1855 BLACK ABOLITIONIST ARGUES DISUNION OF AMERICA TO FIGHT SLAVERY Rev. Hodges

1855 BLACK ABOLITIONIST ARGUES FOR DISSOLVING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. DISUNION OUR WISDOM AND OUR DUTY. (New York): (American Anti-Slavery Society), [1855]. [Sabin, Americana 32338; not in Work]. Original printed self-wrappers (7.5 x 4.5 inches), 12 pages, sewn (as issued). Near fine condition, with the covers bright and crisp. One scholar notes, Two other Black disunionists are worthy of note. Disunion Our Wisdom and Our Duty. Hodges, a Baptist preacher in Brooklyn and the son of free Black Virginians, argued that destroying the existing Union was a necessary first step towards securing a more perfect union promised in the Constitution. - Kreitner, Break it Up: Secession, note.

A very rare anti-slavery tract by an African-American abolitionist. Hodges was born in 1819 to well-to-do African American Virginians. His family moved to Brooklyn, New York, in the 1830s after his brother William was accused of forging free papers for slaves, leading to the persecution of his father. He became involved in the abolition movement and the struggle for African American suffrage in New York State and was a delegate to the National Black Convention in Philadelphia in 1855.

Returning to Virginia after the American Civil War, he served in the Virginia House of Delegates, representing Norfolk County and Portsmouth from 1869 to 1871. He failed to win reelection after his term. Three of his brothers were also involved in Reconstruction politics. Charles Hodges died in 1910.