The Melton Murders

Location of Old Store, SC
From South Caroliniana Library

This blogpost continues a series of posts on Chesterfield County and the Fox family. Other posts are:

1. Unionists in a Confederate stronghold: Chesterfield during the Civil War
2. Letters from the Fox Family: Violence in Chesterfield County
3. The law students of the Radical University: Henry A. Fox
4. The students of the Radical University: Clarence W. Fox
5. The prep students of the Radical University: Irving P. Fox
6. The law students of the Radical University: Gil Dixon Fox

Reconstruction-era University of South Carolina Professor Henry J. Fox took on his professorship after unsuccessfully trying to help found a farming colony in the Pee Dee. With support from an out of state development company, Fox had purchased a large amount of land in the hope that he could sell land tracts to northerners and Englishmen interested in farming in the south. His plans collapsed in the face of strong resistance from white conservatives. The low point occurred early on the morning of Monday April 17, 1871 when his neighbor Robert Melton, a Republican deputy tax collector, was murdered by disguised men. 

Henry's sons Gil and Henry A. published an account of the Melton murders which we recalled in the blogpost "Letters from the Fox Family: Violence in Chesterfield County." Here we take a close look at the legal records documenting the murder.

Background

The farming colony that Professor Fox tried to found was located in the township of Old Store in Chesterfield County, roughly at the location of the modern town of Pageland. Chesterfield is in the Pee Dee, and Old Store lies in the northwest part of the county, near the border with North Carolina. This was a somewhat isolated location as both the largest town (Cheraw) and the county seat (Chesterfield) are in eastern part.

About two-thousand people lived in Old Store township. Like much of the Pee Dee, the township was majority white, although African Americans made up almost a third of the population. Most African Americans had been enslaved prior to the Civil War. The county was largely rural. There was little industry, and most residents were famers.

Chesterfield county strongly supported the Confederacy. The first call for secession was made there, and one of Chesterfield's representatives to the state Secession Convention chaired the committee that drafted the Ordinance of Secession.

The region was left devastated by the Civil War. The Pee Dee was not directly impacted by the war until the last year, but then it came with a fury. In spring 1865, General Sherman's forces invaded the state following the capture of the city of Savannah. Sherman's troops marched on Chesterfield County in March, and the town of Cheraw was the site of a battle between Union and Confederate troops. No battles took place in Old Store, but General Kilpatrick's Union cavalry stayed in the area around Pageland for the first week of March. While there, they requisitioned supplies from families in the region. Soldiers took families' horses, food, and even eating utensils and clothing.  

Robert Melton

In many respects, Robert Melton was a typical resident of Chesterfield. At the time of his death, he was an old man of sixty-two. He had been born in North Carolina, but he'd been living in Chesterfield, working as a farmer, since before the war. Reconstruction created new opportunities for him. Landless until Reconstruction, at the time of his death, he owned 150 acres of land on which he raised milk cows and swine and grew Indian corn and a small amount of cotton.

Robert ran the farm with the help of his large family. He and his wife Harriet had seven children. The eldest three, the sons Alexander and William and the daughter Harriet A., had left the farm, but his son Robert C. and his daughters Mary Jane, Sarah, and Emaline remained at home.

In his politics, Robert was an outlier. During the war, he had supported the Union. When Sherman's troops occupied the county, his family not only provided them with provisions, but they even milled their corn for them. Robert became active in the Republican government after the war. He was appointed tax collector by Governor Scott, an act that was likely a reward for his political support. This appointment was a demonstration of how Reconstruction had changed Robert's fortunes. In the antebellum, small farmers like him were largely excluded from state politics. 

The Incident

Newspapers debated whether or not Robert was murdered because of his political activities. However, there was broad consensus on the basic facts about the incident.

Around 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning of Monday April 18, the Melton household was awoken by the sound of men outside their home. The family dog began barking at the men, and the Meltons became concerned when one man responded to the dog barks with gunfire. Deciding to investigate further, Robert armed himself with a bayonet and then he and his son Robert C. ran outside the house. Upon opening their front door, they were met with gunfire, and Robert was wounded.

The gunfire came from five to seven armed men who were standing about twenty feet from the house. Robert was undeterred by his injury. He proceeded to rush one of his assailants and attempted to grab his firearm. However, he was unsuccessful, and after being shot a second time, he ran back into his home.

The Melton women had followed the men outside. Sarah ran up to one of the men and begged him not to murder the family. When she did so, another assailant shot her, and then all of them ran away. The Meltons returned to their house, but upon doing so, they discovered Harriet lying on the ground. Mary initially thought her mother had simply fainted, but when the family tried to bring Harriet back into the house, Mary saw that her mother had been shot. The family laid Harriet on her bed, but by that time, she had already died of her wounds. Robert's injuries were severe, but he remained conscious. 

The gunfire awakened Robert's neighbor Robert A. Allen, and he rushed to the Melton home to see what had happened. He was horrified to find Harriet dead and Robert near death. After discussing the incident with Robert and examining his wounds, he ran to get a local constable, G. W. Carter. When the constable arrived, he discussed the attack with Robert and then examined the area for evidence. However, his search only produced a hat.

Robert remained bed-ridden, in pain, throughout the day. His condition worsened, and on the next day (Tuesday April 18), he succumbed to his injuries. Sarah survived her injuries, although they necessitated the amputation of one leg.

The Coroner's Inquest

Under state law, the county coroner was charged with conducting an inquest into all violent deaths in the county. This involved first submitting a warrant to the local constables, requiring them to summon a jury of fourteen men. Then the coroner met with the jury, and they were to determine the cause of death (whether it was an accident or a homicide, etc).

To make their determination, the jury typically took witness testimony, and the coroner had the ability to compel witnesses to testify by issuing warrants. All testimony was recorded by the coroner and became part of the record of the inquest. Once the jury had determined the cause of death, they were to render the verdict in writing under their signature and seal. 

In the case of the deaths of Robert and Harriett Melton, there was no real question as to the cause of death, and predictably, each of the two juries rendered the verdict that the Meltons had been murdered. Still, the inquest created important records about what transpired. 

The witness testimony recorded is the basis for the narrative account of the murders that we provided above. Beyond this narrative, the jury foreman, a medical doctor, provided testimony about the nature of Robert and Harriett's injuries, confirming that each had gunshot wounds that caused their death. The jury also interviewed three of the four Melton children, the Meltons' neighbor Robert A. Allen, and the constable George W. Carter.

Although Robert Melton was alive during the inquest on his wife, he did not provide testimony. Certainly, he had important information to offer. The records are silent on his lack of testimony, but given the severity of his injuries, he may have been unable to respond to questioning. His daughter Emaline also did not testify. It is possible she was not present (none of the witnesses mention her) or the jury may have chosen not to question her because of her age (she was only seventeen years old).

The witnesses provided some information about the assailants. Some of the assailants were disguised, but they were not wearing the elaborate costumes traditionally associated with Ku Kluxers. Mary A. Melton said one man was disguised in a garment she described as a "cloth wrapper." Others wore no disguise at all. 

Unfortunately, the witnesses provided little information about the question that mattered the most: who committed the murder. The Melton children gave contradictory testimony about the race of the assailants. Sarah said that all the men were white, but her brother Robert C. said that some were black. The neighbor Robert A. Allen supported Robert C.'s claim. He had not seen the assailants, but he reported that, before dying, Robet Melton had told him that there had been black men among the crowd.

Exactly what Robert Melton told people about the attack is unclear. The neighbor reported that, beyond mentioning the race of some of the men, Robert Melton said he did not know anyone in the group. The constable reported a different conversation. He said that Robert believed one of the assailants might have been "Simpson," but Robert gave no further details, and several Simpsons lived in the area. Robert's daughter Mary A. said that one person had laughed like Bud Evans, but he was too large to be Evans himself.

No witness offered a theory or explanation for why the Meltons were attacked. Mary even said that she hadn't heard of any threats against this family. Her testimony stands in stark contrast to contemporaneous personal correspondence by Henry J. Fox's family and Robert's neighbor Louise Lane. They all thought Robert had been murdered because he was a prominent Republican, and they feared their families would be targeted next. Henry J. Fox was so concerned that he took to sleeping outdoors for weeks. Fox's son Henry A. wrote that Robert's murder was not entirely unexpected. It was the culmination of threatening behavior: local Republicans had received threatening letters, had their mail searched, and had their crops destroyed.

Beyond the witness testimony, the only evidence the jury collected was a pistol and a hat that the assailants left behind. Looking just at the records of the coroner's inquest, it certainly appears that murderers left no clues to their identity. However, Louisa Lane and members of the Fox family wrote that local Republicans generally claimed white South Carolinians were united against them and there was "neither law or justice" in the area. In light of these claims, it is worthwhile to look more closely at the jury of inquest, and how they performed their duties.

The Jury

Two separate inquests were held, one for Harriett and one for Robert. The inquest for Harriett was held around 9 am on the day of her murder, while the inquest for Robert was held the next day, when he died. There was nothing unusual about the timing; the coroner was supposed to investigate the deaths as soon as possible.

Two different constables summoned the two inquest juries. The first jury was summoned by J. T. Pigg, the second by G. W. Carter. Carter was the first constable called to the scene of the murder, and he also gave testimony to the first jury.

Each jury consisted of fourteen men. There was significant overlap between them: nine of the fourteen men on Harriet's jury returned the next day to serve on Robert's jury. The five new jurors included G. W. Carter.

Who were the men who conducted the inquest?  Like most people in the area, almost everyone was a farmer. The main exception was the jury foreman T. Threatt. He worked as a physician and was probably chosen as a juror because of his expert medical knowledge. However, he also ran a farm.

The racial make-up of the jury stands out. In a township where one-third of the residents were African American, both juries were all-white. This raises the question of whether local officials even made a serious effort to find the assailants. Certainly, local Republicans did not think so. In a letter to  President Grant, the Meltons' neighbor Louise Lane wrote that there was "neither law or justice in our midst" and begged the President to send federal troops. Gil Fox wrote that, with few exceptions, white South Carolinians in the area were constantly working in secret, trying to undermine the Republican government.

There is only limited documentation for most of the jury members, but the evidence is more mixed than one would expect from Gil Fox's account. The jury foreman, Dr. Threatt, was likely active in the Democratic party. (He later successfully ran as the Democratic candidate for state congress.) However, three of the jurors, Alfred Agerton, John Agerton and Ransom P. Pigg, were committed Unionists. They had been outspoken in their opposition to the rebellion during the war. When General Kirkpatrick's Union troops were in the area, they gave them gave hundreds of dollars of supplies (nearly everything they owned). In testimony later offered in support, Rev. Fox said he believed that, around the time the Meltons were murdered, Alfred himself was in danger of being attacked by Ku Kluxers because of his outspoken Unionism. 

Certainly, Alfred had no sympathy for the Ku Klux. About a year later, he served as a member of the jury in Ku Klux Klan trials in Columbia, a jury that convicted a number of alleged Ku Kluxers.

The Coroner

The coroner W. J. Hanna stands in contrast to the jurors. Simply stated, he was an unreconstructed Confederate who likely had no interest in apprehending the Meltons' assailants. Not only had Hanna served in the Confederate army for the entire war, but afterwards, he was highly active in veterans' societies. In Chesterfield, he led local efforts to defeat Reconstruction. He had been elected on a conservative ticket at the last election. Later, he actively campaigned for the Democratic party in the contested election of 1876. He efforts in that election were significant enough that they were positively mentioned in the opening paragraph of his 1911 obituary.

As coroner, Hanna had significant control over the historical record of the Meltons' murders. He was responsible for transcribing witness testimony, and the Meltons had limited ability to check his work. Two of the Melton children Sarah and Robert C. were not only illiterate, but they couldn't even sign their names. (Mary J. appears have been at least partially literate.)

While we can only speculate about how Hanna influenced the recorded testimony, parts of it were seized on by conservative newspapers that sought to downplay Ku Klux violence. Robert C.'s statement that some of the assailants were African American was presented as evidence that Robet Melton was killed by African Americans who were upset over taxation, not Ku Kluxers.

Hanna's position as coroner illustrates the difficulties the South Carolina state government had during Reconstruction. While the Republican party held governorship and a majority of the state legislature, in counties like Chesterfield, the Republican government could act only in limited ways because conservative Democrats maintained control over many local offices. 

Aftermath

The coroner's inquest appears to have been the end of legal efforts to hold the men who attacked the Meltons accountable. Five days after the attack (on April 22), the governor's private secretary (John Heart) wrote the county sheriff that the governor's office had been informed that Chesterfield was "infested by a gang of lawless men, who are committing wanton and unprovoked outrages." He further notified the sheriff that, unless the situation was rectified, the governor would organize a military or constabulary force in the county to protect citizens and enforce the law. The governor was bluffing. South Carolina was experiencing an epidemic of Ku Klux violence that year, and he was wholly unable to counter the Ku Kluxer without the aid of federal forces. 

Governor Scott offered a five-hundred-dollar reward for the arrest of anyone connected with the murders, but nothing came of it. The coroner's inquest appears to have been the end of legal efforts to hold Robert and Harriett's murderers accountable. 

The sheriff was a conservative, and it appears that he not only made no effort to apprehend the Meltons' murders, but he may even have facilitated efforts to defeat efforts. In September, an anonymous public letter (probably written by Gil D. Fox) was published in the Daily Union newspaper claiming that the identifies of the murderers were well-known and deploring the fact that they had not been brought to justice. The sheriff and a number of prominent Chesterfield men published a public response condemning the letter as a falsehood and a "gross libel." They further asked to be told who the author was so they could peruse legal charges. While the anonymous writer never received the justice he asked for, he at least did not experience legal consequences as the Daily Union withheld his identity. 

The anonymous writer pushed the issue even further later that year. In a second public letter, he claimed that the assailants had included a brother of M. J. Hough, a prominent local conservative politician who had recently been unseated from the House. Predictably, Hough responded by angrily denied the accusation.

The governor was finally able to take effective action against South Carolina Ku Kluxers in October. That month President Grant suspended habeas corpus (providing protection against arbitrary arrest) and sent federal troops to help arrest Ku Kluxers. Although hundreds of arrests were made, nobody in Chesterfield was arrested, and it's unclear if troops were even sent there. The governor offered a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the men who murdered the Meltons, but no information was forthcoming. By the end of the year, public interest in the Chesterfield murders appears to have died down. Over the next few years, conservative Democrats, who likely had supported or at least celebrated the murders, gained almost complete control over the county, ending any hope of holding the murderers accountable. 

Sources

1)  "Senate and House." The Fairfield news and herald [Fairfield, SC], October 19, 1898, Image 1.

2) "Official Report of the Board of State Canvassers." The daily phoenix [Columbia, SC], November 10, 1870, p. 3.

3) "W. J. Hanna." The State [Columbia, SC], August 18, 1911. p. 3.

Testimony in Robert Melton Murder

G. W. Carter

On last Sunday night at a very late hour I suppose about 1 or 2 oclock Robert Allen came to my house and ask me to come up to Mr. Meltons, that some persons had come there and killed Mrs Melton and nearly killed Mr. Melton. I told him I would go. I started and when I got to the house I saw Mrs. Melton on the bed a corpse. Robert Melton (the deceased) was lying on the same bed complaining as if he was hurt very bad, about light I went into the road in front of the house and found a hat. Never saw the hat before he found it in the road. I asked the deceased if he knew who shot him. He said he thought he did, but was not certain. He thought one of them was Simpson, deceased did not say what Simpson it was. Never examined the deceased, saw one wound in deceased stomach, a little on one side. Deceased died about Sundown 18th April 1871

Robert C. Melton

On Monday morning 17th just some time before day, I was lying in the bed awake, I heard some body tramping about the home, the dog was barking at some person and there was a gun fired. Father and myself jumped up an[d] ran to the door, and father said shoot him again. Father and myself then jumped into the yard, as soon as we got into the yard some person commenced firing across the [?] at us. Father then went into the lane and tried to take a gun or stick from one of the men. He then came back to the house and said he was shot. He (the deceased) then lay down on the bed and said he was going to die. I examined the wounds next morning and found two, one in the breast and one in the hip. Think he was wounded in the hip before he got into the lane. Every time the men would shoot some of them would say “fetch him down.” (Pistol exhibited). Witness say he found the pistol in front of the house near the gate, where the men were shooting, found the pistol about day break. I saw six or seven men in the lane. They fired a good many times. Did not know any of them. Some of the men were disguised. Think some of the men were black. The men hitched their horses near the house. Saw where they had [stampeded?] about next morning. The deceased had a bayonet in his hand when he went out the door. Did not see him strike at any of them with the bayonet

Sarah S. Melton

The first I hear the door crashed. The next I recollect I was going out by father and brother Rob, between the house and the gate. I went out at the gate and saw five men. There was four low [chunky?] ones and one high one. I am certain the four small men were white or had white faces. I put my hands on one of them and begged him not to kill us. About that time the high one shot me and then they ran. I then went into the house and found Father (the deceased) lying on the floor in front of the fire place. He said he was shot. Did not know any of the men. Thought I know who one of them laughed like. He laughed like Bud Evans but he was too large for Bud.

Mary J. Melton

Monday morning 17th just between 1 and 2 o’clock I was awakened by some person opening the front door. The door was opened by Father (the deceased). Just as the door was opened some person fired a gun or pistol from the direction of the lane. Father then went out of the door and I followed after him. I saw five or six men in the lane. The men in the lane kept shooting at the deceased, the deceased received two wounds and then he (the deceased) went back in the house, and the men who did the shooting turned and walked off. When father got back in the house he said he was shot. Did not see where the deceased was wounded, only saw the blood. Could not tell who the men were, that did the shooting. Never heard the men say anything only “fetch him down” the deceased did not say whether he knew any of the party or not. The deceased died yesterday afternoon 18th April 1871

Robert Allen

I was awakened on Monday morning 17th [April?] between 1 and 2 o’clock by hearing several guns firing in the direction of Robert Melton’s (the deceased) house. I heard some person screaming, as if they were in great trouble. I went over to the deceased as soon as I could. When I got to the house I found Mrs. Harriet Melton lying across the front door dead, and Robert Melton (the deceased) said he was shot and expected to die. I examined him and found that he was wounded in two places, in the stomache and also in the left hip. The deceased told me he thought there was some black people in the crowd that shot him but did not know any of the party. Just after the firing ceased and before I got to the deceased’s house I heard some person riding off in the direction of the Charlotte and Camden Road. Did not see any person about the hours only the family. (Hat and pistol found near the house exhibited) Never say the pistol or hat before. I think the deceased was shot with a pistol from the looks of the wound.

Testimony in Mary Melton Murder

G. W. Carter

I heard yesterday morning that Mrs. Melton was killed. I went to Mr. Meltons and found her dead, she was on the bed. I went out into the lane and found a hat, didn’t know whos hat it is found it about 20 steps from the door

Mary J. Melton

Before day, about 1 or 2 O’Clock Saturday morning I heard father open the front door. I went out the door with him, heard several guns fire from the lane, saw the fire from the guns. Father turned back and say “daughter I am shot” he went back into the house and I followed. When I stepped back into the house I stepped on mother’s [the deceased] hand. Did not know what was the matter with mother until I felt the bullet hole on the breat. Thought she had fainted. I saw five or six men in the lane, 15 or 20 steps from the house. I think mother (the deceased) went to the door and was shot while standing there. She was lying on her face with blood coming out of her mouth. I assisted in putting her on the bed, I think she (the deceased) was dead before we laid her on the bed. Think that one of the men I saw in the lane was disguised with some sort of clorth wraper around him. All that I heard the persons say who were shooting was “bring him down.” Did not recognize any of the voices. They (the persons shooting) left immediately after the shooting. Never heard of any threats made concerning this shooting. Heard father say after he was shot that he felt as if the crowd were waiting for him.

R. A. Allen

That on Monday 17th [?] between 1 and 2 o’clock in the morning he heard some guns firing in the direction of Robert Melton’s house. Thinks there was six or seven guns fired. Lives about 300 hundred yards from Robt Melton’s. Went to Robert Meltons as soon as I heard the firing. Heard some person hallowing like they were in trouble. I found Harriet Melton, the deceased, lying across the front door dead. Heard some person riding off from Robt Melton house. I examined the deceased and found a wound on her breast. Think it was done with a pistol. Examined the yard did not see any tracks. Saw the tracks of several persons in the lane about 20 steps from the front door. I assisted in moving the deceased from where she fell and laid her on the bed

Robt C. Melton

Saturday morning about 2 O’clock heard some persons stomping about. Thought at first it was some persons riding. Heard some person shoot at the dog, who was barking at them. Witness and his father went to the door. Just as father opened the door a gun fired and, I think, wounded father in the hip. Father and myself went out in the lane among the crowd that were shooting. One of the men had a gun or stick in his hand. Father took hold of it and tried to take it from him. Father went back into the house and said he was shot. Witness went back in the houe and saw his mother (the deceased) lying on the floor. Saw his mother (the deceased) breath once. Saw a wound in her heart. Looked like it was done with a little ball. Did not know mother was dead until I went back into the house. There were several shorts fired, did not know any of they party. Went out to the gate and found a pistol. Some of the barrells had been fired off. Never saw the pistol before. There were six or seven men in the lane. Don’t know when the deceased was shot. Thinks she died immediately

The professors of the Radical University: Anson Cummings, Part 2

Riverside Seminary (Cummings not pictured)
Images of America: Wellsville

Riverside Seminary
History of Allegany County, N.Y.

In summer 1872, Anson W. Cummings was elected to the chair of mathematics and engineering at the University of South Carolina. He replaced T. E. Hart who had served in the position since 1869. At the same meeting where Cummings was elected, Professor James Woodrow was replaced by T. N. Roberts.

As is described in the entry for Roberts, the exact nature of Woodrow's departure from the university is unclear, and the same is true for Hart. At the time, the Greenville Enterprise simply reported that his position was vacated by the university trustees. However, in a later history of the university, Irwin Green uses stronger language: "[Hart] was removed . . . by the alien Negro government forced upon the state." 

Hart's replacement by Cummings marked a major change at the university. Hart was a native South Carolinian who had graduated from The Citadel. He was among the most talented academics in the state. He had spent the Civil War studying at German universities and wrote a dissertation at Heidelberg in mathematics under the supervision of Otto Hesse. While Cummings had much more experience with teaching (over three decades; Hart had only started teaching in 1866), his academic training was much weaker. He had not earned a single university degree for academic studies; all his degrees were honorary.

Conservatives disapproves of Cummings' election. The Charleston Daily News was especially critical. "Can It Be?" was the headline of one article, which referred to Cummings as the "notorious Dr. Cummings." A lengthier article called him a "clergyman of not particularly good standing" and included a highly negative overview's of Cummings's record in the south. They called attention to the fact that ministers of the Holston Conference found him guilty of defrauding the Female College in Asheville, and it claimed he had been rumored to have engaged in similar misconduct while living in Spartanburg. it mockingly described the misconduct as a "series of ingenious but discreditable experiments with figures of the college account books," activities which demonstrated his "love for the exact sciences." The paper also drew negative attention Cummings' efforts to oppose Ku-Kluxism in Spartanburg County. 

A letter to the editor submitted to the Daily Phoenix newspaper by "Ecce Ecclelesia [Behold the Church]" that called attention to the fact that Cummings was associated with the northern Methodist church, not the southern one. Privately, many white Conservatives appear to have deplored Cummings's election. When they attended the graduation ceremony, both Cummings and Roberts (the other newly elected professor) were "hooted at" three graduating students, an incident celebrated in Conservative newspapers. The incident is described in detail in the entry for Professor Roberts. 

In his history Reconstruction in South Carolina, John S. Reynold provides description of Cummings  likely reflects the opinions held by South Carolina conservatives. Reynolds writes that Cummings owed his professorship to the support he had given the state government in their efforts to fight the Ku Klux Klan in Spartanburg. He dismisses Cummings' qualifications, writing that Cummings was "a man of ordinary intelligence and small scholarship, and was otherwise unfit for a professorship at any reputable college."

Cummings' students at the university appear to have held him in positive regard. In an account of his time at the university, the former student C. C. Scott wrote that, "As an instructor, Prof. Cummings was painstaking, exact, thorough, evidently a born mathematicians, and well earned the sobriquet – 'old mathematics.'"

In 1875, Cummings was elected chair of the faculty (a position similar to that of university president). An article in the Southern Home newspaper derisively described the new position as "President of the [expletive deleted]-ed University of South Carolina" and then mockingly repeated a suggestion by the Columbia Register: when conferring degrees, Cummings should forgo the traditional academic gown and instead wear the "terrible [Ku Klux Klan] costume, horns and all, which he wore when on a lecturing tour North, against the bloody Ku Klux." 

Despite his past support for the Confederacy, Cummings was an enthusiastic supporter of the admission of African American students to the university, and more generally of efforts to educate formerly enslaved workers. In a 1874 article published in the College Courant, he wrote positively about the development of the University of South Carolina under the Reconstruction government:

The enemies of equal political and educational rights for a time hoped that the ruin of the institution would follow [the admission of the African American students]. In this they are not to be gratified. The law class, composed of white and colored students, is now larger than for years before, and the two races of students are now progressing in all departments in greatest harmony. Each regulates his own social relations, but in all other respects the question of color is ignored. . . .

The opening of the State University to colored students, as well as to white, marks an educational era in the State, and is hailed with joy in all portions of the country. Those desiring classical, medical, or legal education can find here all the advantages they desired. It is believed that as soon as these facts are known, students will come from all parts of the South, until our spacious accommodations are all in demand.

He continued to write positively about political developments at the university throughout Reconstruction. In an 1877 article on the university, he summarized the current state of the university as follows:

Its halls are now filled with white and colored students, pursuing their studies in perfect harmony, and with equal success. We are here exemplifying in practice what is regarded as impracticable in theory, and find both races benefited by the experiment. Each is stimulated by the other to the highest exertion

Cummings was one of the last of the Reconstruction faculty to leave the university. After Daniel Chamberlain conceded the governorship to Wade Hampton in April 1877, the newly formed state government began to take steps to shut close the university. A new university board of trustees was elected, and Cummings appeared before them at their first meeting, held on July 30. The trustees informed Cummings that the General Assembly had directed that the university was to be closed on the next day (July 31). Cummings asked that the faculty receive three-fourths of their yearly salary, and the trustees granted his request. By September, Cummings had left South Carolina and returned to New York state.

In New York, Cummings settled in the town of Wellsville and purchased the Riverside Seminary. The seminary had been founded in 1873 as part of a general effort at developing Wellsville. Cummings ran the school as a college preparatory boarding school. The faculty consisting of himself, his wife Isabelle, his son Olin, and one Sue V. Fleming.

The year after he began running the seminary (in 1878), Cummings was awarded an honorary LL.D. degree by Rutherford College in North Carolina.

Cummings remained in Wellsville for the rest of his life. He ran the seminary until around 1881 or 1882 (account vary) when poor health led him to retire. The seminary continued to operate until 1888. That year a fire destroyed several buildings, and rather than rebuild, the seminary was closed.

During his retirement, Cummings published the book The Early Schools of Methodism. This volume collected short histories of schools that had been founded by the Methodist church. Much of the volume consists of solicited contributions from other Methodists, but Cummings himself wrote the histories on Allegheny College, the Gouverneur Wesleyan Seminary, and McKendree College (the last jointly with S. H. Deneen)

In his retirement, Cummings' activities became limited by memory problems and other health issues. In October 1894 (when he was in his late 70s), Cummings was stricken with paralysis. He remained in this condition, suffering greatly, until his death on December 7. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Wellsville. 

Sources

1. The Greenville enterprise. [Greenville, SC], July 3, 1872, p. 4.

2. "University of South Carolina." The Intelligencer [Anderson, SC]. June 27, 1872. p. 2.

3. "Professor Cummings." Charleston Daily News [Charleston, SC]. July 12, 1872. p. 4.

4.The Southern Home [Charlotte, NC]. October 25, 1875. p. 3.

5. Daily Charlotte Observer [Charlotte, NC]. October 22, 1875. p. 2.

6. "The South Carolina University." Charleston Daily News [Charleston, SC]. June 21, 1872. p. 1. 

7. "Can It Be?" Charleston Daily News, June 24, 1872. p. 1.

8. "The State University." Charleston Daily News, June 28, 1872. p. 2.

The students of the Radical University: Anthony B. Summersill

Anthony Benjamin Summersill (b. 1858; October 10, 1935)

South Carolina.  Black.  
Occupation: farmer, teacher.
Father's occupation: farmer laborer.

Mother's occupation: farm laborer.

Anthony was born in South Carolina to Anthony (or Toney) and Patience Summersill. It is unknown whether the parents were enslaved or free persons of color. During Reconstruction, they lived in Christ Church parish in Charleston county and worked as farmer laborers. 

Anthony attended the Avery Normal School in Charleston. He was in the same class as William D. Crum and Robert L. Smith. He graduated from the Avery in 1875 and then enrolled at the University of South Carolina. The 1876 university catalogue describes him as a freshman student from Charleston following the modern studies track. The university closed before he completed his degree.

After the closure of the university, Anthony returned to his family in Christ Church parish and worked as a school teacher. He was involved in the 1878 election, the first election held after the end of Reconstruction. On election day, he went to the polling station for Mt. Pleasant and distributed Republican ballots to voters. (Typically, voters would vote by submitting ballots provided by the political parties.) 

The election resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Democratic party. In Mt. Pleasant, the Democatic candidate for U.S. Congress, Michael P. O'Connor, received 473 votes against the 147 votes received by the Republican candidate, Edmund W. M. Mackey. However, Mackey contested the outcome, alleging that Democrats had engaged in voter fraud. For example, at Mt. Pleasant, when the election managers counted ballots after the election, they found 1,163 ballots even through only 620 men had voted. The election mangers, who were both Democrats, proceeded to select and destroy ballots until the ballot count matched the number of voters. Under federal law, election managers were suppose to select the ballots at random, but Republicans alleged that they intentionally tried to select Republican ballots. Ultimately, Congress upheld the reported election outcome.

Anthony remained in Christ Church parish, although there are few records of his activities. In 1884, he served as Mt. Pleasant's postmaster, and by 1910, he was working as a farmer. He continued to farm until his death in 1935. He is buried in Ocean Grove Cemetery in Mount Pleasant, SC.

Sources Cited
1). Year: 1880; Census Place: Christ Church, Charleston, South Carolina; Roll: 1223; Page: 4D; Enumeration District: 078

2) 1930; Census Place: Christ Church, Charleston, South Carolina; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 0046; FHL microfilm: 2341924

3) South Carolina Department of Archives and History; Columbia, South Carolina; South Carolina Death Records; Year Range: 1925-1949; Death County or Certificate Range: Charleston. Certificate Number: 014735. Volume Number: 28

4) 1910; Census Place: Christ Church, Charleston, South Carolina; Roll: T624_1453; Page: 28A; Enumeration District: 0066; FHL microfilm: 1375466

5) 2). United States, Congress, House. E. W. M. Mackey vs. M. P. O'Connor: Papers in the Case of Mackey vs. O'Connor, Second Congressional District of South Carolina. Government Printing Office, 1880. 46th Congress, 2nd session, Mis. Doc. No. 40., Part 1. pp. 681-684. 

6)  McIver, Petrona Royall. History of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Ashley Print. & Publishing Company (196). p. 86.

The students of the Radical University: Earl Craig

Earl Barton Craig (b. Abt. 1853)
South Carolina.  Black/Mulatto.  
Occupation: farm laborer
Father's occupation: farmer

Earl was born in South Carolina to Thomas (or Tom) and Anna (or Annie) Craig.  Earl grew up in Pickens County, in the upstate. The father owned a farm, an unusual achievement for African-American at the time. In 1870, the family owned 70 acres of land on which they raised livestock (swine and a milch cow) and grew corn and a small amount of sweet potatoes.

Earl first appears in university records in the 1876 University of South Carolina catalogue.  He described as a freshman from Keowee following the modern studies track.  This university closed before he completed his degree. After the university closure, he returned to farm with his parents.

Sources Cited
1). 1880; Census Place: Hurricane, Pickens, South Carolina; Roll: 1238; Page: 82B

2). 1870; Census Place: Easley, Pickens, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1506; Page: 394A

3)  Census Year: 1880; Census Place: Dacusville, Pickens, South Carolina; Archive Collection Number: AD275; Roll: 14; Page: 20; Line: 5; Schedule Type: Agriculture

4)  Census Year: 1870; Census Place: Easley, Pickens, South Carolina; Archive Collection Number: AD266; Roll: 6; Page: 3; Line: 23; Schedule Type: Agriculture

The students of the Radical University: Benjamin Simmons

Benjamin Simmons Jr. (b. Abt. 1853)
South Carolina.  Black.
Occupation: legislator.

Benjamin Simmons was born in Beaufort, South Carolina to unknown parents. He first appears in the historical record as a student at Howard University during the 1869-1870 academic year (when Simmons was about 17 years old). He was student in the Model School. The Model School offer coursework that prepared students for the college preparatory classes. Simmons left Howard after his first year.

By 1874, Simmons had returned to South Carolina. On November 28, he registered as a student at the University of South Carolina. He was a scholarship student and entered into the sub freshman (or college preparatory) class. He had left the university by January 1876.

Simmons was active in politics. He represented Beaufort County in the state House of Representatives from 1875-76, 1878-80.  After his first term in the House (in January 1877), he was appointed trial justice for Bluffton in Beaufort County, South Carolina.  However, he was appointed by Daniel H. Chamberlain, and while Chamberlain claimed to have been elected as governor in December 1876, this was disputed by his Democratic opponent.  Consequently some questioned Simmons's authority.  For example, in February 1877, Simmons issued a warrant for a man's arrest.  The man refused to acknowledge Simmons' authority, and the arresting constable had to form a ten-man posse to take him into custody.

Simmons was assaulted in Blufton in 1877. In August, newspapers reported that Simmons had been madly cut in a "melee" with boy (Manning Fields). Simmons was cut three times, and his wounds were considered "dangerous" but not fatal. His attacker was arrested but within a week had escaped to Savannah, Georgia. 

There is no record of Simmons's activities after his term of office ended in 1880.

Sources
1). 1870; Census Place: East of Seventh Street, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: M593_127; Page: 664B.

2). 1880; Census Place: Bluffton, Beaufort, South Carolina; Roll: 1221; Page: 115C

3). Foner, Eric.  Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders during Reconstruction.  Oxford University Press, New York.  1993.

4). "Local Items". The Beaufort Tribune and Port Royal Commercial.  August 2, 1877.  p. 3.

5). "Local Items". The Beaufort Tribune and Port Royal Commercial.  February 15, 1877.  p. 3.

5). "Local Items". The Beaufort Tribune and Port Royal Commercial.  January 18, 1877.  p. 3.

6). "County Convention." Port Royal standard and commercial, April 6, 1876, p. 2

The students of the Radical University: Green D. Williams

Green D. Williams
From A Historical, Biographical and Statistical Souvenir: Howard University Medical Department

Green Dawson Williams (b. 1848; d. February 8, 1917)
Massachusetts/North Carolina/South Carolina?  Black. 
Occupation: clerk, physician.

Little is known about the early life of Green D. Williams, and the available records are contradictory.  His father is listed as being born in New Hampshire in the 1900 U.S. Census and in North Carolina in the 1910 U.S. Census. Similarly, his mother is listed as being born in Virginia in the 1900 U.S. Census and in North Carolina in the 1910 U.S. Census.

Details about Green's own birthplace are also contradictory.  His birthplace is listed as South Carolina in the 1900 U.S. Census, as North Carolina in the 1910 U.S. Census, and as Boston, Massachusetts in a short biography published by Howard University.  

Williams first appears in the historical record in 1872 (when he was 24 years old). At that time, he was living in Anderson Court House (now the town of Anderson), the seat of Anderson County, South Carolina. Anderson County is the upstate and borders the state of Georgia. Like much of the region, the county was majority White, although by a small margin (about 56% of 16,407 residents were White and 44% or 12,720 were African-American).

The county was one of the first places in South Carolina to experience Ku Klux violence. Ku Kluxers threatened Republicans in the area during the run-up to the 1868 presidential election. Representative of Ku Klux activities was the experience of E. I. Pinson, a White silversmith living in the town of Williamston who was active in the Republican party. The night before the election he found a pasteboard coffin on his doorstep. Appended to it was a Republican voting ticket and the message "K. K. K. is about." He also reported bands of disguised men riding around and firing off guns in a threatening manner. In parts of the county, Ku Kluxers followed through on their threats by whipping or beating Republicans. The prominent Republican politician B. F. Randolph was shot to death in neighboring Abbeville county while traveling to Anderson by train.

The 1868 election was an important one because it was the first held after African-Americans were granted the right to vote. Within Anderson County, Democrats carried the election and largely remained in power throughout Reconstruction. Political violence within the county, especially violence by Ku Kluxers, largely died down after the election.

During his time in Anderson, Williams was active in the Republican Party. He was among the speakers at that year's county Republican Convention. The year was an election year, and Williams spoke about the political issues that he felt were important. He condemned the political corruption and extravagant spending by the administration of Republican governor Robert K. Scott. He called on African-American voters to elect honest Republicans in order to stop these practices. Williams's speech appears to have been well-received as he was elected as a delegate to the Congressional Convention and as an alternative delegate to the State Convention. On Election Day, he served as one of the three Election Managers for the Williamston Precinct.

The 1872 election saw Franklin J. Moses Jr elected to the governorship. In spring 1873, Moses removed the Anderson county auditor (Thomas J. Webb) and appointed Williams in his place. The Conservative newspaper, Anderson Intelligencer, reported that Webb was a "old-time" Republican who had discharged the duties of office "with credit to himself and satisfaction to the community." The newspaper attributed his removal to his political views. In the election, Webb had supported Liberal Republican Horace Greeley for president and Moses's opponent Reuben Tomlinson for governor. Of Williams, the newspaper reported that he was "of fair intelligence" and "good character" but his "education and abilities are scarcely equal to the important duties now devolving upon him." 

By fall, Williams began working as a teacher in addition to his duties as county auditor. He may have taught at the Greeley Institute, a newly formed private school for African-Americans. By the late 1870s, Williams was serving as principal of the institute. 

Williams' call for state Republicans to help end political corruption went unmet. Political corruption reached historic proportions during Moses's administration. During the next election, held two years later, Williams again spoke about the need to fight political corruption. For example at a 1874 Fourth of July celebration held in front of the county courthouse, Williams called on African-American voters to oppose political corruption by electing "good, honest men." He denounced the current political leaders in Columbia and warned African-Americans that they would lose the right of the ballot unless they united and put down corruption. Williams reiterated his views on the need to stop political corruption at the September 1874 county Republican Convention.  Ultimately, the gubernatorial election saw Daniel H. Chamberlain, the regular Republican candidate, defeat the "Independent" Republican John Green. Williams does not seem to have publicly endorsed a candidate, but he likely supported Chamberlain as Green's support drew from Democrats and more conservative Republicans.

During the summer before the election (on April 1, 1874), Williams enrolled as a student at the University of South Carolina. He was awarded a scholarship, and state legislator John R. Cochran singled Williams out for praise for this accomplishment in an October speech he gave on political developments within the state. The university closed before Williams completed his degree.

It is unclear when exactly when Williams left the University of South Carolina. However, it appears that he had left by fall 1876 because, around that time, he resumed his engagement in Anderson county politics. By September, he was appointed as county Commissioner of Election by Governor Chamberlain. (The other two commissioners were  John R. Cochran, a White Republican leader, and James A. Hoyt, the chairman for the county Democrats.) 

Williams was also made Chairman of the county Republican Party. His chairmanship provoked controversy with local Democrats. Williams replaced Cochran who had held long held the position but declined it in fall. The Anderson Intelligencer was especially critical of Williams' appointment. The newspaper reported that, shortly after he assumed the position, reports began circulating among local African-Americans that acts of political violence and intimidation were being committed. The newspapers described these reports as falsehoods that were being spread to help Republicans in the upcoming election. The newspaper blamed Williams for the state of affairs, stating that Cochran had been able to prevent such issues and Williams could do the same if he chose.

In general, Williams took over the party chairmanship during a very difficult time. For the first time since African-American had been granted the right to vote, Democrats were mounting a serious electoral challenge. Beginning with the Hamburg Massacre in July, White Democrats began carrying out acts of political violence against African Americans.

No serious acts of violence appear to have broken out in Anderson county. However, public disputes did break out between Williams and Democratic leaders. That October Williams was planning to host a Republican rally at which several candidates were to speak. His Democratic counterpart (Hoyt) asked if the event could be organized as a joint discussion with Democratic candidates. Initially, Williams was receptive to the proposal, but ultimately, he was told by the state Executive Committee not to allow such a discussion. The Anderson Intelligencer was highly critical of this decision and published the correspondence with Williams under the title "Who Lies!" Williams asked to publish an article explaining his views on the matter, but the newspaper rejected it, claiming it contained "offensive remarks."

The concerns about the joint discussion were not groundless. Upon hearing that a Republican candidate was planning on giving a public speech, Democratic leaders often asked for a joint discussion and, if the request was granted, used this as an opportunity to harass their political opponents. For example, when Republican governor Chamberlain spoke in Edgefield, Democrats were allowed to participate in a joint discussion. At the event, the Democratic speakers included Democratic leader Martin W. Gary, and his speech consisted of personal attacks on Governor Chamberlain involving "as opprobrious language . . . as he could find in which to express himself." The crowd attending the speeches included a large number of Democratic supporters who displayed firearms and interrupted Republican speakers by shouting insults. 

It is unclear how the political speeches that Williams helped organized were received, but the Anderson Intelligencer expressed hope that Democrats would disrupt them: "We hope all the mounted clubs in the County will be present, for we will have distinguished speakers from a distance to meet Republicans, and if they will not divide time we can be present and hear their campaign lies in order to refute them."  

Ultimately, county Democrats won the election by a large margin. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Wade Hampton, received almost four-times as many votes as his Republican opponent (4,155 votes to 1,124). Statewide, the electoral outcome was very close, and both parties claimed that their gubernatorial candidate won. The election outcome was disputed for four months, until April 11 when Chamberlain conceded the election. Chamberlain's defeat marked the end of the state Republican Party as an effective political force for generations. 

It is unclear how Williams's responded to outcome of the 1876 election. However, by the next election, held in fall 1878, he expressed support for Wade Hampton. At the county Republican convention, he endorsed Hampton's campaign and advised African-American votes to cast votes for him. In lengthy speech, he said that Hampton had fulfilled his campaign promises to respect the rights of African-Americans and would continue to do so if reelected.

Williams ran for political office in 1878. He received one of the Republican nominations for the position of warden for the town of Anderson. On Election Day, he and all the other Republican candidates were soundly defeated. Each Democratic candidate received over 200 votes, more than twice as many votes as the most successful Republican.

By 1880, Williams had moved to Washington D.C. He attended the Medical College at Howard University from 1880 to 1883 and graduated with an M.D.  He spent most of his adult lift living in Washington D.C. and working as a government clerk for the Treasury Department and as a physician. 

Williams seems to have formed a close friendship with fellow former U of SC student Paul J. Mishow. Census records document Mishow sharing a residence with the Williams family in D.C. Mishow followed a similar path to Williams's. He also moved to Washington after Reconstruction and found work as a physician and government clerk.

In June 1895, Williams attended a public speech given by his former classmate George W. Murray, then a congressman from South Carolina. Murray spoke at the Metropolitan Baptist Church, a predominately African-American church. His speech focused on negro suffrage, and he denounced voter registration laws. These were major issues in South Carolina. The previous year, Democrats led by Governor Ben Tillman had won a referendum  to hold convention to revise the state constitution. They openly sought to revise the constitution for the purpose of disenfranchising African-American votes. The convention was held three months after Murray's speech, and Democrats achieved their goal of revising the state constitution so as to render African-Americans politically powerless.

Despite Williams' presence at Murray's speech, he appears to have largely left political life after moving to  Washington. 

Williams died on February 8, 1917. The cause of death was not reported. 

Sources:

1). 1900; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia; Page: 21; Enumeration District: 0050; FHL microfilm: 1240160

2). 1910; Census Place: Precinct 8, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: T624_153; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0147.

3). 1920; Census Place: Washington, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: T625_210; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 187.

4). Lamb, Daniel Smith.  A Historical, Biographical and Statistical Souvenir: Howard University Medical Department.  Washington D.C.  R. Beresford.  1900.

5). Hilyer, Andrew F.  Colored Washington: Efforts For Social Betterment. Washington D.C. 1901.

6). Washington, District of Columbia, City Directory, 1914

8). "The Radical County Convention."  The Anderson Intelligencer, August 22, 1872, p. 2.

9) "Protracted Radical Meeting." The Anderson Intelligencer, September 12, 1872, p. 2.

9) "Radical Nominating Convention." The Anderson Intelligencer, October 10, 1872, p. 2.

9) "Election Notice." The Anderson Intelligencer, October 24, 1872, p. 3.

9) "Removal of the County Auditor." The Anderson Intelligencer, February 20, 1873, p. 3.

9). The Fairfield herald [SC], March 5, 1873, p. 3.

10) The Anderson intelligencer [SC], September 18, 1873, p. 2.

11) "Fourth of July in Anderson." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], July 9, 1874, p. 2.

11) "Republican County Convention." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], September 10, 1874, p. 2.

11) "To the Citizens of Anderson County." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], October 29, 1874, p. 5.

12) "Seeking Mischief." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], October 19, 1876, p. 3.

12) The Anderson intelligencer [SC], September 21, 1876, p. 3.

13) "Republican Duplicity." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], October 19, 1876, p. 2.

14) The Anderson intelligencer [SC], October 26, 1876, p. 4.

14) "The San Domingo Meeting." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], February 1, 1877. p. 3.

14) "To the Colored People of Anderson County." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], March 14, 1878. p. 3.

15) "Come One, Come All!!" The Anderson intelligencer [SC], June 20, 1878, p.  3.

16) "A Card." The Anderson intelligencer [volume], July 4, 1878, p. 4.

17) "Public Examinations at the Greeley Institute." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], July 11, 1878, p. 3.

17) "The Radical County Convention." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], August 8, 1878, p. 3.

17) "The Municipal Election." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], August 15, 1878, p. 3.

18) "The Radical's Last Kick." The Anderson intelligencer. [SC], September 26, 1878, p. 3.

19) "The Radical County Convention." The Anderson intelligencer [SC], April 29, 1880, p. 3.

20) "Appointments in Treasury Department" The Evening critic. [volume], July 1, 1881, p. 1.

21) "His People Defrauded." The Washington Times [DC], June 19, 1895. p. 8.

21) "Deaths." The Washington times. [volume], February 12, 1917, COMPLETE AFTERNOON EDITION, Page 11, Image 11

7). "Death Record."  The Washington Herald, February 11, 1917, p. 16.

23) Evidence Taken by the Committee of Investigation of the Third Congressional District

W. E. B. DuBois comes to South Carolina

W. E. B. Du Bois in 1947
From Wikipedia

On February 11, 1957, W. E. B. Du Bois delivered a speech titled "The American Negro and the Darker World" at Benedict College in Columbia, SC. Du Bois had been invited to speak in early January by Allen University professor Edwin D. Hoffman. Du Bois spoke as the university's guest speaker for Negro History Week (a precursor to Black History Month). The talk was jointly sponsored by Allen and Benedict.

Du Bois's talk was announced in The State newspaper. The announcement was only two paragraphs long, but his arrival was certainly a major event. Columbia, South Carolina rarely hosted visitors of his stature.  At the time, Du Bois was almost ninety years old and a distinguished, internationally renown intellectual and civil rights activist.

Du Bois had long been active in international politics as he connected American anti-Black racism to colonialism and global capitalism. During the late 1940s and 1950s, he began to express sympathy for socialism because it offered a political alternative.

As American concerns over socialism rose and tensions with the Soviet Union grew, Du Bois became a political target. In 1951, the Justice Department alleged that an anti-war organization that Du Bois was involved in (the Peace Information Center) was acting as an agent for the Soviet Union. This required the organization to register with the federal government, but Du Bois and others refused, claiming that the allegations were false. Because of his refusal, Du Bois was indicted, but the legal case was dismissed the next year. By the time of his visit to Columbia, the controversy surrounding him died down. In its announcement of his talk, The State described him simply as an "American Negro sociologist and author." No indication was given that he might be a source of political controversy, although certainly Du Bois's views were regarded as outside the pale by many White South Carolinians.

Bacoats Hall
From Benedict College 1970 Benedictus yearbook

Du Bois spoke in the evening at Bacoats Hall on the Benedict campus. The event began with the singing of The Battle Hymn of the Republic and concluded with the singing of Life Ev'ry Voice and Sing. Both songs had major political significance. Life Ev'ry Voice and Sing was (and is) regarded as the Black national anthem, and singing it was an act of rebuke of South Carolina's segregationist culture. The song Battle Hymn of the Republic was even more politically provocative. The song was written by the abolitionist Julia Ward Howe and served as an informal anthem for the Union army during the Civil War. The lyrics included a direct call for the emancipation of slaves: "let [us] die to make men free." 

Reflecting the emphasis on religion at the school, Du Bois's speech was preceded by a prayer delivered by Wallace E. Crumlin, an Allen faculty member who taught religious education. Du Bois was introduced by Benedict president J. A. Bacoats.

Allen faculty member Wallace E. Crumlin
Allen University 1957 Yellow Jacket

Benedict president J. A. Bacoats
Benedict College 1970 Benedictus

The text below is based on a draft held at the Special Collections and University Archives at University of Massachusetts Amherst. The text likely differs from the speech Du Bois delivered at Benedict. The draft is for a version of the speech he gave to the National Committee to Defend Negro Leadership, and it is dated April 30, 1957, a few months after his visit to Columbia. 

In his speech, Du Bois draws on two themes. First, he embeds the historical mistreatment of African-Americans into the broader history of the exploitation of labor, especially colonial labor, by capital. For example, he argues that capital responded to the emancipation of slaves in America by increasing its efforts to extract wealth from Asia and to extract labor from the working classes of the West through use of factory work. Second, he argues that African-Americans were becoming increasingly estranged from "the colored people of the world." While many people in African were organizing against imperialism and promoting the development of socialism, African-Americans are largely trying to assimilate into American culture and regarded socialism as harmful political philosophy that ran counter to American values. Despite the material advantages that they enjoy, Du Bois argued that African-Americans have a much more limited understand of their political situation than the people of African nations. He concluded by calling upon his audience to educate themselves about socialism.

In his autobiography Liberalism Is Not Enough, Benedict professor Horace B. Davis wrote about how Du Bois's speech was received. He wrote that the students at Benedict and Allen were mostly "conventionally patriotic" and saw no connection between American capitalism and their own political oppression. Du Bois's speech had an impact on them. The students paid close attention and, after the talk, many began to learn more about socialism for themselves.

While its highly unlikely that they attended the talk, White politicians in South Carolina would have been outraged to hear that Du Bois had encouraged students at Benedict and Allen to learn about socialism and act in solidarity with the people of India, China, and Africa. However, the speech appears to have gone unnoticed. When the governor began publicly attacking the schools a year later, he made no mention of Du Bois's visit. Du Bois's visit also not mentioned in Forrest Wiggins's FBI file, although Wiggins and the other professors were under close scrutiny around this time. 

From the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries the Africans imported to America regarded themselves as temporary settlers destined to return eventually to Africa. Their increasing revolts against the slave system, which culminated in the eighteenth century, left a feeling for close kinship to the motherland and even well into the nineteenth century they called their organizations "African," as witness the "African Unions" of New York and Newport, and the African church of Philadelphia. In the West Indies and South America, there was even closer indication of feelings of kinship with Africa and the East. 

The early excuse for American slavery on the part of planters was conversion to Christianity; but as slavery became the basis of great income in the sugar empire and the cotton kingdom, and as plans were laid for its expansion, the slaves in the United States sought freedom by escape to the north and joined with the abolitionists to fight for emancipation. The whites as well as many blacks now reverted to the first excuse for slavery, namely conversion of Africa to Christianity; and many plans arose for repatriation of negroes to Africa. The American Colonization Society was the best known, but soon earned the distrust of negroes when it became a method of getting rid of free negroes so as to fasten the chains closer on slaves.

When, later in the nineteenth century, the plight of the slave worsened, there arose again among American negroes plans for migration not only to Africa but to Haiti and South America. Civil War and Emancipation intervened and American negroes looked forward to becoming free and equal citizens here with no thought of returning to African or of kinship with the world's darker peoples. However, the rise of the negro was hindered by disfranchisement, lynching, and caste legislation. There was some recurrence of the "Black to Africa" idea and increased sympathy for darker folk who suffered the same sort of caste restrictions as American negroes.

But this brought curious dichotomy. In our effort to be recognized as Americans, we negroes naturally strove to think American and adopt American folkways. We began to despise all yellow, brown, and black peoples. We especially withdrew from all remembrance of kinship with Africa and denied with the white world that African ever had a history of indigenous culture. We did not want to be called "Africans" or negroes and especially not "negresses." We tried to invent new names for our group. We began to call yellow people "chinks" and "coolies" and dark whites "dagoes." This was natural under our peculiar situation, but it made us more easily neglect or lose sight of the peculiar change in the world which was linking us with the colored peoples of the world not simply because of the essentially unimportant fact of skin color, but because of the immensely important fact of economic condition.

In the latter part of the eighteenth century, Europe had begun to expand its trade and to important raw materials to be transformed into consumer goods. Machines and methods for manufacture of foods increased tremendously. When the revolt of slaves, especially in Haiti, and the moral revolt in England and America, led to the emancipation of slaves, the merchants who had invested in the slave labor began to change the form of their investment; they seized colonies in Asia and Africa and instead of exporting native labor, used the land and labor on the spot and exported the raw materials to Europe for consumption  or further manufacture. Immense amounts of wealth for capital were seized for Europeans in India and China, in South America and elsewhere; and thus colonial imperialism arose to dominate the world. Most of the exploited people were colored – yellow, brown, and black. A scientific theory arose and was widely accepted which taught that the white people were superior to the colored and had a right to rule the world and use all land and labor for the benefit and comfort of Europeans. While the emancipation of slaves in America involved great losses for Europeans investors, the simultaneous seizure of wealth in Asia and the new control of colonial labor enabled new rich employers in Europe and North America to accumulate vast sums of capital in private hands and to start the factory system. This method of conducting industry used new inventions and sources of power so as to drive laborers off the land, herd them into factories and reduce them to semi-slavery in Europe by a wage contract.

This brought the labor movement. In the more advanced European countries labor and its friends fought for more political power, public school education, higher wages and better conditions. These things they gradually secured by union organization and strikes. On the other hand, in Eastern Europe there was little education and wages remained very low. Political power rested in the hands of an aristocracy which became rich through encouraging and protecting western investment. This semi-colonial status of labor was even worse in South and Central America and in the West Indies, while in most of Asia and in Africa the condition of colonial labor approached slavery.

Thereupon arose the doctrine of socialism which demanded that the results of the manufacture of goods and the giving of services go to the labor involved and not mainly to the capitalists. This doctrine was in essence as old as human labor. Primitive labor got all the results of what it did or made. Many early societies like the first Christians and tribes in Africa lived in communal groups, sharing all results of work in common. Slavery intervened so that some workers were owned by others; then came aristocracy where a few took the results of the work of the many and the nation became the abode of a rich, idle and privileged class who were served by the mass of laborers. Protest against this and the doctrine that income should in some degree become the measure of effort became an increasing demand from the ancient world through the medieval world and was studied and scientifically stated by Karl Marx in the first half of the nineteenth century. He proposed that capital belong to the state and that workers run the state. Capitalists vehemently opposed this and partially met the demands of labor by raising wages. In the capitalist nations this raise was more than met by increased profits due to exploitation in colonial and semi-colonial lands. Also the spread of democratic control was counterbalanced by hiring White labor to war on colonial labor, and using public taxation for war rather than social progress.

From the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 to the First World War there was continuous struggle led by White troops armed with the most ingenious weapons to keep colonial peoples from revolt, and most of the other peoples of the world in subjection to Western Europe.

This was the situation at the beginning of the twentieth century. British, French, and American capitalists owned the colonies, with the richest natural resources and the best controlled and lowest paid labor. By 1900, they were reaching out for other colonies elsewhere: other nations with fewer or no colonies, led by Germany, demanded a reallotment of colonial wealth. This brought the First World War. 

But it brought more than this: the assault of Germany and her allies was so fierce that Britain and France had to ask help from their colored colonies. They needed black manpower and without it France would have been overthrown by Germany in the first few months of war. Britain needed food and materials from Asia, Africa, and the West Indies. The United States needed American negroes who formed an inner labor colony as laborers and stevedores. This meant an increase of wages and rights for colonial peoples. In the United States it brought the first recognition since 1876 of the equal citizenship of negroes. 

The workers of Eastern, Central and South America were not as badly off as the African serfs and Chinese and Indian coolies but they were sunk in poverty, disease, and ignorance. They were oppressed by their own rich classes, working hand in glove with White Western investors. When war came they starved and died. The situation became so desperate that Russians and Hungarians refused to fight. Their rulers sought compromise by trying to replace imperial rule with Western European democracy. But the Russian leaders, students of Karl Marx and led by Lenin, demanded a socialist state.

The Western world united to forestall this experiment. It said first that no socialist state could succeed, but lest it should and lower the profits of capitalists, the effort must be stopped by force of arms. Sixteen capitalists nations, including Britain, France, Germany, the United States, and Japan, invaded Russia and fought for ten years by means civilized and uncivilized, to overthrow the plans of the Soviet Union. However, the world-wide collapse of capitalism in 1930, made this attack fail and the world witnessed the founding of the first socialist state.

Then came a new and even more unexpected diversion. The Depression, which was the collapse of capitalism, was so bad in Germany, Spain, and Italy that those states fell into the hands of two dictators, Hitler and Mussolini. Backed by capitalists, they seized power and demanded control not only of the colonial world then dominated by Britain, France, and North America, but the domination of the whole world. The west tried to compromise and offered practically everything they demanded, but Hitler's greed and German ambition grew by what they fed upon. They were so convinced of their superior power over the West that Hitler started a Second World War, like the first aimed at control by a part of the White race over the resources, land, and labor of the rest of the world. He began a wild career. He killed six million Jews, accusing them of being the main cause of the Depression and of being an inferior race. He conquered France and chased the British off the continent. They huddled on their own small island to make a last stand, but here Hitler paused. He had a new vision. If instead of wasting his power on a desperate England he turned East and seized the semi-colonial lands of the Soviet Union and Balkan states, then from this central heartland he could seize Asia and Africa and after that turn back to deliver the coup de grace to Britain and America. Hitler thereupon scrapped his treaty with the Soviets which they, spurned by the West, had been forced to accept, and to the relief of Britain and the United States, Hitler turned to conquer Russia. Englishmen and Americans said with Truman, "Let them kill as many of each other as possible." So, although Hitler's rear was exposed, the Western powers held off attack for a year and when they did attack went to the defense of their African colonies and not to aid the Soviet Union. The West was sure that the Soviets would fall in six weeks and thus perhaps rid the world of socialism and Nazis at one stroke.

The result was astonishing. The Soviet Union almost unaided conquered Hitler, saved the Baltic states and the Balkans at a cost of nine million killed and wounded and the distruction [sic destruction] of much they had toiled for since 1917. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin faced a world in which the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and the United States must go forward toward a world in which socialism would grow, not perhaps as complete communistic states like the Soviet Union, but in states like the United States and England where social progress under the New Deal and the Labor government would advance together along paths leading to the same ultimate goal.

This co-operation American Business repudiated when it invented the Atom bomb. After Roosevelt died, our capitalists determined to drive communism from the world and push socialism back. This crusade failed. India became independent and adopted modified socialism; China conquered the stool-pigeons whom we paid to stop her revolution and became the greatest communist state in the world. The Soviet Union, instead of failing as we predicted, became one of the foremost nations of the Earth, with the best educational system and freedom from church domination second only to this nation in industry. Also the Soviet Union took a legal stand against the color line and stood ready to oppose colonialism. We tried to re-conquer China during the war in Korea and to help France retain Indo-China, but again failed. Meantime we formed the greatest military machine on earth and spent and are still spending more money preparing for war than any other nation on earth at any time has spent.

The excuse for our action is that communism is a criminal conspiracy of evil-minded men and that private capitalism is so superior to socialism that we should use every effort to stop its advance. Here we rest today and to sharpen our aim and coordinate our strength, we starve our schools, lessen social services in medicine and housing, curtail our freedom of speech, limit our pursuit of learning, and are no longer free to think or discuss.

Where now does that leave American negroes? We cannot teach the peoples of Africa or Asia because so many of them are either communistic or progressing towards socialism, while we do not know what socialism is and we can study it only with difficulty or danger. After the First World War we negroes were in advance of many colored peoples. We started in two ways to lead the Africans. In the West Indies Garvey tried to have negroes share in western exploitation of Africa. White industry stopped him before he could begin. In the United States negro churches carried on missionary efforts and a few negroes in 1918 tried to get in touch with Africa so as to share thoughts and plans. Four Pan-African congresses were held in 1919, 1921, 1923, and 1925, which American, African, and West Indian negroes attended, and a few persons from Asia and South America. They made a series of general demands for political rights and education. The movement met much opposition. However, it encouraged similar congresses which still exist in all parts of Africa, and it was the inspiration back [sic?] of Mandates Commission of the League of Nations and the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations. After a lapse of twenty years, a fifth Pan-African congress was held in England in 1945. It was attended by negro labor leaders from all parts of Africa and from the West Indies and one from the United States. Especially prominent were the delegates from Kenya and Ghana, the first independent Black dominion of the British Commonwealth. The resolutions adopted here had a clear socialist trend, and further Pan-African congresses were envisioned to be held in Africa. 

Whither now do we go? We American negroes can no longer lead the colored people of the world because they far better than we understand what is happening in the world today. But we can try to catch with them. We can learn about China and India and the new ferment in East, West, and South Africa. We can realize by reading, if not in classroom, how socialism is expanding over the modern world and penetrating the colored world. So far as Africa is concerned we can realize that socialism is part of their past history and will without a shade of doubt play a large part in their future.

Here in our country, we can think, work and vote for the welfare state openly and frankly, for social medicine, publicly supported housing, state ownership of public power and public facilities: curbing the power of private capital and great monopolies and stand ready to meet and cooperate with world socialism as it grows among White and Black.

Citation: Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963. The American Negro and the darker world, April 30, 1957. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries