Nell Irvin Painter, Edwards Professor of American History Emeritus at Princeton University, published her notorious work, The History of White People in March of 2010. Notably, while Painter was writing and completing her book, the United States was at the same time undergoing monumental change—both in political and social spheres. Just over a year prior…
“After the condition of the mother”: An Analysis of the 1662 Act in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
In his chapter on the “Mythic Dimensions of American Capitalism,” Richard Hughes presents the concept of “systemic racism,” which he defines as “a form of racism that is embedded into the American economic system” (Hughes 189). Still present in modern America, this system “tends to ensure that whites benefit from a capitalist economy while blacks…
“Tied by law and custom”: Assessing Justifications for Gradual Emancipation in Iola Leroy
Virginia Woolf defines the “chief miracle” of a brilliant piece of writing as its ability to convey a message and move a readership without showing “any signs that [the author’s] circumstances had harmed [their] work in the slightest”; in other words, it is a work written, and thus, interpreted by the audience as one “without…
Religious Irony in Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins’ “Talma Gordon”
In his book titled Myths America Lives By, Richard T. Hughes examines the paradoxical inclusion of white supremacist beliefs in the Christian religion, explaining that in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America, not only were the majority of white Christians blind to this inconsistency, they had (whether subconsciously or not) grafted it into the doctrine as a…
A Paratextual Analysis of the Narrative of Sojourner Truth
The analysis in this essay centers on the Penguin Books Inc. 1998 publication of the Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a version based on the 1884 edition. While Truth’s narrative was originally published in 1850, the 1884 version houses content from all previous editions—a compilation of material from those published in Boston, New York, and Battle…
Itself
“Everything in Nature grows and defends itself any way it can and is spontaneously itself, tries to be itself at all costs and against all opposition.” – Rainer Maria RilkeCan you convince the burgeoning OakTo grow into a Pine?Can you tell the aged cactusTo rid itself of spines;Or the stone instead of solidity To make…
Vile Silence
Experience rises in her throat, Gurgling behind firm-pressed lips. It builds between bone and flesh Stretching flushed derma Into round cisterns, tight and fraught, Creaking, anticipating release, Brooding on the physics of freedom. She tightens brow and jaw, Pinches oval skin into Infinite ripples, holding Until fatigue burns beneath The failing facade. Weary. Collapsing. How…
Truth
Is not a Waterfall, Poised along The path, But A trickle, Flowing Where the Mosses Bend and Nearly meet, Spilling life Through Cracked and Muddied Outlets. It does not Appear By furrowed Ground. It bleeds in The deep …
Your Delight
For my mother remember when life was longwhen the world was roundand iridescent, and smelled of honeysucklehow it floated, soft as a cloudthrough the universeremember how the sun would catch the tree linefilter luminous green rays onto to the forest floor where you and I would walkthe crunch of last year’s leavesa suitable carpet for…
Chains
I was in chains and wholly unaware—Did you know?I thought tyranny was divine,thought creation yearned for orderand order enabled peace— Hierarchy. It’s the will of God.I thought submission was freedom,thought relinquishing gave lifeand I, ever willing, gave all—Liberating. We don’t have to decide.I thought recitation was voice,thought opinion came from doctrineand doctrine humanity’s light—Listen, and…