P. B. Randolph, The Orator, Philosopher, and Author, Will Deliver his Masterly Oration: 'Amazons,' In Harrington's Opera House, Sunday Afternoon, June 25th, at 3 o'clock, Also, in the Evening at Eight o’clock.

Boston: Randolph Publishing Company, [1871]. 8vo circular, 9.5” x 6”. 4 pp.

An unrecorded and fascinating circular promoting two lectures given in Providence, Rhode Island by a seminal black occultist.

Born in New York City, Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875) was an obscure but influential leader in 19th century occultism who was also one of the first African American American novelists. Randolph became interested in occultism by his early twenties and soon began developing his own thoughts on the subject. His enduring distinction is the crucial role he played in the transformation of spiritualism (consisting of a medium's passive reception of messages from the spirits of the dead) into occultism: the active search for personal spiritual realization and inner-vision. He thus advocated for a method of active mediumship, which he named “blending.” From his experiences in his solitary travels in England, France, Egypt and the Turkish Empire during the 1850s and ‘60s, he brought back to the U.S. a system of occult beliefs and practices (the magic mirror, hashish use, and sexual magic) that worked a revolution. The systems of magic he taught left their traces on many subsequent occultists. Randolph was one of the biggest importers of cannabis products into America during his time; he and his wife Mary Jane sold a range of patented cannabis medicines across the U.S. Over the course of his career, Randolph served on the National Convention of Colored Men; recruited black soldiers for the Union Army; set up a school for black adults in New Orleans, and was received at the White House by President Andrew Johnson. Randolph's teachings on occult sexuality were carried to Europe and contributed to the development of sex magic. However, his occult leanings made him unpopular and misunderstood by white and black communities alike.

While Randolph’s light-brown skin limited his career possibilities, he was noted for being handsome, intelligent and well-spoken. As Robert Fikes details, he “found his stride on the lecture circuit speaking across the United States and in Europe and the Caribbean on occult esoterica, trance mediumship, clairvoyance, sexual magic, medical potions, abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and the importance of literacy.” The present circular was produced for two of his engagements at Harrington's Opera House in Providence. The (second) evening lecture was on “His Favorite Theme, ‘The Master Passion, or the Curtain Raised.' Embracing New and Startling Revelations in the Philosophy of Love." The first page of the circular includes short testimonials by Theodore Tilton and Henry Ward Beecher (roughly a year before the Beecher-Tilton scandal became public). Pages 2 to 3 contain selected "Opinions of the Press," much of which lauds a Voting Rights speech Randolph gave in Sept. 1866 before the Philadelphia Convention of Southern Loyalists. A section of a press excerpt reads: "…the audience rose en masse to cheer him. Fred Douglass was so excited that he seized Anna Dickinson's Derby hat and flung it into the air, and Anna in turn grabbed Fred's beaver and whirled it triumphantly aloft." In addition to extolling Randolph’s oratorical powers, the circular provides interesting pieces of biography; his relation to the Randolphs of Virginia is noted twice. Page four lists eleven of Randolph’s published works —all described as “peculiar, fascinating, pathetic, tender, deeply philosophical, profoundly scientific and teeming with the loftiest human thought and philanthropy.” Included is the notice that, "This circular should be preserved, as the works are rare"; the front-cover similarly advises the reader to “Keep this! You may value it some day!” An advertisement for these orations appears in the 24 June 1871 issue of The Daily Bulletin (of Providence) confirms the publication year to be 1871.

Randolph is also remembered today for developing his own Rosicrucian system. Promoting the study of ancient esoteric mystical doctrines, in 1858 he founded the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis, which led to the establishment in San Francisco of America’s first Rosicrucian lodge. Randolph’s published works include The Unveiling; Or What I Think of Spiritualism [with] Medicinal Formulas (1860); Pre-Adamite Man: The Story of the Human Race, From 35,000 to 100,000 Years Ago! (1863); Love and Its Hidden History (1869)—his bestselling work on sexual attraction and heterosexual relationships which went through several editions; and the novel The Wonderful Story of Ravalette (1863). From 1852 to 1861, he served as editor of The Messenger of Light and The Journal of Progress, in which his first literary works were published. Randolph believed that had he been white his ideas and books would have become more popular. Sadly, he committed suicide with a revolver in Toledo, Ohio in 1875 at age 49.

No records in OCLC.

A possibly unique survival of this interesting circular.

REFERENCES: Bennett, Chris. Remembering an African American Medical Cannabis Pioneer – Dr. Paschal Beverly Randolph (10 Feb. 2019) at cannabisculture.com; Deveney, John Patrick. Paschal Beverly Randolph: A Nineteenth-Century Black American Spiritualist, Rosicrucian, and Sex Magician (SUNY Press: 1997); Fikes, Robert. Paschal Beverly Randolph at blackpast.org; "Randolph, Paschal Beverly (1825-1875)," Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology at encyclopedia.com.

CONDITION: Soiling,, toning, creases, and wear to first leaf; most of the wear is along one diagonal fold, affecting a handful of characters on pages 1 and 2.