Garnett

Portrait from The Afro-American Press and Its Editors. Springfield, MA: Willey & Co., 1891.

Henry Highland Garnett

When his family escaped from slavery in Maryland, Henry Highland Garnet (1815-1881) went North with his parents, eventually settling in New York City. An ordained Presbyterian and outspoken abolitionist, Garnet rose to national prominence after giving a speech at the 1843 National Negro Convention, held in Buffalo, New York, calling for slaves to end slavery through armed rebellion.

A delegate from New York City, Garnet was also one of the organizers of the 1864 Syracuse convention. During a convention speech he recalled witnessing the lynching of an African American man during the 1863 Draft Riots in New York. Such violence influenced Garnet’s decision to support black-led emigration to Africa, a position that the other delegates overwhelmingly opposed. Nevertheless, Garnet’s speeches on education and equal pay for black soldiers were enthusiastically received at the convention.

Although Garnet continued to campaign for African American political rights after the Civil War, his disappointment in the failure of federal Reconstruction policies likely contributed to his acceptance of an appointment as U.S. Minister to Liberia. He spent his final years there.

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