For Frederick Douglass' Paper.

Galena, Ill., Oct. 25th, 1854.

MR. EDITOR: DEAR SIR: Seeing in your paper of Oct. 6th a dialogue between 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 the Doctors of Siloam, concerning separate or mixed schools, which, in the contest, Ethiop stirs the Rev. Doctors up, with a sharp stick, the Doctors appear to brand Ethiop with personalities. Be that as it may, the subject is an interesting one, and commands more talent than most men can muster to solve it. For my part, I am satisfied that the doctrine preached by Ethiop, as it exists at present, is true; and we know that prejudice is prevalent in all this country, more or less, if we exclude ourselves from mingling among the whites, both temporally and spiritually. To get rid of prejudice, our end will be far from being accomplished. We can find that article without going far from home. The very principle here taught by my friend Ethiop is destructive in its nature and effects; it is the same doctrine taught among the Jews or Gentiles, that they should not marry among each other—the consequence of which we have on record. Our descendents of color were once, and are now, a sectional people. Had they mixed among the other nations of the earth, and not practised so much selfishness and prejudice, as they did, and do now, we would not be placed in this degraded dilemma that we are at present.

Our safety depends much upon our mingling, both temporally and spiritually, religiously and politically, in our workshops and schools; let me be with them and never forsake them, and make good use of every foot of ground obtained in the great question of the day—equal rights for all men. My friend, Ethiop, is not much acquainted with the far west—don't think he ever was far from Brooklyn Heights. There are several reasons why we should mingle, and especially in schools and colleges. The whites have got the article of education, and we want it; and the only way to get it, is to go where they are retailing and getting it. Our colored folks have not got the article to spare. There are a few colored persons who have been blessed with the privilege to go where the white people are retailing knowledge, and buy collegiate educations; but they are so selfish that they keep it all to themselves and will not retail it.

Then comes the question, How shall we sustain national schools? Another reason is, that the doctrine is exactly what the whites want; and if we proscribe ourselves, how can we blame the whites if they proscribe us.

Yours truly,

A. H. RICHARDSON.

this degraded dilemma [illegible] at pres
ent.

Our safety depends much upon our min
gling, both temporally and spiritually, re
ligiously and politically, in our workshops
and schools; let me be with them and never
forsake them, and make good use of every
foot of ground obtained in the great question
of the day -- equal rights for all men. My
friend, Ethiop, is not much acquainted with
the far west -- don't think he ever was far
from Brooklyn Heights. There are several
reasons why we should mingle, and [illegible]