Lott Cary (also in records as Lott Carey and Lott Gary) (1780 – November 10, 1828) was an African-American

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

minister and lay physician who was a missionary leader in the founding of the colony of Liberia on the west coast of Africa in the 1820s. He founded the first Baptist church there in 1822, now known as Providence Baptist Church of Monrovia. He served as the colony's acting governor from August 1828 to his death in November of that year.

Life

Born into

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

Charles City County, Virginia Charles City County is a county located in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated southeast of Richmond and west of Jamestown. It is bounded on the south by the James River and on the east by the Chickahominy River. The a ...

, Carey purchased his freedom and that of his children at the age of 33 after saving money from being hired out by his master in Richmond. He became a supervisor in a tobacco warehouse, as the city was a major port for the export of that commodity crop. He emigrated in 1821 with his family to the new colony of Liberia, founded by the

American Colonization Society The American Colonization Society (ACS), initially the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America until 1837, was an American organization founded in 1816 by Robert Finley to encourage and support the migration of freebor ...

for the resettlement of free people of color and free blacks from the United States. Cary was one of the first black American missionaries, and the first American Baptist missionary to Africa. He established the colony's first church, founded schools for natives, and helped lead the colony.

Early life and education

In 1780 Lott Cary was born into

and humble surroundings in

, on the plantation of John Bowry. In 1804, his master, a planter and

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

minister, hired Cary out in Virginia's capital city of Richmond, about 25 miles away. Bowry had arranged a one year-long contract for Cary to work at the Shockoe tobacco warehouse.Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. ''Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising''. GM Rewell & Company, 1887. pp. 506-509 In 1807 Cary joined the First Baptist Church of Richmond, a congregation that included whites and African Americans. During the second Great Awakening and religious revivals of this period, Baptist and Methodist preachers recruited slaves into their congregations. Cary was baptized by its pastor, John Courtney. Cary learned to read the ''Bible'' and later attended a small school for slaves. Its twenty young men were taught by

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

William Crane. He had come from

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. Cary rose went from working as a common laborer to shipping clerk and supervisor of a tobacco warehouse on

Tobacco Row Tobacco Row is a collection of tobacco warehouses and cigarette factories in Richmond, Virginia adjacent to the James River and Kanawha Canal near its eastern terminus at the head of navigation of the James River (Virginia), James River. History ...

in Richmond. Cary was sometimes rewarded by his master with five-dollar bills from the money he earned. He was also permitted to collect and sell small bags of waste tobacco for his own profit.

Freedom and career

In 1813, Cary's first wife died. The same year Cary used his savings to purchase his freedom and that of their two children for $850. As a free man, he continued to be both industrious and frugal. He and his family stayed in Richmond; many jobs were available and the city had a growing free black community. In 1813 Cary became an official

minister. He also became a lay medical practitioner while in Richmond. In 1815, he and Collin Teague helped form the African Baptist Missionary Society in Richmond.

American Colonization Society

In the early 19th century, about 2 million African Americans lived in the United States, of whom 200,000 were free, mostly located in the North. The states of the

Upper South The Upland South and Upper South are two overlapping cultural and geographic subregions in the inland part of the Southern and lower Midwestern United States. They differ from the Deep South and Atlantic coastal plain by terrain, history, econom ...

, especially Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, also had an increasing number of free blacks in this period. For the first 20 years after the Revolutionary War, some slaveholders freed their slaves to uphold ideals of liberty and in other cases in response to the appeals of preachers active in the

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...

, who supported the abolition of slavery. Believing that free blacks threatened the stability of their slave society, in 1816 Virginia politician Charles Fenton Mercer and the Reverend Robert Finley founded the

(ACS) with the goal of enabling free blacks and former slaves to emigrate to Africa and establish a colony. By this time most enslaved and free blacks were native-born in the United States, often for generations. They wanted to enjoy the rights of free people in the country where they had grown up and had family and social ties. Members of the ACS supported a goal of "

repatriation Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...

" of blacks to Africa. The Society was supported by a coalition of philanthropists, members of the clergy,

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 ...

s, and slaveholders. Those favoring abolition wanted to free enslaved blacks and provide them with the chance to go to Africa to escape continuing discrimination in the United States. The slaveholders wanted to expel free blacks from the South and the United States to remove what they perceived as a threat to the stability of their slave societies. The ACS established the colony of Liberia on the coast in West Africa in 1819. Cary was among numerous free blacks who became interested in this movement. In 1819, The American Colonization Society published the Journal of Samuel John Mills along with “Letters from Africa to Persons of Color in the United States.” Cary's first biographer describes how the journal and letters, which invited "the free colored people of the United States to come and join them" produced "an immediate determination in Lott Cary and Collin Teague to remove to Africa."

Colony of Liberia

By 1821, Cary had accumulated a sum to pay for his and his second wife's expenses for transportation to the new colony of Liberia on the African coast. He was giving up his property, purchased in

Henrico County Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico County is incl ...

, and a good income.

When asked why he would leave a community in which he was respected and led a comfortable life, he replied: 'I am an African, and in this country, however meritorious my conduct, and 'respectable' my character, I cannot receive the credit due to either. I wish to go to a country where I shall be estimated by my merits, not by my complexion; and I feel bound to labor for my suffering race.'

His work in Liberia was supported by the First Baptist Church of Richmond, the American Baptist Foreign Missions Society, and the African Baptist Missionary Society of Richmond, of which he was a co-founder. Cary became the first black American

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

to Africa. In the new colony, Cary served as pastor, counselor, and physician. His second wife died of disease shortly after they arrived in Liberia. He married again, but in its November 5, 1825 article about the colony and Cary's life, the '' New York Observer'' reported that Cary's third wife had died; she was "the daughter of Richard Sampson, from

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

." After arrival, Cary quickly established Providence Baptist Church in Cape Montserado. The settlement later was designated as the capital and renamed

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As th ...

. In 1822 he helped mount the defense of the new colony against 1,500 natives. He founded several schools to teach Christianity to natives in the interior. In 1826, Cary was elected vice-agent of the ACS. Early life in the Colony of Liberia was harsh and dangerous. The native Mandé and other ethnic tribes resisted the colonization and expansion by the American settlers, and many armed conflicts took place between the groups. The colonists were also at risk of raids from slave traders, who would have sold the blacks into slavery. In addition, they suffered tropical diseases until the colony could develop better housing and sanitation. In March 1828, Cary became acting vice-agent of the Colony. He had been designated as successor by the colonial agent

Jehudi Ashmun Jehudi Ashmun (April 21, 1794 – August 25, 1828) was an American religious leader and social reformer from New England who became involved in the American Colonization Society. It founded the colony of Liberia in West Africa as a place to rese ...

before his death. Later that year Cary was wounded in an accident and died two days later on November 10, 1828. He and seven companions were fatally injured by an explosion while they were making bullets.

Legacy and honors

* The

Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention The Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention was a movement in the 1890s by African-American Baptists of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. who wanted to see more missions to Africa. The group eventually separated from the 'Mother Church' in ...

, based in Washington, DC, has continued his work. * The Lott Cary House in Charles City County is a designated state historical landmark; it was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1980. Today the much altered house is used as a private residence. Virginia historical marker, V27-Lott Cary Birthplace, notes the site at the intersection of Virginia State Highways 155 and 602. Little is left of the original 18th-century house, which was likely John Bowry's plantation house. There is a strong oral tradition in the black community that this was Cary's birthplace. The site is marked historically in order to represent the man and his achievements, as well as the significance of blacks in Virginia history. * Lott Cary Road in Charles City County was named in his honor. * The Board of Supervisors of neighboring

James City County, Virginia James City County is a county (United States), county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 78,254. Although politically separate from the county, the county seat is the adj ...

declared March 21, 2001, to be "Lott Cary Day" in his honor. * In Richmond, the Carytown shopping district was named for him. * Careysburg, on the outskirts of Monrovia, was named for him. * Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia, Liberia celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2001. * In 2015 Cary was posthumously honored as one of the Library of Virginia's "Strong Men & Women in Virginia History". * Lott Carey Baptist Secondary School, Afaha Obio Eno, Ibiono Ibom, Nigeria is named after him.

References

;Attribution *

External links

Ralph Randolph Gurley, "Sketch of the Life of Lott Cary"
in ''Life of Jehudi Ashmun, Late Colonial Agent in Liberia. With An Appendix, Containing Extracts from his Journal and Other Writings''; 1835, online at ''Documenting the South'', University of North Carolina

– "Liberia", ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1907). Includes a biography of Lott Carey from the ''New York Observer'' of November 5, 1825.

Library of Virginia's "Strong Men & Women in Virginia History" website {{DEFAULTSORT:Cary, Lott 1780 births 1828 deaths Agents and Governors of Liberia Baptist missionaries from the United States Americo-Liberian people 18th-century American slaves People from Charles City County, Virginia Baptist missionaries in Liberia History of Richmond, Virginia Religious leaders from Richmond, Virginia Southern Baptist ministers African-American physicians African-American Baptist ministers African-American missionaries American emigrants to Liberia Baptists from Virginia American colonization movement 19th-century American slaves American evangelicals