and 24 is our third picture up here, henry highland garnett. 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. garnet actually after the war becomes one of our first ambassadors to liberia. and resides over there. that was his life-long mission. garnett was an ally of menard throughout the 1860s and throughout the civil war. in 1863, the british government arrives with the negotiations 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. found 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 other signatory on behalf of the u.s. government. this

they were attacked on the streets, including henry highland garnett who had to take cover in his home and remicrosoft 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 perceived british honduras as a possibility to escape to. but at the same time, menard is encountering political opposition emerging within the republican party to the col colonization movement. and the funds are rescinded due to opposition out of the united states senate. menard himself at the time turned next to another location. a jamaican philanthropist 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, the 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, his journey there, because he settles in a parish right next to and ace -- adjacent to a plantation

in february of 1865 house chaplain william channing invited the black preacher henry highland garnett to kmcommemora the house's approval of the 13th amendment banning slavery to deliver a sermon in the house chamber. that was a unique moment in its own right because african-americans had been banned from the house chamber as far as we know going back to the 1820s. but garnett wasn't speaking in the house while it was in legislative session and he certainly wasn't making his case to be seated as a representative. and indeed menard's brief speech, and this is an image made from a matthew brady photograph, this is menard on the floor, his brief 15-minute speech on february 27th, 1869 delivered from a desk on the republican side of the chamber potently symbolized the age. in one stroke it evoked the victory of african-american civil rights and enfranchisement after the civil war while also suggesting some of the continuities which would animate the careers of the 20 black men who would shortly follow him on to the house floor as full fledged representatives between 1870 and 1901. ef vok