William James Watkins to Frederick Douglass, May 18, 1852
WILLIAM JAMES WATKINS1William James Watkins (c. 1826–?), a free-born African American, was a machinist during his early years, but in 1865 he became one of the first African American lawyers. Originally a Garrisonian, Watkins broke with that organization and later joined Douglass as a political abolitionist. In 1853 he moved to Rochester and served as associate editor of Frederick Douglass’ Paper. Watkins was active in the Underground Railroad and supported emigration to Haiti as a means of hastening abolition. Douglass Papers, ser. 1, 2:442; Merrill and Ruchames, Garrison Letters, 4:428n; Miller, Search for a Black Nationality, 139–40, 243–47; Pease and Pease, They Who Would Be Free, 243, 275–76; Quarles, Black Abolitionists, 178, 187–89, 230; Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 4:155–56n. TO FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Boston, [Mass.] 18 May 1852.
MR. FREDERICK DOUGLASS:
DEAR SIR:—
I was highly edified by the perusal of your letter of last week, relative to your jaunt to Cincinnati;2In his column “Jaunt to Cincinnati,” which appeared in the 13 May 1852 issue of Frederick Douglass’ Paper, Douglass recounted an incident of racial discrimination against him while he attended an abolitionist convention in that city. and being in possession of a leisure hour, I may possibly succeed in divesting it of its accompanying tedium, by informing you that the manly tone of that letter (evincing, as it does, a consciousness of your inalienable rights as a man, and a resolute determination to maintain them,) elicits my most hearty commendation.
We, sir, as a people, will never realize the object of our ardent aspirations, we will never witness that “consummation devoutly to be wished”3Hamlet, act 3, sc. 1, lines 63–64. by every lover of humanity, viz: the Declaration of American Independence divested of its recently discovered “rhetorical flourish,”4In an 1838 speech to the 25th Congress, John Quincy Adams presented a petition in which citizens of Boston suggested that citizens of the southern states considered the Declaration of Independence a “rhetorical flourish” rather than a legal document. William Lee Miller, Arguing about Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress (New York, 1996), 349. its newly developed fantasy; and the heaven-born axiom of man's equality practically exemplified, unless we renounce that unmanly obsequiousness and too ready acquiescence in the proscriptive policy which, in the aggregate, characterize us. If we are men, we are expected to act like men; but if we are spaniels, why a crouching servility, and lick-the-dust submissiveness, are but the natural developments of our physical conformation. If we are to be crushed by American Republicanism, in the name of our common humanity, sir, let it be done only under protest—let it be done so that the world shall know that America is crushing noble spirits, that she has her iron heel upon the neck of nature’s noblemen. May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,5A reference to Ps. 137:6. if it remain silent under an indignity offered me on account of my complexion. May I be compelled, like Nebuchadnezzar,6Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia (605–562 B.C.E.), expanded his rule into Egypt and Syria, conquered Jerusalem, and commissioned extensive construction in the city of Babylon. In the book of Daniel, he boasts of his own power and majesty, angering Yahweh, who sends Nebuchadnezzar to dwell with the beasts of the field until he learns proper humility. Dan. 1:1, 4:29—37; Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 4:1058–59. to herd with
the beasts of the field, when I, with that obsequious deference to assumed superiority to which I have adverted, become the willing victim of the modus operandi by which man is transformed into a brute. If we, sir, act like men, then do we, by reason of our affinity with the human species, deserve, in the midst of our oppression, to elicit their heartfelt sympathy. But if our actions are a virtual disclaimer of that fraternal affinity, what more can we reasonably expect, than to be a[n]ath[e]matized by the “world, and the rest of mankind?[”]7The popular phrase “all the world and the rest of mankind” is a hyperbole for “everyone.” The phrase is of French origin, and variations include “all the world and his father” and “all the world and his wife.” Stevenson, Book of Proverbs, 2631. Now, sir, you will, at a glance, perceive why your letter afforded me so much gratification. When you arrived at Cleveland, you actually believed you were a gentleman: and, in conformity with this belief, you went to “pass the night,” at the “Forest City Hotel.”8Unless otherwise noted, Watkins is quoting from or summarizing accurately from Douglass’s column in which he relayed the events in question. At the ringing of the morning bell for breakfast, you made your way to the table, supposing yourself [“]included in the call.” So you did not wait till the men had breakfasted, thinking you would, if expedient, bow to the imperious dictum of “OUR RULES;” but took a seat at the table which seat was provided for a man. O, Mr. Douglass! what unblushing impudencel—And you had the unexpected effrontery (?) when ordered from the table, to remain seated, and enter into an “altercation” with your “carrot-headed assailant.” By-the-by, I suppose when he returned with his “help,” to remove you from the table, you were in the Cincinnati Convention, electrifying the audience with your irresistible eloquence.—Now, sir, let us reverse the picture. You arrived at Cleveland, and (IF YOU COULD NOT FIND A COLORED BOARDING HOUSE,) with head downward, and heart fluttering, and knees smiting, you went to “Forest City Hotel.”—After loitering around the suburbs, wondering whether or not colored people can put up here or not, with trembling step, you cross the thresh[h]old. You see the clerk, and he, being a white man, you wheel your body into an angle, and, in deference to his complexion, sweep the floor with your hat, and then muster sufficient courage to speak—“Do you allow colored people to put up here, Sir? I am a stranger, and should like to pass the night here, sir.” Yes, replies the clerk. I suppose so: but of course, you don’t expect to eat with the white people, I’ll try and find a room for you. “O, very well, anything will do for me, Sir.” Now, this is just the manner in which some of our people would have acted. But you, Sir, went to the hotel as a man, was received as a man, vindicated your rights as a man, and although an attempt was made to dehumanize you, your manhood repelled the invasion; and you may rest assured that that clerk was pretty thoroughly convinced that you were a man, if you were a “nigger.” And I wish, Sir, you could infuse your indomitable and not-to be-cowered-down spirit into the great body of colored people,
that they may feel and know that they are MEN. To suppose that God created us to be hewers of wood and drawers of water,9In the campaign to establish Israel in the land of Canaan, the residents of Gibeon trick Joshua and his followers into a military alliance. When Joshua discovers the ruse, he punishes the Gibeonites by making them temple slaves, the lowest social status, who chopped wood and fetched water. Josh. 9:3–21; Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 3:1003–04. is in direct contravention of the law of our being; and a proper development of our organization, will eventually annihilate that unnatural and wicked prejudice founded upon complexional distinction, and which had its origin in the council of the lost, and is fostered only by those claiming affinity with the Prince of darkness.10Satan, the adversary of God and lord of evil in Judaism and Christianity.
Yours for the right,
WM. JAMES WATKINS.
PLSr: FDP, 27 May 1852.