Alexander Crummell, abolitionist, Episcopal minister and missionary

Alexander Crummell was a student at the Mulberry Street School at the same time as Peter Guignon; the two remained lifelong friends. After graduation, Crummell attended Noyes Academy in New Hampshire and Oneida Institute in upstate New York with Henry Highland Garnet for a short period of time. Setting his sights on becoming an Episcopal minister, Crummell encountered stiff resistance from the church hierarchy, but was finally ordained in 1844. Soon thereafter, he left for England where he matriculated at Queen’s College, Cambridge University, and received a Doctorate of Divinity in 1853. Crummell then moved to Liberia where he labored as a missionary for the next twenty years.

Crummell returned to the United States in the early 1870s. Although much legislation had been passed during Reconstruction granting civil rights to black Americans, much work remained to be done. As a theologian and intellectual, Crummell spoke and wrote extensively on racial issues. Towards the end of his life, he founded the American Negro Academy. He became the mentor of one of its younger members, W.E. B. Du Bois, and exercised enormous influence over the up-and-coming scholar.

NYPL: psnypl_scg_504
Portrait Collection

circa 1890s

Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations

Henry Highland Garnet, abolitionist and editor

Born into slavery in Maryland, Henry Highland Garnet escaped north with his family, arriving in New York City in 1825. He was a student at the Mulberry Street School at the same time as Peter Guignon, and later attended Noyes Academy in New Hampshire and Oneida Institute in upstate New York with Alexander Crummell. Ordained a Presbyterian minister, Garnet settled in Troy, New York where he led his own congregation. In addition, Garnet was a radical political activist. He was one of the first to suggest violent resistance to slavery and promote the emigration of black Americans to Africa. As such, he frequently found hismelf at odds with the more integration minded George Downing.

In 1881, President Garfield appointed Garnet United States Minister and Counsel General to Liberia. Garnet left for Liberia in November 1881, only to die there in February 1882.

NYPL: psnypl_scg531
Portrait Collection

Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations