The Origins of African American Literature, 1680-1865

393 Pages·2001·1.63 MB·English

by  Dickson D. Bruce Jr.

The Origins of
African American Literature,
1680–1865
(cid:1)

The Origins of
African American Literature,
1680–1865
(cid:1)
Dickson D. Bruce Jr.
University Press of Virginia
Charlottesville and London
The University Press of Virginia
©2001 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First published 2001
∞The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bruce, Dickson D., 1946–
The origins of African American literature, 1680–1865 / Dickson D. Bruce Jr.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8139-2066-3 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8139-2067-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. American literature—African American authors—History and criticism.
2. American literature—Colonial period, ca. 1600–1775—History and criticism.
3. American literature—Revolutionary period, 1775–1783—History and criti-
cism. 4. American literature—19th century—History and criticism. 5. Ameri-
can literature—1783–1850—History and criticism. 6. Slaves’ writings, American
—History and criticism. 7. African Americans—Intellectual life. 8. African
Americans in literature. 9. Slavery in literature. 10. Slaves in literature. I. Title.
PS153.N5 B78 2001
810.9'896073—dc21
2001001877
to emily and justin

Contents
Preface
ix
Acknowledgments
xv
1
Background to an African American Literature, 1680–1760
1
2
The Age of Revolution, 1760–1800
39
3
Literary Identity in the New Nation, 1800–1816
92
4
The Era of Colonization, 1816–1828
135
Contents
5
The Liberatorand the Shaping of African American
Tradition, 1829–1832
175
6
Literary Expression in the Age of Abolitionism, 1833–1849
211
7
African American Voices in the American Crisis, 1850–1861
257
8
The War for Emancipation and Beyond
301
Notes
315
Works Cited
335
Index
361
Preface
I
n trying to understand the origins of African American literature,
I have taken what many may find to be an unusual approach. For one
thing, this study is something other than a survey of major African Ameri-
can authors and their works, although, of course, they occupy center
stage. Rather, it is an effort to investigate the historical conditions for an
African American literary enterprise. It is an effort to understand why and
how black women and men came to do the literary work they did, as well
as why, during its more than a century of early development, such work
took the various shapes it did.
This study is also unusual in that its focus reaches well beyond the ca-
reers of African American writers and their works. It locates the origins of
African American literature in a historical context that includes, among
other things, African and American oral traditions, European conven-
tions, American race relations, and political activism. Examining a broad
array of works by white as well as black authors, I found the origins of
African American literature to be in a process in which black and white
writers collaborated in the creation of what I call an “African American
literary presence.” This involved developing a voice and a persona im-
bued with authority and standing, taking a place in larger realms of dis-
course in American society. Such a presence began to evolve even before
there were African American writers, and it played a major role in Ameri-
can cultural history from colonial times to emancipation and beyond.
At the center of this process was the question of authority. We are
accustomed to thinking of the African American voice as historically an
excluded voice, a silenced voice. In the period surveyed here this was not
the case. By no later than 1680, as a wealth of evidence indicates, some
ix