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Joseph Booth, Charles Domingo, and the Seventh Day Baptists in Northern Nyasaland, 1910–19121

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Kenneth P. Lohrentz
Affiliation:
University of Syracuse, New York

Extract

This article attempts to assess more precisely the role of the Seventh Day Baptist movement in nothern Nyasaland as a case study in African reactions to missions and to colonial rule. Internal factors contributing to the establishment of the movement included an intense desire among Africans to acquire a western education apart from European missionary control, and the competent leadership provided by Charles Domingo. External factors included the influence of Joseph Booth and the pattern of labour migration from Nyasaland to southern Africa.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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References

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3 For brief accounts of the first generation of the Mission's work in northern Nyasaland, see Jaap, Van Velsen, ‘The Missionary Factor Among the Lakeside Tonga of Nyasaland’, Journal of the Rhodes-Livingstone Institute (hereafter J.R.L.I.), xxvi (12 1959), 122;Google ScholarNorman, Long, ‘Bandawe Mission Station and Local Politics, 1878–86’, J.R.L.I., xxxiii (12 1962), 122.Google Scholar See also McCracken, K. J., ‘Livingstonia as an Industrial Mission, 1875–1900’, in Religion in Africa (University of Edinburgh Centre of African Studies, 1964), 7596.Google Scholar For a valuable illumination of the early phase of culture contact, see Donald, Fraser, The Autobiography of an African (London, 1925).Google Scholar

4 George, Shepperson and Thomas, Price, Independent African, John Chilembwe and the Origins, Setting and Significance of the Nyasaland Native Rising of 1915 (Edinburgh, 1958), 159–65.Google Scholar Roland Oliver underscored this interpretation in a brief comment on the sources which Shepperson had unearthed. See Roland, Oliver, ‘Too Cheaty, Too Thefty.… The Seeds of Nationalism in Nyasaland’, The Twentieth Century, CIXV (1959), 365–8.Google Scholar In more recent articles, Shepperson has altered his earlier interpretation by asserting that ‘the association of independent African churches and politics ought not be become a conditioned sociological reflex’. See Shepperson, , ‘Church and Sect in Central Africa’, in J.R.L.I., XXXIII (1963), 87.Google Scholar See also Shepperson, , ‘Ethiopianism: Past and Present’, 249–68Google Scholar in Baeta, C. G. (ed.), Christianity in Tropical Africa (London, 1968), 263.Google Scholar

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6 Terence, Ranger, ‘African Attempts to Control Education in East and Central Africa, 1900–1939’, Past and Present, XXXII (12 1965), 80.Google Scholar

7 McCracken, K. J., ‘African Politics in Twentieth-Century Malawi’, 190–209 in Terence, Ranger (ed.) Aspects of Central African History (Evanston, 1968), 192–4.Google Scholar See also Macdonald, R. J., ‘A History of African Education in Nyasaland, 1875–1945’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Edinburgh University, 1969), V.I, 175–9.Google Scholar

8 See, for example, Elmslie, W. A., Among the Wild Ngoni (Edinburgh, 1899), 57, 301;Google ScholarDonald, Fraser, Winning a Primitive People (London, 1922), 96–7.Google Scholar

9 See Sanderson, F. E., ‘The Development of Labour Migration from Nyasaland, 1895–1904’, J.A.H. II, 2 (1961), 259–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For the effects of migration on Tonga society, see Jaap, Van Velsen, ‘Labour Migration as a Positive Factor in the Continuity of Tonga Tribal Society’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, VIII (1960, 265–78).Google Scholar

10 For the most complete discussion of Booth's background and his activities in Nyasaland, see Shepperson, and Price, , Independent African. Also see Rotberg, , Rise of Nationalism, 6071;Google Scholar Macdonald, ‘A History’, 180−6. One should also consult Booth's own book, Africa for the African (Baltimore, 1897).Google Scholar

11 William C. Daland, pastor of Mill Yard Seventh Day Baptist Church, London, to David E. Titsworth, pres. of Sabbath Evangelizing and Industrial Assn., Plainfield, N.J., May 1899, p. 2. (Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society, hereafter S.D.B.H.S.).

12 Gov., Smith to High Commissioner of South Africa, Pretoria, 25 05 1915, forwarded to Sec. St., C.O. 525/61/30044 P.R.O. Mic. (Public Records Office Microfilms) reel 71, v. 6x, p. 672.Google Scholar

13 Moore, N. O. and Wayland, Wilcox, ‘The Report of the Visit to South and Central Africa’, Sabbath Recorder, LXXIII, 22 (11 1912), 699.Google Scholar

14 Domingo, to Booth, , 10 04 1911Google Scholar (S.D.B.H.S.). There is no record of who the other Nyasas were whom Booth may have contacted during these years. Andrew Amhoni was in Johannesburg during 1908 and 1909, where he became a Watch Tower adherent, butthere is no indication that he was in touch with Booth. See Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 723.Google Scholar

15 For comment on the type of literature which Booth was then sending to Nyasaland, see Shepperson, and Price, , Independent African, 161.Google Scholar The Watch Tower Bibles which Booth was sending to the pastors had a 482-page commentary, which may have included much milenarian teaching. See Joseph, Booth, ‘Departing Notes’, a prospectus of missionary work, 17 08 1910, typescript, P. I (S.D.B.H.S.). Also, Booth reported that six cases of Russell's books had been sent to the pastors in 1910. Church of Christ attendance report, Chipata, 19 March 1911, sent by Domingo to Booth. See inscription in Booth's handwriting on back of report (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

16 Again, the most complete work on Kamwana can be found in Shepperson, , Independent African 147–59;.Google Scholar see also Shepperson, , J.R.L.I., XXXIII, 91–3;Google ScholarRotberg, , Rise of Nationalism, 66–9.Google Scholar

17 George, Shepperson, ‘Nyasaland and the Millennium’, in Millennial Dreams in Action, Essays in Comparative Study, Sylvia, Thrupp (ed.), (The Hague, 1962), 19.Google Scholar

18 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 719.Google Scholar

19 The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society was and is the legally incorporated body of the Jehovahs' Witnesses.

20 Moore and Wilcox, ‘The Report’.

21 Domingo, to Booth, 19 09 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.)Google Scholar

22 Shepperson, and Price, , Independent African, 357–8.Google Scholar

23 Ibid. 157.

24 Booth, to Edwin Shaw, Corresponding Secretary of the Joint Committee, Seventh Day Baptist Church, Plainfield, N.J., is 04 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

25 Sabbath Recorder, 8 08 1910, LXIX, 163.Google Scholar This mission was established at Cholo, and was sold to the Seventh Day Adventists in Igo,. See Shepperson, and Price, , Independent African, 139, 334, 168. It represented the introduction of the Seventh Day Baptist faith into Nyasaland, but there is no record of Sabbatarianism in northern Nyasaland until 1910.Google Scholar

26 Joseph Booth, ‘Departing Notes’, 2 (S.D.B.H.S.). Booth's work was under the supervision of the Joint Committee, a ten-member body representing the American Sabbath Tract Society, which functioned as the denominational press, and the Mission Board. Edwin Shaw was the Corresponding Secretary of the Committee.

27 Gilbert Chihayi (Chinteche) to Seventh Day Baptist Church, Plainfield, N.J., 4 09 1930. See also Domingo to Booth, 6 April 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.); Gov., Smith to Sec. St., 28 08 1916, C.O. 525/68/48172; P.R.O. Mic., reel 78, v. 68, pp. 434–35.Google Scholar

28 For the most complete discussion of this incident see Macdonald, , ‘A History’, 200–3.Google Scholar

29 Domingo to Booth, 7 10 1910 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

30 Domingo, to Booth, , 9 09 1911,Google Scholar 5 (S.D.B.H.S.). But cf., Rotberg, Rise of Nationalism, 70; Macdonald, ‘A History’, 204.

31 The Seventh Day Baptist pastors organized their work into districts each of which included from ten to twenty or more churches and schools. A head pastor was in charge of each district.

32 Hanson, Tandu, Sabbath Recorder, 20 03 1911, LXX, 12, 363.Google Scholar

33 Domingo to Booth, n.d. (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

34 Robert, W. July, ‘Nineteenth Century Negritude: Edward W. Blyden’, J.A.H. v, I (1964), 7386;Google ScholarHollis, R. Lynch, ‘Edward W. Blyden: Pioneer West African Nationalist’, J.A.H. VI, 3 (1965), 373–88;Google ScholarHollis, R. Lynch, Edward Wilmot Blyden, Pan-Negro Patriot, 1832–1912 (London, 1967).Google Scholar For a collection of Blyden's own writings, see Edward, W. Blyden, Chthtianity, Islam and the Negro Race (Edinburgh, 1967, reprint of 1887 edition).Google Scholar

35 Note in Booth's handwriting in margin of Sabbath School attendance report, March 1911, Yakobo Chigowo (Sanga) to Booth (S.D.B.H.S.).

36 Note in Booth's handwriting on bottom of Church of Christ Seventh Day Baptist attendance report, Mar. 1911, Chigowo to Booth (S.D.B.H.S.).

37 Sabbath Recorder, 3 07, LXXI I, 8.Google Scholar

38 Makwinja, to Booth, , 10 10 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

39 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 700.Google Scholar

40 Shepperson, and Price, , Independent African, 19.Google Scholar

41 Booth, to Shaw, , 8 11 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

42 Domingo, to Booth, , 26 04 1911; Domingo, to Booth, , 9 07 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

43 Joseph, Booth, pamphlet headed ‘An Appeal to Pastors.…’ 16 07 1911;Google ScholarSabbath Recorder, 5 06 1911, LXX, 724 and 818;Google ScholarSabbath Recorder, 3 07 1911, LXXI, 9.Google Scholar

44 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 717.Google Scholar

45 Chigowo, to Booth, , 29 03 1911, 2,Google Scholar and numerous other letters from the Nyasaland pastors (S.D.H.S.); Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 713.Google Scholar

46 Chigowo, to Booth, , 29 03 1995,Google Scholar 3 (S.D.B.H.S.). The Mission Board was then considering the question of sending missionaries to the field, one of whom was a Black nurse. See John, Kolvoord (Battle Creek, Mich.) to Domingo, , 23 03 1955 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

47 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 708.Google Scholar The hut tax was then 6s. per annum, but was only half that amount for those Africans who hired themselves out to Europeans for at least one month in the year. Rotberg, , Rise of Nationalism, 44.Google Scholar

48 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 708.Google Scholar

49 Ibid. 718. Elliott Kamwana's break with the Livingstonia Mission soon after 1900 may have been precipitated by the Mission's introduction of school fees. Macdonald, , ‘A History’, 191.Google Scholar

50 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 704, et. passim.Google Scholar

51 Domingo, to Booth, , 10 04 1911, 3 (S.D.B.H.S.)Google Scholar

52 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’ 711.Google Scholar

53 Joseph, Booth, ‘The African Sabbath Recorder’, no. 2 (06 1912), (S.D.B.H.S.). As Shepperson has pointed Out (Independent African, 163), this was a slender magazine which Booth was editing from the Cape and circulating among his protégés. Booth apparently issued at least six of these, although no. 5 is missing from the Seventh Day Baptist files. This peculiar paper appears to have been an apology in Booth's own defence for his work in Africa, as some of the Seventh Day Baptists in America were critical of his activities.Google Scholar

54 Joseph, Booth, ‘The African Sabbath Recorder’, no. 6 (01 1913) (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

55 Domingo, to Booth, , 9 07 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

56 Booth apparently had made an attempt to enter Nyasaland in 1907, but authorities prohibited his entry. C.O. 525/61/30024; P.R.O. Mic., reel 71, v. 61, p. 673

57 Booth, to Shaw, , 11 04 1955 (S.D.B.H.S.). Booth had several sabbatarian tracts translated into Chitonga by Simon Muhongo, a Nyasa employed as a Government clerk at Livingstone, Northwestern Rhodesia. Muhongo to Booth, 4 02 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

58 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 699.Google Scholar

59 Pamphlet headed ‘To the Seventh Day Baptist Churches.…’, 29 November 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).

60 Typescript of letter by Zenzile Ntlonga, British Concession, Chinde, to Booth, 30 December 1911 (Walter B. Cockerili Papers: Wisconsin State Historical Society). While at Chinde, Ntlonga associated with Elliott Kamwana, who was then under detention. The association surely would not have enhanced Ntlonga's reputation with the Consulate.

61 Typescript of letter by Zenzile, Ntlonga, British Concession, Chinde, , to Booth, , 29 12 1912 (Cockerill Papers).Google Scholar

62 Domingo, to Booth, , 17 03 1912 (Cockerill Papers).Google Scholar

63 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 697. Before going to Cape Town, Ntlonga had resided at King Williams Town, Cape Province.Google Scholar

64 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 721. MacAlpine was then serving the Livingstonia Mission at Bandawe.Google Scholar

66 Sabbath Recorder, 8 08 1950, LXIX, 164.Google Scholar

67 For a discussion of this view, see Michael, Banton, ‘African Prophets’, Race, V (1965), 50.Google Scholar

68 Fraser, , Winning a Primitive People, 239–44.Google Scholar

69 Fraser, , The Autobiography of an African, 146.Google Scholar

70 This popular quotation, which scholars have cited ad infinitum for more than a decade, was first discovered by Shepperson in one of the many pamphlets which Booth was then circulating from Cape Town. The original letter, Domingo, to Booth, , 20 09 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.), is cited here.Google Scholar

71 Andrew, Amhoni, Matuli, , to Booth, , 18 11 1911;Google ScholarAndrew, Charunda, Chifira, , to Booth, , 6 03 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.). See also Sabbath Recorder, 12 09 1910, LXIX, 744.Google Scholar

72 Domingo, to Booth, , 19 09 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

73 Booth, to Shaw, , 7 07 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

74 Moore, and Wilcox, , ‘The Report’, 708.Google Scholar

75 Domingo, to Booth, , 6 04 1911;Google ScholarBooth, to Shaw, , 7 07 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.). A cikoti was a whip made of hippo-hide, and was frequently used to enforce prison discipline. See Gov. Sharpe to Sec. St., 2 Apr. 1909, C.O. 525/28/15621; P.R.O. Mic. reel 35, v. 28.Google Scholar

76 Domingo, to Booth, , 6 04 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

77 Shepperson, and Price, , Independent African, Plate 126, opposite p. 159.Google Scholar

78 SirHector, Livingstone Duff, Nyasaland Under the Foreign Office (London, 1903), 214. Significantly, Duff later became Chief Secretary.Google Scholar

79 Domingo, to Booth, , 19 09 1955 (S.D.B.H.S.). Other evangelists sent out were David Apiri to Kasungu, and Nemon Jere to Mvera.Google Scholar

80 Ibid. and quoted in Shepperson and Price, Independent African, 563.

81 Domingo did eventually come under greater criticism in 1916 when the Government discovered that he had joined Booth's British African Congress. See Rotberg, , Rise of Nationalism, 72;Google Scholarcf., Gov. Smith to Sec. St., 28 08 1916, C.O. 525/68/481/72; P.R.O. Mic., reel 78, v. 68, pp. 450–25.Google Scholar

82 Domingo, to Booth, , 6 04 1911 (S.D.B.H.S.).Google Scholar

83 Domingo, to Booth, , 22 09 1911 (Cockerill Papers).Google Scholar

84 Anthony, F. C. Wallace, ‘Revitalization Movements’, American Anthropologist, LVII (1966), 265.Google Scholar