Shadow and Light - An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century

Mifflin Wistar Gibbs

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• Publié par: abbe
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 49
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Shadow and Light, by Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, et al This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Shadow and Light An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century Author: Mifflin Wistar Gibbs Release Date: February 25, 2009 [eBook #28183] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHADOW AND LIGHT*** E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Josephine Paolucci, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) SHADOW and LIGHT SHADOW and LIGHTAN AUTOBIOGRAPHY WITH REMINISCENCES OF THE LAST AND PRESENT CENTURY. BYMIFFLIN WISTAR GIBBS WITH AN INTRODUCTION BYBOOKER T. WASHINGTON A Fatherless Boy, Carpenter and Contractor, Anti-Slavery Lecturer, Merchant, Railroad Builder, Superintendent of Mine, Attorney-at-Law, County Attorney, Municipal Judge Register of United States Lands, Receiver of Public Monies for U. S., United States Consul to Madagascar—Prominent Race Leaders, etc. Washington, D. C. 1902. Copyright, 1902.PREFACE. During the late years abroad, while reading the biographies of distinguished men who had been benefactors, the thought occurred that I had had a varied career, though not as fruitful or as deserving of renown as these characters, and differing as to status and aim. Yet the portrayal might be of benefit to those who, eager for advancement, are willing to be laborious students to attain worthy ends. I have aimed to give an added interest to the narrative by embellishing its pages with portraits of men who have gained distinction in various fields, who need only to be seen to present the career of those now living as worthy models, and the record of the dead, who left the world the better for having lived. To enjoy a life prominent and prolonged is a desire as natural as worthy, and there have been those who sought to extend its duration by nostrums and drinking-waters said to bestow the virtue of "perpetual life." But if "to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die," to be worthy of such memorial we must have done or said something that blessed the living or benefited coming generations. Hence autobiography is the record, for "books are as tombstones made by the living, but destined soon to remind us of the dead." Trusting that any absence of literary merit will not impair the author's cherished design to "impart a moral," should he fail to "adorn a tale." Little Rock, Ark., January, 1902.INTRODUCTION. By BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. It is seldom that one man, even if he has lived as long as Judge M. W. Gibbs is able to record his impressions of so many widely separated parts of the earth's surface as Judge Gibbs can, or to recall personal experiences in so many important occurrences. Born in Philadelphia, and living there when that city—almost on the border line between slavery and freedom—was the scene of some of the most stirring incidents in the abolition agitation, he was able as a free colored youth, going to Maryland to work, to see and judge of the condition of the slaves in that State. Some of the most dramatic operations of the famous "Underground Railroad" came under his personal observation. He enjoyed the rare privilege of being associated in labor for the race with that man of sainted memory, the Hon. Frederick Douglass. He met and heard many of the most notable men and women who labored to secure the freedom of the Negro. As a resident of California in the exciting years which immediately followed the discovery of gold, he watched the development of lawlessness there and its results. A few years later he went to British Columbia to live, when that colony was practically an unknown country. Returning to the United States, he was a witness to the exciting events connected with the years of Reconstruction in Florida, and an active participant in the events of that period in the State of Arkansas. At one time and another he has met many of the men who have been prominent in the direction of the affairs of both the great political parties of the country. In more recent years he has been able to see something of life in Europe, and in his official capacity as United States Consul to Tamatave, Madagascar, adjoining Africa, has resided for some time in that far-off and strange land. It would be difficult for any man who has had all these experiences not to be entertaining when he tells of them. Judge Gibbs has written an interesting book. Interspersed with the author's recollections and descriptions are various conclusions, as when he says: "Labor to make yourself as indispensable as possible in all your relations with the dominant race, and color will cut less figure in your upward grade." "Vice is ever destructive; ignorance ever a victim, and poverty ever defenseless." "Only as we increase in property will our political barometer rise." It is significant to find one who has seen so much of the world as Judge Gibbs has, saying, as he does: "With travel somewhat extensive and diversified, and with residence in tropical latitudes of Negro origin, I have a decided conviction, despite the crucial test to which he has been subjected in the past, and the present disadvantages under which he labors, that nowhere is the promise along all the lines of opportunity brighter for the American Negro than here in the land of his nativity." I bespeak for the book a careful reading by those who are interested in the history of the Negro in America, and in his present and future. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I 3 Parents, School and Teacher—Foundation of the Negroes' Mechanical Knowledge—First Brick A. M. E. Church— Bishop Allen—Olive Cemetery—Harriet Smith Home—"Underground Railroad"—Incidents on the Road—William and Ellen Craft—William Box Brown. CHAPTER II 15 Nat Turner's Insurrection—Experience on a Maryland Plantation—First Street Cars in Philadelphia—Anti-Slavery Meetings—Amusing Incidents—Opposition of Negro Churches—Kossuth Celebration, and the Unwelcome Guest. CHAPTER III 29 Cinguez, the Hero of Armistead Captives—The Threshold of Man's Estate—My First Lecturing Tour with Frederic Douglass—His "Life and Times"—Pen Picture of George William Curtis of Ante-Bellum Conditions—Harriet Beecher Stowe, Lucretia Mott, and Frances E. Harper, a Noble Band of Women—"Go Do Some Great Thing"—Journey to California—Incidents at Panama. CHAPTER IV 40 Arrival at San Francisco—Getting Domiciled and Seeking Work—Strike of White Employees—Lester & Gibbs, Importers—Assaulted in Our Store—First Protest from the Colored Men of California—Poll Tax. CHAPTER V 51 "Vigilance Committee" and Lynch Law at "Fort Gunny"—Murder of James King, of William—A Paradox to Present Conditions. CHAPTER VI 59 Gold Discovery in British Columbia—Incidents on Shipboard and Arrival at Victoria—National Unrest in 1859 —"Irrepressible Conflict"—Garrison and Douglass—Harriet Beecher Stowe and Frances Ellen Harper—John Brown of Harper's Ferry—"Fugitive Slave Law"—Flight to Canada. CHAPTER VII 74 Abraham Lincoln President—Rebellion Inaugurated—Success of the Union Army—Re-Election of Lincoln—Bravery and Endurance of Negro Soldiers—Assassination of Lincoln—Lynching Denounced by Southern Governors and Statesmen —Words of Wisdom from St. Pierre de Couberton. CHAPTER VIII 85 My First Entry Into Political Life—Intricacies of the Ballot—Number of Negro Schools, Pupils and Amount of School Property in 1898—Amendment to Constitution and Interview with Vice-President Schuyler Colfax at Victoria, B. C.— William Lloyd Garrison, Jr., and James Russell Lowell on the Right to Vote. CHAPTER IX 93 Philip A. Bell, a Veteran Editor of the "Negro Press"—British Columbia, Its Early History, Efforts for Annexation to the United States—Meeting with Lady Franklin, Widow of Sir John Franklin, the Arctic Explorer, in 1859—Union of British Columbia with the Dominion of Canada in 1868, the Political Issue—Queen Charlotte Island—Anthracite Coal Company —Director, Contractor and Shipper of First Cargo of Anthracite Coal on the Pacific Coast—Indians and Their Peculiarities. CHAPTER X 107 An Incident of Peril—My Return to the United States in 1869—Thoughts and Feelings En Route—Entered Oberlin Law College and Graduated—Visit to my Brother, J. C. Gibbs, Secretary of State of Florida—A Delegate to the National Convention of Colored Men at Charleston, S. C.—"Gratitude Expensive"—The Trend of Republican Leaders— Contribution of Southern White People for Negro Education—Views of a Leading Democrat. CHAPTER XI 122 President of National Convention at Nashville, Tenn., in 1876—Pen and Ink Sketch by H. V. Redfield of "Cincinnati Commercial"—Colored Leaders Desire to Fraternize for Race Protection—William H. Grey, H. B. Robinson, and J. H. Johnson, of Arkansas, Leaders and Planters—My Arrival at Little Rock, May, 1871—Reading of Local Statutes in the Law Office of Benjamin & Barnes—"Wheeler & Gibbs," Attorneys-at-Law. CHAPTER XII 134 Politics and Politicians—Disruption of the Republicans in Arkansas—"Minstrels and Brindle Tails"—Early Canvassing in the South, with Its Peculiarities—Ku Klux Visits—My Appointment as County Attorney and Election as Municipal Judge—Hon. John Allen, of Mississippi, His Descriptive Anecdote. CHAPTER XIII 145 Lowering Cloud on Righteous Rule—Comparison of Negro Progress—Sir Walter Scott in His Notes on English History —George C. Lorimer, a Noted Divine—Educational Solution of the Race Problem—Baron Russell, Lord Chief Justice of England—Civil War in Arkansas—Expulsion of Governor Baxter and Instalment of Governor Brooks at the State Houses —Stirring Episodes—"Who Shall Bell the Cat?"—Extraordinary Session of the Legislature—My Issue of a Search Warrant for the Seal of the State—Recognition of Baxter by