"Who is striving to promote the elevation of the rising generation?" Amos Gerry Beman (1812-1874)

It has been presumed by many that few abolitionists were African American.  There is, however, a database, the University of Detroit Mercy Black Abolitionist Archive, which includes the speeches of at least 800 speeches.


The following are the words of Amos Gerry Beman from a speech given in Hartford, Connecticut and published in the Emancipator, an abolitionist newspaper on 1839-11-07.  He was a minister from New Haven.  You may listen to the audio file created to enhance the user experience here: Amos G. Beman.

“Who then is elevated? Upon what is the claim

founded? Upon wealth? Have we been as industrious

and prudent as we might? Will we be from

this time? Shall this be the commencement of a

new era in our lives?

“Is our elevation founded upon our intelligence?

Have we been diligent, and studious in the cultivation

of our mental powers? Have we improved the

golden moments as they have passed away?

“Are we morally elevated? Have we all submitted

to the claims of the gospel? Is there a power

in our faith which works by love, and purifies the

heart? Who is striving to become elevated? Who

is seeking the elevation of the people? Who are

the true friends of society? Who is striving to promote

the elevation of the rising generation? Can

they not be elevated? Can they not be “trained

up in the way they should go?” Are there

no motives to urge us to seek our elevation,

because we are deprived of some of our political

rights? Because we cannot rush to the stormy

conflict of the political arena, shall we basely [set]

still and do nothing? Can we offer no sacrifice, unless

we burn it with the “strange fire” of ambition?

“No motives to be industrious and prudent, that

we may have the means of personal comfort − that

we may be able to educate our children − that we

may be prepared for the day of adversity and distress

− that we may have a shelter from the rude

and cheerless storms which howl around and sweep

the desolate winter of life? If we desire personal

comfort and respectability, if we have in our bosoms

love for our families and children, there is a

strong motive to urge us to pursue the path of industry

and economy. No motive for intellectual

elevation! What scources of pleasure and happiness

are open to an intelligent mind amid the

works of creation and the sublime wonders of revelation!

No reasons for the cultivation of the mental

powers? Sentiment unworthy an immortal mind!

“Ascend then, another step, and view yourself as

a moral being. The soul seated upon the throne

of eternity, can say with a voice which encircles

endless ages: “I live for ever a spark of the Deity.”

Noble thought! solemn truth! Motives press upon

you as moral beings, broad as the universe, wide

as creation, high as heaven, deep as hell! What

motives surround you! See your children going

on with you to the retributions of eternity! See

the claims of society, the interests of the church!

“Go stand upon the Alleghany mountains and

throw your eyes over the cotton plantations and

rice fields of the South.

“Hear the groan of the father in bondage, how his

manly frame trembles, how his heart beats, the

large tear-drop stands in his dim eye, not because

he has toiled away his youth and manhood with no

reward but the cruel lash of the relentless task

master, not because he has no hope but in the silent

grave; but his humble cottage has been plundered,

robbed, not of silver and gold, but of his wife, the

humble friend of his heart, the companion of his labor.

His son has been seized and driven away

where he shall never gladden the eye of his father

more. His daughter − but no. I will not inquire

concerning her fate. Let imagination do her office,

but fail of the sad reality. While our destiny is

linked with theirs, have we no motives to urge us

forward in the path of wisdom and usefulness?

Can we do nothing in hastening forward the day

when the trump of Jubilee will be sounded in this

land? Will not the day soon come, when the

songs of the bond man redeemed will not be confined

to the West India Islands?” University of Detroit Mercy Black Abolitionist Archive.

• "Beman, Amos Gerry, 1812-1874 - The Black Abolitionist Archive :: University of Detroit Mercy Libraries/IDS." Re:Search :: UDM Libraries / Instructional Design Studio. University of Detroit Mercy Black Abolitionist Archive. Web. 15 Dec. 2010. <http://research.udmercy.edu/find/special_collections/digital/baa/item.php?record_id=1865&collectionCode=baa>.
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• Amos Gerry Beman-1812-1874, a Memoir on a Forgotten Leader
• Robert A. Warner
• The Journal of Negro History
  Vol. 22, No. 2 (Apr., 1937), pp. 200-221
  (article consists of 22 pages)
• Published by: Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc.
• Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2714429