Rufus L. Perry (March 11, 1834 - June 18, 1895) was an educator, journalist, and Baptist minister from Brooklyn, New York. He was a prominent member of the African Civilization Society and was a co-founder of the
Howard Colored Orphan Asylum
The Howard Colored Orphan Asylum was one of the few orphanages to be led by and for African Americans. It was located on Troy Avenue and Dean Street in Weeksville, a historically black settlement in what is now Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New Yor ...
, which developed from it. He was the editor of numerous newspapers and journals, most notably the '' National Monitor''. He was a prominent Baptist, and in 1886 he founded the Messiah Baptist Church, where he was pastor until his death. He was also a classical scholar.
Early life
Rufus L. Perry was born a slave on a plantation in
Smith County, Tennessee
Smith County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 19,166. Smith County is located in the region of the state known as Middle Tennessee. Its county seat is Carthage. The county was organized in ...
on March 11, 1834Cathcart, William, ed. The Baptist Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of the Doctrines, Ordinances, Usages, Confessions of Faith, Sufferings, Labors, and Successes, and of the General History of the Baptist Denomination in All Lands: with Numerous Biographical Sketches of Distinguished American and Foreign Baptists, and a Supplement. Vol. 2. LH Everts, 1881. p907 to Lewis Perry and Maria. The family was owned by Archibald W. Overton. Lewis was a talented mechanic, carpenter, and cabinet maker, and secured the means to bring his family to Nashville where the Rufus was able to attend the school for free blacks taught by Sally Porter. Lewis escaped to Canada when Rufus was seven years old, and Rufus was brought back to the plantation where his education gave him the reputation of being "dangerous".Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. p620-625 In August 1852 he was sold to a trader to be taken to Mississippi. However, Perry was able to forge a pass and after three weeks himself fled to Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
In 1854, Perry converted to the Baptist religion and soon after enrolled in the Kalamazoo Theological Seminary in Kalamazoo, Michigan where he graduated in 1861. On or about October 9, 1861 he was ordained pastor of the Second Baptist Church at Ann Arbor, Michigan. He later became a pastor in St. Catherine's, Ontario, and
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
.
African Civilization Society
In 1862, Perry and Rev Henry M. Wilson formed the Colored Orphan Asylum of the African Civilization Society for the education and development of African Americans. The organization promoted schools throughout the country and founded the Asylum at Weeksville, Brooklyn. Other prominent members included
Daniel Payne
Daniel Alexander Payne (February 24, 1811 – November 2, 1893) was an American bishop, educator, college administrator and author. A major shaper of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (A.M.E.), Payne stressed education and preparation of mi ...
,
Henry Highland Garnet
Henry Highland Garnet (December 23, 1815 – February 13, 1882) was an African-American abolitionist, minister, educator and orator. Having escaped as a child from slavery in Maryland with his family, he grew up in New York City. He was educat ...
, Rev
J. Sella Martin
John Sella Martin (September 27, 1832 – August 11, 1876) escaped slavery in Alabama and became an influential abolitionist and pastor in Boston, Massachusetts. He was an activist for equality before the American Civil WarAmos N. Freeman. In 1869, Perry was general agent, superintendent of schools, and editor of the newspaper, and chairman of the building committee of the Society. The group fractured, and that year three officers, president Amos Freeman, director John Flamer, and Perry brought a lawsuit against corresponding secretary Rev. Henry M. Wilson, which was not successful.Wellman, Judith. Brooklyn's Promised Land: The Free Black Community of Weeksville, New York. NYU Press, 2014. p127-131 The Society closed in 1871, but the orphan asylum, later known as the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum, persisted and Perry served as its president into the 1880s.
Journalist and community leader
Perry was a prominent member of the Weeksville neighborhood and became a leader in the Baptist church and a well known journalist. In his career, he was editor of the ''Sunbeam'' an illustrated children's paper, coordinate editor of the ''American Baptist'', editor of the ''People's Journal'', and publisher of the ''National Monitor''. From about 1877 to 1887 he was corresponding secretary of the Consolidated American Baptist Missionary Convention and in 1887 was corresponding secretary of the American Educational Association and of the American Baptist Free Mission Society. In 1891 he was elected president of the New England Baptist Missionary Convention.
In 1883, when the Brooklyn Public Schools Board of Education contemplated closing the schools for African American children, Perry, Charles A. Dorsey, and Rev.
William T. Dixon
William T. Dixon (September 8, 1833 – June 3, 1909) was an educator and Baptist minister in Brooklyn, New York. He was a founder of the New England Baptist Association. Dixon was a member of Brooklyn's black elite and was listed by the Brooklyn ...
led the fight to keep the schools open.Taylor, Clarence. The black churches of Brooklyn. Columbia University Press, 1994. p19, 26 In 1886, he organized the Messiah Baptist Church in Brooklyn. His congregation included a number of prominent Brooklynites, including Phillip A. White, T. McCants Stewart, Charles A. Dorsey, John Q. Allen, Charles H. Lansing Jr. and W. H. Johnson.
He was also a scholar of classical ethnology and read Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. In 1887 he wrote a text, ''The Cushite, or the Children of Ham as seen by the Ancient Historians and Poets'', which he published as a book in 1893 under the title, ''The Cushite, Or, The Descendants of Ham: As Found in the Sacred Scriptures and in the Writings of Ancient Historians and Poets from Noah to the Christian Era''. This work traces the history of black people to a "glorious past". In that way, his work fits in a literature which attempts to disassociate nobility or goodness with whiteness. The introduction for the book was written by T. McCants Stewart.
In 1888, Perry was elected president of a national meeting of Baptists, which came to be a union meeting of the General Association of Western States and Territories, the Foreign Mission Convention of the United States and the American Baptist Missionary Union, with Charles H. Parrish Secretary. A major theme of the conventions was unity of African American Baptists and the consolidation of a number of bodies such as the Colored Missionary Associations and the Co-operation of the American Baptist Missionary Union.
In 1892, Perry was among a delegation of African Americans to visit president
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...
, who was campaigning for reelection against
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
(Cleveland would win the
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
). After the meeting, Perry declared himself unsatisfied with Harrison, who was a fellow Republican, because Harrison was not satisfactorily active in putting an end to violence against blacks in the South. Perry noted he was a lifelong Republican and would support other Republicans on the ticket.
Educational honors
Perry was awarded a PhD in theology from Kalamazoo Seminary, and received two honorary degrees. He was granted an honorary Doctor of Philosophy on May 17, 1887 by Simmons College of Kentucky, the day after delivering a commencement lecture and a doctorate of divinity by Wilberforce University in 1888.
Family
Perry married Charlott Perry. They had eight children, Edity, Rufus L. Jr, Arthur, Latha, Eudha, Minnie, David, and Hattie B. Perry's son, Rufus Perry, was legal partner of J. Douglas Wetmore.
On Sunday, June 16, 1895, Perry fell into a coma from complication of diseases. He died at his home on the evening of June 18. His funeral was held at Concord Baptist Church in Brooklyn and his burial was 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 ...
. The pall bearers were Dr. Amos Harper, T. McCants Stewart,
T. Thomas Fortune
Timothy Thomas Fortune (October 3, 1856June 2, 1928) was an orator, civil rights leader, journalist, writer, editor and publisher. He was the highly influential editor of the nation's leading black newspaper ''The New York Age'' and was the leadin ...