The Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Age of Revolution (The Nathan I. Huggins Lectures)

248 Pages·2006·0.89 MB·English

by  Gary B. Nash

THE FORGOTTEN FIFTH
TheNathanI.HugginsLectures

T H E
F O RG OT T E N F I F T H
AfricanAmericans
intheAgeofRevolution
Gary B. Nash
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge,Massachusetts,andLondon,England
2006
Copyright©2006byGaryB.Nash
all rights reserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Nash,GaryB.
Theforgottenfifth:AfricanAmericansintheageofrevolution/
GaryB.Nash.
p. cm.
BasedontheNathanI.HugginslecturesgivenattheDuBois
Institute,HarvardUniversity,onNov.8–10,2004.
Includesbibliographicalreferences(p. )andindex.
ISBN0-674-02193-2(alk.paper)
1.UnitedStates—History—Revolution,1775–1783—African
Americans—Congresses. 2.AfricanAmericans—History—To1863—
Congresses. 3.Slavery—UnitedStates—History—18thcentury—
Congresses. 4.UnitedStates—Racerelations—History—
18thcentury—Congresses. 5.UnitedStates—Racerelations—
History—19thcentury—Congresses. I.Title.
E269.N3N362006
326.0973′09033—dc22 2005052692
CONTENTS
1 Preface vii
1 TheBlackAmericans’Revolution 1
2 CouldSlaveryHaveBeen
Abolished? 69
3 RaceandCitizenshipin
theEarlyRepublic 123
1 Notes 171
1 Index 219

PREFACE
Over the last four decades, one of my greatest
satisfactions in being an historian is to have figured
amongthoseworkingtoconstructamoredemocrat-
icallyconceivedAmericanhistory—onethatstrivesto
portray a richly diverse people in a country that has
seen one storm of strangers after another landing
on its shores. Years ago, the English historian J. H.
Plumb spoke of the need to move away from “con-
firmatory history”—a “narration of events of particu-
lar people, nations, or communities in order to jus-
tify authority, to create confidence, and to secure
stability”amongsociety’spowerholders.Mygoalin
writing history has not been to destabilize history
but rather to bring attention to those forgotten
Americans who have inarguably been part of con-
structingoursocietyandournation.
Among those people who have returned to the
stage of history through the efforts of hundreds of
historiansareAfricanAmericans.Allofuswhohave
PREFACE
joyously worked to restore black Americans to our
national narrative are indebted to W. E. B. Du Bois,
Carter Woodson, Rayford Logan, Herbert Aptheker,
PhilipFoner,BenjaminQuarles,JohnHopeFranklin,
and others who were the lonely sentinels of African
Americanhistoryinthefirsttwo-thirdsofthetwenti-
ethcentury.Thencametheexplosionofscholarlyin-
terest in what had surely been the most demeaned
andneglectedpartofAmericansociety.
ItwasaspecialdayinJuly2002whenHenryLouis
Gates Jr., W. E. B. Du Bois Professor of the Human-
itiesandDirectoroftheDuBoisInstituteforAfrican
and African American Research at Harvard Univer-
sity, invited me to give the Nathan I. Huggins Lec-
turesin2004.IhadknownandgreatlyadmiredNa-
than Huggins when he taught at the University of
California,Berkeley,beforeacceptingoneofthefirst
appointmentsintheDuBoisInstitute.Hemadema-
jorcontributionstoAmericanhistoryandwasinthe
middleofabiographyofRalphBunchewhenhisun-
timelydeathtookhimfromus.Ihopehewouldhave
liked the chapters that follow, which are extended
versionsofthelecturesIgaveattheDuBoisInstitute
onNovember8–10,2004.
InProfessorGates’sabsenceonthatoccasion,Pro-
fessor Evelyn Higginbotham extended warm hospi-
viii
PREFACE
tality, a gracious introduction, and stimulating din-
ners.Theastutecommentsandprobingquestionsof
thosewhoattendedthelectureshavecontributedto
and improved this book. I am indebted as well to
friends and colleagues who read and offered advice
on some or all of the chapters: Joyce Appleby, Bert
Nanus,DickLongaker,andJoelAberbach.JoyceSelt-
zer and Camille Smith of Harvard University Press
helpedmereshapethelecturesforpublication.Mar-
ian Olivas at the National Center for History in the
SchoolsatUCLAprovidededitorialandtechnicalas-
sistance.
ix