Slavery in American Children's Literature, 1790-2010

Chapter 1. Slavery Debates for Children, 1790–1865: Abolitionist Responses

13 Chapter 1 Slavery Debates for Children 1790-1865 Abolitionist Responses A female slave [. . .] was kneeling at the foot of a cocoa-­ tree. Chains hung from her wrists, and were fastened to her ancles. —“The Collection Box” (1836) He was about six feet in height [. . .] and was endowed with immense physical strength. [. . .] His expression was that of great intelligence. [. . .] He was a man who, even in a land of slavery, would be instinctively respected. —William Taylor Adams, Hatchie, the Guardian Slave (1853) One of the central humanitarian issues of the antebellum period, abolition was also one of the most divisive issues of its time. It was a topic, too, that found expression in a wide range of antebellum literature for children, from poems and magazines to novels and schoolbooks. How authors navigated divergent audiences—such as young readers and their parents, and those who stood on opposing sides of the issue—often reflected varying levels of commitment to emancipation and racial equity. Some, wary of offending their readership, censored discussion of the topic, as was the case with authors of the American Sunday School Union’s many publications who in 1832 were directed “on the delicate question of slavery, [to] abstain from all remarks; much injury may result from an indiscreet observation” (qtd in Avery 114). Indeed, children’s authors could (and some did) suffer “injury” from taking an abolitionist stance, Chapter One 14 particularly by risking the ire and economic sanction of readers. Abolitionist, author, and editor Lydia Maria Child found this to be the case; the loss of subscribers and the consequent demise of the once-­popular Juvenile Miscellany that she edited have been generally attributed to her antislavery stance.1 Antebellum children’s literature reflected national debates about slavery which were argued in Congress, editorialized in newspapers, hypothesized about by scientists and theologians, and described in literature for adults. While abolitionist children’s literature, by definition , includes literature supporting emancipation, the presentation of abolitionist sentiment in children’s literature was neither ideologically cohesive nor uniformly critical. That, too, reflected abolitionist debates at large. “Abolitionism” is, in many ways, an umbrella term, encompassing a significantly broad spectrum of viewpoints . William Lloyd Garrison, one of the most influential activists of his time, reflected this in his own experiences. First accepting what he would eventually term the “popular but pernicious doctrine of gradual abolition,” he later announced that on the subject of slavery, “I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation” (“To the Public,” italics in original text unless otherwise noted). He instead became an ardent proponent of “radicalism” (“No Union”). Condemning what he called the “timidity” of other abolitionist positions , Garrison declared that “I will not equivocate—I will not excuse ” but “shall strenuously contend for the immediate enfranchisement of our slave population” (“To the Public”). In Slavery in American Children’s Literature, representations of abolition in antebellum children’s literature are divided into three categories that loosely follow Garrison’s discussion of abolition : radical, moderate, and conservative.2 One might argue that abolitionist authors were interlocking partners in the cause to end slavery, but real ideological differences—particularly about the nature of race, the figure of the slave, and slavery itself—often placed them on opposite ends of an ideological divide. While, for example, radical abolitionists exposed U.S. slavery as unvaryingly exploitative , moderate abolitionists kept critiques of slavery offshore and diverted attention away from the American system. Further along the ideological spectrum, conservative abolitionists often argued that slavery had some beneficent effects, particularly as a necessary introduction of Africans to later emancipation in America. Despite such obvious difference, these divisions of abolitionist discourse 15 Slavery Debates for Children, 1790–1865 for children also intersected as authors struggled with representations of racial interactions and hierarchies. Regardless of their varied commitment to abolition, radical, moderate, and conservative abolitionists developed narrative strategies—and created slave figures—that explored and most often contained slave narratives’ expressions of black ­ power. Radical Abolitionist Literature Radical abolitionist literature for children presented, as the term implies, a nonnegotiable view of slavery as an unquestionably cruel system under which people suffered tremendous injustices. Moreover , radical abolitionists placed slavery within a specifically American context to critique the failings of a government whose founding documents theoretically espoused liberty, yet in practice supported slavery. More passionate in their politics, more committed in their activism, and less wary of offending slavery sympathizers than moderate...