SOME AFRO-AMERICAN WOMEN OF MARK.                  373

                  But in the dark unknown
                    Perfect their circles seem,
                  Even as a bridge's arch of stone
                    Is rounded in the stream."

  We could ill afford the loss of so able a member of our race.
His life was like the bright ray of light which occasionally flits
across the dark pathway of the weary traveler, and gives him
hope to labor on to the happy haven which awaits him beyond.

                  "Were a star quenched on high,
                    For ages would its light,
                  Still traveling downward from the sky,
                    Shine on our mortal sight.
                  So when a great man dies,
                    For years beyond our ken,
                  The light he leaves behind him lies
                    Upon the paths of men."

Philadelphia, Pa.



                               II.
                 SOME AFRO-AMERICAN WOMEN OF MARK.*

                   BY S. ELIZABETH FRAZIER.

  WE have heard and read much of men of mark of our race,
but comparatively little is known of able Afro-American women.
It is my delight to present brief sketches of the lives of "Some
Afro-American Women of Mark," having gained my information
concerning them from libraries, public and private, from cor-
respondence and from personal knowledge.
  Notwithstanding the obstacles that presented themselves to
Afro-American women, some of them, self-prompted, and in some
cases self-taught, have removed obstacles, lived down oppression
and fought their way nobly on to achieve the accomplishment
of their aim.
  Slavery was the greatest barrier in the way of progress to the
African race. History records the fact that slavery was intro-
duced in America in 1620, in Virginia.  The slave trade then
began by bringing slaves from Africa. This trade continued to
grow, and gradually spread throughout the Middle and New
England States, except Vermont. Boston, Mass., held her slave
markets in common with other cities. In the year 1761, a time
when slavery had reached its zenith, was seen one of the most
pitiable sights ever witnessed in the Boston slave market, that of
eighty girls, of various ages, brought from Africa, each snatched

 * A paper read before the Brooklyn Literary Union, February 16, 1892.
                                               
                                              




			

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, [Vol.08, Num. 4]

Some Afro-American Women of Mark

Elizabeth

Volume:  08
Issue Number:  04
Page Number:  373
Date:  04/1892