Background
Ray, Charles Bennett was born on December 25, 1807 in Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Joseph Aspinwall and Annis (Harrington) Ray.
Ray, Charles Bennett was born on December 25, 1807 in Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States. Son of Joseph Aspinwall and Annis (Harrington) Ray.
He attended Wesleyan Seminary in Wilbraham, Massachusetts studying theology, and then in 1832 enrolled as the first black student at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut although his enrollment was revoked less than two months later after white students protested.
He moved to New York City in 1832 and opened a boot and shoe store. In the early 1830s Ray became involved in the abolitionist movement, and became a prominent promoter of the Underground Railroad. Ray was also active in the Society of the Promotion of Education Among Colored Children.
In 1838 Ray and Phillip A. Bell became co-owners of, the fourth weekly periodical published by African Americans, and Ray became the sole owner and editor in 1839.
Ray married twice: first in 1834 to Henrietta Green Regulus, who died two years later in childbirth. And again in 1840 to Charlotte Augusta Burroughs.
Charles B. Ray died in New York City and is buried in Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn.
Promoted “the moral, social and political elevation of the free colored people. And the peaceful emancipation of the slaves.” Ray traveled throughout the north giving speeches condemning African American prejudice, and in 1840 became a supporter of the newly founded Liberty Party, the only publicly pro-Abolitionist political party.
Ray was a strong supporter of the temperance movement, and was a member of the American Missionary Association, the African Society for Mutual Relief, and co-founded the Society for the Promotion of Education Among Colored Children.
Married Henriette Regulus, 1834. Married second, Charlotte Augusta Burroughs, 1840.