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James R. Starkey (ND-ND) http://tinyurl.com/JRStarkey

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The American Character

From Letter, 1852. Read Online

Reader: Daniel Maloney

California entered the union as a free state in 1850. Though California's record was not without blemish, many believed that the Golden State offered new opportunities for African Americans.

James R. Starkey—once a slave in North Carolina—travelled to California via Nicaragua in 1852. During a short stay in San Juan, he remarked on the American character of a group returning from California, a group which included a "colored young man."

I say, imagine my surprise when I saw the landlord (colored) walk up to him and take him by the collar, and say to him, in a loud and insulting tone, "I thought, by your appearance, that you had sense enough to know the American character better than to seat yourself at my first table." For this, he (the landlord) received quite a merited rebuke, not only from the colored young man, but also the "American characters" who were at the table manifested their disapprobation at his course. The young man, and those in company with him, left the house, and went to a hotel kept by a white man, and were entertained alike, without distinction.

During his travels to California, James R. Starkey sent letters to Frederick Douglass' Paper.