Primary Sources: The Secret Slave Revolt That Started the Civil Rights Movement
The story of the Underground Railroad, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer and Emmitt Till begins with a national slave revolt.
Instead of untold stories from Black history, ContrabandCamp’s Primary Sources series shares pure, uncut and rarely told stories from the past straight from the primary source.
Some stories don’t need whitewashing.
Of all the stories of Black history, the story of Moses Dickson might be the greatest untold tale of all.
Rev. Moses Dickson was born in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, April 5th, 1824.
He learned the barber's profession with the well-known William Darnes. While learning the tonsorial art, he attended school, and mastered all the branches of study that were taught in that early day. At the age of sixteen he felt a desire to see the South. He embarked on a steamboat, and traveled for three years, on various boats, upon the different southern rivers and bayous.
In these travels he saw slavery in all its horrors; he witnessed such scenes of monstrous cruelty as caused his African blood to boil with suppressed indignation at the sight of the outrageous suffering of his people. What he saw in these three years made a lasting impression on his heart, and he became a life-foe to the slave-owner, the slave-driver and the slave-trader. In his travels he made the acquaintance of a few true and trusty young men, who were ready to enter into any plan that would assure freedom to the African race …They resolved to take two years to study out a plan, and meet in the City of St. Louis, Mo., the second Tuesday in the month of August, 1846, to prepare for business.
On the second Tuesday in August, as per agreement, twelve men assembled in the second story of an old brick house, on the southeast corner of Green and Seventh streets. (The name of Green St. has since been changed to Lucas Ave.) They were just the kind of men to carry to success the secret and great work of obtaining liberty for the bondsmen. Mr. Dickson read his plan for operating, and, after a very careful discussion of all its parts, it was adopted. Organizations were secretly to be made in the Southern States. None but reliable, fearless men were to be enrolled. The organizers were to carefully pick the men that were courageous, patient, temperate, and possessed of sound common sense. This was what was required in every man that was enrolled.
The oath that bound them together was so binding that it could not be broken. One feature of it was: “I can die, but I cannot reveal the name of any member until the slaves are free.”
Ten years was the time fixed on to open battle for freedom.
After the meeting, the “Twelve Knights of Liberty” went back to their respective states and began planning. In the meantime, Dickson’s group began helping enslaved people escape bondage. But instead of fleeing to free states or Canada, the escapees would be sworn to secrecy as “Knights of Liberty” and relocate to slave states where they helped free more enslaved people. The clandestine network of Knights’ became the infrastructure for the Underground Railroad in the Midwest
Perhaps the best example of the Knights’ bravery was their work as security guards for the outspoken publisher of an abolitionist newspaper, The True American. The newspaper owner was an outspoken anti-slavery Kentucky senator who carried three pistols at all times and once stabbed his pro-slavery political opponent in the eye during a debate But after three assassination attempts, he carried three pistols with him at all times, moved to Cincinnati and hired the Knights to protect him. Even if you’ve never heard of him, you know his name. His namesake was once one of the most famous men on planet Earth:
But what about the “battle” to “secure freedom for the African race?” Well, a few months before his death on Nov. 18, 1901, Dickson revealed that the Knights’ true intentions:
A nationwide slave revolt.
The “strained” relations Dickson mentioned had nothing to do with the Civil War.
On April 30, 1858, a group of Black men gathered inside the office of a Black newspaper in Chatham, Ontario, for a masonic meeting. A few hours later, a scraggly white hobo hopped off a boxcar and entered the same office. Because of his signature long, Black coat, everyone immediately recognized him.
It was John Brown.
Ostensibly, Brown was in town to aid in the formation of a Masonic lodge for Chatham Blacks. However, the influential Blacks in town such as Isaac Holden, a politician, Alfred Whipper, a teacher, Dr. Martin Delany and Shadd knew Brown had much bigger plans in mind.
The meetings Brown planned over the next week were designed to create a constitution that would in his words “seek to abolish by sword and fire the terrible sin of slavery.”
In pursuit of this radical action, Brown hoped to assemble in Chatham the groundwork for a wild scheme that would see war waged upon southern U.S. plantations, with troops consisting of an ever-growing number of freed slaves that Brown planned to continually increase in his war of liberation.
Dickson tried to convince Brown to slow down because the Knights of Liberty had a better plan, but Brown wouldn’t listen.
Soon after John Brown’s attack ruined the Knights’ plan, the Civil War broke out. For years, historians wondered where John Brown got the men from Harper’s Ferry. But in 1858, Black people across the country had heard stories and rumors about the Knights of Liberty, including Booker T. Washington:
In addition to those I have already mentioned, there is evidence that there was a pretty well-organised body of coloured people engaged in the Underground Railroad extending the whole length of the Great Lakes from Detroit, Michigan, to Buffalo, New York. This organisation was known as the “Liberty League.” John Brown was well acquainted with the members of this organisation and, when he held his famous “convention” at Chatham, Canada, shortly before the raid on Harper’s Ferry, it was from the ranks of this organisation that he drew, in all probability, the largest number of his members.
— Booker T. Washington, The Story of the Negro
Dickson continued to lead Cincinnati’s Underground Railroad, but the Knights wanted more smoke. They were eager to get involved in the war against slavery, but Lincoln had forbidden the Union Army from enlisting Black people. As usual, Dickson had a plan. He was going to convince Lincoln to let the Knights (and all Black men) fight for their freedom. And he knew someone who could help:
His old friend Cassius Clay.
By 1862, Cassius Clay was in Europe working as Lincoln’s ambassador to Russia when Lincoln summoned him back to Washington to ask Clay for a favor.
Soon Lincoln sent for me, and said: "I have been thinking of what you said to me, but I fear if such proclamation of emancipation was made Kentucky would go against us; and we have now as much as we can carry."
I replied: "You are mistaken. The Kentuckians have heard this question discussed by me for a quarter of a century; and have all made up their minds. Those who intend to stand by slavery have already joined the rebel army; and those who remain will stand by the Union at all events. Not a man of intelligence will change his ground."
Lincoln then said: "The Kentucky Legislature is now in session. Go down, and see how they stand, and report to me.”
I returned by way of Cincinnati to Washington, handed a copy of my speech to Lincoln, and made a verbal report of my visit to the State of Kentucky and the Kentucky Legislature. Lincoln said but little; but, on the 22d day of September, 1862, issued his immortal Proclamation of Freedom for the slaves in all the rebel States.
— Cassius Marcellus Clay, Memoirs Writings and Speeches
By the time Clay returned to Washington, Lincoln had already written a draft of a document that would free enslaved people in the Confederate states. But after meeting with Clay, Lincoln made a stunning revision to the Emancipation Proclamation:
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
— Emancipation Proclamation
Kentucky newspapers noted that “Mr. Clay was among the foremost to urge upon Mr. Lincoln the measure of emancipation.” However, there is a reason why Clay felt the need to mention that he returned to Washington “by way of Cincinnati.” According to Dickson, the only way to convince Lincoln to let the Knights join the Union cause was to reveal the group’s existence to a few white men.
After the Civil War, Dickson really got busy. He became an ordained minister and helped found the Lincoln Institute, Missouri’s first historically Black college. He funded a mass exodus to the Midwest called the “Exoduster movement” and, in 1872, he changed the name of the “Knights of Liberty” and expanded membership to include women.
In 1882, this report appeared in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat covering Dickson’s address to the “The International Order of the Knights of Twelve and Daughters of Tabor”:
This is now the strongest colored order in America and has over 1,200 members in St. Louis. The total numerical strength of the order is 7,000 in twelve states. Since it has been founded, over $500,000 have been paid to the heirs of deceased members. Mr. Dickson’s visit here is to exemplify the secret work and deliver addresses. He leaves tomorrow for the South.
By 1890, the Knights of Tabor had more members than the NAACP, and Dickson was one of the most important religious, political and civic leaders in America. On July 22, 1890 the St. Joseph News Press wrote this:
The Knights of Tabor institution was born in Galena, Ill., in 1855. Rev. Moses Dickson, a very intelligent and eloquent Methodist clergyman, being the founder. … There are now nearly 100,000 members of the order, and the United States are divided into seven jurisdiction ... There are over 100 temples and fully 8,000 members in this jurisdiction.
Tens of thousands of people paid $2 per year to be members of the Taborian Knights. Aside from paying for funerals, funding HBCUs and helping Black people escape the racial terrorism of the South, The Call explained what the Taborian Knights did with all that money on March 20 1942:
$100,000 Taborian Hospital Open in Negro Town
MOUND BAYOU, Miss. — (ANP) — More than 10,000 interested persons flocked to the dedicatory exercises surrounding the new $100,000 hospital recently built here by the Knights and Daughters of Tabor. One of the finest hospitals in the South, and the second hospital of its kind in the state…
Dedicatory exercises were held in Mound Bayou High School auditorium where Mayor Benjamin Green, Dr. W. W. Hall, white physician; T. J. Huddleston, founder and custodian of Afro-American hospital at Yazoo City; P. M. Smith, chief grand mentor of the Taborians; C. A. Smith, chief grand scribe; Dr. Merritt, local white physician; Dr. Sisson, Dr. Delaine of Greenville, Miss., and Dr. S. P. Williams, dentist, lauded the achievements of the Taborian lodge in realizing its 53-year-old dream. The lodge has a 25,000 membership gathered from all corners of Mississippi.
The hospital, so designed that it can be enlarged from six points if the need arises, is said to be able to serve a large portion of the Mississippi Delta’s 50,000 Negro inhabitants. At present, its capacity serves 90 patients. It has been in operation since February 1, and to date has seven patients.
On the staff of the new hospital are Dr. T. M. Howard, Nashville; Dr. P. M. George, Mound Bayou; Dr. W. L. Smith, Clarksdale, Miss.; Miss K. C. Dandridge, RNA, and the only woman to hold a degree in anesthesia, superintendent and anesthetist; Miss Mary Gray, RN, general duty nurse; Mrs. Annie M. Riddles, RN, general duty nurse, and Mrs. Miriam Porter, laboratory technician.
The Taborian Hospital was the first hospital built exclusively for and by Black people.
Located in Mound Bayou, Miss. — an all-Black town founded by formerly enslaved people — the state-of-the-art facility was built by America’s oldest Black architecture firm, McKissack & McKissack.
On June 25, 1941, a group of Black activists forced Franklin Roosevelt to sign Executive Order 8802, desegregating the defense industry.
As white-owned firms made millions off projects helping to prepare for World War II, McKissack used its work on the Taborian Hospital to win a lucrative government contract. On Nov. 7, 1941, The Call told the story:
The Tuskegee Airmen were the direct descendants of the Knights of Twelve’s slave revolt. Meanwhile, there is another Mound Bayou resident and Taborian Knights member who just might be the most important figure in the long history of the struggle for equal rights:
Dr. Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard.
As soon as Mason moved to Mound Bayou to serve as the Taborian Hospital’s chief surgeon, he began recruiting a new generation of Knights of Liberty. As one of the wealthiest Black man in the state, Howard hired a young couple named Myrlie and Medgar Evers to work at his insurance company. He founded the Regional Council of Negro Leadership to train activists from around the country, including a young sharecropper named Fannie Lou Hamer and the founders of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. After returning from India, a young organizer named Bayard Rustin came to the RCNL annual conference to teach a technique called “nonviolent resistance.” Howard traveled the country to spread the idea that abortion was a constitutional right. Howard’s "Don't Buy Gas Where You Can't Use the Restroom" movement to desegregate gas stations served as the template for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
And, despite living in Jim Crow Mississippi, according to the Dec. 11, 1954 Pittsburgh Courier, Howard was not afraid of white people.
On August 28, 1955, the residents of Mound Bayou began to hear about a missing boy in nearby Money, Miss.
Everyone knew who’d done it, but no one was willing to talk. There was only one person in the state who could get to the bottom of what happened:
T.R.M. Howard.
Remember, the Emmett Till trial happened barely three weeks after his body was found. With white supremacists intimidating witnesses throughout the state, Emmett’s mom, Mamie Till, the Black press, and even witnesses gathered at the Howard compound in a desperate hunt to discover the truth:
We got a spine-tingling phone call from Dr. T.R.M. Howard, Mound Bayou surgeon and perhaps Mississippi's foremost Negro civil rights leader. His information: Two Negro workers had vanished on a Milam-owned [J.W. Milam, one of the men accused of killing Till] plantation. One was reported to have knowledge of the crime. What it was no one knew.
The next day we heard reports that other Negroes were being "jailed" or whisked away from area plantations. Why this sudden exit we still didn't know, but we had ideas. But it was not only difficult, it was dangerous to try to track down some of the stories, the section being so hostile to intruders. We continued attending the trial and awaiting further word from Dr. Howard.
Finally, on the day that the state presented its first witness, aging Rev. Mose Wright, things began to happen. A Negro plantation worker, on the pretense of going to church, made his way to Dr. Howard and told him a hair-raising account. He knew of the whereabouts of a group of Negroes who not only had seen Till being carried on a truck into a barn, but later had heard someone beaten and cry for mercy.
The witness was Willie Reed:
After Till’s killers were acquitted by an all-white jury, Mamie and Howard traveled the country telling the story. A month after the trial, The Alabama Tribune reported that the Omega Psi Phi chapter in Montgomery invited Howard to speak at its Achievement Week program.
Howard spoke about the brutality of white supremacy and called on the government to end segregation. He explained how he had organized a boycott that forced businesses across the state to change. He even proposed a radical idea, according to the Dec. 8 edition of the Black Dispatch:
The event was held at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, which had just hired a new, relatively unknown pastor. Also in attendance, was a young woman who would make headlines four days later:
Four days before she made her bus stand, Rosa Parks attended a packed mass meeting at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to hear Dr. T.M. Howard speak. A key organizer around the Emmett Till case, Howard had helped locate witnesses, and Emmett’s mother Mamie Till had stayed at his house during the trial. Howard had come before a packed mass meeting in Montgomery because the two men who had killed Till, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam, had been acquitted by an all-white jury, and Howard was touring to raise attention. Parks was filled with anger and despair as she listened to Howard describe the lynching of Emmett Till and the killings of Mississippians George Lee and Lamar Smith for trying to register to vote. Dexter Avenue’s young pastor, a 26 year old Martin Luther King, hosted the meeting, introducing Howard and giving the benediction.
— The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks
Exactly 111 years after Dickson introduced his “plan that would assure freedom to the African race,” the modern Civil Rights Movement had begun.
We are all children of the Knights of Liberty.
You are a truly great teacher.
Thank you for this work. 👏🏼