Our Antebellum Past: What is our Parish’s Heritage on Racism?
By The Rev. Paul V. Olsson
William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist, journalist, and editor of The Liberator Abstract/medium: 1 photograph
St. Stephen’s arrived on the scene in Middlebury and grew in strength and prominence in the early 1800s, a time when debate over slavery raged throughout the nation. Having come through my own personal reckoning with race and racism while participating in the Sacred Ground series, I wanted to know more about the legacy of our congregation. How did parishioners at St. Stephen’s view the slavery debate? What were their convictions on the question of race? Does our parish have a proud progressive heritage on the issue of racism, or is our history a bit more nuanced?
We’re blessed with a rather impressive archive of historic sacramental records, Vestry minutes, account ledgers and other historic documents compiled with great care by parishioner Henry Sheldon. I chose to begin my exploration by reviewing everything on hand for the years leading up to the Civil War. I focused my inquiry on learning more about the people of St. Stephen’s – clergy and laity alike. Church histories tend to be written in exulted and glowing terms, and that does make it difficult to learn more about the moral views, prejudices and attitudes held by these founding fathers and mothers.
The environment in Middlebury as regards race and slavery
The national debate on slavery was the primary focus on dialogue on race in the early 1800s. Two strains of activism on the question of slavery existed, each with its own recommended best course of action. The first organized its work around state and local anti-slavery societies that popped up throughout New England in this era. These groups, fueled by powerful Abolitionist voice like those of Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, considered slavery a moral cancer that needed to be abolished as soon as possible, but had varied concrete plans for what was to be done once slaves were free. The other strain of activism centered around established colonization societies. This second group, like the first, equally abhorred slavery as an evil institution, and they too sought to bring it to an end. But as the name would suggest, they went one step further to propose that freed slaves should all be returned to Africa. Their work centered on establishing the means of transport and providing support to send freed slaves back to African colonies like Liberia.
The Vermont Anti-Slavery Society was founded in Middlebury on May 1, 1834, and an Addison County Anti-Slavery Society followed shortly in 1835. Vermont’s Colonization Society predates them, having been established in 1819 at Montpelier, with our own Horatio Seymour (fabled, long-time Warden memorialized with a commemorative plaque in our church) serving as a founding supporter. Local Congregational and Baptist churches tended to support the anti-slavery efforts, while the Episcopal Church did little to formally weigh in on either side of the issue. It’s fair to say that there was mixed opinion on the question of slavery in the year’s leading up to the Civil War here in Vermont. Frederick Douglass traveled through the state on a speaking tour in 1843 and gives the following account of his reception at Middlebury in a memoir he wrote later in life:
“Those who only know the State of Vermont as it is today can hardly understand, and must wonder that there was forty years ago a need for anti-slavery effort within its borders . . . The several towns visited showed that Vermont was surprisingly under the influence of the slave power. Her proud boast that within her borders no slave had ever been delivered up to his master did not hinder her hatred to anti-slavery.” He goes on to relate that, in Middlebury “the opposition to our anti-slavery convention was intensely bitter and violent. . . few people attended our meeting, and apparently little was accomplished.”
Douglass goes on to describe how students from the college had placarded town with posters disparaging his moral virtue and that of the other speakers, and some press accounts of the event tell of hecklers throwing things at the speakers.
The first Rector of St. Stephen, the Rev. Benjamin Bosworth Smith, was the editor of a new Episcopal publication that sought to promote theological conversation and disseminate useful information on the life of the Episcopal Church. He published The Episcopal Register from Middlebury for a short time from 1826 until 1829. If our collection of this newspaper is any indication of where his personal sentiment stood or that of the local Episcopal parish he served, it would have to be solidly on the side of colonization efforts. Most editions contain an article heralding colonialization initiatives. Likewise, in the 1840s, the parish Ladies’ Missionary Society raised funds and made donations to support African mission work, presumably of the colonization sort.
Throughout this antebellum time, Middlebury was a decidedly white town and the membership of St. Stephen’s reflects that reality. In 1820, just .9% of the population was African-American. In the years leading up to the Civil War Middlebury had no more than 17 African-Americans living in town. And yet the white lawyers, judges, doctors, merchant and professional class who made St. Stephen’s their home did welcome African-Americans at the church. In 1825 James Sydney Randolph, the son of Sarah Randolph (identified as “Black”) was baptized at St. Stephen’s. Aaron Freeman and his bride Mary A. Mullins, listed in the marriage register as “Colored persons”, were married by Rev. Smith at St. Stephen’s in 1826. Three communicants - Charlott M. Jackson, Mary Freeman and Caroline Billings, all listed as “Colored persons” - are registered in 1836, Mary Freeman having been confirmed at St. Stephen’s by Bishop Hopkins on November 24, 1836. And on May 21, 1861, Emily Hannah, Julietta and Mary Luna, the three youngest daughters of Cyrus Dolby, from one of the few African-American households in town, were baptized at St. Stephen’s. Throughout these pre-war decades it appears that African-Americans were welcomed at St. Stephen’s.
These bits and pieces help set the stage for a better understanding of our shared heritage at St. Stephen’s. They help illuminate the past, but I wanted to search out the mindset of average parishioners from this time to better understand our history. Doing that is, at best, a difficult undertaking. In part two of this article I’ll explore the lives, sentiments and beliefs of a handful of our parish’s most visible clergy and lay leaders in the early 1800s. As representative voices, these prominent lay leaders and clergy helped shape our parish ethos, and an examination of their personal beliefs should help us understand our past. [to be continued in the July edition]
