Shadow and Light: An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present CenturyGibbs, Mifflin Wistar
History
Shadow and Light: An Autobiography with Reminiscences of the Last and Present Century
Gibbs, Mifflin Wistar
African Americans
Frederick Douglass introduced "Cinguez" to the meeting. I cannot forget
or fail to feel the inspiration of that scene. The two giants locked in
each others embrace, looked the incarnation of heroism and dauntless
purpose, equal to the achievement of great results. The one by
indomitable will had shaken off his own shackles and was making slavery
odius by his matchless and eloquent arraignment; the other, "a leader
of men," had now written his protest with the blood of his captors.
Cinguez, with unintelligible utterance in African dialect with emphatic
gesture, his liberty loving soul on fire, while burning words strove for
expression, described his action on the memorable night of his
emancipation, with such vividness, power, and pathos that the audience
seemed to see every act of the drama and feel the pulsation of his great
heart. Through an interpreter he afterwards narrated his manner of
taking the vessel, and how it happened to reach American shores. How,
after taking the ship, he stood by the tiller with drawn weapon and
commanded the mate to steer back to Africa. During the day he complied,
but at night took the opposite course. After sometime of circuitous
wandering the vessel ran into Long Island Sound and was taken possession
of by the United States authorities. Cinguez, as hero and patriot,
ennobled African character.
When majority and the threshold of man's estate is attained, the
transition from advanced youth to the entry of manhood is liable to
casualties; not unlike a bark serenely leaving its home harbor to enter
unfrequented waters, the crew exhilarated by fresh and invigorating
breezes, charmed by a genial sky, it moves on "like a thing of beauty"
with the hope of "joy forever." The chart and log of many predecessors
may unheeded lie at hand, but the glorious present, cloudless and
fascinating, rich in expectation, it sails on, fortunate if it escapes
the rocks and shoals that ever lie in wait. It is unreasonable to expect
a proper conception, and the happiest performance of life's duties at
such a period, especially from those with easy and favorable
environments, or who have been heedless of parental restraint, for even
at an advanced stage in life, there have been many to exclaim with a
poet:
"Ne'er tell me of evening serenely adorning
The close of a life richly mellowed by time,
Give me back, give me back the wild freshness of morning
Her smiles and her tears are worth evening's best light."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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