A Freedom Bought with Blood: African American War Literature from the Civil War to World War II

337 Pages·2007·19.084 MB·English

by  Jennifer C. James

A
FREEDOM
Bought
WITH
BLood
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African American War Literature
A
from the Civil War to World War II
by Jennifer C.James
FREEDOM
Bought
WITH
The
BLood
(cid:13)(cid:10)Universityof
North Carolina
Press
Chapel Hill
© 2007/ The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Set in Quadraat, Franklin Gothic, and Boycott types
by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence
and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for
Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
James, Jennifer C.
A freedom bought with blood : African American war literature
from the Civil War to World War II / by Jennifer C. James.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8078-3116-8 (alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8078-5807-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
i. American literature— African American authors— History and
criticism. 2. War in literature. 3. War and literature— United States.
4. African Americans— Race identity. 5. African Americans in
literature. 6. United States— History— Civil War, 1861-1865—
Literature and the war. 7. World War, 1914-1918— United States-
Literature and the war. 8. World War, 1939-1945— United States-
Literature and the war. I. Tide.
PSI53.N5J3932007
820.9'3–dc22 2007008270
Gwendolyn Brooks's "Negro Hero" and "still do I keep my look,
my identity" are reprinted by consent of Brooks Permissions.
ii 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 21
to my father, former sailor
to my brother, former soldier
to my mother, woman warrior-
and to my great-, great-, great-
grandfather,
a former slave
who fought for his freedom
and for ours
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
INTRODUCTION. Sable Hands and National Arms:
Theorizing the African American Literature of War i
1 CIVIL WAR WOUNDS: William Wells Brown, Violence,
and the Domestic Narrative 34
2 FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE: Frances Harper,
Paul Laurence Dunbar, and the Post-Civil War
Reconciliation Narrative 54
3 NOT MEN ALONE: Susie King Taylor's Reminiscences of
My Life in Camp and Masculine Self-Fashioning 103
4 IMAGINING MOBILITY:Turn-of-the-CenturyEmpire,
Technology, and Black Imperial Citizenship 125
5 INNOCENCE, COMPLICITY, CONSENT: Black Men,
White Women, and Worlds of Wars 167
6 DIASPORA AND DISSENT: World War I, Claude McKay,
and Home to Harlem 211
7 IF WE COME OUT STANDING UP: Gwendolyn Brooks,
World War II, and the Politics of Rehabilitation 232
CONCLUSION. Let This Dying Be for Something:
And Then We Heard the Thunder and the Military Neoslave
Narrative 261
Notes 279
Index 311
i'»L> Li> UI HI^T'Tl1t"A*HT'Ti«Ort INI Ii*
"The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street" 4
"Come and Join Us Brothers" 14
"Gordon under Medical Inspection" 18
"Pvt. Joe Louis Says—" 32
"The Colored Man Is No Slacker" 180
"Above and Beyond the Call of Duty" 238
"Charlie Dunston, Si/c, Amputee Case at the Naval Hospital" 250
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This would not have been possible without the enormous love and
unwavering support of my wonderful family: my parents, Aaron C. James and
Maxine Allen James, who always knew I could do this even when I did not; my
brother and sister-in-law, David Winston James and Leslie Daland-James; my
niece and nephew, Reyna Maxine James and Donovan Aaron James; and finally, my
cousins, Orien Reid Nix and Melvin J. Collier, who led me to my great-, great-,
great-grandfather, Edward Bobo Danner, of the Fifty-ninth Colored Infantry.
I would also like to thank my terrific George Washington University col-
leagues and coworkers (past and present): my mentor, James A. Miller, whose in-
tellectual insights, wit, and overall wisdom were indispensable; Robert McRuer,
whose encouragement was constant; Randi Gray Kristensen, who kept me (rela-
tively) sane; my fellow Americanists, Gayle Wald, Patty Chu, Antonio Lopez, Meta
Jones, Gustavo Guerra, Melani McAlister, Kim Moreland, Ann Romines, and
Ormond Seavey, who have made work a pleasure; my current chair, Jeffrey Cohen,
and my former chairs, Faye Moskowitz and Christopher Sten, who have created a
supportive department environment; and my former dean, William Frawley, who
gave me time when I most needed it. And certainly not least, Constance Kibler
and Karen Herbert, who both kept me laughing.
I am equally grateful to my former professors, who had faith in my work and
provided me with models of excellence: Carla L. Peterson and Robert L. Levine,
whose rigor was nearly intolerable but whose continued support is invaluable;
and Sangeeta Ray, John W Crowley, the late Thomas Yingling, and Joanne Brax-
ton. I must especially thank the late Ronald Rogerson (who I hope is smiling
wildly somewhere).
And, finally, I must acknowledge some of my dearest friends, who have helped
me in ways both big and small, and whose love I cherish (listed in order of ap-
pearance) : Andi Stepnick, Shellie Holubek, Lorin Brown, Seth Lavissiere, Levita
Mondie, Rodrigo Lazo, Linda Cameron, Stephanie Batiste, La Von Rice, and Jason
Fults.