294 Political Activity and Resistance to Oppression: From the American Revolution to the Civil War
interests could again be focused on the United States. How-
ever, Garnet felt the mid-19th-century situation for blacks
was thoroughly untenable, as few educated blacks could ac-
quire non-menial work or signifi cant economic advance.
On the eve of the Civil War, Garnet laid out a clear plan
for settlement. Because Martin Delany had made a success-
ful tour of the Niger Valley, Garnet felt the time was right
to initiate movement. Th us, in August 1860, he addressed a
small audience in the Cooper Union auditorium, where he
outlined a four-part repatriation plan that included settle-
ment in West Africa, land acquisition, the development of
church and educational institutions, and fi nally, the planting
of cotton and other site-appropriate crops. However, Gar-
net’s clarity of purpose seemed out of step with his country-
men. Th e secession crisis had seized the attentions of most
able-boded African American men, and Garnet’s single-
minded devotion to colonization seemed misdirected dur-
ing such a climactic moment in the history of abolitionism.
Eventually, Garnet fell into the war cause, focusing on
the recruitment of black troops. Garnet’s aspirations for
large-scale free labor plantations in Africa, however, were
never realized. Civil war continued in Nigeria, and in this
climate, few Englishmen invested their money in free labor
plantations. Th e African Civilization Society thus faded
from public view, although Garnet never lessened in his
own dream to travel to Africa. Finally, on December 28,
1881, he made it to Monrovia, Liberia. However, his Af-
rican stay was short-lived; he died on February 12, 1882.
Th e Liberian government off ered a state funeral to this
man who had devoted so much to the African, and African
American, dream of independence.
See also: Delany, Martin R.; Douglass, Frederick; Garnet,
Henry Highland; Nell, William Cooper; Pennington, James
Williams Charles; Remond, Charles L.; Smith, James McCuneKathryn Emily Loft onBibliography
Hutchinson, Earl Ofari R. “Let Your Motto Be Resistance”: Th e
Life and Th ought of Henry Highland Garnet. Boston: Beacon
Press, 1972.
MacMaster, Richard. “Henry Highland Garnet and the African
Civilization Society.” Journal of Presbyterian Church History
48 (Summer 1970):91–112.
Pasternak, Martin B. Rise Now and Fly to Arms: Th e Life of Henry
Highland Garnet. New York: Garland Publishers, 1995.
Schor, Joel. Henry Highland Garnet. Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 1977.creating a separate sphere for black religious and economic
uplift. In every document for the society, Garnet persis-
tently reiterated his tripartite ambition of immediate eman-
cipation, African civilization, and Haitian migration.
Religion and business were the cornerstones of the
society’s plans for Africa. Garnet believed that British tex-
tile merchants would purchase cotton grown in Africa just
as readily as they purchased that grown by slaves in the
American South. Th us, he thought that he could destroy
the American slave trade by developing a fl ourishing cotton
industry in the Yoruba Valley. Expatriated blacks would be-
come cotton planters and grow as rich as their former white
masters had. Garnet was optimistic that this development
would not disrupt existing African societies; he believed
African Americans could coexist with local tribal govern-
ments. Th is faith in peaceful cohabitation was endorsed by
his evangelical impulse, for cotton was not Garnet’s only
planned import to Africa; he also imagined that the Afri-
can Civilization Society would bring Christ to resident Af-
ricans. Evangelization and civilization were coeffi cients in
Garnet’s colonizing plot; one could not emerge without the
other. Th erefore, he believed the African Civilization So-
ciety not only would produce a black economic center in
Africa, but also would serve as the organizing missionary
body for all black churches seeking to establish Christian
settlements on the continent.
Garnet’s elaborate scheme received a mixed reaction
from black leaders in America. Th e African Civilization
Society was summarily rejected by leaders such as Doug-
lass, Charles Lenox Remond, James McCune Smith, and
William Cooper Nell. Douglass accused Garnet of draining
the most talented blacks from their home nation; William
Wells Brown believed Garnet was little more than a patsy for
white segregationists. However, some blacks were attracted
to Garnet’s ambition, including Martin Delany, James W. C.
Pennington, and the poets James Madison Bell and Elymas
Payson Rogers, all contributors to the Weekly Anglo African,
which consistently published editorials supporting Garnet’s
eff orts. Alongside his supporters, Garnet labored to prove
to his critics that he was not attempting to drain America of
its brightest blacks or, indeed, to lead a movement of mass
exodus. Rather, he imagined the African Civilization So-
ciety as serving a temporary function for a limited num-
ber of blacks. Once blacks had gained some fi nancial status
from their African plantations, and once whites had grown
accustomed to successful black businessmen, then their