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The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States
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162 pages, Paperback
Published December 2, 2011
About the author
Martin R. Delany
17 books22 followersMartin Robinson Delany was an African-American abolitionist, journalist, physician, soldier, writer and proponent of black nationalism. Delany was born in Charles Town, Virginia and raised and in Chambersburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In 1850, Delany was among the first three black students admitted to Harvard Medical School, from which they were dismissed weeks after their admission due to student protests. Delany traveled throughout the South in 1839 to observe slavery there, and in 1847 started working with Frederick Douglass to publish North Star, an anti-slavery newspaper.
At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Delany returned to the United States after living in Canada and visiting Liberia. By 1863, Delany was recruiting blacks for the United States Colored Troops. In 1865, Delany became the first African-American field grade officer in the United States Army, having been commissioned as a major. After the American Civil War, Delany settled in South Carolina and pursued a political career before his death in 1885 as a member of both the Republican and Democratic parties.
In 1850, Delany was among the first three black students admitted to Harvard Medical School, from which they were dismissed weeks after their admission due to student protests. Delany traveled throughout the South in 1839 to observe slavery there, and in 1847 started working with Frederick Douglass to publish North Star, an anti-slavery newspaper.
At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Delany returned to the United States after living in Canada and visiting Liberia. By 1863, Delany was recruiting blacks for the United States Colored Troops. In 1865, Delany became the first African-American field grade officer in the United States Army, having been commissioned as a major. After the American Civil War, Delany settled in South Carolina and pursued a political career before his death in 1885 as a member of both the Republican and Democratic parties.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 15, 2024
Really almost 3.5 stars, but I don’t feel comfortable rounding up.
A fascinating and important historical perspective of the way forward for African-Americans by an African-American author in the 1850s. His condemnation of the Liberian experiment is fierce and prescient, while his arguments on the struggle for equality without falling within white stewardship resonate. His solution of emigration to Nicaragua or “New Granada” is an intriguing and unusual proposal, which ultimately would have been a bad idea for anyone following the well-reasoned advice (in the case of New Granada, political instability and civil warfare that led portions to secede; in Nicaragua the violence surrounding the fall of Walker would have made the time period unsettled, at least until 1857).
So why not a higher rating? Martin Robison Delany is no Frederick Douglas here… the nineteenth century stylings of dense wordplay is a challenge to work through. The middle section is a sampling of the African-American talent fields in the 1850s, plus a prior past generation, and would have been extremely important to refute arguments of racial inferiority at the time. However, the descriptions of successful pre-Civil War African-Americans read like a randomized Who’s Who, which kills the flow of the book.
A fascinating and important historical perspective of the way forward for African-Americans by an African-American author in the 1850s. His condemnation of the Liberian experiment is fierce and prescient, while his arguments on the struggle for equality without falling within white stewardship resonate. His solution of emigration to Nicaragua or “New Granada” is an intriguing and unusual proposal, which ultimately would have been a bad idea for anyone following the well-reasoned advice (in the case of New Granada, political instability and civil warfare that led portions to secede; in Nicaragua the violence surrounding the fall of Walker would have made the time period unsettled, at least until 1857).
So why not a higher rating? Martin Robison Delany is no Frederick Douglas here… the nineteenth century stylings of dense wordplay is a challenge to work through. The middle section is a sampling of the African-American talent fields in the 1850s, plus a prior past generation, and would have been extremely important to refute arguments of racial inferiority at the time. However, the descriptions of successful pre-Civil War African-Americans read like a randomized Who’s Who, which kills the flow of the book.
October 24, 2019
Early treatise on black economic nationalism,great classic.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews