Charles Bennett Ray (December 25, 1807 – August 15, 1886) was a prominent African-American minister and
abolitionist
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
who owned and edited of the weekly newspaper ''
The Colored American''. Born in Massachusetts, he had most of his career and life in New York City.
Early life and education
Born a free man in
Falmouth, Massachusetts
Falmouth ( ) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 32,517 at the 2020 census, making Falmouth the second-largest municipality on Cape Cod after Barnstable. The terminal for the Steamship Authority ferri ...
, Ray was the son of mail carrier Joseph Aspinwall Ray and his wife Annis Harrington. He attended
Wesleyan Seminary in
Wilbraham, Massachusetts
Wilbraham is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb of the City of Springfield, and part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,613 at the 2020 census.
Part of the town comprises ...
, studying theology. In 1832 he enrolled as the first black student at
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...
in
Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, it is south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated by English settler ...
, although his enrollment was revoked less than two months later. White students protested his admission.
Move to New York and ministry
Ray moved to New York City in 1832 and opened a boot and shoe store.
He became a Methodist minister and later a Congregational minister.
Ray served as pastor of two predominantly white churches in New York City,
Crosby Congregational Church and Bethesda Congregational Church.
Ray was a strong supporter of the
temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
, and was a member of the
American Missionary Association, the African Society for Mutual Relief, and co-founded the
Society for the Promotion of Education Among Colored Children.
Abolitionism
In the early 1830s Ray became involved in the abolitionist movement, and became a prominent promoter of the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...
. He was also co-founder and director of the
New York Vigilance Committee and a member of 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 ...
, assisting refugee slaves.
Ray was also active in the Society of the Promotion of Education Among Colored Children.
''The Colored American''
In 1838 Ray and
Phillip Alexander Bell
Philip Alexander Bell (1808–1889) was a 19th-century American newspaper editor and abolitionist. Born in New York City, he was educated at the African Free School and became politically active at the 1832 Colored Convention. He began his news ...
became co-owners of ''The Colored American'', the fourth weekly periodical published by African Americans. In 1839 Ray became the sole owner and editor.
''The Colored American'' promoted "the moral, social and political elevation of the free colored people; and the peaceful emancipation of the slaves."
Ray traveled throughout the North giving speeches condemning prejudice against African Americans. In 1840 he became a supporter of the newly founded
Liberty Party, the only publicly pro-Abolitionist political party.
Family
Ray married twice: first in 1834 to
Henrietta Green Regulus, who died two years later in childbirth. He married again in 1840, to
Charlotte Augusta Burroughs. They had seven children together, including
Charlotte E. Ray
Charlotte E. Ray (January 13, 1850 – January 4, 1911) was an American lawyer. She was the first black American female lawyer in the United States. Ray graduated from Howard University School of Law in 1872. She was also the first female admit ...
, who became the first female African-American attorney; Florence Ray, who also became an attorney; and
Cordelia Ray
Henrietta Cordelia Ray (August 30, 1852 – January 5, 1916) was an African-American poet and teacher. Her parents were notable abolitionists, and had worked for the Underground Railroad in Manhattan.
Biography
Cordelia Ray was born in New York C ...
, who became a poet and known for her 80-line ode, "Lincoln".
Charles B. Ray died in New York City and is buried in
Cypress Hills Cemetery
Cypress Hills Cemetery is non-sectarian/non-denominational cemetery corporation organized in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, the first of its type in the city. The cemetery is run as a non-profit organization and is loca ...
in Brooklyn.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Charles Bennett
1807 births
1886 deaths
19th-century American journalists
19th-century American male writers
19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
Academics from Massachusetts
African-American abolitionists
African-American academics
African-American Christian clergy
African-American publishers (people)
American Congregationalist ministers
American male journalists
American publishers (people)
American temperance activists
Congregationalist abolitionists
Colored Conventions people
Underground Railroad people
Wesleyan University alumni
19th-century American clergy