Abolition of slavery; African American women writers of the 19th Century.
The past of the African American women writers is unique, depressing and harsh. They trace back their ancestry right from Africa where their ancestors originated from before being shipped to America as slaves. The Africans, both men and women were brutalized, tortured, oppressed and exploited beyond anyone’s wildest thoughts. Arriving in America, these African men, women and children were systematically and legally robbed of their humanity. The system of slavery however proved even more brutal for African women. They were robbed of their respect, dignity and identity. They faced violence at the hands of their white masters not only in the form of hard labor and whipping lashes but also became an unwanted victim of sexual abuse.
These women were often raped by their white masters and their children sold away by the same masters.
According to Hahirar Kulkarni, Black Feminist Fiction: A March Towards Liberation, the brutal treatment that the black women received during slavery invariably left profound scars on their psyche. Their physical bondage ultimately turned into a psychological bondage causing mutations and mutilations of their world. The external forces operating at the socio-economic levels came to bear an unmistakable relationship to their internal fears, worries, anxieties, feelings of inadequacy and frustration. The poisonous fangs of slavery begun manifesting itself in innumerable ways and finally determined the behavioral patterns of the African woman. The American system had a destructive effect on a black woman’s body so was her psyche. The system worked through objectification, socialization, violence and in unified effect damaged a black woman’s self-esteem.
As educational opportunity expanded among African Americans after the war, a self-conscious black middle class with serious literary ambitions emerged in the later 19th century. Women had no vote and little influence on the political scene; despite this, they played an important role in the abolition of the Slave Trade and slavery. In the early years, women were not direct activists and were not expected to take part in politics. Lady Margaret Middleton, for example, helped persuade William Wilberforce to take up the cause but could not become actively engaged herself. Despite this, women invented their own ways to campaign and begun writing imaginative literature on slavery, the literature they wrote included published poetry, biographies, essays, novels, music and short stories.
By the 1840s, black and white women served as antislavery lecturers, editors, fundraisers and organizers, and even though they were mocked and referred to as “politicians in petticoats” they grew more and more intense over the years. To advance their cause and add strength to their voices, the minority-holding antislavery views in the United States turned to printing technology in order to reach wider audiences with their message. The written word proved very useful in getting their message out to masses of people. The writers created a huge impact on the larger slave population through their publications, out of slave narratives for instance Sojourner Truth (c. 1791-1883) a slave from Dutch became one of the most popular speakers for the abolitionist cause and her fame was heightened by the publication of her Narrative in 1850, related and transcribed by Olive Gilbert. Literature standing in opposition to slavery also increased during the nineteenth century Maria.W.Stewart wrote both pamphlets and speeches for William Lloyd Garrison’s The Liberator which ran from 1831 to 1866 till she retired in 1833. Another black woman, Mary Prince (1788-c. 1833) wrote a book, The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave, which exposed the horrors of the Caribbean slave trade. She was the first woman to present an anti-slavery petition to Parliament.
The shorter antislavery tracts usually made a specific argument against slavery and then offered evidence in support of their antislavery message. Some of the larger tracts used a combination of pro-slavery arguments, southern newspaper entries, and comments from actual slaves to reveal the wrongs of the system. This can be seen in the widely read Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (1839), written by Angelina Grimké (husband Theodore) and her sister Sarah Grimké. Coming in at over 200 pages, this tract was in effect a book, but was printed in pamphlet form during the mid-1800s.
The African American women writers of the 19th Century employed various themes in their works in order to spread the anti-slavery message and ensure that it had a great impact, at the same time creating more influence and drive towards their goal (abolition of slavery).
Much of this genre of writing relied on the Christian faith that all people were created in God's divine image. Religion as a theme compelled people to a call for action, Christians believe in the Bible, its writings, and an even greater God and so in many ways, the Christian Bible was the backbone of the abolitionist debate. Although southerners used the Bible to support slavery, abolitionists likewise used its verses against slavery. They often quoted verses describing human equality, stating the belief that God had made of "one blood all nations of men" (Acts 17:26), which is practically true, no matter the skin color, the blood is still red.
The theme and call of human equality can be seen running through most antislavery texts and mostly presenting itself through first hand narratives of the slaves e.g. Elizabeth Freeman (1742-1829). They most clearly captured the voice of the slave who had experienced firsthand the injustices of the slave system. Some of the most compelling antislavery arguments appeared in the written works that originated from slaves who spoke of the filthy living quarters, inadequate meals, long hours of backbreaking labor, the separation of families on the auction block, and especially of the brutal beatings suffered under the lash that were often times administered by the master with little provocation. The atrocities described in these narratives were often times so horrific that many readers did not believe they could have actually taken place.
Generally, themes of peace, love, and protection of those who could not defend themselves served as the foundation for abolitionist ideology with inclusion of a number of sermons and speeches inspired by Christianity were published for wider distribution.
These works were really important since they gave readers who had no immediate contact with slavery in the North and overseas a view into the lives of those slaves destroyed both physically and mentally under the lash. In this way, antislavery literature compelled many people to oppose. It was a call to action that saw the increase of people to the movement of the abolition of slavery.
The themes used during the anti-slavery campaign can be said to have been successful, insightful and had a great impact on the large American audience since they changed peoples perspectives, the way in which slaves were initially viewed changed and so did the attitude towards slavery. It is important to point out the intervention of religion and especially the role of the Quakers and the nonconformist churches as agents of change. The Society of Friends (the Quakers) put forward their objections to slavery as early as the late 1600s, produced the first anti-slavery literature in the 1760s, and presented their first petition to Parliament in 1763. They were ignored as eccentrics.
The themes also gave rise to Insurrection, leading to advertising bill for abolition. A series of rebellions and revolts throughout the southern states of America, as well as political and social reform and an effective anti-slavery movement finally ended first the slave trade and then the institution of slavery itself. The work of some former slaves contributed to the anti-slavery movement (most notably Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Mary Prince) as did the ongoing resistance and rebellions in the colonies. It was clear that if slavery was not abolished, then slaves might well emancipate themselves.