Violence as an Option for Free Blacks in Nineteenth-Century America

Introduction

In August 1846, twelve Blacks from the states of Ohio, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Tennessee assembled in St. Louis, Missouri to launch a revolutionary organization dedicated to the violent overthrow of slavery. Called the Twelve Knights of Tabor, the members were sworn to secrecy, and they dedicated their lives to the bloody and violent overthrow of slavery (Dickson 19). The group has been described as "one of the strongest and most secret of any organization ever formed by men," and it remained secret until 1891(Aptheker 378). Then one of its founding members, the Rev. Moses Dickson of St. Louis, decided to immortalize memories of the founders by publishing a manual detailing its origins and structure (378). A minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Dickson hailed originally from Ohio, where he immersed himself in civil rights efforts and in post-Civil War politics. He was also a founding member of the Lincoln Institute in Jefferson City, Missouri (now Lincoln University). In 1856, according to Dickson, the movement changed its name to the Order of Twelve. By this time it boasted a membership of about 47,000 "knights of liberty" all dedicated to, "aiding in breaking the bonds of our slavery." The Order also became very active in the Underground Railroad, helping spirit slaves to freedom, while, at the same time, preparing for the ultimate assault against slavery (378–9).

Although driven by deep-seated hatred of slavery, the knights did not immediately launch their revolutionary attack. Instead, they invoked divine intervention, believing, "That the lord God was on the side of right and justice, our faith and trust was in him, and that he would help us in our needy time" (379) . In the meantime, they stockpiled arms and ammunitions, and held periodic drills. The various divisions and their respective leaders stood in readiness, waiting for the ultimate call expected from the Commander-in-Chief. Once summoned, they were to converge in Atlanta from where the assault on slavery would begin. The call finally came in July 1857. By this time, the army had grown to "at least 150,000 well-armed men" (Aptheker 379). However, as the army prepared to spread death and destruction through the South, something extraordinary happened; "the Chief ... paused and scanned the signs that were gathering over the Union. The North and South were having a terrible struggle for mastery on the slave question. The Chief called a halt and notified the knights that it was plainly demonstrated to him that a higher power was preparing to take a part in the contest between the North and South" (Aptheker 380). Thus, what would have been the bloodiest insurrection by free Blacks in American history was aborted by the specter of divine intervention.

The formation of the knights represented perhaps the only recorded effort by a group of free Blacks in the nineteenth-century United States to unleash violent assaults against slavery. With the exception of vigilante committees and organizations that evolved in the 1840s and 1850s in New York, Philadelphia and other northern cities, free Blacks generally only talked and theorized about violence, demonstrating little inclination to translate violent rhetoric into violent insurrection. The knights appear to have gone further than any previous group, in their meticulous planning and seeming determination to unleash violence, regardless of its chances. Yet they hesitated, and despite their anger and frustrations, the knights would not embark upon any violent attacks without the guidance and helping hand of a "higher power." In 1857, some three years before the outbreak of the Civil War, this "higher power" prevailed upon the knights to abandon their violent schemes and place their faith in divine intervention. In this respect, the knights reflect the ambivalence toward violence as an instrument of change that was characteristic of free Blacks in antebellum America.

The early nineteenth century was indeed a violent era. Northern free Blacks discovered that the North was not a safe haven. In fact, the 'Mecca' of the Black struggle, Pennsylvania, was also one of the most...