The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918Various
History
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918
Various
African Americans -- Periodicals
family, and in the extremity of her terror she had tried to hide
herself. I had hard work to satisfy her. Our long habits of
concealment and anxiety had rendered her suspicious of every one; and
her agitation was so great that for a time she was incapable of
understanding what I said, and went on in a sort of paroxysm of
distress and fear. This, however, was soon over, and the kindness of
my companions did much to facilitate the matter."--Father Henson's
Story of his own Life, p. 121.
[5] Henson, "_Uncle Tom's Story of his Life_," p. 162.
[6] Years thereafter when taking dinner with a distinguished gentleman
in London the thought of enjoying such privileges while his only
brother was in slavery dawned suddenly and impressed itself so
forcefully upon him that he immediately arose from the table, unable
to eat. He soon returned to America and at once proceeded to devise
means to free his brother. Mr. William Chaplain, of New York, had
repeatedly urged him to flee by way of the underground railroad, but
he was so demoralized and stultified by slavery that he would not make
an effort. Mr. Chaplain made a second effort to induce him to escape
but he still refused. Henson finally arranged to sell the narrative of
his life to secure funds for his liberation. The book sold well in New
England and the requisite four hundred dollars being raised his
brother was freed and enabled to join him in Canada.--Father Henson's
_Story of his own Life_, pp. 209-212.
[7] _Liberator_, April 11, 1851.
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING AND THE NEGRO
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a poetic artist who was intensely
concerned with the large human movements of the world and the age into
which she was thrown. Her whole life was one great heart-throb. While
the condition of her health and the nature of her early training were
such as to cultivate her rather bookish and romantic temperament, she
followed with eagerness the great social reforms in England in the
reign of William IV and the early years of Victoria; and _The Cry of
the Children_ and _The Cry of the Human_ indicated what was to be one
of her chief lines of interest. In her later years she threw herself
heart and soul into the cause of Italian independence and unity,
welcoming Napoleon III as a benefactor. Her political judgment was not
always sound: her distinguished husband could not possibly follow her
in her admiration for Napoleon, whom he regarded as to some extent at
least a charlatan, and Cavour simply represented his countrymen in his
amazement and chagrin at the terms of the Peace of Villafranca;
nevertheless the great heart of Elizabeth Barrett Browning was ever
moved by the demands of liberty, whether the immediate impulse was a
child in the sweatshops of England, an Italian wishing to be free of
Austria, or the exiled Victor Hugo, and there was no exaggeration in
the tribute placed on the wall of Casa Guidi after her death:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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