| Samuel Harrison | |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Nationality: | Black American |
Samuel Harrison (1818 – August 11, 1900) was a black American abolitionist, former slave, preacher, and Army chaplain who operated largely in and around New England. He was a staunch writer and orator against slavery and racism, eventually convincing President Abraham Lincoln to enact equal pay for black chaplains.[1] [2]
Samuel Harrison was born into slavery in 1818 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was freed along with his mother in 1821.[3] As a young man he was an apprentice shoemaker for his uncle when he felt a call towards being a minister. He began his education at the Peterboro Manual Labor School in Peterboro, New York, but as it closed shortly after his arrival, at the suggestion of Gerrit Smith, the school's founder and patron, he moved to Western Reserve College and Preparatory School in Hudson, Ohio, where he studied from 1836 to 1839 and from which he graduated. During this time Harrison married his childhood sweetheart, Ellen Rhodes, and they later had 13 children. He was ordained and began work as the first minister of the 2nd Congregational Church of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
In 1862, Rev. Harrison resigned from the church and worked for the National Freedman's Relief Society during the American Civil War charged with helping the blacks on Georgia's sea islands.[4]
In July 1863, the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the first all-black unit in the North during the Civil War, spearheaded the assault on Fort Wagner in Charleston, South Carolina. The regiment suffered heavy losses. Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew sent Rev. Harrison to South Carolina to express the sympathies of the Commonwealth to the men of the 54th. Later that year, Rev. Harrison received a commission as chaplain and was mustered into the 54th, thus becoming one of 19 African-American chaplains during the Civil War. During this time, Rev. Harrison protested the unequal pay gap between white and black chaplains. His friendship with Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew allowed him enough sway for Andrew to draft a letter to Abraham Lincoln requesting that he end the racist practice, naming Rev. Harrison and describing his unequal experiences. In 1864, not a year later, President Lincoln equalized the pay scale.
In 1864, Rev. Harrison was honorably discharged for health reasons. He would work for the National Freedman's Relief Society until the war ended.[5]
After being honorably discharged from the Army, Rev. Harrison ministered at several different churches in multiple Northeastern states. In the states of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Maine he wrote pieces against the state of racial dynamics during the era of Reconstruction. He wrote his memoir, Rev. Samuel Harrison: His Life Story, printed in 1899, and in 1872 returned to pastor the Second Congregational Church of Pittsfield. During this time, Rev. Harrison would have 3 sermons printed. He died on August 11, 1900, in the city where he had begun his ministry.[6] His house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, deemed the Samuel Harrison House, was made a historic site in 2006.
. Rev. Samuel Harrison. Rev. Samuel Harrison His Life Story told by himself. 1899.
. Rev. Samuel Harrison. An appeal of a colored man, to his fellow-citizens of a fairer hue. 1877. Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Chickering & Axtell.
. Rev. Samuel Harrison. Shall a nation be born at once? A centennial sermon delivered in the chapel of the Methodist Episcopal Church, July 2, 1876. 1876.
. Rev. Samuel Harrison. Pittsfield twenty-five years ago. Pittsfield, Massachusetts. 1874.
The following tablet was erected in the Second Congregational Church in Pittsfield: