Celebrate July 4th For 2 Reasons: Independence Day & MANUMISSION DAY

Originally published June 19, 2005 @ http://tabacco.myblogsite.com/


Celebrate July 4th

For 2 Reasons:

Independence Day &

MANUMISSION DAY







For the sake of argument, we will assume you already know about Independence Day.  You must have seen the Will Smith movie by now.  They usually show it on TV around July 4th.

So I shall explain what Manumission Day is to those of you, unfamiliar with the Holiday..


Dictionary.com:  manumit \man-yuh-MIT\, transitive verb:
 To free from slavery or servitude;
Manumit comes from Latin manumittere, "to emancipate a slave," from manu mittere, "to release from control," from manus, "hand" (hence "power of control") + mittere, "to let go; to send." The noun form is manumission.


Slavery was officially abolished in New York State on  July 4th, 1827.  Because enslaved African-Americans in New York City were warned not to celebrate their manumission on the American Independence Day,  blacks waited until the following day to celebrate.  (How many of you didn't know that New York State had practiced "slavery"?)  Well, the good people of New York were at the forefront of slavery in the early days.

On July 5, 1827, thousands celebrated the abolition of slavery in New York State with a parade in downtown Manhattan.  Although NY State lawmakers actually outlawed slavery the previous day, celebrations were held off until the next day so as not to conflict with the National Day of Independence.


HISTORY AND THE MANUMISSION LAW OF NEW YORK STATE:

The move to end slavery in New York was fueled by Quakers from Long Island and Hudson Valley & white immigrant city dwellers angry at having to compete with free labor.  Resistance to ending slavery was high.  In some parts of Brooklyn and Suffolk, as many as 1 family in 3 held at least one slave.  1799 NYS Legislature enacted a plan for gradual emancipation wherein children, born to slave mothers after 7/4/1799, would be freed at age 27 for men and 25 for women.  Blacks born before that date would remain slaves for life.  1817 Legislature provided that on 7/4/1827, slavery would end for any "Negro, mulatto or mustee" born before July 4, 1799. This meant freedom for about 3,000 slaves in NYC, Long Island & the Hudson Valley.
S: Newsday, 7/4/2003, p A4, A38 (Remember where to find the facts because, even with the Internet, finding them now is not a "slam-dunk").


In 2005, St. Augustine's Episcopal Church will celebrate Manumission Day on Saturday, July 9th beginning at 10:30am.  This is an annual celebration.  They are located at 290 Henry Street, New York, NY 10002 Telephone No. 212-673-5300

http://www.staugnyc.org/
On their website, click on "Church Calendar" then go to July, 2005

http://www.staugnyc.org/manumission_day.htm
St. Augustine's website relates some of their Church's history re Manumission Day.

Excerpt re their July 5, 2003, celebration:

"Our Manumission Day Celebration at  St. Augustine's was highly successful.  We accomplished two goals: 1) We  brought attention to the Slave Gallery project and 2) We helped increase public awareness of a very important date in African American history in New York State.  Our thanks to all who supported this historic occasion."



http://www.angelfire.com/bc/RPPS/fp_summer_2003/aug_2003/aug_doy_days_2003.htm

Excerpt:  Independence Day weekend went uneventfully in the United States. The government relaxed its horrific warnings which have accompanied all the holiday occasions since September 11 2001 and Mr Bush had the good graces to stay out of sight, so that his squeaking little voice was unheard.

..... Among the good news on Independence Day in New York, St Augustine Episcopal Church revived its celebration of manumission day, the end of slavery in New York in 1826. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, New York prospectively terminated involuntary servitude as of July 4 1826.

.....St Augustine's Church continued its celebration of Manumission Day until 1930 when it desegregated its congregation. Periodically since that time there have been proposals to revive the celebration.



http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-history-hs511a,0,6240189.story?coll=ny-lihistory-navigation
Newsday Article by George DeWan, "Slavery Died A Slow Death"

Excerpt:  On the Fourth of July, 1827, two centuries after it began, slavery ended in New York State.

...The end did not come overnight, with a great thunderclap of insight that the owning of one person by another was morally wrong. The largest slave state in the North ended slavery only gradually -- as did the other northern states -- during a period of three decades, and only after a great debate.
 
...Slavery was allowed to die a slow death in New York because such gradualism protected the economic interests of slaveowners, according to David N. Gellman, a lecturer in early American history at Northwestern University. Gellman, an expert on the abolition movement in New York State, was asked recently whether the policy of gradually freeing slaves had been a success.



http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume3/february05/manumission.cfm

Excerpt:  As the institution of slavery matured in colonial Virginia, slaveholders saw the small number of free blacks in the colony as a “great inconvenience” suspected of everything from receiving stolen goods and encouraging slaves to run away to fomenting rebellion. Moreover, “being grown old [they bring] a charge upon the country”—that is, aged free blacks who were unable to work, in principle at least, became eligible for support from the parishes in which they lived. Although the General Assembly never considered reenslavement of the existing free black population, it took measures to prevent slaveholders of “ill directed” generosity from adding to the numbers by setting slaves free.

.....In 1691, the General Assembly passed a law aimed at making masters think twice before freeing any of their slaves. While manumission by deed or will was legal under this law, it required a newly freed slave to leave the colony within six months and the former master to pay for the trip. Although legislation likely had a dampening effect on the urge to manumit, it is not clear how many slaves were freed and forced to leave Virginia during the thirty-two years it was in effect.

.....Manumission became much more difficult in 1723. Paragraph 17 of the 1723 Act Directing the Trial of Slaves, Committing Capital Crimes; and for the More Effectual Punishing Conspiracies and Insurrection of Them; and for the Better Government of Negros, Mulattos, and Indians, Bond or Free stated that “No negro, mullatto, or Indian slaves, shall be set free, upon any pretence whatsoever, except for some meritorious services, to be adjudged and allowed by the governor and council, for the time being.”



http://voi.org/books/mssmi/ch11.htm
CHAPTER XI .....RULES REGARDING MANUMISSION AND SALE OF SLAVES

Excerpt:  The two main sources of obtaining slaves were by capture and purchase. The two main means of their disposal were by manumission and sale. We shall here briefly discuss the problems and rules associated with these two aspects.

.....Manumission of slaves was a pre-Islamic Arab custom for earning religious merit. It was recommended by prophet Muhammad also. His advice finds mention in both the Quran and the Hadis.  Manumission was widely practised in India for various reasons and causes. For instance, many are the blessings to those who fast during Ramzan, but if neglected intentionally the offender must expiate his guilt by the manumission of one male slave (ghulam) for every day that he broke the fast.  1 Or, when the emperor Shahjahan was ill, his daughter liberated several slaves, made them walk round her father, and then sent them away to carry his infirmities with them.  2 It is not mentioned whether these slaves were just sent away or released according to the rules of manumission, but since Islam is stickler about rules, it is probable that appropriate procedure was followed while freeing them.



http://www.slavenorth.com/nyemancip.htm
SLAVERY IN THE NORTH: EMANCIPATION IN NEW YORK

Excerpt:  Most of the Revolutionary leaders who came to power in New York in 1777 had anti-slavery sentiments, yet, as elsewhere in the North, the urgency of the war with Britain made them delay, and they restricted their activity to a policy statement and an appeal to future legislatures "to take the most effective measures consistent with public safety for abolishing domestic slavery." This resolution passed in the state Constitutional Convention by a vote of 29 to 5.

.....The war proved particularly destructive in the case of New York, and the state was a battleground from one end to the other. Little was done during the war towards ending slavery, except that in 1781 the legislature voted to manumit slaves serving in the armed forces. But the war itself wrought havoc with the institution. Many slaves ran off to the British during the occupation of the state. Others achieved freedom by taking up the rebels' offer of manumission in exchange for military service. The slave population of New York City was permanently reduced. When the British and the American Loyalists pulled out of New York at the end of the war, some 3,000 blacks left with them.

.....In 1785, when the fighting was over, New York got around to the slavery question. As before, most of the legislators were anti-slavery, but by now a split had developed between moderates, who favored gradual emancipation, and a minority of hard-liners behind Aaron Burr who sought an immediate end to slavery. The moderates won, and out of the Assembly in 1785 came a plan that children born to slave women after 1785 would be free from birth. But it was passed up to the state Senate with a number of riders attached, which reflected fears of potential power in an ex-slave population and racist concerns about social order. Blacks would be denied the right to vote or hold public office, or to intermarry with whites or give testimony against them in state courts. This combination of gradual emancipation with restrictions on black civil rights was the plan that had succeeded in Connecticut the previous year. "The representatives in effect sought to blunt the political and social impact of emancipation by relegating the Negro freedmen to a civil limbo of second-class citizenship."




You may find the following websites informative re Manumission Day in New York and elsewhere:

http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/v-pfriendly/story/256547p-219706c.html
http://www.volumenyc.org/article_detail/index.asp?id=300&section=explore
http://www.nathanielturner.com/historiclawnside.htm
http://www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/extract4.htm 
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:9MTW52wVcZcJ:www.africanburialground.com/OPEI_Documents/
OPEI_Vol3_No9_SpringSummer_2003.pdf+Manumission+Day&hl=en&client=safari (African Burial Ground)
http://www.common-place.org/vol-05/no-01/heinegg-hoff/index.shtml
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:pYrl2v0AJk4J:ww3.artsusa.org/animatingdemocracy/pdf/reading_room/
critical_perspectives_essays/slave_galleries/tchen_essay.pdf+Manumission+Day&hl=en&client=safari
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/geography/slave_laws_NY.htm
http://intranet.rutgers.edu/~clemens/slaverypage.html
http://www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/civilwar/cw_glossary.html
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/archives/jay/JaySlavery.html
http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/renwick/Chap07.html
http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/renwick/Contents.html
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/g/goodman-blood.html
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/geography/slave_laws_NJ.htm  (New Jersey Slave Laws Summary/Record)




So, on this and all succeeding July 4ths (or July 5ths), hopefully I and mine will join you and yours, by celebrating not only Independence Day, but Manumission Day in New York State.  And I don't think it really makes any difference whether you or your forebearers ever lived in, or even visited New York State, or have slavery in your "Family Tree".  Californians, Texans, Iowans, Ohioans, Alabamanians, Virginians, Vermonters and all points in between, let's join hands and never forget the "5/5 of all other Persons" that Manumission Day represents in all the United States of America.  And if a movement to make July 5th a National Holiday should come about, I will be happy to get on the bandwagon.


In 1981's 'Body Heat', Kathleen Turner said, "Knowledge is power".



T.A.B.A.C.C.O.  (Truth About Business And Congressional Crimes Organization)

tags: freedom  emancipation  south  nys  independence day  slavery  exploitation  government  manumission day  north  politics