Hosea Easton facts for kids

Hosea Easton (born in 1798, died in 1837) was an important American minister, writer, and activist who fought against slavery. He was a leader in the movement where Black people gathered to discuss their rights and freedom in New England.

Hosea Easton was a Congregationalist and Methodist minister. He worked hard to end slavery and wrote books about it.

Early Life and Family

Hosea Easton was one of four sons born to James Easton. His father was a successful businessman who started as a blacksmith in Middleborough, Massachusetts. The Easton family had a unique background: their ancestors were slaves freed in Rhode Island in the 1600s. Hosea's mother, Sarah Dunbar, was thought to be of mixed race. This meant Hosea's family had African, Native American (Narragansett and Wampanoag), and European roots. For the Eastons, a person's race didn't define who they were. Hosea later wrote about how unfair it was to judge people based on their race.

His father, James Easton, became very successful in the ironwork business and knew many important people in Boston. From about 1816 to 1830, James ran a special school for Black people at his factory. This school taught useful skills. Hosea and his brother James, who later became a doctor, both attended this school.

Fighting for Change in Boston

In 1827, Hosea Easton got married. A year later, in 1828, he moved to Boston. There, he became a minister at a church on Beacon Hill. He quickly joined the Massachusetts General Colored Association, a group started in 1826. This group had two main goals: to end slavery and to help free Black people live better lives.

Hosea Easton was chosen to be part of the Boston Committee for a big meeting held in Philadelphia in June 1831. Other important Black leaders on this committee included Samuel Snowden, Thomas Paul, Robert Roberts (who was Hosea's brother-in-law), and James G. Barbadoes.

Before this, Hosea, Robert Roberts, and Hosea's brother Joshua tried to start a school in New Haven, Connecticut. They wanted to continue his father's idea of teaching skills to Black people. However, strong racial hatred in New Haven stopped their plans.

After this, they all joined together to oppose the American Colonization Society. This group was buying land in Africa (which later became Liberia) to send free Black people there. Many Black leaders, including Easton, believed this was wrong. Meetings in Boston in 1831 about this issue were even reported in The Liberator, a famous anti-slavery newspaper.

Minister in Hartford

In 1833, Easton moved to Hartford, Connecticut, with his wife Louisa and their children. There, he worked with local Black leaders to create the Hartford Literary and Religious Institution. In January 1834, he became its agent, meaning he traveled around New England to raise money for it. However, he had to cut his trips short because of racial violence he faced.

Easton became a preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ) in the 1830s. He also influenced a young teacher named Amos Beman who was in Hartford. Easton was ordained as a deacon and elder in 1834 by Christopher Rush.

In Hartford, there was a split in the church congregation around 1833 or 1835. This led to the creation of a Congregational church and a Methodist church. Hosea Easton became the first pastor of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. He even convinced the Methodists to buy their own land for a new church building.

Sadly, Hartford was known for strong racial hatred during this time. Easton's church members faced many challenges between 1834 and 1836. This period ended with the burning of the Methodist church in 1836, which was likely Easton's church.

Important Writings

In 1837, Easton published an important book called A Treatise On the Intellectual Character, and Civil and Political Condition of the Colored People of the U. States; And the Prejudice Exercised Towards Them; With A Sermon on the Duty of the Church To Them. In this book, Easton strongly argued against racial prejudice.

He pointed out that the Declaration of Independence promised freedom and equality for everyone, without racial discrimination. He also challenged the unfair idea that enslaved people were like machines and lacked morals.

At the time, his book wasn't widely accepted. However, today it is seen as a very important work that clearly explained the views of African-American abolitionists. It is often compared to the 1829 Appeal by David Walker, another key anti-slavery writer. Later, in 1859, William Cooper Nell quoted Easton's work when speaking against the Dred Scott Decision, a famous court ruling that said Black people could not be citizens.

Easton's view of the future was somewhat gloomy. He saw racial divisions becoming stronger in the Northeast during his lifetime. He wrote about the racist insults and stereotypes that were common, even in Boston. He believed that these harmful ideas about race were taught early in life, served economic purposes, and were supported by white church leaders who allowed slavery.

Easton argued that race was not a deep, unchanging part of a person, but more like a simple difference in appearance. He tried to explain his ideas in a way that wouldn't offend everyone, but it was still a risky message. He tackled stereotypes, trying to separate those that came from slavery from those that were just natural human variability created by God.

Along with other abolitionists like James Forten and William Watkins, Easton questioned some of the ideas held by white abolitionists. He believed that freed slaves would need help to improve their lives and couldn't do it all on their own. This message wasn't what many abolitionists, both Black and white, wanted to hear, and it affected his reputation.

Today, Easton is seen as an early Afrocentrist writer. This means he believed in the importance of African history and culture. He argued that Ancient Greece learned a lot from Ancient Egypt. He used ideas from the Bible to show how important Africa was in the ancient Mediterranean world.