Firday, February 13, 2025

It is the 13th of February 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

I am not one, but I have friends who are… military historians. Artillery and cannons and all that- these are the folks who could draw you the field at Gettysburg and explain why what happened and when. I’ll admit, the Civil War and other events heavy on the military history aren’t where I tend to go during my free time.

 

And then I read about the theological arguments against (and for!) slavery. I read about the pastors who also served as abolitionists and the difficult decisions they had to make when it came to the use of force. Things get tricky! We have Nat Turner and John Brown- men who saw the evil face of slavery and weren’t keen on partial measures that kept them classified as subhuman.

 

When it comes to the abolitionist pastor- and an abolitionist pastor who was himself African American- the name to know is Henry Highland Garnet. You’re probably more familiar with one of his contemporaries: Frederick Douglass. But you may only know of Douglass because of Garnet.

 

Garnet’s grandfather was an African chieftain- captured and brought to the colonies, Henry was born in 1815 in Maryland. Born into slavery, his family escaped on the Underground Railroad when he was 9. Through the benevolence of New York’s pro-Abolitionist community, Henry was able to study at the African Free School before heading to the Noyes Academy. From here, he studied at the Oneida Institute in New York and was baptized at Shiloh Presbyterian Church.

 

He and a few friends founded the Garrison Literary and Benevolent Society- named for William Lloyd Garrison the prominent white abolitionist.

 

In 1841, he married Julia Ward Williams, and in 1842, the family moved to Troy, New York, where Henry was a pastor.

 

In 1843, Henry became a national figure with a trifecta of political speeches. The first was at the National Black Convention. Abolitionists had been Whigs- even though many Whigs were pro-slavery. It was a pickle because no self-respecting African American or Abolitionist could vote for the party of Jackson- the Democrats. And so Henry convinced the Black Convention to back the nascent Liberty Party- a real coup for a third party.

 

Garnet then went to the New York convention, where he swung the whole convention, white and black, to the Liberty party, and then, in the same year, went to the Liberty Party convention, where he called a caucus and had the party recognize their “colored fellow citizens”. Garnet was set to be the figure in the move to emancipation.

 

Except.

 

For people living before the Civil War, nothing was inevitable. Slavery had been eradicated elsewhere in the world, but not in America. The arguments for a slow and gradual change fell on deaf ears. Garnet was only in his late 20s but was becoming one of the most electric of the abolitionist preachers.

 

But maybe too electric.

 

His calls for rebellion- a general strike and the taking up of arms proved to be a bridge too far for the likes of Douglass and Garrison. Even if they were personally in favor of a more radical response, they couldn’t back Garnet. Garnet would end up working with the Liberty party, which would eventually be absorbed into the new Republican Party.

 

He remained an important figure, however. After the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and as the war was winding down in 1865, Henry Highland Garnet was invited to preach before the House of Representatives- the first African American to speak in that chamber, let alone preach.

 

Garnet had been in favor of repatriating to Mexico- they had abolished slavery. He had connections in Cuba and suggested free blacks could move there. He eventually relented on his opposition to the colony in Africa- Liberia, set up for former slaves. After the death of his wife, Henry requested to be made an ambassador to Liberia, where his daughter lived. He left in 1881 but succumbed to an illness within a few months and died on the 13th of February in 1882. Born in 1815, the Presbyterian Preacher and Abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet was 67 years old.

 

 

 

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Hebrews 11- the Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti loved Garnet and called him the “American Moses”- an appropriate text, then…

23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 13th of February 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man I was told looked like 1970s Chuck Girard… decide for yourself. He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man flying Santa Ana to Minneapolis… maybe flying right now… on Friday the 13th! I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.