THE LIFE OF CHARLES B. RAY

Charles Bennett Ray was born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, December 25, 1807, and died August 15, 1886. He first attended the school and academy of his native town and then studied theology at the Wesleyan Academy of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and later at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. He became a Congregational minister. His chief work, however, was in connection with the anti-slavery movement, the Underground Railroad and as editor of The Colored American from 1839 to 1842. As a national character he did not measure up to the stature of Ward, Remond and Douglass, and for that reason he is too often neglected in the study of the history of the Negro prior to the Civil War. But he was one of the useful workers in behalf of the Negroes and accomplished much worthy of mention.[1]

Ray became connected with the anti-slavery movement in 1833, in the early winter of which the American Anti-Slavery Society was formed. He proved his fidelity to the sacred cause of liberty by lending practical aid which men in high places often had neither the time nor the patience to give and contributed much to the final overthrow of slavery. "Many a midnight hour," said he, "have I with others walked the streets, their leader and guide and my home was an almost daily receptacle for numbers of them at a time."[2] In those days when so many matters of importance touching the subject of slavery had to be adjusted, the advocates of freedom often met for an interchange of views; and Mr. Ray's home became, on several occasions, the scene of such gatherings where Lewis Tappan, Simeon S. Jocelyn, Joseph Sturge, the celebrated English philanthropist,[Pg 362] and others discussed with great earnestness the inner workings of that grand moral conflict.

In coöperation with wealthy abolitionists whose purse strings were wont to be loosed at the call of humanity, he assisted in enabling many a slave to see the light of freedom. Several were taken by him to the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, which under the inspiration of Henry Ward Beecher, the fearless champion of the cause, contributed liberally toward the succor of the oppressed. In 1850, fifteen years after the formation of the Vigilance Committee of the city of New York, of which Theodore S. Wright was president, the New York State Committee was formed with a plan and object similar to those of the more local organizations. Of this new association Gerrit Smith was president and Ray, a member of the executive board as well as corresponding secretary, an office he held also in the older society. While Ray was not every time the moving spirit of these organizations, he figured largely in carrying out the plans agreed upon by these bodies. In the discharge of the trust committed to his hands he usually acquitted himself with an honorable record.[3]

In advancing the anti-slavery cause, Ray was among the first to work with the circle of radical free Negroes who, through the conventions of the free people of color meeting in Philadelphia and in other cities of the North from 1830 until the Civil War,[4] did much to make the freedman stand out as worthy objects of the philanthropy of the anti-slavery societies. During this period the American Colonization Society was doing its best to convince free Negroes of their lack of opportunity in this country to induce them to try their fortunes in Africa and because of the rapidity with which some free Negroes yielded to this heresy, there was a strong probability that the anti-slavery movement might be weakened by such adherence to faith in colonization to the extent that the ardor of the militant abolitionists would[Pg 363] be considerably dampened. While not among the first to start the convention movement among Negroes, Ray in the course of time became one of its most ardent supporters and no convention of the free people of color was considered complete without him.

His career as a journalist in connection with The Colored American was highly creditable. This paper was established in 1837 as the Weekly Advocate with Samuel E. Cornish as editor and Phillip A. Bell as proprietor. After two months it was decided to change the name of the publication to The Colored American, under the caption of which it appeared March 4, 1837. Bell then called to his assistance Charles B. Ray who served him as general agent. Traveling as such he went through all parts of the North, East, and West writing letters to present to the public his observations and experiences and lecturing while speaking of the claims of his paper as the champion of the slave and the organ of thought for the free Negro.[5]

Ray rose to the position of one of the proprietors of The Colored American in 1838 and upon the withdrawal of Bell from the enterprise the following year, he became the sole editor and continued in that capacity until 1842 when he suspended publication. He was regarded by his contemporary, William Wells Brown, as a terse and vigorous writer and an able and eloquent speaker well informed upon all subjects of the day. "Blameless in his family relations, guided by the highest moral rectitude, a true friend to everything that tends to better the moral, social, religious and political condition of man. Dr. Ray," says Brown, "may be looked upon as one of the foremost of the leading men of his race."[6]

That the paper ceased to be was no reflection on Ray's ability to conduct the journal, for he manifested evidences of unusual editorial ability and his writings were always strong in the advocacy of liberty and justice. The failure[Pg 364] of the enterprise was due to the fact that there were not quite 400,000 free Negroes in the United States at that time and the small number of readers among them were so unhappily dispersed throughout the country that it was difficult to secure enough support for such an enterprise. At this time The Colored American was the only paper in the United States devoted to the interest of the Negro published by a man of color. Its objects were the "more directly moral, social, and political elevation and improvement of the free colored people; and the peaceful emancipation of the enslaved." It, therefore, advocated "all lawful as well as moral measures to accomplish those objects."[7] Feeling that this journal should not be narrow in restricting its efforts to better the condition of the people of color in this country, the editor proclaimed his interest in behalf of such people of all countries of the universe and his concern in the reforms of the age and whatever related to common humanity.

Concerning this paper the Herald of Freedom said the following:

"The Colored American, we are glad to see, has reappeared in the field, under the conduct of our enterprising and talented Brother Ray. It will maintain a very handsome rank among the antislavery periodicals, and we hope will be well sustained and kept up by both, colored and uncolored patronage.

"It must be a matter of pride to our colored friends, as it is to us, that they are already able to vindicate the claims our enterprise has always made in their behalf,—to an equal intellectual rank in this heterogeneous (but 'homogeneous') community.

"It is no longer necessary for abolitionists to contend against the blunder of pro-slavery,—that the colored people are inferior to the whites; for these people are practically demonstrating its falseness. They have men enough in action now, to maintain the anti-slavery enterprise, and to win their liberty, and that of their enslaved brethren,—if every white abolitionist were drawn from the field: McCune Smith, and Cornish, and Wright and Ray and a host of others,—not to mention our eloquent brother, Remond, of[Pg 365] Maine, and Brother Lewis who is the stay and staff of field antislavery in New Hampshire.

"The people of such men as these cannot be held in slavery. They have got their pens drawn and tried their voices, and they are seen to be the pens and voices of human genius; and they will neither lay down the one, nor will they hush the other, till their brethren are free.

"The Calhouns and Clays may display their vain oratory and metaphysics, but they tremble when they behold the colored man is in the intellectual field. The time is at hand, when this terrible denunciation shall thunder in their own race."[8]

The Christian Witness said the following:

"The Colored American. Returning from the country, we are glad to find upon our table several copies of this excellent paper, which has waked up with renewed strength and beauty. It is now under the exclusive control of Charles B. Ray, a gentleman in every manner competent to the duties devolving upon him in the station he occupies. Our colored friends generally, and all those who can do so, would bestow their patronage worthily by giving it to The Colored American."[9]

As to the sort of editor Charles B. Ray was, we can best observe by reading two of his striking editorials on Prejudice and This Country, our only Home.

Prejudice

"'Prejudice,' said a noble man, 'is an aristocratic hatred of humble life.'

"Prejudice, of every character, and existing against whom it may, is hatred. It is a fruit of our corrupt nature, and has its being in the depravity of the human heart. It is sin.

"To hate a man, for any consideration whatever, is murderous; and to hate him, in any degree, is, in the same degree murderous; and to hate a man for no cause whatever, magnifies the evil. 'Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer,' says Holy Writ.

"There is a kind of aristocracy in our country, as in nearly all others, a looking down with disdain upon humble life and a disregard[Pg 366] of it. Still, we hear little about prejudice against any class among us, excepting against color, or against the colored population of this Union, which so monopolizes this state of feeling in our country that we hear less of it in its operations upon others, than in other countries. It is the only sense in which there is equality; here, the democratic principle is adopted and all come together as equals, and unite the rich and the poor, the high and the low, in an equal right to hate the colored man; and its operations upon the mind and character are cruel and disastrous, as it is murderous and wicked in itself. One needs to feel it, and to wither under its effects, to know it: and the colored men of the United States, wherever found, and in whatever circumstances, are living epistles, which may be read by all men in proof of all that is paralyzing to enterprise, destructive to ambition, ruinous to character, crushing to mind, and painful to the soul, in the monster, Prejudice. For it is found equally malignant, active, and strong—associated with the mechanical arts, in the work-shop, in the mercantile houses, in the commercial affairs of the country, in the halls of learning, in the temple of God; and in the highways and hedges. It almost possesses ubiquity; it is every where, doing its deleterious work wherever one of the proscribed class lives and moves.

"Yet prejudice against color, prevalent as it is in the minds of one class of our community against another, is unnatural, though habitual. If it were natural, children would manifest it with the first signs of consciousness; but with them, all are alike affectionate and beloved. They have not the feeling, because it is a creature of education and habit.

"While we write, there are now playing at our right, a few steps away, a colored and white child, with all the affection and harmony of feeling, as though prejudice had always been unknown.

"Prejudice overlooks all that is noble and grand in man's being. It forgets that, housed in a dark complexion is, equally alike with the whites, all that is lofty in mind and noble in soul, that there lies an equal immortality. It reaches to grade mind and soul, either by the texture of the hair, or the form of the features, or the color of the skin. This is an education fostered by prejudice; consequently, an education almost universally prevalent in our country; an education, too, subverting the principles of our humanity, and turning away the dictates of our noble being from what is important, to meaner things.[10][Pg 367]

"This Country, our only Home.

"When we say, 'our home,' we refer to the colored community. When we say, 'our only home,' we speak in a general sense, and do not suppose but in individual cases some may, and will take up a residence under another government, and perhaps in some other quarter of the globe. We are disposed to say something upon this subject now, in refutation of certain positions that have been assumed by a class of men, as the American people are too well aware, and to the reproach of the Christian church and the Christian religion, too, viz.: that we never can rise here, and that no power whatsoever is sufficient to correct the American spirit, and equalize the laws in reference to our people, so as to give them power and influence in this country.

"If we cannot be an elevated people here, in a country the resort of almost all nations to improve their condition; a country of which we are native, constituent members; our native home, (as we shall attempt to show) and where there are more means available to bring the people into power and influence, and more territory to extend to them than in any other country; also the spirit and genius of whose institution we so well understand, being completely Americanized, as it will be found most of our people are,—we say, if we can not be raised up in this country, we are at great loss to know where, all things considered, we can be.

"If the Colored Americans are citizens of this country, it follows, of course, that, in the broadest sense, this country is our home. If we are not citizens of this country, then we cannot see of what country we are, or can be, citizens; for Blackstone who is quoted, we believe, as the standard of civil law, tells us that the strongest claim to citizenship is birthplace. We understand him to say, that in whatever country or place you may be born of that country or place you are, in the highest sense, a citizen; in fine, this appears to us to be too self-evident to require argument to prove it.

"Now, probably three-fourths of the present colored people are American born, and therefore American citizens. Suppose we should remove to some other country, and claim a foothold there, could we not be rejected on the ground that we were not of them, because not born among them? Even in Africa, identity of complexion would be nothing, neither would it weigh anything because our ancestry was of that country; the fact of our not having been[Pg 368] born there would be sufficient ground for any civil power to refuse us citizenship. If this principle were carried out, it would be seen that we could not be even a cosmopolite, but must be of nowhere, and of no section of the globe. This is so absurd that it is as clear as day that we must revert to the country which gave us birth, as being, in the highest sense, citizens of it.

"These points, it appears to us, are true, indisputably true. We are satisfied as to our claims as citizens here, and as to this being the virtual and destined home of colored Americans.

"We reflect upon this subject now, on account of the frequent agitations, introduced among us, in reference to our emigrating to some other country, each of which, embodies more or less of the colonizing principle, and all of which are of bad tendency, throwing our people into an unsettled state; and turning away our attention in this country, to uncertain things under another government, and evidently putting us back. All such agitations introduced among us, with a view to our emigrating, ought to be frowned upon by us, and we ought to teach the people that they may as well come here and agitate the emigration of the Jays, the Rings, the Adamses, the Otises, the Hancocks, et al., as to agitate our removal. We are all alike constituents of the same government, and members of the same rising family. Although we come up much more slowly, our rise is to be none the less sure. This subject is pressed upon us, because we not infrequently meet some of our brethren in this unsettled state of mind, who, though by no means colonizationists yet adopt the colonization motto, and say they can not see how or when we are going to rise here. Perhaps, if we looked only to the selfishness of man, and to him as absolute, we should think so, too. But while we know that God lives and governs, and always will; that He is just, and has declared that righteousness shall prevail; and that one day with Him is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; we believe that, despite all corruption and caste, we shall yet be elevated with the American people here.

"It appears to us most conclusive, that our destinies in this country are for the better, not for the worse, in view of the many schemes introduced to our notice for emigrating to other countries having failed; thus teaching us that our rights, hopes, and prospects, are in this country; and it is a waste of time and of power to look for them under another government; and also, that God, in His providence, is instructing us to remain at home, where are all our[Pg 369] interests and claims and to adopt proper measures and pursue them, and we yet shall participate in all the immunities and privileges the American nation holds out to her citizens, and be happy. We are also strongly American in our character and disposition.

"We believe, therefore, in view of all the facts, that it is our duty and privilege to claim an equal place among the American people; to identify ourselves with American interests, and to exert all the power and influence we have, to break down all the disabilities under which we labor, and thus look to become a happy people in this extensive country."[11]

Ray rendered equally as valuable services to the Negroes as a promoter of the Underground Railroad. In fact he was approaching the climax of his career when the Underground Railroad became an efficient agency in offering relief to the large number of Negro slaves who found themselves reduced to the plane of beasts in the rapidly growing cotton kingdom. One of the striking cases in which he figured was that of the escape of the Weims family, so well known for the almost unparalleled deliverance from bondage of the entire family with one exception.

Exactly how the freedom of these slaves was obtained appears to better effect in the language of Ray himself. "But I must say a word about the younger girl, the price of whom they held as high as we gave for Catherine. We proposed another method for her freedom and carried it out, in which the mother acted a good part, as she could; we proposed to run her off. I was written to, to know whether a draft for three hundred dollars would be forwarded, conditioned upon the appearance of Ann Maria in my house or hands—the sum being appropriated to compensate the one who should deliver her safely in the North. I answered, of course, in the affirmative."[12]

The escape of Ann Maria, as proposed by this new plan, can best be explained by the correspondence between Mr. Ray and Mr. Bigelow in Washington, who, writing according to a method often adopted in those days in order the[Pg 370] more effectually to secure concealment, designates Ann Maria as the parcel sent.[13] The letter reads thus:

"Washington, D. C., Nov. 17, 1855.

"Rev. Chas. B. Ray,

"Dear Sir: I have a friend passing through the city on his way to New York, and I mean to avail myself of his kindness to send to your lady the little parcel she has been so long expecting. You can name it to her, and I now suggest that as soon as you find it convenient, you send me by express the wrapper and covering in which the valuables are packed, for I have another similar parcel to send and shall find these things exactly convenient for that purpose. My friend intends to leave here on Monday morning, with his own conveyance, taking it leisurely, and may not reach New York before about Thursday, but of this I speak more exactly before I close. I need not suggest to you how anxious I shall be to get the earliest news of the arrival of the package without breakage or injury."

Also he adds as follows:

"Washington, D. C., November 22, 1855.

"Rev. Chas. B. Ray,

"Dear Sir:

"My last letter will lead you to expect to see the boy Joe to-day but it was afterwards calculated that he will not arrive till sometime to-morrow. I am requested for the gratification of Joe's mother that you will be pleased on his arrival and before he changes his sex, to have his daguerrotype taken for her use. It will make up a part of the Record."

Mr. Ray's narration continues thus:

"Accordingly, one afternoon upon arriving home I found, sitting on the sofa at my home, a little boy about ten years old in appearance and looking rather feminine. I knew at once who it was, that it was Ann Maria. Upon her arrival I was to take her to Mr. Tappan, in whose hands the balance of the money was placed. This I did, and the little boy Joe was taken to her uncle or to where he could obtain her and finally reached Canada."

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The following incident has often been told in Mr. Ray's family. "One summer morning, a loud rap with the knocker at the front door arrested the attention and the door being opened, a man entered, who after asking, 'Does the Rev. Mr. Ray live here?' and receiving an affirmative answer, whistled as a signal to attract the notice of his comrades, then cried out, 'Come on, boys!' and forthwith fourteen men in all entered, quite alarming the inmates of the house on seeing such a train of fugitives."

In the midst of these busy days Mr. Ray also served as a minister. For twenty years he was the pastor of the Bethesda Congregational Church in New York City where many learned to wait upon his ministry. He lived until 1886, long enough to enjoy some of that liberty for which he so patiently toiled. His more valuable services to his race, however, were rendered during the period prior to the Civil War. Although in the midst of this struggle of the subsequent period there came forward men who towered higher in the public opinion than he did, the valuable work which he did as an abolitionist, and an editor, should not be neglected.

M. N. Work

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