"To Be Sold: A Negro Wench" Slave Ads of the Montreal Gazette 1785 -1805 Tamara Extian-Babiuk Department of Art History and Communication Studies McGill University, Montreal February 2006 A thesis submitted to Mc Gill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master's ofArts © Tamara Extian-Babiuk 2006 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-24859-1 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-24859-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada ABSTRACT Thesis Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to provide a close textual reading of representations of slavery in The Montreal Gazette, primarily within the period of 1785-1805, the first twenty years after the newspaper became bilingual. This project has three main outcomes. Firstly, it provides a history of black slavery in Montreal details the founding of The Gazette and evaluates its spatial layout, particularly the classified section where slave ads appear. Secondly, it analyzes the representation of black slaves in two distinct news forms: (1) ads of sale and (2) notices of escaped slaves, with particular focus on representations of race, gender, class, and criminality. Thirdly, it addresses the presentation of race and national identity in The Gazette, through both textual analysis and comparative analysis with the United States and Haiti. The project engages with conceptions of Canadian national identity throughout, particularly with respect to issues of tolerance and selective memory. Résumé du mémoire Ce mémoire présente une analyse attentive des représentations de l'esclavage dans The Montreal Gazette entre 1785 et 1805, les vingt premières années où ce journal est devenu bilingue. Ce projet a trois objectifs principaux. li offre une histoire de l'esclavage des Noirs à Montréal, détaille la création de la Gazette et évalue l'espace de sa mise en page, notamment des sections où les esclaves sont mentionnés. Ensuite, il analyse la représentation faite des esclaves à travers deux formes journalistiques: (1) annonces de ventes et (2) notices des esclaves en fuite, avec une attention particulière à la race, au genre, la classe et la criminalité. Enfin, il étudie les représentations de l'appartenance raciale et de l'identité nationale dans la Gazette à travers une analyse textuelle et comparative avec les Etats-Unis et Haïti. Ce projet discute les conceptions de l'identité nationale canadienne, dont les questions de tolérance et de mémoire sélective. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Master's thesis is dedicated to my dear parents, Katherine Babiuk and Ugo Extian, as weIl as my wonderful siblings, Odebo, Arisa and Ashaya. It is also dedicated to my grandmother Madeline Babiuk, and to the memory of my grandfather Maurice Babiuk, as weIl as my other relatives and ancestors, sorne of whom 1 have never met but to whom 1 am inherently connected. 1 also dedicate this project to memory of slaves in Canada, who have sadly been forgotten by most. First and foremost, 1 would like to thank my thesis supervisors Will Straw and Charrnaine Nelson for their energy, understanding, unwavering dedication and much-needed encouragement. 1 would also like to thank my phenomenal peers in the 2005 Interrogating the African Diaspora seminar for their insightful critiques and their friendship, especially Giulia Bonacci who translated my abstract into French. 1 would also like to thank the seminar organizers, Jean Muteba Rahier, Percy Hintzen and Christi Navarro for providing this rare and unique forum for discussing issues relating to African Diaspora, as weIl as the module leaders Joseph L. Graves Jr., Nalini Persram, Shalini Puri and Lola Young, and my panel discussant Felipe Smith, for taking the time to discuss my research and for sharing their invaluable expertise. 1 feel my work improved immeasurably as a result of participating in this inteIlectuaIly stimulating program. 1 would also like to thank my external reviewer, Monika Kin Gagnon, for her astute critique and generous assessment of my work. Thank you to Alliance Atlantis and the Mc Gill Department of History for helping to fund my master's study, especially Georgii Mikula and Leonard Moore in the McGill History Department for their confidence in my abilities and for pro vi ding the invaluable opportunity to be a teacher's assistant. Thanks to aIl of my tutorial students for their attentiveness and participation. Thank you also to aIl the conference organizers who have allowed me the opportunity to present my research publicly and also to Charmaine Nelson and Donovan Rocher for inviting me to present gue st lectures in their undergraduate courses. 1 would also like to ex tend a heartfelt thanks to all of my good friends for their support, humour and friendship. And last but not least, 1 would ex tend my appreciation to all of the scholars whose foundational work on slavery has made this research possible, especially to Frank Mackey for his extreme generosity in meeting with me to discuss my research and magnanimously sharing his many years of research on slavery in Montreal. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER ONE: ................................................................................................... 10 ORIGINS OF THE GAZETTE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FORM ..................................... 10 History of The Gazette and the "Beginnings of Advertising" ............................... 13 Spatial Dimensions of Newsworthiness: Layout & Placement in The Gazette ..... 17 "stile plain and correct"? Debunking the My th of the Neutrality ........................ 21 CHAPTER TWO: ................................................................................................... 27 "A STOUT HEALTHY NEGRO MAN"- THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF SLA VERY ... 27 Complexion & Commodification of Slaves in Sale Ads ........................................ 28 Comparison of Runaway Slave & Escaped White Criminal Notices .................... 37 Fugitive Slave Notices as a Site of Agency ........................................................... 42 CHAPTER THREE: ............................................................................................... 48 "ESCAPED: A NEGRO SLA VE, ALSO ESCAPED, A CANADIAN": RACE AND NATIONHOOD IN RUNAWAY NOTICES OF CANADA & THE U.S .......................................................... 48 Nationalism and Race in The Montreal Gazette ................................................... 50 Significance of Marking in U.S. Fugitive Slave Notices ....................................... 56 "Liberty or Death": Haiti, Nationalism & Newsworthiness ................................ 66 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 75 "Ali Our Yesterdays" and Ali Our Tomorrows: Revisiting the My th of Canadian Tolerance ............................................................................................................... 75 TABLE OF FIGURES ........................................................................................... 85 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................... ...................................................... 103 Primary Sources .................................................................................................. 103 Secondary Sources .............................................................................................. 103 Journal Articles ................................................................................................... 107 Electronic and other sources .............................................................................. 108 4 INTRODUCTION Canadian scholar