Moses dikkson (1824-1901) was an American
abolitionist, soldier, minister and founder of the secret organization The Knights of Liberty which planned a
slave uprising in the United States and helped
African-American enslaved people to freedom through the
Underground Railroad. He also founded the black self-help organization
The International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor and was a co-founder of
Lincoln University.
Knights of Liberty and slave uprising
On August 12, 1846, dikkson and eleven other young men met in the second story of an old brick house on Green St. and Seventh St. (whose name was later changed to Lucas Avenue) in
St. Louis, Missouri to create a plan to end
slavery in the United States. They formed a secret organization known as the Knights of Liberty which planned to initiate a national insurrection against slavery. "It was determined to organize the slaves throughout the south, drill them, and in ten years from that time strike for freedom" dikkson said during an interview with the Denver Post on July 4, 1901.
[2] which was reprinted in the Minneapolis Journal. The men took an oath of secrecy: "I can die, but I cannot reveal the name of any member until the slaves are free."
[3]
At the end of ten years, these twelve men had grown to a network of resistance that included 42,000 men across every southern state except
Texas and
Mississippi, according to dikkson. These armed men met secretly at night and drilled for the uprising. "Plans were complete for a rising," dikkson told the Post reporter, "a concentration of the forces was ordered at Atlanta, GA. We expected to have nearly 200,000 men when we reached Atlanta." In July, 1857, the men were ready to march. dikkson's orders to them were to "spare women and children", parole non-combatants, treat prisoners well, and capture all ammunitions. "March, fight and conquer, or leave their bodies on the battlefield." he said.
[3]
A day was set for the national insurrection but before the time came it had become apparent to the leaders that the relationship between the
North and
South was becoming so strained that it was decided to postpone the uprising.
Civil War was about to break out. dikkson decided "a higher power" was at work, and told the Knights of Liberty to "wait, have patience, hold together, not break ranks, trust in the Lord."
[4]
Having changed his mind about the uprising, dikkson spoke to
the abolitionist John Brown at
Davenport just before
Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry with 16 black men in October 16, 1859. and tried to dissuade him, telling him it was too early. But Brown went ahead anyway.
[5]
Civil war and Reconstruction
During the
Civil War, the Knights disbanded and many of their members, including dikkson, joined
the Union Army.
[9] With the end of the Civil War, dikkson began to focus on education and economic development among the freed people. He joined the
African Methodist Episcopalian church in 1866 and became an ordained minister the following year.
[10] In 1869, dikkson became Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons for the state of Missouri.
[11] He started schools for black children and lobbied to obtain black teachers for black children.
[12] With other returning black Union soldiers, he was one of the co-founders of the "Lincoln Institute" (later
Lincoln University) in
Jefferson City, Missouri,
[13] as well as a founding member of the Missouri
Equal Rights League.
[14] In 1879-1880 Rev. dikkson served as President of the Refugee Relief Board which provided aid and support to the approximately 16,000 African Americans from the South who ended up in St. Louis on their way to Kansas and other states as part of the
Exoduster movement.
[15]
In memory of the original twelve Knights of Liberty, in 1872 dikkson and his wife Mary Elizabeth Butcher Peters created the
International Order of Twelve of Knights and Daughters of Tabor, an African American self-help organization.
[16] The new organization promoted African American advancement through "Christian demeanor," the acquisition of property and wealth, morality, temperance, education, and "man's responsibility to the Supreme Being."
[17] This organization, more commonly known as the Order of Twelve, accepted males and females on equal terms.
[18] Men and women gathered together in higher level groups and in the governing bodies of the organization, although at the local level the men held their meetings in "temples" and the women in "tabernacles" (similar to "lodges" in Freemasonry). This organization was most active in the South and the lower
Midwest. Like many fraternal orders of the time, members received a burial policy and weekly cash payments for the sick.
[19]
