***Kenneth Murray Young***
(b. April 16, 1859; d. March 6, 1929)
South Carolina. Enslaved. Mulatto.
Occupation: barber, mail carrier.
Father's occupation: barber, furniture repairer, mattress maker, upholsterer.
Kenneth M. Young was born to Joe and Priscilla Foster Young. Both parents were enslaved. Joe was enslaved by Robert Maxwell Young, a physician in Spartanburg, South Carolina. When Joe was young, Robert moved his household to northwest Georgia, near Cartersville. There he started a farm that became Walnut Grove Planation. Joe was the personal servant of Robert's son Pierce M. B. Young. Pierce later distinguished himself as a Confederate major general and later as a U.S. Congressman.
Joe's time as Pierce's personal servant is poorly documented. Pierce left home in 1852 (when he was a teenager) to attend the nearby Georgia Military Institute in Marietta. He remained at the Institute until 1856. Then he moved to New York to attend the U. S. Military Academy at West Point. He remained there until the Civil War broke out. Joe almost certainly did not follow Pierce to New York. State law outlawed slavery and declared that a slave became free upon entering the state. No similar barrier would have prevented Pierce from bringing Joe to Marietta.
Kenneth's mother Priscilla was enslaved by Robert's neighbor Joel Foster. Like Robert, Joel had moved to the region from Spartanburg to start a farm. However, he moved back to Spartanburg around 1858. Wanting to join Priscilla, Joe fled Walnut Planation and eventually ended up at the Foster home. Robert allowed Joe to be hired out to the Foster family so that he could remain with Priscilla. Until Emancipation, Joe performed skilled labor to repay the Fosters for hiring him.
Sources disagree on the place of Kennth's birth. The 1870 Census states that he was born in Georgia. This would mean that he was born before his father left Walnut Plantation. However, other records suggest that he was born after his father left: Kenneth is listed as being born in South Carolina in the 1900, 1910, and 1920 Censuses.
By the time the Civil War broke out, Joel had established himself as a substantial farmer in Spartanburg. In 1860, he owned 88 acres of land on which he grew corn and raised livestock. Kenneth's family was among the 20 enslaved workers that helped maintain the farm.
During the war, Joel was too old to serve in military. (He was about 50 years old.) However, two of his sons served the Confederacy. His son Christian B. enlisted in the army on August 27, 1861, shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run (the first major battle of the war). He was a private in the 13th Regiment, South Carolina Infantry. He enlisted for the duration of the war. His younger brother Barham W. enlisted on March 19, 1864 and also served as a private in the 13th Regiment. About five months after Barham enlisted, Christian was wounded at the Second Battle of Ream's Station. Christian's injuries were serious enough that he was furloughed for a month and sent to Jackson Hospital in Richmond, VA.
The end of the war left Kennth and his parents as freedpersons. They remained in Spartanburg, and the father Joe worked as a barber.
Joel Foster also remained in Spartanburg. While he considered himself a farmer by occupation, he also began working as an assistant cashier at a bank. He rose to regional political prominence during this time. He was elected to the state senate in 1868 for a four year term. His election was unusual in that he ran as a Conservative, and in general, the Conservatives were swept out of power in the election.
The Young family appears to have maintained good relations with Joel despite his Conservative politics. Joel discussed his relation with Kenneth's father Joe in 1872 testimony to Congress. That year Congress collected testimony about Klan violence in the South. They were especially interested in collecting testimony from influential residents of Spartanburg as the town was a Klan center from 1870-71. During this period, Joel explained that Joe appeared concerned. When asked why he was concerned, Joe explained that he was worried about his family being the subject of a Klan attack and was considering posting a guard outside his home. Joel cautioned him against doing this. He said that this would only attract unwanted attention. Instead, he invited the Young family stay at his home and offered to provide Joe with a written letter attesting to his character.
It is unclear what the Young family's experience with the Klan was. Joel told the Congressional committee that his offer seemed to have made Joe relieved, and the Young family never experienced attacks. However, the Congressional committee was informed by others that some family members were attacked at home and had to seek refuge in their chimney.
Joel's own relationship with the Klan is unclear. He told the Congressional committee that he had no knowledge of the Klan or its members. However, one of his sons was arrested in November 1871 for alleged Klan involvement. The details of arrest are unclear. At the time habeas corpus was suspended in the county, so his son could have been arbitrarily arrested. In any case, the family did not face long-term legal consequences: they moved to Texas in 1872. In general, members of wealthy families who participated in Klan violence were able to escape legal consequences by leaving the state. Those convicted of crimes were largely those of limited financial means.
Growing up, Kenneth was educated in the Spartanburg common schools. On October 5, 1874, Kenneth enrolled at the University of South Carolina. He entered into the sub freshman (or college preparatory) class, but by January 1876, he was a college student following the modern studies program. The university closed before he completed his degree.
While a student at USC, Kenneth was involved in a racial incident. In September 1875, he was thrown off a train because he was traveling in the first class car and refused to leave when a railroad employee told him the car was "Whites only." The incident is described in greater detail in Lewis C. Scott's entry.
After the university closure (in Fall 1877), Kenneth enrolled at Atlanta University, entering as a junior following the Scientific Course. He later wrote about his experience in Atlanta. Kenneth was welcomed to Atlanta University by his former USC classmate John L. Dart who had enrolled the previous year. He was later joined by a number of former USC students he was friendly with ("the gang"), namely J. J. Durham, T. H. Henderson, J. J. Holland, D. H. Maffett, T. F. P. Roberts, R. L. Smith, and E. J. Stewart. Another former USC student, Benjamin F. Hartwell, enrolled at Atlanta Univeristy the next year, although Kenneth does not mention him. Kenneth left the university in Spring 1879 without completing his degree. He wrote, "I left there as I had entered – wild, but a little subdued in spirit."
After leaving Atlanta University, Kenneth returned to Spartanburg. There he worked as a barber and as a public school principal. He later received an appointment as a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service, a position he held for a quarter of a century.
In 1891, Kenneth began experiences health problems. To improve his health, he took a trip out west. By train, he traveled as far as Salt Lake, Utah. In 1890, Kenneth published an account of his trip titled As some things appear on the Plains and among the Rockies in mid-summer.
Six years later (in 1896) Kenneth published his novel Selene. The novel is based on the experiences of some of his classmates at Atlanta University. The novel recounts the story of the main character's studies at university, his flight out west, and his experiences with the Sioux around the time of the Wounded Knee Massacre (1890-91). In a magazine interview, Kenneth said that he wrote the novel
Because I wanted to read one in which the characters were all negroes. I'm tired of reading about the things that white people have done and do and will do, about their feelings, passions, aspirations, and inspirations. It's time for the colored people to know something of the feelings, capabilities, and higher aims that they may attain to, and they must learn this through books about themselves, and these can only be written by men or women of our race.
Although he never held elected office, Kenneth was interested in politics. On May 22, 1895, The State newspaper published a letter Kenneth wrote to former governor Wade Hampton. The letter was published during an important time in South Carolina politics. A state constitutional convention was to be held later in the year, and it was convened largely through the efforts of then Senator Ben Tillman and his supporters. They had openly advocated for the convention for the purpose of changing the state constitution so as to disenfranchise African American voters.
In his letter, Kenneth reminded Hampton of his promise during his 1876 gubernatorial campaign to protect the rights of African Americans and asked him deliver a speech or write a statement against disenfranchisement. It was natural to appeal to Hampton as he was an influential political figure who held comparatively moderate views on race issues. However, the laudatory language Kenneth used is somewhat surprising. For example, Kenneth wrote that Hampton, "in 1876, inaugurated a revolution that relieved the negro of the odium of a corrupt government and placed the reins in the hands of intelligent citizens." One of the first acts of the "intelligent citizens" had been to expel African Americans students like Kenneth from the University of South Carolina. Despite Kenneth's appeal, the state constitution was revised so that African American voters were disenfranchised.
Kenneth spent most of his adult life in Spartanburg, and he died there in 1929. The State newspaper published his obituary which was (erroneously) titled "Last Negro Student of University Dies."
Sources
1). "General Gossip of Authors and Writers", Current Literature, A Magazine of Contemporary Record. Edited by E. S. Van Zile. April 1897. Vol. XXI, No. 4.
2). "Last Negro Student of University Dies." State (published as The State), March 8, 1929. p. 9.
3). "Appeal to Hampton." State (published as The State), May 22, 1895. p. 5.
4). 1870; Census Place: Court House, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1508; Page: 407A
5). 1900; Census Place: Spartanburg Ward 1, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Page: 12
6). 1910; Census Place: Spartanburg Ward 1, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Roll: T624_1473; Page: 7B
7). 1920; Census Place: Spartanburg Ward 1, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Roll: T625_1711; Page: 20B
8). Holland, Lynwood Mathis. Pierce M.B. Young: The Warwick of the South. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press, 1964.
9). 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules
10). 1860; Census Place: Southern Division, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Archive Collection Number: AD262; Roll: 4; Page: 1; Line: 15; Schedule Type: Agriculture
11). 1860; Census Place: Spartanburg, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Page: 304; Family History Library Film: 805226
12). National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of South Carolina; Series Number: M267; Roll: 264
13) "Nailing a Falsehood" The Charleston daily news, September 8, 1871, p. 2.
14) "Crumbs." The Charleston daily news, February 2, 1872, p. 3.
15) "Further Reports" The Charleston daily news, November 29, 1871, p. 1.
16) Young, Kenneth M. "Reminiscences of School." The Scroll, May, 1900. pp. 12–14.
17) United States. Congress. Joint Select Committee on the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States. Report of the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States. pp. 810–842.
18) "Retired Negro Mail Carrier Is Discovered Dead." The Watchman and Southern (Sumter, SC). March 9, 1929. p. 1.
19) "Negro Found Dead." The Index-Journal (Greenwood, SC). March 7, 1929. p. 1.
20) The Laurens Advertiser (Laurens, SC). December 15, 1896. p. 3.
Posted 5/20/20 with photo from ancestry.com