JEHIEL C. BEMAN¹Born a freeman, Jehiel Cephas Beman (1789-1858) was a black shoemaker and the pastor of an African Methodist Episcopal Zion church in Middletown, Connecticut. As an active abolitionist, Beman helped establish dozens of black congregations and attempted to found a black college in New Haven. These actions caught the attention of white abolitionists, including William Lloyd Garrison. Beman was recruited as a founding member of the American Anti-Slavery Society and as an agent for Garrison’s . Beman accepted a ministerial position in Boston in 1838, but soon after cut his connection with the Garrisonians. He joined the ranks of a rival abolition group, the Massachusetts Abolition Society, and later supported the Liberty and Free Soil parties. During the 1840s and 1850s, Beman devoted most of his time to the antislavery cause: attending and chairing abolitionist conventions; raising money for indigent, former, or runaway slaves’ legal fees; and helping slaves reach freedom via the Underground Railroad. He received recognition in 1853 for his dedication and leadership when he was elected to the National Council of the Colored People. , ser. 1, 3:61n; Horatio T. Strother, (Middletown, Conn., 1962), 38, 91, 139-40, 153-54; Ripley, , 3:17, 23, 309n, 450-56, 4:11n, 261, 263n, 312; Kathleen Housley, “'Yours for the Oppressed’: The Life of Jehiel C. Beman,” , 77:17-29 (Winter 1992); Jennifer Lee James, “Jehiel C. Beman: A Leader of the Northern Free Black Community,” , 82:133-57 (Winter 1997). TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Middletown, Conn. 7 Sept[ember 18]54.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ:

DEAR SIR:—

I would inform you, that we have had a recent arrival from the land ofchains and whips, where the image of the Divine Being is bought and sold. But, thank the good Lord! [W]hen he arrived at our office, we, at once, recognized him as a man and a brother. Some twenty summers had passed over him in that heaven-cursed land. His conveyance was by the Underground Railroad.²Historical sources confirm that Jehiel C. Beman, Jesse G. Baldwin, and Benjamin Douglas were among the active Underground Railroad conductors in Middletown. These men assisted fugitive slaves arriving by boat on the Connecticut River from Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Old Lyme, or overland from New Haven, Madison, or Westbrook. From Middletown, fugitives were sent to Hartford by boat or to Farmington by land on their way north. Strother, , 119-20, 139-41. This company is composed of anti-Nebraska men of the first water, and Maine Law men at that; and I would just say, we passed him to the next depot, on the same road.—The Underground Railroad, by the way, is in good repair, and our office is open for business in our line at all hours, either day or night, and our cars run on the Trail.—The engine is also in first rate order, and our officers are the most trusty, selected from the most experienced of our number—some having been employed in the work for a number of years. And now, dear Sir, if you will have the goodness to recommend our road to the travelling public, you will oblige the Association.

Yours, for the Oppressed,

J. C. B. .

PLIr: , 22 September 1854.