Alethia Browning Tanner

Alethia Browning Tanner was an enslaved woman who ran her own vegetable market in Lafayette Square in front of the White House during the late 1700s and early 1800s. She was highly successful, counting President Thomas Jefferson among her customers. By 1810 she had saved enough to purchase her freedom: $1400. She continued to be successful in business, and was an important member of the early free black community of Washington, DC.

Alethia Tanner was remembered by her contemporaries as someone who's character and philanthropy gave her a remarkable prominence and commanded the respect of all who knew her. Throughout her long life she consistently beat the odds.

Alethia "Lethe" Browning Tanner was born about 1785. Alethia Browning and her sisters Sophia (1770-1856) and Laurena, grew up enslaved on the plantation of Rachel Pratt near the Patuxent River, Maryland. Alethia in the ancient Greek means truth or sincerity. Rachel Pratt was the mother of a Governor of Maryland, Thomas George Pratt (1804-1869). Little is known of Alethia Browning Tanner's early life or childhood. We do know, however, that like her older sister Sophia Browning Bell, Alethia possibly met her husband at a local market or on a visit to one of the nearby plantations. The two most likely married young in a slave ceremony. Her husband is said to have died early, the couple had no children, and Alethia remained a widow for the rest of her life. It is possible that Alethia may have met African American mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806) while Benneker was with a survey party near their cabin measuring the boundaries of the nation's new capitol.

Alethia's sister Sophia Browning Bell had kept a small garden for some time where apparently, with the consent of Rachel Pratt, she was able to grow produce for her family and more importantly she was able to sell any extra vegetables in the local markets of Alexandria and the District of Columbia. Through such endeavors, Sophia was able to gather enough money to purchase her husband George Bell's freedom from his owner the Addison family for $400.00 and then George was able to reciprocate and buy Sophia's freedom.

Alethia Tanner's gardening and entrepreneurial skills gave her the ability to adopt a similar manumission strategy. Tanner also sold produce at one of the City's markets and it was at the Washington Market that she may have met President Thomas Jefferson. President Jefferson often visited the market located right outside the White House, where he selected produce and recorded the prices of thirty-seven varieties of vegetables available. Alethia Tanner would have been able to meet some of Washington, D.C.'s other elite, because many of the City's leaders, like Chief Justice John Marshall, frequented this market to purchase their own produce.

Historian and genealogist, Dorothy S. Provine, has found in her research that Alethia Tanner was able to buy her freedom from her owner Rachel Pratt for $1400.00. Tanner made her last payment of $277.00 on June 29, 1810 and received her manumission papers on July 10, 1810. Tanner's purchase price was substantial and it must have required considerable effort, saving and sacrifice for her and her husband to amass such a sum. In 1810, fourteen hundred dollars was the equivalent of at least three years wages for a skilled tradesman.

Over the next four decades Alethia Tanner helped manumit her family, including her sister Laurena Browning Cook, her husband, the couple's children and numerous nephews and grandnephews, and friends of her family. Among her sister Laurena Browning Cook's children was John Francis Cook (1810-1855), who became an educator, a clergyman and later established the Union Seminary for black students seeking preparation for ordination. John F. Cook later became the first black Presbyterian minister in the District of Columbia. Cook was a favorite of Alethia Tanner who listed Cook in her 15 May 1847 will as her principal heir; sadly John F. Cook predeceased his aunt.

Alethia Browning Tanner like her sister and brother-in-law George Bell and Sophia Browning Bell was a recognized leader in the early African American community of the District. Like many blacks Alethia Tanner may have been attracted to the moral tone and concerns of the early Methodist Church. She first worshiped at Ebenezer Methodist church, on Capitol Hill. One of the things that attracted blacks like Tanner to the Methodist church fold was the Methodists strong critique of slavery. Early Methodists held with their founder, John Wesley, that there was an essential equality of all believers before God. Over time, however, this changed and many white congregants retreated from their earlier egalitarianism, and most African Americans resented being confined to the galleries of the church as they found that the church itself no longer welcoming. It's worth emphasizing that this church segregation process was not unique to Washington, D.C. or to the Methodist Church. Indeed, similar processes were going on throughout most denominations and in most American cities. In the 1820's, Alethia Tanner, John Francis Cook, and George and Sophia Bell along with numerous other black parishioners, decided the time was right for them to move to another church of their own. As a result, they helped found the Israel Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. At one point the fledgling church was nearly sold at auction by the creditors who held the mortgage and it was Alethia Browning Tanner with her brother-in-law George Bell and sister Sophia Browning Bell who stepped in to pay the mortgage and save the church.

In addition to striving for equality within the church, Althea was much concerned with education. In 1807, her brother-in-law George Bell, along with Nicholas Franklin and Moses Liverpool announced they were starting a school for Black children. The school which became known as "the Bell school," was the first in the District of Columbia open to free Black children. Bell, Franklin, and Liverpool may have been illiterate, however, each would have known from their own personal experience how important education was to attaining equality and economic prosperity. George and Sophia Bell are said to have been the school's principal financial supporters. At this time Alethia Tanner may have been only able to provide moral support as she was building up enough capital to purchase her freedom. From the evidence of her will, Alethia Tanner could sign her own name and perhaps like Michael Shiner, she may have been able to learn the basics of reading and writing at a Sunday school offered by the Methodist church.10 The Methodists emphasis on reading "God's word" gave many African Americans their first real opportunity to become literate.

The Bell School survived for just a few years due to lack of steady funding and the fact that in 1807, the District of Columbia's "free colored" population consisted of only 494 individuals. Thus the small student base may have doomed their venture from the start. Still, the Bell family and Alethia Browning Tanner, combined with other daring members of the community and made another try in 1818 with the Resolute Beneficial Society School.

In their announcement for the new school, the sponsors made considerable efforts to placate white fears of the Black population learning to read and write. The sponsors also made clear their policy of never assisting slaves to write any type of communication less they be implicated in assisting slaves to evade capture by forging travel passes and like documents. The Resolute Beneficial Society School eventually succumbed to the shear realities of a segregated society. The District's black population however, never gave up and their support efforts along with sympathetic white support, continued to open private schools for black children.

Alethia Tanner was extraordinarily successful in navigating her way through the legal and slave codes of the District of Columbia and seemed to have been skillful in adapting and negotiating for the freedom of her family and friends. But no matter how successful she and other leaders became, danger was always present whether it involved slave catchers eager to take someone without the necessary freedom certificate or travel papers or the periodic racial violence that was inflicted on the African American community such as the "Snow Riot "of 1835. This 1835 riot began on August 11, 1835 as a labor strike at the Washington Navy Yard. It rapidly morphed into a race riot, as young WNY mechanics and apprentices decided to take their frustrations and fears out on free blacks such as Beverley Snow, a free black man who was the owner of a popular oyster restaurant. Other black businesses were also attacked. Black schools and churches were attacked with special zeal as the rioters sought Alethia Tanners' nephew John Francis Cook, who by 1835 had become an established figure in the religious community as well as a teacher and educator. In going after the free black population the mob reflected the deepest fears of a white community anxious uncertain and fearful of those promoting black literacy. The mob especially seemed to want to shut down black schools and was relentless in its pursuit of John F. Cook, "The mob wanted Cook, a solemn free black man who was well-versed in Presbyterian theology and sought to educate every Negro child he could find. Cook was a firm opponent of drink and slaver," and he had to flee for his life to Philadelphia where he remained for a year until it was safe to return. Tanner's own safety may well have been in danger too although there is no record of her ever leaving the District of Columbia. The rioting went on for three days before the militia was called in and the mob dispersed.

In her old age Alethia Tanner was able to see the District of Columbia Emancipation Act signed into law on April 16, 1862, by Abraham Lincoln. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was also signed by President Lincoln. These two acts signaled that there was no going back and that ending slavery was now a national priority. Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free a single slave, it fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and for freedom. Among these men were some of Alethia Tanner's nephews.

As reflected in her will, Alethia Browning Tanner was able to accumulate property and had some saving to pass on to her nephews and grandnephews. By the time of her death in 1864 she could look back on a long life filled with achievements and hard work. She had managed to obtain by her long labors, perseverance, and in spite of all odds, not only her own freedom, but she had also purchased the manumission of her sister, her nephews and grandnephews. Alethia during her long and productive life helped the larger community by sponsoring some of the first schools for black children in the District of Columbia and by her financial support had made it possible for many hundreds of young people to gain access to education. Finally, Alethia Browning Bell contributed to and promoted the newly formed African American Methodist Episcopal Church as a place of refuge and dignity for her community. Her impressive legacy was truly "a goodly heritage."

Sources: Washington DC Genealogy Trails; John G. Sharp; Histories of the National Mall; Moorland-Spingarn Research Center