Colonel Buckner H. Payne (1799- June 1, 1883) was an American clergyman, publisher and racist pamphleteer. Under the pseudonym of Ariel, Payne authored a racist pamphlet, offering a counter-argument to the

Curse of Ham The curse of Ham is described in the Book of Genesis as imposed by the patriarch Noah upon Ham's son Canaan. It occurs in the context of Noah's drunkenness and is provoked by a shameful act perpetrated by Noah's son Ham, who "saw the nakedness o ...

, suggesting instead that blacks did not descend from

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...

(and thus not from

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

), and that blacks had no soul. Payne was "at one time considered the greatest logician in the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

." After his death, Payne's work continued to influence racist authors.

Early life

Buckner H. Payne was born in 1799.

Career

Payne was a clergyman and publisher. He was also a member of Payne, James & Co. Under the pseudonym of Ariel, Payne was the author of ''Ariel: or the Ethnological Origin of the Negro'', an 1867 racist pamphlet about blacks. In it, he suggested that blacks did not descend from

, son of

Noah Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

, and thus did not descend from

. Instead, he argued that they were

Pre-Adamite The pre-Adamite hypothesis or pre-Adamism is the theological belief that humans (or intelligent yet non-human creatures) existed before the biblical character Adam. Pre-Adamism is therefore distinct from the conventional Abrahamic belief that Ada ...

and they descended from an animal on Noah's Ark. As a result, he rejected the

, and suggested that they had no soul. Payne's pamphlet "created much talk." His ideas challenged the status quo of

White Supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

, which rested upon the Curse of Ham. Shortly after its publication,

Robert A. Young Robert Anton Young III (November 27, 1923 – October 17, 2007) was a Democratic politician from the state of Missouri who served five terms in the US House of Representatives. Education and family background Young was the oldest child in a ...

, a minister of the

Methodist Episcopal Church, South The Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MEC, S; also Methodist Episcopal Church South) was the American Methodist denomination resulting from the 19th-century split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC). Disagreement ...

, published a response based on scientific arguments. Meanwhile, a literate former slave from Georgia, Harrison Berry, dismissed the pamphlet as confused and misguided. Nevertheless, Payne was "at one time considered the greatest logician in the

." Payne was falsely accused of murder in 1868. His case went to the

Tennessee Supreme Court The Tennessee Supreme Court is the ultimate judicial tribunal of the state of Tennessee. Roger A. Page is the Chief Justice. Unlike other states, in which the state attorney general is directly elected or appointed by the governor or state le ...

. According to his obituaries, Payne predicted the assassination of President

James A. Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...

one year before it happened. He also predicted the smallpox epidemic in 1880, which occurred in 1883. Additionally, he predicted his own death for the last day of May 1883.

Decline, death and legacy

Payne was interned in an asylum in

Davidson County, Tennessee Davidson County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in the heart of Middle Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 715,884, making it the second most populous county in Tennessee. Its county seat is Nashville ...

in 1879. He died poor and blind in 1889, at the age of eighty-four. He was buried in a lumber square box without screws at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Buckner H. 1799 births 1883 deaths People from Nashville, Tennessee American pamphleteers American male non-fiction writers American white supremacists Burials at Mount Olivet Cemetery (Nashville)