Striking a Blow for Freedom What Sullavou's obituaries do not explain is how this accomplished man achieved so much, and at one of the worst times in history for African Americans. In a practical as well as personal sense, how did Emanuel Sullavou come to be at Phillips Exeter Academy in the first place? The Academy may have "known no color line," but Sullavou was still the only black student at the time, and one of the very first to be enrolled at Exeter.
A handful of facts make for interesting speculation. We know that Sullavou was born in Richmond, VA, in 1845, but moved with his parents to New Bedford, MA, as a child. This is perhaps an important clue in and of itself, because at the time New Bedford was a unique place to be for African Americans. According to a recently published book, The Fugitive's Gibraltar: Escaping Slaves and Abolitionists in New Bedford, Massachusetts (University Massachusetts Press), during the middle to latter part of the 19th century, New Bedford had twice the African-American population of such major northeastern cities as Boston, New York and Philadelphia. This, says author and historian Kathryn Grover, was in part because of New Bedford's whaling industry. "The maritime industry always welcomed blacks," says Grover. New Bedford residents also had a reputation for antislavery sentiments. In fact, Frederick Douglass, who escaped from slavery in 1838, first found haven in New Bedford. While we do not know whether Sullavou's parents came to New Bedford because they themselves were escaping slavery or because they were active in the abolitionist movement, such an environment may well have influenced Sullavou's own aspirations. Sullavou's roots in New Bedford seem to have contributed to his advancement in other ways as well. His Exeter records list not only his own father, Francis Sullavou, but also a financial benefactor from New Bedford, Edmund Rodman, a Quaker whose family was known for its commitment to social justice issues, including the abolitionist movement. Sullavou's own words afford the best insight into how he came to achieve all that he did in an era of oppressive obstacles. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his Masonic lodge, Sullavou had the honor of giving the address. His comments focus on the Lodge's founder Prince Hall, but his thoughts reflect what we know of Sullavou himself. As I look back to the past, brethren, and think of the misery and suffering inflicted upon our people, the change between now and then seems wondrous . . . Many of us think of Prince Hall only as a Mason and connected with the Masonic fraternity, and the good accomplished by him in that, still I look upon it only as a means used by him to accomplish for his oppressed people all the benefits of free men. . . . His useful career, his protest against slavery as carried on even in Massachusetts, form an interesting part of the documents contained in the Archives of this state, and when we read them we feel the force of the sentence "Hereditary bondman, know thee not, he that would be free must himself strike the first blow," and since Prince Hall and his co-adjutors were among those who struck the first blow against this evil, who can be surprised at our progress towards perfect freedom and the truth as expressed in that sentence? Since then the blows given by good men and women of our race and the philanthropists of the country have been thick and furious, and as a result the slave trade abolished, slavery swept from our midst, freedom triumphant, the schoolhouses all over this broad land accessible to all, and the advantages derived from them eagerly seized upon, so that education is generally diffused, knowledge taking the place of ignorance, and, as a sequence, wealth produced and the equality of man with his fellow-man more fully established.
Sullavou surely struck his own blows as a student at Exeter and Harvard, as a lawyer, and as a public servant. And perhaps the Rodmans, as well as Morgan Rotch and Walter Clifford, were the kind of philanthropists he had in mind. To Exonians, Sullavou's emphasis on education and the "advantages derived" must seem particularly striking. And, like Prince Hall, Sullavou's achievements were "a means to accomplish for his oppressed people all the benefits of free men." When the archivist (or writer for that matter) scratches a historical surface, he or she is never sure what will be uncovered. One approaches new facts with excitement, but also trepidation, lest a favorite myth be exploded. In this instance, the central figure in a many-times-told tale holds up well indeed. In fact, Principal Soule's original slim line about the quality of Sullavou's character is remarkably similar to the way the New Bedford Bar Association remembered Sullavou upon his death-"a scholar, an orator, a wise counsellor but above all these attributes stand out pre-eminent the moral rectitude of the man which justly earned for him the encomium 'an honest lawyer.' "
—By Andrea Jarrell Andrea Jarrell is a writer and editor who makes her home in Camden, ME. |
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