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BERLET-DISSERTATION-2014.Pdf © Copyright by Ira Lee Berlet May, 2014 BLACK ABOLITIONISTS AND MASCULINITY IN THE AGE OF AMERICAN EMANCIPATION, 1833-1863 ____________________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department Of History University of Houston ____________________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ____________________ By Ira Lee Berlet May, 2014 BLACK ABOLITIONISTS AND MASCULINITY IN THE AGE OF AMERICAN EMANCIPATION, 1833-1863 ____________________ Ira Lee Berlet APPROVED: _______ ____________________ Eric H. Walther, Ph.D Committee Chair ____________________ R. Todd Romero, Ph.D. ____________________ Matthew J. Clavin, Ph.D. ____________________ Theodore C. DeLaney, Ph.D. Washington and Lee University ____________________ John W. Roberts, Ph.D. Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Department of English BLACK ABOLITIONISTS AND MASCULINITY IN THE AGE OF AMERICAN EMANCIPATION, 1833-1863 ____________________ An Abstract of a Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department Of History University of Houston ____________________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ____________________ By Ira Lee Berlet May, 2014 iv ABSTRACT In an effort to fill a lacuna in the historiography of black abolitionists and gender studies, this dissertation examines black abolitionists’ conceptions of masculinity and their efforts to grapple with manhood in a time of great change and transition. The focus of this work are three escaped slaves who became black abolitionists—Henry Bibb, William Wells Brown, and Frederick Douglass—they serve as “representative men” for this unique study at the intersection of race, power, masculinity, and intellectual engagement. These men constituted part of a select group that made dramatic attacks on society in order to emancipate millions of people from bondage. I argue that masculinity for black abolitionists, such as these men, was not limited to physical action but was a composite or compound masculinity that included protection of their families, success in their careers, and active intellectual engagement. Black intellectual abolitionists’ composite masculinity formed as they progressed from the “resistant masculinity” within slavery through “protective masculinity” and “self-made masculinity” to a unique “intellectual masculinity” of their own construction. It was through this engagement as public intellectuals that these men demonstrated their manhood and performed an “intellectual masculinity” which garnered their place among America’s “great men” of the nineteenth century. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people helped me during the writing of this dissertation and throughout my career as a graduate student. Within the UH Department of History I would like to thank Nancy Young for her leadership as both Director of Graduate Studies and later as Department Chair. Under her stewardship the graduate program and the department have improved greatly due to her efforts. Landon Storrs supported this project in its earliest stages and helped foster my interest in gender history. As a teacher and mentor Steven Deyle challenged me and encouraged my ideas, and he offered invaluable advice about matters both large and small. In addition to his guidance as a teacher, Todd Romero served on both my comprehensive exam and dissertation committees, and he was always kind and generous with his advice. Matt Clavin, while he was late to the party, served as a welcome addition to my committee and helped bring insight and energy to the final stages of the project. A special thanks to Ted DeLaney of Washington and Lee University in Virginia for serving as my outside reader. Even from a great distance his participation helped navigate this project to its conclusion. Academically, no one contributed as much to this project as my advisor, Eric Walther. He read every chapter patiently and carefully, providing heartfelt encouragement and direction even when my writing did not live up to either of our standards. My experience with Eric began over twenty years ago as an undergraduate at Texas A&M University, I cannot thank him enough for all of his help throughout the years. A number of institutions supported my research. A grant from the Murry Miller Endowed fund in the UH Department of History funded research trips to Detroit, Washington D.C., and Boston. Alex Simons and Lee Hilyer with the M.D. Anderson Library at the vi University of Houston provided research and technical support at home. During my time in Boston, Tracy Potter and Andrea Cronin at the Massachusetts Historical Society, and Kimberly Reynolds at the Boston Public Library helped make the trip extremely productive. I would especially like to thank Patricia Higo at the University of Detroit-Mercy for her generous assistance with the Black Abolitionist Archives. At the University of Houston I was lucky to find such a great community of intellectual collaborators and friends. Not only did they help me navigate the challenges we all faced as graduate students, but they also helped me personally through the toughest time in my life. I cannot possibly name all the friends who contributed but I would be remiss if I failed to mention several individually. Ben Pungo and Courtney DeMayo not only opened their house to our entire cohort of graduate students, but also served as unofficial social planners, camp counselors, and “Den Mother/Father” for a motley crew of misfits. Your efforts did not go unnoticed. Aimee (L’Heureux) Bachari, you became the little sister that I never had and supported me through good times and bad. I will always cherish our friendship. My nineteenth-century reading group of John Barr and Nick Cox was small, but powerful. John helped read and comment on each chapter in its early stage. Aside from my adviser, Nick read more of my writing in the last year and I could not have finished without his help. I hope that I can repay you both soon. Even with all of this help any shortcomings in my work are mine alone. I would like to thank my mother, Sandy, and my brother, Luke, for their support and love. Your understanding for my frequent absence due to the pursuit of my academic dreams is greatly appreciated. To my best friend of more than twenty years, Jeff Raasch, I say thanks for always making sure I had fun and forgot about the study of history for at least a little vii while. To Erin I have to say you make being a step-dad very easy. I love you very much and look forward to watching you grow into a strong, smart, beautiful woman. Lastly I want to thank Laura Benjamins, my intelligent, beautiful, and understanding wife. While in reality our time together has been relatively short, it is hard to remember a time before you were by my side. The support, encouragement, and love you have shown me while completing this project are what made it possible. Words cannot express my gratitude or my love for you. I dedicate this work and my life to you. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1. Resistant Masculinity—1834 - 1861 32 CHAPTER 2. Protective Masculinity—1837 - 1854 91 CHAPTER 3. Self-Made Masculinity—1834 - 1863 138 CHAPTER 4. Intellectual Masculinity—1845 - 1863 193 EPILOGUE 263 BIBLIOGRAPHY 270 1 INTRODUCTION In 1903 the sociologist, historian, and civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois published an essay entitled “The Talented Tenth,” which called for black men to become leaders of their race through methods such as advanced education, writing books, or becoming directly involved in social change. He strongly believed that blacks needed a classical education to be able to reach their full potential, rather than the industrial education promoted by Booker T. Washington in his Atlanta Compromise. He saw such an education as the basis for what, in the twentieth century, would be known as public intellectuals. Later in his life, Du Bois believed that leadership could arise from many levels, and that grassroots efforts were also important to social change. In his 1903 essay Du Bois wrote that “[t]he Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men.”1 It is evident from the historical record that nineteenth century examples of exceptional men, the “Talented Tenth,” came not only from the ranks of those like Du Bois born free of the chains of slavery, but it also included former slaves. Du Bois himself directed us to begin our analysis with those former slaves who took up the antislavery cause and made clear that their participation was essential: Too little notice has been taken of the work which the Talented Tenth among Negroes took in the great abolition crusade. From the very day that a Philadelphia colored man became the first subscriber to Garrison’s Liberator, to the day when Negro soldiers made the Emancipation Proclamation possible, black leaders worked shoulder to shoulder with white men in a movement, the success of which would have been impossible without them.2 This question of black men’s manhood came about at a time when most Southern white men developed and extended a notion of manhood based on honor, and many Northern and Western white men were involved in the construction of the concept of masculinity 1 W. E. B. DuBois, "The Talented Tenth (September 1903)," Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, http://www.TeachingAmericanHistory.org/library/index.asp?documentprint=174 (accessed 9/28, 2012), 1. 2 Ibid, 3. 2 known as the “self-made man.”3 So, then, how did African American men in the nineteenth century construct manhood and express masculinity? For most, enslavement and oppression shaped their construction of manhood. Within slavery, they sought to empower themselves through education, financial autonomy, physical escape from slavery, and, if possible, protection of their family. Free African American men demonstrated their masculinity in its most basic form by protecting their wives and families, through financial security in the market economy, and for some fighting against slavery.
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