In this section:
Harvard Business School biography whitewashes
Mount Auburn Cemetery whitewashes
The 2016 plaque gracing his mansion whitewashes
The biography of Julia Ward Howe whitewashes Thomas Perkins
Harvard Business School biography whitewashes
Mount Auburn Cemetery whitewashes
The 2016 plaque gracing his mansion whitewashes
The biography of Julia Ward Howe whitewashes Thomas Perkins
Slave Trader and Opium Smuggler
Slave trading was a risky and very lucrative business at which Thomas Perkins excelled. In Haiti, his firm also traded in goods produced by the enslaved in the Caribbean as well as traded in Boston cod and other foods to feed the enslaved. Perkins was the first American to enter the opium trade in Canton. Early on, the emperor banned opium, understanding its dangerous addictiveness, but Perkins and others persisted by smuggling in opium. By the 1830’s the epidemic had taken hold of three million people.[1] Through these cruel and inhumane businesses, Thomas H. Perkins became one of the wealthiest Americans of his time.
The Harvard Studies in Business History whitewashes Thomas Perkins
In 1971, the “Harvard Studies in Business History” published a full-length detailed biography of T. H. Perkins.[2] His slave trading is the focus of the bizarrely titled chapter, “A Puritan in Paradise.” The chapter opens with a description of the Haitian city where Perkins carried out their slave trading: Cap Francis had a “lighthearted attitude toward life, [a] carefree enjoyment of the senses [and a ] single-minded preoccupation with pampering the tastes and lusts of the body…It was famous through the whole Caribbean for its women: the languid, pale Creoles; the chattering crowds of Negresses, with their vivid turbans; the mulatto courtesans gorgeous in towering headdresses and flaming scarves. The skills and tricks of these mulatto prostitutes…heated the fantasies of many a New England lad, and helped to hurry him aboard a vessel to know their enticements himself.”[3] The description continues in this vein for several paragraphs until this abrupt final sentence: The whole voluptuous shimmering pyramid was carried on the bent backs of the black slaves.”[4] The authors finally turn to business matters, describing Perkins as a “commission merchant” buying enslaved people off the ships arriving from western Africa: “Commission merchants did not get their hands too greatly soiled in the business. ..They were middlemen and their share of the obvious brutality could be minimal, indeed, almost non- existent.”[5]
In a jaw dropping decision, the neither word “slave” nor “slavery” appear in the index of this slave traders’ biography.
Slave trading was a risky and very lucrative business at which Thomas Perkins excelled. In Haiti, his firm also traded in goods produced by the enslaved in the Caribbean as well as traded in Boston cod and other foods to feed the enslaved. Perkins was the first American to enter the opium trade in Canton. Early on, the emperor banned opium, understanding its dangerous addictiveness, but Perkins and others persisted by smuggling in opium. By the 1830’s the epidemic had taken hold of three million people.[1] Through these cruel and inhumane businesses, Thomas H. Perkins became one of the wealthiest Americans of his time.
The Harvard Studies in Business History whitewashes Thomas Perkins
In 1971, the “Harvard Studies in Business History” published a full-length detailed biography of T. H. Perkins.[2] His slave trading is the focus of the bizarrely titled chapter, “A Puritan in Paradise.” The chapter opens with a description of the Haitian city where Perkins carried out their slave trading: Cap Francis had a “lighthearted attitude toward life, [a] carefree enjoyment of the senses [and a ] single-minded preoccupation with pampering the tastes and lusts of the body…It was famous through the whole Caribbean for its women: the languid, pale Creoles; the chattering crowds of Negresses, with their vivid turbans; the mulatto courtesans gorgeous in towering headdresses and flaming scarves. The skills and tricks of these mulatto prostitutes…heated the fantasies of many a New England lad, and helped to hurry him aboard a vessel to know their enticements himself.”[3] The description continues in this vein for several paragraphs until this abrupt final sentence: The whole voluptuous shimmering pyramid was carried on the bent backs of the black slaves.”[4] The authors finally turn to business matters, describing Perkins as a “commission merchant” buying enslaved people off the ships arriving from western Africa: “Commission merchants did not get their hands too greatly soiled in the business. ..They were middlemen and their share of the obvious brutality could be minimal, indeed, almost non- existent.”[5]
In a jaw dropping decision, the neither word “slave” nor “slavery” appear in the index of this slave traders’ biography.
While slave trading in Haiti, the authors describe Perkins as “A Puritan in Paradise” and “a commission merchant”
Mount Auburn Cemetary whitewashes Thomas Perkins
Thomas Perkins body was reinterred in the lovely Mount Auburn Cemetery decades after his death. The dog above his grave likely charms visitors who may approach the grave, see his name, then read about him on the Cemetery’s website. The first three words in their profile are:
Thomas Perkins body was reinterred in the lovely Mount Auburn Cemetery decades after his death. The dog above his grave likely charms visitors who may approach the grave, see his name, then read about him on the Cemetery’s website. The first three words in their profile are:
"Merchant and Philanthropist"
His slave trading is never mentioned, though his opium is mentioned in passing, minus the word smuggler: “the foremost American trading house with China. Their ships carried tea, cloth and china to the United States, coffee and sugar to Europe and furs and opium to China.” [6]
His slave trading is never mentioned, though his opium is mentioned in passing, minus the word smuggler: “the foremost American trading house with China. Their ships carried tea, cloth and china to the United States, coffee and sugar to Europe and furs and opium to China.” [6]
The biography of Julia Ward Howe whitewashes him. (Her husband was founding director of the Perkins School for the Blind.)
“The shipping magnate Colonel Thomas Perkins donated his house” to the Perkins
School."
School."
Learn more about Thomas Perkins
Notes and Citations
[1] By 1890, roughly 40 million people, 10% of the population, were addicted.
https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2008/WDR2008_100years_drug_control_origins.pdf (accessed July 8, 2022).
[2] Merchant Prince of Boston: Colonel T. H. Perkins, 1764-1854, Carl Seaburg and Stanley Paterson, Harvard University Press,: 1971.
[3] Ibid., pp. 37-38
[4] Ibid., p. 38.
[5] Ibid. p. 38-39.
[6] Ibid.
[7] The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe, Elaine Showalter, Simon & Schuster, p. 34.
https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2008/WDR2008_100years_drug_control_origins.pdf (accessed July 8, 2022).
[2] Merchant Prince of Boston: Colonel T. H. Perkins, 1764-1854, Carl Seaburg and Stanley Paterson, Harvard University Press,: 1971.
[3] Ibid., pp. 37-38
[4] Ibid., p. 38.
[5] Ibid. p. 38-39.
[6] Ibid.
[7] The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe, Elaine Showalter, Simon & Schuster, p. 34.