The Garies and Their Friends

by Frank J. Webb

Preface by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical Fiction, Race, Read For School, African American Literature, 19th Century

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1857

About the author

c1828-c1894

Reviews

[Andre(Read-A-Lot) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first thing that strikes me is the year of publication. 1857. To have dealt with racism in the North, in the manner that Frank Webb does is startling. This is not a book about slavery. It is a novel centered in Philadelphia, PA in the 1850's. Frank Webb gives us a look at what life would have been like for free Blacks in the North. The Garies consist of a white man, his slave "wife" and their two children. They live openly as a couple in Georgia and apparently this is accepted and ok in 1857 GA. Hmmm? The wife desperately wants to escape the South and so they move to Philadelphia and experience all kinds of racist horror and discrimination.

At times Mr. Webb seems to embrace white middle class values and culture, as the key to success for African-Americans and it feels like he is pursuing the thought of "if Blacks acted more like whites, they wouldn't have any problems." But there are other times that it is clear that one must be comfortable in their own skin and maintain a moral and ethical firmness. He uses various characters to let this all play out, especially the children since they can "pass" for white. As they grow up and have to make choices, the decisions are quite heart rendering and makes for a good novel.

I think Mr. Webb walks a tightrope here, between acquiescing to racism and opposing the bigotry and discrimination of the day by displaying pride and comfort in one's own heritage. The fallout from this novel must have been hellish in 1857. By the end of the novel I believe most readers would see that balance was achieved, though it was not an easy task.

I think this novel should be read and added to must reading lists for schools. It the second published novel by an African-American in this country. Will definitely provide some insight to what a free Black man was thinking in the North before emancipation.

[Jessica C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for school-enjoyed it enough, but found it difficult to focus on!

[Avery Romriell]

interesting portrayals of tragic mulatto figures AND comedy??? frank you spoil me

[Mostly on Storygraph · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book published by an African American, as well as being overall a very well-written, poignant and entertaining 19th century novel. The writing style reminds me of Charles W. Chesnutt's The House Behind the Cedars except written nearly 50 years earlier. It is somewhat lacking Chesnutt's poetry, but not the gift of a good story, which are present in both.

Webb's implied viewpoints on abolitionists, passing, and racism in the North versus racism in the South are very interesting (and differ from Chesnutt's, thus making a good companion read). I couldn't get a hold of this edition but I've been told the Toby Press edition of this novel (paired with some of other Webb's writings), Fiction, Essays & Poetry, is the one to get if this book is of historical, literary, or of general scholarly interest to you. With my version, I skipped the introduction (strongly advised as I saw later it contained spoilers) and jumped right in, which was fine since it is plainly (and skillfully) written.

[Don Harton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. Terribly sad. Very insightful.

I read the Johns Hopkins University Press edition published in 1997 with introductory material by Harriet Beecher Stowe (from the 1857 edition) and by Robert Reid-Pharr. Reid-Pharr’s comments help to place the book in time. Stowe’s comments show the awareness of Welch’s peers.

This book can be read on lots of levels: as a period piece showing the customs and manners and even the food of the time. On page 64, Mrs Ellis says “How provoking it is to think, that because persons are coloured they are not permitted to ride in the omnibuses or other public conveyances.” Not neglecting the issue of mis-treatment, I am also curious at the idea of a city ‘omnibus’ in the middle of the 19th century! I wonder how it worked? Were there timetables? Omnibus stops?

You can certainly read this for its observations of black lives in the ‘free states’. Welch depicts a rich culture, with very little racial interaction. In fact with a few exceptions, there is little opportunity, there is some tolerance, there is much cruelty, and there is great injustice. Many of the soldiers fighting in the Union Army in just a few years would have been drawn from this intolerant white culture. What were they fighting for? Did they just hate everyone?

You could read this for the dialects employed, to see the ways language had and had not been assimilated. Welch uses various idioms to characterize different ethnic and class speakers.

Or you could read this to see the wonderful words and sentences used by 19th century novelists. Welch is no exception. Reminds me of Jane Eyre in some ways.

[Justinian · Rating 5 out of 5]

2019-05 – The Garies and Their Friends. Frank J. Webb (Author) 1857. 320 Pages.



Another book in the Rosenbach’s Philadelphia Gothic series … this book is a stunner. As relevant in many respects today as it was in its own time. In a country that prefers Black and White this book is all shades of gray. This book was not as popular as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” … this book was a contemporary of that book but it is not simplistic and it does not demonize the other. At the time for a white reader outside of the south this would have been a very uncomfortable book. In 2019 for many people this will still be an uncomfortable book. The themes this book explores through fiction are Blacks passing as whites, white privilege, white racism in the north, being a free black in the north in the 1850’s. Intermingled stories of light skinned, dark skinned in the same family, whites who talk one way and act another. This book is fabulous … The writing is first rate. Just … read the book … you can get it free in the public domain.

[Summer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mixed race category on Project Gutenberg is composed of beautiful, sensitive works by black authors, and absolutely horrible shit by white authors. This is, thankfully, the former - it follows the lives of a couple of families in the free North, and their individual struggles for respect and power and community while dealing with both malicious racists and the brutal reality that even sympathetic white people can be crushed into participating in racist systems. I'm underselling it - it's a great book with a wide emotional range, a lot of the characters feel drawn from life, and though I'm not usually into multi-generation stories I really connected with this one. If you love historical novels and want one with genuinely high stakes, strong bonds of love and loyalty, and a certain amount of happy endings, give this a shot.

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my best friends absolutely loves this book and now so do I. This is such a different and necessary perspective on antebellum America in the "free" north, and its biting and unapologetically tragic scenes made it difficult to read at times but not at all less worth it. If you give these characters the attention they deserve, you will miss them dearly after you finish the last page. This is a story that both breaks up myths and gives you the smallest bit of hope.

[spoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant. The novel everyone thinks Uncle Tom's Cabin is. The juxtapositions (esp at ch breaks) are insanely good. An amazing long novel. Got a little bored the first half, but the second half made the first half better and worth it.

3 stars b/c it's a solid I would read again in an academic context and love to talk about it in, but not something I would pick up to read again on my time I don't think.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a contender for one of the earliest novels by a Black American writer that is not a contender for the first novel, The Garies and Their Friends can easily be overlooked, yet here is a powerful exploration of multiracial struggle and love that may not 100% hold up to critical scrutiny due to the role enslavement plays in the central family environment, but, nonetheless, feels distinct in the greater African American literary landscape.

[delanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think for a book of this time period and the subject matter it covered, it was quite enjoyable. I liked the characters and I liked the way there were more challenging ideas of race and gender that were explored. I’m glad that Webb makes sure to remind readers that class differences have a huge impact on race relations and gives a fun tale to follow.

[nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for 19th century Af Am lit, and it was goooood. Genuinely got lost in some of the paragraphs, the story line was incredibly interesting. Jumping from a text like Clotel or the Heroic Slave to a text like this is very heartwarming as we see more character relationships and depth in those relationships.

[Thomas]

Rich characters and story arcs make this worth the read.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Melodramatic, often over-detailed, and slow to build, but worth it for the well-written and breakneck-paced depiction of the Philadelphia race riots roughly halfway through.

[Reagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 but had to read this for a college class and just got so bogged down by it by chapter 30. Couldn't bring myself to do anything more than skim the last few chapters.

[Kirsten Jolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful and entertaining once you get all the characters straight.

[Brooke Pelkey · Rating 5 out of 5]

easily the best book i've read for school

[Briana Bindus · Rating 3 out of 5]

a book with a huge cast that can be hard to follow at times, but gives a good perspective on 19th century Blackness in different parts of America

[Jessica (JT) Thelen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Changing my rating to 5 stars because this book is brilliant.

[ػᶈᶏϾӗ]

This book stands out as the first (and only?) novel primarily focused on free Black folks in the Northern U.S. The intro makes it sound like this book isn't concerned about slavery, and I guess if you compare it to like the narratives or Uncle Tom's Cabin, this book might seem a little like it's light on anti-slavery arguments. But I think that's not entirely so, because in reading this you see how pervasive white supremacy and racism were in the period. For example, Black characters who agonize over their life being different "if only" they had been born white. And not to mention that the book opens with the highly unusual circumstance of a white plantation owner moving North because he's in love with his slave and wants to have a real, free family with her. I mean ... that's the kind of weird emotional/power relation that only complex human beings can actually have.

The best part of this book was definitely the middle, where a nefarious man arranges a race riot against the mixed-race family. It was interesting to see an act of orchestration stirring up racial violence. Usually such an act is portrayed as spontaneous or in retaliation to some perceived slight, but, like the Salem witch trials, some rich asshole often benefited materially (or politically) from this violence as well.

The end of the book dragged, mostly because of sentimental romance plots, though there was good stuff in there, too. I was surprised at the moment a young Black man actually looks like he's going to get a job as an office apprentice, only to find the whole office turns against him and the hiring manager and basically threaten to walk off the job. Certainly, the "working class" isn't *inherently* progressive or anti-racist or anything like that, and that's important to keep in mind when doing this kind of work.

Also, we should always take a moment to remember that the Abolitionists were a tiny group of people with influence far, far beyond their numbers - so much so that, in a book like this, the word most often gets flung around as an insult. White supremacy and its adherents are so durn sensitive!

[kghgte · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting account of pre-Civil War race relations that focuses on the lives of free black people in the North. Important to note it’s the second novel by an African American to be published.
It’s heartbreaking and you do become quite connected to the characters. Although the writing style is pretty different to novels today (ex the author will directly address the reader at some points).

[Anne Harm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book! Hard to read at times -- but important to push through and acknowledge, consider the larger patterns. Originally published in 1857 (the second novel by an African-American), it is at times pleasant, sad, almost unbelievable, hard, and beautiful.

[William Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

As amazing as I remembered, first encountered in grad school, re-read and taught in my own American lit college courses. A serious, engaging novel about race, racism, injustice—a stellar, compulsively readable, socially and politically savvy wonder of a novel—sadly, barely remembered today. One possible factor: unlike UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, this book doesn’t flatter white readers even as it takes them to task. Webb is justifiably scathing. The tragedy of the piece—and it gets painfully dark—is somewhat leavened by a light Dickensian touch and approach to character. Webb draws on period devices of melodrama without drenching sentimentalism. The novel is also priceless for its portrait of free black middle class (and wealthy) life in pre-Civil War Philadelphia. The 2nd novel (I think) published by a black author in the US (slave narratives, nonfiction, was the accepted genre for black voices then, when in print). The riot sequence is gripping and shocking. Reading this again in MAGA-contaminated America, it seems like, with some exception, whitefolks don’t change

A tragically forgotten gem.

[Kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book a few weeks ago but it has really stuck with me, lingering in my thoughts. The second book ever published by an African-American writer, the Garies intimately acquaints you with two free Black families (one of which is interracial) living in Philadelphia in the 1850s and the triumphs and tribulations that they face in their positions. It is compelling and honest and the reader quickly feels personally invested in the family members and their friends almost as much as we hate those who try to harm them. Each character has a unique voice and Webb has an especially remarkable talent for writing growing children who the reader quickly becomes attached to. This book presents valuable insight from a unique perspective of antebellum events and people who are not so commonly written about, particularly at the time of its publication, and it’s a thrilling and emotionally complex read.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

In one of the first novels to be published by an African American, Webb's plot focuses on the lives of free blacks living in the North. More essentially, the characters are middle class free blacks, struggling against the racism that tragically limits and endangers their American middle class values. Filled with humor and emotion, this novel is a delightful read, as well as a compelling historical social commentary. The novel pointedly deals with conflict between African Americans, Irish immigrants, and "whites," as well as miscegenation and racial "passing."

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Major Field Exam: 5/133
We are at it again!
This text, a most interesting counterpart to the other antebellum texts I have thus read, describes the conditions of black individuals and families living in the North. The racism and discrimination are described as equal or beyond that in the South, although expressed in different ways. The domestic setting and concern over familial affairs of the middle-to-upper classes, including the securing of several marriages, warrants a close comparison with Victorian novels of the time period.

[Rachel Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Garies and Their Friends is the first—and only— published novel by Frank J. Webb. My African-American Literature class had this novel as a required text. The only thing I can say is: WOW!! It is amazing how the issues Webb writes about (originally published in 1857, no less) still have weight in contemporary society. Discourses about race and color, relationships, it was incredibly interesting and I was left filled to the brim with emotion and longing for more. read !! this !! book!!

[Laurie Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Garies and Their Friends" is a heartbreaking and tragic novel. It offers readers a devastating look into the lives of African American families and the obstacles and prejudices they faced in America. It's a must read for those interested in African American history.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for 19th Cent. American Lit. Interesting to see how racial prejudice in America is discussed outside of the slave narratives--outright violence, discrimination (deliberate and as a result of economic factors), education, passing, miscegenation.

[Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a bad book in a lot of ways, but it is entertaining, and the funny parts are as funny as anything Mark Twain wrote. It's also a perspective on antebellum America that I've never encountered before.