Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V.
Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye.
Speaker 2: In one of our recent installments of Unearthed, we talked
Speaker 2: about a painting that was bought at a thrift store
Speaker 2: that turned out to be the work of William Henry Dorsey,
Speaker 2: who was a free black man born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 2: prior to the Civil War, and in addition to being
Speaker 2: an artist, he was a collector and a scrapbooker. And
Speaker 2: I said I would put him on the list for
Speaker 2: an episode because I found him very interesting. From that
Speaker 2: brief description, he is interesting. Indeed, his story is also
Speaker 2: connected to that of his father, Thomas J. Dorsey, so
Speaker 2: this episode kind of turned into a little bit of
Speaker 2: a duology focusing on both of themb father and son.
Speaker 1: Thomas J. Dorsey was born sometime around eighteen twelve, and
Speaker 1: most sources agree that he was born in Maryland and
Speaker 1: that he was enslaved from birth. One of the articles
Speaker 1: that Tracy used his research said that he had been
Speaker 1: born in the Deep South and then escaped and then
Speaker 1: was re enslaved in Maryland. But it isn't clear at
Speaker 1: all where that information came from or why it is
Speaker 1: so different from all of the other sources. Thomas had
Speaker 1: three brothers, Charles, William, and Basil. They were enslaved by
Speaker 1: a man named Sabric Sahlers, and in some accounts Sawlars
Speaker 1: may have been the father of at least some of them.
Speaker 2: Sabric Sahlers died in eighteen thirty four, when Thomas was
Speaker 2: about twenty two, and it seems like Thomas and his
Speaker 2: brothers believed that they were going to be freed upon
Speaker 2: Salers's death, but instead, some of the people that Slars
Speaker 2: had enslaved were sold during the settling of the estate,
Speaker 2: with some of those being bought by his son, who
Speaker 2: was also named Thomas. There's people who were sold included
Speaker 2: the Dorsey brothers. About two years later, in eighteen thirty six,
Speaker 2: the four brothers liberated themselves and went to Philadelphia, one
Speaker 2: of the US cities that was becoming a frequent destination
Speaker 2: for people who were escaping from there enslavers. Pennsylvania was
Speaker 2: a free state, and Philadelphia had a reputation for being
Speaker 2: welcoming relatively speaking, so the city's black population was growing rapidly,
Speaker 2: but that relative level of welcome was in a lot
Speaker 2: of ways just not welcoming at all. Philadelphia and Pennsylvania
Speaker 2: more broadly, could be actively hostile toward its black residents.
Speaker 2: A lot of the city was racially segregated, and black
Speaker 2: workers were excluded from most industries. That meant that for
Speaker 2: the most part, the only jobs available to them were
Speaker 2: in manual labor and domestic work. In eighteen thirty seven,
Speaker 2: not long after the Dorsey Brothers arrived, a Pennsylvania judge
Speaker 2: also ruled that black people living in the state did
Speaker 2: not have suffrage rights, and then the following year, Pennsylvania
Speaker 2: voters ratified a new constitution that gave only white freeman
Speaker 2: the right to vote.
Speaker 1: Black people in and around Philadelphia also faced ongoing racially
Speaker 1: motivated violence, often instigated by Irish immigrants who were also
Speaker 1: arriving in Philadelphia in large numbers and competing for the
Speaker 1: same low weight jobs. There were deadly attacks on black
Speaker 1: people and their neighborhoods, and the same year that the
Speaker 1: new constitution was ratified, an anti abolitionist mob burned down
Speaker 1: Pennsylvania Hall, which had been built as a venue for
Speaker 1: anti slavery speakers.
Speaker 2: So Philadelphia's reputation for being welcoming to black people was
Speaker 2: largely the work of black people themselves, while there were
Speaker 2: white abolitionists and other white activists and sympathetic legislators and
Speaker 2: government figures. In the pre Civil War years, Philadelphia's growing
Speaker 2: black neighborhoods became home to their own churches, mutual aid societies,
Speaker 2: and fraternal organizations that were really focused on helping and
Speaker 2: looking out for one another. Black residents also established their
Speaker 2: own schools and literary societies and art societies. Because black
Speaker 2: people were given such limited opportunities for work in Philadelphia,
Speaker 2: poverty and violence were still serious problems in these neighborhoods,
Speaker 2: but there was also a deep culture of outreach and support.
Speaker 1: One of the people in Philadelphia who was known for
Speaker 1: providing assistance and resources to people escaping from slavery was
Speaker 1: Robert Purvis. He was an abolitionist who was born to
Speaker 1: a free black woman and a British immigrant, and words
Speaker 1: spread among escaping people and their contacts that he was
Speaker 1: someone who could help. After the Dorsey brothers arrived in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: Purvis helped them get settled, including giving Basil a job
Speaker 1: on his farm in Bible, which is considered a neighborhood
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia today.
Speaker 2: But not long after the Dorseys arrived, their brother in
Speaker 2: law came to visit from Maryland. It is not completely
Speaker 2: clear whether this brother in law was free or enslaved
Speaker 2: when this happened, but regardless, when he went back to Maryland,
Speaker 2: he told Thomas Sellers where they were, and Sellers sent
Speaker 2: slave catchers after them. Under the US Constitution, an under
Speaker 2: federal law, escaping to a free state did not confer
Speaker 2: freedom on an enslaved person, so people could be caught
Speaker 2: and returned to their enslavers or enslaved elsewhere at any time.
Speaker 1: Charles and William Dorsey were sent to New Jersey to
Speaker 1: try to keep them safe. Thomas Dorsey was captured, but
Speaker 1: Purvis and some of the other friends he'd made raised
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars to purchase his freedom. Basil was captured
Speaker 1: as well, and this turned into a lengthy saga for him. First,
Speaker 1: he was jailed, and Purvis hired a well respected lawyer
Speaker 1: to represent him. When they went to court, Sehlers agreed
Speaker 1: on a price for Basil Dorsey's freedom, but then he
Speaker 1: kept raising that agreed upon price infuriating Basil and leading
Speaker 1: him to say he would cut his own throat in
Speaker 1: the courthouse rather than return to slavery. Basil was ultimately
Speaker 1: freed on a technicality when the prosecutor wasn't able to
Speaker 1: prove that he was actually enslaved under Maryland law. Once
Speaker 1: he was released, the Dorsey brothers friends rallied around him
Speaker 1: to protect him as he moved farther north, and eventually
Speaker 1: his wife and children also joined him from Maryland.
Speaker 2: After this whole experience, Robert Purvis helped found the Vigilant
Speaker 2: Association of Philadelphia, which was an aid and protection society
Speaker 2: for people who were escaping from bondage. Other people who
Speaker 2: were active in the Vigilant Association included James Forton, who
Speaker 2: we covered on the show in twenty twenty, and Thomas Dorsey. Today,
Speaker 2: Purvis is known for his work as an abolitionist, as
Speaker 2: well as his work with the Vigilant Association and the
Speaker 2: Underground Railroad, and it's believed that he helped thousands of people
Speaker 2: liberate themselves from enslavement. Although his brothers had moved on,
Speaker 2: Thomas Dorsey remained in Philadelphia after this. According to Web
Speaker 2: du Bois's book, the Philadelphia Negro a social study in
Speaker 2: eighteen thirty seven, there were about ten thousand, five hundred
Speaker 2: black people in Philadelphia, and only about three hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty of them worked in trades. Even fewer black people
Speaker 2: were in what we would think of as white collar jobs,
Speaker 2: and many of those were the first black person in
Speaker 2: that field in Philadelphia, and they worked almost exclusively within
Speaker 2: black communities. As we said earlier, almost everyone else was
Speaker 2: doing manual labor or domestic work. The only other occupations
Speaker 2: that were generally more open to black workers were barbering
Speaker 2: and hairdressing and shoemaking. Initially and for the next several years,
Speaker 2: Thomas Dorsey worked as a shoemaker. He also got married
Speaker 2: to Louise Tobias, and their son, William Henry Dorsey, was
Speaker 2: born on October twenty third, eighteen thirty seven. Of course,
Speaker 2: we'll be talking about him more in a bit. They
Speaker 2: eventually had two daughters as well. They were named Sarah
Speaker 2: and Mary Louise. In the early eighteen forties, Thomas Dorsey
Speaker 2: changed fields and he started working as a waiter. Service
Speaker 2: occupations were another field that was becoming more open to
Speaker 2: black workers, in part because white visitors from the South
Speaker 2: expected black people to be in those roles, and by
Speaker 2: about eighteen sixty he had started his own business. And
Speaker 2: we'll get into that after a sponsor break. When Jade
Speaker 2: Dorsey started his own business sometime around eighteen sixty, it
Speaker 2: was as a caterer. Preparing and serving food was of course,
Speaker 2: something that was already associated with black workers, both free
Speaker 2: and enslaved, throughout much of the United States. Catering as
Speaker 2: an industry was also a new development in the US,
Speaker 2: and one that was overwhelmingly the work of black people
Speaker 2: who had carved out their own niche in food service.
Speaker 2: When we say it was a new development, there have
Speaker 2: obviously been workers preparing and serving food for big gatherings
Speaker 2: and other functions throughout history. There were servants, enslaved people,
Speaker 2: proprietors of inns and public houses, and others doing something
Speaker 2: like catering all around the world for thousands of years,
Speaker 2: and the word catering goes back to at least the
Speaker 2: sixteenth century. But in terms of catering as its own industry,
Speaker 2: the way we think of it today that that scene
Speaker 2: as starting in Philadelphia in the nineteenth century, before the
Speaker 2: word caterer came into use. In this context, specifically meaning
Speaker 2: these kinds of professionals. They were sometimes called public butlers
Speaker 2: in the words of W. E. B. Du Bois quote
Speaker 2: as the butler or waiter in a private family arranged
Speaker 2: the meals and attended the family on ordinary occasions. So
Speaker 2: the public waiter came to serve different families in the
Speaker 2: same capacity at larger and more elaborate functions. He was
Speaker 2: the butler of the smart set, and his taste of
Speaker 2: hand and eye and palette set the fashion of the day.
Speaker 2: This functionary filled a unique place in a time when
Speaker 2: social circles were very exclusive and the millionaire and the
Speaker 2: French cook had not yet arrived.
Speaker 1: Little is known about Philadelphia's earliest black caterers. One of
Speaker 1: the first, if not the first, was Caesar Cranschall, who
Speaker 1: were with two assistants to serve Sir William Howe and
Speaker 1: his army during the Revolutionary War. It's possible that Cranchall
Speaker 1: catered the elaborate farewell party known as the Mischianza, which
Speaker 1: was thrown in How's honor on May eighteenth, seventeen seventy eight,
Speaker 1: after he had resigned from his post and was returning home.
Speaker 2: Philadelphia's first caterer whose work was more really well documented
Speaker 2: was Robert Boegel, who was born in the mid seventeen
Speaker 2: seventies and was enslaved from birth. Pennsylvania's Gradual Abolition Act
Speaker 2: was passed while he was still a child, and as
Speaker 2: an adult he became a cook. From there he built
Speaker 2: a business providing and serving the food and drink for
Speaker 2: occasions like christenings, weddings, funerals, and other functions. He was
Speaker 2: also an undertaker, and he sometimes combined these services. So
Speaker 2: he would prepare the body of the deceased and conduct
Speaker 2: the funeral service and then feed the assembled mourners afterward.
Speaker 2: Or he might conduct one person's funeral in the daytime
Speaker 2: and cater someone else's wedding or party that night. He
Speaker 2: is sometimes called the father of catering. In the decades
Speaker 2: after Bogel established his business, black chefs and restaurateurs really
Speaker 2: cornered the market on catering in Philadelphia. W. E. B.
Speaker 2: Du Boys described it this way quote it was at
Speaker 2: this time that there arose to prominence in power as
Speaker 2: remarkable a trade guild as ever ruled in a medieval city.
Speaker 2: It took complete leadership of the bewildered group of Negroes
Speaker 2: and led them steadily on to a degree of affluence, culture,
Speaker 2: and respect such as had probably never been surpassed in
Speaker 2: the history of the Negro in America. This was the
Speaker 2: Guild of the Caterers, and its masters include names which
Speaker 2: have been household words in the city for fifty years. Bogel,
Speaker 2: Augustine Prosser, Dorsey, Jones, and Minton. Du Bois went on
Speaker 2: to describe what an impact this industry had on Philadelfia's
Speaker 2: Black community and the opportunities that were available to them. Quote,
Speaker 2: the whole catering business, arising from an evolution shrewdly, persistently
Speaker 2: and tastefully directed, transformed the Negro cook and waiter into
Speaker 2: the public caterer and restaurateur, and raised a crowd of
Speaker 2: underpaid menials to become a set of self reliant, original
Speaker 2: businessmen who amassed fortunes for themselves and one general respect
Speaker 2: for their people. Dorsey in particular, really stood out, becoming
Speaker 2: one of the most sought after caterers in the city
Speaker 2: in a business that he ran from his home at
Speaker 2: twelve thirty one Locust Street. Dubois described him as quote
Speaker 2: the most unique character with little education but great refinement
Speaker 2: of manner, he became a man of real weight in
Speaker 2: the community. In eighteen sixty seven, the Evening Telegraph called
Speaker 2: Dorsey the Prince of Caterers. A later newspaper article about
Speaker 2: his son William, described Thomas as being part of a
Speaker 2: triumvirate of caterers, the other two being Henry Jones and
Speaker 2: Henry Minton. That quote might have been said to rule
Speaker 2: the social world of Philadelphia through its stomach. This article
Speaker 2: went on to say, quote time was when lobster, salad,
Speaker 2: chicken croquettes, deviled crab, and terrapin composed the edible display
Speaker 2: at every big Philadelphia gathering, and none of these dishes
Speaker 2: were thought to be perfectly prepared unless they came from
Speaker 2: the hand of one of the three men named in
Speaker 2: du Boyce's view. Of those three men, Dorsey was at
Speaker 2: the top. While building a business as a caterer, Dorsey
Speaker 2: continued to work as an abolitionist and an activist. He
Speaker 2: was friends with people like William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner,
Speaker 2: and Frederick Douglas. Douglas's daughter Rosetta, lived with the Dorseys
Speaker 2: while she was in Philadelphia. Dorsey was also one of
Speaker 2: the founders of the Pennsylvania Anti Slavery Society, along with
Speaker 2: Robert Purvis and Stephen Smith. He was one of the
Speaker 2: people who worked with John Brown as he planned his
Speaker 2: raid on Harper's Ferry, including hosting some of Brown's meetings
Speaker 2: at his home. We did an episode on John Brown's
Speaker 2: raid that ran as a Saturday Classic on May ninth,
Speaker 2: twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: After Abraham Lincoln was elected president around the start of
Speaker 1: the US Civil War, Dorsey reportedly refused to cater a
Speaker 1: party that was being held by and four Democrats, saying, quote, no, sir,
Speaker 1: I cannot serve a party that is disloyal to the government.
Speaker 1: He then pointed to a picture of Lincoln on the
Speaker 1: wall and said, quote, and that's the government. Dorsey also
Speaker 1: helped recruit soldiers to fight for the United States during
Speaker 1: the war, and his wife Louise, helped raise money and
Speaker 1: gather supplies for the war effort. After the Civil War,
Speaker 1: Dorsey teamed up with Stephen Smith and John Page to
Speaker 1: buy a hotel on Cape May in New Jersey called
Speaker 1: Banneker House, named after Benjamin Banneker. Our episode on Benjamin
Speaker 1: Banneker came out on June tenth, twenty thirteen, when The
Speaker 1: Evening Telegraph reported on the hotel purchase, it also said,
Speaker 1: quote with Dorsey at the head, it cannot fail to
Speaker 1: become a popular resort. This was one of the only
Speaker 1: summer resorts for black guests. Dorsey's career as a caterer
Speaker 1: made him one of the wealthiest and most prominent black
Speaker 1: men in Philadelphia and probably in the United States overall,
Speaker 1: but he still faced prejudice and bigotry because of his race.
Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty five, he and his wife accompanied Frederick
Speaker 1: Douglass to Lincoln's second presidential inauguration, and Louise was Douglas's
Speaker 1: guest at the inaugural ball. In Life and Times of
Speaker 1: Frederick Douglas, he describes all his other friends as having
Speaker 1: found some excuse not to go with him because they
Speaker 1: were not willing to risk the indignity of being turned away,
Speaker 1: and police did try to turn them away. Douglas wound
Speaker 1: up basically dodging past them, and when he got to
Speaker 1: the President, Lincoln invited both of them into the East
Speaker 1: room of the White House. There was a similar incident
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy one, when Dorsey tried to buy a
Speaker 1: ticket to a ball that was being held in honor
Speaker 1: of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovitch of Russia. When Dorsey was
Speaker 1: refused because of his race. He wrote to the Grand
Speaker 1: Duke about it, saying, in part, quote denied access to
Speaker 1: your presence, I venture to thus pay you my respects,
Speaker 1: and I will add that, though a grand Duke, I
Speaker 1: regard you as a much better Republican than those Americans
Speaker 1: who have, in my person insulted a man on account
Speaker 1: of the accident of his complexion. The act would not
Speaker 1: be tolerated in Russia, and I believe you despise it,
Speaker 1: as does Thomas J. Dorsey, Philadelphia, December eighteen seventy one.
Speaker 1: Dorsey's wealth allowed him to indulge his love of collecting,
Speaker 1: reading books, artwork, and memorabilia. He made a museum in
Speaker 1: his home, showcasing the work of black writers, artists, and musicians,
Speaker 1: and preserving documents from black history in Philadelphia and elsewhere.
Speaker 1: He died on February seventeenth, eighteen seventy five. An obituary
Speaker 1: in the Philadelphia Press described him as someone who quote
Speaker 1: gave character to any entertainment, and presence was more essential
Speaker 1: than the honored guests. His death notice in the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Inquirer read quote. Mister Dorsey was extensively known in his
Speaker 1: business even outside this city, and was also famed for
Speaker 1: his hearty encouragement and aid he extended to the anti
Speaker 1: slavery clause. He leaves a widow and one son and
Speaker 1: a daughter. Some of his friends met in the wake
Speaker 1: of his death and drafted a set of resolutions that
Speaker 1: they published in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Ending quote resolved that
Speaker 1: in a long and varied life, he has given us
Speaker 1: a practical lesson in the most cardinal principle of our
Speaker 1: religious faith, which commands that we love our neighbor as ourselves,
Speaker 1: and that his benevolent spirit, genial nature, and indomitable perseverance
Speaker 1: over life's barriers shall ever be handed down from time
Speaker 1: to time as aids to success.
Speaker 2: Thomas Dorsey owned multiple properties at the time of his death,
Speaker 2: and he left those to his family. He also had
Speaker 2: enough money to establish trusts that supported his descendants through
Speaker 2: the next two generations. None of them decided to go
Speaker 2: into the catering business, and by the end of the
Speaker 2: nineteenth century that business was also on the decline. Of course,
Speaker 2: there were still plenty of caterers, but with the rise
Speaker 2: of luxury hotels that had their own in house food
Speaker 2: service staff, there were just more options for hosting and
Speaker 2: arranging the food for big gatherings. Thomas Dorsey's wealth meant
Speaker 2: that his son William was able to pursue a fairly
Speaker 2: unique life in Philadelphia, and we're going to talk more
Speaker 2: about that after we have a sponsor break. As we
Speaker 2: said earlier, William Henry Dorsey was born on October twenty third,
Speaker 2: eighteen thirty seven. We don't have a ton of detail
Speaker 2: about his early life, but as he was growing up,
Speaker 2: his family became increasingly affluent and prominent. We do know
Speaker 2: that he went to the Institute for Colored Youth, which
Speaker 2: was established by Quakers before the Civil War. When Dorsey attended,
Speaker 2: this institute was open to boys and men, and it
Speaker 2: became co educational in eighteen sixty six. It later evolved
Speaker 2: into Chaney University, which still exists today. In eighteen fifty nine,
Speaker 2: when they were both twenty two years old, William married
Speaker 2: Virginia Cashman. According to the book William Dorsey's Philadelphia and
Speaker 2: All by Roger Lane, William traveled to Savannah, Georgia for
Speaker 2: the wedding and brought Virginia back with him.
Speaker 1: This would have meant an incredibly dangerous journey, not just
Speaker 1: to a slave state, but into the Deep South and back.
Speaker 1: But there is also a marriage notice in a Philadelphia
Speaker 1: newspaper that suggests the marriage happened there, and it's known
Speaker 1: that at least some other members of Virginia's family had
Speaker 1: moved to Philadelphia in eighteen fifty six, including her mother
Speaker 1: and her brother Herschel. We don't really know how William
Speaker 1: and Virginia met, but it might have been through Herschel.
Speaker 2: At the start of this marriage, the couple lived with
Speaker 2: several members of Virginia's family before eventually moving into a
Speaker 2: home of their own. Virginia was a dressmaker, and she
Speaker 2: and William went on to have six surviving children together.
Speaker 2: They remained married until eighteen ninety. The details are fuzzy,
Speaker 2: but she moved out at that point and started describing
Speaker 2: herself as a widow.
Speaker 1: Dorsey was a self taught artist, mainly painting in watercolors
Speaker 1: and oils. He also became a civil servant, starting with
Speaker 1: being appointed as a personal messenger to Mayor William Stokely
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy two. Dorsey was thirty five at that time.
Speaker 1: This was apparently his first steady job that paid regular wages.
Speaker 1: Stokely's successor, Samuel King, later appointed him turnkey at Central Station,
Speaker 1: regardless of what else he was doing. Though Dorsey always
Speaker 1: listed himself as an artist in the city Directory, he
Speaker 1: seems to have persisted at this even though there wasn't
Speaker 1: a huge market for his work among patrons of any race,
Speaker 1: and he never showed his work outside of exhibitions for
Speaker 1: black artists.
Speaker 2: As we said before the break, Dorsey's father, Thomas, established
Speaker 2: a trust for his descendants in the last years of
Speaker 2: his life, and after his death in eighteen seventy five,
Speaker 2: William inherited money and property. He was able to live
Speaker 2: pretty comfortable and really spend most of his time focusing
Speaker 2: on his art and his collections, building on collections that
Speaker 2: his father had left to him. Over the years that followed,
Speaker 2: Dorsey turned the top floor of his home at two
Speaker 2: oh sixteen Street into a museum. In eighteen seventy four,
Speaker 2: his friend LPM Watkins visited and published a piece about
Speaker 2: the museum in Frederick Douglas's newspaper, The New National Era.
Speaker 2: Watkins wrote quote, to the lover of art, the admirer
Speaker 2: of rare curiosities, or the antiquarian, the collection of mister
Speaker 2: Dorsey would alike afford delight. He describes the museum as
Speaker 2: having collections of coins, minerals, weapons such as axes and
Speaker 2: battle axes, and of course artwork from there. This piece
Speaker 2: went on to say, quote, the collection of books and
Speaker 2: pamphlets published by and concerning colored men and women, the
Speaker 2: music by colored composers, the number of steel and copper
Speaker 2: play engravings of eminent negroes, and photographs, autograph letters, autographs
Speaker 2: and facsimiles of men prominent in our race is very extensive, interesting,
Speaker 2: and valuable.
Speaker 1: Dorsey's collection of books and manuscripts included the work of
Speaker 1: so many people that we have covered on the show before,
Speaker 1: including the works of Ignatius Sancho in two volumes, an
Speaker 1: edition of Phyllis Wheatley's poems, the Letters of Sojourner Truth,
Speaker 1: works by alexand Le Duma, Peer and Fice, and the
Speaker 1: autobiographies of Frederick Douglas. Dorsey also had portraits of prominent
Speaker 1: black people, including Shakespearean actor and playwright Ira Aldridge. There
Speaker 1: were also paintings and sculptures by black and white artists alike,
Speaker 1: and a framed letter written from Senator Charles Sumner to
Speaker 1: Dorsey's father.
Speaker 2: In eighteen ninety six, the reporter from the Philadelphia Times
Speaker 2: visited the museum and described it this way quote three
Speaker 2: rooms are divided and subdivided, filled with shelves and tables,
Speaker 2: until pendant from the very ceilings hang rare and beautiful objects,
Speaker 2: all with histories, carefully covered from the dust by glass cases.
Speaker 2: Are the most precious, each properly labeled, each in its
Speaker 2: own separate compartment, and the order and condition of the
Speaker 2: whole collection is something not only to be marveled at,
Speaker 2: but is as model to anyone having similar tastes. It was,
Speaker 2: in the reporter's words, quote, probably the most remarkable little
Speaker 2: museum in the country. Every inch of the walls was
Speaker 2: covered with art, except the parts that were covered with
Speaker 2: shelves full of books. Quote with scrupulous neatness and systematically arranged.
Speaker 2: So these books might be what Dorsey is best known
Speaker 2: for today. Those are his scrap books. In a profile
Speaker 2: on him in the Philadelphia Times, which was also published
Speaker 2: in eighteen ninety six, he said of this scrap book quote,
Speaker 2: it has been my continual aim as I have journeyed
Speaker 2: along to gather every fragment of published matter concerning the
Speaker 2: Colored Race. I have spared neither time nor money in
Speaker 2: prosecuting this hobby, you may call it if you wish,
Speaker 2: And the fruits of my labor are beginning to show naturally.
Speaker 2: In all these years, I have been an enthusiast in
Speaker 2: garnering anything and everything that had to me an intrinsic value.
Speaker 2: But the most careful work and the best results I
Speaker 2: have here. Dorsey went on to say, quote, nothing of
Speaker 2: importance has escaped me, as I am a subscriber and
Speaker 2: reader of the more important books and magazines. While I
Speaker 2: seldom preserve any data in its original state, you will
Speaker 2: find it cut out and placed in its proper position.
Speaker 2: I have not made any history. I have simply collated,
Speaker 2: and to anyone wishing to write an essay or a
Speaker 2: volume upon the history or progress of the Colored Race
Speaker 2: in the nineteenth century, I have here material that cannot
Speaker 2: be duplicated elsewhere. My portraits, books and letters are simply priceless,
Speaker 2: and nothing gives me more pleasure than to show and
Speaker 2: explain them to anyone feeling sufficient interest in them.
Speaker 1: To visit me.
Speaker 2: Dorsey created these scrap books by methodically clipping articles from newspapers, magazines,
Speaker 2: and other publications. Many of these publications were black owned,
Speaker 2: but he also included works by white publishers, and sometimes
Speaker 2: he would juxtapose the coverage about the same subject from
Speaker 2: multiple perspectives, so that meant, as kind of a hypothetical example,
Speaker 2: the white press's coverage of an incident of racial violence,
Speaker 2: which often tended to be racist in its characterization of
Speaker 2: the black victims, could be placed adjacent to the coverage
Speaker 2: of that same incident that was written from a black
Speaker 2: point of view.
Speaker 1: He pasted his clippings into existing volumes, including printed books
Speaker 1: and wallpaper sample books. Each book book was devoted to
Speaker 1: a particular topic, with the material inside arranged approximately by date.
Speaker 1: Dorsey carefully wrote in the date each item was published,
Speaker 1: and sometimes other information as well.
Speaker 2: With these scrapbooks, Dorsey was intentionally creating a record of
Speaker 2: black life and black achievement in Philadelphia and elsewhere. He
Speaker 2: also had clippings related to other subjects, including indigenous North
Speaker 2: American and Pacific Island cultures and histories. He created almost
Speaker 2: four hundred scrap books, totaling more than thirty thousand pages,
Speaker 2: and some of the publications that he clipped from are
Speaker 2: incredibly rare or even nonexistent today. Also, as we alluded
Speaker 2: to in those quotes that we read, he tried to
Speaker 2: share this collection of knowledge with other people. For example, W. E. B.
Speaker 2: Du Bois used the scrapbooks as a major source for
Speaker 2: his book The Philadelphia Negro, which was published in eighteen
Speaker 2: ninety nine, which we read from earlier on in the
Speaker 2: episode Beyond That.
Speaker 1: Dorsey also collected whole manuscripts, compiling nearly one thousand folders
Speaker 1: full of publications and correspondents from black people and people
Speaker 1: of other races who supported equal rights. He also conducted
Speaker 1: interviews with people who were more than one hundred years
Speaker 1: old about the momentous historical events that they had lived through,
Speaker 1: including the American Revolution and the Civil War. Dorsey was
Speaker 1: not the only person who was doing stuff like this.
Speaker 1: He was part of a community of black collectors and
Speaker 1: chroniclers and self taught curators and activists who were documenting
Speaker 1: a part of history that the white academic establishment was
Speaker 1: mostly ignoring. In eighteen ninety seven, many of these folks
Speaker 1: came together and formed the American Negro Historical Society. Dorsey
Speaker 1: was one of the founders and was also named its custodian.
Speaker 1: Little is known about the last decades of William Henry
Speaker 1: Dorsey's life. His last scrap book entry was in nineteen
Speaker 1: oh seven. He died about fifteen years after that, on
Speaker 1: January ninth, nineteen twenty three, at the age of eighty five.
Speaker 2: The American Negro Historical Society dissolved in the years after
Speaker 2: his death. Most of its other prominent members had already died,
Speaker 2: and the society had become largely inactive in the early
Speaker 2: twentieth century. Its holdings were donated to the Historical Society
Speaker 2: of Pennsylvania in nineteen thirty four.
Speaker 1: Most of Dorsey's collections seem to have been scattered and
Speaker 1: lost in the years after his death, with the exception
Speaker 1: of his scrap books. These eventually became part of the
Speaker 1: collections at Cheney University, which, as we said earlier, had
Speaker 1: evolved from his alma mater. Exactly how they got into
Speaker 1: the Cheney University collection is not completely clear. There's one
Speaker 1: story about a janitor rescuing them from the trash ahead
Speaker 1: of a major restore reation project in the campus building,
Speaker 1: where they were being stored. It's very possible that's apocryphal
Speaker 1: or embellished. There are also some materials in the collection
Speaker 1: of Moreland's Spingarn Research Center at Howard University, donated by
Speaker 1: Ruth L. Ramsey, widow of James Ramsey, great great grandson
Speaker 1: of Thomas Dorsey. Today, while these scrap books are part
Speaker 1: of the Cheney University Archives and Special Collections, they are
Speaker 1: housed at Penn State. More than half of them have
Speaker 1: been transferred onto microfilm. Apparently the funding for that project
Speaker 1: ran out before it was complete. According to a twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one article in the Atlantic, this collection is kind
Speaker 1: of in limbo.
Speaker 2: Obviously, a collection of three hundred and eighty eight scrap
Speaker 2: books takes up a lot of space, and while they
Speaker 2: were being kept in acid free containers at Cheney University,
Speaker 2: there really wasn't a lot of room or good climate
Speaker 2: control to help preserve them there. Transfer to Penn State
Speaker 2: was initially meant to be for one hundred and fifty
Speaker 2: days for an archiving project, but that one hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty days is long past. At Penn State, the scribe
Speaker 2: books are protected from heat and cold and moisture. They're
Speaker 2: still in acid free boxes, but it's not clear when
Speaker 2: or whether there will be funding to digitize the remaining volumes,
Speaker 2: or whether they will return to Cheney University.
Speaker 1: Do you also have listener mail for us today? I do.
Speaker 2: I have listener mail that is from Tara uh and
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna read one hundred percent of it, but
Speaker 2: I'm gonna read a big chunk of it. Tara wrote,
Speaker 2: high ladies, I've waited a long time to send this email,
Speaker 2: procrastinating for quite literally years. I initially was going to
Speaker 2: write when your episode about the Six Triple Eight came
Speaker 2: out in twenty nineteen, I put it off, and then
Speaker 2: actually met you both at the Denver Show later that year.
Speaker 2: Most recently, when you released an episode on ac uctuaries,
Speaker 2: I almost ran to the computer to email you. That
Speaker 2: is what my first degree is in. Thank you, Georgia.
Speaker 2: State again that ADHD procrastination waylaid the best of intentions.
Speaker 2: In twenty nineteen, my father's friend shared an article on
Speaker 2: Facebook about a new monument that was dedicated to the
Speaker 2: six Triple Eight. Out of curiosity, my father read the article,
Speaker 2: which led him to the website for the monument. As
Speaker 2: he read through the names on the monument. He was
Speaker 2: shocked to see his mother's name, although we had long
Speaker 2: known she served in the army during World War II.
Speaker 2: Her service photo is attached. We had no idea about
Speaker 2: this connection to history. She passed along stories of her
Speaker 2: ride in the boats and that one of the sailors,
Speaker 2: a captain, told them once they saw the White Cliffs
Speaker 2: of Dover, they would know they were safe. My father
Speaker 2: is currently on a wait list to have his wish
Speaker 2: of a lifetime AARP's make a wish for seniors granted
Speaker 2: to go see the White Cliffs. She also talked about
Speaker 2: being out and about somewhere and children would come up
Speaker 2: to her and rub her skin to see if the
Speaker 2: color came off. Based on these stories, she was not offended,
Speaker 2: but rather amused. That is really the extent of what
Speaker 2: has been relayed to me. This email goes on to
Speaker 2: talk about the bill that was passed for the six
Speaker 2: Triple eight to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, and
Speaker 2: I think an upcoming ceremony related to that. And then
Speaker 2: Tara in twenty nineteen worked with an artist to commission
Speaker 2: a figurine of this grandmother, and there's a pictures, there's
Speaker 2: a lot of pictures attached to this email.
Speaker 1: So we've got.
Speaker 2: Pictures of Tara's grandmother, a really lovely service picture, and
Speaker 2: then a painting that was based on that photograph, which
Speaker 2: is really lovely, and a figurine of Tara's grandmother in
Speaker 2: uniform saluting. I love really all of this. Also, there's
Speaker 2: another figuring as we move into the pet pictures of
Speaker 2: Tara's dog, Artemis, because we did get pet pictures to
Speaker 2: go along with this. Also, what cute puppy dogs. So
Speaker 2: the dogs in the picture are Artemis, who is a
Speaker 2: white Corgi Chihuahwa doxy mix and likes to stand on
Speaker 2: her hind legs a lot, and the other is Tara's
Speaker 2: daughter's dog, Venus. Thank you so much Tara for this email.
Speaker 2: I love this story so much. I got choked up
Speaker 2: a little bit at this idea of just reading the
Speaker 2: list of names and realizing that you're related to somebody
Speaker 2: on that list. Yeah. I think it is really lovely
Speaker 2: that you have tried so hard to honor your grandmother.
Speaker 2: I didn't get into detail about the parts about upcome
Speaker 2: ceremony because I'm not actually sure at this moment that
Speaker 2: it is, like I couldn't find public announcements about it,
Speaker 2: so I didn't want to get into detail about that
Speaker 2: without knowing if those announcements are public news at this point.
Speaker 2: It will be later after it's happened, I'm sure. So
Speaker 2: thank you so much again Tara for sharing the story
Speaker 2: and all of these lovely pictures. If you would like
Speaker 2: to send us a note about this or any other podcast,
Speaker 2: where at history Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com, and you
Speaker 2: can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app and
Speaker 2: wherever I'll too late to get your podcasts. Stuff you
Speaker 2: missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For
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Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.