by W. Du Bois
XI. OF THE PASSING OF THE FIRST-BORN
169 “O sister... when I forget”] From Algernon C. Swinburne’s “Itylus,” last stanza.
169 spiritual] “I Hope My Mother Will Be There.”
XII. OF ALEXANDER CRUMMELL
176 “Then from the Dawn... his wars”] Tennyson’s “Passing of Arthur,” lines 457-461.
176 spiritual] “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”
176 Alexander Crummell] Black clergyman (1819-1898) whose early efforts to become a minister were thwarted. He was accepted as a candidate for Holy Orders in 1839, but denied admission to the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal church because of his color. Eventually he was received in the diocese of Massachusetts, then studied in Queen’s College, Cambridge, England, and became a missionary in Africa (where he was rector of his own parish and professor of psychological science in Liberia). Later in his life he returned to the U.S., where he became rector of St. Luke’s Church, Washington, D.C., and founded the American Negro Academy in Washington, D.C., in 1897.
177 Missouri Compromise] A measure officially approved by Congress on March 3, 1820, to admit Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state and to exclude slavery from the Louisiana Purchase north of the parallel thirty-six, thirty. This measure was nullified by the Dred Scott Decision of 1857.
177 “amid the echoes of Manila and El Caney”] This refers to battles of the Spanish-American War (1898) in the Philippines and in Cuba.
178 Oneida County] Home to the Oneida Institute, a manual arts school in Whitesboro, New York, attended by Alexander Crummell in 1836.
182 Fox’s “Lives of the Martyrs”] Actes and Monuments, popularly known as the Book of Martyrs, by the mar tyrologist John Foxe (1516-1587), which recounts the history of the Christian church, with special emphasis on the martyrs.
182 “The Whole Duty of Man”] Published in 1658, this devotional work is an analysis of man’s duties to God and to his fellowman; authorship is unknown, but most likely it was someone well versed in theology.
183 “... bear the whips... of the unworthy takes”] Hamlet, III, i, 70-74.
183 “Wilberforce and Stanley, Thirwell and Ingles, and even Froude and Macaulay; Sir Benjamin Brodie bade him...”] These prominent Englishmen, whether they were intellectuals, authors, or religious leaders, were sympathetic to Crummell’s plight and welcomed him to England.
183 Wilberforce] Crummell’s contemporary, Samuel Wilberforce (1805-1873), an Anglican prelate and bishop of Oxford (1845) and of Winchester (1869). Wilberforce won the support of the Tracterians, but later diverged from the Tractarian movement. He was the author of the History of the Protestant Episcopal Church inAmerica (1844). His father, William Wilberforce (1759- 1833), was the more famous of the two—he was an English philanthropist and abolitionist (see note for page 83). William Wilberforce, with the support of others, put a stop to the slave trade in England (1807), and in 1823, helped establish the Antislavery Society, which called for the extinction of all slavery.
183 Stanley] Presumably Arthur Penrhyn (1815-1881). English author and clergyman; he was installed as dean of Westminster in 1864. He is known for his many volumes of ecclesiastical history and for his leniency towards the Tractarians and other noncomformists within the church.
183 Thirwell] Presumably Connop Thirlwall (1797-1875), an eminent English historian and prelate; he received his M.A. in Cambridge in 1821 and was made bishop of St. David’s in 1840; he worked on histories of Rome and Greece.
183 Ingles] Presumably John Inglis, born to the Anglican Bishop of Nova Scotia, Charles Inglis (a missionary and the first colonial bishop outside the British Isles). John Inglis was elected to the Council of Clergymen in 1825, became the third bishop of Nova Scotia, and died in London in 1850.
183 Froude] Presumably James Anthony Froude (1818-1894), English historian and biographer; religion was a dominating factor in both his life and work; his monumental twelve-volume History of England from, the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada was controversial because he viewed the English Reformation from a subjective Protestant perspective.
183 Macaulay] Thomas Babington (1800-1859), English statesman and author, son of Zachary Macaulay (1768- 1838), known for his antislavery agitation and his part in establishing the Anti-Slavery Society (1823). Thomas Macaulay wrote literary essays as well as histories, the greatest of the latter being the five-volume The History of England from the Accession of James the Second (somewhat biased because of his Whig and Protestant leanings). Macaulay was also politically active: as a Whig orator and member of Parliament, he fought in 1830-1832 for equal rights for Jews, and as a member of the Supreme Council of India (1834-38), he attempted to reform colonial policy; back at home, he held various positions in Parliament from 1839-1857.
183 Brodie] Presumably Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie (1783- 1862), a famous English physiologist and surgeon who opposed homeopathy. In 1810 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; his son (1817-1880) of the same name was a chemist.
XIII. OF THE COMING OF JOHN
186 “What bring they ‘neath the midnight... The river floweth one”] Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “A Romance of the Ganges,” stanza 2, lines 10-18.
186 spiritual] “You May Bury Me in the East.”
192 “the music of Lohengrin’s swan”] In Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin, the knight Lohengrin travels on a river in a boat drawn by a white swan to defend the Duchess Elsa, falsely accused of murdering her brother, Godfrey. In the end, the swan is transformed into her brother, who had been enchanted by the sorceress Ortrud.
194 manifest destiny] A nineteenth-century U.S. idea that the country’s destiny is to control and dominate the Western Hemisphere.
202 “Freudig geführt, ziehet dahin”] From Richard Wagner’s “Brautlied,” or “Wedding Song” in Lohengrin, III, i; Du Bois changed “treulich geführt,” or led faithfully, to “freudig geführt” (led happily); the line in its entirety is “Treulich geführt, ziehet dahin/Wo euch der Segen der Liebe bewahr,” or “Led faithfully, move on/ To where the blessings of love may keep and protect you.”
XIV. THE SORROW SONGS
204 “I walk through the churchyard ...”] From the spiritual “Lay This Body Down.”
204 spiritual] “Wrestlin’ Jacob.”
204 Jubilee Hall] A building at Fisk University built with funds raised by the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
205 Port Royal experiment] See note for page 15.
205 Hilton Head] See note for page 15.
205 Thomas Wentworth Higginson] Higginson (1823-1911), the white commander of a regiment of black troops in the Civil War, wrote of his experience in Army Life in a Black Regiment (1870). This included the first serious study of spirituals and black folk music.
205 Miss McKim] Daughter of James M. McKim (see note for page 15), Lucy McKim Garrison (1842-1877) collected slave songs in the Sea Islands off South Carolina during the Civil War and helped edit Slave Songs in the United States (1867).
205 Fisk Jubilee Singers] In October 1871 a small group of teachers and students, recently emancipated from slavery, formed a musical group to keep Fisk University from bankruptcy; this band of musicians called themselves the “Fisk Jubilee Singers” and made tours of the Midwest and the East and even went to Europe in 1873. Their efforts made Fisk University famous and the fund-raising kept the university financially alive; in the process they popularized the spiritual and made the world aware of blacks’ contribution to music.
206 Chancellorsville] A locality in Virginia; battle of, May 2-3, 1861, in which the Union army was defeated.
206 Gettysburg] A town in southern Pennsylvania; battle of, July 1-3, 1863. After victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, Lee’s Confederate troops were in high spirits. The unplanned battle at Gettysburg came as an unwelcome surprise to the Confederacy, which sustained heavy losses (even greater than those of the Union troops) during the three-day battle; Lee was forced to retreat. Not only i
s Gettysburg the scene of a major Union victory; it is also the site of Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863, at a national cemetery dedication ceremony.
206 George L. White] Treasurer of the early Fisk University, he loved the spiritual, and realized that his floundering institution could be saved by concerts given by talented student singers; his efforts led to the organization of the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
206 Oberlin] A college in Ohio that opened its doors to blacks from the day of its establishment in 1833.
206 Henry Ward Beecher] Beecher (1813-1887) was one of the most prominent and influential American clergymen during the nineteenth century, as well as an advocate of abolition and woman’s suffrage. The brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, he was the pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, New York, for nearly forty years, where he was an eloquent speaker and commentator on current issues and social reform.
208 “You may bury... in that morning”] The spiritual “You May Bury Me in the East.”
210 “My Lord calls ... in my soul”] “Steal Away.”
210 “Dere’s no rain... to go home”] “There’s No Rain to Wet You.”
211 “Oh Lord, keep me...”] “Keep Me from Sinking Down.”
211 “My soul wants...”] “My soul wants something that’s new.”
211 “Yonder’s my old mudder...”] “O‘er the Crossing.”
212 “Poor Rosy, poor girl”] “Poor Rosy.”
212 “Jetz Geh i’ an’s brunele, trink’ aber net”] German folk song, translation: “Now I’m going to the well, but I’m not going to drink from it.”
212 “Dust, dust and ashes”] “Dust and Ashes.”
212 “There’s a little wheel...”] “There’s a little wheel a-turnin.”
213 Thomas Wentworth Higginson] See note for page 205.
213 “Oh, the stars in the elements are falling”] Variation of “My Lord, What a Morning” (also spelled “Mourning” in some versions; the latter spelling is Du Bois’s preference).
213 “Michael, haul the boat ashore”] “Michael, Row me Boat Ashore.”
215 “Let us cheer the weary traveller ...”] This spiritual bears the same title.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Introduction
Acknowledgements
Dedication
I - OF OUR SPIRITUAL STRIVINGS
II - OF THE DAWN OF FREEDOM
III - OF MR. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND OTHERS
IV - OF THE MEANING OF PROGRESS
V - OF THE WINGS OF ATALANTA
VI - OF THE TRAINING OF BLACK MEN
VII - OF THE BLACK BELT
VIII - OF THE QUEST OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE
IX - OF THE SONS OF MASTER AND MAN
X - OF THE FAITH OF THE FATHERS
XI - OF THE PASSING OF THE FIRST-BORN
XII - OF ALEXANDER CRUMMELL
XIII - OF THE COMING OF JOHN
XIV - THE SORROW SONGS
THE AFTERTHOUGHT
NOTES
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