Note (return) — Chapter VIII

In 1833 there were fifty-eight delegates, and Abraham Shadd, now of Washington, was chosen president. The convention again gave prominence to the questions of Canada and colonization, and expressed itself with reference to the new law in Connecticut prohibiting Negroes from other states from attending schools within the state. The 1834 meeting was held in New York. Prudence Crandall127 was commended for her stand in behalf of the race, and July 4 was set apart as a day for prayer and addresses on the condition of the Negro throughout the country. By this time we hear much of societies for temperance and moral reform, especially of the so-called Phoenix Societies "for improvement in general culture—literature, mechanic arts, and morals." Of these organizations Rev. Christopher Rush, of the A.M.E. Zion Church, was general president, and among the directors were Rev. Peter Williams, Boston Crummell, the father of Alexander Crummell, and Rev. William Paul Quinn, afterwards a well-known bishop of the A.M.E. Church. The 1835 and 1836 meetings were held in Philadelphia, and especially were the students of Lane Seminary in Cincinnati commended for their zeal in the cause of abolition. A committee was appointed to look into the dissatisfaction of some emigrants to Liberia and generally to review the work of the Colonization Society.