for the discussion of the richard john monogram. thank you for coming. >> with congress on break we are featuring some of american history tv's weekend programs on cspan 3 this week. u.s. civil war battle sites. we'll start with the union's first major victory at fort donelson along the cumberland river. and a look back at battle of shiloh. at that point it was the bloodiest battle in u.s. history. american history tv in primetime all week, starting at 8:00 eastern, here on cspan 3. spend the weekend in oklahoma city with book tv and american

history tv. saturday at noon eastern check in on literary life with book tv on cpan 2 including the governor's must-read political books. oklahoma university president and former senator, on his letter to america. also rare books from the history of science collection at o.u. and oklahoma history on american history tv on cspan 3. tour the oklahoma city bombing memorial. plus, a look into african-american life in 1920s oklahoma and native american t artifacts. exploring history and literary life of cities across america. this weekend from oklahoma city on cspan 2 and 3. the abolitionist john willis menard was elected in 1868 to the u.s. congress.

although never seated the first african-american to address the house chamber. we'll hear from the hiss toretof the house of representatives, in this one hour event. the last time i was at a meeting, i was so inspired by a woman who made a perezen ta pref a book senate -- book that she had written, i am trying to get that book in school districts around illinois and other places

throughout the country. and actually had her at my home in chicago for for the kwanzaa celebration that we do each year to present to our guests. so it is always a pleasure and a delight to see and be a part of of looks at the development and evolution of our country. when we go back to where it was, how it got started. all the different people who have come from places throughout the world, all of the challenges that we have had, the contributions that so many different people have made. i decided, as we celebrate in my

community, african-american history highlight individuals in the neighborhood that i call unsung heroes and sheroes that people have never heard of and practically never will hear of except those that have had the opportunity to experience them know them differently. i am fond of suggesting, for example, that often times we are surrounded by giants who are in holes. and somehow or another we can get the dirt from around them and uncover who they really are, rather than being grasshoppers they become giants. there have been so many giants

in the development and history of our country until it is unimaginable. i thank society for often times uncovering and rediscovering and helping the rest of us reconnect with some of those giants who have been forgotten. so thank you very much. and, it's indeed my pleasure to be here. and to be a part of this discussion. thank you. thank you, congressman. to speak about one of those unsung heroes of american history. we have -- three speakers on to day's program. i've will introduce all three of them now. then they will come in a succession to the podium. at the conclusion, time permitting, we'll have time for questions from, from the audience. our first speaker, our main speaker today is phillip w.magnus, policy historian based in the washington, d.c. area.

originally from houston, texas, he obtained his undergraduate degree in political science from the university of saint thomas, and his masters and doctoral degrees from george mason university. dr. magnus specializes in the history of trade and taxation in the united states and is the author of several scholarly works, 19th and 20th tariff policy. long a civil war buff, his attention turned to the presidency of abraham lincoln after a fortuitous discovery at library of congress. the find marked the beginning of a four year hunt for documents culminating in his book, co-authored with sebastian page, lincoln and the movement for black resettlement. in addition to writing, dr. magnus is an academic programs director at the institute for humane studies at george mason university, also taught in public administration at

american university, and international tragtional trade . also in his biography, something i find fascinating. he is an avid scuba diver. and plays underwater hockey. for the washington, d.c., and i love this name -- beltway bottom feeders. there is probably no end of applicants for that team. after dr. magnus makes his presentation, rodney ross will come to read a poem of -- of john willis menard that is very appropriate. actually there are copies, print copies of it on the table outside. rod is, is an old front and a dear friend. a, a great proponent of, of history and public history. he works at the national archiv archives. he is very active in a number of

organizations including the illinois state society which joins the, the capital historical society in sponsoring today's event. then after rod, we will have our, our third speaker, dr. matthew wasnewski, historian of the united states house of representatives. appointed in october of 2010. he has served as athe historian and deputy chief of the house clerks office of history and preservation. he is the editor-in-chief of women in congress. and directs many excellent programs in -- in preservation of -- of records. and -- the publication of -- historical documents and information pertaining to the house of representatives. and also, i might note on a personal note that prior to coming to the -- to the house of representatives, he worked at the u.s. capital historical society. and so it is a great pleasure to have matt on the program. without further adieu, dr. magnus.

>> thank you. i'm here to talk about john willis menard. he is something of a familiar name for those who know a bit about african-american representation in the united states house of representatives. his main claim to fame was that he was the first african-american elected to the house of representatives but was denied a seat in 1869. we'll get into a bit of the reasons behind that. but i'm here to talk about some of his life, his background, his history up until this point because he was actually an accomplished individual who sat at the crossroads of two major events in american history and international history. they were related events -- the american civil war, he had a front row seat to this right here in washington d.c. but shortly after the war he my migrated to jamaica and was a participant in a major event internationally, the morant bay

rebellion of 1865. both of these events had the connection of being tied to the end of slavery and the establishment of greater freedom and civil rights for the african population, both in the british empire and in the united states. so, he had a front-row seat to two intersecting events at a very tumultuous time in u.s. history. we don't know too much about menard's early life, urts than that he was born in illinois. in 1838. he came from a family that was believed to have been french creole, possibly had a background in new orleans. there is some thought -- it hasn't been firmly established but it was always the family history that he was the descendant of pierre menard, who was the first lieutenant-governor of the state of illinois. he had a white grand father and a black grandmother. his parents were two

african-americans, free black s from probably the new orleans area when he was born in 1838. now, the first territorial capital of illinois, he grew up on the frontier that was set aside to be a free state when it was incorporated there. there was a fairly vibrant free black community that grew up there. in illinois. he had enough of a distinction to his background through the menard family connection that he was able to afford education. his parents sent him off to an abolitionist school. in sparta, illinois. in the 1850s he shows up at an iberia college in ohio, in 18528, where he attends classes, this is an african-american -- he obtains a college education which was quite remarkable in this day. you can tell simply from reading his works and speeches, he is

thoroughly educated in a traditional liberal arts background. he is a poet, he is a political philosopher, he's a thinker, an abolitionist, a man of letters, a newspaper publisher. he comes on to the state political scene, really the first record we have of him speaking is in 1859 where at the age of 21 he attended an abolitionist event in springfield, illinois. on, this is -- august 1st, 1859, that's which if you know your history of the british west indies, that's emancipation day, the celebration of the freeing of the slaves in the british empire in the west indies. we have the newspaper report of what was going on and the audience was shocked to see this young kid come up to the stage. he was 21 years old. the reporter makes a remark on the shock of seeing menard and

his speech. he said his voice was strong and his manner impressive. he spoke on american slavery, which he painted in the darkest hues. and gave remarks on defense of liberty and equality. his speech, to our surprise, was truly the best of the day. we don't know if abraham lincoln attended the event but was probably aware of it going on. it was in springfield. lincoln's home. lincoln was in springfield on that day. that is the first possible instance that they may have crossed paths. that is important because menard comes into connection with the lincoln administration later. but this particular speech he gives, establishes him as a rising star in the abolitionist movement in the united states. he is invited to take an assistant role for a newspaper out of boston by the newspaper the pine and palm and it was published from 1860 to 1861. he appears writing several art

culls -- mainly opinion pieces on slavery. he publishes one in 1860 that is is an address to the free people of illinois. it's an attack on the fugitive slave law. he is a very gifted writer in terms of his use of illusion and he does not compromise on his stances. menard says in this article, that the fugitive slave law has turned the whole north into one vast hunting ground for men and chased us to the shores of canada if we seek to attain freedom. he goes after the constitution's 3/5 clause which he calls a tyrannical stipulation to up peed citizenship, voting rights and ever attaining quality for it in the united states. he also embraces at this point what was considered a controversial proposition especially in the black community. it aligns him with a faction, within the an ligs -- the

abolition movement. he believed the united states would not hold out for equal rights, civil rights, civil liberties and freedom for and he urges blacks under their own volition to seek out a better location abroad and follow the immigrant groups, and this is modelled after immigrant groups of europe, some of which faced oppression, and he says, we should follow in the footsteps of the irish, germans, who have been chased from their home lands. again referring to the 3/5 clause. he becomes a leader in the an ligs -- abolitionist community, and the immigrationist section that plays out some of the internal politics of that group throughout the 1860s and the early civil war. he moves to washington, d.c. we believe, around 1861 through

his association with redpath's newspaper and his rising stature and fame as a pamphleteer and speaker within the an libolitio community. what we do know at the time is that he comes to the attention of the lincoln administration. abraham lincoln was a colonizationist. this is a part of lincoln's legacy in history that has caused quite a bit of controversy, but it is also very reflective of what existed in antislavery and northern moderate at that time in history. kol colonization movement was the belief that after emancipation that freed slaves should be settled abroad. in another location. liberia was a location where freed slaves set up their own government.

lincoln was interested in colonization some what closer to the united states, he investigated central america as his primary space where he was hoping to obtain land. in 1862, lincoln actually held a meeting at the white house with five free african-americans from the district of columbia, to pitch the colonization proposal to them. he had obtained $600,000 in funding from congress to subsidize and support their transport and he was in the process of negotiating contracts with the government of colombia, which owned panama at the time, the government haiti which was interested in obtaining population, one of the two free black governments in the world at the time, and the other being liberia and later this is where menard comes in, and british honduras and the modern day belize, and modern day country of guyana.

menard was hired after the speech, that caused controversy in the white and black communities. frederick douglas denounced it. menard on the other handsaw this is an opportunity. while he did not agree with the notion of separating the races, on, on account of civil rights, on account of civil liberties and the belief that the united states government should be a white man's government, which was the argument at the time, menard did see this is as an opportunity to attain his own end through the immigration movement and find a location abroad that would accept african-americans as equals and allow them to participate in the direction of their lives to own property, to participate in government, to vote, to serve on juries, everything that was denied here by the dred scott decision and constitutional interpretations at the time.

menard is hired in 1863 by the u.s. immigration office. i have pictures of three individuals here. this man in the center is james mitchell, who was abraham lincoln's commissioner of colonization. and he was the man that hired menard. mitchell was an irish-born american preacher that lincoln knew from illinois. he brought him to washington specifically for this role to administer the programs. and mitchell knew of menard through his abolitionist activities and thought of him as a potential ally who could bridge the gap between the colonization movement in white community and immigration movement in the black community. so mitchell hires menard on as a clerk in 1863, which makes him one of the first african-americans to obtain a white collar job in the united states government. he was given an equal salary to the white administrative workers in the interior department, which caused quite a bit of controversy. the other workers rebelled, against this, complained to the secretary of

interior and within three months had pressured them to discontinue menard's salary and urged the secretary of the interior to demote him to a messenger because they couldn't countenance standing there in the same office with an who was obtaining an equal salary, even though he was probably better educated, more qualified for the job than most of his adversaries. menard nonetheless sticks it out with mitchell and the lincoln administration as a participant and a negotiator in these colonization schemes. he also comes into contact with another abolitionist. and this is our third picture up here. henry highland garnett, from the state of new york. mr. garnett is a very vibrant, fiery speaker, who has long been an advocate of the liberia movement, the back-to-africa movement as a means to attain emancipation and freedom. garnett actually after the war becomes one of our first

ambassadors to liberia and dies over there. but that was his life-long mission. so garnett was an ally of menard's throughout the 1860s during the civil war. another event happens in 1863, and that's the british government arrives and enters into this negotiation with the u.s. government to establish belize as a future colonization site. right here i have a picture, this actually came from belize itself. founded in the belize national archives a couple of weeks ago. this is a copy of the agreement signed between abraham lincoln and the manager of the british honduras company that was to administer this agreement. this is signed on june 13th, 1863, at the white house. menard is aware of this agreement through mitchell, who was the other negotiator and the other signatory on behalf of the u.s. government. this is given to a man by the name of john hodge and his partner william wemyss anderson,

who are both in the employ of the british honduras company based out of belize. anderson is important because he has a long-standing role in the british anti-slavery movement going back to the 1830s. he had been a crusader from scotland for the abolition of slavery in the british empire. he travels with hodge to washington to meet with lincoln at the white house and negotiate the terms of this agreement. anderson was actually based on the island of jamaica, which comes in and plays an important role in menard's later career. but this is the first time that they meet. anderson was a very wealthy and very religious philanthropist type that was stationed on the island of jamaica. he devoted most of his energy and his cause to bettering the condition of the blacks on the island and fighting for abolition internationally. so he allied with menard. they had a very natural agreement on ideas. but after this contract of sorts was signed, the u.s. immigration office decided they needed to

investigate this site in belize and check it out to see what they were getting into. what kind of housing existed, facilities existed to settle the emancipated slaves on. and they tapped menard to actually go down there and visit the site. this is the letter that menard presented to the governor of the colony of british honduras when he arrived on august 3rd, 1863. he was the leader of a four-man party. we only know the name of one of the other members. another black abolitionist by the name of charles babcock who was based out of boston. but they traveled down to belize. they were presented to the governor. they toured the colonial assembly, met with several members of the government, who were actually quite pleased because the colonial assembly had black members at the time, which was very rare for the world. this was one of the appeals of belize as a colony.

they were later taken up the coast and inland to the site of the british honduras company's land. this is actually a picture of the ruins of a sugar mill in belize that was on the land of the british honduras company. they had a sugar farm that they were going to partition and give to the settlers. and menard toured and visited this site. we have his report -- or a letter that mentions that he arrived at this particular location, saw sugar production under way, saw the construction of buildings under way. and he comes back and reports to the u.s. government everything that he's seen. this site dates to around 1860 and was in operation until 1874 down there in belize. but upon his return, he also notices some problems with the colony. he notices it's very much the frontier of the british empire. and the ability of the colonial company that was down there to

sustain a very large influx of population had not been established yet. many of the buildings that they had promised were still under construction. they didn't have the facilities to simply take in large numbers of people. he reports on this almost immediately when he gets back to the united states. he goes straight to henry highland garnett's church, this is in september 1863, and gives a speech about the findings of the conditions of belize. he observes at the time that a few of the right stock, few men of the right stock could be suitable for settling on this frontier and remarks favorably upon the country. but at the same time is skeptical that right now was the time to initiate immigration. he also reports on this to president lincoln and drafts what we believe is a fairly substantial and lengthy essay on the subject. unfortunately that essay's been lost, but here's the letter that he attached to it when he delivered it to president lincoln in september of 1863. now, the british colony shortly

afterwards ran into trouble. there were problems between the british and united states government. britain wanted to sustain its neutrality in the raging civil war and became somewhat skittish about continuing this agreement for the belief that the confederacy, which was still very active fighting the war, would interpret this as british power coming in and endorsing the emancipation proclamation, and not only doing that, but relocating the slave participants abroad. menard himself is also somewhat unsettled by the events that occurred in his absence. he comes back to new york and he learns that the new york draft riots of 1863 had occurred, when several free african-americans in the city were lynched. they were attacked on the streets, including henry highland garnett, who had to take cover in his home and remove the sign from his door to prevent the mob from coming in and attacking him and his family.

this definitely unsettles several members of the free black community and they perceive british honduras for a brief period as a possibility to escape to. but at the same time, menard is encountering political opposition that's emerging within the republican party to the colonization movement. and within six months of his return and presentation of this project, the colonization funds are rescinded due to opposition that came out of the united states senate. menard himself at the time turned next to another location. remember william wemyss anderson, the jamaican philanthropist that had sponsored anti-slavery societies around the world and had met with menard during his trip to belize. en route back from belize, he stopped at the island of jamaica and he fell in love. he met his wife, elizabeth, there. this is on the steam route back to new york city. and with the patronage, we believe, of anderson, he

relocates to the island of jamaica,we think, sometime in early 1865. we don't know the exact date that this occurs. but anderson is most likely the sponsor of his trip and his journey there, because he settles in a parish right next to and adjacent to a plantation that is owned by anderson. there are two other figures that enter menard's life, internationally now. this is a person that had been introduced to abraham lincoln, had encountered the highest levels of the united states government. now he is brought over into the highest levels of the jamaican government. our first figure here, george william gordon, who is considered the national hero of jamaica today for reasons tied to menard's own career, gordon was a member of the jamaican parliament. he was a black member of the jamaican parliament. a leader of the liberal faction within colonial politics. he was an advocate of increased voting rights, increased

property rights, the ability to purchase land. the ability to vote and participate and sit on juries that were major colonial issues in the british empire at the time. this other fellow is the governor of jamaica, edward eyre. edward eyre is associated with the complete opposite faction of mr. gordon. anderson and gordon had served in the jamaican assembly together. they were good friends and they were also business partners that formed a life insurance company together based out of kingston. and anderson, we believe, introduced menard to gordon. menard instantly becomes involved in jamaican politics as a newspaper publisher, as a pamphleteer, as an advocate on the right of the free black population in jamaica. and above all of that, he starts a literary and debate society with the explicit purpose of increasing participation in politics and spreading literacy to the blackul