Narrative of James Williams, an American Slave: Annotated Edition

Note by the Editor

NOTE BY THE EDITOR [ JOH N GR EENLEA F W HI T T IER ] The reader may perhaps feel a curiosity to know something further of James Williams, and whether he has found a place of security from the hunters of human chattels at the South. He came to New York on the 1st of the 1st mo., 1838. He was taken to the house of a true friend of the oppressed, where he was received and entertained with much sympathy and kindness.1 While in this city he was visited by a large number of gentlemen, who were deeply interested in his narrative.2 An accurate and striking sketch of his face was made by an eminent artist,3 the engraving of which, by PATRICK REASON, a colored young gentleman of this city, is prefixed to this volume.4 He had, however, been in his asylum but a few days, when information was received that two white men were in pursuit of him, accompanied by a colored man, who knew James, and would be able at once to recognise him. The informant stated that they had been as far as Boston, and had just returned to this city.5 After consultation, his friends came to the conclusion that he would not be safe in any part of the United States, and that, in the present unsettled state of the Canadas,6 it would be best to send him to England. He accordingly sailed for Liverpool, with the best wishes and sympathies of all who had an opportunity of hearing his story.7 It is with deep humiliation and sorrow that we are thus compelled to proclaim to the world, that even the nominally free states of America afford no protection to the man of color, escaping from a land of slavery. Even the soil which is yet greener for the blood of the revolutionary sacrifice—the plains of Lexington and Saratoga—may not be trodden in safety by the scarred and toil-worn fugitive from Southern Slavery. Rome had her temples where the slave could flee and be secure, for the master dared not violate his sanctuary. But America has no place too sacred for the profaning presence of slavery. It pervades the whole land,—an active and almost omnipresent despotism. The weary stranger may be plucked away from the domestic fireside, or dragged from the very horns of the altars of religion. The whole constabulary and municipal force of the country, the entire civil and military authority, are pledged, 132 note by the editor [whittier] by the constitution itself, to aid the master in recovering his runaway slaves. Judges, sheriffs, constables, and citizens of the free states, are bound by the constitutional law of the land to hunt men like wild beasts, for no other crime than that of preferring freedom to bondage. Better would it be to forego, at once, this mockery of freedom, and wear the acknowledged chains of slavery ourselves, than thus to stand ready at the beck of our masters to howl in the track of the fugitive, in concert with the trained bloodhounds of the South.8 NOTES TO THE 2013 EDITION 1. As mentioned on p. 129, this was the home of John W. Hill at 604 Water Street. 2. James G. Birney and Lewis Tappan wrote: “Whilst James was here, he was visited by many of the friends of the slave; among them we now remember the Rev. Charles Follen, Theodore D. Weld, John G. Whittier, Elizur Wright Jr., Rev. E. F. Hatfield, the editor of this paper, and the undersigned. To them he rehearsed his adventures—corresponding with remarkable consistency with the account that had been received in Emmor Kimber’s letter, without any knowledge, on his part, so far as is known, that this had been transmitted to any of his hearers.” Rev. Charles Follen (1796–1840) and John Greenleaf Whittier were both boarding at the house where Williams stayed. German-born Follen was a refugee in the United States, due to his attempts at political agitation in Europe, and had just been forced from a professorship at Harvard University for his antislavery views and outspoken opinions. He received the title “reverend ” in 1836 and had preached occasionally as a Unitarian minister. He was a member of the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Theodore Dwight Weld (1803–95) was editor of the Emancipator and other publications of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Elizur...