African American Letters (Part IV):
The Slave Narratives or Blacks’ Own Declaration of Independence.
Greetings, Steemians. To finish the series of posts on the first 100 years (or so) of African American literature, I would like to address this time the Slave Narratives that contributed to African Americans’ struggle for human and political rights.
You can find the previous posts here:
https://steemit.com/english/@hlezama/african-american-letters
https://steemit.com/english/@hlezama/african-american-letters-part-ii
https://steemit.com/english/@hlezama/african-american-letters-part-iii
the Anglo-African literary tradition was created two centuries ago in order to demonstrate that persons of African descend possessed the requisite degrees of reason and wit to create literature, that they were, indeed, full and equal members of the community of rational, sentient beings, that they could indeed write (Preface xxviii).
Source
Some of our offerings are eaten with bitter herbs […] We practised [sic] circumcision like the Jews and made offerings and feasts on that occasion in the same manner as they did. Like them also, our children were named from some event […] I was named Olaudah, which in our language, signifies vicissitude or fortune also, one favored or having a loud voice and well spoken (59).
We are almost a nation of dancers, musicians and poets […] Our manners are simple, our luxuries are few. The dresses of both sexes are nearly the same […] brighter and richer than any I have seen in Europe […] unacquainted with those refinement in cookery which debouch the taste […] Before we taste food we always wash our hands: indeed our cleanliness on all occasions is extreme […] In our buildings we study convenience rather than ornament.(52-54).
Although Equiano recognizes that Africans also had slaves (so did the Jews; therefore, he did not see it as a problem), he emphasizes the difference with European enslavement.
With us they do no more work than other members of the community, even their masters; their food, clothing and lodging were nearly the same as theirs (58).
It was almost a constant practice with our clerks, and other whites, to commit(121).violent depredations on the chastity of the female slaves […] I have even known them gratify their brutal passion with females not ten years old[…] And yet in Monserrat I have seen a negro man staked to the ground, and cut most shockingly, and then his ears cut off bit by bit, because he had been connected with a white woman who was a common prostitute.
If the blacks were permitted to remain in their own country, they would double themselves every fifteen years. In proportion to such increase will be the demand for manufactures. Cotton and indigo grow spontaneously in most parts of Africa; a consideration this of no small consequence to the manufacturing towns of Great [Britain].
Obviously, Equiano was underestimating the destructive force of economic ambition and political power.
I have often been awaken at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks [of aunt Hester], whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers from his gory victim, seemed to move his iron heart from its bloody purpose. The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped the longest” (284).
Douglass also describes the slave songs, the precursors of African Americans’ Spirituals and Blues. “Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God for deliverance from chains” (290). He also clarifies northerners’ misconceptions about blacks’ singing.
I have often been utterly astonished, since I came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing among slaves as evidence of their contentment and happiness. It is impossible to conceive of a greater mistake. Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of a slave represent the sorrows of his heart.
When he finally makes it to New York (no details are provided in this first autobiography to avoid compromising other people), Douglass describes the mixed feeling thusly:
to understand it, one must needs experience it, or imagine himself in similar circumstances. Let him be a fugitive slave in a strange land—a land given up to be the hunting ground for slaveholders—whose inhabitants are legalized kidnappers—where he is every moment subjected to the terrible liability of being seized upon by his fellowmen, as the hideous crocodile seizes upon his prey!—I say, let him place himself in my situation—without home or friends—without money or credit—wanting shelter, and no one to give it—wanting bread, and no money to buy it […] then, and not till then, will he fully appreciate the hardships of, and know how to sympathize with, the toil-worn and whip-scarred fugitive slave.
Douglass was so aware of the impact of his narrative in a religious conservative culture such as 18th century America that he added an appendix to his narrative in which he clarifies his religious views.
What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of this land […]
between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ I recognize the widest possible difference[…] I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land […] I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible inconsistencies, which every where surround me. […] The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class-leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the God who made me […]We see the thief preaching against theft, and the adulterer against adultery.
Thanks for your visit. Your comments, as always, are more than welcome!
Works Cited or Consulted
• Brown, William Wells. Narrative of William Wells Brown, a Fugitive Slave. Written by Himself. In Slave Narratives. Eds. William L. Andrews and Henry Louis Gates Jr. The Library of America: New York, 2000. (369-424).
• Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Written by Himself. In Slave Narratives. Eds. William L. Andrews and Henry Louis Gates Jr. The Library of America: New York, 2000. (267-368).
• Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself. In Slave Narratives. Eds. William L. Andrews and Henry Louis Gates Jr. The Library of America: New York, 2000. (35-243).
• Gates Jr., Henry Louis and Nellie Y. McKay. Eds. The Norton Anthology African American Literature. Norton. New York, 1997.
• Gronniosaw, James Albert. A Narrative of the most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince, as Related by Himself. In Slave Narratives. Eds. William L. Andrews and Henry Louis Gates Jr. The Library of America: New York, 2000. (1-34).
• Gray, Thomas. "The Confessions of Nat Turner (1831)" (1831). Electronic Texts in
American Studies. 15. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/etas/15.
• Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Written by Herself. In Slave Narratives. Eds. William L. Andrews and Henry Louis Gates Jr. The Library of America: New York, 2000. (743-948).
• Washington, Booker T. Up from Slavery. An Autobiography. Doubleday: New York, 1901.