Early American Literature: A Look Through a Marginalized Lens

Introduction

Purpose:

When learning about Early American Literature, most anthologies focus on the works of white, European men whose canonized voices have perpetuated myopic ideologies of colonial America. These narrow perspectives overshadow the views of other writers and storytellers in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries whose experiences generally exist in the peripheries of school curricula and the dominant societal conscience. This anthology has been composed with the objective of amplifying the voices which have been marginalized over the course of American history.

Rationale for Works Chosen:

Naturally, the creation of an anthology with such an objective in mind would entail the inclusion of Native American authors. While we have included what may be the earliest published story of Native mythology, the other works were selected using different criteria. These other works by Native authors are all directed—implicitly and explicitly—against the ideologies motivated by colonialist expansion, ideas akin to the labeling of indigenous peoples as “savages” and other constructs that relegate Native peoples to the sociopolitical periphery. One of the means through which many of these works ideologically counter colonialism is their exemplification of colonial mimicry, the concept suggesting that the optimal resistance to colonialism involves the willful effort on the part of the colonized to resemble the colonizer. Whether it be through the authors’ conversion to Christianity or the implementation of “civilized” methods of expression and communication, such as theatre or journalism, these works are all united in their amplification of a historically and culturally marginalized indigenous people.

Slavery is deeply rooted into American history, and has raised debates since before the 1600s. Slavery and slaves were regarded differently by different individuals and different groups of people. Though slavery was popular among European plantation owners that settled in the Americas, not everybody agreed with the dehumanization of the African people. However, not many people were clearly opposed to slavery either. The works included in our anthology serve to show the range of views people possessed towards slavery and slaves. We have included a variety of authors to show the different perspectives that pervaded the culture. We have included some poetry and fictional works that express the complicated, diverse views between ex-slaves, who gained freedom and education from sentimental owners; African and European women, who represent a view to and by different marginalized groups; and European men, who were sentimental towards the slave’s humanity and desire for freedom. These works represent how people perceived slavery, and how they turned to literature to express their thoughts, feelings, and inner conflicts on a heavily controversial topic.

An important form of literature that captures the perspective towards slavery and slaves were slave narratives. Most often, the writers of these slave narratives would be British writers trying to elicit sympathy from their audience to view these slaves as humans and not beasts or savages. This collection includes multiple British authors opposing the inhumane treatment of slaves within the West Indies, such as William Earle’s Obi; or, The History of Three-Fingered Jack, R.C. Dallas’ The History of the Maroons, and John Gabriel Stedman’s Narrative of a Five Years Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes in Surinam. These novels detail the horrible mistreatment of slaves in the West Indies in order to demonstrate to their British audiences the exploitation of slaves to obtain highly valued raw materials like sugar. However, the degree of which these authors viewed slavery was different. Earle and Dallas both highly critique the slave system and one can argue that they wrote their novels in hopes of abolishing slavery. Meanwhile, Stedman wrote his novel not to abolish slavery, but to modify the slave system so that their treatment would be much more humane. Furthermore, this collection includes a novel written by a former slave who managed to achieve his own freedom and education. It was quite rare at the time for slaves to even obtain their freedom and Olaudah Equaino’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equaino provides valuable insight into the mistreatment of slaves as he dedicates two volumes documenting his life beginning from his kidnapping in Africa to his eventual freedom in Britain.

Women writers also offer a new perspective, disrupting the typically white, male voices proliferating the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Women’s works, like that of Judith Sargent Murray, provide insight into the patriarchal society which reigned over their lives. Murray’s essay “On the Equality of the Sexes” displays her ability to subvert the societal structures which deem her work inferior to that of her male counterparts. Like Murray, Harriet Jacob’s piece, The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published under the pseudonym Linda Brent, introduces an intersectional female perspective on slavery and misogyny. However, her work still operates within the confines of a white, male hegemonic system. Thus, evidence of her insecurity, whether believed or included in order to appeal to audiences, provides a glimpse into the world of an emancipated black woman in the 19th century. The intentional inclusion of women’s work within this anthology broadens the historically favored and often canonized white, male perspective.

Though our anthology mainly consists of texts by marginalized authors, we have also included influential texts by well known white men. To truly understand early America and the oppression minority groups faced, it is essential to have an understanding of the dominant perspectives at the time. Through directly comparing these works to marginalized texts, we bring to light how the inaccurate stereotypes created to portray women, Natives, and Africans ultimately increased white male power. Specifically, our anthology includes a captivity narrative that spreads fear of Native violence, and the works of Puritans which explain the dedication to their faith and interactions with Natives and the Devil. Each work draws attention to the spread of stereotypes that justify the fear and the segregation that followed. We hope that by including voices that spread negative views of marginalized groups, the reader will gain a well-rounded understanding of the context of each group’s situation throughout early America.

Anthology Organization:

To guide readers through our anthology, we have organized the chosen texts by thematic category. To best support our goal of showcasing the perspectives of marginalized communities, we have separated our anthology into the categories that best represent a range of marginalized groups and the opinions of those they opposed. We have included literature from the perspective of Natives, slaves, females, and Europeans. We believe that these categories will help the reader navigate through early America and understand that there are a variety of perspectives represented throughout the anthology.

Within each category, the works listed are organized by publication date. This choice was made to assist the reader in understanding each literary work through a timeline. Additionally, we chose to begin our anthology in an undefined time period, beginning with a Native creation story to demonstrate that early American literature existed far before explorers discovered the land. Following the creation story, our anthology includes sources that range from 1620, with the arrival of the Mayflower in Cape Cod, to 1861, the beginning of the Civil War. The war itself marks the culmination of the intense ideological conflict, illustrated in this anthology, that eventually would erupt into one of the most transformative events in American history.

Table of Contents:

Natives -- Turquoise

1827 (Undefined) The Iroquois Creation Story: A Tale of the Foundation of the Great Island, Now North America;—the Two Infants Born, and the Creation of the Universe Oneida Reservation
1766 Robert Rogers - “Ponteach, or the Savages of America: A Tragedy”

1772 Samson Occom - “A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, An Indian”
1826 Elias Boudinot - “An Address to the Whites”
1829 William Apess - A Son of the Forest
1833 William Apess - “A Looking Glass for White Men”

Slavery -- Navy Blue

1688 Aphra Behn - Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave
1744 Edward Kimber - “Fidenia* or, the Explanation”
1760 Bryan Edwards - “Stanzas, Occasioned by the Death of Alico, An African Slave, Condemned for Rebellion, in Jamaica”
1778 Jupiter Hammon - “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”
1789 Olaudah Equiano - The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
1790 John Gabriel Stedman - Narrative of a five years expedition against the revolted negroes of Surinam
1800 William Earle - Obi; or, the History of Three-Fingered Jack
1803 R.C. Dallas - The history of the Maroons, from their origin to the establishment of their chief tribe at Sierra Leone : including the expedition to Cuba for the purpose of procuring Spanish chasseurs and the state of the island of Jamaica for the last ten years with a succinct history of the island previous to that period

Gender -- Crimson

1650 Anne Bradstreet - “The Flesh and the Spirit”
1790 Judith Sargent Murray- “On the Equality of the Sexes”
1860 Linda Brent (Harriet Jacobs)-- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

European -- Yellow

1620 William Bradford - “Of Plymouth Plantation”
1693 Cotton Mather - “Wonders of the Invisible World”
1707 John Williams - “The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion”