Like Morgan Freeman, I am not a fan of <Whatever> History Month. Why should the selected groups’ history be relegated to a single month? American History is every group’s history.
That said, I had the opportunity to visit a neighboring county’s Genealogical Society meeting the other night and the presenter discussed two men who made an impact in Alabama in the 1800s. While I may have forgotten the name of the first person, I remembered much of his story. His name was Horace King and he was known as The Bridge Builder.
Horace was born into slavery in 1807 near Cheraw, SC, and was later sold to a John Godwin who was a builder. He saw Horace’s intelligence and taught him to read and write, something illegal at the time. Godwin also taught him how to build bridges and buildings. Together, they built many bridges and buildings. Godwin was so impressed by Horace’s innate abilities that he sent Horace off to Oberlin College in Ohio to study engineering. Upon returning, he and Godwin built the courthouses of Muscogee County, Georgia, and Russel County, Alabama.
After building the bridge connecting Columbus, GA to Phenix City, AL across the Chattahoochee, Godwin, and his family moved to Phenix City, taking Horace with them. Horace married a free woman of color in 1839 which was highly unusual at the time. The legal status of the mother determined whether the children were born free or slaves. In 1844, Robert Jemison Jr., an Alabama state legislator invested with several others to have bridges built near Steens, MS which was completely designed and supervised by Horace. As a result, Jemison successfully pushed through legislation to purchase Horace’s freedom. There are disputes over whether Godwin took the money or not and later, Horace claimed to have purchased his own freedom. In the 1850s, Horace bought a slave named J. Sella Martin and allegedly sold him after flogging Martin which did not help subdue Martin. By 1860, Horace was one of the wealthiest men in Alabama. He is credited with building what was rare at the time, a floating-spiral staircase that is still in use at the Alabama State Capital.
Another dispute in his history revolves around his Civil War participation. Either way, he was pressed into service as a confederate and forced to aid the southern cause by destroying bridges to prevent the Union from using them. He also designed and built at least one ironclad ship, the CSS Muscogee. King later served two terms as a Republican in the Alabama State Legislature. He died in LaGrange, GA where a large monument was erected in dedication to his great work. His five children learned the trade and had a very successful business. [i] [ii]
The other person she discussed was Reverend Shandy Wesley Jones, a quadroon (1/4 Black) as his father was likely either Llewellyn Jones or one of Llewellyn’s sons. He was born on 20 Dec 1816. Shandy’s mother was a Mulatto (1/2 Black). It was said that Shandy could pass for white his whole life. Shandy, his mother, Elizabeth, and two sisters, Ann and Evalina, were freed when Shandy was only four. How Shandy became educated is unknown but he was literate. In the 1820s there were only about 500 free persons of color out of a population of about 127,000. Shandy went on to marry Evalina Love, the daughter of a Choctaw Indian and one of his slaves. When they married, it is the only recorded non-white marriage in Tuscaloosa, AL for that era.
Shandy became a barber and set up shop directly across the street from the upscale Washington Hotel in Tuscaloosa, charging white customers, $0.25 per haircut and shave. He was also involved in getting churches built for slaves and free persons of color. He supported the idea of setting up a colony in Africa for former slaves called Liberia. He was known for buying slaves and later granting them their freedom. He most likely worked them to cover the cost of buying another slave before letting the first go. He too became extremely wealthy.
One of his sons, William H. Jones, served for three years in the Confederate Navy. Meanwhile, Shandy was helping to start Hunter’s Chapel, AME Zion Church, formerly known as the Freedman Methodist Society Chapter. After the war, he also served as a Republican Representative. Life became difficult for him and all the recently freed people and he was forced to flee in the middle of the night to catch a train for Mobile, AL. There, his wife dies and he remarries, this time to a white woman.
President Grant appoints him to a position at the Mobile Custom House where he is quickly promoted to Inspector. He held that position for 13 years. He also pastored Little Zion AME Zion Church. He dies in 1886 just after attending a long night of singing, praying, and gospel reading. [iii] [iv]
[i] http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1245
[ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_King_%28architect%29#cite_ref-18
[iii] https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/news/local/2017/01/29/freedmans-life-after-liberty-shandy-jones-timeline/22585014007/