In the history of American society, there were both gruesome and inhuman events and policies. There were times when people were not just denied of their human rights, but even of their human nature and inborn equality. Slavery and racial segregation are humiliating features of American history. Some might suggest that they should be forgotten and life should take its normal pace of democratic development. I think that by forgetting the gruesome past of the history, society is doomed to repeat it, and by rejecting the atmosphere people lived and died in, modern society is also forgetting sacrifices of those people, who contributed to the modern democracy and supremacy of human rights. If someone considered American history without its racial intolerance, institutionalized slavery and the Civil War, one would not comprehend the way this country was built and that American freedom was gained through sweat and blood of those enslaved and those fighting for their rights. In this context, one would not know who John Parker was and what was so significant about his life path and activity. If his personality was forgotten by history, it still would remain in memorable stories of grandchildren of those slaves he had saved. In the framework of all mentioned above, the main aim of the current paper is to outline what was so special about John Parker and his life achievements depicted in autobiography “His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P.Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad”. In this context, his life path is analyzed from four perspectives: personal accomplishments, public and economic achievements, secret activity in the Underground Railroad and contribution to the future of American society.
One of the main contributions to Parker’s development was his luck to be a servant boy in doctor’s family, where he had an opportunity to learn how to read and write. These were the most precious gifts he had ever received, since even basic education was opening new dimensions for his spiritual and moral growth (Parker 1996). He understood that knowledge might be a key to freedom. Irrespective of his position as a slave, Parker was using all opportunities to learn either new skills or potentially useful information. He early understood the true essence of slavery, “which was the making of human being as an animal without hope and that slavery’s curse was not pain of the body, but pain of the soul” (Parker 1996, 26). In this context, his greatest achievement was the survival of his spirit and concentration of his anger in the right direction – acquiring of new knowledge and skills which he would use when he was free. While working at foundry, he had a few unsuccessful escape attempts. The failures taught him that another approach should be applied, so he arranged his redemption by one of the doctor’s patients. In 1845, his freedom was worth of $1,800 (Parker 1996). He worked off each cent of that sum and returned it in full. Gaining freedom legitimately was his personal achievement, but how he used it afterwards was indeed remarkable. In public and economic spheres, he managed to gain respect, recognition and wealth, something black people had not experienced before (Parker 1996). Soon after gaining his freedom, Parker lived for a while in Jacksonville, Indiana, but the true joy was gained in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he met Miranda Boulden, whom he married in 1848. Their final destination was Ripley, where Parker combined his industrial and abolitionist activities.
Having a full family was another personal success of Parker. One more thing he needed was economic success and recognition of his social status. In this context, he started as a founder and later was able to buy his own foundry company in 1865, known as Ripley Foundry and Machine Company. The main activity included manufacturing of engines and various details for sugar mills (Parker 1996). The main feature was that Parker was not just good in managing his business but also applied his creativity in inventing various modifications, which he had patented. One of such patented inventions was his famous pulverizer. It would be unnecessary to say that he was one of the first black inventors patenting their devices. In the next decades, his business was growing, reaching the level of his own foundry plant in 1890 (Parker 1996).
It may seem that Parker’s successes in personal, social and economic fields were already inspiring and everything a man might want for a decent life and complete self-estimation; but there was something else Parker needed for the integrity of his soul and fulfillment of personal life goal. Having achieved unachievable in the country where millions of his brothers and sisters were enslaved, Parker could not stay ignorant to sufferings of people across the river Ohio. So his secret achievement and probably the most remarkable aspect of his life was an active participation in the Underground Railroad movement – helping escaped Southern slaves to get to the safe haven of the North (Parker 1996). The most remarkable of his underground activity was that, although he had so many things to lose if he were caught, Parker continued to cross the Ohio river and search for the escaped slaves on the other bank (Parker 1996). For 15 years, he was rushing through the night with a pistol in one and and Black Jack in another. If he was caught, he could have been murdered, imprisoned and even enslaved again. Each time he was leaving his house, could have been the last time he saw his family, so why would he risk everything he had? The only thing leading him was freedom of his choice. It was the same freedom of choice and life he wanted to share with other people like him.
For officials he was one of those numerous “midnight marauders”, but for escaped slaves, he was a conductor of light and hope for a better future. When he described the scared faces of those people on the other bank of the river and how they changed when they reached the House of Rev. John Rankin (leader of the local abolitionists) on the top of the hill, one would understand why he was doing this dangerous work. It was a matter of giving people hope for a better life they deserved by their birth and human nature. He was shaping modern American democratic values and spirit of freedom in those individuals and their children. Parker once said that he personally saved 400 people, but taking into account their next generations, he had saved the modern present (Parker 1996).
Another essential achievement of John Parker was his personal contribution to the development of the next generation of free and educated African-Americans. Not having a proper opportunity of legitimate education, both John and his wife were encouraging their children to get a good education. All of their six children had successfully graduated from school. The eldest sons Hale Giddings and Cassius Clay attended local Oberlin College and followed academic career afterwards. The middle son Horatio followed his brothers’ example and became school’s principal (Parker 1996). The three daughters Hortense, Portia and Bianca gained music education and progressed in the field of music teaching. From the first glance, giving college education to all their children might not seem remarkable from the present perspective, but, under conditions of slavery, having all children in the Afro-American family educated and successful in their career was equal to climbing the Everest.
Particular feature of the education, Parker’s children, had gained was that they acquired professions which were supposed to continue spreading of knowledge and actual enlightenment of other people. That knowledge was not only about studying and getting good grades or succeeding in life, the knowledge, Parker’s family was brining to the society, was a compression of equality and ability of everyone to achieve something in their lives, irrespective of skin color or historical background. John Parker’s success and achievements of his children were building what now is a strong middle class of American society.
The significance of John Parker’s life achievements is that he managed to live his life in its full capacity. The strength of his initial spirit of wisdom and freedom helped him to endure all hardships and not to lose hope. His strong conviction of what was right and wrong had contributed to his successful accomplishments as a social, public and abolitionist activist. Parker is a person to admire because, although he had gained everything through a hard-work, he was ready to sacrifice everything, including his own life in the name of the just cause. It was not that he did not love his family or did not care for losing his life, but it was about sharing the freedom he had finally gained with the people who dared to go for it in hell. From them haven was a society without slavery and racism, the American society of today.
Parker’s life was also remarkable because he understood that life was given once and that life without freedom was nothing. Only freedom could give him an ability to grow and contribute to his development and development of the surrounding social environment. Without freedom and people fighting for it, American democracy and values would have never been born. John Parker is not only a hero for those families whose ancestors he had saved; he is a hero of the whole American society, because he fought for American values and he contributed to their development through his own liberation, economic and social contribution, freeing other slaves and raising children to path his wisdom and vision of freedom to the next generations. In our turn, we remember his words of wisdom: “How I hated slavery as it fettered me, and beat me, and baffled my desires, but in the end that unknown ancestor of mine gave me the will and the courage to conquer or die” (Parker 1996, 25). We know who gave us inspiration to fight for freedom and our beliefs; his name was John Parker, a man of wisdom and strong will.
Reference
John, P. Parker. 1996. His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P.Parker, Former
Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad. ed. Sprague, S.S. New York,
NY: W.W. Norton.
