CHICAGO, ILL., Nov. 11th, 1853

FREDERICK DOUGLASS: MY MUCH ESTEEM
ED FRIEND:—I write you this letter, not be
cause I am a letter writter—by no means, sir,
as your readers will learn by reading a little
further—but because there is all activity
among the colored men and women of Ill
inois which deserves passing notice. My
friend, Illinois is aroused; she is being ag
itated from centre to circumfrence. Our
mutual friends, R. J. Robinson, and others,
of Madison County; R. H. Cain, A. H. Rich
ardson, J. Daves, A. W. Jackson, and oth
ers, of Morgan; S. Donagan, W. Robinson,
and others, of Sanguman; H. Brows, of Ed
gar; Dobbings, Bouns, and Mason, of Peoria;
Bonnar, Parker, Wagoner, Johnson, and Rol
lins, of Cook—all are at work, and, indeed,

many others all over the State are up and do
ing. I have received, in the last 8 or 10
days, some fifteen or twenty letters, which
warrant all that I have said above. R. J.
Robinson is now travelling through the
southern part of this State, addressing large
and spirited meetings of colored men and
women, urging upon them the necessity of a
thorough organization throughout the State.
We have other speakers, who are at work
around their own neighborhood. In addi
tion to our public speakers, there is an ex
tensive correspondence going on, crying for
ACTION! ACTION!! Our people are
pleased with the idea of government; they
are pleased with the State and National
Councils. Our cities and willages have gen
erally nominated candidates for the Council
of this State; so far as heard from, our State
Council will be full. The members of the Na
tional Council from Illinois will meet the
Council in the city of New York on the 23d
of the present month, if life lass, and health
remains. We have organized our debating
society in Chicago, for this winter, with a
clear sky and a fair breeze. Our friends
among the whites cheer us on to victory;
they say the times has come when "HE
WHO WOULD BE FREE, HIMSELF
MUST STRIKE THE BLOW." The col
ored people in this State have no sympa
thy with the Emigration, or Colonization
movement, not on foot by our misguided
friends, Delaney, Webb & Co, and advocated
by J. M. WhitfieldWhitfield, James Monroe

James Monroe Whitfield (1822-71), barber and poet, was born in New Hampshire. During the winter of 1838-39, the Young Men's Union Society of Cleveland appointed Whitfield to deliver an address on the subject of emigration. Thus, as a youth of sixteen, Whitfield urged that blacks establish separate settlements in the United States or on its borders. By the mid-1850s he had become a major spokesman for black emigration. After he moved to Buffalo, New York, in 1841, Whitfield worked as a barber and wrote poetry. Several of his poems had already been published in the North Star when Douglass visited Whitfield in Buffalo in late June 1850. Recounting their visit, Douglass lamented, “That talents so commanding, gifts so rare, poetic powers so distinguished, should be tied to the handle of a razor and buried in the precincts of a barber‘s shop, and that he who possesses them should be consigned, by the malignant arrangements of society, to occupy a position so menial, is painfully disheartening." A delegate to the black convention meeting in Rochester in 1853, Whitfield also endorsed and attended the 1854 emigration convention in Cleveland and was commissioned to investigate Central America as a site for prospective black settlements. Convinced that “full and fair equality can be looked for, only through the existence of national organizations of the different races," Whitfield hoped that the emigration of black Americans would contribute to the emergence of a powerful and independent black nation in the American hemisphere. Before leaving Buffalo around 1859, Whitfield published a volume of poetry, America and Other Poems (Buffalo, 1853), which he dedicated to Martin R. Delany. Later poems appeared in the Liberator the San Francisco Pacific Appeal and the San Francisco Elevator. After the Civil War, Whitfield's principal residence seems to have been in San Francisco, though he also lived in Portland, Oregon, and in Idaho. Between 1864 and 1869 he was Masonic Grand Master of California. Joan R. Sherman, “James Monroe Whitfield, Poet and Emigrationist: A Voice of Protest and Despair," JNH 57: 169-76 (April 1972); Miller, Search for a Black Nationality 137-40; Delany, Condition of the Colored People 132; J. M. Whitfield to Editor, 15 November 1853, in FDP 25 November 1853; ASB 24 August 1850 , and a few other, of less
note. It may be possible however, that
there are a few lingering skeletons lurking
about through the southern part of the
State, who should be pitied, rather than des
pised. They will be swallowed up in the
whirlpool of the great anti-slavery flood which
is now sweeping over the mighty West,
black laws and fugitive slave bills to the con
trary, notwithstanding. The underground
railroad is doing a fair business this season.
We received eleven passengers last night,
and two the night before, and we hear of
others on the road. We will take care of
them, and see that they are snugly shipped
for Queen Victoria's land. We held a large
and enthusiastic mass meeting at the M. F.
Church last evening, for the purpose of nom
inating candidates for the State Council.—Our friend, Byrd Parker, H. O. Wagoner,
and others, addressed the assembly in a brief
and spirited manner upon the importance of
calling out the letter and spirit of the Con
stitution of the National Council. After
which, there was a Committee appointed to
nominate candidates, who reported: Byrd
Parker, E. Gordon, Wm. Johnson, Henry
Bradford, M. L. Lewis, and R. H. Rollins to
represent us in the State Council, and to be
elected on the 15th of this month at which
time we expect to bring out our people.

Your humble friend,

for God and humanity.

JOHN JONES.