FREDERICK DOUGLASS TO MICHAEL E. STRIEBY

Washington, D.C. 8 July [1876.]¹This letter was printed in the American Missionary Magazine with the following preamble: “FRED. DOUGLASS AND THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. From the subjoined letter of Mr. Frederick Douglass to one of the secretaries of the American Missionary Association, it is manifest that he did not, as some persons have supposed, refer to that society in the remarks he made a year ago, criticizing the efforts of many organizations at the North to raise funds in aid of his people. It is due to the Association that Mr. Douglass’ indorsement of its aims and efforts should be known, and the misapprehension corrected.”

REV. M. E. STRIEBY.—

I have received your note as to the impression made by certain remarks of
mine at Hillsdale, D.C., twelve months ago.²Douglass delivered an Independence Day address to a largely African American audience in the Hillsdale section of Washington, D.C., on 5 July 1875. The portion of the address that apparently offended Strieby, an officer of the American Missionary Association, as well as others, such as the editor of the Philadelphia Christian Recorder, was the following: “In our judgment, we have been injured more than benefited by the efforts of so-called benevolent societies. While they may have helped a few, they have injured the many. They originate with and are organized by some good men, but they invariably fall into the hands of a peculiar class of men—men who combine shrewdness with religious zeal, and who, whether they sing, pray or preach, always ‘mean business.’ They are ever on the look-out for just such associations as special colonization societies, African civilization societies, African educational societies, Lincoln and Howard universities, and freedmen’s banks. They follow these with a scent as keen as the shark’s, which in old times followed the slave ship to eat the flesh of dead and dying negroes. They are heels over head in love with the negro, and want to do him ever so much good. These sharply-pious men usually manage to slip into the money-boxes of these associations.” Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 4: 414–15, 420–21; Washington National Republican, 8 July 1875; Philadelphia Christian Recorder, 15 July 1875. It seems that those remarks
have been made the ground upon which some of our old friends and donors have refused aid to the American Missionary Association, of which
you are, with my friend, George Whipple, Secretary. Now I very much
regret this. While in the exercise of my right of religious liberty I differ
with the American Missionary Association upon some important points
of religious belief; I have always, and do now recognize that society as
laboring honestly and successfully for the welfare and education of my
newly emancipated race, and as affording an appropriate channel through
which the Christian benevolence of the country may find its way to a part,
at least, of the needy ones of my race. In what I had to say at Hillsdale, I
aimed at two things: First, to inspire the colored people with a purpose of
self-dependence, and to assume the full responsibility for their own existence and elevation; and, second, to impress upon the American people
the duty of giving us an equal chance in the race of life. I said there,
just what I have said a thousand times before, “Give us fair play, and let
us alone;” that we need justice, and the protection of the law, more than
alms.³The Philadelphia Christian Recorder published Douglass’s comment as, “All we ask . . . is a fair field to work in, and the white man to leave us alone.” In the corrected text of his Hillsdale address published in the Washington National Republican, Douglass reported his remark thus: “The burden of our demand upon the American people shall simply be justice and fair play. We utterly repudiate all invidious distinctions, where in our favor or against us, and ask only for a fair field and no favor.” Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 4: 420; Washington National Republican, 8 July 1875. But while holding this view, I had no idea of discouraging any from
the duty of doing what they could or can for us in the absence of fair play.
Where no provision is made for our education by State or nation; while
we are persecuted and hunted, and our schools are burnt and our teachers beaten and driven off, I would not throw one straw in the way of the
American Missionary Association, or of any other society honestly laboring to disseminate light and hope amongst us.

I made no attack upon the American Missionary Association, and
I decline to be held responsible for what my friend, Mr. Langston,⁴John M. Langston was the principal speaker at the Independence Day celebration at Hillsdale. Critics such as the Philadelphia Christian Recorder condemned the strident black nationalism in his remarks, including the following: “The hour has come when we must manage our own institutions, if we have colored churches, then give use colored preachers; if we have colored banks, we must have colored bankers; if we have colored schools, let us have our own teachers; if we have colored colleges, we demand our own officers. We have played the second fiddle too long. We want, we must have, a change for the better.” Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 4: 414–15; Philadelphia Christian Recorder, 22 July 1875. was
pleased to say on that occasion. I spoke generally for justice, rather than
for alms-giving or alms-asking. I demand now, and demanded then, education for my race through all the channels open to other people, and that
they be allowed to work out thereafter their own destiny.

Faithfully yours,

FREDERICK DOUGLASS.

PLSr: , 20: 208 (September 1876).