Alfred Fairfax
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Alfred Fairfax (1840 - 1916)

Reverend Alfred Fairfax
Born in Virginiamap
Son of and [mother unknown]
Brother of
Husband of — married before 2 Jul 1870 in Tensas, Louisiana, United Statesmap
[children unknown]
Died at about age 76 in Parsons, Labette, Kansas, United Statesmap
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Contents

Biography

Notables Project
Alfred Fairfax is Notable.

The Reverend Alfred Fairfax is remembered for being the first African-American elected to the Kansas State Assembly. He had first become known in Kansas through his widely reported resistance to suppression of Black voters in Louisiana and his efforts to establish a colony for Black settlers in Chautauqua County, Kansas. Later, he continued to enhance his statewide reputation as an eloquent and powerful orator and preacher as he remained active in church and political affairs into the honored twilight of a career considered remarkable for a self-educated former slave.

He was born in 1840 on a plantation owned by General George Rust.[1][2]

He was sold to Augustus E. Bass in Louisiana about 1859, but fled from his Myrtle Grove Plantation with other slaves and joined the Union Army in about 1863. He served with the Pioneer Corps (pick and shovel men) and learned to read with the help of an Army Sergeant.[1]

After the War, he returned to Tensas Parish, where he became a Minister of the Gospel by January 1867. By December 1868, he was officiating in the Baptist Church at Waterproof.[3]

He presumably married Sally before the census taken on 2 July 1870 where they are shown in the same household. Alfred and Sally may have had a child who did not live to adulthood; the 1870 census shows in their household a seven year old named George, who has not appeared in later records.[4]

During the Reconstruction years he was active in the Tensas Parish Republican Party.[5][6] As early as 1868, Alfred Fairfax was a member of the Tensas Parish Police Jury (Board of Supervisors) for the 6th Ward (Waterproof and vicinity).[7] Later as School Director for the Sixth Ward he promoted primary education and school construction.[8].

On January 24, 1876, Alfred Fairfax was appointed Assistant Appraiser of Merchandise at the New Orleans customs house.[9]

In 1878, he was back in Tensas Parish and running for Congress as a Republican. On October 12, a certain Captain John Peck led a group of at least 25 armed men to Fairfax’s house on the outskirts of Waterproof in an apparent attempt to discourage Fairfax's candidacy. During the melee that followed, Peck's men wounded two of Fairfax's friends—one of them fatally— and Peck himself was killed by a stray shot fired by one of his own men. Fairfax escaped unharmed. Men from Peck's band accused Fairfax of murdering Peck, and he and Sally fled to New Orleans to avoid being lynched. This was only the beginning of an invasion of armed groups totaling several hundred from neighboring parishes who intimidated Black voters morally and physically, thereby enabling those opposed to Reconstruction policies to steal the election of 1878 in Tensas Parish.[10] Fairfax was later cleared of all charges against him.[11]

As a result of this bulldozing, Blacks in Tensas and the rest of the Natchez District in Louisiana and Mississippi began to migrate in mass to Kansas, and became nationally known as the "Exodusters." The Kansans were not ready for such a massive influx, and many of the poor immigrants suffered and died from cold and hunger.[12] In July, the annual Convention of the colored Baptists of Louisiana assembled in New Orleans under the presidency of the Reverend Alfred Fairfax, and resolved: "That it is the sense of this Convention that it is our duty to encourage the migration of our people, provided, they are competent to pay their way and to support themselves for one year at their new homes."[13]

On 22 April 1879, back in Tensas Parish, Fairfax posted a $1,000 bond to guarantee his presence at a possible trial for the alleged murder of Captain James Peck.[14]

In 1880 Alfred Fairfax established the Little Cana Colony in Chautauqua County, Kansas for Black refugees from persecution in Tensas Parish, Louisiana, and elsewhere in the South. Fairfax owned 200 acres of land in the colony.[1][15][16]

Two years later, he had become well-known in the State and was a serious contender for the Republican nomination for Congressman at large.[17]

In 1888 he was elected Representative of Chautauqua County to the Kansas State Assembly for a two-year term. He was the first Black Representative to that Assembly where he was a forceful advocate for equal education for Blacks.[18]

For more than 25 years he was Pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church in Parsons, Kansas, and was recognized as one of the most eloquent and forceful preachers in all of the State. "He has had such success that his elegance and precision in the use of language would lead almost anyone to believe him possessed of a finished education. As a speaker, he is forcible and eloquent to a degree surpassed by few men, black or white, in the State."[19][20][21][22]

In 1904, the Parsons Board of Education began discussing solutions for overcrowding in the city's elementary school classrooms. Their preferred solution was to build a new school for Black children who had been crowded into separate classrooms in predominately white schools. Reverend Fairfax led the fight against that plan for two years at the local and State levels. He had no doubt hoped to see complete integration of the schools in his lifetime, but stated his views conservatively in a letter to the Parsons Daily Sun:

I am now and have been, during all my public life, opposed to separate public schools for the education of youths of different races who are the citizens of the same country, and who are required to bear an equal portion of the burden of taxation, and share equal responsibilities sustaining and defending the government in peace and war, regardless of color or nationality. And if we are to have separate schools for the Negro, why not have a separate school for the Irish, the Swede, the Italian and all the nationalities that make up the great American citizenship? If we are to live together, work together, do business together, protect the lives and property of each other as loyal citizens of this great country, and if all this is to be done in peace, (and it must be done in peace in order to become the patriotism of each citizen), then let the children of all races be educated together, and they will better understand each other.[23]

But victory in that struggle was postponed until the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas in 1954.

Fairfax retired in 1912 and preached his last sermon as Minister of the Good Hope Baptist Church on April 14, but continued in demand as guest preacher for several years.[24][25] He passed away in 1916.[26]


Slave Owners

1. General George Rust

2. Gus Bass

Research Notes

Alfred Fairfax may have had an older brother. The 1885 Kansas State Census shows a man named Haman Fairfax, his wife Angeline, and a daughter Millie aged 11. Haman's household was listed just before Alfred Fairfax. Haman owned 40 acres of land in the colony.[16] He was not shown in the 1895 State Census, and may have participated in the Oklahoma land rush of 1889 or 1893.[27][28][29]

Sources

Unless otherwise indicated, newspaper articles were obtained from images supplied by Newspapers.com citing Louisiana State University and the Kansas State Historical Society.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Western Baptist, 6 Feb 1889, Page 6, citing The American Citizen, accessed 12 Aug 2019.
  2. ↑ Rockland, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/053-0096/, accessed 30 Jul 2021.
  3. ↑ Ziegler, Edith, Tensas Parish Marriages 1867, Tensas Parish, Louisiana, Extracted from the Official Marriage Records Book B, Tensas Parish Courthouse for US GenWeb, http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/tensas/vitals/marriages/m1867.txt, and http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/tensas/vitals/marriages/m1868.txt
  4. ↑ 1870 US Census; 6th Ward, Tensas Parish, Louisiana; Page 18, Subdivision 105.
  5. ↑ New Orleans Republican (New Orleans) October 19, 1870.
  6. ↑ The North Louisiana Journal (St. Joseph, Louisiana) May 4, 1872.
  7. ↑ The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) June 3, 1868.
  8. ↑ The North Louisiana Journal (St. Joseph, Louisiana) August 24, 1872.
  9. ↑ The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) January 25, 1876.
  10. ↑ U.S. Congress, Senate, Report of the United States Committee to Inquire into Alleged Frauds and Violence in the Elections of 1878, with the Testimony and Documentary Evidence, 2 vols., 45th Cong., 3d sess., Senate Report 855, Washington, 1879; Vol 1,169-355 and 453-484; Vol 2, 763-764. https://ia802705.us.archive.org/4/items/reportofsenateco01unit/reportofsenateco01unit.pdf, retrieved August 13. 2018.
  11. ↑ The Topeka State Journal (Topeka, Kansas) 8 Jun 1882, Page 4 accessed on 11 Aug 2019
  12. ↑ Painter, Nell Irvin. Exodusters : Black Migration to Kansas After Reconstruction. Paperback ed. New York: Norton, 1992. First published in New York: Knopf, 1977.
  13. ↑ The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana) · 12 Jul 1879, Page 2, accessed on 7 Jul 2019
  14. ↑ The North Louisiana Journal, Saint Joseph, Louisiana, 26 Apr 1879, Sat • Page 3
  15. ↑ 1880 US Census; Little Cana, Chautauqua, Kansas; Page 13, District 2/73.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Kansas State Census, 1885," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQ3-6T2D?cc=1825188&wc=W8BZ-DHD%3A1597322345%2C1597342830 : accessed 1 August 2021), Chautauqua > Little Cana Township > image 31 of 82; citing Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka.
  17. ↑ The Topeka Daily Capital (Topeka, Kansas) 30 Jun 1882, Page 5, accessed on Aug 19, 2019
  18. ↑ The Topeka Daily Capitol (Topeka, Kansas) 6 Dec, 1888, Page 7, accessed 11 Aug 2019.
  19. ↑ The Independent Kansan (Independence, Kansas)7 June 1882.
  20. ↑ The Topeka Plain Dealer (Topeka, Kansas) 20 Oct 1911, pages 1 and 7, accessed 14 July 2019.
  21. ↑ Parsons Daily Eclipse (Parsons, Kansas) · 28 Oct 1908, Wed · Page 6, accessed Jun 1, 2020
  22. ↑ The Topeka Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas) 17 Mar 1916, Page 3, accessed 3 Jun 2020
  23. ↑ The Topeka Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas) 20 May 1904, citing the Parsons Daily Sun.
  24. ↑ Parsons Daily Eclipse (Parsons, Kansas) · April 12, 1912.
  25. ↑ The Topeka Plaindealer (Topeka, Kansas) · 30 Jan 1914, Page 4, accessed on 3 Jun2020
  26. ↑ The Parsons Daily Sun (Parsons, Kansas) 11 Mar 1916, Page 5, accessed 14 Jun 2019.
  27. ↑ "Kansas State Census, 1895." Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org: accessed August 22, 2019. Citing Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka.
  28. ↑ Stan Hoig, "Land Run of 1889," The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=LA014. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  29. ↑ Alvin O. Turner, "Cherokee Outlet Opening," The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CH021. retrieved April 12, 2020.

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