Moses A. Hopkins Explained

Moses A. Hopkins
Office:United States Minister to Liberia
Birth Date:25 December 1846
Birth Place:Montgomery County, Virginia, U.S.
Death Place:Liberia
Alma Mater:Auburn Theological Seminary
Occupation:Clergyman, educator, diplomat
Party:Democratic Party
President:Grover Cleveland
Term Start:September 11, 1885
Term End:August 7, 1886
Predecessor:John H. Smythe
Successor:Charles H. J. Taylor

Moses Aaron Hopkins (December 25, 1846 – August 7, 1886) was an African-American clergyman and educator who served as United States minister (ambassador) to Liberia in 1885–1886. He was the first formerly enslaved person to serve the United States in an ambassadorial / ministerial capacity.[1] He died while in Liberia.[2]

Hopkins, born enslaved in Montgomery County, Virginia, was moved near Newbern in 1850, and escaped to serve in Union camps as a cook. He then briefly worked aboard steamships traversing the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.[3] After attending Avery College and graduating from Lincoln University as valedictorian in 1874, in 1877 he was the first black graduate of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York. His graduating address "The Problem of Race Reconciliation in the South" was made all the more remarkable by the fact that ten years previously he could neither read nor write.[4] He settled in Franklinton, North Carolina on June 14, 1877, where he established a church and a school. The school, known as Albion Academy, was among two dozen funded by the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen to educate formerly enslaved persons.[5] [6] With his wife Carrie, he also founded the short-lived Freedmen’s Friend newspaper, bearing the masthead "The Organ of Albion Academy and Our Race".[7] Hopkins was first appointed minister to Liberia by President Grover Cleveland through a recess appointment and was later confirmed by the U.S. Senate.[8] He was appointed on September 11, 1885, departed October 21, and presented his credentials on December 14, 1885.[9] [10] On August 7, 1886, he died of what was then known as “African fever”, sharing his fate with three other U.S. ministers to Liberia who died of tropical diseases between the years 1882 and 1893.[11] He was remembered at the time in the Indianapolis Journal as "an earnest laborer for the elevation of his race and the redemption of Africa."[12] Congress enacted an allowance of $2,500 to his widow, representing six months salary.[13]

On April 30, 2021, Hopkins was one of 71 "forgotten" names commemorated by the American Foreign Service Association as an on-duty death while in the foreign service.[14]

References

Notes and References

  1. Talmage . T. De Witt . Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine . July 1885 . 18 . 1 . 556 . Frank Leslie's Publishing House. . en.
  2. http://www.stoppingpoints.com/north-carolina/sights.cgi?marker=Moses+A.+Hopkins+1846-1886&cnty=Franklin Stopping Points (Moses A. Hopkins 1846-1886)
  3. News: Moses Aaron Hopkins, – The Newly-Appointed Minister to Liberia . 11 May 2021 . The River Press. . 52 . 21 October 1885 . 5 . Fort Benton, Mont. . 7.
  4. News: Items of Interest – School and Church . 11 May 2021 . Dodge City Times. . W.C. & Lloyd Shinn . 16 June 1877 . 2.
  5. Web site: Murphy . A. Melanie . North Carolina SP Savage, Dr. J. A., House . National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: North Carolina . 11 May 2021 . June 1980.
  6. Web site: Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen . accessgenealogy.com . 11 May 2021.
  7. Web site: Wegner . Ansley . Hopkins, Moses Aaron . www.ncpedia.org . Research Branch, NC Office of Archives and History . 11 May 2021.
  8. https://books.google.com/books?id=sADWtLjn-rAC&dq=moses+a.+hopkins+grover+cleveland&pg=PA52 Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, Volume XXV, Washington Government Printing Office (1901), page 52
  9. Web site: Moses Aaron Hopkins . history.state.gov . Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State . 11 May 2021.
  10. Web site: Chiefs of Mission by Country, 1778-2005 – Liberia . 2001-2009.state.gov . Department Of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, The Office of Electronic Information . 11 May 2021 . en.
  11. Web site: Naland . John K. . America's Overlooked Diplomats and Consuls Who Died in the Line of Duty - sidebar MOSES A. HOPKINS . www.afsa.org . 11 May 2021.
  12. News: Minister Moses A. Hopkins . 11 May 2021 . Indianapolis Journal . August 12, 1886 . 5 . en.
  13. United States Congressional Serial Set - Mary A Swift . July 7, 1898 . 3627 . 1411 . 2 . 11 May 2021 . U.S. Government Printing Office . en.
  14. News: Brockell . Gillian . State Dept. adds 71 historical names to plaque honoring on-duty foreign service deaths . 11 May 2021 . Washington Post . May 6, 2021.