For Frederick Douglass' Paper.

POUGHKEEPSIE, April, 1855.

FRIEND DOUGLASS: DEAR SIR:—Allow me
to present a few thoughts with regard to the
position always held, as far as I know, by
EthiopWilson, William Joseph ("Ethiop")

William Joseph Wilson (1818–?), a free black man from New Jersey, operated a bootmaking shop in New York City as early as the 1830s. In the 1840s he became a secondary school teacher and later a principal of a black school in Brooklyn. He was an activist on behalf of black education, encouraging access and attendance, and even opened his own library. Wilson also campaigned to secure the franchise for New York African Americans. He served as a member of the Committee of Thirteen, organized by New York black leaders to stop enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act. In the early 1850s Wilson’s letters appeared frequently in Frederick Douglass’ Paper, and Douglass referred to him as the newspaper’s “Brooklyn correspondent.” Wilson’s letters to the newspaper, published under the pseudonym “Ethiop,” were often part of an ongoing debate about the condition of blacks in New York and the United States. Wilson’s most frequent sparring partner in the war of letters was “Communipaw,” actually James McCune Smith, a prominent black physician in New York City. Carleton Mabee, Black Education in New York State: From Colonial to Modern Times (Syracuse, N.Y., 1979), 54, 63-67, 123, 129, 155, 158; Foner and Walker, Black State Conventions, 1:79-88; Quarles, Black Abolitionists, 87, 212, 229; Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 4:144-45n. , and recently taken, as I think, by
CommunipawSmith, James McCune

James McCune Smith (1813–65), a prominent black physician, abolitionist, and writer, was born in New York City to an enslaved father and a self-emancipated mother. He attended the New York African Free School, but was denied admission to Columbia University, Geneva Medical College, and the New York Academy of Medicine. He turned to the University of Glasgow in Scotland, where he received a B.A. (1835), M.A. (1836), and M.D. (1837). Upon returning to New York, he opened a pharmacy and medical practice that catered to both blacks and whites. He became involved in the abolitionist movement, serving as an associate editor of the Colored American in 1839, contributed regularly to the Anglo-African Magazine, and wrote correspondence for the North Star and Frederick Douglass’ Paper under the pseudonym “Communipaw.” Smith also wrote the introduction to Douglass’s second autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom (1855). In 1861, Smith helped finance the revival of the Weekly Anglo-African to oppose black colonization and emigration, and he was a prominent member of the New York City Young Men’s Association, the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, and the New York African Society for Mutual Relief. He was the sole attending physician of the Society for the Promotion of Education Among Colored Children, a member and vestryman of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, and a trustee of the New York Society for the Promotion of Education Among Colored Children. In 1863 Wilberforce College appointed Smith professor of anthropology, but illness kept him from assuming his post. Lib., 1 June 1838; FDP, 18 May 1855; Douglass Papers, ser. 2:7–19; Miller, Search for a Black Nationality, 243; Pease and Pease, They Who Would Be Free, 90–92, 103, 110; Quarles, Black Abolitionists, 115, 134; Rhoda G. Freeman, “The Free Negro in New York City in the Era before the Civil War” (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1966), 40–42, 177, 186, 195, 200, 247, 276, 286, 325, 353, 393; DAB, 27:288–89. . I allude to their politics of
preserving and maintaining the African iden
tity of the colored people of the United
States. Did I not know personally, "Ethiop"
and "Communipaw," I should suspect that
they were colonizationists in disguise, urging
the colored people to preserve their identity
with the African race, that thereby the pro
priety and necessity of African colonization
might be made to appear most plain to all
men, without dispute and without contradic
tion. This would so appear, 1st; because
if the colored people are in fact Africans,
what business, it may be asked, have these
3 millions of inferior degraded Africans here
in the United States, trying to mix them
selves up with 24 or 30 millions of whites?—
You cannot mix nationalities, nor can you
mix black and white; and if you could mix
black and white, what benefit could possibly
result to either party, while each would pre
serve its identity. But "Ethiop" and "Com
munipaw" would not have the colored peo
ple imitate nor mix with the whites. They
would have them contend with each other.—
Just think of it! Three millions of Afri
cans contending with 24 millions of Ameri
cans—for what? Why, for the rights of
American citizens, politically, socially and
religiously. What an idea that is. I desire
to have no part in such a contest. I hope
no one desires it. It would be more fatal to
the colored race than the brave and daring
charge of the British Light Brigade at Bala
klava. Nay, more, the foolish daring of the
British Light Brigade would be justly con
sidered an act of wisdom, compared with the
conduct of 3 millions Africans charging 24
millions Americans on the ground selected
by the Americans themselves. One such
charge would result in the anninhilation of
the Afrian Brigade, with no prospect of re
cruits.

The true policy, in my opinion, for the
colored people to pursue is, lessen the dis
tinction between white and colored citizens
of the United States. We are American cit
izens by birth, by habit, by habitation, and
by language. Why, then, wish to be consid
ered Africans. "African churches"—Afri
can schools will do , while nothing better is
to be had. These will do very well in Afri
ca, but not in the U.S. The presumption
with most people is, that no man is a proper
citizen of one certain country, while he
claims at the same time to be a citizen of
any other country. It therefore seems out
of place, and resaonable to claim to be Amer
icans, and at the same time claim to be Af
ricans. Common sense would seem to dic
tate, that if we are American citizens, then
we are in our own country of right; but, on
the other hand, if we be Africans, then sure
ly our county is Africa. For my part, I
claim to be an American citizen, and also
claim to be a man. When I claim to be any
thing else, I trust I shall evince my bravery
and wisdom by taking my proper place,
whether it be in Africa or elsewhere. "Col
ored Americans" will do in the United States,
but "Africans" never. I shall be greatly
mistaken if the free colored people of this
country shall consent to be packed and la
belled for the African market, by "Ethiop"
and "Communipaw."

URIAH BOSTON.