ABSTRACT
James William Charles Pennington argued that education was absolutely necessary for the realization of African-American liberation. Education was more than a professor lecturing to his students; it was, according to Pennington, a process of intellect embodies in action. From 1838 to the eve of the Civil War, elevation of the black race through classical-vocational education remained a goal for Pennington which he, like Douglass, creatively articulated but because of racial prejudice and the lack of money, could not bring to fruition. Despite his advocacy of liberation by nonviolent means, Pennington lived to see and consent to the abolition of slavery in the United States through the violent Civil War. Pennington was both an educator and civil rights activist who saw the Civil War as a prelude to justice and equality for African-American people. The commitment of Pennington to civil rights was supremely illustrated in his ride on the inside of the Sixth Avenue street car.
