Abolition Movement (Link to Slave’s Friend”)

• Antislavery movement: William Lloyd Garrison of New England Anti-Slavery Society, published first edition of The Liberator in 1831

• Abolitionist movement: did not always agree, ideological differences

• Moral suasion• Jackson denounced abolitionists as

troublemakers and urged ban on delivery of antislavery materials (1835); “gag rule” (1836) stopped antislavery petitioning in Congress

• First issue of Douglass’ North Star (1847)• Immediate abolition of slavery rather than

gradual emancipation or colonization in Africa

• http://www.merrycoz.org/slave/slave02/SLAVE02.HTM

Historical Context• Nat Turner Slave Revolt (1831)Turner and a small band murdered their owners and families (55 white men, women, and children killed); new laws passed prohibiting education of blacks,restricting assembly and civil rights, etc.• Fugitive Slave Act (1850)against the law for anyone to harbor runaway slaves ; owners ofescaped slaves would hire agents to hunt down and capture slaves in “free” states and territories; gave power to federal officials to capture escaped slaves; no longer a southern issue • Dred-Scott decision (1857)in effect ruled blacks were not citizens; status of former slaves in free states?

Influence of Uncle Tom’s Cabin• Harriet Beecher Stowe• 1852• Acceptance of fiction• Sentimental novels: written by women, about

women, for women; rely on domesticity and Christianity and emphasize marriage/motherhood/morality

• Cult of True Womanhood• Sympathy, benevolence, moral suasion• Stowe becomes internationally famous• Sold 10,000 copies in first week; 300,000 by end of

1852; outsold only by Bible• Created a huge sensation in Great Britain• Becomes part of culture: Plays, songs, games,

reprinted many, many times, later movies• Anti-Stowe books published (happy slaves and

benevolent masters)• Shapes the ways in which whites see the black

experience• Creates stereotypes

Justification for slavery• Biblical• Historical• Paternalism• Constitutional

“Little Eva, the Flower of the South”

• http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/childrn/cbcbambt.html

Making Connections

• How do texts by African Americans expand and transform our concepts of citizenship and American identity?

• How did black writers, like Douglass, revise the myth of the self-made man to include African Americans?

• What is the connection between captivity narratives and slave narratives?

• How do abolitionists and pro-slavery writers use Biblical imagery to support their positions?

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)• Born a slave in Talbot County, MD• Separated from his family and moved to the Wye

plantation; then given to the Auld family in Baltimore• Sophia Auld teaches him alphabet; learns to read and

write on his own• Sent to work for Edward Covey in 1833• In 1836, he tried to escape from Covey, but failed again. • In 1837, Douglass met and fell in love with a free black

woman, Anna Murray in Baltimore• In 1838, he successfully escapes by taking a train to

Havre de Grace, MD disguised as a free black seaman; arrives in Philadelphia safehouse of David Ruggles; marries Anna Murray

• Settles in New Bedford, MA• The couple had 5 children• Becomes involved in abolitionist movement as a writer

and lecturer• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass published in

1845• Attends the Seneca Falls Conference (1848)• After Civil War: series of political appointments, lecturer,

advocate for black education• 1880s: living in Washington D.C.; remarries white

feminist Helen Pitts

Frontispiece: Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom: Part I- Life as a Slave, Part II- Life as a Freeman, with an introduction by James M'Cune Smith. New York and Auburn: Miller, Orton & Mulligan (1855)

• Why is Douglass’ encounter with Covey a “turning point?”

• Both Douglass and Jacobs point to literacy as pivotal points in their lives as slaves. What impact did learning to read and write have on their experience of slavery and struggle for freedom?

• Why does Douglass refuse to narrate the details of his escape in the 1845 version of his Narrative? What effect does this have on the reader’s interpretation of his text?

• How does Douglass describe slave songs? How do they affect him? What meaning do they have for him and the slaves who sing them?

• How does Douglass learn to read?

Reuben Gilbert, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder..., DECLARATION OF ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION ASSEMBLED IN PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER 4, 1833 (1833) courtesy of Library of Congress, Printed Ephemera Collection [Portfolio 153, Folder 26]

•Read the passage in which Douglass confronts Covey. What happens during the confrontation? What did Douglass learn from this experience? (2103-2104)•What methods does this broadside use to convey its message? What does this image seem to advocate?• How does Douglass use the values and ideals of Christianity in his Narrative?

Questions: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

• What is the function of the preface?

• Explain the relationship between violence and Douglass’ quest for freedom.

• How does Douglass engage the audience and gain sympathy? What kind of rhetoric does he use?

• In what ways does Douglass connect to Franklin and Emerson?

C.M. Battey, HON. FREDERICK DOUGLASS. ORATOR, STATESMAN, EMANCIPATOR. [PHOTO POSTCARD] (n.d.) courtesy of C.M. Battey Photograph Collection, Photograph and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation.

This photograph of Douglass, taken after the Civil War, is on a postcard. What can you interpret about Douglass from this “primary source?” Hint: Look at the image, the text, the medium, etc.

Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897)

• Born a slave in Edenton, South Carolina• Owner Margaret Horniblow taught her

to read and write• Falls under control of Dr. James

Norcom• Lawyer Samuel Tredwell Sawyer is

father of her two children• Hides in her grandmother’s attic for

seven years• Escapes to the North in 1842• Fugitive slave• Cornelia Willis buys her and sets her

free in 1852• Began to write publically in 1853• Lydia Maria Child edits and helps to

publish Incidents in 1861

Biographical Information After the Civil War

• During & after Civil War, Jacobs and her daughter provide charity to freed slaves and perform reform work

• Returns to the South• Establishes a school for black refugees behind Union lines• Established an orphan’s asylum after the War in Savannah, GA• Returns to Boston and runs a boarding house in 1870• Settles in Washington D.C. in 1880s• Incidents never republished in her lifetime• Finally reprinted in 1973• Suspicions that the narrative is fictional• In 1987, Jean Fagan Yellin’s edition provides evidence that the

narrative is a true account

Jacobs’ Title Page

• What is the document?• What specific details, perspectives, and information

does the source provide?• Who is the intended audience? What is the purpose

of the title page?• Who produced the source?• When, why, and where was it produced?• What is the significance of the title and the

authorship? Editorship?• Think about the historical and social context. What

conclusions can draw about this source?• What is missing?

“Northerners know nothing at all about slavery. They think it is perpetuated bondage only. They have no conception of the depth of degradation in that word, Slavery; if they had, they would never cease their efforts until so horrible a system was overthrown.”—a woman of North Carolina

“Rise up, ye women that are at ease! Hear my voice, ye careless daughters! Give ear unto my speech”

Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880)

• Writer• Editor• Political activist

(women’s rights, Native American rights, abolitionist)

Questions

• Why did Jacobs publish her book under a pseudonym?• Who is Jacobs’ audience? As such, what elements in

her story does she emphasize?• How does Jacobs resist slavery? In what other ways

did slaves resist?• What is the significance of her ending? How does

Jacobs appropriate nineteenth-century notions of ideal womanhood?

• How does gender affect the lives of female slaves?• In what ways does the narrative adapt elements of

sentimental fiction?

Discussion Questions• Why would scholars and others believe

Jacobs narrative was a novel? What elements of her story seem fictional?

• Why did Jacobs publish her book under a pseudonym?

• Who is Jacobs’ audience? As such, what elements in her story does she emphasize?

• What is the significance of her ending? How does Jacobs appropriate nineteenth-century notions of ideal womanhood?

• Compare Jacobs’ and Douglass’ narratives? What goals and strategies do they face? How does gender affect their lives as slaves?

Loophole of Retreat

’Tis pleasant, through the loopholes of retreat, To peep at such a world; to see the stir Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd.

~William Cowper, The Task (1785)

• Compare Jacob’s loophole with Cowper’s Loopholes. What do you think is the meaning of Jacob’s title? Hint: Think of the multiple meanings of retreat and loophole?

Norcom (Flint)

Norcom House, Edenton, N.C. Dr. James Norcom (Dr. Flint)

Grandmother’s House/Hiding Place

Jacobs Runaway Slave Ad

•How does Norcom describe Jacobs?•Where does he think she may have gone?•Why do you think Norcom goes to such lengths to try to secure her return?•What does he reference at the end of the ad?

Slave Auction

Herman Melville (1819-1891)• Born in New York City on August 1, 1819• Third of eight children of Allan and Maria

Gansevoort Melvill. • Well-established and colorful Boston

family• Melville's father was a merchant and dry

goods importer• Childhood marked by father’s bankruptcy

and death• Melville is 12 years old when his father

dies leaving the family penniless• Attended the Albany Academy• Surveyor, cabin boy, school teacher,

sailor• Typee (1845): immediate success in

England; Omoo, Redburn and White- Jacket follow

• Gains reputation as an adventure writer1860

Melville’s Later Years• Married Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of

a MA state judge, in 1847.• The couple had 4 children: two sons

and two daughters. • Buys Arrowhead, a farm house in

Pittsfield, MA, now a museum, in 1850

• Moby Dick (1851) • Loner; befriends Hawthorne• Later writings not popular in his time• Lecturer• In 1863, he and his family move to

New York City. • Battle Pieces and Aspects of the War

(1866): book of poetry• Customs inspector for NYC• Retires in 1886 and dies in NYC• Melville revival in the 1920s

Benito Cereno

• Novella• Serialized in Putnam’s Monthly in 1855• Included in The Piazza Tales (1856)• Slave rebellion on board a Spanish

merchant ship in 1799• Ambiguous • Based on an actual event: Amasa Delano's

Narrative of Voyages and Travels, in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, chapter 18 (1817); Spanish ship Tryal; Captain Delano suppresses a slave revolt

• Slave revolt on board the Amistad (1839)• Saint Domingue (Haitian) slave uprising

(1791-1804)• http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jbattenb/benitocere

no/comparison-bc.htm

Captain Delano

Discussion for Benito Cereno• What seems to be wrong with Cereno? • How does Delano explain his Cereno’s strange behavior?• What is the narrative perspective of this story? Why did Melville choose

this method of narration?• What are Delano’s values and attitude toward slavery?• How is Babo portrayed? How does Babo use racist views to his

advantage?• When did you figure out what was happening on board the Santa

Domingo?• Do you think Melville’s story is effective as an antislavery work? Why or

why not?• How does the inclusion of the court documents at the end of the story

contest the “official” history of the event?• Think about the inversion of the master/slave relationships. How might

this make the masters look inhuman but also human?• Compare this story to Equiano’s narrative (women/war, description of

slave ship) and Douglass’ confrontation with Covey.• What about a comparison to Jacobs’ narrative. What aspects of resistance

do the male slaves emphasize? The women?• How does Melville’s story remain relevant? What contemporary or

modern events seem to invoke similar themes/issues found in this tale?

Group Discussion• How reliable are Delano's perceptions of reality?

What tendencies in particular make him an unreliable interpreter of the behavior he sees manifested on board the San Dominick? (Hint: think about the racial assumptions in the tale)

• How does Babo manipulate Delano’s prejudices? (shaving episode)

• Does Melville present Benito Cereno's view of blacks to counteract stereotypes, or merely as another stereotype? Does the Deposition represent the "truth"?

• How does the language of the Deposition differ from the language Melville uses elsewhere in the text? What makes us take it for the "truth"?

• Does the Deposition indirectly provide any alternative explanations of why the blacks may have revolted? What does it tell us about the blacks' actual aims? How do they try to achieve those aims?

• Does Melville provide any clues to an interpretation of the story that transcends the racist stereotypes of Delano and Cereno?