Charlotte Forten Grimké
Written By: Lamont Jack Pearley
“We confess that it was highly satisfactory to us to see how the tables are turned, now that “the whirligig of time has brought about its revenge” - Life on Sea Island, a quote from Charlotte as she and her companion toured the Beaufort, awaiting the connecting boat to St. Helena Island.
There is a deep and complex battle that hovers over Charlotte. In competition, being the first usually comes with celebration; however, in a racist society, being the first usually comes with sorrow, anger, rage, or plain sickness. I’m not necessarily saying Charlotte felt any of those emotions, though it’ll be hard to believe she didn’t. Nor am I telling her terrible illness later in life was caused by her being the first, though I think it contributed. What I am saying is, in a highly racist, aggressive, and violent nation, being the first Black Woman to…and that ‘to’ constitute schooling with all whites, while coming from free black wealthy families, one could wonder how she felt trying. Yet, I failed to connect with the newly freed slaves of Sea Island and other places in the south; I could only imagine Charlotte wondering how I could have so much in common yet be so different.
On the other hand, I also wonder how it was to be educated around a majority white race and then connect with white educators more than those in your image during this perilous time. These things had to have weighed on Grimke. We often read or learn about prominent black scholars who traveled south to partake in the struggle. We read how they took affirming stances against slavery, oppression, Jim Crow, and the like, how they encouraged reading and education. We’ve also often heard about many of the conflicts and disagreements of our black leaders and scholars—different personalities, different principles, etc. But we never, better yet, I’ve come across too much literature that discusses the fact that some of our Black scholars didn’t have what could be considered the Black American Experience. That some of our history makers, W.E.B. DuBois, for example, came from a white town of freed blacks and was pretty much grandfathered into society by elite whites, prompting contempt and extreme disagreements by those in the fight for liberation that lived through the treachery, racism, and violence towards black society.
I’m not saying free and intellectual blacks avoided racism, and I know Charlotte wasn’t void of racist treatments. What I am suggesting is, as the great Martin Luther King Jr. once uttered, could Charlotte have been a tad overzealous to give formal education to blacks with no prior education? And how did that affect her? Her family were influential abolitionists, who made a name saving and freeing blacks through and with the underground railroad. Furthermore, Charlotte taught young newly released blacks about Toussaint and the Haitian Revolution to sparking a revolutionary spirit against the oppressor.
Charlotte Forten Grimke was a Northern African American school teacher to go south and taught former slaves. She was also the first to document the Black Spirituals of the Gullah people. Upon reaching Beaufort Island, Charlotte and her companion gracefully whisk into a world of newly freed negroes living under what seemed to be northern rules and structures. It was evident that the excitement of the change and dynamics in this part of the Americas wasn’t shared by many white soldiers who were stationed or resided there. As Charlotte toured the area, she was hit with truths and changes that in her lifetime never thought possible. Watching all shades of Black children playing nearby what was at one time a slave auction, as soldiers who still had a deep hatred for Negroes, continued to voice their feelings through epithets that weren’t loving, especially when they found out that Charlotte and her companion arrived to educate the newly freed African Americans.
The threat of disease and the fact that the rebels were known to attack made coffins the only prospering business at present. Amid this paradigm, Charlotte and the newly freed blacks native to the area were unscathed by this notion. Charleston still was auctioning enslaved people, the local library became a shelter for free blacks, and the thought of a progressive African American woman, born to a family of abolitionists, stands in affirmation of her mission and calling, to educate her people that are no longer enslaved.
We must consider the courage of Charlotte and her travel mate, taking into account that hey could have been attacked and hung by rebels of the war who were against the freedoms of African Americans. The sheer willingness to omit the warnings from soldiers on the Beaufort Island awaiting the rowboat that crossed to St. Helena. Using the sounds of Blackness from the African American boatsmen, for Charlotte, her companion, and driver Harry singing John Brown loudly and proudly, there was an assertion of black freedom and progression in the air. They took their 3-mile excursion to their destination, forgetting fear and embracing the excitement of what lies ahead.
In her piece Life of Sea Island, Charlotte writes, “As we glided along, the rich tone of the negro boatmen broke up the evening stillness - sweet, strang and solemn: -
“Jesus makes de Blind see,
Jesus make dthe e cripple walk,
Jesus make de deaf hear,
Walk inWalk-in, kind Jesus!
No man can henderhinder me.”
She goes on to say, “They sang in rich, sweet tones, and with a peculiar swaying motion of the body, which made their singing more effective. They sang, “Marching Along,” with great spirit, and then one of their hymns, the air of which is beautiful and touching” -
“My sister, you want to get religion,
Go down in de Lonesome Valley;
My brudder, you want to get religion,
Go down in de Lonesome Valley.
Chorus
“Go down in de Lonesome Valley,
Go down in de Lonesome Valley, my Lord
Go down in de Lonesome Valley,
To meet Jesus dere!
“Oh, feed on milk and honey,
Oh, feed on milk and honey, my Lord,
Oh, feed on milk and honey
Meet my Jesus dere!
“Oh, John, he brought a letter,
Oh, John, he brought a note, my Lord
Oh, Mary and Marta read them
Meet my Jesus dere!
Chorus
Go down in de Lonesome Valley…(repeat)
Grimke documents, ‘They repeat their hymns several times, and while singing, keep perfect time with their hands and feet.’
What makes this part of her story filled with revolution is being the grandmother of folklorists and collectors alike in the history of South Carolina. She was stated to be one of the most violent states in America, towards themselves(whites) and especially towards African Americans. After the Civil War, South Carolina whites refused to accept Emancipation, especially in Edgefield.
South Carolina writer B.O.Townsend stated:
The old relations have not been forgotten. Everyone thinks, and every child is trained up in the belief, that the negro is meant for the use of white people, was brought here and should stay here for no other purpose…(pg 37 in Fox Butterfield’s book, All Gods Children)
What would give Charlotte so much courage at a time when blacks, let alone black women, had no rights? This not only starts with her grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles but her very own experience at the tender age of 16. Philadelphia being an incubator of abolition was still plagued by separatism. Charlotte, not being allowed into the tier-one schools by way of her father, made an excursion to Salem, Mass., to attend the Normal School, a high-end private school. She was the only black person in the 200-student body. She began her teaching career as the first African-American ever hired in the Salem schools. Grimke also furthered her family’s work by joining and aggressively participating in the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society, becoming affiliated with many leading black and white abolitionists. Her family history and the trial of Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave captured and returned to Virginia under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, would mold and prepare Charlotte for her many acts of activism, abolition, and this trip to Sea Island.
The transition of becoming known as a folklorist or historian wasn’t that difficult, considering Charlotte was an avid writer and reader. She kept a daily journal, read the Anti-Slavery papers routinely, and documented her experiences as an educator and abolitionist.
Excerpt from “Journal of Charlottes Forten, Free Woman of Color, selections from 1854-1859” -
June 2, 1854. Our worst fears are realized; the decision was against poor Burns, and he has been sent back to bondage worse, a thousand times worse than death. Even a rescue attempt was utterly impossible; soldiers surrounded the prisoner with bayonets fixed, a cannon loaded, ready to be fired at the slighted sign.16 Today Massachusetts has again been disgraced; again she has shewed her submission to the Slave Power; and Oh! with what deep sorrow do we think of what will doubtless be the fate of that poor man when he is again consigned to the horrors of Slavery. With what scorn must that government be regarded, New York Public Library “Night attack on the courthouse.
Between Monday and Wednesday, when evidence was being heard in the Anthony Burns case, Boston was in a state of great excitement. Troops patrolled the streets and the public square before the Court House was roped off to keep back the mobs. As was usual in such cases, the testimony was conflicting; the government maintained that Burns had escaped on March 24, but several witnesses testified that he had been working in Boston between March 4 and March 10. On June 2, the court ruled that he was an escaped enslaved person and must be returned to his master. He was marched down State Street to a waiting Virginia-bound vessel through groaning, hissing lines of people. Federal troops, state militiamen, and the entire police force were on hand to prevent any rescue attempts. “
[Footnote continues.] National Humanities Center ♦ Journal of Charlotte Forten, Selections: 1854-1859. 4
While on St. Helena’s Island, Charlotte seemed enamored by the singing of the local people. To her, their spirits rose through their singing. Grimke also took notice of their dress, behavior, and activities during Sunday service. She says, “ the attendees of the Church stilled lived with nature, only understanding time-based on the movement, rising and setting of the Sun and Moon.” The love and reverence she felt for her fellow black folk, her distance kinfolk, if you will, still brought her no closer to actually feeling close to or part of their folk group and folk communal. Today, Forten is best remembered for her diaries. From 1854-64 and 1885-92, she recorded the life of an intelligent, cultured, romantic woman who read and wrote poetry, attended lectures, worked, and took part in the most significant social movement of her time. She was determined to embody the intellectual potential of all black people. She set a course of philosophical exploration, social sophistication, cultural achievement, and spiritual improvement. She was, above all, dedicated to social justice.
Charlotte Forten Grimke's dairies are significant documents that keep her name relevant in academic spaces. During the years1854-64 and 1885-92, Grimke wrote about her feelings and experiences. She was invested in and took leading efforts to destroy racism, slavery, and the lack of education of her fellow black people. She is the mother of collectors, folklorists, ethnographers, and ethnomusicologists. Even though she participated as an outsider of a particular folk group in some cases, she documented and preserved the story, traditions, and cultural expressions allowing us to take the baton. Class, resources, and affiliations play a significant role in writing black experiences and interactions. That didn't stop Charlotte; she made sure to make contributions that would be celebrated for generations to come.
Listen to the Series on Grimke and her family @ The African American Folklorist Website for more on Charlotte and her family.
