Henry Highland Garnet (December 23, 1815 - February 13, 1882) is an African - American public and religious figure of the 19th century, an abolitionist, publicist, and speaker.
| Henry Highland Garnet | |
|---|---|
| English Henry Highland Garnet | |
 | |
| Date of Birth | December 23, 1815 |
| Place of Birth | New Market |
| Date of death | February 13, 1882 (66 years old) |
| Place of death | Monrovia , Montserrado |
| Citizenship |  USA |
| Occupation | |
| Spouse | and |
Born in slavery in New Market, Maryland. At the age of ten, he received freedom and reunited with his family. From 1826 to 1833 he lived in New York and studied at a school for free African-American children, but was expelled from there for the formation of an abolitionist circle, so he completed his education at the Theological Institute in Whitsboro. In 1839, he seriously injured his leg, which was soon amputated. In the same year, he moved with his wife to the city of Troy, where he taught at the school and continued to study theology. In 1842, he became the pastor of the Presbyterian Church, holding this position for six years, and then returned to New York, where he became an active member of the American Society of Abolitionists [1] .
Since 1849, Garnet began to actively give public speeches in which he urged African Americans to emigrate to Mexico, Liberia, or the colonies of European states in the West Indies, where slavery did not exist by then, founded the Society of African Civilization, and published a magazine called Clarion . Since 1850, for two years he gave lectures on the situation of American slaves in Britain. In 1852, he was sent as a missionary to Jamaica, returning home three years later for health reasons. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he initiated the creation of the so-called "color units" in the army of the North and took an active part in their recruitment. At the end of the war, he lived with his family in Washington and was engaged in active preaching in front of black soldiers.
In 1868, he was appointed college president in Pennsylvania, then returned to New York as a Presbyterian pastor. In the last year of his life, he expressed a desire to die in Africa, which is why in 1881 he was appointed US Ambassador to Liberia and died in this country two months after his arrival.
Bibliography
Notes
- ↑ Polcino, Christine Ann Biography: Garnet, Henry Highland . Literary and Cultural Heritage Map of Pennsylvania Writers . University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University (Fall 2004). Date of treatment March 1, 2010. Archived May 25, 2013.