Cover image for Black writers of the founding era, 1760-1800 / James G. Basker, editor with Nicole Seary ; foreword by Annette Gordon-Reed.
Title:
Black writers of the founding era, 1760-1800 / James G. Basker, editor with Nicole Seary ; foreword by Annette Gordon-Reed.
ISBN:
9781598537345

9781598537895
Publication Information:
New York, N.Y. : The Library of America, 2023.

©2023
Physical Description:
lxi, 706 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), portraits (some color) ; 21 cm.
Contents:
A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, and Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, A Negro Man / Briton Hammon -- An Evening Thought ; "O Come ye youth of Boston town" / Jupiter Hammon -- Conversion Testimony / Phillis Cogswell -- "Mrs Thatcher's Son is gone" ; On VIRTUE ; An Address to the Deist-1767- ; To the University of Cambridge, wrote in 1767- ; On the Death of Love Rotch ; On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin ; On being brought from AFRICA to AMERICA ; America ; To the King's Most Excellent Majesty on his Repealing the American Stamp Act ; To the Hon. Commodore Hood on his pardoning a deserter ; Untitled Lines on the Boston Massacre ; AN ELEGIAC POEM, on the DEATH of that celebrated Divine, and eminent Servant of JESUS CHRIST, the late Reverend, and pious GEORGE WHITEFIELD, Chaplain to the Right Honourable the Countess of Huntingdon, &c &c ; Letter to the Countess of Huntingdon ; Thoughts on the WORKS of PROVIDENCE ; Letter to Obour Tanner ; To the Right Honourable WILLIAM, Earl of DARTMOUTH, His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for North-America, &c ; To the Empire of America, Beneath the Western Hemisphere. Farewell to America / Phillis Wheatley -- from Sundry Account Book / Cesar Lyndon -- The LIFE, and dying SPEECH of ARTHUR, a Negro Man / Arthur -- Testimony at the Trial of Captain Thomas Preston / Andrew, "A Negro Servant" -- Testimony at the Trial of Captain Thomas Preston / Newton Prince -- Notice in The South-Carolina Gazette ; Last Will and Testament / Richard Peronneau -- A Free Black Woman's Petition for Alimony in Massachusetts / Lucy Pernam -- from A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, An African Prince ; A Few Providential Deliverances in America / James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw -- Petition to the Connecticut General Assembly / Sip Wood -- Petition to Governor Hutchinson and the Massachusetts General Court / Felix Holbrook -- Thoughts on Slavery / "The Sons of Africa" -- Cuffy's Relation March 1773 / Cuffee Wright -- Petition to the Massachusetts Provincial Legislature / Peter Bestes, Sambo Freeman, Felix Holbrook, and Chester Joie -- Letter to Governor Thomas Hutchinson / "Crispus Attucks" -- Letter to the Countess Huntingdon ; To MAECENAS ; To His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor, on the Death of his lady. March 24, 1773 ; On IMAGINATION ; An HYMN to HUMANITY ; To S.M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works ; Letter to David Wooster ; Letter to Obour Tanner ; Letter to the Rev. Samuel Hopkins ; from Letter to the Rev. Samson Occom ; Letter to Obour Tanner ; Letter to the Rev. Samuel Hopkins ; Letter to John Thornton Esqr. ; To a Gentleman of the Navy ; To His Excellency General Washington ; On the Capture of General Lee ; On the Death of General Wooster ; An Elegy, Sacred to the Memory of that Great Divine, The Reverend and Learned Dr. SMAUEL COOPER ; LIBERTY AND PEACE, A POEM / Phillis Wheatley -- Letter to William Redwood / Kudjo Holms -- For the Massachusetts Spy / "A Son of Africa" -- To his Excellency Thomas Gage Esq., Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over this Province / "A Great Number of Blacks" -- To Those Who Are Advocates for Holding the Africans in Slavery / Caesar Sarter -- To the Sons of Liberty in Connecticut / Bristol Lambee -- The Battle of Lexington ; Liberty Further Extended / Lemuel Haynes -- Petition to the Inferior Court of Craven County, North Carolina / Antonio Muray -- Petition of Scipio Fayerweather / Scipio Fayerweather -- Letter to Charles Phelps, Jr / Sezor Phelps -- "The Petition of a great number of Negroes who are detained in a state of Slavery" / Lancaster Hill, Peter Bess, Brister Slenser, Prince Hall, and Others -- Last Will and Testament of Prince Demah / Prince Demah -- An ADDRESS to Miss Phillis Wheatley, Ethiopian Poetess, in Boston, who came from Africa at eight years of age, and soon became acquainted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ ; A Dialogue, intitled, The Kind Master and th Dutiful Servant ; from a Serious Exhortation, with a Call to the Unconverted: and a Short Contemplation on the Death of Jesus Christ ; A Poem for Children with Thoughts on Death / Jupiter Hammon -- Regulations of the African Lodge, No. 459 ; Letter to Nathaniel Willis, Publisher of the Independent Chronicle / Prince Hall -- Letter to Sir Henry Clinton / Judea Moore -- "The blessed Brother Andrew the Moor has had the following drawn up of his life" ; Ofodobendo Wooma, or "Andrew, a Member of the Mooravian Church" -- Petition to the Connecticut General Assembly / Prime and Prince -- Petition of Nine "Poor Negroes" to the Connecticut Legislature / Great Prince, Little Prince, Luke, and Others -- Memorial of Pomp a Negro Man / Pomp -- Proposals; Wheatley's Final Proposals ; Notice in the Independent Chronicle / Phillis Wheatley and John Peters -- Petition to the New Hampshire State Legislature / Nero Brewster and "Other, Natives of Africa" -- Notices in the New-Jersey Gazette / Adam -- "Petition of Several poor Negroes & Molattoes who are Inhabitants of the Town of Dartmouth" ; A Request to the Select men of the Town of Dartmouth / John Cuffe and Paul Cuffe -- Petition to the State of Connecticut / "The Poor and Oppressed Negro Servants" -- Letter to Benjamin and Phoebe Nichols / Thomas Nichols -- Murphy Stiel of the Black Pioneers / Murphy Stiel -- A Sermon, on the Present Situation of the Affairs of America and Great-Britain / "A Black Whig" -- Letter to the Freeman's Journal / Cato -- To the Honourable the Representatives of the Freemen of the State of Pennsylvania / "Negroes Who Obtained Freedom" -- A Sermon on the Capture of Lord Cornwallis / "An African American" -- Letter to Samuel Vernon III / Cudjo Vernon -- A Sermon on the Evacuation of Charlestown / "An AEthiopian" -- The Petition of Belinda an African ; The Memorial of Belinda an African / Belinda Sutton -- To the Maryland Gazette / "Vox Africanorum" -- Appeal to the General Sir Guy Carleton / Judith Jackson -- Petition for Freedom by a Black North Carolina War Veteran / Ned Griffin -- Letter to William Moody, Worshipful Master of Brotherly Love Lodge, No. 55 ; Letter to Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, Grand Master of the Moderns Grand Lodge ; Letter to James Bowdoin ; Petition by a Committee of Twelve Blacks of the African Lodge to the Massachusetts State Legislature ; Petition to the State and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay ; Petition to the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives / Prince Hall -- Narrative written by himself / Absalom Jones -- Petition to the Virginia House of Delegates / Sarah Greene -- A Narrative of the Lord's Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant, A Black ; from A Sermon Preached on the 24th Day of June 1789 ; from A Journal of the Rev. John Marrant / John Marrant -- Petition to the Rhode Island General Assembly / Jane Coggeshall -- The Life and Confession of JOHNSON GREEN / Johnson Green -- An Address to the Negroes in the State of New York ; An Essay on Slavery, with Submission to Divine Providence, Knowing that God Rules Over All Things / Jupiter Hammon -- Letter to Henry Knox / Presence Flucker -- Petition to the Virginia General Assembly / James Armistead Lafayette -- Letter to William Thornton / Anothony Taylor and the Free African Union Society of Newport -- Letter to Mrs.

Christian Barnes ; The Petition of Daphne an African / Daphney Demah -- Preamble and Articles of Association of the Free African Society / Absalom Jones and Richard Allen -- An Addrass to the Blacks in Philadelfiea 9th month 18th 1787 / Cyrus Bustill -- Memorial and Petition of the Free Negroes and Slaves in the City of New York ; Letter to the New York Daily Advertiser ; Letter to the New York Daily Advertiser / "Humanio" -- Letter to Bennett Wheeler of the United States Chronicle / "A Number of Black Inhabitants of Providence" -- Petition to the Connecticut General Assembly / "The Blacks of New Haven City" -- from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African / Olaudah Equiano -- Letter to Benjamin Rush ; Letter to Benjamin Rush ; Letter to Benjamin Rush / James Durham -- Letter to the African Union Society of Newport / Bristol Yamma and James McKenzie -- Letter to John Marrant / Margaret Blucke -- Letter to George Ellicot ; Letter to Andrew Ellicott ; Letter to Thomas Jefferson ; Letter to James Pemberton ; "Behold ye Christians! and in pity see" ; Dream ; A Mathematical Problem in Verse ; Letter to Susanna Mason ; Dream ; Dream ; Untitled Observations and Study of the Cicada / Benjamin Banneker -- To the Editor of the Gazette of the United-States ; To the Editor of the Gazette of the United-States / "Africanus" -- Letter to the African Union Society of Newport / Cyrus Bustill, William White, and Others -- A Remarkable Dream / Cynthia Cuffee -- The Sufferings of Yamboo, an African, in South-Carolina / Yamboo -- Petition to William Grenville / Thomas Peters -- Petition to the South Carolina Senate / Thomas Cole, Peter Bassnett Matthews, and Matthew Webb -- Letter and Sonnet to Benjamin Rush / "J.-B." -- To the Friends of Liberty and Religion in the City of Philadelphia / Absalom Jones and Others -- David Simpson, Hair-Dresser ; A Sable Son of Misery at Newark / David Simpson -- Letter to Dr. Charles Taylor / Stephen Blucke -- An Account of several Baptist Churches, consisting chiefly of Negro Slaves ; Recommendatory Letter of Hannah Williams, a Negro Woman, in London / George Liele -- Letter to John Clarkson ; Letter to Alexander Falconbridge / Susana Smith and Sarah Peters -- A Charge Delivered to the Brethren of the African Lodge / Prince Hall -- Petition of John Moore to th

e North Carolina Legislature / John Moore -- An Account of the Life of Mr. David George, from Sierra Leone in Africa / David George -- A Petition Against Discriminatory Poll Taxes / John Morris, William Morris, and Others -- A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People, During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the Year 1793 / Absalom Jones and Richard Allen -- The Petition of the People of Colour / Citizens of South Carolina -- Affidavit of Peter McNelly Concerning the Treatment of Himself & Wife by Sundry Persons / Peter McNelly -- Petition to the General Court of Massachusetts / Cato Hanker -- The Causes and Motives for Establishing St. Thomas's African Church of Philadelphia / Absalom Jones and Others -- Letter to James Hillhouse / Judith Cocks -- Petition to the Superior Court of Washington District, Tennessee / Margaret Lee -- The Rules of the African Society / The African Society -- Inventory of Kitchen Utensils / James Hemings -- Letter to His Excellency John Jay Esqr Governour of the State of New York / William Hamilton -- The Africans' Prayer for Freedom / Anonymous -- Memoirs of the Life of Boston King, a Black Preacher / Boston King -- from Articles of Association of the African Methodist Episcopal Church ; Untitled Memorial in Honor of White Supporters / Richard Allen -- from The American in Algiers, or the Patriot of Seventy-Six in Captivity / Anonymous -- Petition to Congress of Four North Carolina "Fugitives" / Jupiter Nicholson, Jacob Nicholson, Job Albert, and Thomas Pritchet -- To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut / Harry, Cuff, and Cato -- A Charge, Delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, 1797, at Menotomy ; Letter to William White, Grand Secretary of the Moderns Grand Lodge / Prince Hall -- North Carolina Black Woman's Petition to Emancipate Her Husband / Margaret Moore -- from The Address of Abraham Johnstone ; The Dying Words of Abraham Johnstone ; Letter to His Wife / Abraham Johnstone -- Letter to Her Husband / Patty Gipson -- A Free Man's Petition to Emancipate His Enslaved Children / Abraham Jones -- A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa / Venture Smith -- Petition of Africans to Enable Them to Return to Africa / Primus Grant and Others -- The Influence of Civil Government on Religion / Lemuel Haynes -- Petition for Confirmation of Emancipation / John Carruthers Stanly -- Petition to the North Carolina General Assembly / Lemuel Overnton -- Portrait Painting / Joshua Johnson -- Letter to the United States Congress / William Godfrey -- Eulogy for George Washington / Richard Allen -- The Petition of the People of Colour, Freemen within the City and Suburbs of Philadelphia / The People of Colour, Freemen Within the City and Suburbs of Philadelphia -- Letter to the Honourable George Thatcher, Member of Congress / James Forten -- To the Honourable Gentlemen of the School Committee of the Town of Boston / George Middleton -- Petition to the Hustings Court of Alexandria / Sylvia -- A Letter, from the Negroe Baptist Church in Savannah / Andrew Bryan.
Summary:
"For too long, African Americans have been left out of the story of the nation's founding, their voices absent from the memory and celebration of the creation of the American republic. Black Writers of the Founding Era--by far the richest and most expansive anthology of its kind ever assembled--restores these voices. The writings gathered here reveal the complexity and dynamism of African American life and culture in the period and show how the principles of the American Revolution were seized upon and enlarged by Black Americans from the very beginning. Here are writers both enslaved and free, loyalist and patriot, women and men, Northern and Southern: soldiers, seamen, and veterans; painters, poets, and preachers; cooks, hairdressers, farmers, and many more. Alongside such better known works as Phillis Wheatley's poems and Benjamin Banneker's mathematical and scientific puzzles are dozens of first-person narratives offering a variety of Black perspectives on the political events of the times. These bold and eloquent contributions to public debate about the meanings of the Revolution and the republican values that gave rise to it dramatize the many ways in which protest and activism have always been integral for Black Americans. Intimate diaries and letters, many never before published, tell more private stories, indelibly altering our understanding of the lived experience of this crucial time in our history. A foreword by Annette Gordon-Reed and an introduction by James G. Basker, along with introductory headnotes and explanatory notes drawing on recent scholarship, illuminate these indispensable works. A 16-page color photo insert presents portraits of some of the writers and images of the original manuscripts, broadsides, and books in which their words are preserved." -- Provided by publisher.
Series Title:
OCLC Number:
on1371013847
Availability:
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