| Date | November 20, 1855 – December 31, 1902 |
|---|---|
| Location | Various cities, California, U.S. |
The California State Convention of Colored Citizens (CSCCC) was a series of colored convention events active from 1855 to 1902. [1] [2] [3] The convention was one of several social movement conventions that took place in the mid-19th century in many states across the United States. [4] [5]
These events were composed of individuals such as Peter Lester, Mifflin Wistar Gibbs, Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward, Edward Duplex, Peter William Cassey, George Washington Dennis, [6] and Jeremiah Burke Sanderson; as well as organizations including churches, literary societies, and social groups from across the state. [5] [7] [8] [9] The goal of these events included the abolishment of slavery, the right to Black testimony, to gain voting rights for Black men, and Black access to public education and public accommodations. [5] [10] [11]
The first CSCCC event was held on November 20–22, 1855 at Saint Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church (St. Andrews A.M.E. Church) in Sacramento. [9] [5] [12] The event had 49 delegates that represented 10 counties (out of 27 total counties). [13] [14] In the mid-1850s after the first CSCC, Jonas H. Townsend and Mifflin Wistar Gibbs founded the Mirror of the Times , an African American weekly newspaper in San Francisco; which was financially supported by the CSCC. [15] [16] Edward Duplex served as a delegate from Yuba County for the first event. [7]
The second CSCCC event was held on December 9–12, 1865 at the same St. Andrews A.M.E. Church in Sacramento. [17] The 1865 event was shaped by the American Civil War ending and the political issues in the state including Governor Leland Stanford's repeal of California’s testimony ban in 1863. [5] [18] [12] Edward Duplex served as the state executive committee member during the second event. [7]
The third CSCCC event was held on October 13–?, 1857 at St. Cyprian's African Methodist Episcopal Church in San Francisco, a church led by Rev. Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward. [3] [9]
The CCSCC event held on December 11–?, 1865 in Sacramento came to a resolution to tax each Black person in order to support and fund Black education, and at the time there was only one secondary school in the state accepting Black students, the Phoenixonian Institute (opened in 1861) in San Jose, California. [8] [19] Rev. Peter William Cassey had helped organize the 1865 event. [8] [14]
Mifflin Wistar Gibbs was an American-born Canadian politician, businessman, newspaper publisher, and advocate for black rights. He moved to California as a young man, during the Gold Rush, and was an early black pioneer in San Francisco. Gibbs published the first black newspaper in California and was an active leader in the early California State Convention of Colored Citizens.
The Cassey House is a historic house associated with the Cassey family, located at 243 Delancey Street in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was owned by the Cassey family for 84 years, they were a prominent African-American family known for their philanthropy and work for the abolition of slavery, and their support for local educational, intellectual, and benevolent organizations.
Edward Parker Duplex was an American entrepreneur, politician, and civil rights activist in California. He was the first African-American mayor in California, elected to office in Wheatland in 1888, and was a leader in the state's Colored Conventions movement. Born in Connecticut, he migrated to California during the Gold Rush, and was a partner in the Sweet Vengeance Mine. Duplex used his share of profits from the mine to start his own barbershop in Marysville, California, where he employed other Black barbers. He later moved to Wheatland, where his barbershop became one of the two longest running businesses in the town.
African American Californians, or Black Californians are residents of the state of California who are of African ancestry. According to 2019 United States Census Bureau estimates, those identified solely as African American or black constituted 5.8% or 2,282,144 residents in California. Including an additional 1.2% who identified as having partial African ancestry, the figure was 7.0%. As of 2021, California has the largest multiracial African American population by number in the United States. African Americans are the fourth largest ethnic group in California after Hispanics, white people, and Asians. Asians outnumbered African Americans in the 1980s.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Sacramento, California, United States.
The Colored Conventions Movement, or Black Conventions Movement, was a series of national, regional, and state conventions held irregularly during the decades preceding and following the American Civil War. The delegates who attended these conventions consisted of both free and formerly enslaved African Americans, including religious leaders, businessmen, politicians, writers, publishers, editors, and abolitionists. The conventions provided "an organizational structure through which black men could maintain a distinct black leadership and pursue black abolitionist goals." Colored conventions occurred in thirty-one states across the United States and in Ontario, Canada. The movement involved more than five thousand delegates and tens of thousands of attendees.
John C. Bowers was an African American entrepreneur, organist and vestryman at St. Thomas African Episcopal Church, and a founding member of the first Grand United Order of Odd Fellows for African Americans in Pennsylvania. He was active in the anti-slavery movement in Philadelphia, and involved in the founding of several organizations including the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. "A fervent abolitionist and outspoken opponent of colonization, [he] was much in demand as a public speaker."
James Madison Bell was an African-American poet, orator, and political activist who was involved in the abolitionist movement against slavery. He was the first native African-American poet in Ohio and was called the "Bard of the Maumee," of Maumee River. According to Joan R. Sherman: "As poet and public speaker, Bell was one of the nineteenth century's most dedicated propagandists for African-American freedom and civil rights."
Rev. Thomas Marcus Decatur Ward was an American preacher, missionary, bishop, and abolitionist who aided African-Americans escaping slavery. Ward is considered to have been a central leader of African American religious activity in the 19th-century and has been referred to as “the original trailblazer of African Methodism” in the United States. In 1854, Ward took over leadership of St. Cyprian's African Methodist Episcopal Church in San Francisco. He was an early representative of the A.M.E. church on the Pacific Coast, and he also served as the 10th Bishop of the A.M.E. Church starting in 1868. Ward often went by the name T. M. D. Ward, but was also known as Thomas Mayers Decatur Ward.
William H. Yates was an African-American abolitionist, writer, and the President of the first Convention of Colored Men. He focused his writing in the form of articles and editorials in newspapers; along with responses about books and articles written on slavery or civil rights.
Jeremiah Burke Sanderson was an American abolitionist, and advocate for the civil and educational rights of black citizens in the United States. Growing up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Sanderson in his early life was surrounded by the work of notable abolitionists, including Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, William Lloyd Garrison, and William Nell. These influences, combined with his studies of literature, philosophy, and history enabled him to become an eloquent spokesperson for black rights in the United States.
The Mirror of the Times was an African American weekly newspaper in San Francisco. Though its exact foundation and dissolution dates are not known, the paper started between 1855 and 1857, and ran issues until around 1858. It was the first African American newspaper in the state – and possibly in the entirety of the West Coast – and it advocated against racial segregation and for Black civic engagement.
Rev. Peter William Cassey (1831–1917) was an African-American 19th-century school founder, deacon, minister, educator, abolitionist, and political activist. He was a pioneer in Santa Clara County. Cassey founded the first African American secondary school in the state of California, the Phoenixonian Institute. Cassey also worked as a prominent barber and co-owned a shaving saloon in San Francisco; and had worked as Methodist clergy in North Carolina and Florida. His name was sometimes written as Peter Williams Cassey.
The Phoenixonian Institute, also known as St. Philip’s Mission School for Negroes, is a former secondary school for African American students active from 1861 until the mid-1870s and located in San Jose, California, United States. It was the first African American secondary school in the state of California, founded by Peter William Cassey, and was a residential school.
The Pennsylvania State Equal Rights League Convention was a series of Colored Convention in the 19th century. The convention was one of several social movement conventions that took place in the mid-19th century in many states across the United States.
Joseph Cassey (1789–1848) was a French West Indies-born American businessman, real estate investor, abolitionist, and activist. He prospered as a barber, and as well as a wig maker, perfumer, and money-lender. He lived in the historic Cassey House in Society Hill, and was active in the African American elite community in Philadelphia.
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is a historic African American church founded in 1852 and is located in the Fillmore District in San Francisco, California. It was one of the earliest African American churches in the west. The church occupied several spaces in San Francisco over the course of its history, as well as gone by various names.
The Saint Andrews African Methodist Episcopal Church is an African Methodist Episcopal Church in Sacramento, California, founded in 1850. It was the first African American church in California and the first AME Church on the West Coast of the United States. It was originally located at 715 Seventh Street, which is marked by a historical plaque. This church is still active, and is presently located at 2131 Eighth Street in Sacramento. It is listed as a California Historical Landmark since May 5, 1994. It was formerly known as the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church and the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Peter Lester, was an American-born 19th-century businessman and abolitionist. He was an early Black settler in San Francisco. In February 1860, he was the first Black person to sit as a juror in British Columbia.
George Washington Dennis, was an American entrepreneur, real estate developer, advocate for Black rights, and gambler. He was African American, and born enslaved in Alabama; he came to California as chattel during the California gold rush. Dennis became one of San Francisco's wealthiest Black men in the late 19th-century and early-20th century, and fought against racial discrimination.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
