Wilmington, Del., Nov. 30, 1848.

Dear Douglass:—I arrived here last evening from Lancaster County, Pa., and shall hold a meeting among the colored people tomorrow evening, there being no earlier opportunity to do so. In the meantime, I shall call upon the few professed abolitionists in the place, and solicit subscribers to the North Star.

On the 20th, 21st, and 22d, I held meetings in York, Pa., assisted by Rev. John J. Moore, an excellent man, where a fine feeling and excellent interest was awakened in the condition of our people and the sustenance of the North Star. The people in York are quite industrious and intelligent, many of them being freeholders, and several excellent mechanics, doing business for themselves. Two of the best boot and shoemakers in the place are colored men; and it is conceded by many, that as good a tailor in every respect as the town affords, is a young colored mechanic, who was raised and learned his trade in York. These mechanics I have seen, and examined many specimens of their workmanship, and so far as my judgment goes, in the style and neatness of work, they were inferior to none that I have seen anywhere. There is also a carpenter among our brethren in this place, a fine workman.

One colored gentleman, Mr. Goodridge, in addition to other small branches of business carried on, owns a train of eight or ten freight cars of the first class, running between York and Philadelphia, doing good business, and a small warehouse in the former place as a depository for merchandize.

There is a good school here, taught by Mr. G. J. Goodridge, who is also clerk for his father, and quite a young man, but one of excellent deportment and highly exemplary character. The pupils under the charge of Mr. Goodridge, were examined on several of the minor branches, and promise well for future usefulness; and should Mr. G. who is a very intelligent and well-qualified gentleman, but persevere and keep pace with the march of improvement and reform, he may prove a most useful instrumentality in rearing up the young of York for positions of future use-

fulness. Mr. Goodridge, in addition to other qualifications, is a Daguerreotypist, and keeps a fine gallery at his father's dwelling, where he has his private study, and operates at leisure hours. Mr. R. S. Wilson, and the young Messrs. Clark, are the shoemakers and tailor above referred to. I advise the young colored females in this place, as well as elsewhere, though at domestic service they may be, now that the long nights of winter have commenced, instead of going from place to place in search of company with whom to while away their evening hours, to gather in groups of four, six or more, as conveniency will admit of, each leisure evening in the week, for the purpose of mental and moral improvement. These groups each should form an entire class, and should consist of about six young women, the nearest neighbors to each other, by which arrangement they would not be necessitated to go far from their dwelling places at night; who should severally meet at the house of either of the company, for the purpose of reading and studying books of useful knowledge. It does not matter whether the place of meeting be a chamber or kitchen, so that the information sought is obtained.—Let them meet with this understanding, avoiding useless, light and frivolous conversation, and there is no family with whom they may live, who would deny them this small though laudable privilege; so far from denying, they would rather encourage it. I should advise them to begin with the spelling-book, the most approved, of course; because good orthography is the foundation of all good scholarship, and for another reason, that through false pride and misguided ambition, a great number of persons, especially among our aspirants for the pulpit, commence their course of qualification in the classics and sciences, who, when they put their hands to paper, are frequently unable to spell the most ordinary or common words, of whatever combination of syllables. I would advise these young women to commence with the spelling-book, obtaining the most convenient assistance, taking their lessons by columns, until they have mastered English Grammar, at least sufficiently to write sentences correctly, which may be done in a short time by any intelligent reader. I would recommend Roswell C. Smith's English Grammar, as the most simple and comprehensive to the young beginner. By the collegian and academician, this book may be condemned and sneered at; but I do not care for that nevertheless. I have but one object, which is to accomplish certain ends, and the means, as common sense suggests, which will best accomplish those ends, are the best means to be made use of. Hence, I recommend this simplified grammar, because it certainly is the best adapted to the comprehension of the undisciplined mind. I am not of those who would only acknowledge "Euclid" as it had been handed down from an Alexandrian Museum, or an "Athenian Grammar School," without improvement or modification: nay, verily, but shall judge according to true merit, and estimate according to intrinsic value—with every amendment and modification, let the author be whom he may.

Our young women can also do much in the way of learning trades, which they should as soon as possible. Tailors, mantua-makers and milliners, care but little what the color of the person is to whom they give their work; those who work best will always be sure to get employment. This much I deem it my duty to say, for the encouragement of our young women, though by the high-born, high-headed critique, it may be considerd "bad taste" for an editorial letter; to which I have but to reply, that the opinions of such persons will not redeem our downtrodden and oppressed brethren in this country from degradation and bondage.

York is handsome town of about 7,000 inhabitants, who are very civil. Aside from the railroad, several factories and mills constitute the principal sources of wealth. The stores and shops appear to be but depositories, in exchange of commodities; little or no cash seems to change hands.

On Friday morning the 23d, I arrived at Columbia, where I met for the first time, the untiring friend and advocate of his enslaved fellow-countrymen, W. W. Brown, the St. Louis fugitive, with whom I am well pleased, and Isaac S. Flint, of Delaware, who purchased, on the auction block under the hammer, sold one year for his jail-fees in New Castle, our friend and brother, Samuel D. Burris, imprisoned on a charge of aiding the escape of slaves out of the State. We held meetings on the afternoon and evenings of this day, our ever-ready friend, W. W. Brown, participating in the effort to obtain subscribers to the North Star.

Monday, the 20th, I held another meeting here, in which there was much interest manifested, both in our condition and the prosperity of the paper. In Columbia reside the most extensive business colored men, north of Mason and Dixon's line in this country. Smith and Whipper, the former of whom resides in Philadelphia, have, exclusive of lumber-trucks, some twenty-two of the finest freight-cars upon the road, plying between Columbia and Philadelphia, transporting continually every description of merchandize. They have also at present, in store, four thousand tons of coal, and upwards of two millions five hundred thousand feet of lumber in their depository, forming an area of about one hundred and fifty by five hundred feet. The perseverance and industry of these gentlemen, have had a very salutary effect upon the whole colored population round about the neighborhood. Mr. Burrells, a gentleman formerly a laboring hand in their employ, has now some ten fine freight cars on the track, conducted by himself and sons, doing a good business; and more colored men can be seen employed about warehouses, factories and furnaces, than in any other part in which I have been. Here, instead of seeking house-service, colored men, like MEN, seek for and obtain those employments generally discarded by them, and readily grasped by white men, in western Pennsylvania and many other places. I was pleased to see at and about all the furnaces in this section of country, colored men laboring side by side with white—digging ore, boating coal, standing at the helm of burden boats, piling blooms, pigs, and the like. This is just what I desire to see, and is what will make men respected as men.

Messrs. Smith and Whipper keep constantly employed some nineteen or twenty hands, chiefly colored men, besides the hauling from their extensive coal and lumber-yard, which gives employment more or less to every white man who runs a team, cart or drag, about the town. Such men as these are truly beneficial to any community in which they may live, and I would that we had more of them.

You can scarcely imagine the effect it would have over the pro-slavery feeling in this slaveholding country, if, in addition to the few business men we have, there were in New York city, Philadelphia, Boston, even Baltimore, Richmond, Norfolk, Washington city, and all other ports of entry where colored men are permitted to reside, and Buffalo, (which has one colored mercantile house,) Cleveland, Detroit, (which has another,) Milwaukie, Chicago, Cincinnat and Pittsburgh, and many other places, but one shipping-house, wholesale or retail store, the proprietor or proprietors of which were colored men; and one extensive mechanic of any description of trade. Such indisputable evidence as this of the enterprise and industry of the colored man, compared with that of the white, would not admit of controversy.—It would bear with it truths as evident as self-existence—truths placed beyond the shadow of a doubt. And this I hold, is precisely that which our capitalists should do with their means; if they be not qualified themselves, they should have their sons and daughters qualified for active practical business life, and thus invest their capital; thereby doing good not only to the community and the time in which they live, but also to the rising generation—bequeathing to posterity a legacy more beneficial in its tendency, by example, than actual wealth in dollars and cents. As it is now, with but few exceptions, our fathers make fortunes, only to change hands at their death. Heirs, it is true, they may leave to its enoyment; but mostly unqualified and unaccustomed to business pursuits, there is but little estimate in general placed upon it by such persons; hence, it is soon squandered away in lavish profligacy, or becomes an easy prey to the envious and more advantageous rival of the unthinking colored legatee.—Hence, in the accumulation of fortunes by our fathers, it seems but an effort on their part to gain strength while living, which to transmit to our enemies, thereby making them the more powerful to oppress after their death.

There are now hundreds of avenues to industry and enterprise opened to our young men and capitalists, such as the West India and trade to the coast of Africa; all of which I have much to say about hereafter. It appears to me to be silly in the extreme for us to shut our eyes against the truth, and permitting the whites to usurp these trades and enrich themselves, while we are standing still, contending about the propriety of doing it!—So lucrative, I am informed, has already been this trade, that in one year's time from the first sailing of the African Trading Company Packet from Baltimore, that they found it necessary to build another vessel, and the trade increases at a ratio of more than one hundred per cent, per annum. I expect to be at the Pennsylvania State Convention of Colored Freemen, at Harrisburgh, on the 13th ult., when I hope to secure some action in favor of the North Star. Our people everywhere should at once adopt this paper for their organ, as experience has taught me that it is possible, in the present state of our circumstances, to support more than one efficient paper in this country, devoted particularly to the cause of the oppressed, dependent on them for support.

I should have observed that more young women in York subscribed for the paper, than in any country town in which I have yet been. There is also in Columbia a first-rate boot and shoemaker, a colored gentleman, who has two sons, quite lads, sitting at work as steadily as men, each of whom is able to do good work. I abode while in Columbia, with our excellent friends, Wm. Whipper, Esq., and lady, who did me good service while there.

I shall leave here for Chester and Westchester, when I shall write soon again.

Yours for God and Humanity,

M. R. D.Delany, Martin Robison

Born to a free mother and a slave father in Charlestown, in western Virginia, Martin Robison Delany (1812-85) was an editor, physician, and leading advocate of black emigration. In 1822 Delany's mother moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, where his father later joined them, and the young Delany attended a local school. In 1831 he moved to Pittsburgh where he worked as a barber, attended a school run by a black Methodist minister, and studied medicine, upgrading his occupation from “cupper and leecher“ to physician. Between 1843 and 1847, Delany was editor of the Mystery, a black Pittsburgh newspaper. For the next two years he served as co-editor of Doug1ass’s North Star and lectured and traveled extensively to gain new subscriptions for that paper. In 1850-51 Delany attended Harvard Medical College but, owing to protests from white students, was denied admission to the final term needed to complete his medical degree. The following year he wrote The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, Politically Considered (Philadelphia, 1852), in which he argued that emigration was the only remedy for the oppressed state of black Americans. When many black abolitionists, including Douglass, rejected Delany's position, he organized a series of National Emigration Conventions that met in 1854, 1856, and 1858. These assemblies created a permanent National Board of Commissioners, of which Delany was president and chief propagandist. In 1856 Delany moved to Chatham, Canada West, and three years later explored the Niger river valley in Africa looking for possible emigration sites. His novel Blake was serialized in the Weekly Anglo-African from November 1861 through May 1862. During the Civil War, Delany served the North first as a recruiter and examining surgeon and eventually as a major of the 104th U.S. Colored Troops. From 1865 to 1868 Delany was a Freedmen's Bureau officer in South Carolina and later was active in that state's politics, running unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor on the Independent Republican ticket in 1874. Ullman, Martin R. Delany, 52-103, 115-21, 140-71, 211-46; Dorothy Sterling, The Making of an Afro-American: Martin Robison Delany, 1812—1885 (Garden City, N.Y., 1971); Thomas Holt, Black Over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction (Urbana, Ill., 1977), 74-75, 176-77; Miller, Search for a Black Nationality, 115-33, 171-83; Martin R. Delany, Blake; or, The Huts of America, ed. Floyd J. Miller (Boston, 1970), ix; DAB, 5: 219-20.