1 - “It Is Time for the Slaves to Speak”

Summary

Chapter 1 opens with Moses Roper’s lecturing tour in the British Isles. While not an invisible figure in historical scholarship, historians have rendered Roper peripheral in their discussions. Using new evidence, I uncover Roper’s previously unexplored performative techniques, and how he employed adaptive resistance with mixed success. He refused to compromise on his brutal descriptions of slavery, and his experience of torture proved either too upsetting for audiences or invited criticism. Since Victorian racial dynamics decreed that formerly enslaved individuals had to be supported by white networks, Roper’s lecture tour was hindered by his lack of white testimonials, and I analyze how white sabotage affected Roper’s tour. Therefore, his exploitation of the triad of performance, print culture, and abolitionist networks proved difficult compared to individuals such as Frederick Douglass.