Hartford’s Ann Plato and the Native Borders of Identity

314 Pages·2015·2.73 MB·English

by  Ron Welburn

Hartford’s Ann Plato
and the Native Borders of Identity

Hartford’s
Ânn Plato
and the Native
Borders of Identity
RON WELBURN
SUNY
P R E S S
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2015 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic
tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission
in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production and book design, Laurie D. Searl
Marketing, Kate R. Seburyamo
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Welburn, Ron, 1944–
Hartford’s Ann Plato and the native borders of identity / Ron Welburn.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5577-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-5578-5 (ebook)
1. Plato, Ann—Criticism and interpretation. 2. African American women authors.
3. African American women educators. 4. Hartford (Conn.)—Intellectual life.
I. Title.
PS2593.P347Z93 2015
818'.309—dc23 2014017459
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Missinnuok of Towns and Cities

Contents
Figures and Maps ix
Prologue xi
Acknowledgments xiii
A Speculative and Factual Chronology for Ann Plato xvii
Introduction 1
1. Ann Plato: Hartford’s Literary Enigma 17
2. “The Natives of America” and “To the First of August”:
Contrasts in Cultural Investment 33
3. Missinnuok at the Hartford Space 45
4. Long Island Sound Platos and Their Circle 51
5. Coordinates of a Social and Religious Personality 71
6. Schooling: Some Speculations; Teaching: Some Records 111
7. Essays: Publication and Reception of the Book 129
8. Essays and Lydia Sigourney: The Poetics of Borrowing 133
9. The Literary Personality of the Essay Topics 143
viii Contents
10. Four Women as a Cultural Circle 179
11. The Poetics of a Young Writer 195
Epilogue: After the Paper Trail 213
Notes 217
Select Bibliography 257
Index 283
Figures and Maps
Figures
Figure 1.1. Enumeration for Miss Plato. Iowa Federal Census,
City of Decorah, Winneshiek County, 1870. 20
Figure 5.1. Colored [Talcott Street] Congregational Church.
Connecticut Historical Society. 85
Figure 5.2. Rev. Amos G. Beman, Congregational minister, and
Rev. George A. Spywood, bishop at African Methodist
Episcopal Zion, Hartford. 93
Figure 6.1. Amounts dispensed to Talcott Street Congregational
Church treasurers for the South African School during
Ann Plato’s tenure as its teacher. Seth Terry, Seth Terry’s
Book of Estates Agencies Trusts, account books, 1825–1857,
Connecticut Historical Society. 123
Figure 6.2. Ann Plato’s first invitation to Thomas Robbins, inspector
for the Hartford Schools Society, early May 1846.
Thomas Robbins School Papers Collection. Connecticut
Historical Society. 125
Figure 6.3. Ann Plato’s subsequent invitation to Thomas Robbins,
12 May 1846. Thomas Robbins School Papers Collection.
Connecticut Historical Society. 127
ix