Martin R. Delany

by Levine, Robert S.; Delany, Martin R.

• ISBN13: 9780807854310
• ISBN10: 080785431X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

Martin R. Delany (1812-85) has been called the "Father of Black Nationalism," but his extraordinary career also encompassed the roles of abolitionist, physician, editor, explorer, politician, army officer, novelist, and political theorist. Despite his enormous influence in the nineteenth century, and his continuing influence on black nationalist thought in the twentieth century, Delany has remained a relatively obscure figure in U.S. culture, generally portrayed as a radical separatist at odds with the more integrationist Frederick Douglass. This pioneering documentary collection offers readers a chance to discover, or rediscover, Delany in all his complexity. Through nearly 100 documents--approximately two-thirds of which have not been reprinted since their initial nineteenth-century publications--it traces the full sweep of his fascinating career. Included are selections from Delany's early journalism, his emigrationist writings of the 1850s, his 1859-62 novel, Blake(one of the first African American novels published in the United States), and his later writings on Reconstruction. Incisive and shrewd, angry and witty, Delany's words influenced key nineteenth-century debates on race and nation, addressing issues that remain pressing in our own time.

Author Biography

Robert S. Levine is professor of English and director of graduate studies at the University of Maryland, College Park

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(22)
A Note on the Texts	23	(2)
Part One Pittsburgh, the Mystery, Freemasonry	25	(44)
Prospectus of the Mystery	30	(2)
Not Fair	32	(2)
Liberty or Death	34	(1)
Young Women	35	(1)
Self-Elevation Tract Society	36	(2)
Farewell to Readers of the Mystery	38	(3)
Eulogy on the Life and Character of the Rev. Fayette Davis	41	(8)
The Origin and Objects of Ancient Freemasonry	49	(20)
Part Two The North Star	69	(112)
Western Tour for the North Star	73	(64)
True Patriotism	137	(4)
Sound the Alarm	141	(3)
Liberia	144	(5)
Political Economy	149	(2)
Domestic Economy	151	(6)
Southern Customs --- Madame Chevalier	157	(3)
Annexation of Cuba	160	(7)
The Redemption of Cuba	167	(3)
Letter to M. H. Burnham, 5 October 1849	170	(5)
Delany and Frederick Douglass on Samuel R. Ward	175	(6)
Part Three Debating Black Emigration	181	(134)
Protest against the First Resolution of the North American Convention	187	(2)
The Condition, Elevation, Emigration and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States	189	(28)
Letter to Oliver Johnson, 30 April 1852	217	(2)
Letter to William Lloyd Garrison, 14 May 1852	219	(2)
Letter to Frederick Douglass, 10 July 1852	221	(3)
Delany and Douglass on Uncle Tom's Cabin	224	(14)
Letter to Douglass, 30 May 1853	238	(2)
Call for a National Emigration Convention of Colored Men	240	(3)
Letter to Douglass, 7 November 1853	243	(2)
Political Destiny of the Colored Race on the American Continent	245	(35)
Political Aspect of the Colored People of the United States	280	(11)
What Does It Mean?	291	(4)
Letter to Garrison, 19 February 1859	295	(2)
Blake; or, The Huts of America	297	(16)
Comets	313	(2)
Part Four Africa	315	(62)
A Project for an Expedition of Adventure	320	(5)
Letter to Henry Ward Beecher, 17 June 1858	325	(3)
Canada. --- Captain John Brown	328	(4)
Martin R. Delany in Liberia	332	(4)
Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party	336	(22)
The International Statistical Congress	358	(4)
Africa and the African Race	362	(3)
Letter to James T. Holly, 15 January 1861	365	(3)
Letter to Robert Hamilton, 28 September 1861	368	(2)
Letter to James McCune Smith, 11 January 1862	370	(2)
Letter to the Weekly Anglo-African, 22 January 1862	372	(1)
The Moral and Social Aspect of Africa	373	(4)
Part Five Civil War and Reconstruction	377	(82)
Letter to Edwin M. Stanton, 15 December 1863	383	(2)
The Council-Chamber. --- President Lincoln	385	(4)
The Colored Citizens of Xenia	389	(3)
Monument to President Lincoln: Two Documents	392	(4)
Prospects of the Freedmen of Hilton Head	396	(5)
Triple Alliance	401	(2)
Letter to the Colored Delegation, 22 February 1866	403	(3)
Letter to Andrew Johnson, 25 July 1866	406	(3)
Letter to Henry Highland Garnet, 27 July 1867	409	(2)
Reflections on the War	411	(4)
University Pamphlets	415	(10)
Homes for the Freedmen	425	(6)
Delany and Frederick Douglass, Letter Exchange, 1871	431	(11)
Delany for Lieutenant Governor: Two Speeches	442	(6)
The South and Its Foes	448	(4)
Delany for Hampton	452	(4)
Politics on Edisto Island	456	(3)
Part Six The Republic of Liberia	459	(28)
Letter on President Warner of Liberia, 1866	463	(3)
The African Exodus	466	(2)
Principia of Ethnology: The Origin of Races and Color	468	(16)
Letter to William Coppinger, 18 December 1880	484	(3)
Chronology	487	(4)
Selected Bibliography	491	(4)
Index	495