“Black Harry” Hoosier: The Story Behind Indiana’s Namesake

On this episode of Our American Stories, how did Indiana get its nickname “The Hoosier State?” And how did people from Indiana come to be called “Hoosiers?” Here to answer these questions and tell the story is Dr. Stephen Flick.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
To search for the American Stories podcast, go to the
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. How did
Indiana get its nickname as the Hoosier State? And how
did people from Indiana come to be known as Hoosiers.

(00:33):
Here to answer these questions and to tell the story
is doctor Stephen Flick, head of the Christian Heritage Fellowship.
Let's take a listen.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
One such individual that has so deeply influenced our nation
and one state in particular, is a black man, a
black Methodist preacher by the name of Harry Hoosier. John Wesley,
the well known evangelist and father of Methodism, at one

(01:07):
of his conferences in the British Isles in seventeen seventy one,
called for his itinerant ministers to volunteer to go to America.
Among those who volunteered was a young man by the
name of Francis Asbury. In a few short years, Francis

(01:31):
Asbury would rise to the highest office of bishop in America.
Having traveled thousands upon thousands of miles. His face was
more readily recognized than the Father of our nation, George Washington.

(01:51):
It was during the American Revolution that Francis Asbury asked
Harry Hoosier to travel with him throughout all of the
colonies from New England, the Middle Colonies, and Southern colonies,
and it was there that Harry Hoosier gained a reputation

(02:13):
as the most widely accepted and widely applauded minister of
his day. Harry Hoosier had been born in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
He had been born into slavery. He was purchased by
a Methodist by the name of Henry Gough, and mister

(02:36):
Gough invited his slaves as well as those white inhabitants
of his plantation in the Baltimore area, to prayers both
morning and evening, and it was out of this setting
that mister Gough freed Harry Hoosier. As the first first

(03:00):
anti slavery movement began just prior to the American Revolution,
and it was the Methodist with the Quakers helped to
champion this cause, and Harry Hoosier was among those that
was the first to be liberated from slavery. After being liberated,

(03:25):
he became the traveling companion of Francis Asbury, and together
they traveled thousands of miles, carrying the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to both black and white. It's very significant that
Harry Hoosier was more widely acclaimed as a preacher than

(03:46):
any other minister, any other preacher, white or black. In fact,
it was one of the three most important founding fathers,
doctor Benjamin Rush, who, along with George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.
Doctor Benjamin Rush was so impressed with Harry Hoosier's ability

(04:08):
as a preacher that he said, making allowances for his illiteracy,
he was the greatest orator in America. Many of those
who heard the preaching of Harry Hoosier who had been
converted as they moved out of the Appalachian Mountains and

(04:34):
moved west, there located in Indiana. Indiana became a strong
haven for Methodism. Those individuals that located in Indiana assumed
the name of Hoosier's because they had been so deeply

(04:56):
and so thoroughly influenced by the preaching of Harry Hoosiers.
Like so many other terms that have arisen, sometimes out
of derision, this term Hoosier was also a term of
derision for those who had come to believe in the

(05:16):
anti slavery message and who made their way into Indiana
and other parts of the burgeoning nation. Professor William Pearson
of Fisk University has said, as memories of the preacher
Black Harry slipped away, and as the white people of

(05:41):
the frontier adopted the nickname Hoosier for themselves, the term
lost its original racial connotations and came to means simply
an illiterate, ignorant or uncouth yahoo. For the thought who
flocked to hear Harry Hoosier preach, the name Hoosier was

(06:05):
a memorial to both the man and his message of
freedom from human bondage and freedom from the bondage of sin.
People from Indiana should take pride in having the most
distinctive state nickname, but they may justly exercise greater appreciation

(06:28):
for the person whose name it was.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
And a terrific job on the production by Greg Hangler.
In a special thanks to doctor Stephen Flick, head of
the Christian Heritage Fellowship, for sharing Harry Hoosier's story. Born
into slavery in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Harry was freed by
a slave owner in Baltimore, Maryland. He would go on
to travel the country preaching the gospel. No less an

(06:56):
authority than doctor Benjamin Rush was impressed his man. Well.
His name was memorialized, as was his message, and of
course the name for anyone who was listening, meant freedom
from human bondage and freedom from human sin. The story
of Harry Hoosier here on our American Story. Here are

(07:31):
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