captain said we may run out of meat so we need to ration.

Who is going to run out of meat? Not us! I want my due and proper. We paid for first-class accommodations.

Does it matter? James inquired innocently.

James, son, one day you will understand everything and everyone has their place in this world. If people forget that, then no one will work hard to improve themselves.

John Wilson is back in his cabin, looking into a mirror not far from his bed. As he fixed his curly hair, he was thinking about the few women he had seen on the ship. A mulatto who seemed kept and looked as if he never worked a hard day in his life,

John was a rather unusual sight for this voyage. In his discourse with the other passengers, no one knew if he was a house slave or born free. He hailed from Petersburg, Virginia, the same city where Joseph Jenkins Roberts departed some forty years earlier to become Liberia’s first president. Now at this point in his life, he needed a woman. Ophelia was the first to come to mind, but she was too young to be ready for a man like himself. To him, a real woman was a woman like Agnes.

While sailing on the Azor and setting off to an uncertain future in Africa, what can he offer her? He turned toward his bed at the rolled up piece of paper. It was a Given Promise of twenty acres of land. The note was given to each man who came to Liberia, along with a chance to buy as more land in the future. He thought