A scarce copy of an important work by Charles Jones (1804-1863), also known as “the Apostle to the Blacks.”
Writing in the wake of the uprising led by Nat Turner, many believed that resticting access to education and religious instruction for enslaved workers would prevent a recurrence. Jones argued to the contrary: “it is a remarkable fact in this history of the Negroes in our Country that their regular, systematic religious instruction, has never received in the churches at any time, that general attention and effort which is demanded …” He emphasised this in saying, “Ignorance - religious ignorance - so far from being any safety, is the very marrow of our sin against this people, and the very rock of our danger.”
Jones was born and raised in Liberty Georgia on his father’s plantation. He was sent north and educated at Phillips Academy, Andover Theological Seminary and Princeton where he became a Presbyterian minister. During this time he entered a moral crisis over the injustice of slavery but instead of becoming an abolitionist, chose instead to become a missionary - believing there was a moral obligation to teach Christianity to the enslaved.
“Jones returned to Liberty County in November 1832 where he established himself as a planter and began to develop a theory and plans for a mission to slaves. Farmers in the area had already been interested in such a project, and the availability of a well-educated, slaveowning clergyman provided them with the leadership they required. The result of this happy combination was to make of Liberty County a laboratory in which Jones could test his theories about reshaping slaves according to a Christian view of human destiny” (Mathews).
At the heart of this was the idea that enslaved workers were insufficiently socialised but that with the proper religious instruction “a biracial southern community held together by mutual trust, self-discipline, and Christian piety” would be achieved. It’s worth noting that Jones’s “missionary idea was not to challenge social systems but to transform individuals” (ibid). Despite his ideas about equality, emancipation was not part of his program.
Indeed, the first hundred pages are devoted to a history of American slavery. This is followed by a thorough program of education - both descriptive and prescriptive - whereby the prevailing circumstances, age, vices, and superstitions are discussed along with notes on the obligations of the church and the means and plans for promoting and securing enslaved workers’ religious instruction. Furthermore, Jones compares the conditions and qualities of the enslaved population with those of the free.
Rare Book Hub records just eight copies at auction since 1868.
Not in Blockson; Howes, J193; Sabin, 36470; Mathews, D.G., “Charles Colcock Jones and the Southern Evangelical Crusade to Form a Biracial Community” in The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 41, No. 3, (Aug., 1975), p.305.
