Henry Highland Garnet was an American abolitionist, minister, educator, orator, and diplomat. Having escaped as a child from slavery in Maryland with his family, he grew up in New York City. He was educated at the African Free School and other institutions, and became an advocate of militant abolitionism. He became a minister and based his drive for abolitionism in religion.
Lithograph of African Free School which Garnet attended
Garnet served as pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., from 1864 to 1866. The church is shown here as it was in about 1899.
The Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church today.
The African Free School was a school for children of slaves and free people of color in New York City. It was founded by members of the New York Manumission Society, including Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, on November 2, 1787. Many of its alumni became leaders in the African-American community in New York.
Lithograph of second school, 1922, after an 1830 engraving from a drawing by student Patrick H. Reason