Charles Bennett Ray was a prominent African-American abolitionist, the owner and editor of the weekly newspaper The Colored American

Colored American

The Colored American was a name used by two 19th century weekly African-American newspapers: one that was published in New York City from 1836 to 1842 by Samuel Cornish, Phillip Bell, and Charles Bennett Ray, and one that was published in Washington, D.C. from 1893 to 1904...

, and a notable journalist and clergyman.

Early life and education

Born a free man in Falmouth, Massachusetts

Falmouth, Massachusetts

Falmouth is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States; Barnstable County is coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 31,531 at the 2010 census....

, Ray was the son of mail carrier Joseph Aspinwall Ray and his wife Annis Harrington. He attended Wesleyan Seminary in Wilbraham, Massachusetts

Wilbraham, Massachusetts

Wilbraham is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is also a suburb of the City of Springfield, Massachusetts and part of the Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,868 at the 2010 census...

 studying theology, and then in 1832 enrolled as the first black student at Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 in Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown, Connecticut

Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...

 although his enrollment was revoked less than two months later after white students protested. He moved to New York City in 1832 and opened a boot and shoe store.

Ministry

Ray became a Methodist minister and later a Congregational minister, serving as pastor of two predominately white churches in New York City, Crosby Congregational Church and Bethesda Congregational Church. Ray was a strong supporter of the temperance movement

Temperance movement

A temperance movement is a social movement urging reduced use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence , or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation or complete prohibition of alcohol.-Temperance movement by...

, and was a member of the American Missionary Association

American Missionary Association

The American Missionary Association was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on September 3, 1846 in Albany, New York. The main purpose of this organization was to abolish slavery, to educate African Americans, to promote racial equality, and to promote Christian values...

, the African Society for Mutual Relief, and co-founded the Society for the Promotion of Education Among Colored Children.

Abolitionism

In the early 1830s Ray became involved in the abolitionist movement, and became a prominent promoter of the Underground Railroad

Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...

. He was also co-founder and director of the New York Vigilance Committee

Vigilance committee

A vigilance committee was a group formed of private citizens to administer law and order where they considered governmental structures to be inadequate. The term is commonly associated with the frontier areas of the American West in the mid-19th century, where groups attacked cattle rustlers and...

 and a member of the American Anti-Slavery Society

American Anti-Slavery Society

The American Anti-Slavery Society was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass was a key leader of this society and often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown was another freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had...

, assisting runaway slaves.

The Colored American

In 1838 Ray and Phillip A. Bell became co-owners of The Colored American, the fourth weekly periodical published by African Americans, and Ray became the sole owner and editor in 1839. The Colored American promoted “the moral, social and political elevation of the free colored people; and the peaceful emancipation of the slaves.” Ray traveled throughout the north giving speeches condemning African American prejudice, and in 1840 became a supporter of the newly founded Liberty Party

Liberty Party (1840s)

The Liberty Party was a minor political party in the United States in the 1840s . The party was an early advocate of the abolitionist cause...

, the only publicly pro-Abolitionist political party.

Family

Ray married twice: first in 1834 to Henrietta Green Regulus, who died two years later in childbirth; and again in 1840 to Charlotte Augusta Burroughs. They had seven children, including the first female African-American attorney, Charlotte E. Ray

Charlotte E. Ray

Charlotte E. Ray was the first black woman lawyer. Ray was born in New York City where her father the Reverend Charles Bennett Ray was a prominent abolitionist. During her childhood she attended the Institution for the Education of Colored Youth in Washington, D.C. which was one of the few...

; her sister Florence Ray, who also became an attorney; as well as poet Henrietta Cordelia Ray, known for her eighty-line ode, Lincoln.

Charles B. Ray died in New York City and is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn.