Williams, Peter, Jr.

views updated

Peter Williams, Jr.
c. 1780–1840

Minister, orator, writer, abolitionist

Peter Williams Jr. eschewed his upbringing in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church founded by his father, Peter Williams Sr., to join the Episcopal Church. He earned his own place in history as the first African American ordained as an Episcopal priest in the diocese of New York and as an influential clergyman, orator, writer, and abolitionist. He was the first rector of St. Philip's Church, the earliest African American Episcopal parish in New York City.

Born a slave in New Brunswick, New Jersey, about 1780, Williams was the son of a slave, Peter Williams Sr., and Mary Durham, an indentured servant from St. Kitts. After Williams Sr. purchased his freedom in 1785, Peter Jr. lived, from age five, as a free black. A precocious youngster, he attended school at the New York African Free School run by the Manumission Society. Williams also received private tutoring from his pastor, Reverend Thomas Lyell, of the John Street Methodist Church. Lyell, originally an Episcopalian, became associated with the Methodist Church when he moved to New York. When Lyell returned to his Episcopal roots to become a priest, Williams began worshiping with a congregation of blacks who gathered at Trinity Episcopal Church. An Episcopal bishop, John Henry Hobart, confirmed Williams when he was about eighteen years old. In addition to working in his father's tobacco business and keeping his father's books, the young man began to take an active part in crusades against slavery. Though New York had passed a gradual emancipation act by 1799, white abolitionists refused to admit Williams to the Convention of Abolitionist Societies in Philadelphia in 1806. In spite of the rebuff, the black community acknowledged Williams as an important activist in the abolition movement.

Organizes African American Episcopalians

For a number of years, Williams assisted Thomas McCombs, an elderly white man, in giving religious instruction to children who attended Trinity Church on Wall Street on Sunday afternoons, the time when blacks were allowed to use the church. Weary of separate worship services, Williams organized the black Episcopalians into a separate group. Moving services from Trinity, the black parishioners established their own congregation, the Free African Church of St. Philip.

Chronology

1780?: Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey
1808: Delivers "An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade"
1812: Licensed as lay reader in the Free African Church of St. Philip
1820: Ordained to the Holy Orders of Deacons
1826: Ordained as first black Episcopal priest in the diocese of New York
1827: Co-founds Freedman's Journal, the first African American newspaper in the United States
1830: Helps organize the first session of the National Negro Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1833: Founds the Phoenix Society
1840: Dies in New York, New York on October 17

In 1812, following the death of McCombs, Bishop Hobart licensed Williams when the black congregation elected him lay reader, a position in which he served for several years. In 1818, the members of the parish erected a church at a cost of $8,000. Donations from Trinity Church and wealthy benefactors aided the parishioners in funding the project. Church members performed much of the construction of the new building. St. Philip's African Church was consecrated on July 3, 1819. In October 1819, the Right Reverend Bishop Hobart approved Williams as a candidate for Holy Orders and in 1820 ordained him to the Holy Orders of Deacons, the first step toward becoming a minister. Following his approval as a candidate, the Commercial Advertiser reported the event and described Williams as a person of color who was intelligent, studious, and zealous. The newspaper anticipated his success in spreading the Gospel to his fellow African brethren. St. Philip's was incorporated in 1820. Regrettably, a fire cut short the elation that followed the completion of the church; the wooden building burned down in December 1821. The building, however, was fully insured, allowing construction to begin soon after of a sturdy and more attractive brick structure. In December 1822, Bishop Hobart consecrated the new edifice.

The congregation, which consisted primarily of black middle-class tradesmen and female domestics, continued to grow. Williams' flock included several future abolitionists, such as James McCune Smith, George Thomas Downing, Alexander Crummell, and Charles L. Reason. When ordained on July 10, 1826, Williams became the first black Episcopal priest in the diocese of New York and the second black Episcopal priest in the United States following Absalom Jones. In spite of this achievement, Williams was subjected to discrimination within the Episcopal Church. His mentor, Bishop Hobart, advised Williams that St. Philip's congregation would not be admitted to the diocesan convention, although that right was granted to other ministers and churches. Similarly, colleagues in the Episcopal Church called Williams by his first name while white clergy were addressed by their appropriate title.

Assumes Leadership Role in Abolitionist and Community Activities

As a young man, Williams was active in black New York politics. A talented speaker and writer, he was selected to deliver a speech on January 1, 1808, celebrating the elimination of the slave trade. Also published as a pamphlet, the address, "An Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade," expressed the thoughts of other blacks. To dispel reservations regarding its authorship, the pamphlet included statements attesting that the text was Williams's work. "A Discourse, Delivered on the Death of Capt. Paul Cuffe" was a speech given to the New York African Institution in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1817.

While Williams' first priority was his parish, during the late 1820s and 1830s he was a leading community activist among the black population in New York City. He was a member of a benefit and burial organization, the African Society for Mutual Relief. Along with Samuel Cornish and John Russworm, in 1827, he co-founded Freedman's Journal, the first African American newspaper in the United States. A strong supporter of education, the clergyman initiated the African Female Dorcas Association that provided clothes to needy school children. A believer in education as a means to elevate blacks, he helped found Canal Street High School, which provided classical studies for African Americans.

On July 4, 1830, Williams delivered a speech, "Discourse Delivered in St. Philip's Church for the Benefit of the Colored Community in Wilberforce in Upper Canada." In this speech, the rector protested racially motivated maltreatment of blacks and implored all Americans to accord equal privileges to blacks who had suffered and worked for its prosperity. In addition, Williams blamed the colonization movement, which advocated resettlement of freed slaves in other countries, for the decrease in the rights African Americans in the North had enjoyed. However, some judged his speech as too mild concerning the colonizationists. As a result, the cleric began to lose support in the community. Later in 1830, Williams joined with Richard Allen in convening the first session of the National Negro Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Following the convention, as chair of the executive committee, Williams attempted unsuccessfully to establish a manual training college in New Haven, Connecticut. He and James Forten wrote, at the request of the 1833 National Colored Convention, to European liberals explaining that American Negroes favored abolition and opposed colonization in Liberia. Williams, however, personally supported those who chose to emigrate.

In 1833, Williams helped found the Phoenix Society, a self-help group that engaged in social assistance activities such as establishing a job bank, starting a lending library, supplying clothing, and promoting church attendance. During the same year, he was a member of the first executive committee when the American Anti-Slavery Society was founded. The abolition question, competition between blacks and whites for jobs, and a rumor that Williams had performed an interracial marriage erupted into a violent, anti-abolitionist riot by white workers in July 1834. During the melee, a white throng severely damaged St. Philip's church and rectory.

Williams' candor on issues of slavery and colonization intimidated his superior, Bishop Benjamin Onderdonk, who threatened the priest with closing his church and with defrocking. The bishop insisted that Williams leave the abolition society and keep away from political controversies. In an effort to ensure that his parish would eventually earn full standing in the Episcopal diocese, Williams reluctantly complied with the demands of his bishop. As a result, despite his commitment to African American causes, the priest lost respect among younger, more militant black activists.

Williams maintained his position as rector from 1820 until his death on October 17, 1840. His wife and daughter survived him. Reverend William Douglas preached a sermon in Philadelphia in memory of Williams, describing Williams as a modest, kind, and benevolent man who was a friend to all, in spite of their religious affiliations. In addition, Douglas noted that the priest was involved in myriad societies committed to improving the condition and character of blacks.

Enduring evidence of Williams' importance to the black community is the continued existence of St. Philip's. The parish, which sustains its tradition of outreach, resides in its fourth home, a New York City designated landmark, built in 1910 in the Harlem area.

REFERENCES

Books

Bragg, George F. History of the Afro-American Group of the Episcopal Church. Baltimore: Church Advocate Press, 1922.

――――――. Men of Maryland. Baltimore: Church Advocate Press, 1914.

Hayden, J. Carleton. "Peter Williams, Jr." In Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Eds. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: Norton, 1982.

Hewitt, John H. Protest and Progress: New York's First Black Episcopal Church Fights Racism. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 2000.

Hodges, Graham. "Peter Williams." In African American Lives. Eds. Henry Louis Gates and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

McMickle, Marvin A. An Encyclopedia of African American Christian Heritage. Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson Press, 2002.

Murphy, Larry G., Gordon J. Melton, and Gary L. Ward, eds. Encyclopedia of African American Religions. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1993.