The historic Old Meeting House in Pittsfield, now the town Senior Center |
In the 1840s not all of New England espoused
Abolitionist beliefs, or embraced the idea that the African slaves were their
brothers. Most of New Hampshire did not
follow the liberal beliefs found in Salem or Boston. It was rural.
Most residents had never seen a black person. Remember, at this time the
only president from New Hampshire was in office, and Franklin Pierce was
infamous for signing the Fugitive Slave Act, and for being a copperhead.
In 1842 Frederick Douglass was sent by the
Massachusetts Anti Slavery Society to speak at the church in tiny Pittsfield,
New Hampshire. He was only 25 years old, recently freed from slavery. He had to ride on the roof of the stage coach
because “no colored person could be allowed inside” as he stated in his autobiography. He was not met with open arms. The Hilles family, who was asked to board him,
subscribed to the Liberator. They felt
obliged to put him up but not to treat him well. Douglass wrote that Mr. Hilles suffered from
“colorphobia”.
One year earlier in Northfield, New Hampshire a
pastor named George Storrs prayed at his pulpit for abolition. He was arrested on a complaint of disturbing
the peace! This made national
headlines. He was arrested a second time
in Pittsfield by the authority of a writ signed by the Democratic US
Representative who lived in town. The
Reverend Storrs was sentenced to three months hard labor. Frederick Douglass
knew he was facing a tough audience.
During Frederick Douglass’s lecture, the audience
was polite, but did not applaud. During the lunch break no one invited him
home, and the only tavern in town asked him to leave. Douglass sat on a stone wall by the church in
the rain to wait until the evening session of his lecture. Finally, a gentleman passing by took pity and
invited him to his home. This was the US
Representative Moses Norris, well known pro-slavery advocate who had signed the
writ for Reverend George Storrs arrest!
Frederick Douglas sat on the wall or on one of the tombstones here at the Meeting House cemetery |
At the Norris home, the children ran screaming from
the house when they saw a black man enter the door. Mrs. Norris first acted cold, but then opened
her heart when she saw Douglass was shivering and hungry. By the end of the meal, Douglass quoted “from
that moment I could see that her prejudices were more than half gone, and that
I more than half welcome at the fireside of this Democratic Senator. I spoke again in the evening and at the close
of the meeting there was quite a contest between Mrs. Norris and Mrs. Hilles,
as to which I should go home with.”
Hearts were turned in little Pittsfield, New
Hampshire. His evening lecture was a
huge success and Douglass went on to become a famous speaker all over the
north. Moses Norris went on to become a
US senator, succeeding Franklin Pierce. In this part of New England there are
still few black residents, and few black tourists. But Pittsfield has honored the stone wall, where a discouraged Frederick Douglas sat shivering, as part of their heritage
trail with this a marker:
Transcription of the historical marker at
Pittsfield, New Hampshire
1842 - Frederick
Douglass' Visit
On one of these gravestones sat the black abolitionist Frederick Douglass in a cold, drizzling rain after giving an anti-slavery speech in the Old Meeting House. Having been refused service at a nearby hotel, he was hungry and without shelter. Pro-slavery Senator Moses Norris, Jr., in an act of humanitarian kindness, invited the disconsolate stranger into his house for the evening. Thereafter, Mr. Douglass was treated with great respect.
On one of these gravestones sat the black abolitionist Frederick Douglass in a cold, drizzling rain after giving an anti-slavery speech in the Old Meeting House. Having been refused service at a nearby hotel, he was hungry and without shelter. Pro-slavery Senator Moses Norris, Jr., in an act of humanitarian kindness, invited the disconsolate stranger into his house for the evening. Thereafter, Mr. Douglass was treated with great respect.
-------------------------
From The Nation’s Problem by Frederick Douglass,
1889
“There is still a great
deal of prejudice, even in the North, against colored people; but he has found
out that the only way to cure it, is to treat them kindly. This he proved by
the fact that at Pittsfield, New Hampshire, forty-eight years before, Mrs.
Norris had been helped, by doing him a kindness, to shake off her prejudice
against his color and his views so thoroughly as to be the first to shake hands
with him after his lecture.”
--------------------------------
At Hampton, New Hampshire John Greenleaf Whittier
wrote this tongue-in-cheek poem in honor of the election of 1846, as a coded
letter from Franklin Pierce to Moses Norris.
It mentions the anti-slavery Free Will Baptists of New Hampshire, and
abolitionist John P. Hale, who was elected senator as a dissident Democrat.
“ ‘Tis over, Moses! All is lost!
I hear the bells-a-ringing;
Of Pharoah and his Red Sea host
I hear the Free Wills singing.
We’re routed, Moses, horse and
foot,
If there be truth in figures,
With Federal Whigs in hot pursuit,
And Hale and all the ‘niggers’…
The ides of June! Woe the day
When, turning all things over,
The traitor Hale shall make his hay
From Democratic clover!
Let Hale exult and Wilson scoff,
To see us southward scamper;
The slave, we know, are “better off
Than laborers in New Hampshire!”
---------------------------------
For more information:
The
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick
Douglass, Kessinger Publishing, 2004,
see pages 530 – 534 for the description of his days in Pittsfield, New
Hampshire.
A post at SeacoastNH.com by historian J. Dennis
Robinson, his primary source was the Portsmouth
Black Heritage Trail Resource Book by Valerie Cunningham and Mark Sammons, http://seacoastnh.com/arts/please021001.html
The
Pittsfield, New Hampshire Heritage Trail website, and this link takes you to
the page describing Douglass’s lecture at the Old Meeting House
The
map and trail brochure can be printed out for visitors.
Jacksonian
Antislavery and the Politics of Freedom, by Jonathan H.
Earle, University of North Carolina
Press, 2003, pages 98 -99 for Whittier’s poem about Norris and Storrs.
-------------------
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Black History Month ~ Frederick Douglass in New Hampshire, 1842", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 9, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/02/black-history-month-frederick-douglass.html: accessed [access date]).
Absolutely wonderful posts filled with historical significance. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI am looking for the Brandt ancestors from Pittsfield NH I am the Granddaughter of Isabel Corrine Brandt , her parents are Gustav and (Fannie) Josephine
DeleteHeather, thank you for this fascinating post! The many indignities suffered by people say so much. And at the same time, the kindnesses, should one choose to let them come forth, have far greater impact. Great post!!
ReplyDeleteA great post, Heather!
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This is a wonderful story, Heather. When I look at the makeup of towns in the country, I can see at a glance how challenging it might be for a non-white person to be seen as equal - visibly sticking out is not a good thing in our societies over time. Still a problem. An excellent and well-researched post - I enjoyed it very much.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Celia!
Deletei visited this church yesterday thanks for sharing this story in details
ReplyDelete