Impossible Witnesses: Truth, Abolitionism, and Slave Testimony

TItle Page, Copyright, Dedication

Truth, Abolitionism, and Slave Testimony Impossible Witnesses Dwight A. McBride New York University Press • New York and London a NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London© 2001 by New York University All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McBride, Dwight A. Impossible witnesses : truth, abolitionism, and slave testimony / Dwight A. McBride. p. cm. Includes biblographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-8147-5604-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8147-5605-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. American prose literature—African American authors—History and criticism. 2. Antislavery movements—United States—History— 19th century. 3. American prose literature—19th century—History and criticism. 4. Slaves—United States—Biography—History and criticism. 5. African Americans—Biography—History and criticism. 6. Slaves’ writings, American—History and criticism. 7. Autobiography— African American authors. 8. Slavery in literature. I. Title. PS366.A35 M38 2001 306.3'62'0973—dc21 2001003176 New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For my parents, James W. McBride, Jr., and Bettye Jean McBride The only authentic witness is the one who could not bear witness for what she has seen, the impossible witness. —Jacques Derrida Il est de tous les temps le goût de l’homme pour ‘l’ailleurs’. Mais l’apparition de la photographie a exaspéré la quête de ce qui est autre: de ses voyages en pays lointains, l’aventurier rapporte, des images qui témoignent de la ‘différence’. Cet ailleurs, il le fixe avec la rigueur obstinée de l’ethnologue, la naïveté éblouie des premiers conquérants, ou l’art consommé des premiers plasticiens . Simple constat: aller au bout du monde, c’est aller au bout de soi. —Étranges Étrangers: Photographie et Exotisme, 1850/1910 Black people need witnesses. —James Baldwin ...