The incredible story of a forgotten hero--a former slave, Yale scholar,
minister, and international leader of the Antebellum abolitionist
movement
At the age of 19, scared and illiterate, James Pennington, escaped from
slavery in 1827 and soon became one of the leading voices against
slavery prior to the Civil War. Just 10 years after his escape,
Pennington was ordained as a priest after studying at Yale and was soon
traveling all over the world as an anti-slavery advocate. He was so well
respected by European audiences that the University of Heidelberg
awarded him an honorary doctorate, making him the first person of
African descent to receive such a degree. This treatment was a far cry
from his home across the Atlantic, where people like him, although no
longer slaves, were still second-class citizens.
As he fought for equal rights in America, Pennington's voice was not
limited to the preacher's pulpit. He wrote the first-ever "History of
the Colored People" as well as a careful study of the moral basis for
civil disobedience, which would be echoed decades later by Gandhi and
Martin Luther King, Jr. More than a century before Rosa Parks took her
monumental bus ride, Pennington challenged segregated seating in New
York City street cars. He was beaten and arrested, but eventually
vindicated when the New York State Supreme Court ordered the cars to be
integrated. Although the struggle for equality was far from over,
Pennington retained a delightful sense of humor, intellectual vivacity,
and inspiring faith through it all. American to the Backbone brings to
life this fascinating, forgotten pioneer, who helped lay the foundation
for the contemporary civil rights revolution and inspire generations of
future leaders.
