Report Of The Committee Of Merchants For The Relief Of Colored People Suffering From The Late Riots In The City Of New York [Henry Highland Garnet; Committee Of Merchants For The Relief Of Colored People.] African-American History,African-American Slavery,American Civil War,New York City

New York: George A. Whitehorne, Steam Printer, 1863. Octavo. 48 pages. First edition, one of two known variants: "no" being the final word on p12 and twenty-two donors listed on the final leaf of text. On front wrap, upper right, in pencil: "from H. Garnet". Toning to original wraps; foxing; scattered staining; very good. A distinctive copy given on behalf of the Rev. Henry Highland Garnet (1815-1882), the radical abolitionist minister who wrote The Report's "Acknowledgment from the Colored People." The Rev. Garnet was the dean of the city's Black clergy. A believer in armed resistance, he was considered an extremist, even by the likes of Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. He nearly lost his life in the three-day New York Draft Riots of July 1863: "The Rev. Mr. Garnet was too prominently known to escape the attention of the July rioters; they rushed down Thirtieth Street where he resided, loudly calling him by name. By the lucky forethought of his daughter who wrenched off the door-plate with an axe, his house escaped sacking." (James McCune Smith) Angered by the Enrollment Act of 1863, and the substitute system that exempted the wealthy from the draft, working-class white males began to riot. These men resented the Emancipation Proclamation's passage, and feared they would lose their jobs to the city's free Blacks. The situation quickly escalated into a race riot, with Black New Yorkers the targets of indiscriminate attacks. The Report provides eyewitness accounts of the violent events and documents the work of the "Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People" who aided those individuals whose lives had been so violently wrenched apart. In gratitude, and reprinted under the Report's "Acknowledgment from the Colored People" is an Address of thanks. This address was authored by the Rev. Garnet and "presented by the Colored Ministers and Laymen" (pp32-34). He is also the first signer listed among his colleagues. (James McCune Smith) Although not in the Rev. Garnet's hand, this unique copy associates one of New York's most important abolitionists with his critical Address, written amidst a defining moment in Black Gotham's history. The only extant presentation copy we know of is Walker's Appeal, With a Brief Sketch of his life by Henry Highland Garnet [.] Garnet's Address to the Slaves of the United States of America. (1848), located at Yale. Sabin 54663. LCP, Afro-Americana 7082. Work p561.