Archibald Grimké
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Archibald Henry Grimké (August 17, 1849 – February 25, 1930) was an American
lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
, intellectual, journalist, diplomat and community leader in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He graduated from freedmen's schools, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, and
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
and served as American Consul to the Dominican Republic from 1894 to 1898. He was an activist for rights for blacks, working in Boston and Washington, D.C. He was a national vice-president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
), as well as president of its Washington, D.C. branch.


Early life and education

Grimké was born into slavery on his father's plantation near
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
, in 1849. He was the eldest of three sons of Henry W. Grimké, a widower, and Nancy Weston, a woman he enslaved who had also been born into slavery as the daughter of an enslaved African or African-American female. Henry acknowledged his sons, although he did not
manumit Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...
(free) them, or make the rest of his family aware of their existence. Archibald's brothers were
Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...
and John. Henry was a member of a prominent, large slaveholding family in Charleston. His father and relatives were planters and active in political and social circles. After becoming a widower, Henry moved with Weston to his plantation outside of Charleston. He was a father to his sons, teaching them and Nancy to read and write. In 1852, as he was dying, Henry willed Nancy, who was pregnant with their third child, and their two sons Archibald and
Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...
to his legal (white) son and heir Montague Grimké, whose mother was Henry's deceased wife. Henry was prohibited to free them by a South Carolina law, passed in 1841, that did not allow for the release of slaves through gifts or trusts. He directed that they "be treated as members of the family,"Diedrich, Maria I
"Review: ''Lift Up Thy Voice:: The Grimké Family's Journey From Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders'' by Mark Perry"
'' The New York Times'' (December 2, 2001) Accessed: May 5, 2012
but Montague never provided well for them. Henry's sister Eliza, executor of his will, brought the family to Charleston, but she did not aid them financially. Montague allowed Nancy and her children to live relatively freely for a time, with Nancy working as a laundress to sustain the family.King, Wilma. “Within the Professional Household: Slave Children in the Antebellum South.” ''The Historian'', vol. 59, no. 3, 1997, pp. 523–40. ''JSTOR'', http://www.jstor.org/stable/24451949. Accessed 6 Dec. 2022. In 1860, after getting married, Montague claimed the boys as house servants. Later he hired out both Archibald and Francis, due to their insubordination. After Francis rebelled, Montague Grimké sold him. Archibald ran away and hid for two years with relatives until after the end of the Civil War. After the American Civil War ended, the three Grimké boys attended freedmen's schools, where their talents were recognized by the teachers. The school had been opened by Gilbert Pillsbury, the brother of abolitionist Parker Pillsbury. Gilbert and his wife recognized the Archibald and Francis' talents and garnered support to send them to the North. They studied at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, established for the education of blacks. Their professors had found them extraordinary students, and both Archibald and
Francis Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural M ...
graduated from Lincoln in 1870. A Lincoln catalog of 1871 lists Archibald as "Instructor of English grammar".


Career

Archibald Grimké lived and worked in the
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neighborhood of Boston area most of his career. Beginning in the 1880s, he began to get active in politics and speaking out about the rise of white supremacy following the end of Reconstruction in the South. From 1883 to 1885 he was editor of the '' Hub'', a Republican newspaper that tried to attract black readers. Archibald supported equal rights for blacks, both in the paper and in public lectures, which were popular in the nineteenth century. He became increasingly active in politics, and was chosen for the Republican Party's state convention in 1884. That year he was also appointed to the board of Westborough Insane Hospital, a state hospital. Archibald became involved in the women's rights movement, which his aunts had supported, and addressed it in the ''Hub''. He was elected as president of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association. Believing that the Republicans were not doing enough, he left the party in 1886. In 1889, he joined the staff of the
Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarded eight Pulit ...
as a special writer. In the South, the situation for Blacks was deteriorating, and Archibald continued the struggle against racism, allying at times with other major leaders of the day. He had also become involved in Frederick Douglass'
National Council of Colored People National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
, a predecessor to the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
, which grappled with issues of education for blacks, especially in the South. Archibald disagreed with
Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
about emphasizing industrial and agricultural education for freedmen (the South still had a primarily agricultural economy). He believed there needed to be opportunities for academic and higher education such as he had. In 1901, with several other men he started ''The Guardian'', a newspaper in which they could express their views. They selected
William Monroe Trotter William Monroe Trotter, sometimes just Monroe Trotter (April 7, 1872 – April 7, 1934), was a newspaper editor and real estate businessman based in Boston, Massachusetts. An activist for African-American civil rights, he was an early opponent of ...
as editor. Together Grimké and Trotter also organized the Boston Literary and Historical Association, which at the time was a gathering of men opposed to Booker T. Washington's views. For a time he was allied with W.E.B. Du Bois, but Grimké continued to make his own way between the two groups. Despite earlier conflict with Washington and his followers, in 1905, Grimké started writing for '' The New York Age'', the leading black paper; it was allied with Washington. Archibald wrote about national issues from his own point of view, for instance, urging more activism and criticizing President Theodore Roosevelt for failing to adequately support black troops in
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, where they were accused of starting a riot. Continuing his interest in intellectual work, he served as president of the American Negro Academy from 1903 to 1919, which supported African-American scholars and promoted higher education for blacks. He published several papers with them, dealing with issues of the day, such as his analysis in "Modern Industrialism and the Negroes of the United States" (1908). He believed that capitalism as practiced in the United States could help freedmen who left agriculture to achieve independence and true freedom. In 1907 he became involved with the Niagara Movement and later with the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
, both of which were founded by Du Bois. Men continued to struggle to find the best way to deal with racism and advance equal rights, at a time when lynching of black men in the South continued. After his daughter graduated from college, Archibald became increasingly active as a leader in the NAACP, which was founded in 1909. First he was active in Boston, for instance, writing letters in protest of proposed federal legislation. to prohibit interracial marriages. (The legislation was not passed.) In 1913, he was recruited by national leaders to become the president of the Washington, DC branch and moved to the capital with his daughter Angelina. As president, Grimké wrote detailed accounts of local racial injustices, such as inequitable distribution of educational funds, taking direct action in his community. His brother Francis and his wife Charlotte still lived there. Grimké led the public protest in Washington, D.C., against the segregation of federal offices under President Woodrow Wilson, who acceded to wishes of other Southerners on his cabinet. Grimké testified before Congress against it in 1914 but did not succeed in gaining changes. About this time, he also became a national vice-president of the NAACP. The organization supported the U.S. in World War I, but Grimké highlighted the racial discrimination against blacks in the military and worked to change it. He fell ill in 1928. At the time, he and Angelina were living with his brother Francis, by then a widower. His daughter and brother cared for him until his death in 1930.


Honors and awards

*1919, the NAACP awarded him the
Spingarn Medal The Spingarn Medal is awarded annually by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for an outstanding achievement by an African American. The award was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn Joel Elias Spingarn (May ...
for his life work for racial equality. *In 1934, the Phelps Colored Vocational School was renamed Grimke Elementary School in his honor. The school was closed in 1989 and the building served as headquarters for the Washington D.C. Fire and Corrections Departments until 2012, when the main building was left vacant. The gymnasium has housed the
African American Civil War Museum The African American Civil War Memorial Museum, in the U Street district of Washington, D.C., recognizes the contributions of the 209,145 members of the United States Colored Troops (USCT). The eponymous memorial, dedicated in July 1998 by the Af ...
since 2010.


Marriage and family


Grimké Sisters

By the time Henry began his relationship with Weston, his two half-sisters,
Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a piou ...
and
Angelina Angelina may refer to: Human names *Angelina (given name), a feminine given name *The feminine form of the family name Angelos People Entertainers *Angelina (American singer), American retired singer Angelina Camarillo Ramos (born 1976) * Angeli ...
, had been gone from Charleston for years. Unwilling to live in a slave society, they left the South and their family and became noted abolitionists and feminists, drawing on their first-hand knowledge of slavery's horrors. Together known as the Grimké sisters, they were active as writers and speakers in Northern abolitionist circles, having joined the Quakers and the
American Anti-Slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS; 1833–1870) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, had become a prominent abolitionist and was a key leader of this society ...
. After Angelina married
Theodore Weld Theodore Dwight Weld (November 23, 1803 – February 3, 1895) was one of the architects of the American abolitionist movement during its formative years from 1830 to 1844, playing a role as writer, editor, speaker, and organizer. He is best known ...
, the three lived and worked for years in New Jersey. They operated a school together. In 1864, they moved to Hyde Park, Massachusetts, a new community outside Boston. In February 1868 Angelina Grimké Weld read an article in which Edwin Bower, a professor at Lincoln University near Philadelphia, compared Lincoln's all-black student body favorably with "any class I have ever had," with special praise for a student named Grimké, who came to the university "just out of slavery." Stunned, she investigated, and found that Archibald and his siblings were her brother's children. She and Sarah acknowledged the boys and their mother Nancy Weston as family, and tried to provide them with better opportunities. They paid for their nephews' education: Archibald and Francis attended Harvard University and Howard University, respectively, for law. Francis shifted to Princeton Theological Seminary and became a minister. The Grimkés introduced the young men to their abolitionist circles.


Brothers

Francis J. Grimké Francis may refer to: People *Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome * Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Francis (surname) Places * Rural ...
did graduate work at Princeton Theological Seminary and became an ordained Presbyterian minister. He married Charlotte Forten, of the prominent Philadelphia black abolitionist family. She was also an abolitionist and a teacher, and became known for her diaries, written mostly from 1854 to 1864. He headed the 15th Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, for more than 40 years. Francis died in 1939. The youngest brother, John Grimké, did not stay in school. He moved South and had little to no contact with his family for the rest of his life. He died in 1915 in New York City.


Marriage and children

After getting established with his law practice in Boston, Massachusetts, Grimké met and married Sarah Stanley, a white woman from the Midwest. In 1880 they had a daughter,
Angelina Weld Grimké Angelina Weld Grimké (February 27, 1880 – June 10, 1958) was an African-American journalist, teacher, playwright, and poet. By ancestry, Grimké was three-quarters white — the child of a white mother and a half-white father — and consi ...
, named after Archibald's aunt. They separated while their daughter was young, and Stanley returned with Angelina to the Midwest when the girl was three. When Angelina was seven, Stanley started working. She brought Angelina back to Archibald in Boston. The couple never reconciled, and Stanley never saw her daughter again; she committed
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
by poisoning in 1898. In 1894, Grimké was appointed consul to the Dominican Republic. While he held this position, his daughter Angelina lived for years with his brother Francis and his wife Charlotte in Washington, D.C., where Francis was minister of the 15th Street Presbyterian Church. After graduating from school, Angelina became a teacher and writer. Her essays and poetry were published by '' The Crisis'' of the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
. In 1916, she wrote the play ''Rachel'', which addressed
lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
, in response to a call by the NAACP for works to protest the controversial film '' The Birth of a Nation''. It is one of the first plays by an African American considered to be part of the
Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater, politics and scholarship centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. At the t ...
. In addition, she wrote poetry, some of which is now considered the first
lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...
work by an African American.


Published writings

* Books ** ** * Pamphlets and articles (most recent first) ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **


See also

*
Negro Academy The American Negro Academy (ANA), founded in Washington, DC in 1897, was the first organization in the United States to support African-American academic scholarship. It operated until 1928,Smith and encouraged African Americans to undertake classic ...


References


Further reading (most recent first)

* * *Bruce, Dickson D., Jr. ''Archibald Grimke: Portrait of a Black Independent'', Baton Rouge, La:
Louisiana State University Press The Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press) is a university press at Louisiana State University. Founded in 1935, it publishes works of scholarship as well as general interest books. LSU Press is a member of the Association of American Univer ...
, 1993. *Starr, William W. "Bio of black activist restores his prestige," ''The State'' (Aug. 22, 1993), 4F.


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimke, Archibald 1849 births 1930 deaths African-American lawyers American lawyers African-American journalists American male journalists African-American academics NAACP activists Archibald Harvard Law School alumni Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) alumni Spingarn Medal winners Massachusetts Republicans Washington, D.C., Republicans African-American diplomats American diplomats Academics from Washington, D.C. Academics from Massachusetts Academics from South Carolina People from Hyde Park, Boston 19th-century American slaves Literate American slaves 20th-century African-American people