Moses A. Hopkins

Moses A. Hopkins
Hopkins in Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine (1885)
United States Minister to Liberia
In office
September 11, 1885 – August 7, 1886
PresidentGrover Cleveland
Preceded byJohn H. Smythe
Succeeded byCharles H. J. Taylor
Personal details
Born(1846-12-25)December 25, 1846
Montgomery County, Virginia, U.S.
DiedAugust 7, 1886(1886-08-07) (aged 39)
Liberia
Political partyDemocratic Party[1]
Alma materAuburn Theological Seminary
OccupationClergyman, educator, diplomat

Moses Aaron Hopkins (December 25, 1846 – August 7, 1886) was an African-American clergyman and educator who served as United States minister (ambassador) to Liberia in 1885–1886. He was the first formerly enslaved person to serve the United States in an ambassadorial / ministerial capacity.[2] He died while in Liberia.[1]

Hopkins, born enslaved in Montgomery County, Virginia, was moved near Newbern in 1850, and escaped to serve in Union camps as a cook.[2] He then briefly worked aboard steamships traversing the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.[3] After attending Avery College and graduating from Lincoln University as valedictorian in 1874, in 1877 he was the first black graduate of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York.[2][4] His graduating address "The Problem of Race Reconciliation in the South" was made all the more remarkable by the fact that ten years previously he could neither read nor write.[5] He settled in Franklinton, North Carolina on June 14, 1877, where he established a church and a school.[1][2] The school, known as Albion Academy, was among two dozen funded by the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen to educate formerly enslaved persons.[6][7] With his wife Carrie, he also founded the short-lived Freedmen’s Friend newspaper, bearing the masthead "The Organ of Albion Academy and Our Race".[4] Hopkins was first appointed minister to Liberia by President Grover Cleveland through a recess appointment and was later confirmed by the U.S. Senate.[8] He was appointed on September 11, 1885, departed October 21, and presented his credentials on December 14, 1885.[9][10][2] On August 7, 1886, he died of what was then known as “African fever”, sharing his fate with three other U.S. ministers to Liberia who died of tropical diseases between the years 1882 and 1893.[11] He was remembered at the time in the Indianapolis Journal as "an earnest laborer for the elevation of his race and the redemption of Africa."[12] Congress enacted an allowance of $2,500 to his widow, representing six months salary.[13]

On April 30, 2021, Hopkins was one of 71 "forgotten" names commemorated by the American Foreign Service Association as an on-duty death while in the foreign service.[14]

  1. ^ a b c Stopping Points (Moses A. Hopkins 1846-1886), Retrieved Nov. 4, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e Talmage, T. De Witt, ed. (July 1885). "Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine". 18 (1). Frank Leslie's Publishing House.: 556. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ "Moses Aaron Hopkins, – The Newly-Appointed Minister to Liberia". The River Press. Vol. 5, no. 52. Fort Benton, Mont. 21 October 1885. p. 7. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b Wegner, Ansley. "Hopkins, Moses Aaron". www.ncpedia.org. Research Branch, NC Office of Archives and History. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Items of Interest – School and Church". Dodge City Times. W.C. & Lloyd Shinn. 16 June 1877. p. 2. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  6. ^ Murphy, A. Melanie (June 1980). "North Carolina SP Savage, Dr. J. A., House". National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: North Carolina. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen". accessgenealogy.com. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  8. ^ Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, Volume XXV, Washington Government Printing Office (1901), page 52, Retrieved Nov. 4, 2015.
  9. ^ "Moses Aaron Hopkins". history.state.gov. Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Chiefs of Mission by Country, 1778-2005 – Liberia". 2001-2009.state.gov. Department Of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, The Office of Electronic Information. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  11. ^ Naland, John K. "America's Overlooked Diplomats and Consuls Who Died in the Line of Duty - sidebar MOSES A. HOPKINS". www.afsa.org. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  12. ^ "Minister Moses A. Hopkins". Indianapolis Journal. August 12, 1886. p. 5. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  13. ^ "United States Congressional Serial Set - Mary A Swift". 3627 (1411). U.S. Government Printing Office. July 7, 1898: 2. Retrieved 11 May 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ^ Brockell, Gillian (May 6, 2021). "State Dept. adds 71 historical names to plaque honoring on-duty foreign service deaths". Washington Post. Retrieved 11 May 2021.