Conflicting Predictions

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Slaves without Masters

David Walker wrote: That class of the mix [ed] population of our country [coloured people] was peculiarly situated; they neither enjoyed the immunities of freemen, nor were they subjected to the incapacities of slaves, but partook, in some degree, of the qualities of both. From their condition, and the unconquerable prejudices resulting from their colour, they never could amalgamate with the free whites of this country. It was desirable, therefore, as it respected them, and the residue of the population of the country, to drain them off. A modern scholar calls it "Slaves Without Masters."

Free Blacks in the Antebellum (pre-Civil War) period both in the North and South were in a precarious situation. To quote Ira Berlin, author of the book Slaves Without Masters: Freedom allowed blacks to reap the rewards of their own labor, to develop a far richer social life, and to enjoy the many intangible

bene�ts of liberty ... Some free Negroes ... acquired wealth and social standing. A few masterless slaves themselves became slave masters ... Yet neither were they free. Instead, Southern free Negroes balanced precariously between abject slavery, which they rejected, and full freedom, which eluded them.

Actually, at one level, it is understandable why many Whites wanted to eliminate this population of African Americans from the United States. Many served as visible contradictions to the rhetoric espoused to justify the institution of slavery. And, while there were African Americans who willingly emigrated to Africa, the vast majority saw America as their home and were committed to staying in the nation. David Walker wrote:

This country is as much ours as it is the whites, whether they will admit it now or not, they will see and believe it by and by. . . Africans have made fortunes for thousands, who are yet unwilling to part with their services; but the free must be sent away, and those who remain, must be slaves. I have no doubt that there are many good men who do not see as I do, and who are for sending us to Liberia; but they have not duly considered the subject--they are not men of colour.--This land which we have watered with our tears and our blood, is now our mother country, and we are well satis�ed to stay where wisdom abounds and the gospel is free.

Among the many who demonstrated the depth and breadth of African-American thought during the Antebellum Era were:

Henry McNeal Turner - Born a free man. Studied Greek, Latin, Theology, and Hebrew at Trinity College in Maryland. Turner was the �rst black Army chaplain. He argued that Blacks must reject all teachings of the white church that con�rmed their inferior status. Turner repeatedly preached the idea that God was a Negro. "Every race of people since time began who have attempted to describe their world by words, or by paintings, or by carvings, have conveyed the idea that the God who made them and shaped their destinies was symbolized in themselves."

Thomas L. Jennings - Inventor and �rst African American to receive a patent. A tailor by trade, Jennings invented the forerunner of modern dry-cleaning known as dry scouring.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler - First African-American woman physician in the United States. Graduated from New England Female Medical College. Published A Book of Medical Discourse, which recounts her life and career.

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Norbert Rillieux - Inventor credited with inventing an evaporator for processing sugar cane and dramatically reducing the human labor required in the process.

Re�ning sugar had been a labor-intensive process, involving the handling of boiling hot liquids. The slaves on the plantations performed most of this labor. Rillieux's inventions increased sugar production and reduced production costs. However, the most important thing was that his inventions protected lives by ending the older dangerous methods of sugar production (About.com: Inventors).

Phillis Wheatly - A poet born into slavery; renowned in Europe and the United States for her eloquently worded poetry.

Augustus West - Runaway slave who settled in Green�eld, Ohio; purchased land which was an integral part of the Underground Railroad; schemed with Alexander Beatty, a white farmer. The two men traveled into southern states to sell West into slavery. Beatty later returned to assist West in his escape. The money was split and West used his portion to buy land on which to hide and house runaway slaves. The movie The Skin Game (1971) was based on their lives.

Benjamin Banneker - A Mathematician and astronomer who published tables of the locations of stars and planets for almanacs such as Poor Richard's Almanac, which is credited to Benjamin Franklin. He is also credited with laying out the design for Washington, D.C.

Prince Hall - Considered the founder of the Black Freemasons. He was a landowner, Revolutionary War veteran, and registered voter in Boston.

Henry Bibb - Escaped slave, abolitionist and writer, his autobiography Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, An American Slave (1849) recounts his life story and was used during his anti-slavery rallies.

The Great Compromiser

In the last of David Walker's articles he challenged plans endorsed by abolitionists to relocate free Blacks, whether born free or emancipated, outside the United States. Mr. Henry Clay, whom Walker consistently speaks of (maybe attacks), was a U.S. Senator from South Carolina who orchestrated several pieces of legislation that serve as the cogs in the wheel that ultimately led the nation into the Civil War. He is often referred to as the Great Compromiser.

Perhaps it would be best to pause here and address the 19th century legislation that simply postponed national discussion over slavery. The men who served in the U.S. Congress seemed to know that serious conversation about the issue of slavery could (would?) permanently

damage this new nation, perhaps destroying it before it even had an opportunity to reach its full potential.

The 19th century legislation amounted to a series of compromises. And, as with all compromises, competing parties get something and give up something. Neither side satis�ed, both parties looking for excuses to revisit the issue and renegotiate the terms in hope of obtaining more favorable terms of

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settlement. Well, that's precisely what happened in the U.S. over the issue of slavery. No one was really satis�ed with the compromises. And, in all likelihood they just delayed the inevitable, the Civil War.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 centered around Missouri's petition for admission to the nation as a state. The problem: it wanted admission as a slave state. Remember, the nation had gone to great lengths in 1789 to ensure a balance of power in Congress - making sure the number of federal congressional representatives from slave states equaled the number from free states. Missouri's potential admittance to the nation as a state would have given slave states an advantage. Around the same time, Maine petitioned for admission to the Union.

The compromise was worked out that Missouri would be a slave state and Maine, a free state. An imaginary line, referred to as the Mason-Dixon line, was drawn through the nation, and it was determined that any territory admitted as a state north of the line would be free, south of the line would be slave. That worked pretty well, until California petitioned for admission in 1850. The concept of the Mason-Dixon line was overturned later.

The Nulli�cation Crisis of 1832 related to Tarriff (taxation) Acts enacted in 1828 and 1832. The state of South Carolina declared the legislation null and void in the state, basically on the grounds that South Carolina was a sovereign state and did not have to follow policies of the federal government it deemed unconstitutional - in other words, the issue of state rights versus federal rights: which has ultimate authority? The issue was settled largely by the federal government which signi�cantly reduced the tariffs. While on the surface this has nothing to do with slavery, the issue brings to light a major issue for the nation - the power of the federal government. If a state could nullify (void, invalidate) federal law, then where does that leave the federal government and what does that say about the law's author? This crisis set up South Carolina as a rogue state, which would be the �rst to secede from the Union on the eve of the Civil War.

The Wilmot Proviso had at its core how to handle territory acquired from Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War. The United States hoped to acquire Texas at a cost of $3,000,000 from Mexico, and anti-slavery proponents attached to the funding bill a provision that any territory acquired from Mexico was free territory. Though the amendment never passed the senate, over the next several years it was attached to every bill before Congress, thus keeping the debate over slavery alive in Congress and setting the stage for The Compromise of 1850.

The Compromise of 1850 brought Henry Clay out of retirement to resolve the issue of whether California would be admitted to the U.S. as a slave or free state. In the compromise, California was admitted as a free state. In addition, fugitive slave laws were enacted which permitted slaves who had escaped to be captured and returned to slavery, even if they had successfully reached a free state. The territories of New Mexico and Utah were established under the principle of popular sovereignty, which meant that each territory could determine whether it was slave or free. And, the slave trade, buying and selling, was outlawed in Washington D.C.; however, slavery was not abolished.

Can You Strip a Man of His Manhood?

Many people would argue that the emasculation of black men over time has been a major challenge for the community. A few examples would be the loss of his ability to protect his family (both physically and emotionally), the ability to provide for his family, and a sense that he is respected by his family and peers. From this perspective, once you strip men within the community of their manhood, their sense of what it is to be a man, you create angry, resentful men, and you weaken and leave the community vulnerable. This

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vulnerability manifests itself through violence, abuse, illiteracy, under-education and mis-education, and dysfunctionality.

Do you remember the movie Crash? One scene in the movie serves as a modern example of emasculation. Remember the scene early in the movie when the police of�cer (White) pulls over the man and his wife (both Black) who just came from a formal event. In the scene, the woman, who was drunk, mouths off to the of�cer. The husband was then forced to watch as his wife was physically accosted by the police of�cer. The emotional turmoil was obvious on his face. His expressions ranged from helplessness, disgust, and embarrassment to hatred - a growing sense of hatred and anger for the of�cer and embarrassment at his inability to protect the woman he loves. This is exactly the type of situation David Walker addressed in Article 4 of The Appeal.

"But the whites having made us so wretched, by subjecting us to slavery, and having murdered so many millions of us, in order to make us work for them, and out of devilishness—and they taking our wives, whom we love as we do ourselves—our mothers, who bore the pains of death to give us birth —our fathers and dear little children, and ourselves, and strip and beat us one before the other— chain, hand-cuff, and drag us about like rattlesnakes—shoot us down like wild bears, before each other's faces, to make us submissive to, and work to support them and their families. They (the whites) know well, if we are men—and there is a secret monitor in their hearts which tells them we are—they know, I say, if we are men, and see them treating us in the manner they do, that there can be nothing in our hearts but death alone, for them, notwithstanding we may appear cheerful, when we see them murdering our dear mothers and wives, because we cannot help ourselves."

Walker clearly blamed these kinds of situations for the animosity and hatred between black men and white men.

". . .they know that they have done us so much injury, they are afraid that we, being men, and not brutes, will retaliate, and woe will be to them; therefore, that dreadful fear, together with an avaricious spirit, and the natural love in them, to be called masters, (which term will yet honour them with to their sorrow) bring them to the resolve that they will keep us in ignorance and wretchedness, as long as they possibly can,* and make the best of their time, while it lasts. Consequently they, themselves, (and not us) render themselves our natural enemies, by treating us so cruel."

He calls on black men to stand up and be men; to set aside their apathy and rise up. He reminded the readers that the number of Blacks outnumbered Whites in several places (he notes speci�cally Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia). Walker's next statement seemed to get to the heart of this issue - that this apathy attributed to the wretchedness of black men: It shows at once, what blacks are, we are ignorant, abject, servile and men - and the Whites know it - they know that we are too servile to assert our rights as men - or they would not fool with us as they do.

As this article and The Appeal concluded, David Walker recapped his disgust with a nation founded on freedom and liberty and which publicly proclaimed its Christian values. Walker calls on the nation to re�ect on its independence from Great Britain and asked the question - did Britain really treat the colonies as cruel as the nation's treatment of slaves? He also reaf�rmed his warning that the injustice in�icted by the nation on Blacks would not go unnoticed by the Lord and therefore be punished.