The Rev. Dr. James H. Magee (1839-1912) is
one of the most interesting, yet obscure, characters in Springfield
history. Were it not for a semiautobiographical book he published
in 1873 while serving as pastor of the Union Baptist Church of
Cincinnati, scant little indeed would be known about this
high-minded, eloquent African-American social progressive and
champion of human rights.
Until last week, no photograph of him was
known to exist, but today we reproduce his image here with the
permission of Spurgeon’s College (which was then called
Pastors College) of London, England, where Magee studied during the
1867-68 school year. A concomitant result of our communication:
Faculty member Dr. Ian Randall, who is writing a history of the
school, learned of Magee’s book
The Night of Affliction and Morning of Recovery, wherein may be found Magee’s first-person
observations of the college’s founder, the famed English
evangelist Charles Haddon Spurgeon, as well as descriptions of
London and campus life.
Magee was born the son of a former Kentucky
slave in Madison County one year before Illinois was officially a
“free” state. His father, Lazarus, had to purchase his
mother, Susan, from her owner in Louisville, Ky., from whence they
went to Upper Alton and thence to Macoupin County, where they were
able to purchase land.
The Magee children were denied educational
opportunity equal to that of the white children of Macoupin County,
and so they were sent to Racine, Wis., for their schooling. On
completing his education, Magee taught in a Jerseyville school for
black children, was ordained a minister of the Baptist Church, and
held several small pastorates, including one at the Zion Baptist
Church in Springfield in 1864. He did not stay here because the
senior pastor refused to yield the pulpit to his junior assistant.
Later that same year, he attended a Baptist convention in St.
Louis, where, he says, “I had much conversation about the one
object of my desire . . . education . . . . Time passed on and
still my thirst for learning increased. I happened to think of a
plan by which I thought I should be able to facilitate the
obtaining of the much wanted treasure.”
Magee’s plan took him to Toronto, where
he continued his education while serving one of the largest black
Baptist churches in Canada. He states in his book: “Although
an American born subject, I must confess that I felt more at home the very first time my feet ever trode upon
British soil than I ever felt in America.” It was his sad duty to
preach a sermon on April 14, 1865, when news of Lincoln’s
assassination reached Toronto, which, he says, “was a vast house
of mourning.”
“[Lincoln’s] name will be ever
dear to generations yet unborn,” he wrote. “We, who are
here in Canada, the home of the free, feel the effects of the fall
of the hero of liberty, and are here assembled to-day to show our
respect for the one who was foremost in securing to us the chart of
liberty.”
Magee’s desire to study under Spurgeon
was so great that although he had been denied admission (because of
the number of students and waiting applicants), he nevertheless
sailed on May 18, 1867, from Montreal, aboard the “noble
steamer Hibernian,” to personally implore the rector for a
place of study. He succeeded and, a year later, returned to Canada
with a private library given to him by Spurgeon himself.
Magee’s descriptive account of the voyage and his time spent
in London, written in high Victorian prose, is a joy to read.
Scholar and author Roger D. Bridges, who wrote an
article about Magee, “Triumph over Adversity” (Illinois History Teacher 2003,
volume 10, issue 1), says that it is no mystery that Magee refers to
Canada as “the home of the free.”
Bridges says, “Magee is a relative
unknown to most, if not all, Illinoisans, but he is an important
example of the efforts of African-Americans to enter the mainstream
of Illinois and American life while withstanding its rebuffs
without bitterness. The way his accomplishments were belittled by
the press of the day, and the way his contributions were
marginalized, is criminal. However, John M. Palmer, Jessie Palmer
Weber, Secretary of State James A. Rose, and Gov. [Richard]
Oglesby were willing
to accept and reward Magee despite the lack of respect by the bulk
of society.”
Here in Springfield, Magee formed the
Illinois State Colored Historical Society, held the presidency of
the Ambidexter Institute, which was a manual-training school
(located in a building that still stands at 12th and Cass Streets),
and continued to lecture and preach the Gospel. He publicly
castigated the school board in 1906 for denying valedictorian
honors to a young African-American girl who had rightfully earned
the distinction and for barring students of color from commencement
exercises. Drawing on his own experiences, and presaging Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., he wrote, “The colored man’s weapon in
the North is the big stick at the ballot box. Use it like men who
have the right to use it, in defense of the sacred Temple of
Liberty. A man who is good enough to fight for his country —
that man’s children, though black, are good enough to go to
the common schools of his country.” He further urged the
African-American community to support the Forum, Springfield’s
“colored” newspaper.
Magee spent the last 12 years of his life as
a messenger for the state printer’s office, which was under
the aegis of his friend James Rose. When, on May 29, 1912, he was
informed of Rose’s sudden death, he (according to the Illinois State Journal)
“sat down, and, catching his side as if in pain, said:
‘I don’t see how I am going to get over this. He was my
good friend . . .’ The aged messenger reiterated his belief
that he could never survive the shock of his friend’s
death.”
Magee, “the leader of the colored
people of this city,” according to the Illinois State Register,
died later that night at his home at 206 N. 14th St.
Thanks to Judy Powles, librarian of
Spurgeon’s College. Cheryl Pence, Mary Michals, and Jim Helm of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library assist Bob Cavanagh in researching this column. Contact Cavanagh at bcavanagh@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2005.
