Powell, William

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William Powell
1848–1920

Educator, diplomat

William Powell gained prominence in New Jersey as a teacher and educational leader prior to attracting the attention of several presidents of the United States who offered Powell opportunities to become an American envoy. Powell, after rejecting two consular assignments, ultimately served as a diplomat to Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

William Frank Powell, the son of William and Julia Crawford Powell, was born on June 26, 1848, in Troy, New York. His father's ancestors were Native Americans. Powell attended public schools in Brooklyn, New York, and Jersey City, New Jersey. He also attended the New York School of Pharmacy and Ashmun Institute in Pennsylvania (later known as Lincoln University) and the New Jersey Collegiate Institute (NJCI). In 1865, Powell graduated from NJCI. Three years later, he married Elizabeth M. Hughes, who was from Burlington, New Jersey.

In 1869, Powell began his career as an educator when the Presbyterian Board of Missions hired him to teach at an African American school in Leesburg, Virginia. In Alexandria, Virginia one year later, Powell founded a school for African American children and led the school for five years.

Powell became principal of a Bordentown, New Jersey, school in 1875. In 1881, he interrupted his career as an educator and was employed as a bookkeeper in the Fourth Auditor's Office of the United States Treasury. Also in 1881, Powell was offered a diplomatic assignment in Haiti, but he rejected it.

In 1884, Powell resumed his career as an educator when he became superintendent of schools in the fourth district of Camden, New Jersey. Under Powell's leadership, attendance increased, manual training was included in the curriculum, and a new school for industrial education was built. In 1886, Powell relinquished his position as superintendent and taught at Camden High and Training School, a predominantly white school. This career move probably made Powell one of the first African Americans to teach in a predominantly white school in Camden as well as the rest of New Jersey. He remained at Camden High until 1894. He rejected a second diplomatic appointment in 1891 during the administration of Benjamin Harrison.

Chronology

1848: Born in Troy, New York on June 26
1865: Graduates from the New Jersey Collegiate Institute
1868: Marries Elizabeth M. Hughes
1869: Begins career as an educator at an African American school in Leesburg, Virginia
1870: Establishes a school for African Americans in Alexandria, Virginia
1875: Becomes principal of a school in Bordentown, New Jersey
1881: Accepts job as bookkeeper in the Fourth Auditor's Office of the United States Treasury
1884: Becomes superintendent of schools in Camden, New Jersey's fourth district
1886: Teaches at Camden High and Training School
1897: Accepts appointments as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Haiti as well as chargeé d'affaires to the Dominican Republic
1899: Marries Jane B. Shepard
1905: Returns to Camden
1907: Becomes an editorial writer for the Philadelphia Tribune
1920: Dies on January 23 (approximate date)

Becomes a U.S. Diplomat

When Powell was offered a diplomatic assignment a third time, he accepted. On June 17, 1897, President William McKinley appointed Powell envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Haiti, and Powell was the first American diplomat to Haiti to receive the title. Eleven diplomats to Haiti preceded Powell; the first two were designated commissioner/consul general while the remaining nine diplomats were appointed minister resident/consul general. At least six African American minister residents/consul generals were appointed to Haiti before Powell: Ebenezer D. Bassett, who was the first U.S. black diplomat; John M. Langston; George W. Williams, who took the oath of office but did not serve; John E. W. Thompson; Frederick Douglass; and John S. Durham. On the same day as Powell was appointed to Haiti, he received a second one; Powell became the sixth U.S. diplomat to Haiti who concurrently served as chargeé d'affaires to the Dominican Republic. His appointment to the Dominican Republic ended on July 23, 1904, and his appointment to Haiti ended on approximately November 30, 1905. Thus Powell maintained his diplomatic status during the first three years of Theodore Roosevelt's presidency. The year that Powell began his career as a diplomat, 1897, was the first year of McKin-ley's presidency, and as Benjamin Justesen points out, at least twenty African Americans were appointed consuls during the administrations of McKinley and Roosevelt, which was a period of twelve years.

During Powell's first year in Haiti, a Haitian court fined and imprisoned a German man for assault and battery. As a result, Germany issued an ultimatum. Two German warships would bombard Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, on December 6, 1897, unless within three hours, President Simon Sam agreed that Haiti would pay $20,000. Sam acquiesced, yet it is interesting to note that Powell was the lone member of the diplomatic corps who advised the president not to pay the indemnity. The United States government did not consider the incident in violation of the Monroe Doctrine, and when Powell urged the U.S. government to make Haiti a U.S. protectorate, Secretary of State John Sherman rejected the idea in a January 11, 1898, letter to Powell.

Also in 1898, the Haitian government, heeding Powell's advice, ended the practice begun on October 1, 1897 of imposing a tax on U.S. merchants and clerks. Such efforts by Powell were aimed at improving relationships between the two countries' governments as well as facilitating American business in Haiti. Among the highlights of Powell's diplomatic efforts in 1899 was the release of a U.S. vice-consul general who had been arrested. One year later, Powell successfully defended Haiti's sovereignty against the German minister's plan to create special courts to try foreigners. Also in 1899, Powell married a second time; he wed Jane B. Shepard, who was from Camden. In 1902, Powell witnessed President Sam's forced resignation, the anarchy that followed, rule by a provisional government, and the election of Nord Alexis as Haiti's next president. Powell remained in Haiti through most of 1905.

When Powell ended his diplomatic career, he returned to Camden. In 1907, Powell was awarded an honorary LL.D. degree from Lincoln University, one of the schools he attended in his youth. In 1909, he accepted a position as an editorial writer for the Philadelphia Tribune, an African American newspaper that was founded in November 1884. His approximate death date is listed as January 23, 1920. A posthumous tribute took place when the Tenth Street School, built in Camden in 1926, was renamed the William F. Powell Elementary School.

Although Powell's accomplishments as a teacher, educational administrator, diplomat, and editorial writer are not widely known, he remains an important historical figure who dedicated his life to educating African Americans as well as others and for eight years served the United States as a member of the diplomatic corps.

REFERENCES

Books

Logan, Rayford W. Haiti and the Dominican Republic. New York: Oxford University Press, 1968.

Marquis, Albert N., ed. "William Frank Powell." In Who's Who in America. Vol. 7.: 1912–1913. Chicago: A. N. Marquis and Company, 1912.

McNeill, Lydia. "William Frank Powell." In Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Vol. 4. Eds. Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, and Cornel West. New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1996.

Phillips, Glenn O. "William Frank Powell." In Dictionary of American Negro Biography. Eds. Rayford W. Logan and Michael R. Winston. New York: Norton, 1982.

Wright, Marion M. T. The Education of Negroes in New Jersey. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1941.