take-home midterm : question one
During the mid to late nineteenth century, the immaculate United States veneer of the Free America started to crack. Civil discontent between the North and South over secession reached the point where negotiations ceased to satisfy and the only solution in sight was war. Yet, amongst the conflicting territorial outstretching that was plaguing American consciousness, was the issue of race and slavery. Quite possibly the most important event in terms of civil equality, the Civil War served to scrutinize the issue of slavery before finally deeming it inhumane by scholars, businessmen and politicians alike. Throughout the long and arduous battle, President Abraham Lincoln opposed the act of slavery and thus the act of geographical expansion with slavery. Lincoln�s Emancipation Proclamation prioritized the freeing of blacks from slavery as a necessity in the war and the Northern army (that opposed slavery) eventually emerged victorious. Afterward, the South is left in shambles and the North is left to contend with a displaced populace with no real sense of identity and no home. Post-Civil War artists therefore emerge and begin to aggressively construct an identity for the blacks that are now liberated.
Before any black identity reconstruction could occur, the radical burgeoning social concept of transcendentalism paved a way for post-Civil War activists. Created by educated white scholars, transcendentalism is a philosophy that firmly stressed that the spirit should exceed physical appearance (Murray, September 12, 2007). That goes to say, the color of one�s skin did not pertain to the quality of one�s spirit, which was what a human should be judged upon place (Murray, September 12, 2007). In the eyes of the transcendentalists, slavery was an odious malpractice that damaged the spirit and thusly had no place in society (Murray, September 12, 2007). Garnering attention from the public via celebrity intellectuals like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, the transcendentalist movement set up the playing field in which the Civil War took place (Murray, September 12, 2007). Once the war was finished and the new social lines were drawn, the transcendental philosophy helped spurn on the post-war activists to cement the new black identity to the masses. Even when faced with an inert Southern mentality toward slaves, loosely linked forms of transcendental thought can be seen peaking from the edges of protestors and social advocates like W.E.B, Du Bois (Murray, September 12, 2007).
Nevertheless, not all scholars will come to view transcendental thought in such a positive light. Philosopher Josiah Royce summated the transcendentalist antebellum period as �sulking in the bushes�. However, it is not a fair assessment to compare the transcendentalist antebellum period of American history to �sulking in the bushes�, for Royce had the privileged advantage of hindsight on his side when he made this claim. True, the antebellum period of US history was not as actively active as post-Civil War America, yet there were factors that Royce seemed to omit in his argument. While the transcendentalists might not have picked up a picket sign or staged protests outside of Southern farms, they laid the course for future activists, hammering out a path for later antebellum period abolitionists.
Transcendental thought can most notably be seen in the actions of the antebellum period The Liberator, a radical abolitionist newspaper that was circulated despite the white-only mentality of the time place (Murray, September 17, 2007). Created in 1831, The Liberator became the sole abolitionist newspaper that made the eradication of slavery a focal point of its publication place (Murray, September 17, 2007). The fact William Lloyd Garrison, a prominent white male, ran such a newspaper while racial tensions over the hot-button issues of pro-slavery were still a prominent theme in society, demonstrates the level of active protest that was occurring. Despite harsh criticism, absurdly expensive fines and an overwhelming public scrutiny, The Liberator refused to be silenced and would continue to publish intense anti-slavery articles that would not conform to the �white superiority� mentality of the time place (Murray, September 17, 2007). This was an incredibly important moment in anti-slavery history due to the fact Garrison accomplished all of this without the emancipation proclamation on his side. Post-Civil War protest had the added benefit of being sanctioned by the president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and thus had the entirety of the North fighting for the abolition of slavery (Murray, September 12, 2007). In the pre-Civil War South, the abolitionists were lone soldiers fighting in a war that seemed insurmountable. The sheer volume of obstacles that laid in their path were staggering, yet they had enough conviction in the belief of equality to persevere the scrutiny that followed them for the duration of the antebellum period.
Moreover, the antebellum period protesters faced an incredible amount of stereotyping and prejudices. The South had created the mistral black character and adopted the notion of the happy slave as the persona of all colored people place (Murray, September 17, 2007). Generations of slave owners actually believed in this deep-rooted arrogance � actually believed in the notion that blacks were truly happier and better off in bondage and slavery place (Murray, September 17, 2007). It takes the Civil War to finally tip the scales in favor of liberation, yet the war is nowhere near able to tear this veil of ignorance from the eyes of the Southern slave owners place (Murray, September 17, 2007). It is due to the fact the Southern ex-slave owners are unable to change their mentality toward the blacks that post-Civil War reform is needed (Murray, September 17, 2007). It is because of this staggering inability for white slave owners to recognize the newly freed identity of the black slaves that the black community had to create a band new identity for themselves via art, music, social institutions and political thought.
The notion of �separate but equal� is the main reason as to why black culture spawned the need for immediate social change. The South instituted the �separate but equal� doctrine after the Civil War as a way to maintain segregation (Linder). By claiming the freed slaves were considered equal, yet allotting separate facilities to them, the South worked around the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendment to maintain the status quo (Linder). Despite the fact �separate but equal� was inherently racist and demeaning, the black community managed to pursue and establish their own identity through their newly formed institutions.
Essentially, the whites did not want the blacks to infringe on their community space, so blacks went ahead and created their own space to exist. Black colleges, hospitals, schools and especially churches began to pop up, emphasizing the black individual and a group identity (Murray, September 17, 2007). With schools now available for blacks, the select few black educated members of society take it upon themselves to educate freed slaves who are starved for knowledge (Murray, September 17, 2007). Lectures on philosophy and literature and society are held that have an incredible attendance of black individuals (Murray, September 17, 2007). The literacy rate soars exponentially amongst the ex-slaves who were not privy to the simple art of reading (Murray, September 17, 2007). Black intellectuals painstakingly work to grant freed slaves the tools they require in order for them to find an identity for themselves that does not correlate to a mere servant. As well, Baptist churches serve two functions within the new black community. The primary, naturally, offers a sense of active religion and belief to the new black community (Murray, September 17, 2007). Secondly, what the Evangelical church becomes culturally infamous for is the incorporation of music into their sermons that preach the story of black oppression (Murray, September 17, 2007). This leads into the incredibly popular and culturally avant-garde jazz era of music (Murray, September 17, 2007). With jazz, the black community has a music genre that is exclusively their own. This notion stimulates the arts, which began to flourish within the black community. Some of the more infamous forms of art that survived the years are the 19th century paintings that depicted the black and white races on an equal footing (King Tisdell). This perpetual existence is, in fact, what propelled the blacks to create the ideal art forms and political advancement that have come to earn them the respect they have in history today.
It seems trite to say that the history of America is colorful, yet one cannot summarize the antebellum period without using the word. With transcendentalist thinkers creating a frame of mind that will later be the core basis of post-Civil War thought, it is a gross to say that the antebellum transcendentalist movement was static one. Having abolitionist literature being printer, advocacy from scholars and politicians and a later reinvention of what it is considered to be black, transcendentalists forged a new American veneer, one that�s been solidifying ever since.
Works Cited
Linder, Doug. Exploring Constitutional Conflicts. October 13, 2007. Online Available:
.
Murray, Heather. Class Notes: The Civil War and the Culture of Violence. September 12,
2007.
Murray, Heather. Class Notes: Conceptualizing and Representing the Reconstruction.
September 17, 2007.
King Tisdell Cottage Foundation. Photographs from Reconstruction Era Savannah.
October 13, 2007. Online Available:
.
