Charles C. Painter (1833-1895) was an American abolitionist, Native American advocate and Congregational minister. The son of a Virginia planter who freed the people he enslaved before the American Civil War, Painter served on the faculty of

Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...

, dedicated to the education of African Americans. He was a prominent member of the

Indian Rights Association The Indian Rights Association (IRA) was a social activist group dedicated to the well being and acculturation of American Indians. Founded by non-Indians in Philadelphia in 1882, the group was highly influential in American Indian policy through ...

, working out of the organization's Boston office, and, with Samuel M. Brosius, had a long career as an IRA agent and lobbyist in Washington, D.C. Founded in Philadelphia in 1882, the Indian Rights Association's stated objective was to "bring about the complete civilization of the Indians and their admission to citizenship." In 1884, the organization's founders,

Herbert Welsh Herbert Welsh (1851 - 1941) was a United States political reformer and worker for the welfare of the indigenous peoples of North America. Biography Herbert Welsh was born in Philadelphia, the youngest of 8 children of John Welsh, a prosperous mer ...

and Henry Pancoast, opened an additional office in the District of Columbia to act as a legislative lobby and liaison with the

Board of Indian Commissioners The Board of Indian Commissioners was a committee that advised the federal government of the United States on Native American policy and inspected supplies delivered to Indian agencies to ensure the fulfillment of government treaty obligations. Hi ...

and the Board of Indian Affairs in 1884. The Indian Rights Association also maintained close contacts with Indian agents and with native groups themselves through correspondence and trips to reservations and settlements. Painter made frequent trips to reservations to investigate the actions of Indian Bureau agents and to observe the living and health conditions of Native Americans. Painter personally favored Indian citizenship and the abolition of Indian reservations. He also lobbied heavily for the institution of the Allotment policy introduced by Senator

Henry L. Dawes Henry Laurens Dawes (October 30, 1816February 5, 1903) was an attorney and politician, a Republican United States Senator and United States Representative from Massachusetts. He is notable for the Dawes Act (1887), which was intended to stimula ...

and passed in 1887 as the Dawes Act.

References

1895 deaths American abolitionists American Congregationalist ministers Activists for Native American rights Year of birth uncertain Congregationalist abolitionists {{US-activist-stub