Kassongo
Kassongo Lutela, also known as Kassongo Lusuna or James Kassongo (born c. 1882 in Lusuna, Congo Free State; died September 19, 1902 in Birmingham) was a native Batetela (Tetela) youth, brought with another boy, Kondola, to the United States by a Presbyterian missionary.
Kassongo related that he was the son of an important man related to the chief of his village of Lusuna, in Batetela (Tetela) territory between the Lomami and Lualaba rivers in the Congo Free State, then the personal possession of King Leopold II of Belgium. Kassongo was a nephew to the chief, the son of his sister, and was taught all the skills that pertained to his station. His name may have signified "tall and lean"1., and recalled the name of a trading post, Piani Kasongo, founded and operated by ivory and slave trader Afro-Omani Tippu Tip, who was also appointed Governor of the Stanley Falls District.
Kassongo, still quite young, traveled as a bearer and servant to the older warriors from his village who fought under Belgian commander Francis Dhanis against Tippu Tip and other traders during the Congo Arab war. Afterward he remained with the village warriors as part of a militia aligned with Leopold's Force Publique at Lusambo and Luluaburg. Belgian officials soon determined that boys spending idle days in the company of militiamen could be detrimental to good order, and rather than return them to their home villages, declared them wards of the state and distributed them to the Christian missions operating in the region.
Luebo
By 1895, Captain Commandant Paul-Amédée Le Marinel delivered Kassonga, Kondola and eight older boys to Luebo, the site of a school and church operated by William Sheppard for the American Presbyterian Congo Mission (APCM). The boys were given beds and assigned to work alongside the Luba laborers prevalent in the community to earn their keep. For an hour a day they were taught by Lillian Thomas and Maria Fearing, graduates of Talladega College, and William's wife, Lucy, who was from Birmingham
The boys were tutored in the Luba language and taught some arithmetic, along with the memorization of scripture and hymns. They were judged to be quick learners and generally obedient, though sometimes given to fighting and gambling, for which they were punished by whipping. The the school kept the female Luba students sequestered, some of the older boys were given permission to marry girls from neighboring villages.
In September 1896 Samuel Phillips Verner was sent to Luebo by the APCM in order to fulfill a stated requirement that Black missionaries be managed by white officials. The "Batetala boys" as Verner called them, gravitated to him, and he employed them as personal servants. He assigned them various household tasks, had them assist in his fishing trips, and sent them on errands to neighboring villages. He paid them in cowries and cloth, which they could trade for food.
In the spring of 1897 Verner abandoned his managerial duties to seek treasure and renown in the interior. The July return from his unsuccessful foray south met disaster when one of the two canoes was attacked by Bashilele (Lele) people into whose territory they had trespassed. In December of that year, Verner related that he had been wounded by a poisoned stake when he fell into a native trap. He credited Kassongo with saving his life by sucking out the poison and running for help from a healer in another village.
Departure
Upon leaving the interior, Verner assembled a cargo of chickens, goats, peanuts, and palm wine. He also enjoined Kassongo and Kondola to accompany him, promising them a better life in the United States. He first visited to Antwerpen to secure the concession of the two boys from King Léopold. They then visited London before embarking for the voyage to New York City in February 1898.
On their first night in the new world, the two boys were left in Verner's lodgings at a rooming house while he visited an old friend. Upon learning of their presence, the landlord turned them out into the cold streets. Verner found them looking into shop windows when he returned and moved to another lodging. From New York Verner brought them on his travels South.
The trio visited Washington D.C. on March 9 where Verner donated a "valuable ethnological collection" to the Smithsonian Institution.2. It was later reported that Verner offered to transfer custody of the boys to the Smithsonian as well, but they declined and Verner conducted them on to South Carolina by train. Kondola and Kassongo spent some time in the care of the Thornwell Orphanage in Clinton, and later resided for a month as houseguests of the Verners' family butler in Columbia. Their presence attracted a great deal of notice in the Black community and they received numerous curious visitors. For a while, the boys worked as laborers on the Verners' plantation. Kassongo contracted an illness and was treated by Dr Alonzo McClennan at his hospital in Charleston.
Alabama
On March 14, Kassongo and Kondola were enrolled in the preparatory school at Stillman Institute in Tuscaloosa, where Sheppard and Verner had both formerly taught. Verner did not secure funds for their tuition, but explained to administrators that they would support themselves. To that end, they worked on the institute's farm during the school year and took outside jobs, including peddling vegetables, during the summers. An early report suggested that, "Kassongo shows his better blood in his style of doing things. When given a job he can be relied upon to do his test. Kondola, who comes of ordinary stock is more careless and shirks, childlike, whenever possible and would much rather play than work." Kassongo also became more interested in learning to read books, and expressed a desire to become a good reader before returning to Africa.
They attended regular classes and chapel services. In January 1900 it was reported that Kassongo, "could make himself understood easily though his English is broken," while Kondola, "does not speak so well and is much more diffident." It was further noted that both boys initially favored red shirts, but later expanded their wardrobes, and that both wore their hats, "fantastically cocked".3.
There is little indication of their academic achievement, but there is a record in Verner's writings of Kassongo speaking up during morning service to take umbrage at those who may have called his people "savage" by pointing out that many of his fellow students did not keep their rooms clean, made too much noise, and did not wash up before coming to breakfast, claiming that such habits would not be accepted in his home village.4.
On at least one or two occasions the two boys got caught fighting with others, but were generally thought to be peaceful and not malicious.
During the summer of 1902, Kassongo was employed as a laborer for Hardie-Tynes in Birmingham, under the care of William Hardie. In September of that year, before returning to Tuscaloosa, he attended the 1902 National Baptist Convention at Greater Shiloh Baptist Church. He told others that he hoped to meet some delegates from Africa at the event. He was present for a speech given by Booker T. Washington, who had spent time in Togo working on behalf of the German colonial government.
Kassongo was one of more than 100 attendees who were trampled to death during a mass stampede from the church, triggered by a misheard shout, shortly after Washington's speech. Kondola did not attend.
Kassongo's body was taken to Tuscaloosa and his funeral was held at the Colored Presbyterian Church there on the afternoon of September 23. Reverend John Van Lear spoke, along with Verner and Pastor Morrow. Verner voiced his intention to bring the body back to Africa with him.
Notes
- Likaka-2009
- "Congo Boys"-1899
- "Two Interesting Boys"-1900
- Verner, quoted in Sotiropoulos-2016
References
- "Congo Boys In Town" (March 10, 1899) The Washington Post, p. 4
- "Native Boys" (March 17, 1899) The Selma Times, p. 1
- "Two Interesting Boys" (January 25, 1900) The Tuskaloosa Gazette, p. 2
- "More Than One Hundred Negroes Crushed to Death as a Result of a Panic Following a Cry of 'Fire.'" (September 20, 1902) The Birmingham News, pp. 1, 7
- "Kassongo A Victim: The Young Prince of an African Tribe Killed at the Birmingham Stampede Friday Night" (September 23, 1902) The Tuskaloosa Gazette, p. 4
- Verner, Samuel Phillips (October 7, 1902) "The Death of Kassongo" The Birmingham News, p. 11
- Verner, Samuel Phillips (n.d.) "What Is a Civilized Man? Kassongo's Speech at Stillman Institute." Christian Observer. from the Samuel Phillips Verner Papers, 1880–1943 and 1985 held at the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina
- Verner, Samuel Phillips (1903) Pioneering in Central Africa. Richmond, Virginia: Presbyterian Committee of Publication
- Sheppard, William H. (1917) "Presbyterian Pioneers in Congo". Richmond, Virginia: Presbyterian Committee of Publication
- Likaka, Osumaka (2009) Naming Colonialism: History and Collective Memory in the Congo, 1870–1960. University of Wisconsin Press ISBN 9780299233631
- Newkirk, Pamela (2015) Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga. Amistad / Harper Collins ISBN 9780062201003
- Sotiropoulos, Karen (2016) "'Town of God': Ota Benga, the Batetela Boys, and the Promise of Black America" Journal of World History Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 41–76
- Dworkin, Ira (2017) Congo Love Song: African American Culture and the Crisis of the Colonial State. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9781469632728, pp. 62–63