The Journal of Negro History Volume II Part 21

The following from the _Brooklyn Tablet_, January 13, 1917, will interest students of the Negro Church:

"Rev. Charles Randolph Uncles, of Baltimore, Maryland, received congratulatory messages from all parts of the country last month, the occasion being the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination. Father Uncles was the first colored man of the United States to be raised to the priesthood, and he has had a brilliant career during the quarter century that has elapsed since Cardinal Gibbons ordained him in the Baltimore Cathedral on December 19, 1891.

"Father Uncles has done much missionary work and is at present engaged in teaching Latin and French in Epiphany College, Walbrook, Maryland, the preparatory school for St. Joseph's Seminary, where young men are trained to carry on work among the negroes of the United States.

"Father Uncles was the first negro in this country to be ordained. He reached his goal after years of preliminary study which led to his taking a course in St. Joseph's and St. Mary's Seminaries. He was graduated with honors and went to Epiphany College as teacher as soon as he left St. Mary's. He has done much to put the negro missions on a thorough working basis, and he has the admiration of Cardinal Gibbons. Father Uncles was born in Baltimore November 6, 1859, and his parents and grandparents were free negroes. His father was a machinist and worked for years with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. His mother is still living.

"He was baptized at St. Francis Xavier's Church, Calvert and Pleasant streets, Baltimore, and there he recently said his jubilee Ma.s.s. He studied at St. Francis's parish school and in the public schools. He worked as printer and journalist from 1874 to 1879 and then as printer. In 1880 he began as teacher in the Baltimore county schools, and in 1883 entered St. Hyacinth's College, Quebec, to study. He returned to St. Joseph's Seminary in 1888."

The same paper said on this date in its editorial columns:

"Congratulations to Father Uncles, of Baltimore, a priest, a gentleman, a scholar--and a negro. He has just celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of his entrance into the Order of Abel, Abraham and Melchizedek.

"Father Uncles was the first of his race in this country to be raised to the dignity of the priesthood. His was a unique position. The eyes of the American world were upon him. Though one of G.o.d's anointed, he was a "colored man," and thus more was demanded of him than of any of his white brothers. At the end of twenty-five years, he can, with his gentle good nature, laugh at the world's scrutiny.

"For Father Uncles is gentle--a gentleman. In conversation with him, in a.s.sociation with him, one never thought of the color of his body. The beautiful whiteness of his soul shone so in the kindly lightning of his eyes, the courtesy of his speech, the correctness of his manner.

"He was, and is, a scholar--not merely book-learned, for he was one of the first three in a cla.s.s of sixty in Saint Mary's Seminary, but the man of parts that bespeak the student.

"Yet he is a negro--of that long-suffering race that we first d.a.m.ned into slavery and then freed into servitude. But a man's a man for a' that, and from time to time the negro is proving that.

Father Uncles was a pioneer in that line. For emanc.i.p.ation's sake he will not object to this projection of himself upon America's mental screen."

In connection with the sketch given above the following account of the work of the Catholics at Van de Vyver College, Richmond, Virginia, from 1885 to the present time should also be interesting.

Among the many signs of the progress of the colored people in the city of Richmond is the Van de Vyver College on North First street, which is equipped with all modern improvements, and has accommodations for five hundred pupils.

This elegant plant was erected at the sole expense of the Catholics who, abreast of the times, met at every turn the requirements of an aspiring cla.s.s of colored boys and girls.

It was not erected with the idea of drawing the attention or of eliciting the applause of the people of Richmond; it is an inst.i.tution which, by its growth and development, has marked time with the demands of the younger generation of the colored people, whose endeavor is to follow the higher ideals as they are set before them.

This grand building, with its large auditorium, now covers the site, together with additional area, of a former two-roomed schoolhouse, which thirty years back first gave the Catholic Sisters from Mill Hill, England, a place and opportunity to show their zeal for, and their interest in, the future welfare of the colored youth of the princ.i.p.al city of the Old Dominion.

These Sisters are known as the Sisters of St. Francis of Baltimore.

They have the privilege of being the first of all the white sisterhoods in this country to take up the work of teaching colored children exclusively. Today there are many colored citizens who are not backward in their praise of the successful and unselfish efforts of these same good sisters, whose energetic endeavors have led many a colored boy and girl to a happy and prosperous career.

On the college grounds is an excellently equipped kindergarten, in which many pupils, who later on were graduated from the commercial and academic courses, made their first start.

Special cla.s.ses in music, fancy needlework, Latin and French are also taught to those desiring to pursue such lines.

For the working boys and young men, there is a night session, wherein is given a theoretical and practical knowledge of the automobile. Many a young man has gone forth from this cla.s.s qualified as an expert mechanician and chauffeur.

The church adjoining the college, attendance at which is of course optional, affords all the opportunity of gaining a knowledge of the doctrine of the Catholic Church. Affiliated with this church are four flouris.h.i.+ng societies, one for the men called the Holy Name Society; one for the women called The Sodality of the Mother of Jesus; one for men and women called The League of the Sacred Thirst--a Temperance Society; and one for the boys and girls called the Knights and Ladies of the Cross. The members of these societies are very faithful in the duties required of them, and hence give great edification to the people of both races.

This whole plant, it is needless to say, is an inspiring spectacle to the very many colored men and women, who pa.s.s up and down North First street. They have reason to point to it with pride. They appreciate all that it represents to them. It matters not of what denomination the people may be, Catholic or Non-Catholic, words of the highest commendation are freely and generously given by all alike.

FATHER TOBIN

MORE ABOUT NEGRO SOLDIERS

The following account of the services of Negroes during the American Revolution appeared in the _Was.h.i.+ngton Post_, January 16, 1917:

"The employment of colored men became a subject of much importance at an early stage of the American war of independence.

The British naturally regarded slavery as an element of weakness in the condition of the colonies, in which the slaves were numerous, and laid their plans to gain the colored men and induce them to take up arms against their masters by promising them liberty on this condition.

"The situation was looked upon by the public men of the colonies as alarming, and several of them urged the Congress to adopt the policy of emanc.i.p.ation. But while the general question of emanc.i.p.ation was defeated, the exigencies of the contest again and again brought up the practical one of employment for colored men, whether bond or free.

"ONLY FREEMEN WANTED IN ARMY

"In May, 1775, Hanc.o.c.k and Warren's committee of safety introduced the following formal resolution: 'Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, as the contest now between Great Britain and the colonies respects the liberties and privileges of the latter, which the colonies are determined to maintain, that the admission of any person as a soldier into the army now raising, but only such as are freemen, will be inconsistent with the principles that are to be supported and reflect dishonor on these colonies, and that no slaves be admitted into this army upon any consideration whatever.'

"Was.h.i.+ngton took command of the army around Boston on July 3, 1775. The instructions for the recruiting officers from his headquarters at Cambridge prohibited the enlistment of any 'negro.' It may also be noticed that they were forbidden to enlist 'any person who is not an American born, unless such person has a wife and family and is a settled person in this country.'

"MANY COLORED MEN ENROLLED

"Notwithstanding all this, the fact remains, according to Bancroft, that 'the roll of the army at Cambridge had, from its first formation, borne the names of men of color.' Free colored men stood in the ranks by the side of white men. In the beginning of the war they had entered the provincial army, and the colored men, like others, were retained in the service after the troops were adopted by the continent.

"A committee on conference, consisting of Dr. Franklin, Benjamin Harrison and Thomas Lynch, met at Cambridge, October 18, 1775, with the deputy governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island and the committee of the council of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay, to confer with Gen. Was.h.i.+ngton, and advise a method for renovating the army. On the 23d of October the negro question was presented and disposed of as follows: 'Ought not negroes to be excluded from the new enlistment, especially such as are slaves?' All were thought improper by the council of officers. It was agreed that they be rejected altogether.

"In general orders, issued November 12, 1775, Was.h.i.+ngton says: 'Neither negroes, boys unable to bear arms, nor old men unfit to endure the fatigues of the campaign are to be enlisted.'

"PERMITTED THEIR ENLISTMENT

"Was.h.i.+ngton, however, in the last days of the year, under representations to him that the free colored men who had served in his army were very much dissatisfied at being discarded, and fearing that they might seek employment in the British army, took the responsibility to depart from the resolution respecting them and gave license for their being enlisted.

"Was.h.i.+ngton promised that if there was any objection on the part of Congress he would discontinue the enlisting of colored men, but, on January 15, 1776, Congress determined 'that the free negroes who had served faithfully in the army at Cambridge may be reenlisted therein, but no others.'

"The entire aspect of the affairs changed when, in 1779, the South began to be invaded. South Carolina, especially, was unable to make any effectual efforts with militia, by reason of the great proportion of citizens necessary to remain at home to prevent insurrections among the colored men and their desertions to the enemy, who were a.s.siduous in their endeavors to excite both revolt and desertion.

"The result was that in all the Southern States the legislatures pa.s.sed resolutions to enlist the colored men, and the colored patriots of the Revolution are as much ent.i.tled as their white brethren for the ardor with which they fought the common enemy, whether they were bondmen or freemen. It has never been possible to give an exact statement as to the number of colored men who served in the Revolution, for the reason that they were generally mixed in regiments and not calculated separately."

The following was taken from the columns of the _Boston Journal_, June, 1897, by Mr. Frederic S. Monroe.

A GALLANT NEGRO

_How Salem Poor Fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill_

There is an interesting record in the Ma.s.sachusetts Archives (clx.x.x, 241) which Dr. Samuel A. Green ran across during his historical researches, and which the _Journal_ prints below. It relates to a colored man at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

The Subscribers begg leave to Report to your Honble. House (Which Wee do in justice to the Caracter of so Brave a Man) that under Our Own observation, Wee declare that A Negro Man Called Salem Poor of Col Fryes Regiment. Capt. Ames. Company in the late Battle at Charleston, behaved like an Experienced Officer, as Well as an Excellent Soldier, to Set forth Particulars of his Conduct Would be Tedious, Wee Would Only begg leave to say in the Person of this sd. Negro Centers a Brave & gallant Soldier. The Reward due to so great and Distinguisht a Caracter, Wee submit to the Congress----

Cambridge Decr. 5th 1775

JONA. BREWER. _Col_ THOMAS NIXON _Lt. Col_ WM PRESCOTT _Colo._ EPHM. COREY _Lieut._ JOSEPH BAKER _Lieut_ JOSHUA REED _Lieut_