Cymraeg

The Welsh and American Slavery

Abolitionists - Morgan John Rhys

Morgan John Rhys - Welsh abolitionist

photo of the first emblem of the anti slavery movement

The first emblem of
the anti slavery
movement, produced
in the factory of
Josiah Wedgwood,
one of the early
supporters of
the movement,
in 1788

He was born in 1760 on the borders of Glamorgan and Monmouth, and became a minister with the Baptists at Pontypool.

It is believed that he was the author of a pamphlet published anonymously in 1792, attacking slavery in the Caribbean. It was entitled:

The sufferings of many thousands of black men in wretched slavery in Jamaica and other places; being submitted for the serious consideration of the amiable Welsh people, in the hope of persuading them to give up sugar, treacle and rum.

And this was the first publication of its kind in Welsh.

About the same time, and anti-slavery ballad was published as well, and it is believed that Morgan John Rhys was the author of that too. Here are a few lines:

Whenever you see Sugar,
Remember how it came,
Through the unnatural labour
Of the poor and wretched slave.

Front page of the
first edition of
the "Cylchgrawn
Cynmraeg", 1793

"Y Cylchgrawn Cynmraeg" 1793 - 4

In 1793 he began to publish "Y Cylchgrawn Cynmraeg", the first periodical in our language, and he made room on its pages for all kinds of innovative articles. Amongst them was "Hanes hynod Negroe" and also "Hanes Bywyd David George", a former slave from Virginia. This was one of the first "slave narratives" to be translated into Welsh, so it is worth quoting from it:

The Story of the Life of Mr David George, of Sierra Leone, in Africa; Narrated by himself, in co-operation with Brother Rippon, of London, and Brother Pearce, of Birmingham.

I was born in Essex County, Virginia, around 50 or 60 miles from Williamsburg, on the river Nottaway, to parents brought from Africa, who had no fear of God. The first work I was given was to carry water and to comb cotton; after that I was sent to work in the fields on the Indian tobacco, until I was about 19 years of age.

A modern photo of actors dressed as slaves working in a plantation

"Slaves" today in
Williamsburg, Virginia

My father was called John, and my mother Judith. I had four brothers and four sisters, all of them, like myself, born in captivity: our master was called Chapel; - he was very cruel towards the black men. (...)I was whipped (...) many times on my bare flesh until the blood flowed down over my belt, but the worse pain I had was seeing them whipping my mother and hearing her on her knees begging for mercy.

David George's Article, 1793

The magazine came to an end after five editions in January 1794, as the revolution in France caused a reactionary response from the English authorities.

Migration to the United States

In 1794 Morgan John Rhys moved to the new United States to look for somewhere to establish a Welsh colony. He travelled through the South and spent some months in Savannah, Georgia, where he established a church for the black people and planned the establishment of a school for their children.

To appreciate just how daring this was, look carefully at the headline below to see how hostile the slave masters were towards the idea of religious education for their slaves, even sixty years later.

Photo of a Headline from the Drych and the Gwyliedydd, 1856

Headline from the Drych and
the Gwyleidydd, 1856

Morgan John Rhys considered settling in Savannah. But he was too far ahead of his time, and his plans came to nothing. He went back towards the North and established his colony at Beulah, Pennsylvania.

As with so many of his plans, perhaps they did not bear fruit for long, but at least Morgan John Rhys had shown the way.