The Black Man: His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements
by William Wells Brown
PREFACE.
The calumniators and traducers of the Negro are to be found, mainly, among two classes. The first and most relentless are those who have done them the greatest injury, by being instrumental in their enslavement and consequent degradation. They delight to descant upon the "natural inferiority" of the blacks, and claim that we were destined only for a servile condition, entitled neither to liberty nor the legitimate pursuit of happiness. The second class are those who are ignorant of the characteristics of the race, and are the mere echoes of the first. To meet and refute these misrepresentations, and to supply a deficiency, long felt in the community, of a work containing sketches of individuals who, by their own genius, capacity, and intellectual development, have surmounted the many obstacles which slavery[Pg 6] and prejudice have thrown in their way, and raised themselves to positions of honor and influence, this volume was written. The characters represented in most of these biographies are for the first time put in print. The author's long sojourn in Europe, his opportunity of research amid the archives of England and France, and his visit to the West Indies, have given him the advantage of information respecting the blacks seldom acquired.
If this work shall aid in vindicating the Negro's character, and show that he is endowed with those intellectual and amiable qualities which adorn and dignify human nature, it will meet the most sanguine hopes of the writer.
Cambridgeport, Mass., 1863.
CONTENTS.
Memoir of the Author, 11
The Black Man and his Antecedents, 31
——
THE BLACK MAN, HIS GENIUS AND HIS ACHIEVEMENTS.
Benjamin Banneker, 51
Nat Turner, 59
Madison Washington, 75
Henry Bibb, 86
Placido, 88
Jeremiah B. Sanderson, 91
Toussaint L'Ouverture, 92
Crispus Attucks, 106
Dessalines, 110
Ira Aldridge, 118
Joseph Cinque, 124
Alexandre Dumas, 128
Henri Christophe, 132
Phillis Wheatley, 138
Denmark Vesey, 142
Henry Highland Garnett, 149
James M. Whitfield, 152
Andre Rigaud, 153
Frances Ellen Watkins, 160
Ex-President Roberts, 163
Alexander Crummell, 165
Alexandre Petion, 169
Martin R. Delany, M. D., 174
Robert Small, 175
Frederick Douglass, 180
Charles L. Reason, 187
Charlotte L. Forten, 190
William H. Simpson, 199
Jean Pierre Boyer, 202
James M'Cune Smith, M. D., 205
Bishop Payne, 207
William Still, 211
Edwin M. Bannister, 214
Leonard A. Grimes, 217
President Geffrard, 220
George B. Vashon, 223
Robert Morris, 227
William J. Wilson, 230
John Mercer Langston, 235
William C. Nell, 238
John Sella Martin, 241
Charles Lenox Remond, 246
George T. Downing, 250
Robert Purvis, 253
Joseph Jenkins, 259
John S. Rock, 266
William Douglass, 271
Elymas Payson Rogers, 272
J. Theodore Holly, 274
James W. C. Pennington, 276
A Man without a Name, 278
Samuel R. Ward, 284
Sir Edward Jordan, 286
Joseph Carter, 288
James Lawson, 291
Capt. Callioux, 297
Capt. Joseph Howard, 308
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