Before the Thirteenth Amendment, the
cause of how to approach abolition was widely addressed in literature through a
policy of appeasement to white readers.
The biographical slave narrative gained a vast amount of popularity due
to its ability to be accepted by white readers and black readers alike.
Utilized by Frederick Douglass with Narrative
of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the genre became a tool that avoided
causing commotion and slowly tried to gain ground for the cause of abolition. Others argued for immediate solutions. David
Walker's Appeal sought to incite open
rebellion in the tradition of men like Denmark Vesey. Walker's Appeal
and Douglass' Narrative converge
in their ideas of religion. Both men
were devout Christians, utilizing the extreme hypocrisy of the institution of
chattel slavery to further the agenda of abolition with varying degrees of
success. Both men sought to affirm black
humanity and motivate the enslaved to find hope. Walker, writing exclusively for blacks and
abolitionists, was a staunch Methodist who verged upon calling himself a prophet,
calling for rebellion and prophesying a divine intervention that would
ultimately end slavery. Douglass took to
the opposite end of the spectrum by creating his narrative in the popular
style, taking a gentler, nonviolent stance that allowed white and black readers
alike a chance to read and sympathize with the cause. Although both authors aimed to highlight the
hypocrisy of slaveholders' utilization of Christianity, Douglass' softer methods
met with considerable success, with Douglass ultimately becoming a leader among
African Americans and reaching approval from a wider audience.
Walker and Douglass, like many
abolitionists, drew references from the Bible to augment their arguments and recognized
the many ways religion was utilized in the South. The biblical story of Hebrew
slavery was often presented in comparison to the contemporary American slavery
of the time. Many African Americans saw a parallel between themselves and
biblical Jews, as Rufus Barrow claims in God
and Human Responsibility: "From the time of American slavery through
the present, there has been a deep appreciation among many African Americans
for the prophetic tradition of the Jewish and Christian faiths" (1).
This is due directly to the inhumane and indignant treatment resulting from
slavery (1). As slaves learned to delve deeper into Christianity, they learned
beyond the sections and parts that their white masters would allow and learned
of the deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt.
It was common to censor sections of
the bible that were seen as inappropriate for slaves to learn. For slaveholders' purposes, neither the Old nor
New Testament make any mention of slavery being immoral, but instead offer a
sort of guideline for conduct of slaves and masters. As Donald Gibson claims of Southern preaching
in African American Review, "most
sermons directed at slaves were based on one or both of two passages: 'He that
knoweth his master's will and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes'
(Luke 12:47) and 'Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according
to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ'
(Ephesians 6:5)" (594).
It is for this reason that both
Douglass and Walker use religion in their pro-abolition literature. They converge with a unified message that does
not demonize religion, but rather points out the incongruous statements made by
slaveholders that did not fit with "proper" religion. Walker believed strongly in God and was a
staunch supporter of the Boston Methodist church (Crockett 306). Douglass was also a believer in Christianity,
with the Bible being the text he was most familiar with and creating the
foundation for his arguments against slavery (Gibson 594).
Due partly to their strong
convictions, they saw the hypocrisy inherent in slavery and attacked it. Douglass points out the hypocrisy in the
appendix of Narrative: "We see the thief preaching against theft, and the
adulterer against adultery. We have men sold to build churches, women
sold to support the gospel, and babies sold to purchase Bibles for the poor
heathen! all [sic] for the glory of God and the good of souls!"
(448). He further develops his argument by claiming of his master, Covey,
"he was a professor of religion—a pious soul—a member and a class-leader
in the Methodist church" (420), showing how those most religious were most
brutal. Walker makes a similar claim by using cynical examples, sarcastically
claiming that teaching slaves to read is an unpardonable offense in ”this
Christian country" (412). By using
"Christian" as a modifier, Walker highlights the way in which slaveholders
ignore the Christian principles of helping the poor, showing compassion, and
shunning excessive wealth.
Although similar
in their religious convictions, the two men shared differing opinions of their
Christian beliefs. According to Barrow,
Walker's motivation for the pamphlet was partly due to his spiritual beliefs: "Because David Walker believed slavery to
be an abomination and sin against God and humanity, he did not hesitate to
prophesy divine wrath on those who refused to liberate the
enslaved" (13). Walker was
much more passionate in his religion than Douglass, and while not fully a
zealot, he considered himself as adhering to the tradition of Hebrew
prophecy. His arguments center around
the religion of the Hebrew prophets, which declares "God's anger and
impatience with indifference toward social evil and injustice" (Barrow
182).
Because of his
focus on the Old Testament's reason and prophecy, Walker's ideology was one
that offered justice and reckoning to slaveholders. In his Appeal,
Walker asks, "Will he not cause the very children of the oppressors to rise
up against them, and oftimes put them to death?" (230). Walker, in other words, is asking
rhetorically if a slave rebellion is not only inevitable, but also ordained and
sanctioned by God. He stresses the idea
of a God of justice who sees blacks and whites in the same light, offering
justice to those suffering under the pain of slavery. He asks of white slaveholders, "Will any
peace be given unto them? Their destruction may indeed be procrastinated awhile,
but can it continue long, while they are oppressing the Lord's people? Has He
not the hearts of all men in His hand?" (231). He continues to cite scripture, claiming that
men should claim no other master than God, and inviting revolt against those
who would take God's place as a natural master of another human being.
Calling another
man master in place of God takes a central role in Walker's attack of the
Christianity of the South. In his claim,
"If it were possible, would they not dethrone Jehovah and seat
themselves upon his throne?" (238), Walker seeks to incite anger against
those who would believe themselves proper Christians. By pointing out the
hypocrisy of the beliefs, he seeks to stir anger against them. By sarcastically calling them "an
enlightened and Christian people," (232), he makes a focused and unapologetic
attack.
Another focus in
the Appeal is the affirmation of
black humanity through divine imagery. According
to Barrow, "Walker argues that human worth is given by God, and is an
inalienable right that other humans are not able to take away" (107). This is highlighted when Walker repeatedly refers
to the humanity of his readers with rhetorical statements such as "Are we
Men!!" He repeatedly refers to and
affirms the essential humanity of African Americans. As Barrow claims, "He knew that if
blacks began to believe in and assert their humanity and dignity, it would no
longer matter to them what whites thought. The liberation of their minds
would enable them to focus more on their own problems, aspirations, and how
best to love, befriend, and live with each other in a spirit of community"
(111). His Appeal was fierce, but aside from an invitation to slave rebellion,
Walker promoted values exclusively to his people. This narrow range of audience allowed him to
make a direct plea without taking white readers into consideration.
Due to Walker's
brutal attacks on Christianity and focus only on enslaved blacks, his stern and
angry brand of abolition earned him the title of militant abolitionist. As Hasan Crockett claims, "Walker's
radicalism spilled over into his clothing business. He devised the clever plan of planting the Appeal in the pockets of the jackets and
trousers he sold" (306). His
pamphlet became contraband in the Southern states, forcing him to distribute
the pamphlet in creative ways. Rather
than openly publish and spread the Appeal,
Walker managed to distribute it secretly through his clothing store. By slipping
the pamphlets into sailors' uniforms, he ensured that the Appeal would safely travel to the South undetected. His continued
publishing and distribution was not without repercussions. Although not empirically proven, he was found
dead in his home several months after publishing a third edition of the Appeal, with the widely held belief
being that Walker lost his life due to his distribution of the pamphlet.
While Walker's
ideology led to downfall, Douglass met with success. The religious beliefs of Frederick Douglass expressed
a different and softer side of religion that also stressed individualism. As Wolfgang Mieder claims, "Morality and
religion were one and the same thing for Frederick Douglass . . . the so-called Golden Rule . . . would become
the perfect embodiment of human equality for him. It appears again and
again for over fifty years . . . and it must be considered as Douglass' rhetorical
and philosophical leitmotif" (349). Douglass was also able ask questions
of Christianity while still believing in its major tenets. This questioning and emphasis on a person's
own worth stressed individualistic ideals: "As Douglass sees it, he is
slave to none. The Lord must not and cannot free him; he must free
himself" (Gibson 599). He believed
that individualism reflected the will of God in encouraging an individual to
reach their greatest potential (Gibson 601).
Douglass' beliefs
spill over into his Narrative as he
appeals to the Christian sense of his readers.
Shaking up the idea of how a gentle Christian should act, he plays on
how one would expect a Christian master to be kind and gentle as the Bible
instructs. Douglass depicts slaveholders
as immoral and bad examples of Christian ethics. Instead of gentle masters, he depicts slave
masters on a sliding scale of equal violence with religious fervor. Men like Covey illustrate his point by being
vicious and relentless, forcing slaves into immoral (and thus unchristian)
behavior. He champions morality as
he claims Covey was said to have "been guilty of compelling his woman
slaves to commit the sin of adultery" (423) in the form of a
"breeder." He expands his
moral argument as he speaks of Covey: "Mr. Covey's forte consisted
in his power to deceive. His life was devoted to planning and
perpetrating the grossest deceptions" (422).
Douglass'
criticism of these practitioners of Christianity was acceptable to many due to
his use of the slave narrative. Although
Walker's Appeal was targeted directly
at enslaved men and women, Douglass would cast a wider net by aiming not to
offend white Christians, but to raise their awareness and arouse disgust in the
practice of slavery. The aim was to
point out a corruption of a religion claimed by non-slaveholding whites and
drive them to support abolition as a result.
The slave narrative was a proper choice because it was popular among
whites. It had become a way reach out to
white readers and show them the horrors of slavery. It was acceptable in a way Walker's pamphlet
simply was not, as well as a narrative that could be read for pleasure.
That Douglass' Narrative was readable to whites is
telling of its success. As David Walker
may have died for his publishing efforts, Douglass instead became a great leader
of the people. He tells a story of a man
as a slave, finding education and making himself by his own means. As Walker's Appeal was banned and had to be subversively distributed, Douglass
was able to publish his slave narrative openly.
His offense to non-slaveholders is softened by peppering his Narrative with conciliatory statements,
such as "Bad
as all slaveholders are, we seldom meet one destitute
of every element of character commanding respect" (418). He is further conciliatory in the fact that
he devotes his appendix to clear up any misconceptions readers may have had
from reading Narrative: "What I have said respecting and
against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of
this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper" (448).
Frederick
Douglass' choice to publish an autobiographical slave narrative was not only a
vogue of the period, but was a vehicle to deliver themes that challenged
contemporary ideas and furthered the cause of abolition. Without the convention of the slave narrative
Douglass may never have been able to reach such a wide audience. Walker's choice to publish a pamphlet likely
had little to do with popularity in white circles, and had everything to do
with empowering those it was written for while disregarding those on the periphery
who were not directly involved. It is
likely that figures such as Nat Turner found inspiration in Walker's tenacious
dedication and radical ideas by putting his invitations to rebellion into
practice. Rebellion such as Turner's
however, never ended in victory because they did not have the backing of the
majority. As history shows, Douglass'
nonviolent literature and rhetoric earned him an upper echelon position,
preceding black leaders like Booker T.
Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. His wider
appeal to white culture had a far greater impact than Walker's charged words
could have hoped for.
In addition to
Christianity, the Appeal and Narrative also share the theme of
expression and affirmation of humanity.
Douglass affirms humanity by stressing education and the horrors of
slavery that he encountered in his life.
By showing how a "slave was made a man" (424) Douglass
contests the Southern white concept of African slaves as inhuman. Walker's pamphlet aims at empowering both
enslaved and free African Americans. In
Walker's eyes, the Hebrew slaves that he refers to were slaves but never
considered sub-human. He claims it was never the case "that the Egyptians
heaped the insupportable insult upon the children of Israel, by
telling them that they were not of the human family" (233).
Works Cited
Barrow, Rufus. God
and Human Responsibility: David Walker and Ethical Prophecy. Macon: Mercer University Press, 2003.
Print.
Crockett, Hasan. "The Incendiary
Pamphlet: David Walker's Appeal in Georgia." Journal
of Negro History. 86.3 (2001):
305-318. Print.
Douglass, Frederick. "Narrative of
the Life of Frederick Douglass." Gates and McKay 387-452.
Gates, Henry Louis, and
McKay, Nelley Y., ed. The Norton
Anthology of African American Literature. New York: Norton & Company,
2004. Print
Gibson, Donald. "Christianity and
Individualism: (Re-)Creation and Reality in Frederick Douglass's Representation
of Self." African
American Review. 26.4 (1992):
591-603. Print.
Mieder, Wolfgang.
""Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You": Frederick
Douglass's Proverbial Struggle for Civil Rights." Journal of American Folklore. 114.453 (2001): 331-357.
Print.
Walker, David. "David Walker's
Appeal in Four Articles; Together with a Preamble, to the Coloured Citizens of
the World." Gates and McKay 228-238.
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