South of the James

Black Governors and Kings in Colonial America: Connecticut, the Birthplace of Democracy in Black America 

by Webster Brooks III

July 24, 2004

The conventional wisdom concerning Black America’s maiden voyage with the agency of participatory politics and elections begins with the post-Civil Period of Reconstruction and the passage of the 14th Amendment which gave former black slaves the right to vote and hold elective office. However, recent research spearheaded by the late historian John E. Rogers, researcher Billie Anthony and Professor Katherine Harris of Central Connecticut State University, challenges the current historical orthodoxy, with a new accounting of how Connecticut’s and other New England slave communities held elections from the 1740’s to the mid 1850’s to choose their own leaders called Black Governors and Kings. These elections that came to be known by blacks and whites as “Lection Day”  first began when Black slaves who often accompanied their white masters to the polling stations to vote, decided to hold their own elections. Arguably, from a purely historical point of view, the elections of Black Governors and Kings also represents the most advanced form of democracy practiced anywhere in colonial America, because not only was there no propety qualification to vote, but women were active participants in the process of campaigning. Voting by the common man (white men) would not occur for another one-hundred years with the advent of “Jacksonian” democracy, and women would not secure the right to vote until the early 20th century.

While documentation suggest the election of black governors and kings occured in several states in colonial America and in Brazil, the phenomenon was overwhelmingly practiced in the New England states of Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Without question the experience of electing Black Governors in Connecticut represents the epicenter of this democratic movement. Thus Connecticut, known as the “Constitution State” because its citizens were also the first in America to create a government based on a written constitution in 1639 called the “Fundamental Orders,” appears to be ground zero of mass democracy in Black America.

In Connecticut, 28 Black Governors were elected by slave and free black communities between 1749 and 1856, almost three times as many governors than the other New England states combined. According to historian William D. Pierson, in his book “Black Yankees” the practice of electing Black Governors ended in the other New England states by the 1820’s whereas Connecticut elected its last black governor in 1856. In Connecticut the elections of Black governors were held on the 4th Sunday in June, the day after the white elections. The democratic process used to select Black governors is also worthy of examination. In the “charter colonies” of Connecticut and Rhode Island, white male voters elected their own governors.  On the other hand, Massachusetts and New Hampshire were “crown colonies” and the white governors were appointed by the King of England. Similarly, the Black leaders in the crown colonies were referred to as “Kings,” while in Connecticut the elected Black leaders were called governors. The long history of elections in Connecticut meant the African-American community became highly skilled in the art of campaigning, debating, creating public opinion and even political intrigue as part of its arsenal of vying for political power and influence.

To demonstrate how influential “Lection Day” became, festivities evolved from a one-day event into a one-week celebration in which slaves were given time off work. Indeed, an argument can be made that “Lection Day” was the first recognized Black holiday in New England, predating Juneteenth by 100 years and Martin Luther King’s Birthday as a government sanctioned federal holiday by 200 years. Historical accounts of these black elections in colonial times indicate that ceremonial parades that accompained the election of Black Governors in Hartford, Connecticut in the mid-seventeen hundreds sometimes

As elected leaders of the Black community the governors were leaders of a parallel government of their constituents. In addition to electing a governor, Blacks elected judges, sheriffs, justices of the peace and Deputies; in short–a shadow government. Black Governors not only provided moral and political leadership in their communities, but were the chief executives of their shadow governments. It should be emphasized that holding elections to select leadership was already an established tradition on the Gold Coast of West Africa–the homeland of numerous slaves transported to New England. Detractors who attempted to diminish the importance of the elections of Black Governors by suggesting they were simply mimicking white society stand flatly at odds with history. It would be more correct to say that the elections of Black Governors and Kings constituted an adaptation of African culture to the circumstances of Anglo New England.

In Rhode Island a meeting of Black Governors drafted a petition to the state legislature calling for the abolition of slavery. Within its governmental structure Black governors resolved internal disputes  not handled by the black courts which heard cases of small claims and petty crimes like theft. In Providence, Rhode Island and in Hartford punishment for these minor crimes theft were often times punishable by a public flogging conspicuously carried out at the town green in full public view. The black sheriff would administer the lashing. In addition to resolving disputes, within the community as well as served as a liaison between the white and black communities, both at the local level and occasionally during crisis of the state government.

The Black Governors were the embodiment and expression of Black pride among the Black governors came from the ranks of slaves and free men. Many of the early 18th Century Black Governors like “Quaw” of Hartford (served in 1760) and “London” of Wethersfield (served in 1755) were born in Africa. King Nero of Portsmouth, New Hampshire was the son of an African tribal chief as were several black governors in Connecticut. Some Black Governors were educated, others were illiterate; some were businessmen, others were overseers of large farms owned by whites; some fought in the Revolutionary War in Connecticut’s  4th Regiment, and still others were elected because they were the strongest and most physically imposing figures among their peers.

Several black governors were slaves of the wealthiest and most politically connected men in their areas. Samuel Huntington of Norwich, Connecticut (1772-1800) went by the same name as his master who served as President of the United States Continental Congress. Pelog Nott of Hartford drove supply wagons during the Revolutionary War for Continental Army General David Humphries, a close confident of George Washington. Nott was the slave of Jeremiah Wadsworth, a U.S. Congressman and the wealthiest man in Hartford at the time. His son Peter Nott would attend the 1855 assembly of the National Negro Convention in Philadelphia. Irrespective of their background, these black governors were men of character. Their word carried weight in the slave and free black community that were subject to their superintendence. Leaders in the white community acknowledged and respected their leadership role in the black community as well.

Just how influential a role Connecticut’s black governors played in the black and white communites was underscored by an incident that occurred in 1776. In that year, black governor Cuff abdicated his office and by-passed the elections process by appointing John Anderson his successor. The black slave community was outraged by Cuff’s attempt to deprive them of their elective franchise. They were also suspicious of the appointment of Anderson, because his master, Phillip Skene was the ranking military attaché of the British Army in charge of the Ticonderoga Territory that included parts of New York and all of Connecticut. At that time most black slaves around Hartford were sympathetic to the patriotic cause although numerous slaves in western Connecticut fled to the British Army lines in New York on the promise of being freed. The crisis of succession led Connecticut’s Governor Lyman Trumbell to form a committee to investigate Anderson’s appointment as black governor. Trumbell had to determine if Skene had bribed Cuff and Anderson in an attempt to subvert the patriotic cause and build and foment a possible slave uprising. Skene was apprehended and in an unprecedented move Trumbell allowed the slaves to openly interrogate the British territorial attaché and Anderson. In the end, the slaves and Trumbell accepted Anderson’s appointment.

This incident not only illuminates the power of Connecticut’s slave community, but illustrates a common flaw in the construct of American history; the tendency to focus on the violence and cruelty of slavery to the exclusion of heralding the countless ways that Blacks wielded political power even under the most adverse of circumstances.

The black governor phenomenon demonstrates that notwithstanding the hardships of slavery, African-American slaves created a new sense of family, community, culture and tradition. Despite the fact that many whites did not approve of blacks having their own governor, or mass parades with black militiamen firing guns, or black elections or black slaves taking time off work, they nevertheless accepted the tradition and even became a part of it, because to challenge it would have invited political unrest and destabilization. The experience of the Black governors also marks the only period in American history where Black ministers were not part of the political leadership struggle.

To argue that the election of Black governors from a tiny state like Connecticut with its small Black population, represents the vanguard experience in the pantheon of Black American politics, will no doubt seem absurd to some and border on political heresy to others. Be that as it may, a deeper study of the experience of the Black governors will vindicate the assertion. There is a saying that “history is nothing more than lies agreed upon by scholars.” However, in the case of the Black governors, the issue is not correcting lies, but writing a new chapter of a story that has yet to be fully chronicled. Opportunities to add to the historical body of knowledge are rare, and should remind us how precious organizations like the John E. Rogers African American Cultural Center are to our community. It’s time that Connecticut’s Black governors and our proud ancestral slave communities are afforded their rightful place in annals of American history.

by Benin Dakar

This article also appeared in the Christian Science Monitor

SNELLVILLE, GA. – Bill Cosby’s vitae reads like the quintessential American success story that it is. His transcendence from working-class roots in the slums of Philadelphia to revered entertainer, educator, businessman, and philanthropist is the classic Horatio Alger story: The very essence of what American dreams and myths are made of.recent comments about some of the black underclass during his speech at a 50th anniversary commemoration of Brown v. Board of Education continues to reverberate in the black community.

Some blacks are singing Cosby’s praises, and others are still slamming him for saying, “Ladies and gentleman, the lower economic people are not holding up their end of this deal…. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids - $500 sneakers, for what? And yet they won’t spend $200 for ‘Hooked on Phonics.”

Cosby’s Hollywood, business, and philanthropic achievements - and his doctorate in education - give him the credibility and forum to initiate a necessary and troubling conversation about the black underclass.

The beginning of the 21st century for black Americans is Dickensian in this sense: These are surely both the best and worst of times for African-Americans. Indeed, the black middle class and upper-middle class have increased exponentially. There are now black folk who are rich and even super rich, like billionaire Cosby - but simultaneously there are legions of blacks being left far behind in inner cities.

Life in the ghetto is inarguably forbidding - schools are failing and the streets are deadly. And it is expensive - everything from groceries to insurance cost more than in other places. Most who are able to escape indigence will not leapfrog from poverty to the patrician class - like Cosby. But there is the hope that one can become solidly middle class: own a home and send one’s children to college.

Although Cosby’s comments about the black underclass are biting, it is folly to dismiss him as an out-of-touch black billionaire. Moreover, we in the black community must not all allow fear to censor our discussions of the black underclass, because of embarrassment or the possibility that some whites may misuse sound bites of our discussion for their own agenda.

Rather than an indictment of some blacks, Cosby’s commentary is a clarion call to blacks of all class levels that there is still much to be accomplished. And none of us has the luxury of calling it quits. Cosby is challenging black America not to be a conspirator in its own demise.

When a young black person fails to earn a high school diploma, cannot speak standard English, has gold designer teeth, and adopts prison-style clothing, that person is actively working to guarantee that employability and economic security elude him.

Misguided people like this are foiled by their own ignorance, inarticulateness, and aberrant appearance.

They’re not upholding some venerable inner-city culture, but are working hand in glove with racism and discrimination to secure their place on the margins of life. Moreover, the black community has become comfortable with such terms as “my baby’s Mama” and “my baby’s Daddy,” and is more alarmed at the prospect of same-sex marriage than at the fact that as many as 70 percent of black American children are born outside the bonds of matrimony.

It is important to point out that most black people in the ghetto are not unconscious or unambitious. The great majority of blacks in the inner city are urban heroes and heroines, who work tirelessly toward being accountable for their own lives.

These champions, despite the chaos that is all around them, are the people who are most immediately and negatively impacted by those who do not value their own lives and communities.

Although there are many who have disdain for Cosby, I believe that many dissenters will eventually praise him for his boldness and concern. He’s like an excellent teacher or professor, who seems unfair and oppressive, but is really the kindest person around you: It is because he loves and respects you and can see your potential that he is tough. That tough professor knows that however tough he is, life can be and often is tougher, and he simply wants you to be prepared for life’s challenges. Therefore, he is caring and critical in proper proportion to help you recognize and exploit your potential - so that you do not blithely fail yourself. It is in our interest to tune into Cosby and continue the discussion.

We in the black community who have made it are morally responsible to do what we can to help others trapped in the inner city find a way out. This gesture is not one of altruism but one of self-interest.

For like any people, we are only as strong as our weakest link

Benin Dakar, a financial services manager, is co-chair of the volunteer council of Hands on Atlanta, which promotes civic engagement and volunteer services to build community.