Dark Victorians

177 Pages·2008·1.045 MB·English

by  Vanessa D. Dickerson

Dark Victorians
Vanessa D. Dickerson
Dark Victorians

Dark Victorians
vanessa d. dickerson
University of Illinois Press
urbana and chicago
© 2008 by Vanessa D. Dickerson
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
c 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dickerson, Vanessa D.
Dark Victorians / Vanessa D. Dickerson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13 978-0-252-03256-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10 0-252-03256-x (cloth : alk. paper)
1. African Americans—Relations with British—History.
2. African Americans—Great Britain—History—19th century.
3. African Americans—Intellectual life—19th century.
4. African Americans—Attitudes—History—19th century.
5. British—Attitudes—History—History—19th century.
6. Great Britain—Intellectual life—19th century.
7. Transnationalism.
8. Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868–1963—
Political and social views.
9. Carlyle, Thomas, 1795–1881—Political and social views.
I. Title.
e185.61.d53 2008
305.800941—dc22 2007030319
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: Crossing the Big Water between
White Victorians and Black Americans 1
1. On Coming to America: The British Subject and
the African American Slave 13
2. Hail Britannia: African Americans Abroad in
Victorian England 44
3. Thomas Carlyle: Case Study of a Dark Victorian 74
4. W. E. B. Du Bois and the Victorian Soul of Black Folk 95
Conclusion: Reconsidering Victorian Britain and
African America 127
Notes 137
Works Cited 143
Index 155

Acknowledgments
I wish here to acknowledge the investment others have made in this work
and in me. This book would not have been possible without the instruction of
U. C. Knoepflmacher who trained me as a Victorianist. The book was arguably
under way as soon as I stepped into his classroom at Princeton. I would also
like to recognize historian Ken Goings who, early on, saw the value of my
work on black Victorians and encouraged me to persist in the exploration of
my ideas. I owe thanks to the many librarians who assisted me along the way.
These include the librarians at Rhodes College, the University of Memphis,
DePauw University, the New York Public Library, the Schomburg, Howard
University, the Library of Congress, and the British Library. I also wish to
thank Irene Ferguson, assistant archivist at the University of Edinburgh. A
grant by the Faculty Development Committee at DePauw University and
the generosity of Neal Abraham, the vice president of Academic Affairs at
DePauw, enabled me to complete this work. I am grateful, too, for the profes-
sionalism and assistance of acquisition editor Joan Catapano and her editorial
staff. Finally, I wish to extend a special thanks to Yanna and, now here at the
end of this process, to Darrel, for loving me and keeping me sane.

Dark Victorians