Rev. Tunis Gulic Campbell Sr. (April 1, 1812 – December 4, 1891), called "the oldest and best known clergyman in the
African Methodist Church",
[ served as a voter registration organizer, ]Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
, a delegate
Delegate or delegates may refer to:
* Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia
* Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique
* Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations
* Delegate (Unit ...
to the Georgia Constitutional Convention of 1867–1868, and as a Georgia state senator
The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia.
Legal provisions
The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, with the lower house being the Georgia Ho ...
during the Reconstruction era
The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...
. He also published an autobiography
''Sufferings of the Reverend T.G. Campbell and His Family in Georgia''
(1877). An African American, he was a major figure in Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
. He reportedly had a 400-person militia to protect him from the Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
. Like Governor Rufus Bullock
Rufus Brown Bullock (March 28, 1834 – April 27, 1907) was a Republican Party politician and businessman in Georgia. During the Reconstruction Era he served as the state's governor and called for equal economic opportunity and political rights f ...
, he eventually had to flee the state to save his life.[
]
Biography
Born in Middlebrook, New Jersey, Tunis Campbell was one of ten siblings, the son of a blacksmith. At age 5 he was "taken in charge" by a white man, who sent him an Episcopal boarding school in Babylon, Long Island, New York; he was the only Black student there. There he remained until he was 18. He turned down an invitation to go to Africa as a missionary.[ He began his career as an ]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 ...
and anti-colonization
Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
lecturer. In 1832 he set up an anticolonization society in Brooklyn. He was several times mobbed and once was nearly killed.[
]
A head waiter in New York
Campbell was the principal waiter at the Howard Hotel in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
for some time (at least from 1842–45). He later wrote a well-regarded 1848 guide to hotel management
''Hotel Keepers, Head Waiters, and Housekeepers' Guide''
(1848), the first book of its kind. It is both a collection of culinary recipes and a program to organize and manage African-American workers in one of the available sources of paid employment.[Lynch, Matthew, ed]
Before Obama: A Reappraisal of Black Reconstruction Era Politicians, Volume 1
p. 167 (2012)
At the same time, Campbell was active in establishing schools for "colored children" in New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, the city of Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, the village of Williamsburg, New York
Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. As of the 2020 United ...
(both part of the borough of Brooklyn since 1898), and Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.[fugitive slaves
In the United States, fugitive slaves or runaway slaves were terms used in the 18th and 19th century to describe people who fled slavery. The term also refers to the federal Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850. Such people are also called free ...]
whenever possible. He received a contract to raise 4,000 United States Colored Troops
The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during ...
.[
]
Military Governor of Georgia Sea Islands
In March 1865, he was sent as Military Governor to the Sea Islands of Georgia: Ossabaw, Colonels
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
, St. Catherine's, and Sapelo Island
Sapelo Island is a state-protected barrier island located in McIntosh County, Georgia. The island is accessible only by aircraft or boat; the primary ferry comes from the Sapelo Island Visitors Center in McIntosh County, Georgia, a seven-mil ...
. During two years he established schools and a government. When Georgia planters, through pardons from President Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
, regained the islands in 1866, expelling the Black farmers, Campbell bought at Belle Ville in McIntosh County, Georgia
McIntosh County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,975, a drop of 23.4 percent since the 2010 census. The county seat is Darien.
McIntosh County is included in the Brunswick, GA ...
, where he established an association of black landowners to own parcels. Effectively, he established colonies on these islands.
A Georgia politician
In 1867, to help freedmen vote, Campbell was appointed to the Board of Registration in Georgia. He and another Black registrar were poisoned; the other registrar died, according to Campbell. He joined the Georgia Educational Association, a launching pad for several Black political careers in the Reconstruction era. He was elected state senator in Georgia in 1868. He also campaigned for his son Tunis Gulic Campbell Jr. to be a state representative. Both won, only to be expelled from office because a majority of white Georgia legislators agreed that even though blacks had the right to vote, the Georgia constitution prohibited them from holding office. (See Original 33
The "Original 33" were the first 33 African-American members of the Georgia General Assembly. They were elected to office in 1868, during the Reconstruction era. They were among the first African-American state legislators in the United States. ...
.) Campbell Sr. was able to return to office in 1871, but lost a bid for re-election in 1872. During his time as state senator, Campbell served on the Senate's Petitions and General Education committees. His post-legislative work as Justice of the Peace enraged former slave owners (a Black with authority over whites).
"Campbell would be indicted on multiple charges in the mid-1870s, largely trumped up by those who saw the opportunity to finally oust him from the Georgia political arena... a judicial lynching.".[ He served hard labor on a Georgia prison chain gang. When released, he left Georgia for good.][ He published in 1877 a pamphlet about his experiences: ''Sufferings of the Reverend T. G. Campbell and His Family in Georgia,''
]
Death
He died in Allston
Allston is an officially recognized neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was named after the American painter and poet Washington Allston. It comprises the land covered by the zip code 02134. For the most part ...
, Boston, Massachusetts, on December 4, 1891.
Writings
*
*
References
Further reading
*Eric Foner
Eric Foner (; born February 7, 1943) is an American historian. He writes extensively on American political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African-American biography, the American Civil War, Reconstruc ...
(ed.), ''Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction'' (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996).
"Tunis Campbell (1812-1891)"
New Georgia Encyclopedia.
*Edmund L. Drago, ''Black Politicians and Reconstruction in Georgia: A Splendid Failure'' (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982).
*Russell Duncan, ''Freedom's Shore: Tunis Campbell and the Georgia Freedmen'' (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1986).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Tunis
1812 births
1891 deaths
African-American abolitionists
African-American state legislators in Georgia (U.S. state)
Republican Party Georgia (U.S. state) state senators
People from Bridgewater Township, New Jersey
19th-century American politicians
African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era
Original 33