James N. Still to Frederick Douglass, December 4, 1851
JAMES N. STILL1James N. Still (1815–?) of Brooklyn, New York, combined reform activities with a career as a self-employed tailor and clothing retailer. Still won praise from Douglass for being a leading supporter of Frederick Douglass’ Paper and probably penned articles under the pseudonym “Observer.” Though not well educated, Still gained some reputation as an intellectual. An active proponent of black rights, Still argued that the way to obtain social equality with whites was through wealth, since he believed wealth led to empowerment. Still received scorn for this belief, most ardently from “Communipaw,” another Frederick Douglass’ Paper correspondent, James McCune Smith. Still also aided fugitive slaves to freedom through New York City via the Underground Railroad. In 1856, after he moved to Shrewsbury, New Jersey, the commissioners of the National Emigration Convention, led by Martin R. Delany, named Still an editor of a projected scholarly journal Afric-American Quarterly Repository. FDP, 15 January, 11 March, 17 December 1852, 6 May, 10 June 1853, 11 January 1855; William H. Smith, Smith’s Brooklyn City Directory for 1854 and 1855: Being a General Directory of the Inhabitants and a Street and Avenue Guide (Brooklyn, N.Y., 1854), 461; Miller, Search for a Black Nationality, 166; Ullman, Martin R. Delany, 182. TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS
[n.p. 4 December 1851].
FREDERICK DOUGLASS, ESQ.:
SIR:—
Since my long communication, which has not yet appeared, I have not written you.2The last letter from Still, dated 14 August 1851 and published under the “Observer” penname, appeared in the 4 September 1851 issue of Frederick Douglass’ Paper. Any other letters that “Observer” sent to Douglass between 14 August and 4 December 1851 have not been located. I supposed, at the time, that it was too lengthy, and too badly written, to find a place in your paper. But you know how it is with one who desires to say much, and has but little time for arrangement and composition, and therefore has to write hurriedly; and what is, still worse, has had but poor opportunities in early life to learn first principles, or the rudiments of education. It is not surprising, then, that communications emanating from such sources, should be consistently rejected. Still, it must be admitted, and should not be forgotten, that Frederick Douglass’ Paper has afforded the most extensive opportunity for a free and full expression of sentiments by the illiterate, as well as by the learned, of any paper we have ever had among us. It has long been an object of desire with our people, to get the right kind of a paper; I think we now have it. The next most desirable thing, is to extend its circulation. How easy this might be done, in communities where it is not done, or at least, where an effort is not made to do it, I should almost consider the people guilty of treason to the cause. I think our vicinity will not be wanting in making a proper effort in that direction, as the following notice given at Mr. Pennington’s3James W. C. Pennington. lecture at the Siloam Presbyterian Church last evening,4Still reports on a new self-improvement society hosted by the Siloam Presbyterian Church. Still had assisted the Reverend James N. Gloucester in founding this leading black Brooklyn congregation in the late 1840s. Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 4:111n, 379–80n; Blackett, Beating against the Barriers, 48–54. will indicate.
“The Impartial Citizen Society of Inquiry will hold their meetings in this place every Tuesday evening, at 8 o’clock. Their exercises will consist of debates, lectures, readings, &c, as last winter. The Society have made arrangements to secure the Philadelphia papers, with full reports of the trials of the Christiana patriots.5Still refers to the men arrested for aiding fugitive slaves in Christiana, Pennsylvania. Measures are also on foot under the direction of the Society to secure the extensive circulation of Frederick Douglass’ Paper, which will contain reports of the Christiana trials, also important Congressional matter relating to our cause. The public are particularly invited to attend.” This notice was official, signed by the President, though I do not know that I have quoted it correctly, as I had to do it from memory. My private opinion, is, that the extensive circulation of Frederick Douglass’ Paper is a matter of the first and highest importance to our people throughout this entire country. I have several reasons for this opinion. It is not because I think Frederick Douglass the greatest black man in the country; far from it, though the position he now holds is pre-eminent. But
my reasons are, that the paper is well established, I hope, beyond all fear of its failure; secondly, that the rights of our people are nobly advocated, and their true position ably defended; thirdly, that it is the only direct and uncompromising opponent of Colonizationalism; fourth and lastly, though not least, it is the voice of a million of mothers in chains, weeping for their children, and will not be comforted.—O let it not be said in any community that their appeals are unheeded by us, blood of their blood, and bone of their bone.6In this phrase, used several times throughout the Bible, the image of mingled blood and bone describes an artificial tie of kinship, such as adoption or marriage, that holds the same importance as a hereditary tie. Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1:761–63. 1 have no doubt but measures will be effected here to place Frederick Douglass’ Paper in nearly every colored family in the city. How strange and true it is, that our people will take the Sun,7The New York Sun, founded in 1833 by Benjamin H. Day, was originally intended to sell advertising and to attract readers by giving everyday accounts of news in the city. In 1838 Moses Yale Beach, Day’s brother-in-law, bought the paper, building both the circulation and the scope of the news that it covered. Ten years later, Beach’s sons Moses and Alfred took over the newspaper. The Sun sent mixed messages on abolitionism. Although Day personally opposed slavery, he editorialized against abolitionists. Moreover, although the paper was nonpartisan in name, the editors tended to support the Democratic party, endorsing James Buchanan for the presidency in 1856. Frank M. O’Brien, The Story of the Sun (1833; New York, 1928), 2–3, 6–10, 17, 19, 23, 29, 36, 89, 91, 107, 115–16, 119; Janet E. Steele, The Sun Shines for All: Journalism and Ideology in the Life of Charles A. Dana (Syracuse, N.Y., 1993), 95, 153–56. the Herald,8Founded in 1835, the New York Herald was owned and edited by James Gordon Bennett. In 1850 the newspaper editorially supported the Whig party, but had a reputation for balanced reporting of news events. Richard Kluger, The Paper: The Life and Death of the New York Herald Tribune (New York, 1986), 44–46, 63–64. and other papers that vilify and abuse them, and are of no pecuniary interest to them; but ask them to subscribe to their own paper, devoted to the advocacy of their own cause, edited by one of their own people, and they will squirm, and turn, and make all kinds of charges and excuses, as if it were for his own interest and benefit and not theirs.
OBSERVER.
PLSr: FDP, 4 December 1851.