Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- PART I
- CHAP. I VIRGINIA
- CHAP. II THE NEGRO
- CHAP. III THE SOUTH
- CHAP. IV THE EMPIRE STATE
- CHAP. V CAMBRIDGE COMMENCEMENT
- CHAP. VI CANADA
- CHAP. VII UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
- CHAP. VIII THE PACIFIC RAILROAD
- CHAP. IX OMPHALISM
- CHAP. X LETTER FROM DENVER
- CHAP. XI RED INDIA
- CHAP. XII COLORADO
- CHAP. XIII ROCKY MOUNTAINS
- CHAP. XIV BRIGHAM YOUNG
- CHAP. XV MORMONDOM
- CHAP. XVI WESTERN EDITORS
- CHAP. XVII UTAH
- CHAP. XVIII NAMELESS ALPS
- CHAP. XIX VIRGINIA CITY
- CHAP. XX EL DORADO
- CHAP. XXI LYNCH LAW
- CHAP. XXII GOLDEN CITY
- CHAP. XXIII LITTLE CHINA
- CHAP. XXIV CALIFORNIA
- CHAP. XXV MEXICO
- CHAP. XXVI REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT
- CHAP. XXVII BROTHERS
- CHAP. XXVIII AMERICA
- PART II
- APPENDIX: A MAORI DINNER
- ERRATA
- Plate section
CHAP. II - THE NEGRO
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- PART I
- CHAP. I VIRGINIA
- CHAP. II THE NEGRO
- CHAP. III THE SOUTH
- CHAP. IV THE EMPIRE STATE
- CHAP. V CAMBRIDGE COMMENCEMENT
- CHAP. VI CANADA
- CHAP. VII UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
- CHAP. VIII THE PACIFIC RAILROAD
- CHAP. IX OMPHALISM
- CHAP. X LETTER FROM DENVER
- CHAP. XI RED INDIA
- CHAP. XII COLORADO
- CHAP. XIII ROCKY MOUNTAINS
- CHAP. XIV BRIGHAM YOUNG
- CHAP. XV MORMONDOM
- CHAP. XVI WESTERN EDITORS
- CHAP. XVII UTAH
- CHAP. XVIII NAMELESS ALPS
- CHAP. XIX VIRGINIA CITY
- CHAP. XX EL DORADO
- CHAP. XXI LYNCH LAW
- CHAP. XXII GOLDEN CITY
- CHAP. XXIII LITTLE CHINA
- CHAP. XXIV CALIFORNIA
- CHAP. XXV MEXICO
- CHAP. XXVI REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT
- CHAP. XXVII BROTHERS
- CHAP. XXVIII AMERICA
- PART II
- APPENDIX: A MAORI DINNER
- ERRATA
- Plate section
Summary
In the back country of Virginia, and on the borders of North Carolina, it becomes clear that our common English notions of the negro and of slavery are nearer the truth than common notions often are. The London Christy Minstrels are not more given to bursts of laughter of the form “Yah! yah!” than are the plantation hands. The negroes upon the Virginian farms are not maligned by those who represent them as delighting in the contrasts of crimson and yellow, or emerald and sky-blue. I have seen them on a Sunday afternoon, dressed in scarlet waistcoats and gold-laced cravats, returning hurriedly from “meetin’,” to dance break-downs, and grin from ear to ear for hours at a time. “What better should we expect from men to whom until just now it was forbidden, under tremendous penalties, to teach their letters?
Nothing can force the planters to treat negro freedom save from the comic side. To them the thing is too new for thought, too strange for argument; the ridiculous lies on the surface, and to this they turn as a relief. When I asked a planter how the blacks prospered under freedom, his answer was, “Ours don't much like it. You see, it necessitates monogamy. If I talk about the ‘responsibilities of freedom,’ Sambo says, ‘Dunno ‘bout that; please, mass’ George, me want two wife.’”
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- Greater Britain , pp. 19 - 31Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009