An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called AfricansChild, Lydia Maria
History
An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans
Child, Lydia Maria
Antislavery movements -- United States; Slavery -- United States
Wordsworth addressed the following sonnet to Toussaint L'Ouverture:
"Toussaint, thou most unhappy man of men!
Whether the whistling rustic tends his plough
Within thy hearing, or thou liest now
Buried in some deep dungeon's earless den;--
Oh, miserable chieftain! where and when
Wilt thou find patience? Yet die not; do thou
Wear rather in thy bonds a cheerful brow:
Though fallen thyself, never to rise again,
Live, and take comfort. Thou hast left behind
Powers that will work for thee; air, earth and skies;
There's not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee; thou hast great allies.
Thy friends are exultations, agonies,
And love, and man's unconquerable mind."
Godwin, in his admirable Lectures on Colonial Slavery, says: "Can the
West India islands, since their first discovery by Columbus, boast a
single name which deserves comparison with that of Toussaint
L'Ouverture?"
If we are willing to see and believe, we have full opportunity to
convince ourselves that the colored population are highly susceptible
of cultivation. St. Domingo produces black legislators, scholars, and
gentlemen. The very negroes who had been slaves, formed a constitution
that would do credit to paler-faced statesmen--Americans may well blush
at its _consistent_ republicanism.
The enemies of true freedom were very ready to predict that the
government of Hayti could not continue for any length of time; but
it has now lasted nearly thirty years, constantly increasing in
respectability and wealth. The affairs of Greece have been managed with
much less ability and discretion, though all the cabinets of Europe
have given assistance and advice. St. Domingo achieved her independence
alone and unaided--nay, in the very teeth of prejudice and scorn. The
Greeks had loans from England, and contributions from America, and
sympathy from half the world; the decisive battle of Navarino was gained
by the combined fleets of England, France and Russia. Is it asked why
Hayti has not produced any examples of splendid genius? In reply let
me inquire, how long did the Europeans ridicule _us_ for our poverty
in literature? When Raynal reproached the United States with not having
produced one celebrated man, Jefferson requested him to wait until we
had existed "as long as the Greeks before they had a Homer, the Romans
a Virgil, and the French a Racine." Half a century elapsed before our
republic produced Irving, Cooper, Sedgwick, Halleck, and Bryant. We must
not forget that the cruel prejudice, under which colored people labor,
makes it extremely difficult for them to gain admission to the best
colleges and schools; they are obliged to contend with obstacles, which
white men never encounter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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