If Blake speaks directly to current debates over the nature of slavery, the novel also speaks to Delany’s own generation on the nature of separatism and nationalism. Although muting the emigrationist sentiments which he proclaimed frequently throughout most of the 1850s, Delany’s advocacy of a black-controlled Cuba fits comfortably with the nationalistic thrust of his thought during the decade. To this extent, Delany had sharply broken with the more integrationist, antiemigrationist Afro-Americans such as Frederick Douglass who were arguing, in general, that blacks should remain in the United States and combat both slavery and Northern discrimination. Delany’s stress in Blake on self-reliance, upon blacks’ leading their own rebellions and avoiding undue dependence upon whites and white institutions, while not completely divorced from the thinking of leaders such as Douglass, does, nevertheless, sharply demonstrate the strength of his commitment to nationalism.
Yet the contours of the nationalism which he developed in his novel forcefully answer the charges of those abolitionists, black and white, who felt that Delany’s emigrationist and nationalist positions marked a retreat from the struggle against oppression and degradation in the South. For while developing his nationalistic philosophy in the words and deeds of Henry/Blake and Placido, Delany’s stress on slave rebellions in both the South and in Cuba points to his deep concern with the emancipation of the slaves.
Unfortunately we do not know how Delany concluded his novel–whether the rebellion in Cuba was successful and whether it spread to the Southern United States. Yet the very inconclusiveness of the novel as it now exists–the rebellion in process–is perhaps more relevant today than any ending Delany could possibly have conceived.
Notes to Introduction
1 Delany to William Lloyd Garrison, New York, February 19, 1859, William Lloyd Garrison Papers (Boston Public Library).
2 Issues of The Weekly Anglo-African from August 10, 1861, through April 26, 1862, are located in the Library of Congress. However, a copy of the June 7, 1862, issue in the Cornell University Library includes the second chapter of another serialized story. Presumably, then, Blake was concluded two weeks earlier–or May 24.
3 Hamilton asked Gerrit Smith for financial assistance in a letter from New York, January 23, 1862, Gerrit Smith Papers (Syracuse University Library). Brown’s Miralda; or, the Beautiful Quadroon had been printed in The Weekly Anglo-African from November 30, 1860, through March 16, 1861. The original 1853 version, Clotel, or, the President’s Daughter, has recently been republished by Arno Press.
4 This also has been recently reprinted by Arno Press.
5 The Weekly Anglo-African, January 18, 1862, p. 2.
6 Delany is one of the few nineteenth-century black figures to have received biographical treatment. See Frank A. Rollin, pseud. (Francis E. Rollin Whipper), Life and Public Services of Martin R. Delany . . . (Boston, 1868), which is helpful despite major omissions and errors. This will soon be supplanted by biographies by Victor Ullman and Dorothy Sterling, the latter for younger readers. The sketch given in the introduction is drawn from the editor’s research in progress.
7 The Voice of the Fugitive, September 24, 1851; Delany’s book is now available in an Arno Press reprint.
8 This was originally printed in the Proceedings of the National Emigration Convention . . . at Cleveland, . . . the 24th, 25th and 26th of August, 1854 (Pittsburg, 1854), pp. 33-70, and was reprinted in Report of the Select Committee on Emancipation and Colonization, House Report No. 148, 37th Cong., 2d sess., Vol. IV (Washington, 1862), pp. 37-59, and in Rollin, pp. 327-367.
9 Four Months in Liberia; or African Colonization Exposed (Pittsburgh, 1855).
10 Although Brown apparently did not discuss specific plans at the convention, it was generally understood that a raid would be made upon the slave states. Only Delany would later maintain otherwise. Compare Delany’s account in Rollin, pp. 87-88, with James Cleland Hamilton, “John Brown in Canada,” in The Canadian Magazine, IV (November, 1894), p. 134, and Richard J. Hinton, John Brown and His Men (New York, 1894), pp. 176-177, 182-185.
11 Hollis R. Lynch, “Pan-Negro Nationalism in the New World,” in Boston University Papers on Africa, II (1966), pp. 163-171; A. H. M. Kirk-Green, “America in the Niger Valley: A Colonization Centenary,” in Phylon, XXIII (Fall, 1962), pp. 225-239; M. R. Delany, Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party (New York, 1861); Robert Campbell, A Pilgrimmage to My Motherland (New York, 1861); J. F. Ade Ajayi, Christian Missions in Nigeria, 1841-1891 (London, 1965), pp. 191-193. Delany’s and Campbell’s accounts have been reprinted in a single volume, Search for a Place; Black Separatism and Africa, 1860 (Ann Arbor, 1969); this includes an excellent introduction by Howard H. Bell.
12 At the opening session of the Congress in London in July, 1860, Delany’s presence was publicly called to the attention of the American minister to England, George Dallas, by Lord Brougham, the aging British abolitionist. Delany responded to this by assuring Lord Brougham “that I am a man.” Although the official American representative to the Congress withdrew, Dallas did not answer either Delany or Lord Brougham and for this he was rebuked by Secretary of State Cass. Douglass’ Monthly, September, 1860, p. 334; Sister Therese A. Donovan, “Difficulties of a Diplomat: George Mifflin Dallas in London,” in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XCLL (October, 1968), pp. 428-431.
13 Lord Alfred Churchill to William King, London, March 9, 1861, King Papers (Public Archives of Canada); Chatham Tri-Weekly Planet, April 8, 1861, p. 2; Ajayi, pp. 191-193.
14 Rollin, pp. 141-174; The Anglo-African, April 18, 1863, p. 1; May 2, 1863, p. 3; November 28, 1863, p. 2; September 10, 1864, p. 1. See also Delany’s letter to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Chicago, December 15, 1863 (National Archives).
15 Rollin, pp. 176-301; The Anglo-African, March 4, 1865, p. 2; March 11, 1865, p. 2; March 18, 1865, p. 1; April 1, 1865, pp. 2,3; April 8, 1865, p. 1; Xenia Sentinel, March 17, 1865, p. 3.
16 Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne, edited by Rupert Sargent Holland (Cambridge, 1912), p. 165; Fullerton to O. O. Howard, Hilton Head, S.C., July 20, 1865, Howard Papers (Bowdoin College Library).
17 Rollin, pp. 243-253; W. L. M. Burger, Assistant Adjutant General, to Major General Rufus Saxton, Charleston, December 21, 1865; Delany to Burger, Port Royal, S.C., March 5, 1866-Record Group 393, Department of the South (National Archives); Report of B. F. Foust, Hilton Head, S.C., October 29, 1866; Delany to Lieutenant Colonel H. W. Smith, Port Royal, October 30, 1866–Record Group 105, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, South Carolina (National Archives).
18 New York Tribune, August 6, 1867, p. 1; Joel Williamson, After Slavery; The Negro in South Carolina During Reconstruction, 1861-1877 (Chapel Hill, 1965), p. 357.
19 See Delany’s application to President Grant for the Liberian position, Washington, D.C., October 18, 1869, and three accompanying petitions of recommendation–all in Record Group 59 (National Archives).
20 Williamson, 353-354; D. H. Chamberlain to Delany, Columbia, S.C., March 4, 1876, Governor Chamberlain Letterbooks (South Carolina Department of Archives and History); Hampton M. Jarrell, Wade Hampton and the Negro: The Road Not Taken (Columbia, 1950), p. 69; Charleston News and Courier, April 5, 1878, p. 4; Delany to William Coppinger, Charleston, August 18, 1880, American Colonization Society Papers, 240: 130 (Library of Congress).
21 George Brown Tindall, South Carolina Negroes, 1877-1900 (Columbia, 1952), pp. 153-168; Coppinger to Delany, Washington, D.C., March 23, 1882; Coppinger to John H. B. Latrobe, Washington, D.C., March 23, 1882–American Colonization Society Letterbooks; John E. Bruce, “Address read before Negro Academy, July 5, 1920,” p. 4, Bruce Papers (Schomburg Branch, New York Public Library); Martin R. Delany, Principia of Ethnology . . . (Philadelphia, 1879); Xenia Daily Gazette, January 24, 1885.
22 William Montague Cobb, “Martin Robison Delany,” in Journal of the National Medical Association, XLIV (May, 1952), 232-238; see, for instance, The Pennsylvania Freeman, Apr
il 29, 1852, p. 70.
23 Sterling A. Brown, Arthur P. Davis and Ulysses Lee, The Negro Caravan; Writings by American Negroes (New York, 1941), pp. 138-139; Vernon Loggins, The Negro Author: His Development in America (New York, 1931), pp. 185-186.
24 See Frederick Douglass’ Paper, April 1, 1853, p. 2; April 29, 1853, p. 3; May 6, 1853, p. 3. Delany, however, had apparently revised his attitude toward Mrs. Stowe by the time The Weekly Anglo-African printed his entire novel because each week’s offering was headed by a poem by Mrs. Stowe–one poem for all the chapters in Part I and another for the chapters in Part II.
25 Rollin, pp. 46-48; Frederick Douglass’ Paper, June 17, 1853, p. 1; The North Star, July 14, 1848, pp. 2-3.
26 Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb in Puttin’ On Ole Massa, edited by Gilbert Osofsky (New York, 1969), p. 66; Solomon Northrup, Twelve Years a Slave (reprint ed., Baton Rouge, La., 1968), pp. 188-189.
27 The North Star, April 27, 1849, p. 2; July 20, 1849, p. 3.
28 C. Stanley Urban, “The Africanization of Cuba Scare,” in the Hispanic American Historical Review, XXXVII (February, 1957), 29-45.
29 See below, pp. 253, 290, 109-111, 70-72, 116.
30 See also, pp. 262, 184-185, below.
31 The North Star, March 23, 1849, p. 2; April 13, 1849, p. 2; April 20, 1849, p. 2; Delany, The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States (Philadelphia, 1852), pp. 37-40; William Wells Brown, Clotel, or, the President’s Daughter (London, 1853), pp. 88-100.
32 Stanley Elkins, Slavery; A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life (Chicago, 1959); Sterling Stuckey, “Through the Prism of Folklore: The Black Ethos in Slavery,” in The Massachusetts Review, IX (Summer, 1968), p. 418.
PART I
By myself, the Lord of Ages,
I have sworn to right the wrong,
I have pledged my word unbroken,
For the weak against the strong.
H. Beecher Stowe
CHAPTER 1
The Project
On one of those exciting occasions during a contest for the presidency of the United States, a number of gentlemen met in the city of Baltimore. They were few in number, and appeared little concerned about the affairs of the general government. Though men of intelligence, their time and attention appeared to be entirely absorbed in an adventure of self-interest. They met for the purpose of completing arrangements for refitting the old ship “Merchantman,” which then lay in the harbor near Fell’s Point. Colonel Stephen Franks, Major James Armsted, Captain Richard Paul, and Captain George Royer composed those who represented the American side–Captain Juan Garcia and Captain Jose Castello, those of Cuban interest.
Here a conversation ensued upon what seemed a point of vital importance to the company; it related to the place best suited for the completion of their arrangements. The Americans insisted on Baltimore as affording the greatest facilities, and having done more for the encouragement and protection of the trade than any other known place, whilst the Cubans, on the other side, urged their objections on the ground that the continual increase of liberal principles in the various political parties, which were fast ushering into existence, made the objection beyond a controversy. Havana was contended for as a point best suited for adjusting their arrangements, and that too with many apparent reasons; but for some cause, the preference for Baltimore prevailed.
Subsequently to the adjustment of their affairs by the most complete arrangement for refitting the vessel, Colonel Franks took leave of the party for his home in the distant state of Mississippi.
CHAPTER 2
Colonel Franks at Home
On the return of Colonel Stephen Franks to his home at Natchez, he met there Mrs. Arabella, the wife of Judge Ballard, an eminent jurist of one of the Northern States. She had arrived but a day before him, on a visit to some relatives, of whom Mrs. Franks was one. The conversation, as is customary on the meeting of Americans residing in such distant latitudes, readily turned on the general policy of the country.
Mrs. Ballard possessed the highest intelligence, and Mrs. Maria Franks was among the most accomplished of Southern ladies.
“Tell me, Madam Ballard, how will the North go in the present issue?” enquired Franks.
“Give yourself no concern about that, Colonel,” replied Mrs. Ballard, “you will find the North true to the country.”
“What you consider true, may be false–that is, it might be true to you, and false to us,” continued he.
“You do not understand me, Colonel,” she rejoined, “we can have no interests separate from yours; you know the time-honored motto, ‘united we stand,’ and so forth, must apply to the American people under every policy in every section of the Union.”
“So it should, but amidst the general clamor in the contest for ascendancy, may you not lose sight of this important point?”
“How can we? You, I’m sure, Colonel, know very well that in our country commercial interests have taken precedence of all others, which is a sufficient guarantee of our fidelity to the South.”
“That may be, madam, but we are still apprehensive.”
“Well, sir, we certainly do not know what more to do to give you assurance of our sincerity. We have as a plight of faith yielded Boston, New York, and Philadelphia–the intelligence and wealth of the North–in carrying out the Compromise measures for the interests of the South; can we do more?”
“True, Madam Ballard, true! I yield the controversy. You have already done more than we of the South expected. I now remember that the Judge himself tried the first case under the Act, in your city, by which the measures were tested.”
“He did, sir, and if you will not consider me unwomanly by telling you, desired me, on coming here, to seek every opportunity to give the fullest assurance that the judiciary are sound on that question. Indeed, so far as an individual might be concerned, his interests in another direction–as you know–place him beyond suspicion,” concluded Mrs. Ballard.
“I am satisfied, madam, and by your permission, arrest the conversation. My acknowledgements, madam!” bowed the Colonel, with true Southern courtesy.
“Maria, my dear, you look careworn; are you indisposed?” inquired Franks of his wife, who during conversation sat silent.
“Not physically, Colonel,” replied she, “but——”
Just at this moment a servant, throwing open the door, announced dinner.
Besides a sprightly black boy of some ten years of age, there was in attendance a prepossessing, handsome maidservant, who generally kept, as much as the occasion would permit, behind the chair of her mistress. A mutual attachment appeared to exist between them, the maid apparently disinclined to leave the mistress, who seemed to keep her as near her person as possible.
Now and again the fat cook, Mammy Judy, would appear at the door of the dining room bearing a fresh supply for the table, who with a slight nod of the head, accompanied with an affectionate smile and the word “Maggie,” indicated a tie much closer than that of mere fellow servants.
Maggie had long been the favorite maidservant of her mistress, having attained the position through merit. She was also nurse and foster mother to the two last children of Mrs. Franks, and loved them, to all appearance, as her own. The children reciprocated this affection, calling her “Mammy.”
Mammy Judy, who for years had occupied this position, ceded it to her daughter; she preferring, in consequence of age, the less active life of the culinary department.
The boy Tony would frequently cast a comic look upon Mrs. Ballard, then imploringly gaze in the face of his mistress. So intent was he in this, that twice did his master admonish him by a nod of the head.
“My dear,” said the Colonel, “you are dull today; pray tell me what makes you sad?”
“I am not bodily afflicted, Colonel Franks, but my spirit is heavy,” she replied.
“How so? What is the matter?”
“That will be best answe
red at another time and place, Colonel.”
Giving his head an unconscious scratch accompanied with a slight twitch of the corner of the mouth, Franks seemed to comprehend the whole of it.
On one of her Northern tours to the watering places–during a summer season some two years previous, having with her Maggie the favorite–Mrs. Franks visited the family of the Judge, at which time Mrs. Ballard first saw the maid. She was a dark mulatto of a rich, yellow, autumnlike complexion, with a matchless, cushionlike head of hair, neither straight nor curly, but handsomer than either.
Mrs. Franks was herself a handsome lady of some thirty-five summers, but ten years less in appearance, a little above medium height, between the majestic and graceful, raven-black hair, and dark, expressive eyes. Yet it often had been whispered that in beauty the maid equalled if not excelled the mistress. Her age was twenty-eight.
The conduct of Mrs. Franks toward her servant was more like that of an elder sister than a mistress, and the mistress and maid sometimes wore dresses cut from the same web of cloth. Mrs. Franks would frequently adjust the dress and see that the hair of her maid was properly arranged. This to Mrs. Ballard was as unusual as it was an objectionable sight, especially as she imagined there was an air of hauteur in her demeanor. It was then she determined to subdue her spirit.
Acting from this impulse, several times in her absence, Mrs. Ballard took occasion to administer to the maid severities she had never experienced at the hands of her mistress, giving her at one time a severe slap on the cheek, calling her an “impudent jade.”
At this, Mrs. Franks, on learning, was quite surprised; but on finding that the maid gave no just cause for it, took no further notice of it, designedly evading the matter. But before leaving, Mrs. Ballard gave her no rest until she gave her the most positive assurance that she would part with the maid on her next visit to Natchez. And thus she is found pressing her suit at the residence of the Mississippi planter.
Blake or The Huts of America Page 3
