Dear Friends,
In 2009, The Episcopal Diocese of California called a task force for a three-year study of the role of the Diocese and the legacy of American Slavery. The study results were inconclusive regarding a direct relationship of benefice by the Diocese in the American slave trade. Bishop William I Kip was an abolitionist who forbade discussion of abolition, secession, or the Civil War; the diocese was too new to have been directly involved in the slave trade. One result of this research by the Racial Reconciliation Task force was the discovery, or re-discovery, of the lives of Rev Peter Williams Cassey, deacon, and his wife Anna Besant Cassey; they were abolitionists, civil rights workers, educators, and, in the case of Peter, the first African American clergy ordained west of the Mississippi in 1866.
Peter Cassey’s parents, Joseph and Amy Cassey of Philadelphia, were friends of Absalom Jones, priest and abolitionist, as well as Frederic Douglass and Horace Greeley. His grandfather, Peter Cassey, was the first black priest of the Diocese of New York and founding vicar of St Philip’s Harlem, that great parish on the northern end of Manhattan.
Cassey emigrated west to San Francisco in the 1850’s. He married Anna Besant and started a family, becoming a successful barber on Portsmouth Square. They became involved in the abolition movement and civil rights, as well the education of children of color in California. They co-founded the Convention of Colored Citizens (CCC), a civil rights activist group. They moved to San Jose, began St Phillips Mission and the Phoenixian Institute, a school with a classical education for all children, drawing students from along the west coast and Latin America.
In 1866, Bishop William Kip ordained Peter Cassey to be the Reverend Deacon, for ‘work amongst the colored people’, to which the Bishop directed Cassey. Much of the work of the Cassey family involved the Phoenixian Institute, and leading St Philip’s Mission in San Jose. Cassey remained active in the work of the CCC, being one of the first blacks registered to vote in San Jose. Bishop Kip called upon Cassey to start another mission, Christ Church in San Francisco. For the Cassey’s this meant time apart: Anna Cassey spent her time with the Phoenixian Institute and St Philip’s Mission, and Peter Cassey travelled between the two cities, tending to both congregations.
The Phoenixian Institute closed in the mid 1870’s when San Jose created a public school for children of color. Anna Cassey died in 1875. St Phillip’s San Jose continues; however, Christ Church San Francisco eventually closed. Peter Cassey left California in 1881 to serve as vicar deacon in New Bern, North Carolina, from thence to Florida until his death in 1917.
Eons ago, I co-chaired said Racial Reconciliation Task Force for the Diocese of California, and was encouraged to learn that the first priest of color ordained west of the Mississippi came from San Francisco. Theirs is a story of faith, civic involvement, and the strong partnership in Christian witness and work. Hearing about Peter and Anna Cassey, and that of Rev Absalom Jones, felt appropriate bookends in this small part of Black History Month and The Episcopal Church. May their work in church and civic life inspire us to this day.
In Grace and Peace,