"The Imagination and Construction of the Black Criminal in American Literature, 1741-1910"
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses November 2015 "The Imagination and Construction of the Black Criminal in American Literature, 1741-1910" Emahunn Campbell University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Literature Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, and the Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority Commons Recommended Citation Campbell, Emahunn, ""The Imagination and Construction of the Black Criminal in American Literature, 1741-1910"" (2015). Doctoral Dissertations. 422. https://doi.org/10.7275/7056249.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/422 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE IMAGINATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE BLACK CRIMINAL IN AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1741-1910 A Dissertation Presented by EMAHUNN RAHEEM ALI CAMPBELL Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 2015 W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies © Copyright by Emahunn Raheem Ali Campbell 2015 All Rights Reserved THE IMAGINATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE BLACK CRIMINAL IN AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1741-1910 A Dissertation Presented by EMAHUNN RAHEEM ALI CAMPBELL Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________________ James Smethurst , Chair _______________________________________ Britt Rusert, Member _______________________________________ Steve Tracy, Member _______________________________________ Manisha Sinha, Member _______________________________________ Geoffrey Sanborn, Member ____________________________________ John Bracey, Department Head W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro- American Studies DEDICATION To my beloved mother, Darlena Marie Noland ACKNOWLEDGMENTS From the start of my collegiate career at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, I have lived by three words: hard work, dedication, and grit. These terms had deeper meaning during my time at the University of Memphis and later for my doctoral studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Unashamedly, I worked hard to arrive at this point, and there is still more to go, more to come. At times, I felt alone and all I had was my work to console me—or so I thought. It is my sincere hope that those mentioned in what follows know that during my darkest moments, their words, various forms of support, and encouragement lifted me and made this project possible. First and foremost, I want to thank my brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporate for helping me “see it through”, namely Avelino Amado, Blair Chase, Cameron Cox, Eddie Lee, Imo Imeh, James Lightfoot, and John Ramos. Some of my most significant breakthroughs for this project came from their unwelcomed, yet necessary distractions. Furthermore, their unyielding support of my activism, despite their occasional differences in thought, not only fueled my dissertation, but also, and importantly, our brotherhood and friendship. To the “ice-cold” Brothers of the Light, ’06! I also want to acknowledge my childhood friends, “The Crew”: Timothy Jackson, Sammy Nelson, Stephen Hicks, Marcus Gallon, Jasmine Randolph, Danielle C. Nieto, Ashley Green, Kristen Millender, and Gabrielle Guy. At Memphis and Amherst, I did not always feel welcomed by my peers. During these painful, tearful moments, I remember our phone and text conversations, and your constant reminders of love and admiration. Any words I compose about how deep our bond is prove inadequate. Therefore, you will never know how much you have meant and continue to mean to me. From my v adolescence in Virginia to the completion of my doctoral studies, I love each of you for your beautiful friendship that I sometimes did not deserve. Armanthia Duncan and Rosa Clemente warrant unabated praise for their warmth and support when I often felt its absence from others. Their intellectuality, determination, and love humbled me and kept me on track. Thank you for accepting and loving me during the most troubling moments of this process. I hope you are as proud of me as I am of you. I also thank Anthony Guillory, Daniel Chard, and Olivia Brown for their behind- the-scenes encouragement and greatly appreciated discussions. My dissertation committee, affectionately called “The Dream Team”, comprised of my chair, James Smethurst, Steven Tracy, Manisha Sinha, Britt Rusert, and Geoffrey Sanborn, believed in my abilities from the very beginning. By allowing me to be ambitious and creative, while offering critical feedback, you pushed me to think about my subject in unimaginable ways. There was never chapter that was too easy; but with your advice and support, there was not a chapter that was too hard. Also, due to his sound advice and much-needed care for me, Ernest Allen, Professor Emeritus, deserves special acknowledgement, often playing the “sixth man” role on my committee. The visual component of my project derives from his inspiration and our conversations about photography. Lastly, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to Tricia Loveland along with the rest of the faculty and staff of the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies. This project would not have been realized without the archival and financial support from the Kate B. and Hall J. Peterson Fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society (AAS), the Department of Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library short-term fellowship, and the Mellon Dissertation vi Fellowship in the Program in African American History at the Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP). Along with all the wholesome staff and smart librarians at each institution, I especially want to thank Paul J. Erickson, Director of Academic Programs at AAS; Anne Moore, SCUA librarian and Danielle Kovacs, SCUA curator; Erica Armstrong Dunbar, director of the Program in African American History, and Krystal Appiah, African Americana Specialist and Reference Librarian at LCP. I could not have made it this far in my academic career without mentors. There are many who have touched my professional and personal life; however, I will name a few with the faith that those who do not appear on this page will not believe that I appreciate their invaluable contribution any less. I thank professors Gretchen Martin, David Rouse, Kathy Lou Schultz, Kabria Baumgartner, A Yemisi Jimoh, James Smethurst, Manisha Sinha, Steve Tracy, Amilcar Shabazz, Britt Rusert, Ernest Allen, Herman Beavers, and Erica Armstrong Dunbar for insisting that I strive towards excellence. I take full responsibility if I ever fail to meet your expectations of me as an intellectual and cultural analyst. Finally, I thank my family for traveling with me through this journey. They are Darlena Noland, Rodney Noland, Rah-Jahunn Campbell, Asia Adams, Queen, Jasmine Adams, Jason Adams, Jr., Anthony Hawkins, Marion Heddington, Joan Bailey (deceased), Percell Bailey (deceased), Maurice Humbles (decease), Sarah Bray (deceased) and others. There are many words I can say, but nothing comes close to these three—I love you. Onward… vii ABSTRACT THE IMAGINATION AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE BLACK CRIMINAL IN AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1741-1910 SEPTEMBER 2015 EMAHUNN RAHEEM ALI CAMPBELL, B.A., UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA’S COLLEGE AT WISE M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor James Smethurst My dissertation examines the origins of the perception of black people as criminally predisposed by arguing that during eighteenth and nineteenth-century America, crime committed by black people was used as a major trope in legal, literary, and scientific discourses, deeming them inherently criminal. Furthermore, I contend that enslaved and free black people often used criminal acts, including murder, theft, and literacy, as avenues toward freedom. However, their resistance was used as a justification for slavery in the South and discrimination in the North. By examining a diverse set of materials such as confessional literature, plantation management literature, (social) scientific studies, and literary works, I demonstrate how historical and cultural representations of crime became racialized. I begin by analyzing the New York Slave Conspiracy of 1741 and reading the legal testimonies produced by the event as literature. These testimonies contributed to the production of late eighteenth-century confessional narratives, in which there was a disproportionate representation of those from African descent. From here, I examine viii different institutions of confinement and mechanisms of torture used on enslaved and free black people, arguing that what emerges from their brutalization and confinement is the circulation of ideas about black people as subjects having a propensity for transgressive behavior. After investigating literary works by William Wells Brown and Mark Twain, among others, I conclude with an analysis of W.E.B. Du Bois’s unpublished short stories. Written in the genres of crime and detective fiction during the first decade of the twentieth century, I argue that these little-known stories