Unexpected Places: Relocating Nineteenth-Century African American Literature (Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies)

Winner 2010 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Winner 2010 EBSCOhost / Research Society for American Periodicals Book Prize Honorable Mention 2010 Thomas J. Lyon Book Award, Western Literature Association In January of 1861, on the eve of both the Civil War and the rebirth of the African Methodist Episcopal Church's Christian Recorder , John Mifflin Brown wrote to the paper praising its editor Elisha Weaver: -It takes our Western boys to lead off. I am proud of your paper.- Weaver's story, though, like many of the contributions of early black literature outside of the urban Northeast, has almost vanished. Unexpected Places: Relocating Nineteenth-Century African American Literature recovers the work of early African American authors and editors such as Weaver who have been left off maps drawn by historians and literary critics. Individual chapters restore to consideration black literary locations in antebellum St. Louis, antebellum Indiana, Reconstruction-era San Francisco, and several sites tied to the Philadelphia-based Recorder during and after the Civil War. In conversation with both archival sources and contemporary scholarship, Unexpected Places calls for a large-scale rethinking of the nineteenth-century African American literary landscape. In addition to revisiting such better-known writers as William Wells Brown, Maria Stewart, and Hannah Crafts, Unexpected Places offers the first critical considerations of important figures including William Jay Greenly, Jennie Carter, Polly Wash, and Lizzie Hart. The book's discussion of physical locations leads naturally to careful study of how region is tied to genre, authorship, publication circumstances, the black press, domestic and nascent black nationalist ideologies, and black mobility in the nineteenth century. In Conversation With Both Archival Sources And Contemporary Scholarship, Unexpected Places Calls For A Large-scale Rethinking Of The Nineteenth-century African American Literary Landscape. In Addition To Revisiting Such Better-known Writers As William Wells Brown, Maria Stewart, And Hannah Crafts, Unexpected Places Offers The First Critical Considerations Of Important Figures Including William Jay Greenly, Jennie Carter, Polly Wash, And Lizzie Hart. The Book's Discussion Of Physical Locations Leads Naturally To Careful Study Of How Region Is Tied To Genre, Authorship, Publication Circumstances, The Black Press, Domestic And Nascent Black Nationalist Ideologies, And Black Mobility In The Nineteenth Century. --from Publisher Description. Introduction: Duty And Daily Bread -- Gateways And Borders: Black St. Louis In The 1840s And 1850s -- Frontiers And Domestic Centers: Black Indiana,1857-1862 -- The Black West: Northern California And Beyond, 1865-1877 -- Beyond Philadelphia: The Reach Of The Recorder, 1865-1880 -- Epilogue: (re)locating Hannah Crafts. Eric Gardner. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. CONTENTS......Page 8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 10 INTRODUCTION: Duty and Daily Bread......Page 14 CHAPTER 1: Gateways and Borders: Black St. Louis in the 1840s and 1850s......Page 33 CHAPTER 2: Frontiers and Domestic Centers: Black Indiana, 1857–1862......Page 67 CHAPTER 3: The Black West: Northern California and Beyond, 1865–1877......Page 103 CHAPTER 4: Beyond Philadelphia: The Reach of the Recorder, 1865–1880......Page 144 EPILOGUE: (Re)Locating “Hannah Crafts”......Page 184 NOTES......Page 195 WORKSCITED......Page 237 B......Page 258 C......Page 259 F......Page 261 H......Page 262 K......Page 263 M......Page 264 P......Page 265 S......Page 266 W......Page 268 Z......Page 269