The Journal of Negro History, Volume 2, 1917

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Oliver Davis is another alumnus of this school. He is now a captain in
the United States Army, being the first colored man from the ranks who
passed an examination for a commission in the army. Three of the
finest lieutenants in the Spanish-American War, Thomas Clarke, Harry
Burgess and William Cardozo, were all trained at this institution.
Under command of Major James E. Walker, another product of this
school, the First Separate Battalion was the first organization to
leave the District of Columbia for the Mexican border last summer,
because this, the only colored unit in the District National Guard,
was the first to be ready for such military service. Eleven of its
officers are graduates of this high school. This battalion had the
distinction of being generally lauded for the valuable services it
rendered the country during the late unpleasantness with Mexico.[358]

Among others who have distinguished themselves in military affairs
are Eldridge Hawkins, Ex-Secretary of the American Legation at Liberia
and for several years captain of the Liberian Constabulary. Joseph
Martin also served as a lieutenant in Liberia.[359]

Graduates of this school have succeeded in all the walks of life. In
music Captain Walter H. Loving is a distinguished representative
indeed. He is the founder and director of the far-famed Philippine
band, conceded by foremost musicians of the day to be one of the
finest organizations of its kind in the whole world. This band has
made extensive tours and has scored phenomenal success everywhere it
has played. The credit due Captain Loving, who has now retired, is all
the greater, when one considers, that when he commenced this work, a
large proportion of the men not only knew little or nothing about
music but nothing at all about the instruments they now play with such
artistic skill. James Reese Europe is a composer of distinction and
the leader of an orchestra which is constantly in demand among the
most cultured and the wealthiest people of New York. Among these high
school graduates there is at least one theatrical manager, in the
person of Andrew Thomas, who has directed the affairs of the Howard
Theatre with much success. Miss Mary P. Burrill and Mr. Nathaniel Guy,
dramatic readers and trainers, deserve special mention for the service
they have rendered the Washington schools and the community in their
particular field.

Dr. Charles I. West, formerly assistant surgeon-in-chief of Freedman's
Hospital, distinguished himself in a competitive medical examination
held a few years ago, and is to-day one of the foremost physicians in
Washington. Some of the wealthiest and most skillful physicians in the
national capital, among whom may be mentioned Dr. John R. Francis,
lately deceased, and Dr. Thomas Martin, received their scholastic
training in this high school. There are other products of this school
achieving success, both here and elsewhere, in the professions of
medicine and dentistry.

It is very clear that this high school has given a wonderful
intellectual impetus to the youth of Washington, many of whom would
have been unable to get even a sip at the fountain of knowledge, if
they could not have quenched their thirst without money and without
price. Without the knowledge acquired in the high school it would have
been impossible for many teachers to occupy the positions of
usefulness, honor and emolument which they now hold. This high school
too has been a great blessing, not only to those representatives of
the race who live under the shadow of the capitol, but to many
elsewhere. There is no doubt that a majority of the pupils trained in
this school have reflected great credit upon their alma mater by doing
their work in the world conscientiously and well. And here in
Washington, if you meet a skillful physician, an excellent teacher, an
expert typewriter or stenographer, a faithful, efficient letter
carrier, a distinguished officer in the national guard, or a good
citizen on general principles, you are likely to find a graduate of
this high school or somebody who has studied there.

MARY CHURCH TERRELL.

FOOTNOTES:

[347] The auditorium has a large stage, seating capacity for 1,500,
with provisions made for presenting motion pictures. The pipe organ in
the auditorium offers musical advantages which the pupils have never
before enjoyed. The lunch room having a modern kitchen for the
preparation of hot foods contributes greatly to the health and comfort
of both teachers and pupils. The efficiency of the music department
has been greatly enhanced by the five pianos which have been
installed. Standing on the balconies provided for visitors one may see
the large gymnasiums for both boys and girls in which are dressing
rooms provided with shower baths and the most up-to-date equipment.
The printing plant is valued at $4,000. The classes in bookkeeping and
accounting will have the great advantage of receiving instruction in a
real bank, for a banking department has been provided with a safe and
windows and all the other modern facilities found in such an
institution.

In the dining room and the living room, each having modern furniture,
the girls in the domestic science course may learn by actual
experience how to lay a table, arrange furniture and keep house.
Botany, zoology, chemistry and physics are taught in laboratories and
lecture rooms which occupy practically the whole basement floor. In
the department of physics there is a particularly fine apparatus,
which represents the careful collection and selection of many years.
The wireless outfit which is soon to be installed will greatly
increase the advantages enjoyed by the pupils. Nothing is more
gratifying to the visitor than the spacious library on the second
floor of the building, which is complete in its appointments, with a
capacity for 4,337 volumes and facilities for the accommodation of 185
students. On the first floor are the administration offices and a
study hall with a seating capacity for 106 students. In their armory
under the Auditorium the Cadets have space enough for several
companies and there is also a rifle range for target practice. In this
new building there are 35 class rooms, 5 retiring rooms, an emergency
room, 7 locker rooms and locker accommodations for 1,500 pupils. A
greenhouse and a roof garden are being constructed and it is hoped
that Congress may make an appropriation for building a stadium in the
rear of the school.

The course of study in the Dunbar High School includes all the
academic and business subjects taught in similar schools of accredited
standing, as well as domestic science, printing, physical training and
military science.

[348] Annual Report of the Colored Schools of Washington and
Georgetown, 1872-73, p. 31.

[349] _Ibid._, pp. 31, 62, and 95.

[350] First Report of the Board of Trustees of the Public Schools of
the D. C., 1875-76, pp. 174, 181.

[351] _Ibid._, 1874-75, p. 252.

[352] Third Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Colored
Public Schools of Washington and Georgetown, The Preparatory High
School.

[353] Simmons, "Men of Mark," p. 428.

[354] This is based on the Reports of the Board of Education of the
District of Columbia.

[355] Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Public Schools,
1889-90, p. 175.

[356] The site of the building cost $24,592.50, the building itself
cost $74,454.88, the fixtures $9,862.44, making a total expenditure of
$109,909.82. (See Report of the Board of Education of D. C.,
1904-1905.)

[357] From 1875 to 1882 he was principal of a Grammar School. In 1882
he was appointed supervising principal and served in that capacity for
fourteen years. In 1896 he was placed at the head of the M Street High
School and served three years. In 1899 he was again appointed
supervising principal and served two years. In 1900 he was made
assistant superintendent for the colored schools and remained in that
position for seven years. In 1907 he was appointed for the fourth time
to a supervising principalship and holds this position at the present
time.

[358] Among the officers are Captains C. C. H. Davis, S. H. Epps, L.
H. Patterson, Lieutenants A. C. Newman, Principal of the Armstrong
Manual Training School, B. D. Boyd, T. J. Abrams, C. King and R. A.
Jackson, all products of this high school.

[359] He served in Liberia with Colonel Young, who organized the
Liberian Constabulary.

OUR NEW POSSESSIONS--THE DANISH WEST INDIES

By the recent purchase treaty agreed upon between this country and
Denmark the United States government has for the sum of $25,000,000
obtained the three Virgin Islands known as the Danish West Indies. As
more than ninety per cent. of their 27,000 inhabitants are Negroes,
the American people, upon whom devolves the duty of shaping the
destiny of these new subjects, will doubtless be interested in
learning more about them. Searching for these islands on the map they
appear as three tiny spots lying to the east and southeast of Porto
Rico and at the extreme east of the Greater Antilles. The islands are
St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix which lies about 40 miles southeast
of St. Thomas. The area of St. Thomas is about 33 square miles; that
of St. John 21, while St. Croix is much larger, covering about 84
square miles. These islands are no less remarkable for their fertility
than for the intelligence and industry of their inhabitants. The
climate is delightful, but this is counterbalanced by the earthquakes
and hurricanes which occur at uncertain intervals.[360]

Although the discovery and settlement of the Danish West Indies by
Europeans are not of ancient date, their early history is fragmentary
and conjectural. Tribes of Caribs[361] were found on these islands by
Christopher Columbus when he discovered the group on his second voyage
to America in 1493. Judging from carvings upon the rocks and numerous
relics these people had occupied the islands from time immemorial. The
natives were decreed enemies of the state by Charles V in 1550 and
thereafter were soon exterminated. When the Earl of Cumberland touched
at the islands on his way to Porto Rico in 1596 he described them as a
knot of little islands, uninhabited, sandy, barren and craggy[362].

The Dutch and English preceded the Danes in the occupation of St.
Thomas, but as far as is known, they were at no time present in large
numbers. Nine families of them with their slaves were found there in
1666. That year a company of Danes under Erik Smidt landed at St.
Thomas and made the first Danish settlement in the Virgin Islands.
They claimed to represent the Danish Chartered Company of Guinea and
the West Indies with headquarters at Copenhagen. Before these settlers
could permanently settle here, however, their expedition was broken up
by certain Dutchmen led by one Huntman after the death of Smidt and
before the Danes had finished their fort. But this was only temporary
success for the Dutch. This company had previously acquired territory
on the Gold Coast and had built forts between Christiansburg and the
eastern side of the Volta River. Their purpose in the West Indies was
the cultivation of sugar, tobacco and other products; and because of
the scarcity of labor the work was to be done by slaves[363] from
their African possessions. Under the encouragement of Christian V the
first cargo of slaves was brought over in 1680[364].

It is conceded that the real progress of the colony began with the
rule of Gov. Joergen Iwersen, who succeeded Smidt, landing on the
island May 23, 1672. He was a man of stern and forceful personality
who exacted absolute observance of the regulations he imposed, with
severe penalties for their violation. He required the strict keeping
of the Sabbath, dealt severely with bond servants guilty of
misdemeanors, and treated the Negro slaves still more cruelly.[365]

It is said that while the Danes in Africa were not particularly unkind
to the slaves the West Indian Danes were very cruel, especially in St.
John and later in St. Croix. "Besides the usual floggings, cutting off
of ears, hands, and legs and final hangings (when there was nothing
more to torture) the Danes--till the influence of the Moravian
missionaries bettered things--were in the habit of 'pinching' recreant
slaves with red-hot iron pinchers, or for heinous offences pinching
pieces of flesh out of them. The Moravian missionaries came to the
islands and brought to the inhabitants the practice and precept of a
simple Christianity. Their work among the slaves being especially
helpful, the lot of the latter was lightened and masters were no
longer allowed to exercise the power of life and death over
them."[366]

In those days pirates and buccaneers held sway over the seas and for
the better defence of the colony "Christians'-fort" was erected. In
1674 Gov. Iwersen bought a slave to serve for seven years as master
mason in the building of this fort. Within the fort was the governor's
residence, and the services of the Lutheran Church (the State Church
of Denmark) were also held therein, usually in the armory.
"Christians'-fort," modernized, is still standing and is supposed to
be the oldest building on the island.[367]

About 1682 Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, entered into
partnership with the Danish Company. The purpose of this agreement was
to encourage immigration from Europe and to promote trade with the
islands. The Brandenburghers established themselves in St. Thomas,
built a factory there and maintained a line of ships trading between
Stettin, the Gold Coast and St. Thomas.[368] This arrangement
seemingly worked satisfactorily for a while, but finally caused such
discontent that it was discontinued.

In 1684 the Danes took possession of St. John, the smallest but the
most fertile of these islands. It was colonized about two generations
later by some inhabitants who had the courage to leave St. Thomas. At
this period the colonists were fearful not only of depredations of
pirates or of the settlers of neighboring islands but they dreaded the
attacks of the maroons and uprisings among the slaves. When in
February, 1697, after a severe hurricane the force of the garrison was
reduced to one lieutenant, one ensign, one drummer, and five privates,
a number of maroons gathered in the western part of the island were
considered a menace but no outbreak occurred. For a period of about
sixty years afterward prosperity reigned in the islands.[369] Sugar,
molasses, rum, tobacco and spices were the principal exports and
wealth brought to the master class leisure, luxury, and refinement.

In 1733 the island of St. Croix, after continuously passing from the
control of one proprietor[370] to another, was purchased by certain
merchants of Copenhagen and later was bought from them by King
Christian VI of Denmark. The land was then divided into estates and
sold to various planters, some of whom came from St. Eustatius,
Virgin Gorda, and Tortola. Being thereafter under more stable
control, the island made progress, becoming, like the other Danish
West Indies, a sugar colony. The seat of government was then
transferred from St. Thomas to St. Croix.

The outstanding fact in the history of this group in the eighteenth
century is the insurrection of 1733, which took place on the island of
St. John. Because a large number of slaves had just been brought in
from Africa there had been urged by the masters and later enacted by
decree of the Royal Council certain additional tyrannical regulations
which doubtless caused this trouble. Instead of increasing the number
of armed men necessary to keep order the planters resorted to
legislation.[371] At that time at the west end of St. John stood the
only fort which was garrisoned by eight soldiers under a lieutenant
and a sergeant. These men had to be depended upon to handle thousands
of discontented slaves.[372] The insurrection, on the other hand, was
well planned. Governor Philip Gardelin, of St. Thomas, who was at that
time on a visit to the island was to be murdered along with all other
white inhabitants so as to bring the island entirely under the control
of the Negroes. An unexpected change in his arrangements, however,
caused the Governor and a part of his family to leave St. John on the
day preceding the uprising. On the following Sunday, however, the
insurrection began.

Early that morning certain slaves, as was usual, took into the fort
bundles of wood for the use of the soldiers. Within these bundles they
had concealed their knives and cutlasses, and at a given signal they
brought them forth and murdered all the garrison save one who
succeeded in concealing himself. When in possession, the insurgents
fired the signal previously agreed upon and at once upon every
plantation the slaves began to massacre the masters and their
families. Most of the surviving planters fled with their families to
the Durlo estate, situated on an eminence and protected by two cannon
and, under the direction of an old Englishman, repulsed the slaves,
killing and wounding many. While the slaves were in retreat the
planters hastily removed their families to vessels which conveyed them
to Tortola and St. Thomas.

Thinking that this insurrection might spread to St. Thomas, precaution
was immediately taken. Ninety men were armed, sixty sailors from
vessels in the harbor were impressed into service, and the large
vessel on which the Governor had come from St. John was brought nearer
the town. A detachment of thirty soldiers, some young burghers, and
the Jaeger Corps, fully armed and equipped, then proceeded to St. John
and drove the slaves from the fort. The Durlo estate was then relieved
with much difficulty, so determined were the slaves to continue their
work. In spite of these successes, however, the whites decided that it
was impossible to suppress the insurrection with such a small body of
troops and withdrew to St. Thomas. It was discovered that save those
who had sought refuge on the Durlo estate only Dr. Cornelius F. Bodger
had survived. He had been spared on the condition that he would give
wounded Negroes medical aid. The whites learned too that the Creole
Negroes had not taken a part in the uprising. In obtaining information
the whites were assisted by a servant of Dr. Bodger, called Christian
Sout,[373] who, having the confidence of both the whites and the
blacks, became a useful spy for the former, who rewarded him with
freedom for these services.

Upon returning to St. Thomas the Royal Council secured the assistance
of Captain Meaux and his sixty men of the _Nevis_, a vessel lying in
harbor, but he failed to subdue the Negroes, losing two of his sons in
the conflict. The government then sent to Martinique for help. The
governor of that colony promptly despatched a force of 400 men who,
joined by all the available troops from St. Thomas, drove the Negroes
from the fort and, sending out detachments in various directions,
finally forced the insurgents to concentrate on the northeast side of
the island, where they were surrounded. After holding the island six
months, the blacks, finding all chances of escape cut off, resolved
upon self-destruction. "Three hundred," says an historian, "were,
after a few days from the time they were surrounded, found lying dead
at Brim's Bay, now Anna Burg. In a ravine, a short distance off, were
discovered seven others, who appeared to have been leaders in the
insurrection, who had shot each other. Seven guns broken to pieces,
save one, were found lying by their sides. Tradition reports that
three hundred had cast themselves from a high precipice on the rocks
below. The historian Hoest says they were shot and were found lying in
a circle. A few had been taken prisoners. Two of these had been
summarily executed in St. John and twenty-six in St. Thomas, some of
the latter having been made to undergo the severest torture."[374]

The disproportion of the white and black elements of the population
was then brought before the planters as a perplexing problem. In this
unstable state of affairs the islands could not prosper. Many planters
for fear of servile insurrection moved to other islands, as the
situation did not soon become inviting. Captain Peter Tamaryn, of the
Jaeger Corps (the night guard of the town), was ordered by Governor
Jens Kragh to take a census in 1772 of free colored people living in
St. Thomas. It was discovered that there were one hundred and six men
capable of bearing arms; forty-one Catholics, twenty-one Reformed
Dutch, and the rest Moravians and heathen. Among these were eleven
masons, twelve carpenters, ten captains of boats, twenty-nine sailors,
thirteen fishermen, eleven tailors, five shoemakers, one cigar-maker,
one washer, one goldsmith, one musician, two planters and the rest
without occupation. Belonging to the free group were 285 women and
children. In 1773, however, on account of the European wars, during
which Denmark remained neutral, prosperity returned and the population
greatly increased. Once more the harbor of St. Thomas was crowded with
the vessels of all nations. The town limits were extended, business
establishments were multiplied and thousands of refugees, adventurers
and capitalists sought its shores for commercial purposes.

For some decades thereafter the history of these islands was largely
commercial. At one time, however, the Dutch took from the Danes
practically all of the trade of the islands. The Danes, therefore,
secretly fitted out vessels and sent them from Amsterdam under the
Dutch flag and regained their trade, driving the Dutch from the
field.[375] But this was not without some evil consequences. Having a
monopoly of the trade, the Danes set prices rather high and discontent
followed. To put an end to the oppressive restrictions then
prevailing, King Frederik V purchased the privileges of the Danish
West India Company in 1755.[376] The port of St. Thomas brought then
under royal control was no longer free. This sweeping change caused
ruin and starvation to follow. The prosperity of the colony ceased,
money became scarce, and some inhabitants moved away, adding another
problem by leaving slaves in the majority. Endeavoring to check the
injudicious importation of slaves and actuated by the same motives
which led him to liberate the serfs of Denmark, King Frederik VI
prohibited the slave trade in 1792.[377] Prosperity did not again
return until 1764 when St. Thomas was declared a free port for all
nations. For some time thereafter things went well despite the
European wars as Denmark still remained neutral.

This state of affairs continued until 1800 when Denmark became
involved in a war with Great Britain and the islands were blockaded.
They endured for a while and surrendered in 1801. After holding them
ten months, the British restored them in 1802. The short occupation,
however, materially affected the commerce of the island and as a
result of further complication in the Napoleonic wars they were
conquered again by the English and held from 1807 to 1815. Then came
another revival of commerce in these islands, the port of St. Thomas
becoming the principal rendezvous for the Royal Mail Steam Packet
Company's vessels.[378] Yet to a student of economic conditions it was
evident that the prosperity of the colony could not become permanent
after the rise of the beet sugar industry at the expense of the cane
sugar of the West Indies.[379]

During these years slavery was becoming onerous and undesirable in
certain parts of the West Indies and humanitarian forces were
operating, at least, to ameliorate the condition of the slaves as a
preparation for gradual emancipation. Steps were, therefore, taken to
do the same in the Danish West Indies but seemingly without permanent
results. There still remained evidences of oppression and cruelty and
as an observer saw the situation the low physical, intellectual, and
moral condition of the slaves, as compared with that of the liberated
Negroes of the British islands, was obvious and unquestionable.[380]
Some time in the forties, however, a commission was appointed at
Copenhagen to inquire into the state of the islands with a view to
emancipation. Moreover, there were constructed "seven large buildings
in different parts of the island to serve as chapels and schools for
the religious and literary instruction of the Negro population." Some
of the planters too were making "laudable exertions for the education
of their slaves in reading and in a knowledge of the Holy
Scriptures."[381] At the head of this system of schools was one
McFarlane, an intelligent and efficient man of color, who was
successfully disseminating information from plantation to
plantation.[382] The condition of the Negroes was thereby improved,
but this increasing knowledge instead of making them grateful to their
benefactors led them to appreciate freedom and to realize their power.

In 1848, therefore, came an upheaval long to be remembered. This
happened in St. Croix during the administration of Major General P.
von Scholten, a friend of the Negroes. King Christian VIII was induced
in the year 1847 to enact laws to emancipate the slaves in the Danish
West Indies. It was ordered that from the 28th of July, 1847, all
children born of slaves should be free and that at the end of twelve
years slavery should cease altogether. These decrees caused little joy
among the slaves. Discontent was generally shown. They were thereby
made more anxious to have freedom and to have it immediately. They,
therefore, plotted an insurrection which broke out in Frederiksted and
extended to the eastern part of the island.[383] It seemed that the
country Negroes were coming to town to plunder and destroy.

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