Jonathan Jasper Wright applies for a teaching job with the American Missionary Association - part 2
leaving Pennsylvania for South Carolina
What follows is my transcription of a letter from Jonathan Wright to the Rev. Strieby of the AMA, applying for a teaching position for Black students. The AMA sponsored hundreds of schools for Black children in the south in the years after the Civil War.
The original letters are part of the collection of the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University.
Wilkes-Barre
February 15th 1865
Mr. Strieby,
Dear Sir. Yours of the fourth was received one week since. The reason why I have not written sooner is, I have been attending a state convention which was held at our capital. To answer the first, I am now 24 years of age, not married. I have worked out by the month, six months in the year. The other [months], I have attended school till the last two years, -those years, I have been teaching. My object is the elevation of my race. I do not wish to engage for less than six months. Certainly, I would wish as [good] a situation as possible. But I am willing to make any sacrifice for the rebuilding of our race, who have been so long trodden down. As for my religious education. I have always had the advantages of the Sabbath school. have been a teacher therein for the last six years. The Rev. James Rayner of Springville will address you in a few days relative to my Christian standing. I have infirm parents who require some aid from me. My school closes here in six weeks. I would wish to enter the field of labor as soon as my school closes here. Yours with respect. Jonathan Jasper Wright.
Notes:
The state convention referred to above was the State Equal Rights Convention of the Colored People of Pennsylvania, held in Harrisburg, PA, on February 8-10, 1865. As discussed in last week’s note, Jonathan Jasper Wright was an active participant in this convention, despite being only 24 at the time.