Lewis Woodson and the Seven Letters: Education and Nineteenth-Century Black Nationalism

In seven letters written to Samuel Eli Cornish and Charles Bennett Ray’s Colored American newspaper between November 3, 1837, and January 25, 1838, African Methodist Episcopal pastor and activist Lewis Woodson outlined an expansive and radical vision for Black education that continued to undergird his future and better-known assertions about Black nationalism and separatism. The present article argues that following closely the rhetorical arc of those seven letters reveals that classical education was a fundamental aspect of Woodson’s nationalist beliefs, a prerequisite for Black identity, and a hopeful avenue to abolishing slavery and ending white oppression. The article’s novel approach to Woodson’s letters expands current understandings of Black nationalism in the nineteenth century and places the educational theorization of Woodson in a clearer context than past scholarly studies.