Historical Romance of the American Negro

by Charles Henry Fowler

I have mentioned Fred. Douglass and Daniel E. Payne, and it is only just that a couple of other representative women should be singled out, to show what our women can do. We have had no bright, particular star among the gentler sex, like Fred. Douglass among men; but still the colored race, like other peoples, can certainly boast of a splendid galaxy of eminent and clever women, who only lacked better education and wider and greater opportunities to shine more than they did. The women have so far not had the same chances as the men, but they are getting them now, and they are coming to the front one by one—coming out, one here and another there, like the bright stars of the night. High-schools and colleges of all kinds are now thrown open for our daughters, and wherever there are genius and ability they will forge to the front, and make themselves known.

Contemporaneous with Bishop Daniel E. Payne and Fred. Douglass we mention the name of Mrs. Frances Ellen Harper, who was born in Baltimore, Md., in the year 1825. Her home for many years has been the Queen City of Philadelphia. Mrs. Harper is a noble woman among women, and impresses all comers with her unusual natural sweetness, and graceful, lady-like ways. There is a deal of magnetism about her that attracts all those who hear her sweet, well-trained voice, and that draws us towards her by the comeliness of her graceful presence. We have all heard of "a bundle of love," but Mrs. Frances Harper is a bundle of natural and cultivated intellect, and of refined and polished manners. Her sweetness draws us to her, like the charming and fragrant rose in the flower garden. Born during the reign of slavery, when days were dark and friends were few, she did not have a right and proper opportunity of getting an early education, as the young ladies are getting to-day. But all the same, the great Creator gave her talents, and she has had a thirst for knowledge and a mind to work. This, indeed, is half the battle, and sometimes much more than half. Mrs. Harper applied herself most vigorously to study as she was growing up in her teens, and by the time she had come to woman's estate she was well educated. (Thus we see that nobody need despair of becoming well educated, for we can all learn if we only have pluck and ambition, and patience and perseverance with them to forge to the front, like the lady in question). This eminent woman soon became widely known for her brilliant talents, and all her sweet, lady-like graces, and admonished all Abolitionists and anti-slavery people what our race could do if they were once freed from their shackles!

Mrs. Harper possessed a great natural fondness for poetry, which she proceeded early to cultivate, so that she had become well-known for her sweet effusions in that line, and they have been published far and wide throughout the world, and prove that we have "birds of song" among us as well as others. She has written some pieces possessing much merit. She has a great natural facility for writing, and reminds me of a clause in Deborah's song of triumph in the fifth chapter of the Book of Judges, "Out of Zabulun came down those who handle the pen of the writer." For a facile, easy pen, Mrs. Frances Ellen Harper is a perfect Zabulunite, for she has shown that she also can handle the pen of the writer.

This gifted lady has also been a bright and shining light on the lecture platform, and, indeed, has appeared on many of the leading platforms of the nation, and crowned herself with honor and glory. She has proved to the whole world that a woman can do mighty deeds as well as man. There was a dark and doleful time in this world's history when a woman was regarded as little more than a mere serf, for man's will and pleasure everywhere. But those dark ages have passed away, and women have advanced to the front line, and taken their rightful places in the world. Mrs. Harper is a living proof of this nobility among women, and she has done yeoman service in trying to elevate her sisters of the colored race. Her splendid services will never be forgotten by either this generation or the generations to come. "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!"

Louise de Mortie, of Norfolk, Va., was born of free parents in that place in the year 1833. As she was not allowed to receive an education at the home of her youth, she decided to go to Boston, where she could get one. It was in the year 1853 that she took up her residence in that city, when she was twenty years of age, with life and all its opportunities before her in a free State. At once she took a vigorous hold, and availed herself of all favoring opportunities that presented themselves. She was a young maiden of great personal beauty, and possessed a sweet disposition and a most remarkably good memory. She took very high standing as a pupil in the schools and seminaries of Boston, and made a whole host of friends, won over by her graces and accomplishments.

In 1862 she came out as a public reader, and shone like a very brilliant star. She showed that she was a perfect elocutionist by birth, and had been polished like a rich jewel. Her natural beauty and personal graces, engaging manners and richly-toned voice, drew the eyes of the whole country. Just as she had come to be well-known, she heard of the great destitution among the colored orphans at New Orleans at the close of the war. Hither she hastened, and in 1867 raised funds to build an asylum for the colored people of that city. This she did in her spirit of Christian love, and she won the hearts of all those who beheld her, like another angel of mercy, at her good works. But the yellow fever struck her down on the 10th of October of the above year, 1867, when she said so touchingly, "I belong to God, our Father," and then expired. Thus was this brave young woman cut off in her thirty-fourth year. But she lived long enough to show to others a brilliant example that will never be forgotten.

[CHAPTER XX.]

Our First Great Men and Women—New Lights to the Front—Our Own Humble Beginning in 1865—Cleanliness and Industry—Music and Song—Immense Progress in Education, and a Mighty Advance Along the Whole Line—The Rapid Increase of Wealth—The Crime of Lynching—The Church and Sunday-School—The Colored Man's Right to Vote, and to Rule the Nation.

Though I have only sketched the lives of two most eminent members of color, and two famous women of the same race, I must confess that I feel greatly tempted to go on with the subject, and speak of many others, some of whom have gone to their reward, and others remain alive unto the present day. At first sight the general reader might imagine that those first bright stars that shone in our intellectual firmament were brighter than the talented men and women whom we can see at this day and hour, walking up and down our streets, and shining like suns in their different professions, doing splendid service in elevating the colored race in America. We had Fred. Douglass, Bishop Payne, Mrs. Frances Ellen Harper, and some other bright, particular stars, who shone with apparently unusual brilliancy some fifty or sixty years ago, and they have been set down for the seven wonders of the world (Fred. Douglass, at least, was a genuine wonder for all time). But while we are inclined to look upon these worthies as towering geniuses, and most extraordinary lights in the heavens in but recently bye-gone days, we forget that the thick darkness that surrounded them went a long way in making their brilliance and splendor appear far brighter than they really were. This is quite true of all races, and is no detraction whatever from the real merits that were justly their own. I am safe in saying that 10,000 clever colored men and women, representing all the different arts and professions, could be picked out at this day, who would have passed for stars of the first magnitude, had they made their appearance upon the stage of time some fifty or sixty years ago. To shine to the same extent of brilliancy and glory nowadays would indeed be a very difficult matter, when the whole United States is flooded with a great tide of knowledge that was never known before.