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Black Presbyterians join statewide recognition of ex-slave-turned-pastor
Monday, February 18, 2002 By Carmen J. Lee, Post-Gazette Education Writer
"Neither God, nor angels, or just men command you to suffer for a single moment. Therefore, it is your solemn and imperative duty to use every means both moral, intellectual and physical that promises success. ... If you must bleed, let it all come at once -- rather die free men than live to be slaves. Let your motto be resistance! Resistance! Resistance!" -- the Rev. Henry Highland Garnet,
Yesterday was Henry Highland Garnet Day in Pennsylvania. That fact may have escaped the notice of many people across the state.
But at Grace Memorial Presbyterian Church in the Hill District, nearly 100 people met to commemorate the abolitionist and U.S. ambassador who was the church's first pastor and to recognize local residents who embody his spirit.
"They are all still on the front lines of fighting for freedom and justice, and the work of Henry Highland Garnet continues," said Richard LeGrande, moderator of the Pittsburgh-based Henry Highland Garnet Society, during the ceremony.
The Rev. Johnnie Monroe, current pastor of Grace Memorial, urged black people, particularly those who are Presbyterians, to never forget Garnet's legacy.
"It is because he was that we are," Monroe said.
Garnet came to Pittsburgh after the Civil War, and by that time, he had already amassed an impressive set of credentials. A runaway slave born in 1815, he had pastored an integrated church in 1839, was a member of the Underground Railroad and had recruited black soldiers for the Union Army. He served as a Presbyterian missionary in Jamaica and, in 1865, became the first black person to preach a sermon before the U.S. Congress.
Garnet also had gained a reputation as an outspoken abolitionist who did not avoid controversy. In a speech at the 1843 Negro Convention in Buffalo, N.Y., he advocated a slave revolt. The speech attracted national attention but frightened a number of abolitionists who did not believe in violence.
Garnet moved to Pittsburgh around 1869 to serve as president of the former Avery College, a school of religious education for black people in Old Allegheny, now known as the North Side.
His arrival coincided with a decision by black members of the integrated Sixth Presbyterian Church to form their own church, LeGrande said.
The group met initially at Miller School in the Hill District. Garnet was asked to serve as the first pastor of what would become Grace Memorial, the first black Presbyterian church west of Philadelphia.
Garnet left Pittsburgh in 1872, when he was asked to serve as pastor of a Presbyterian church in Washington, D.C. While there, he also was involved in Reconstruction efforts until he was chosen in 1881 to be U.S. ambassador to Liberia. He died in Monrovia, Liberia, a year after his appointment.
LeGrande said Pittsburgh officers within the National Black Presbyterian Caucus decided four years ago to organize the Garnet society within the Presbyterian Church to recognize the history of black Presbyterians, which includes black pastors as far back as the Revolutionary War.
While yesterday was the third annual celebration of Henry Highland Garnet Day, it was the first time it was recognized statewide. Award recipients were given citations from the state House along with plaques.
In keeping with Garnet's historical connection to Pittsburgh, yesterday's celebration included music and dance by several Miller Elementary School pupils who are members of the African-Brazilian performing group Nego Gato Inc.
Those honored were Lavera Brown, executive director of the Pittsburgh branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; the Rev. Samuel George, former pastor of Grace Memorial; Patricia Pugh Mitchell, former executive director of Kuumba Trust; the Rev. Ronald Peters, director of the Metro-Urban Institute at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary; the Rev. James Robinson, former pastor of Bidwell Presbyterian Church; and United Teens on a Mission, a youth outreach project in the Hill District.
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