Opinion/Chaput: In war and peace, RI abolitionist was a champion for civil rights

Erik Chaput teaches at Western Reserve Academy and at Providence College.

Last month, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker helped to introduce a bill calling for the Congressional Gold Medal to be awarded to African Americans who fought for the Union Army and Navy during the Civil War. In recent years, Congress has recognized the heroism of Black soldiers, awarding the Gold Medal to the “Harlem Hellfighters” of the First World War, along with honoring the famed Tuskegee Airmen of World War II.

Now there is a move to honor the 200,000 African Americans, including members of Rhode Island’s 14th Heavy Artillery Regiment, who served during the Civil War. A worthy and long-deserved recognition is under consideration, but the resolution should perhaps be broadened to include Black civilian leaders, such as Rhode Island abolitionist George T. Downing (1819-1903).

Downing not only helped to recruit Black soldiers for the war effort, he also organized numerous political conventions that reframed the meaning of the war. The heroism of Black soldiers was used as a rallying cry at conventions to urge delegates to push for civil and political rights. These meetings functioned as a form of democratic representation that African Americans were often denied. Downing helped to advance arguments at these conventions that shaped the language and meaning of the transformative Reconstruction amendments.

Downing, a native of New York City, moved to Newport in 1846 to open a restaurant and hotel. He quickly became successful, even managing to rebuild after a devastating fire destroyed his property in 1860. By the start of the Civil War in 1861, Downing was a respected businessman, abolitionist leader, and conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Just days after the firing on Fort Sumter, Downing went to Boston to help form a company of Black soldiers at a meeting at the Twelfth Baptist Church, or the “Fugitive Slave Church” as it was known. He was joined in his efforts by his brother-in-law, John van Salee DeGrasse, a prominent doctor who would go on to serve as the surgeon to the celebrated 54th Regiment. Dismissing calls for the destruction of the Union, Downing wanted it known that “in this crisis he stood for his country.”

In April 1863, Downing told an audience in New York City that by supporting the Union war effort, they were “not only deciding to stand by good government, but against slavery, the parent and fosterer of the unjust prejudice we have been the subject of here in the North.” The following year, Downing and 140 other Black abolitionists met in Syracuse, N.Y., where they demanded the right of suffrage, equal access to education, equal pay for Black soldiers, and the ability to serve on juries.

In December 1865, in the wake of the Union victory, Downing served as vice president of another convention held at the Twelfth Baptist Church. The topic of conversation was reconstruction. Downing called for “equality before the law for all Americans,” something that would eventually become part of the 14th Amendment. Downing was selected to serve as an agent to work closely with politicians in Washington.

In February 1866, Downing met with President Andrew Johnson and urged him to use the levers of federal power to reach out “like an arm to secure and protect its subjects upon whom it has a claim.” Several years later, in 1868, a business venture brought Downing to Washington to manage the restaurant for the House of Representatives. He took advantage of the opportunity and used it as a platform for lobbying members of Congress to work for civil rights legislation.

In January 1869, at the National Convention of the Colored Men of America, Downing demanded that Congress use the guarantee clause in Article IV, section 4 of the Constitution to ensure a “republican” form of government for every state. Later that same year, Downing chaired a convention to discuss the needs of Black laborers. In the following decade, he devoted his efforts to a major civil rights bill that would eventually be passed in 1875. “I am not demanding a pound of human flesh; but I am demanding exact and even-handed justice,” wrote Downing.

As a study of Downing’s career reveals, the battle to defeat the Confederacy was inextricably linked to the battle to end discrimination. For more on Downing and the Civil War era see historian Patrick T. Conley’s "The Makers of Modern Rhode Island."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Opinion/Chaput: In war and peace, RI abolitionist a champion for civil rights