The Works of James M. Whitfield: America and Other Writings by a Nineteenth-Century African American Poet

ARGUMENTS, PRO AND CON, ON THE CALLFOR A NATIONAL EMIGRATION CONVENTION

Black Nationalism and Emigration 115 several reasons. The latter part of July, and the first of August is considered the dullest period of the whole season, for all kinds of business except farming; so that of course, the majority of persons could attend with less inconvenience then, than at any other time; and no day could be selected more appropriate for an oppressed and outraged people to assemble and devise plans for obtaining their just rights, and elevating their moral and intellectual character, than that on which nearly a million of their brethren were raised from a state of chattlehood to the full enjoyment of the rights and privileges of freemen. The annual celebration of West India Emancipation for 1850 has been appointed at Buffalo,¹⁰ and will probably be attended by large numbers; and I would suggest the propriety of calling a convention for the purpose of organizing the League, at the same time and place. Yours for Union and Freedom. J. M. WHITFIELD ARGUMENTS, PRO AND CON, ON THE CALL FOR A NATIONAL EMIGRATION CONVENTION [The complete text that follows presents a debate on black emigration between Frederick Douglass and William Watkins, on one side, and James Whitfield, on the other, much of which took place in the pages of Frederick Douglass’ Paper beginning almost immediately after Douglass’s Rochester Colored National Convention of July 1853. In response to Martin Delany’s call in August 1853 for a National Emigration Convention of Colored People to be held in Cleveland, Douglass and his associate William Watkins expressed their opposition, presenting the movement as detrimental to their ongoing efforts at black 10. The 1850 date and place was affirmed at Buffalo’s most recent celebration; see “First of August Celebration at Buffalo,” in the North Star, 10 August 1849, 2. 116 Black Nationalism and Emigration elevation in the United States. From Whitfield’s and Delany’s perspective , selective black emigration to Central and South America would make a strong political statement against whites’ antiblack racism and help to develop a black nationality beyond the borders of the United States. For the most part, Douglass controlled the debate through his newspaper, and he eventually stopped printing Whitfield’s letters. In Arguments, black supporters of emigration like M. T. Newsom (the publisher), James Holly (who wrote the introduction), and Whitfield attempt to take control from Douglass by giving the final word to Whitfield and the various emigrationists who provide information in the appendix. That said, Douglass and Watkins have an important place in the text, for their letters are reprinted as they first appeared in Frederick Douglass’ Paper. One of the great virtues of Arguments, then, is that it displays both sides of a key debate in African American intellectual culture during the 1850s. It also displays Whitfield’s talent for polemic and political argumentation.] Black Nationalism and Emigration 117 ARGUMENTS, PRO AND CON, ON THE CALL FOR A NATIONAL EMIGRATION CONVENTION, TO BE HELD IN CLEVELAND, OHIO, AUGUST, 1854, BY FREDERICK DOUGLASS, W. J. WATKINS, & J. M. WHITFIELD. WITH A SHORT APPENDIX OF THE STATISTICS OF CANADA WEST, WEST INDIES, CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA PUBLISHED BY M. T. NEWSOM Tribune Steam Presses: GEORGE E. POMEROY & CO., TRIBUNE BUILDINGS, DETROIT 1854 INTRODUCTION The following pages, containing arguments pro and con on the subject of the migration of the colored people of the United States to some point without their territory, for the purpose of establishing a Black nationality, are from the pens of F. Douglass and W. J. Watkins,¹¹ against the project, and J. M. Whitfield in favor. The articles of the former appeared as editorials in Fred. Douglass’ paper, soon after the issuing of the call for a National Emigration Convention, by Delany, Webb, Bias,¹² and others; and those of the latter as letters in reply to the strictures on the call, contained in the articles of the former. The disputants are undoubtedly among the ablest to be found on either 11. During the 1850s, Frederick Douglass (1818–95) resisted all emigration movements . A machinist and teacher who was active in the antislavery movement, the Baltimore-born William J. Watkins (ca. 1826–?) shared Douglass’s views and moved from Boston to Rochester in 1853 to become associate editor of Frederick Douglass’ Paper. 12. During the early to mid-1850s, Whitfield and Delany were the most prominent supporters of black emigration. William Webb (1812–68), an ordained African Methodist Episcopal clergyman, met Delany in...