COLUMBUS, O., May 23, 1853.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS: MY DEAR SIR:—You have manifested an interest in the la
bors of colored men, in this part of the
field, and I know you will be glad to hear
that the good work goes on well. I have
been from home during the last three
months at work among the people, mostly
in the western counties of this State. I
found the people everywhere willing to hear,
and generally desirous to have colored men
stand forth as their own advocates. They
wish the colored people to take their cause
into their own hands—an idea of which, I
think, so well as to adopt it for myself and
recommend it to others. We must go to
work by Conventions, State and National, by
papers, local and general, by lectures and
public meetings, and by every means in our
power. My dear friend, don't falter in this
work of truth and justice. We have made
great progress during the last dozen years,
and in nothing more than our school privi
leges. The money appropriated to the ed
ucation of colored children in this city a few
years ago, was three hundred dollars per
annum; now that sum has been encreased to
fifteen hundred.

I fully unite with a Call for a National
Convention at Rochester, and think it will
meet the views and wishes of every intelli
gent friend of his race.

Yours for the oppressed,

D. JENKINSJenkins, David

David Jenkins (c. 1816–76) was a Black abolitionist from Columbus, Ohio. Born in Virginia and educated at Oberlin College, Jenkins was described by Martin R. Delany as a highly skilled craftsman: “[He] received by contract, the painting, glazing, and papering of some of the public buildings of the State, in autumn 1847. He is much respected in the capital city of his state, being extensively patronized, having on contract, the great ‘Neill House,’ and many of the largest gentlemen’s residences in the city and neighborhood, to keep in finish. Mr. Jenkins is a very useful man and member of society.” Interested in the elevation of Black people in Ohio, Jenkins organized a debating society in Columbus and was active in the Masonic Lodge and in the temperance and abolition movements. He organized the first state convention for Blacks in Ohio in 1844 and was elected vice president and appointed to the central committee during Ohio’s State Colored Convention held in Cleveland on 11 September 1852. Jenkins was a delegate from Ohio at the Colored National Convention held in Rochester in July 1853 and was appointed to its finance committee. During the Civil War, he served as a recruiting agent at Camp Delaware. Jenkins was elected vice president of the Equal Rights League Convention held on 21 September 1865 in Cleveland and was appointed sergeant at arms for the 1867 State Convention of Colored People in Columbus. Jenkins removed to Mississippi in 1872 and became a member of that state’s legislature. He died suddenly in Canton, Mississippi in 1876 and foul play was immediately suspected. Frederick Douglass' Paper, 15 September 1843, 1 October 1852, 20 May, 15 July 1853; Liberator, 21 July 1865; Daily Cleveland Herald, 25 July 1863, 21 September 1865; Ripley (Ohio) Bee, 10 July 1867; Ohio State Journal, 25 February 1870; Cincinnati Commercial, 17 April 1872; Cincinnati Daily Gazette, 27 September 1876; Cincinnati Daily Times, 13 September 1876; New York Age, 16 January 1892; 1870 U.S. Census, Ohio, Franklin County, 55; Delany, Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People, 118; Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 4:73. .