Harriet Beecher Stowe to Frederick Douglass, November 24, 1855
Andover[, n.p.] 24 Nov[ember 18]55[.]
DEAR SIR
Give me leave to ask whether the within extract fairly represents the remarks you made1Harriet Beecher Stowe probably refers to Douglass’s comments about her during the National Negro Convention held in Philadelphia on 16-18 October 1855. Douglass expressed disappointment at the small amount of money Stowe collected for the proposed Industrial College, especially during her tour of the British Isles in 1853-54. Stowe raised only $535 rather than the $10,000 that Douglass had expected. , 26 October, 2 November 1852; Levine, , 88-89, 261n62.—Until this point is ascertained I have not a basis for expressing myself at all upon the subject—If what you said is not this will you be so kind as to favor me with a Copy of what you did say. As the American Anti-Slavery Society have never in the Slightest instance volunteered me the least advice upon the subject alluded to or addressed me a syllable in the form of a letter it is only a matter of justice to them that this should be publicly understood—The passage in question is a real annoyance to me2 In his remarks in Philadelphia, Douglass had charged: “From the assurance made to me by Mrs. Stowe I fully expected that on her return we should have sufficient funds to make a start in the college, but the Garrisonian Abolitionists had sent her packs of letters, and used their papers to prevent the contribution of funds towards it. They argued that we should not have such an institution as long as there were slaves in the country, but in this I think they had the cart before the horse.” Indeed, Stowe was not being completely candid with Douglass. In an undated letter to Wendell Phillips, Stowe complained about the pressure that African Americans had placed on her to be the principal fund-raiser for the manual-labor college, stating “Why don’t they one—many men among the colored people are richer than I am—& better able to help such an object—Will they learn to walk?” , 2 November 1855; Hedrick, , 247; Levine, , 261n. & I beg that you will embrace an early opportunity of giving me some definite explanation respecting it
Very Truly as Ever Yr friend
H B STOWE
ALS: General Correspondence File, reel 1, frame 653, FD Papers, DLC.
DOUGLASS TO SIMEON S. JOCELYN, 15 DECEMBER 1855 163
FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO SIMEON S. JOCELYN1
Rochester[, N.Y.] 15 Dec[ember] 1855.
S. S. JOCELYN
MY DEAR FRIEND.
Your letter enclosing ten Dollars in aid of my paper and expressing an
interest in my labors for the emancipation and elevation of the oppressed
and enSlaved, came Safely to hand this morning. I thank you my good
friend for both your kind words—and for your money—and not less for
the former, than for the latter.
I can easily underStand why you prefer to do what you have done in a
Silent way—and Shall therefore attend to your directions in this regard. I
Should nevertheless gladly place your name among the kind friends who
have assisted me in this my time of need.
“A friend ten Dollars”—will Serve as well—since you So will it.
I hardly know any time during the past eight years—when a donation
to my paper was more opportune than that you have now Sent me.
The past has been a trying year for Anti Slavery papers of limited
Circulation and that Circulation mostly among the poor.
Your Grateful and faithful friend
FREDERICK DOUGLASS.
ALS: American Missionary Association Papers, LNArc.
1. While a student at Yale University, Simeon S. Jocelyn (1799-1879) became the minister of an
African American congregation in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1831 he worked with both William
Lloyd Garrison and Lewis Tappan on a controversial proposal, which provoked much local opposi-
tion, to found a college for black students in the city. In 1839 he worked with Tappan on a committee
to free the slave rebels from the Amistad, who were being held for trial in New Haven. For many
years Jocelyn served as the American Missionary Association’s corresponding secretary for domestic
missions. McKivigan, War against Proslavery Religion, 77, 114, 191-92; Ripley, Black Abolitionist
Papers, 5:36-37.
Y7271-Douglass_9780300218305.indb 163 1/26/18 9:41 AM