{"id":535,"date":"2014-07-14T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/07\/bishop-henry-mcneal-turner-and-the-politics-of-reconstruction-part-3.html"},"modified":"2014-07-14T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-14T08:00:00","slug":"bishop-henry-mcneal-turner-and-the-politics-of-reconstruction-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/07\/bishop-henry-mcneal-turner-and-the-politics-of-reconstruction-part-3.html","title":{"rendered":"Bishop Henry McNeal Turner and the Politics of Reconstruction-Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by\u00a0Andre E. Johnson<\/a>
R3 Editor<\/span>
<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n
*Read part 1\u00a0here<\/a>. \u00a0Read Part 2 here<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/div>\n

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Get your copy of the\u00a0Forgotten Prophet: Bishop\u00a0Henry\u00a0McNeal Turner and the African American Prophetic Tradition<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>American\u00a0Prophetic Tradition\u00a0in paperback today.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/a>With the frustration at the politics surrounding the Civil Rights Bill debate and the continued racism aimed at African Americans, Turner turned his attention to Africa. While Turner eventually became a staunch supporter and defender of African emigration, <\/span>during this time in his life, <\/span>he only just began to mention Africa in his speeches and writings.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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On his selection as a Vice president of the despised American Colonization Society (ACS), Turner shared his reasons for accepting. He started by defending the need of the ACS by addressing the question, \u201cWhy continue the American Colonization Society?<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Every right-thinking man, who will ponder the Negro question twenty-four hours, must come to the conclusion that my race cannot long remain in the land of its centuries of thralldom unless it be a state of serfdom or ward-espionage.\u00a0 This I know would be revolting to its every member and to its friends.\u00a0 But just so long as we are a people within a people vastly our superiors in numbers, wealth, &c.;, having no government of our own, we shall be nothing, and be so treated by the civilized world.\u00a0 The Negro may wax as eloquent as Demosthenes, Pitt, or any of the renowned orators of the past ages; still he will be considered a cipher until he wins distinction in manipulating and running the machinery of government.<\/span> <\/span>Nothing less than nationality will bring large prosperity and acknowledged manhood to us as a people<\/span> (178)<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n
Grounded in a nationality argum
\nent, Turner wonders, \u201cHow can we do this?\u201d He rejects continuing to \u201ccomplain of bad treatment; holding conventions and passing resolutions; by voting for white men for office; by serving as caterers and barbers, and by having our wives and daughters continue as washerwomen and servants to the whites.\u201d H<\/span>is answer, <\/span>\u201cA government and nationality of our own can alone cure the evils under which we now labor, and are likely yet the more to suffer in this country.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Turner then asks, \u201cWhere can we build up a respectable government?\u201d For Turner, the answer is clear, Africa. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

That continent appears to be kept by Providence in reserve for the Negro.<\/span> <\/span>There everything seems to be ready to raise him to deserved distinction, comfort, and wealth.\u00a0 Ample territory, rich in all the productions of the tropics and many of those of the temperate zone, with coal, iron, copper, gold and diamonds, await the trained hand of civilization with capital and intelligent enterprise.\u00a0 And the time is near when the American people of color will seek that genial clime as the European has this Western world, and there erect the UNITED STATES OF AFRICA (<\/span>179<\/span>)<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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When word got out that Turner had join, albeit in a honorary way, the dread<\/span>ed<\/span> ACS, others warned Turner to \u201creflect well before he attempts to work in the interest of the Society.\u201d\u00a0 Turner of course had a response<\/span>:<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

I beg to say, I have been reflecting upon the status of the negro in this country for many years, and the more I reflect, the more I am convinced that his days are few and evil, on the soil he is now trying to eke<\/span> <\/span>out an existence. I believe that extermination or re-enslavement is only a question of time, if we in spite of what ought to be our better sense attempt to remain here: our salvation as a race depends upon a negro nationality, either in Africa or in South America, the path to the latter of which is found up the Amazon river<\/span> (99)<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n
Further Turner shifted the argument back at his distractors and challenged them to come up with better solutions.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

I am startled at times at the ignorance displayed by many of our prominent colored men, upon the real condition of our race in this country. Don\u2019t you see it\u2019s a white\u2019s man Government? And don\u2019t you see they mean at all hazards to keep the negro down? And don\u2019t you see the negro does not intend to stay down, without a fuss<\/span> <\/span>and an interminable broil? Then why waste our time in trying to stay here? Why not do as the white settlers of this country did, leave and build up a country and Government of our own; and have our own negro Presidents, Governors, Judges, Congresses, Legislatures, etc; yes, kings and queens if we chose. Then, and not till then, will the nations of earth respect us, and admire our manhood and genius (<\/span>119)<\/span>. <\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n
In another letter to the editor, Turner defended yet again his emigration position\u2014this time writing on white people\u2019s hostility to African Americans\u2014especially in Georgia. <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Several exceptions have been taken to my position in regard to going to Africa and establishing a negro nationality, and thus protecting ourselves from a set of ravenous white wolves, who are preying like the vampires of hell upon our people. I am called a fanatic, a fool, an aspirant for royal honors, the would be king, etc.
<\/span>How long can the negro race last in this country at such a ratio of murdering as is now in process of operation in this state. I have just figured up the reported number of colored persons who have been brutally killed within the last twenty-five days in this State alone and find the sum to be twenty-seven. Some it is said were convicts who were shot trying to escape the chain gang: but it is cold blooded murder, nevertheless, and we are the dreadful victims (105).<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n
He closed his letter with a powerful repudiation of his distractors.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

No white man has been or will be arrested if he kills forty negros. (I judge the present by the past.) So you anti-emigrationists must now come up with your life preservers, or tell us how long the negro race can exist at this rate before he will become exterminated. The twenty-seven murders which has come to my attention, would possibly be augmented to thirty-seven if all the facts were known through the State. I am not complaining about it; I use to complain, but I have to quit; it use to be the fault of white men- but it is now the fault of negro men. We all know our lives are not worth a cent (105).<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

To be Continued\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Follow Andre on Twitter @aejohnsonphd<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Work Cited<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Johnson, Andre E.(ed) and Henry McNeal Turner<\/span>.\u00a0An African American Pastor B<\/a><\/span>efore<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/a>During the American Civil War. The Literary Archive of Henry McNeal Turner, Vol \u00a03<\/a><\/span>. Edwin Mellen Press, 2013<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Andre E. JohnsonR3 Editor *Read part 1\u00a0here. \u00a0Read Part 2 here Get your copy of the\u00a0Forgotten Prophet: Bishop\u00a0Henry\u00a0McNeal Turner and the African American Prophetic Tradition\u00a0American\u00a0Prophetic Tradition\u00a0in paperback today.\u00a0 With the frustration at the politics surrounding the Civil Rights Bill debate and the continued racism aimed at African Americans, Turner turned his attention to Africa. While […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBishop Henry McNeal Turner and the Politics of Reconstruction-Part 3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Andre E. 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