A Plea For Africa : A Sermon preached October 26, 1817, in the First Presbyterian Church in the city of New-York, before the Synod of New-York and New-Jersey, at the request of the Board of Directors of the African School established by the Synod. 76pp. Rare original blue wrappers, with simple printed title on front wrapper. First Edition.
Scarce. We could locate no copy sold at auction since 1982
The Presbyterian Church founded a short-lived school in New Jersey for the Christian education of Negro clergymen who would be missionaries to projected African settlements of the new Colonization movement. Griffin describes at length this pioneering project of African-American education, but most remarkable is his 11-page list of 54 “distinguished” Blacks and “Mulattoes”, past and present, who had distinguished themselves in scientific and other pursuits, including Phyllis Wheatley, Benjamin Banneker, Prince Saunders and others “now living in the United States”.
