Henry Highland Garnet, Abolitionist

1843

Like Nat Turner, Henry Highland Garnet was born into slavery. He escaped with his family from the Darby Plantation in Kent County, Maryland, and later became an abolitionist and minister. In 1843, at the National Negro Convention in Buffalo, New York, Garnet delivered a message to free and enslaved African Americans alike. Arguing that it was a sin to submit to slavery, Garnet referenced rebels like Denmark Vesey, Nat Turner, Joseph Cinqué, and Madison Washington, and urged his enslaved brethren to “trust in the living God,” fight for their liberation, and “Let your motto be resistance! Resistance! RESISTANCE!”