Alexander Crummell

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Alexander Crummell was born on March 3, 1819, in New York City to a former slave, Boston Crummell, and freeborn Charity Hicks, seemingly destined to become an abolitionist. From a very early age, his parents instilled in him values that would shape the rest of his life. They were both active in the Abolition Movement, and the first black newspaper, Freedom’s Journal, was published within Crummell’s home. Boston Crummell also instilled in his son a sense of unity with those blacks still living in Africa from stories of his childhood there. As a boy, Crummell worked for the American Anti-Slavery Society in New York. His father's influence and these early experiences within the abolitionist movement shaped Crummell’s beliefs and actions throughout the rest of his life.

Crummell began his formal education in the African Free School No. 2 and at home with private tutors. From there, Crummell attended the Canal Street High School. After graduating, Crummell, along with his friend Henry Highland Garnet, attended the Noyes Academy in New Hampshire. The school, however, was destroyed by a lynch mob and Crummell enrolled in the Oneida Institute. While studying there, Crummell decided to become a priest within the Episcopalian faith, and pursued that end with the same enthusiasm he had pursued the rest of his education. Unfortunately, Crummell was denied admission to the General Theological Seminary solely because of his race. In spite of such discrimination, Crummell went on to receive holy orders at the behest of several clergymen sympathetic to his position and was ordained in 1842.

In 1847, Crummell traveled to England to raise money for his congregation at the Church of the Messiah. While there, Crummell preached, spoke about Abolitionism in the United States, and raised almost £2,000. Crummell was also interested in attending either the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge, and when such an opportunity presented itself, he grabbed it. From 1851-1853, Crummell enrolled at Cambridge, although he had to take his finals twice to receive his degree.

During his time at the University of Cambridge, Crummell continued to travel the country and speak out about slavery and the plight of the black people. Crummell formulated his most central belief for the advancement of the African race, Pan-Africanism, during this epoch. Crummell believed that in order to achieve their potential, the African race as a whole, including those in America, the West Indies, and Africa, needed to unify under the banner of race. Racial solidarity, to him, was the solution to slavery, discrimination, and continued attacks on the African race. To that end, Crummell continued to spread his message and relocated to Africa.

In 1853, Crummell arrived in Liberia as a missionary of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States with the mission of converting the native people. Though previously against Colonization, experiences in Liberia changed his mind and he became convinced of its benefits. Crummell wove Colonization into his Pan-African ideology, preaching that "enlightened," or Christianized , Africans in the United States and the West Indies had a duty to come back to Africa. There, they would help civilize and Christianize the continent. When enough native Africans had been converted, they would take over converting the rest of the population while those from America and the West Indies continued to educate the people and run a republican government. Crummell’s grand scheme never came to fruition, with interest in colonization waning and the failure of "enlightened" blacks to perform the duty he had laid out for them. While he did successfully serve as both a pastor and professor in Liberia, Crummell was never able to set up the government and society he dreamed of. In 1873, he returned to the United States.

Once back on American soil, Crummell took on the task of running St. Mary’s Episcopal Mission. Despite prior frustrations, he never stopped working for the racial solidarity he had advocated for so long. Throughout his life, Crummell continued to work for black nationalism, self-help, and separate economic development. He also spent the last years of his life setting up the American Negro Academy, which opened in 1897. Alexander Crummell died in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1898.

Though most of his work never produced the intended results, Crummell was an important voice within the abolition movement and a vocal leader of the Pan-African ideology. His achievements, which include a college education, becoming a priest, and setting up the American Negro Academy, are nothing less than impressive. His contributions to the academic world, via his sermons and written works, leave the impression of a well-educated, well-spoken, and well-written black man who believed deeply and fervently in the Pan-African idea and worked most of his life to achieve it. Crummell's legacy can be seen not in his personal achievements, but in the influence he exerted on other black nationalists and Pan-Africanists, such as Marcus Garvey, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and W. E. B. Du Bois. Du Bois even paid tribute to Crummell with a memorable essay entitled "Of Alexander Crummell," in the Twelfth Chapter of his The Souls of Black Folk.

[edit] Works cited

Moses, Wilson J.. "Alexander Crummell." American National Biography Online. 2000. Oxford University Press. 5 Feb 2008 <http://www.anb.org/articles/08/08-00330.html>.

Moses, Wilson Jeremiah. Alexander Crummell: A Study of Civilization and Discontent. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Rigsby, Gregory, U.. Alexander Crummell: Pioneer in the Nineteenth-Century Pan-African Thought. New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.

Wahle, Kathleen O'Mara. "Alexander Crummell: Black Evangelist and Pan-Negro Nationalist." Phylon 29(1968): 388-395.

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