Speaker 1: This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
Speaker 1: the show where America is the star and the American people.
Speaker 1: To search for the American Stories podcast, go to the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. How did
Speaker 1: Indiana get its nickname as the Hoosier State? And how
Speaker 1: did people from Indiana come to be known as Hoosiers.
Speaker 1: Here to answer these questions and to tell the story
Speaker 1: is doctor Stephen Flick, head of the Christian Heritage Fellowship.
Speaker 2: Let's take a listen.
Speaker 3: One such individual that has so deeply influenced our nation
Speaker 3: and one state in particular, is a black man, a
Speaker 3: black Methodist preacher by the name of Harry Hoosier. John Wesley,
Speaker 3: the well known evangelist and father of Methodism, at one
Speaker 3: of his conferences in the British Isles in seventeen seventy one,
Speaker 3: called for his itinerant ministers to volunteer to go to America.
Speaker 3: Among those who volunteered was a young man by the
Speaker 3: name of Francis Asbury. In a few short years, Francis
Speaker 3: Asbury would rise to the highest office of bishop in America.
Speaker 3: Having traveled thousands upon thousands of miles. His face was
Speaker 3: more readily recognized than the Father of our nation, George Washington.
Speaker 3: It was during the American Revolution that Francis Asbury asked
Speaker 3: Harry Hoosier to travel with him throughout all of the
Speaker 3: colonies from New England, the Middle Colonies, and Southern colonies,
Speaker 3: and it was there that Harry Hoosier gained a reputation
Speaker 3: as the most widely accepted and widely applauded minister of
Speaker 3: his day. Harry Hoosier had been born in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Speaker 3: He had been born into slavery. He was purchased by
Speaker 3: a Methodist by the name of Henry Gough, and mister
Speaker 3: Gough invited his slaves as well as those white inhabitants
Speaker 3: of his plantation in the Baltimore area, to prayers both
Speaker 3: morning and evening, and it was out of this setting
Speaker 3: that mister Gough freed Harry Hoosier. As the first first
Speaker 3: anti slavery movement began just prior to the American Revolution,
Speaker 3: and it was the Methodist to with the Quakers helped
Speaker 3: to champion this cause, and Harry Hoosier was among those
Speaker 3: that was the first to be liberated from slavery. After
Speaker 3: being liberated, he became the traveling companion of Francis Asbury,
Speaker 3: and together they traveled thousands of miles, carrying the Gospel
Speaker 3: of Jesus Christ to both black and white. It's very
Speaker 3: significant that Harry Hoosier was more widely acclaimed as a
Speaker 3: preacher than any other minister, any other preacher, white or black.
Speaker 3: In fact, it was one of the three most important
Speaker 3: founding fathers, doctor Benjamin Rush, who, along with George Washington
Speaker 3: and Benjamin Franklin. Doctor Benjamin Rush was so impressed with
Speaker 3: Harry Hoosier's ability as a preacher that he said, making
Speaker 3: allowances for his illiteracy, he was the greatest orator in America.
Speaker 3: Many of those who heard the preaching of Harry Hoosier
Speaker 3: who had been converted as they moved out of the
Speaker 3: Appalachian Mountains and moved west, there located in Indiana. Indiana
Speaker 3: became a strong haven for Methodism. Those individuals that located
Speaker 3: in Indiana assumed the name of Hoosier's because they had
Speaker 3: been so deeply and so thoroughly influenced by the preaching
Speaker 3: of Harry Hoosier. Like so many other terms that have arisen,
Speaker 3: sometimes out of derision, this term Hoosier was also a
Speaker 3: term of derision for those who had come to believe
Speaker 3: in the anti slavery message and who made their way
Speaker 3: into Indiana and other parts of the burgeoning nation. Professor
Speaker 3: William Pearson of Fisk University has said, as memories of
Speaker 3: the preacher Black Harry slipped away, and as the white
Speaker 3: people of the Frontier adopted the nickname Hoosier for themselves,
Speaker 3: the term lost its original racial connotations and came to
Speaker 3: means simply an illiterate, ignorant or uncouth yahoo. For the
Speaker 3: thought who flocked to hear Harry Hoosier preach, the name
Speaker 3: Hoosier was a memorial to both the man and his
Speaker 3: message of freedom from human bondage and freedom from the
Speaker 3: bondage of sin. People from Indiana should take pride in.
Speaker 4: Having the most distinctive state nickname, but they may justly
Speaker 4: exercise greater appreciation for the person whose name it was.
Speaker 1: And a terrific job on the production by Greg Hangler.
Speaker 1: In a special thanks to doctor Stephen Flick, head of
Speaker 1: the Christian Heritage Fellowship, for sharing Harry Hoosier's story. Born
Speaker 1: into slavery in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Harry was freed by
Speaker 1: a slave owner in Baltimore, Maryland.
Speaker 2: He would go on to travel the country preaching the gospel.
Speaker 1: No less an authority than doctor Benjamin Rush was impressed
Speaker 1: his man.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: His name was memorialized, as was his message, and of
Speaker 1: course the name for anyone who was listening, meant freedom
Speaker 1: from human bondage and freedom from human sin. The story
Speaker 1: of Harry Hoosier here on our American Story.
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