Author: Charles W. Chesnutt (1858-1932)

Charles Waddell Chesnutt was born this day, 20 July 1858. African American lawyer, author and social reformer, friend of Booker T. Washington, considered one of the pioneers in writing on racial themes. Among his works, "The Disfranchisement of the Negro", The Conjure Woman (1899), and The House Behind The Cedars (1900). Chesnutt also wrote a biography of Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), American author, abolitionist, and lecturer, author of A Narrative on the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845), My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881).

"The workings of the human heart are the profoundest mystery of the universe. One moment they make us despair of our kind, and the next we see in them the reflection of the divine image. Sandy, having thus escaped from the Mr. Hyde of the mob, now received the benediction of its Dr. Jekyll. Being no cynical philosopher, and realizing how nearly the jaws of death had closed upon him, he was profoundly grateful for his escape, and felt not the slightest desire to investigate or criticise any man's motives."--ch. 27, The Marrow of Tradition

Slavery..

The movie 12 Years A Slave, based on Solomon Northup's (1808-c.1875) life of being kidnapped and sold into slavery is next on my must-see list. But who else has written of their experience as a slave, or has inspired others to write about them? To name a few...

Olaudah Equiano "The Oppressed Ethiopean" (c. 1745-31 March 1797), also known as Gustavus Vassa wrote The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789).

Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) A Narrative on the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) and My Bondage, My Freedom (1855).

Harriet Beecher Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).

Booker T. Washington Up From Slavery (1901).

The Book of Negroes (2007) (soon to be made into a mini-series) was written by Canadian author Lawrence Hill, inspired by the documents kept by American and British officers of over 3,000 African American slaves, Black Loyalists, who escaped to British lines during the American Revolutionary War. Controversy over the word Negroes in the title led to it being released as Someone Knows My Name or Aminata in some countries. In the Netherlands covers of the book were burned and Hill answered the Foundation "Honor and Restore: heart of the Indigenous and Afro-Surinamese community in the Netherlands" with an open letter in the Toronto Star.

Do we need another movie about slavery? Do we need to hear about another John Brown martyr?