The following excellent letter was read on the last evening of the Festival, and was received with marks of warm approval by the audience:
Frederick Douglass—Dear Sir—Several students, ladies and gentlemen of New York Central College, have contributed ten dollars to the Rochester Anti-Slavery Festival, to be held on the 18th and 19th of this month. On their behalf, I enclose the amount, and accompany it with their wishes and mine, that you may have a great and glorious meeting, one which, altogether, shall be productive of the happiest results.
We regret that we cannot be with you.—But while we may not be with you, you may rest assured that New York Central College is contributing its share daily and hourly to help the world onward and upward to God. Principles, written by Jehovah's finger in the deep depths of the human heart, are those which we recognize and act upon.
We believe there is one God, the Father of us all, and that "all we" are brethren.
We believe that no one is better for being born white than black; and, vice versa, no better for being born black than white.
We believe that to woman should be extended educational advantages, equal to those enjoyed by man.
We believe that manual labor is good for the health, the intellect and the morals.
We believe that Christianity is of no sect nor party; that its teachings recognize no Baptists, no Congregationalists, no Methodists, no Episcopalians, only those who love God and work righteousness. So we believe; so we act.
Faithfully yours,
Wm. G. AllenAllen, William G.

Son of a free black mother and a white immigrant father, William G. Allen (1820–?) grew up in southeastern Virginia. After graduating from the Oneida Institute in New York, Allen taught school in Canada and New York. Allen was a popular lecturer and was regarded as an expert on black history and literature. In 1844, while teaching in Troy, New York, he assisted Henry Highland Garnet in editing the National Watchman, a temperance and abolitionist newspaper aimed at black readers. Shortly after having its title changed to the Clarion, the short-lived paper failed in 1847. No issues are known to have survived. In 1850 Allen became a professor of rhetoric and belles-lettres at New York Central College in McGrawville, New York, where he caused a public furor by marrying one of his white female students in 1852. The following year the Allens sailed to Great Britain, where William lectured for the abolitionist cause, and both he and his wife operated a series of small schools. Hutton, Early Black Press in America, 9; R. J. M. Blackett, “William G. Allen: The Forgotten Professor,” CWH, 26:39–52 (March 1980); Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 4:135–36n; ANB, 1:346–47.
McGrawville, March 19th, 1852.