John
Newton Templeton and
the American Colonization
Society
Charles Smith’s play
Free
Man of Color is the story of John Newton Templeton, the
fourth African American to earn a college degree in the United States
and the first in Ohio. Templeton was born around 1805 and raised on a
South Carolina plantation owned by Colonel John Means, who later
changed his views about slavery. Templeton’s family was freed in 1813,
and they moved to Adams County, Ohio. With the aid and encouragement of
the president of
“Slavery
is one of
the greatest evils existing in our day, and for the
abolishing of which, was the
object in forming the Colonization Society; it is an evil which has
long existed, its decline must therefore be gradual, in order that its
total overthrow be permanent.” –
From The Claims of Liberia,
John
Newton Templeton’s Ohio University graduation speech on July 4, 1829.
The speech promotes the idea of Liberia as a home for freed African
Americans, but Templeton later reversed that stance.
Ohio University, Reverend Robert G. Wilson, Templeton enrolled in 1824.
Unlike many institutions of higher education at this time, Ohio
University, had no restrictive clauses pertaining to race; any male
youth who qualified for acceptance was admitted. Templeton worked his
way through college maintaining a superior academic record and was an
especially active member of the Athenian Literary Society. One of ten
graduating students in 1828, Templeton delivered a graduation speech
entitled
The Claims of
Liberia.
Around this time, the American Colonization Society (ACS) was gaining
prominence and influence in this country. Formed in 1816, the ACS
encouraged free African Americans to return to Africa, and they helped
found the colony of Liberia on the western coast of Africa as a place
for free blacks. Starting in 1821, thousands of free black Americans
moved to Liberia from the United States. For the next 20 years, Liberia
grew and established economic stability, closely controlled by the ACS,
culminating in Liberia establishing its independence in 1847. By 1867,
the ACS had assisted in the movement of more than 13,000 Americans to
Liberia.
The ACS, however, consisted of unlikely alliances. Some members were
Quakers who supported the abolishing of slavery and who, with many
blacks, also believed that blacks faced a much better chance to lead
fully free lives in Africa instead of the U.S. where legislated limits
on black freedom were still enforced. Other members included
slaveholders who favored slavery. They viewed this relocation as a way
to avoid rebellions by slaves and organized revolts by free blacks.
Still others opposed slavery but did not favor integration of blacks
into American society and were concerned that an influx of black
workers would take job opportunities from white citizens.
Templeton originally supported the relocation efforts, but he later
reversed his stance. After graduation, he taught in Chillicothe, Ohio,
and in 1834, he became one of the officers of the Chillicothe (Colored)
Anti-Slavery Society. He finally settled in Pittsburgh in 1836, where
he became the first teacher and principal of the African School, the
first school for black children in the city. In addition to his
relentless political activities, Templeton was co-editor of
The Mystery, an
Afro-American newspaper dedicated to the fight for freedom and
political emancipation. He died unexpectedly in 1851 and did not
witness the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. The ACS was not formally
dissolved for another 100 years until 1964.