let us desert this friendless place': george moses...

'Let us Desert this Friendless Place': George Moses Horton in Philadelphia--1866

Author(s): Reginald H. Pitts

Source: The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 80, No. 4 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 145-156

Published by: Association for the Study of African American Life and History

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'LET US DESERT THIS FRIENDLESS PLACE': GEORGE MOSES HORTON IN

PHILADELPHIA-1866

By Reginald H. Pitts*

George Moses Horton, the "slave poet" who wrote and published poetry in the years before and after the Civil War, was a poet of no mean ability, "a true poet, of one for whom, indeed, the writing of poetry, whatever its nature or subject, was an in- escapable accompaniment to the very act of breathing."' Horton's final years have long been shrouded in obscurity-most of the known information on his last years rests on the testimony (that of questionable validity) of one man. Although this study does not claim to solve the mystery of Horton's last years, it attempts to give some idea on how and when his life ended. The author hopes that this short study, cursory as it is, will stimulate further investigation into this area of Horton's life.

Born on the William Horton plantation near Rich Square in Northampton County, North Carolina, about 1798, George Moses Horton taught himself to read from an old spelling book, a Wesley hymnal, and the Bible, while tending the plantation's live- stock. As a young slave, George Moses would go to the nearby village of Chapel Hill on Sundays to sell farm produce to the students from the University of North Caro- lina. He became a favorite among the students, who soon determined that George should give a speech, or "spout" on any topic they wished, before they would purchase fruits and vegetables from the Horton farm.2

After some time, George made the undergraduates aware of a gift he prized more highly than forensic abilities-a knack for rhyming verses. Although he could not then write, he was soon composing acrostics (someone wrote them down for his dictation) on the names of "tip-top belles of Virginia. South Carolina, and Georgia"-sisters and sweethearts of the students. His versification was so successful that he was soon

charging fifty cents for a poem and seventy-five cents for a love letter, and had, on the average, "at least a dozen orders a week." From the start, George soon sent out his poetry for publications in local newspapers, and subsequently published two books of poetry while enslaved.3 Despite all this activity-along with Horton's personal ap- peals made to influential national personages that, for a number of reasons, went awry-Horton grew old in slavery.

At the beginning of the Civil War, sixty-one (or -two) year old George Moses Hor- ton was the slave of Hall Horton, a tanner and farmer in Chatham County near the town of Pittsboro, a few miles from Chapel Hill. Hall Horton was also the grandson of George's first owner. During the war, George spent his time, as he had for so many

* Reginald Pitts is Project Historian, John Milner Associates of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


146 JOURNAL OF NEGRO HISTORY

years, between Hall Horton's farm and tannery and Chapel Hill on the campus of the University of North Carolina.4 He was in Chapel Hill when the Union Army, in the form of the 9th Michigan Cavalry, arrived in late 1864; the story of his stay with Captain William H. S. Banks and the publication of Naked Genius in 1865 have been recounted elsewhere.5

After Banks and Horton parted company, Horton started composing and compiling poems for a new work entitled The Black Poet. However, the publication of Naked Genius does not appear to have raised any hopes of success (or revenue) for Horton while he remained in North Carolina; it appears that Horton then decided to try and find backing for his new book in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.6

Why Philadelphia? Such a contemplated journey must have appeared to have been a

daunting one for someone who probably had not travelleld fifty or more miles from his home in his long life, The idea may have been planted by missionaries and educators from the North, who arrived in North Carolina soon after Appomattox. A good number of these people were African-Americans, who would have been familiar both with Horton's work and his attempts to buy his way out of slavery. These educators would have been impressed by Horton and his accomplishments. It may have been one of these folks who suggested that he may have a better chance of getting The Black Poet published in Philadelphia and thus arranged for Horton's passage to the Quaker City.7

Another possibility may have been Dennis Heartt, editor and publisher of the Hills- borough (N.C.) Record, and the publisher of Horton's second book of poetry, The Po- etical Works of George Moses Horton, published in 1845. Heartt, originally a Connect- icut Yankee, had lived almost twenty years in Philadelphia before moving to North Carolina for his health. While in Philadelphia, Heartt had married a birthright Quaker, Elizabeth Shinn, and subsequently reared a family of four. After the end of the Civil War, Heartt continued publishing the Record while his two daughters, Caroline and Henrietta, ran a boardinghouse for university students at their home a few miles from Chapel Hill and Pittsboro. If Horton had kept in contact with the Heartt family, which is likely, the probability exists that the Heartt family may have provided the impetus and possibly the funds to send Horton North.8

So sixty-seven (or -eight) year old George Moses Horton said farewell to his wife, the "connubial flower/whom 'twas my fate to wed,"9 whose name may have been Martha Snipes10; his forty-six year old daughter Rhody Snipes"1; his forty-three year old son "Free" Snipes12; and assorted grandchildren and great-grandchildren-including those of the marriage of Van (or Van Buren) Bynum and Miranda Snipes, Rhody's daughter"3-and left for Philadelphia sometime late in 1865 or early in 1866.

When Horton arrived in Philadelphia, he would have found a bustling metropolis, the likes of which he may never have seen before. Philadelphia was rapidly expanding toward its 1870 population of 674,022, of which 22,147 were of either full or partial African descent.14 Although small, the black population was not voiceless or without resources; they often raised their voices in protest against oppressive actions and fought hard to preserve their rights. If Horton travelled alone to Philadelphia, it is plausible that his benefactor (or benefactors) had someone meet him at the train arriv- ing in Philadelphia and then ushered him to the house where he would stay. Since the Philadelphia city directories for the period of 1865 through 1868 do not show an ad-


THIS FRIENDLESS PLACE 147

dress for George Moses Horton it is likely that he stayed as a guest at someone's home, or roomed in a boarding house.15

Somehow, George Moses Horton either through his benefactor, or on his own, contacted the Banneker Institute, "a voluntary intellectual organization" of young black male Philadelphians devoted to the development and implementation of self-help and self-improvement procedures.16 The membership was made up of young (late twenties, early thirties) free-born Philadelphia natives who were primarily graduates of the Insti- tute for Colored Youth (much later Cheyney University). Public lectures, where members or invited guests would speak on various subjects (including "math/natural sci- ences, philosophy/history, business skills, and predictably, a variety of race-related topics"17) were devised as "topics that would interest and edify the African-American population." The Institute, one of "a proliferation of young men's clubs catering to specific ethnic, religious, or other special interests," could boast at various times that the cream of Philadelphia black society composed a large number of their members.'8

Sometime that summer, George Moses Horton received an invitation from the Ban- neker Institute to appear before them on the last day of August with selections of his work and the manuscript of The Black Poet. One feels that he may have entered onto his quest with a mixture of relief and trepidation. Here was his chance to finally bring forth his talent before people of his own color, who would appreciate it more than the students of the University of North Carolina had.

He may have prepared himself with care, practicing his work constantly, finding choice pieces of his wardrobe to wear-indeed, just before the ordeal, he may have fortified himself with a drink of liquor.19 However, all of this is surmise; the truth may never be known. What is known, though, is the outcome of Horton's appearance, as tersely recorded in the records of the Banneker Institute:

A special meeting of the institute was held on the evening of August 31, 1866, the object being

to receive Mr. George Horton of North Carolina, a poet of considerable genius, it is claimed. The

feasibility of publishing his book was submitted to John H. Smyth, but found too expensive.20

Another disappointment! It is apparent that Horton's poetry and manner failed to win over the much younger and more formally educated members of the Banneker In- stitute. Early writers of Horton's life contend that the old man's insufferable vanity and pretensions may have alienated him from his hosts, thus dashing any possibility of the Institute's support of the publication of The Black Poet.21

There are other possibilities tied in with this. Horton was old enough to be the grandfather of many of the members of the Institute; indeed, his manners and actions may have appeared to have been woefully quaint and antiquated (or even offensive) to the younger generation. The oratorical flourishes Horton may have used may have appeared to the members of the Institute as something quite different from what they were used to. Also, had Horton actually indulged in a toddy or two to fortify himself for the ordeal, and the results were made apparent (adversely or otherwise) in his presentation, this would further have alienated his hosts. Many of the members of the Institute, as befitted potential community leaders in matters both spiritual and tempo- ral, were probably teetotalers, if not outright temperance advocates.

Furthermore, Horton was from North Carolina and slave born; indeed, he had spent nearly all of his life in slavery. These two factors would have weighed heavily in the



Institute's determination of Horton's worthiness. As Georgia-born dentist Joseph Will- son pointed out a quarter-century before, many free-born Northern blacks were prejudiced against blacks most recently from the South (despite their financial or pro- fessional status) simply because of the fact that they were Southern born.22 This would be slightly disingenuous on the part of many of the members of the Institute, whose free-born status was based on the struggles of their parents to escape from bondage. For example, educator and politican Octavius V. Catto, a leading light of the Institute who would die in political violence regarding the local and national elections of 187123, was the son of the Reverend William Thomas Catto, who before he became the august pastor of the First African Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia was a South Carolina slave millwright.24

Octavius Catto's fiancee, Miss Caroline V. LeCount, who would later become the

principal of a Philadelphia elementary school named for Catto, was the daughter of a well-known Philadelphia undertaker named James LeCount. Mr. LeCount, the son of a freedman from Delaware, had started his Philadelphia career selling oysters on the street.25 The freeborn mother of Institute member Robert M. Adger, the owner of a

large second-hand furniture store, had been kidnapped from New York and sold into slavery in South Carolina.26 Many of the known members of the Institute had similar pedigrees. One wonders if the Institute may have drawn too fine a line in the severe manner Horton was treated.

At any rate, after John Smyth27 reported back that the printing costs of The Black Poet would be prohibitive for the Banneker Institute to handle, Horton may have been at loose ends. It may have been at this time that he hit upon the idea of paying his rent and other expenses by sending out poetry and prose to various publications and receiving payment upon their acceptance.28 Perhaps Horton may have entertained thoughts of publishing The Black Poet on his own or attempted to look elsewhere for financial backing. There were a number of other African-American intellectual groups in Philadelphia that may have treated Horton's request in a more sympathetic manner. The Philadelphia Library Company of Colored Persons, for example, was made up of older men closer to Horton's age and included former Underground Railroad conductor William Still, who, it may be reasoned, may have handled the matter differently.29 However, as far as it is known, The Black Poet was never published. Nevertheless, some of Horton's work did find its way into print.

While Horton struggled to stay afloat, he was forced to notice a serious predicament that affected all black Philadelphians. At the outbreak of the Civil War, metropolitan Philadelphia was serviced by nineteen streetcar and suburban railroad companies. Of these, eleven flatly refused to pick up blacks as passengers; the other eight allowed blacks on only if they rode on the open platform with the driver, thus being forced to stay outside in foul as well as fair weather. Black Philadelphians, led by William Still and Octavius Catto, enlisted the help of the business community and appealed to the patriotism of the citizens to force the public conveyances to admit blacks. A few companies relented, but most stood firm. At this time, there was no law that banned discrimination due to "race, color, creed, or national origin," so the transportation companies were not compelled to make any adjustments in their policies.30

Blacks continued fighting back, with many attempting to board the streetcars and being forcibly ejected for their pains. It was one such incident that Horton witnessed



while wandering around Philadelphia. He immediately wrote a poem, and submitted it to the Christian Recorder, a weekly newspaper published by the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The poem was published, along with the editorial comment, in the November 10, 1866 issue.

"FORBIDDEN TO RIDE ON THE STREET CARS."

The writer, widely known as the slave poet, recently saw a colored person enter a Philadelphia pas-

senger railway car, which had stopped for a passenger, but the conductor immediately compelled her

to leave. The following lines were suggested. Ed.

Why wilt thou from the right revolt?

I wish to ride not far;

Why wilt thou fear the mild revolt Nor bid the humble horses halt

But spurn me from the car?

And though I wish to travel fleet

Regardless of a jar, A short mile's journey to complete,

I dare not ride along the street

Within a rattling car.

What retribution wilt thou meet,

When summoned to the bar?

Wilt thou not from the call retreat?

Leave not the traveler on his feet,

Alone to watch the car.

Like thee, we bravely fought our way, Before the shafts of war,

Lest thou shouldst fall the rebel's prey

Why canst thou not a moment stay And take one on the car?

E'er long, we trust, the time will come, We'll ride, however far;

And all ride on together home, When freedom will be in full bloom,

Regardless of the car!31

It undoubtedly came as a shock to Horton that even though the Civil War had ended and slaves had been freed, Americans of African ancestry were denied the right to ride on a public conveyance simply because they were of African descent.

Philadelphia African-Americans continued to fight, and slowly the tide began to turn inexorably in their favor. In the case of Derry v. Lowry in late 1866, in which a conductor on a streetcar line removed an elderly black woman from a passenger car, the presiding judge instructed the jury that "while common carriers could keep out obnoxious individuals of any race or class, they could not raise color distinctions." The jury found for the plaintiff, Mrs. Derry, and awarded her damages of fifty dollars.32 Emboldened, the Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League, the state adjunct of a national political organization composed of African-Americans, drafted legislation ban-



ning racial discrimination of public conveyances state-wide. State Senator Morrow B. Lowry of Erie shepherded the bill through the state legislature in the early spring of 1867. The Senate approved the bill; then after much debate, the Assembly also approved the bill on March 18, 1867. Governor John W. Geary signed the bill into law four days later. On the 25th of March, Miss Carrie LeCount attempted to board a streetcar and was thrown off by the conductor. Undaunted, she went before a city magistrate, who swore out a warrant for the conductor's arrest. He was, then, brought into custody and subsequently fined. Philadelphia's black community celebrated their hard-won victory.33

By that time, however, George Moses Horton was far from Philadelphia. His stay had not been a pleasant one, but he may have had reason to return to North Carolina. It has been suggested that his marriage may not have been happy and also that his pride would not allow him to return with nothing to show for his labors.34 Horton had also found that, although freed by the war, African-Americans were still not free to do whatever they wished. Many others felt the same way. Some, like Octavius V. Catto, turned to political agitation. Others, despairing that life in the United States would ever improve for them, looked to other shores. Emigration-to Haiti, West Africa, Central America-had been voiced as an option

for African-Americans for many years. To seek one's destiny without the restrictions American society placed on people of color was an appealing one, so many left the continental United States to seek their fortunes elsewhere. The country of Liberia, on the west coast of Africa, had been a popular destination for many years. Created through the work of the New York-based African Colonization Society in 1816, Libe- ria had become a sovereign nation in 1837, with Liberians of African-American ancestry composing the national government.35

Liberia had long been a destination for many American blacks before the Civil War. Many slaveowners freed their slaves on the condition that they immediately take ship for Liberia. Among those wishing to leave the United States was George Moses Hor- ton. In 1829, in the preface of Horton's first book of poetry, Weston R. Gales, the son of Horton's publisher, wrote that the proceeds from the book would be used to buy Horton's freedom; upon doing so, George would then take ship for Liberia. The plea was not successful; the book made little money, and it was inferred that Weston Gales kept what proceeds there were, so Horton remained in slavery for thirty-five years more.36

With nothing else to lose, George Moses Horton once again turned his eyes toward Africa. He appears to have become involved with two disgruntled Civil War veterans named Charles A. Harrell and Charles H. Latten. Both men had served in Company A of the 24th Regiment of Infantry, United States Colored Troops, and were mustered out in October of 1865.37 Returning to Philadelphia, they became dissatisfied with postwar life and soon decided to leave the United States for Liberia. They contacted the Pennsylvania Colonization Society, the active state auxiliary to the ailing, but far from moribund, national organization, the American Colonization Society, and requested passage to Liberia. While the state colonization society requested donations in order to raise money for the emigrants' passage, Harrell and Latten organized them- selves into the "Lincoln Company" and called for volunteers. Very few people heard their call; of those who did hear, even fewer decided to sign on. In the end, the "Lin-



coln Company," with Latten and Harrell, consisted of fourteen people, and George Moses Horton, travelling alone.

While awaiting passage, Horton busied himself with writing a poem, which he subsequently submitted to the Pennsylvania Colonization Society. This poem, "Let Us Go," subtitled "A Song for the Emigrant," was printed in the American Colonization Society's national publication, the African Repository. The poem was prefaced with a word-for-word copy (just slightly updated) of Weston Gales' 1829 foreword to Hor- ton's first book of poetry.

Almost as soon I'd be a slave,

As struggling with a treacherous wave,

A friend is but a foe;

Then fearless let us spread our sail,

To meet the unmolesting gale,

Come, Brother, let us go!

Let us desert this friendless place,

To stay is nothing but disgrace; Few are our friends we know;

LIBERIA! break from every mouth, To leave the North and travel South,

Come, Sister, let us go!

Suffer no tear to wet the eye,

Nor heave a melancholy sigh,

For leaving vales of snow;

There vegetation ever thrives,

There corn in winter still revives,

Come, Father, let us go!

LIBERIA, flow from every tongue

For there the old are waxing young,

No lasting pain they know;

Where milk and honey flow along,

And murmers [sic] kindle into song,

Come, Mother, let us go!

This place is nothing but a strife,

Distressing all the piece [sic] of life,

We nothing have to show;

Let others scorn me or degrade,

I'll take my hatchet and my spade, Come, all, and let us go!38

It is apparent that the poem also reflects Horton's growing dissatisfaction with Philadelphia. He did not have much longer to wait to make his departure; the Lincoln Company, numbering fourteen souls-and including "George M. Horton," described as a sixty-eight-year-old tanner who could read and write and was a member of the Methodist Church, left for New York City to embark for Liberia on the ship Edith Rose. The party sailed on December 5, 1866, and arrived at Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, on January 7, 1867.39



The emigrants' destination was the town of Bexley, located in Grand Bassa County on the St. Paul's River. Bexley had been founded by North Carolina native Lewis Sheridan, who had purchased his freedom and that of his wife and three children. Al- though he had acquired property and was well thought of by both races, Sheridan left for Liberia in 1837 and subsequently established the settlement of Bexley "right on the Finley road to Gee's Mountain." He soon had a six hundred acre farm and em- ployed some one hundred laborers, and was a leader in the Liberian government. Hor- ton could have known of Sheridan.40

Harrell reported back soon after their arrival: "I am very happy to say that words cannot describe the good treatment of the people and the kind welcome of the Gov- ernment and of the president (Daniel Bashiel Warner).... All the company are in good spirits. ..."41 With Harrell's indirect reference to Horton's well-being ("All the company are in good spirits"), this appears to be the final reference in contemporary annals referring to George Moses Horton. As far as it can be determined, the members of the Lincoln Company remained in Liberia for the rest of their lives.

In 1880, or thereabouts, a young white native of the area about Chapel Hill named Collier Cobb, whose fathers and uncles had attended the University of North Carolina, was poking around in an old album and found an acrostic George Moses Horton had composed for the sweetheart of one of the elder Cobbs. As Collier told the story, he became interested in finding out more about this literate slave and campus character. Through the influence of some relatives who lived in the Philadelphia area, Cobb met Horton in Philadelphia in 1882 and discovered that the old man-Horton would have been either eighty-three or eighty-four-did odd jobs for Cobb's relatives and otherwise supported himself by sending to newspapers and other periodicals pieces of poetry and prose based on Bible stories rendered into modem-day terms. Cobb also as- serted that Horton died either in the next year, or sometime after.42

Collier Cobb delivered a paper entitled "An American Man of Letters-George Moses Horton, the Negro Poet" before a meeting of southern students at Harvard Uni- versity on September 23, 1886 (Cobb was a member of the Harvard class of 1889); this paper subsequently was published in scholarly journals43 and in pamphlet form. In a letter to Victor Hugo Palsits of the Manuscript Division of the New York Public Li- brary, dated January 10, 1929, the now elderly Cobb reviewed the circumstances of his meeting with Horton.44 It is on this information that the statements pertaining to Horton's last years rest.45

Was Cobb telling the truth? A number of his statements concerning Horton appear to be more accurate in the light of 1866 rather than of 1882-for example, where Cobb holds that Horton supported himself in 1882 by submitting written works to various publications, we have seen that Horton did submit poems for publication during 1866; others may have appeared in various publications during this period but have yet to be discovered. Furthermore, it must be noted that nothing bearing Horton's name or signature has been found after his "Song for the Emigrant" appeared in the African Repository in January of 1867. Indeed, one would argue that during the fifteen-year period between his last published work and the supposed meeting with Col- lier Cobb, Horton's book The Black Poet could have found a publisher.

Could Horton have returned to the United States? It is a possibility; not all emigrants to Liberia remained there. However, many who changed their minds would



have found it difficult to return to the United States, as they may not have had the money to book passage for home. Most emigrants had sold all of their possessions in order to raise passage money and would have to start from scratch; charitable donors who had raised money to send emigrants to Liberia would have looked askance at re- quests for passage money back to the United States. It is not known if Horton had any money to spare for a return ticket (indeed, any money at all) or from whom he could have requested passage money. If Horton returned to the United States, why would he have lived in Philadelphia?

The logical choice for Horton would have been to return to his family in North Caro- lina. However, no documentary evidence exists to either support or deny that possibility.46 Would the fear of returning home as a failure have compelled Horton to remain in Philadelphia, a place of which he was not fond? No information, other than the un- supported contentions of Collier Cobb, places George Moses Horton in Philadelphia after 1867. Horton does not appear in any of the Philadelphia City Directories or the Federal Censuses of Population for 1870 or 1880 for Philadelphia County, as well as for the surrounding area.47 The "Registrations of Death" indexes for the city and county of Philadelphia do not mention George Moses Horton at all. Even people sur- named "Horton" are scarce.48

Subsequently, "this terrible anonymity in death casts some shadow of doubt on Pro- fessor Cobb's testimony about the poet's Philadelphia years."49

What is left are the words of Merle Richmond, that "somewhere, sometime, Horton

died"50; and finally, those of George Moses Horton himself:

Still slow, we move from place to place,

Like bees from flower to flower,

Or faithful saints from grace to grace

Move by superior power.

But soon we trust to move our last,

No more the states to roam,

When the decision will be past,

And all arrive at home.5'

NOTES

Blyden Jackson: A History of Afro-American Literature (Baton Rouge, 1989) 1:81. 2 Merle A. Richmond: Bid the Vassal Soar: Interpretive Essays on the Life and Poetry of Phillis Wheat-

ley and, George Moses Horton (Washington, 1974), 84, 87-89; Joan R. Sherman: Invisiable Poets: Afro- American Poets of the Nineteenth Century (Urbana, Ill., 1974), 6; Richard Walser: The Black Poet, Being, the Remarkable Story (Largely Told By Himself) of George Moses Horton, A North Carolina Slave (New York, 1966), 8, 26.

3 George Moses Horton, The Hope of Liberty (Raleigh, 1829); The Poetical Works of George Moses Hor- ton (Hillsborough, N.C., 1845). The abolitionist movement took notice of Horton and, his work was re- printed in the North to show those who scoffed at the capability of the Black to create poetry (Lewis Gunn, ed. Poems of a Slave [Philadelphia, 1837]; Isaac Knapp: Poems of a Slave and the Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, A North African and A Slave (Boston, 1838)]; William G. Allen, Professor of Belles-Let- tres at New York Central College at McGrawville, New York, provided the first review of Horton's work, along with studies of Phillis Wheatley and mathematician Benjamin Banneker in Wheatley, Banneker &



Horton; With Selections from the Poetical Works of Wheatley and Horton (Boston, 1849; reprint ed., 1992). See also Richmond, Bid the Vassal Soar, 107.

4 Richmond, Bid the Vassal Soar, 157-158. The Slave Schedules for the Federal Census of Population for the Eastern District of Chatham County, North Carolina (p. 57), show that Hall Horton possessed five slaves; a sixty-one year old male (George Moses Horton); a forty year old female (probably George's daughter Rhody Snipes); a thirty-seven year old male (probably George's son "Free" Snipes); and two girls aged seven and four year (probably Rhody's daughters). See also the listing for Hall Horton's slaves in the 1850 Federal Census for the "Upper Regiment" of Chatham County, North Carolian (Schedule 2-Slave Schedules, 338) which shows a fifty-year-old male slave (George); a twenty-five year old male slave (George's son?); and a forty-year-old female slave (Rhody Snipes would have been thirty). These identifica- tions are based in part on information found in Stephen B. Weeks, "George Moses Horton, Slave Poet", Southern Workman 43:571-577 (October 1914), and the author's researches, which will be more fully described in the body of this study.

5 Richmond, Bid the Vassal Soar, 161-168; Sherman, Invisible Poets, 10; Walser, The Black Poet, 89-92. 6 Richmond, Bid the Vassal Soar, 170; Walser, The Black Poet, 92.

7 For the story of a Pennsylvania schoolteacher in nearby Durham, see Pauli Murray's Proud Shoes (New York, 1953, rev. ed., 1989). Robert George Fitzgerald (1840-1919); her maternal grandfather, fought in both the Union Army and Navy in the Civil War and subsequently opened a school and owned and operated a brickyard in Durham.

8 1850 Federal Census for Hillsboro Town, Orange County, North Carolina, 178; 1870 Federal Census for Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina, 173; H. Thomas Kearney, Jr., "Dennis Heartt," in Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (1989), 3:190 for most of the biographical information. Dennis Heartt married Elizabeth Shinn on September 13, 1804 at the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia (MS. Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia 1775-1850-Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, 186. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia).

Joseph Gales, who published Horton's 1829 work The Hope of Liberty had also at one time been a resi- dent of Philadelphia (John Thomas Scharf and Thompson Westcott: History of Philadelphia 1609-1884 [Philadelphia, 1884], 1:426n).

9 George Moses Horton, Naked Genius (Raleigh, 1865), quoted in Walser, The Black Poet, p. 95. 10 A Martha Snipes, aged seventy-two, is enumerated in the 1870 Federal Census of Population for Chat-

ham County, North Carolina (p. 130) on the 'North Side Pittsboro Road'; Ms. Snipes is described as a literate mulatto woman heading a household of four. She owned one thousand dollars in real estate and possessed personal property worth five hundred dollars (Ibid.) She may have been the unnamed sixty-three year-old slave woman enumerated in the household of Manly Snipes or the sixty year old female slave in the household of "F.B." (B. Franklin) Snipes in the Slave Schedules for the 1860 Federal Census for the Eastern District of Chatham County, North Carolina (Pittsboro Post Office), 2, 4.

" Stephen B. Weeks, "George Moses Horton, Slave Poet," Southern Workman 43:571-577 (1914), states that Rhody Snipes was a daughter of George Moses Horton. Rhody Snipes is enumerated with the household of J.J. Rigsbee of Chapel Hill, as a fifty-year-old illiterate domestic servant in the 1870 Federal Census of Population for Orange County, North Carolina (p. 156). It is extremely likely, then, that she was the unnamed forty-year-old slave woman listed in Hall Horton's household in Chatham County ten years before (1860 Federal Census of Population-Slave Schedules for the Eastern District of Chatham County [Grove Post Office], North Carolina, 576).

12 Weeks, "George Moses Horton, Slave Poet", 576. "Free" was probably the unnamed thirty-six-year- old male slave enumerated in Hall Horton's household in 1860 (1860 Federal Census of Population-Slave Schedules-Eastern District of Chatham County, North Carolina, 57). According to Weeks, Free Snipes died in Durham, N.C., sometime in 1897 (Weeks, "George Moses Horton, Slave Poet", 576). No one named Free-or Freeman, Fremont, or Freeland-Snipes appears in the Federal Census returns for North Carolina between 1870 and 1900-either black or white (Research performed at the National Archives and Records Administration-Mid-Atlantic Regional Center, Philadelphia).

13 Weeks ("George Moses Horton, Slave Poet", 576) states that Rhody Snipes had married one Van Buren Bynum and was living in the area about Durham in 1897. The 1860 Slave Schedule for Hall Hor- ton's farm shows two little girls aged seven and four, as completing his slave holdings (1860 Federal Cen- sus of Population-Schedule 2-Slave Schedules for the Eastern District of Chatham County, 57). Miranda, or Ann, Bynum, appears in the 1870 Federal Census for Pittsboro, Chatham County, N.C., as a twenty-five-



year-old woman married to twenty-seven-year-old "Van" Bynum, and the mother of four children-a son aged fifteen (possibly a stepson), and three girls aged five, three and two (1870 Federal Census for Pitt- sboro, Chatham County, North Carolina, 147). Meanwhile, Rhody Snipes, in Chapel Hill, has a five-year- old boy named Simmons enumerated with her in J.J. Rigsbee's household (1870 Federal Census for Chapel Hill Township, Orange County, North Carolina, 156). In the 1880 Federal Census for Baldwin Township, in Chatham County (40), fourteen-year-old Simmons Bynum appears in the household of Van Bynum, now listed as a forty-two-year-old farm laborer. Also listed are Ann (short for Miranda?), aged thirty-three, and several children, including William, twenty-one; Sarah, aged fifteen; Ann, aged fourteen; Catherine, aged ten; Whittaker, aged nine; Jenny, aged seven; Ella, aged three, and Dora, aged two. It appears from this cursory study that Rhody Snipes may not have married, but did bear children; and that it also seems that Rhody's relationship to Van Bynum was that of mother-in-law rather than that of spouse. 14 Dorothy Gondos Beers, "The Centennial City 1865-1876," in Russell F. Weigley, ed.: Philadelphia: A

300 Year History (Philadelphia, 1982), 419; Roger Lane: William Dorsey's Philadelphia and Ours: On the Past and Future of the Black City in America (Cambridge, Mass., 1991), 81-82. 15 McElroy's Philadelphia Directory. . . for 1866 shows eight rooming houses run by blacks in the Sev-

enth Ward of Philadelphia. The identity of the owners were determined by their entries in the 1860 and 1870 Federal Censuses of Population for the City of Philadelphia.

16 Emma Jones Lapsansky, "'Discipline to the Mind': Philadelphia's Banneker Institute 1854-1872," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (1993) 107:86.

17 Ibid., 99. 18 Ibid., 92.

19 Horton may have been a heavy drinker at one time. (Walser, The Black Poet, 57; Richmond, Bid the Vassal Soar, 121-123).

20 MS Banneker Institute Record Book 1865-1872. Leon Gardiner Papers (American Negro Historical So- ciety), Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

21 Richmond, Bid the Vassal Soar, 170; Walser, The Black Poet, 104; Weeks, "George Moses Horton, Slave Poet," 575-576.

22 [Joseph W. Willson,] Sketches of the Higher Class of Colored Persons in Philadelphia, by a South- erner (Philadelphia, 1841), 37. The prejudice against "Southerners" was of long standing, lasting to the end of the century amongst some native Philadelphians (Lane, William Dorsey's Philadelphia and Ours, 291- 293), and in some instances, longer (Allen B. Ballard: One Day's Journey [New York, 1984]).

23 Lane, William Dorsey's Philadelphia and Ours, 200, 202-203; W.E.B. DuBois, The Philadelphia Negro (Philadelphia, 1899), 114.

24 Martin R. Delany, The Condition, Elevation, Emigration and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered (Philadelphia, 1852), 108, 125.

25 Lane, William Dorsey's Philadelphia and Ours, 149; Robert DeSilver, DeSilver's Phildelphia Directory for 1823 (Philadelphia, 1823). See also Reading Beatty Johns' poem "To Carrie," in (Philadelphia) Chris- tian Recorder, May 30, 1863, p. 1, col. 1.

26 Lincoln University Alumni Directory for 1918 (Lancaster, Pa., 1918). 27 John H. L. Smyth (or Smythe) (1844-1908), a graduate of the Institute for Colored Youth, would work

his way through Howard University Law School (Class of 1872) by teaching in Howard's Preparatory De- partment (Catalogue of Howard University 1871-1872 [Washington, 1871], 17), and would eventually serve as U.S. Minister to Liberia (Lane, William Dorsey's Philadelphia and Ours, 209, 293).

28 This is based on Collier Cobb's statement, as found in Weeks, "George Moses Horton, Slave Poet," 576-577, describing Horton as" . . . a writer of short stories who published in several papers simultane- ously before the day of newspaper syndicates; an author who supported himself and his family . . . before authorship had attained the dignity of a profession."

29 Lapsansky, "Discipline to the Mind", 101. 30 [Philadelphia] Christian Recorder, November 10, 1866, p. 1, col. 1. 31 Philip S. Foner, "The Battle to End Discrimination Against Negroes on Philadelphia Streetcars (Part

One)" Pennsylvania History (1973) 40:261-290. 32 Foner, "The Battle to End Discrimination Against Negroes on Philadelphia Streetcars (Part Two-The

Victory)", Pennsylvania History (1973) 40:359-361. 33 Ibid., 359-361.

34 Richmond, Bid the Vassal Soar, 109.



35 James Wesley Smith, Sojourners in Search of Freedom: The Settlement of Liberia (Lanham, Md., 1987).

36 Richmond, Bid the Vassal Soar, 109.

37 Samuel P. Bates, Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1871), 5:1011-1013. Horton may have become involved with Harrell and Latten through Joseph T. LeCount (a relative of Carrie LeCount), who had served in the same unit as the two soldiers (Ibid., 5:1012).

38 (New York) African Repository (January 1867), 43:28-29. 39 African Repository (March 1867), 43:91, 93. 40 Charles Henry Huberich, The Political and Legislative History of Liberia (New York, 1947), 1:581. 41 The Lincoln Company," African Repository (July 1867), 43:221. 42 Collier Cobb (1862-1934) was longtime professor of geology at the University of North Carolina in

Chapel Hill. See Charles W. Eagles, "Collier Cobb," in Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (1989), 1:390-391; John E. Cobb, Jr., Cobb and Cobbs: Early Virginians (Alexandria, Va., 1977), 56-58, 68; and William S. Powell, The First State University: A Pictorial History of the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, 1972), 183.

43 Including the University [of North Carolina] Magazine (October 1909), 27:3-10. 44 This letter is now in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public

Library.

45 Cobb was followed by Professor Stephen B. Weeks of the University of North Carolina for his 1914 article on Horton in Hampton Institute's publication Southern Workman (43:571-577). Weeks also used information on Horton's family that was supplied by Kemp Plummer Battle, the president of the university, who had published an article on Horton in the May 1884 editon of the University Magazine.

46 Esther M. Douty, in the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, June 27, 1939, as noted in Walser, The Black Poet, 180.

47 The author researched the 1870 and 1880 Federal Census enumeration for the following areas: City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pa.; Cheltenham, Abington, Upper Dublin, Plymouth, Whitemarsh, and Springfield Townships as well as the borough of Norristown, all in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; Middletown, Bristol, Warminster and Doylestown Townships, and the borough of Doylestown in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Upper Darby, Darby, Marple, Newtown, Ridley, Haverford and Radnor Townships, all in Delaware County, Pennsylvania; Upper Oxford, Lower Oxford, Penn, New Garden, Lonon Grove, Kennett, Birmingham, Thornbury, and West Bradford Townships, and the boroughs of West Chester, Oxford and Kennett Square (part of Kennett Township), all in Chester County, Pennsylvania; Centre (Snow Hill Village), and Haddon Townships, and the city of Camden in Camden County, New Jersey; and the townships of Beverly, Burlington, Mansfield, and the city of Burlington in Burlington County, New Jersey. This research was performed at the National Archives and Records Administration-Mid-Atlantic Regional Center in Philadelphia.

48 Author's researches at the Department of Records, Philadelphia City Archives, Philadelphia, Pa. The indexes between 1868 and 1884 were searched, to no avail.

49 Richmond, Bid the Vassal Soar, 175. 50 Ibid., 175-177. 51 Horton, Naked Genius, in Walser, The Black Poet, 181.


let us desert this friendless place': george moses...

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