- Humphreys parents sent the adolescent Richard and his brother to Pennsylvania to apprentice with a gold and silversmith
- Richard Humphreys eventually started a successful career as a silversmith
- Humphreys' silver crafts can be found today in several museums of fine arts
REFERENCES PREZI SLIDE 15
The
Legacy
of
Richard Humphreys
Patricia Dukes
Cheyney University, Cheyney, PA
This became the Institute for Colored Youth, the forerunner of the Cheyney University we know today
- Humphreys was the fourth of his father's five children
- Humphreys was born to his father's second wife
- Humphreys was raised in the Quaker faith
REFERENCES
- We must assume that what Richard Humphreys saw of the slave trade on Tortola molded his thinking as an adult
- In addition, Humphreys witnessed several violent race riots in the city of Philadelphia, his adopted home
- Humphreys parents were slave holders on the island Tortola
- The Humphreys family flourished growing coffee and sugar using the labor of 10,000 slaves
- Humphreys father held the prominent position of Overseer in the Quaker Meeting House in 1741.
Slavery in the British Virgin Islands. Retrieved from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_British_Virgin_Islands
Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Hot Water Urn. (2015). Retrieved from
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/72062.html
Barton, L. The Sunnyside of Spencer Butte: Quakers in the British Virgin Islands. Retrieved from http://westbynorthwest.org/artman/publish/printer_1387.shtml
James, A. E. (1962) Richard Humphreys and Cheyney State College. Friends Journal: Quaker Thought and Life Today, vol. 8, no. 8. (2015)
Retrieved from http://www/friendsjournal.org
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania Exploring a National Treasure Part 1. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.cheyney.edu/about-cheyney-university/documents/RichardHumphreys_QuakerPhilanthropist.pdf
- After seeing many African Americans lose employment to more skilled immigrants, Humphreys became convinced that education was the key to improving the lives of Negroes
- Humphreys died in 1832 and bequeathed $10,000 to establish the Quaker-controlled African Institute to teach young boys and girls the skills they needed to be more competitive in the job market
REFERENCES PREZI SLIDE 15
TITLE PREZI SLIDE 1
England: The Seat of the British Empire
PREZI SLIDE 2
- Many Quakers in England, the British Virgin Islands and North America gradually came to accept that their religious teachings were in direct conflict with the slave trade
- Some Quakers participated in the anti-slavery movement in England and North America, while others Quakers did not, fearing retribution
- We don't know what position the Humphreys parents took
PREZI SLIDE 14
PREZI SLIDE 11
PREZI SLIDE 3
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
PREZI SLIDE 10
REFERENCES PREZI SLIDE 15
Tortola, the British Virgin Islands
PREZI SLIDE 12
- Richard Humphreys was born in 1750, and
- Raised on the Island of Tortola in a Quaker colony
PREZI SLIDE 4
The African Slave Trade
- During the middle part of the 1700's, the British Virgin Islands (of which Tortola was a main body) had been settled by a number of distinguished Quakers, some of whom were fundamentally opposed to slavery
- Some Quakers, such as John C. Lettsome and Samuel Nottingham freed all of their slaves; other Quakers continued to keep slaves but treated them less harshly
PREZI SLIDE 13
PREZI SLIDE 5
PREZI SLIDE 6
PREZI SLIDE 7
The Legacy of Richard Humphreys
PREZI SLIDE 8
TITLE PREZI SLIDE 1