James A. Bowley

James Alfred Bowley (c.1844 – January 30, 1891) was an American teacher, lawyer, judge, school commissioner, politician, and newspaper publisher in South Carolina. He escaped slavery in Maryland with help from Harriet Tubman. He served in the U.S. Navy. After the American Civil War he moved to Georgetown, South Carolina, taught in schools and was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. His former home in Georgetown, where he lived with his wife Laura Clark (1854–1932), is a historic site.

Early life, escape, and education Bowley was the son of John Bowley and Kessiah Bowley. His mother was Harriet Tubman's niece, and the two were so close in age and had such a close relationship that they considered themselves sisters. Kessiah Bowley, James, and his sister Araminta were owned by Eliza Ann Brodess in Dorchester County, the woman whom Harriet Tubman had fled from just two years earlier (1848.) Upon hearing that Kessiah and her children would be placed on the auction block in December 1850, Tubman quickly departed for Baltimore and concocted a plan with Kessiah's husband, John.

Career After the Civil War ended, James chose to help newly emancipated slaves by working as a teacher [c.1867] for the Freedmen's Bureau in Georgetown, South Carolina. Bowley was about to enter a successful, but highly controversial, second phase of his life in the Reconstruction era. Bowley quickly established himself as an influential figure, more than just an educator, in this tumultuous period in South Carolina. By 1870, he had married Laura Clark, a mulatto native of Georgetown. He is listed as the "school commissioner" and owned a small amount of property, He ran as a Radical Republican and won the seat by a majority of 1,000 votes and over 85% of the cast votes. He was re-elected in 1870 and 1872.

Bowley's legislative position ultimately became the source of many of his difficulties, as it was for many Republicans, who were constantly accused of corruption or incompetence. For some time, Bowley chaired the Committee on Ways and Means, a prominent body that determined tax codes and other revenue building actions of the state assembly. The Anderson Times, a politically conservative and Democratically leaning newspaper, reported in 1872 that "Hon. Mr. Bowley, from Georgetown, is a colored man, and judging from his craniology, physiognomy and tautology, we fear he will make the ways and means very easy." The implication, which was reflected in many Reconstruction era southern papers' discussion of black politicians, was that James was mentally unfit for the position and would likely be susceptible to bribery.

In 1873, Bowley founded a weekly newspaper the Georgetown Planet, with a focus of politics, literature and science. It was a Republican paper, the only one in Georgetown.

James was named a trustee of the University of South Carolina in 1873, just as it was to enter a brief phase of integration. Fear of black inclusion had caused enrollment to plummet to just eight students, the majority of which were professor's sons. The legal impediments to black enrollment had been removed in 1869 but the first African-American student, South Carolina Secretary of State, Henry E. Hayne, did not register until October 1873. Even after making tuition free, Bowley and the other trustees were unable to fill seats at the university. They ultimately had to convince Howard University students and others to transfer, resulting in a more respectable number that was about 90% black by 1875.

Jones represented the rural, former plantation slaves of local birth, and he also had control of the local militia. Bowley, the more educated northerner, aligned with the mixed-race Republicans who lived in Georgetown proper. The night after the initial fight, attacks spread into the streets and ultimately to the men's homes. William H. Jones' house was shot full of bullets, leaving him with a wounded thumb and several others hurt. By this time, James Bowley had been taken to jail for safekeeping, which proved to be a wise decision. A mob of Jones' supporters came upon their opponent's home,

Bowley told his side of the feud in an article in the Charleston News and Courier reproduced by The Horry Weekly News

Bowley, like many other Reconstruction era public officials, could not escape the accusations of corruption or other political guile. In 1878, [he] was implicated by former Governor Franklin J. Moses Jr. in a bribery case, which had originated during the "ku klux prosecutions" in the early part of the decade. White Democrats ironically lamented that the legal system at that "white men, charged with crime or injustice toward negroes, had no rights which they (the negroes) were bound to respect." The state legislation which created funding for the prosecutions was allegedly passed with substantial bribes at the highest levels of the local government. After the governor took his share, "a further warrant for twenty-five hundred dollars was put in his hands, to be given to Bowley." However, James Alfred was not convicted in this or in a prior case of a similar nature. Opponents claimed that political connections had shielded Bowley from prosecution. In the highly polarized climate, it is difficult to determine how much truth each case carried, especially when using explicitly partisan newspaper accounts.

Bowley lost his seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1874. He continued to participate in the election process as an Elections Clerk at 'Griers poll' during the 1876 National Congressional election between John S. Richardson and Joseph H. Rainey. Richardson challenged the result as invalid on the grounds of intimidation of Democrats by federal soldiers and black militias guarding the polls and Bowley was called to testify in the resulting Congressional investigation: John S. Richardson, Contestant, vs. Joseph H. Rainey, Contestee.

Later years and death After the Reconstruction period ended, Bowley returned to teaching in local Georgetown schools. As late as 1888 he was teaching in the 'Colored Graded School' in Georgetown.

Bowley served as an "enumerator" for the 1890 U.S. Census in Georgetown County, South Carolina.

Bowley died January 30, 1891, while holding the position of Judge of Probate for Georgetown.

In 2019, a historical marker was placed by the home he built in Georgetown, South Carolina.

Sculpture: Whispers of My Ancestor On May 28, 2026, a sculpture called Whispers of My Ancestor depicting James A. Bowley and Harriet Tubman was unveiled and dedicated at the Georgetown County Library located at 405 Cleland Street in Georgetown, SC.

The sculpture was commissioned by the Friends of the Georgetown Library and was sculpted by Wesley Wofford. Wesley Wofford is an Academy Award winning American figurative sculptor. His studio is located in Cashiers, NC.

Wofford learned of the relationship that Harriet Tubman had with her great-nephew, James A. Bowley, while visiting Georgetown SC in 2022. He found the newly unearthed history deeply moving and inspirational, and conceived the vision for Whispers of My Ancestor. He collaborated with direct descendants of Tubman and Bowley, and enlisted local Georgetown models Marva Riley and Emrys Elijah James Berry, and hairstylist Tammy Dease to help capture the figurative forms of the sculpture.

The sculpture “speaks of the power of building on the foundations of those that came before us, and the long-term effects of nurturing education to uplift the next generation.”