“In defense of our humanity: African-Americans perspectives on history and Black experience in the 19th Century Atlantic World”. Conference of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) Charleston-SC, November 2015. (original) (raw)

Abstract

In Defense of Our Humanity: African-American’s Perspectives on History and Black Experience in the Nineteenth Century Atlantic World. Between the years of 1840 and 1860, African-American abolitionists faced an era marked by a systematic defense of slavery, strong anti-black hostility in the North as well as a scientific movement that justified slavery through theories which contested African humanity and the intellectual capacities of the so called “ Ethiopian race”. The scientific thesis of “African inferiority” was used to justify segregation policies, defend slavery and refuse the citizenship of freed blacks even after the abolition movement. In response to these ideas, African-Americans created their own narratives about the origin of African race and their contributions to the civilization. Along with this struggle to be recognized as part of the human family, African Americans also developed their own methods of self-affirmation by interpreting the experiences of black people in other parts of the Atlantic world. The autonomy of free blacks and their rights in other societies, under slavery or after abolition, were viewed by the white American elites as examples of degradation. Conversely, this same information helped to create a positive scenario that inspired black people in United States during their struggle for freedom and rights. This paper will debate how African-American abolitionists interpreted experiences of freed and enslaved people in the “ Black Atlantic” emphasizing their intellectual abilities, humanity and self-government. Specifically, using a transnational approach, I will debate how they appropriated the experiences of Afro-Brazilians and framed an alternative version of the history of African and people if African-descent in the Diaspora.

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