African-American Literature Handout

1. Background of Africans in the English Colonies
   
   1. Some Significant Dates
   2. Some Specific Information on South Carolina
      
2. African American Writings
   1. Early African American Works (1740-1820)
   2. Antebellum Novels (1820-1860)
   3. Slave Narratives (1840-1860)
   4. Postbellum Novelists (1865-1900)
   5. Social Works (1900-1910)
   6. Post 1900 African American Literatue
      1. Harlem Renessance (1917-1935)
      2. Growth of Naturalism (1935-1945)
      3. Myth, ledgend and Ritual (1945-1960)
      4. Contemporary African American Literature (1960-present)
3. Sources

Background of Africans in the English Colonies

1. Some Significant Dates
   
   
   1540
   Africans in Arizona with the Spanish ("Death of the Negro Estervan")
   

   • See: History of Literature in North America
     
   • See: Native American History
     
     
   1619
   20 Slaves brought to Jamestown, VA by the Dutch
   1620
   Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
   1638
   Slaves brought to MA (slavery legalized in 1641)

   • See Phillis Wheathly
   • See Lucy Terry
   • African-American Literature Samples
     
     
     
     
   1661
   Slavery legalized in VA
   1670
   Permanent settlement of African slaves in SC
   1691
   VA bans interracial marriages
   1705
   Slaves defined as "real estate" in VA
   1740
   Stono Slave Rebellion Consequences
   1772
   Lord Mansfield Decision - made owning a slave in Britain illegal
   1776-1781
   Revolutionary War
   1790
   642,000 African in the South (35% of population) (1976 data) (J.E. Inikori, General History Of Africa , Vol. V)
   
   
   1807
   Britain abolished slave trade See Gustavas Vassa's Role
   1808
   Britain uses Sierra Leone (W. Africa) to resettle ex-slaves
   1812
   War of 1812 with the British
   

   • See Antebellum Works
     
   • See Slave Narratives
     
     
   1821
   Liberia (W. Africa) established by the American Colonization Society to resettle Blacks See Marcus Garvey
   
   
   1850
   3,117.000 (34% of the South's population) (Inikori, pp 92-104 1976 data)
   
   

   • Angola-Congo- highest proportion of males
   • Benin - highest proportion of females
     
     
   3,700,000 African brought to British Colonies (Inikori, 1976 data)
   22,000,000 African sold worldwide into slavery between 1500-1900 (Inikori, 1976 data)
   
   Cross reference with Holloways's data
   
   
   1861-1865
   American Civil War
   1862
   Slave trade protected in American up to this date
   ( General History of Africa, Vol. VI p. 73)
   
   
   1865-1877
   Reconstruction Era See Postbellum Works
   1866
   KKK founded See Social Works
   
   
   

   Some Specific Information on SC
   

   Holloway - "Origins of African American Culture"

   
   
   

   1670-1700

   Senegal Gambian region of West Africa is the primary origin for Africans, mostly from the Wolof states. Holloway points out that this group was large since the Wolof states in Africa had just broken up and rival warlords sold POW's as slaves.
   
   

   1706-1724

   5,081 Africans arrive through SC

   1721-1726

   3,632 Africans arrive through SC

   1733-1744

   60% of Africans slaves imported to SC are from the Congo-Angola region

   1749-1787

   Only 15% are from Angola-Congo region (due to Stono Rebellion)

   1804-1807

   53% are from the Angola-Congo region
   
   

   Holloway makes the following observations:
   
   

   1. Most Africans from West Africa (Mande/Akan) were used as either house servants or artisans. On the other hand, most of the Africans from the Angola-Congo region (Bantu speaking) were used as field slaves. Holloway indicates that this selection was not accidental as the Africans from different parts of Africa where sold on the basis of their African skills. Holloway cites historical documents (broken down by region and time period) to support this point. He also presents advertisements that told buyers about the region slaves came from and the benefits of slaves from various regions. For example, he states that Africans from the Gambian delta were sought after by people in the Maryland area because of the similarities in land use.
      
      

      Holloway further points out that the Bantu speaking people of the Angola-Congo region who worked primarily as field slaves had little contact with English speakers. As a result, he contends that they were better able to keep their language and culture. (The people of this region spoke various dialects of Bantu and thus were able to better communicate with each other than the West Africans who spoke more widely separated languages. The Bantu language group originated in SE Nigeria and spread over Central and Southern Africa.) He goes on to state that Angolans were desirable for Southern plantations because they were advertised as "large and robust" and he points out that buyers were aware of the similarity of farming conditions in the South and the Angola-Congo region to support his point.
      
      

      Holloway mentions that the West Africans who became House servants more quickly developed a Creole with the English speaker. He cites the case of the "Black Mammy" who generally came from Guinea.
      
      

      • In the North, most Africans were brought from West Africa.
        
        

        In the South, most Africans were brought from the Angola-Congo region
        
        

African American Writings



See: African American Literature Handout



From The Afro-American Novel and Its Tradition, Bernard Bell, 1987. And Masterpieces of African American Literature, Magall, 1992.

1. Early African American Works (1749-1820)
   
   

   1749

   Terry Lucy (African/MA) "Bars Fight" - earliest work
   
   

   1773

   Phillis Wheatley (Senegal/MA) First published African-American poet; second women to be published after Anne Bradstreet in the English Colonies. Wrote in standard English. Published in England. Wrote elegies starting at the age of 12
   
   

   1789

   Olaudah Equiano (Gustavas Vassa); Benin/VA; First slave narrative. Published in England, his writings influence the abolishment of the slave trade in England in 1807
   
   

   1817

   George Moses Horton -first African southern (NC) man to publish poetry; wrote on mostly religious themes.
   
   

2. Antebellum Novels 1820-1860
   
   

   Clotel

   William Welles Brown "injustice of miscegenation and the plight of the female mulatto" (1853)
   
   

   Garies and Their Friends

   Frank J Weeb

   Our Nig

   Harriet Wilson - life of the indentured female servant (1859)

   Blake

   Martin Robinson Delany deals with political issues
   
   

3. Slave Narratives (1840-1860)
   
   

   Frederick Douglas (1845)

   Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglas

   William Weldon Brown (1855)

   Autobiographical Writings of William Weldon Brown

   Harriet Jacobs (1861)

   
   
   

4. Postbellum Novelists (1865-1901)
   
   Two of the frequently dealt with issues were "passing" for white and the Plantation Narrative.
   
   

   Frances Ellen Watkins Harperr

   Iola Leroy (1892) -"moral duty of mulattos to repress the urge to pass for white"

   Joel Chandler Harris

   "Uncle Ramus" stories. Presented plantation life from a romantic point of view.

   Charles Waddell Chestnut

   First African American published fiction writer Conjure Women - collection of short stories. Uncle Julius is contrasted with Joel Chandler Harris' Uncle Ramus. Chestnut presented images of plantation life to counter the image presented by Harris

   Paul Lawrence Dunbar

   Short stories, poems and novels "We Wear the Mask" Wrote in both dialect and standard English. His dialect works were generally preferred.
   
   

5. Social Works (1890-1910)
   
   
   Booker T. Washington
   Up From Slavery 1901
   W.E.B. DuBois
   Soul of Black Folks 1903
   Marcus Garvey
   "Africa For Africans" 1920 Argued for Blacks in America to return to Africa, specifically Liberia.
   

SOURCES

Bell, Bernard. The Afro-American Novel and Its Tradation. Amhert: University of Massachusetts Press, 1987.

Holloway, J. "The Origins of African-American Culture". Africanisms in American Culture, Joseph Holloway. ed. Indianapolis:Indiana UP, 1990.

General History of Africa, Vol. 5. B.A. Ogot. ed., Berkley:University of California Press, 1992.

General History of Africa, Vol 6. J. F. Ade Ajayi. ed., Berkley:University of California Press, 1992.

Magill, Frank. Ed. Masterpieces of African-American Literature. New York:Harper Collins, 1992.