James W.C. Pennington, a fugitive slave, was a teacher, clergymen, author and one of the earliest non-violent civil rights activists. He was born into slavery, in 1807, although no one is certain of the date, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. At the age of four he, his mother, and his older brother were given to Frisby Tilghman, their master's son as a wedding gift, and taken to Washington County. When the father, James Tilghman died in 1809, his will was administered by his eldest surviving son, Frisby Tilghman. Frisby several years earlier had emigrated from Queen Anne’s County to Washington County in mid-Maryland, a wheat growing region that was one of the most rapidly expanding sections of the state.
After settling his father’s affairs, Frisby Tilghman returned to his Washington County estate, Rockland, near Hagerstown, MD with his slaves, the mother Nelly and her two sons Robert and Jim. Jim's father, was thus separated from his family by over 200 miles, but Tilghman soon thereafter purchased him and brought him also to Rockland. As a young boy, Jim and his brother helped their parents as much as they could around the plantation, until at around age eight or nine. Then Jim and his older brother Robert were hired out by Tilghman to learn trades. As in many other slave areas, there was a custom in the region for slaveowners to apprentice a few of their young slaves to tradesmen, in order for the slaves to learn a skill that could later be used on the plantation.
Pennington was hired out as a stonemason and a blacksmith. His youth was marked by slavery’s brutality and perseverance to rise above it. At great risk he escaped into freedom when he was 19 years old. On the afternoon of October 28, 1827, he left Rockland as if to visit his brother in Hagerstown. Six days after leaving Washington County, he finally entered Pennsylvania near Littlestown in Adams County. He hid with a Quaker couple, William and Phoebe Wright, for six months, who cared for him and harbored other fugitives. Frisby Tilghman, meanwhile, upon discovering Pennington’s departure, immediately placed an advertisement in the local papers. Tilghman was none too happy to lose a slave so skilled as Jim, or James. His ad offered a $200 reward for James Tilghman.
They taught him reading and writing and eventually sent him to Long Island, New York, where he diligently pursued an education. He adopted the middle name "William" after his benefactor, and the surname "Pennington," after Isaac Penington, an English man who was prominent in Quaker history. Taking advantage of night schools and using his wages to pay for tutors, Pennington progressed so rapidly that in just five years he was hired to teach in a school for Black children in Newtown, Long Island. In New York, Rev. Pennington began his studies to become a minister. In the year 1831–1832, Pennington attended and took part in the first Negro National Convention in Philadelphia.
While living in Brooklyn, Pennington, who had never heard of Jesus when he escaped from slavery, had become a Christian and a candidate for ordination. He then entered a theological seminary and was ordained a minister in the Congregational church, serving in Presbyterian churches for congregations in Hartford, Connecticut. Seven years after he escaped from slavery, (1833) he attended Yale University, the first Black person to do so. It is important to remember that Yale University did not officially accept Pennington as a student in the 1830s. He was not allowed to be listed as a student or to borrow books from the library and was required to sit in the back row at lectures. After studying at the Yale Divinity School, Pennington became a minister. He first served a church on Long Island, likely in Queens.
Devoted to Black education, he became an antislavery preacher, teacher, activist, and writer. James W.C. Pennington worked for freedom on many fronts. He used the courts to fight for civil rights and his oratory condemned slavery in Europe and the United States. After completing his studies at Yale Divinity School, he was ordained as a minister in the Congregational Church. He first served a congregation on Long Island, probably in Queens and served briefly in Newtown, and then was called to serve a Black congregation by the Talcott Street Church in Hartford, Connecticut. While serving as minister, Pennington wrote what is believed to be the first history of African Americans, "The Origin and History of the Colored People" in 1941. In it, Pennington directly challenged ideas from former President Thomas Jefferson about Black people being "inferior."
He became deeply involved in the abolition movement. He was elected a delegate to several international abolition conventions, founded the American Missionary Association, and led the struggle to desegregate New York City’s public transit system. While still in Newtown he was called on to perform the wedding ceremony for Frederick Douglass and his fiancée. In Hartford, Pennington became involved in the case of the Amistad captives and organized the first Black missionary society to support them on their return to Africa. After they mutinied and sailed their ship to Long Island, they were taken into custody by the United States. Spain, the ship's owners, the U.S and the Mende, all had roles in the complex case. It was ultimately settled by the United States Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the Mende.
Pennington gained an international reputation through his writing and his prominent roles in anti-slavery conventions, traveling to the United Kingdom, Europe, and Jamaica. He was selected as a delegate to the Second World Conference on Slavery in London. Because of increasing pressure to return fugitive slaves to the south, he was persuaded to move to Great Britain until his freedom could be purchased. His pulpit brilliance won notoriety and many complimentary press notices. While abroad, he preached and made speeches in the presence of some of the most refined and aristocratic audiences of Europe, advocating for abolition, Black education, voting rights and equality for all in churches and society.
In Europe he had completed his memoir, entitled "The Fugitive Blacksmith", which was first published in 1849 in London. This slave narrative recounted his journey from slavery to the status of educated minister. Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle Tom’s Cabin praised him as an exemplary Black American leader. The Fugitive Blacksmith went through three editions in eleven months, selling over 6,000 copies. The title of Pennington’s book was apt, for he was technically still a fugitive in 1849. Pennington’s friends had tried earlier in the 1840s to purchase his freedom and that of his parents from Tilghman, but negotiations had failed. Pennington was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity by the University of Heidelberg, in honor of his achievements, the first Black American to be so honored in 1849.
Despite the laws passed against slavery and participation in the slave trade in many European countries, the United States was as firmly enmeshed in the slavery system as ever before. After the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850, Pennington traveled from Scotland to the island of Jamaica. The act made it much more dangerous for escaped slaves in the North. It forced even free states like New York to help capture and return escaped slaves. Despite his continuing opposition to African colonization, he recommended Black settlement in Jamaica. Frisby Tilghman died in 1847, and the administrator of his estate let it be known that $150 would buy Pennington’s freedom. His friend John Hooker worked with abolitionists in England to raise money to purchase Pennington from Tilghman's estate. British friends eventually bought his freedom, and in June of 1851, Pennington was technically a free man for the first time in his life.
Returning to Manhattan he along with James McCune Smith and Thomas Jennings, created the Legal Rights Association, a pioneering minority-rights organization. Pennington helped fight against segregation on New York City streetcars. In 1859, Pennington himself was thrown off a streetcar in New York City. He lost his own case but the L.R.A appealed another case to the New York State Supreme Court and won. New York City street cars were ordered to give equal access to all. He was elected a delegate by the American Peace Convention to represent them in the World's Peace Society. Like his friend, Frederick Douglass, Pennington spoke with an authentic and powerful voice against slavery and for the dignity of humanity.
Throughout his life, Pennington advocated for the enslaved. In addition to his incredible theological fidelity, he devoted himself to activism for the equality of Black Americans. Pennington believed in peace and did not support violence. However, during the Civil War (1861-1865), he helped recruit Black troops for the Union Army. After the war ended, he served as a minister in Natchez, Mississippi for a short time. Then he moved to Portland, Maine, where he served for three years. In early 1870, he returned to the South. The Presbyterian Church had asked him to serve in Florida. He started a church for African Americans in Jacksonville, Florida. He died there on October 22, 1870, after a short illness.