Untimely Democracy: The Politics of Progress After Slavery

289 Pages·2017·24.021 MB·English

by  Gregory Laski

Untimely Democracy

Untimely Democracy
The Politics of Progress after Slavery
GREGORY LASKI
1
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© Oxford University Press 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Laski, Gregory, author.
Title: Untimely democracy : the politics of progress after slavery / Gregory Laski.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2018. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017017170 | ISBN 9780190642792 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780190871369 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: American literature—African American authors—History and criticism. |
Progress in literature. | Democracy in literature. | Slavery in literature. |
African Americans in literature.
Classification: LCC PS153.N5 L38 2017 | DDC 810.9/896073—dc13
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017017170
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
For my parents

CONTENTS
List of Figures   ix
Acknowledgments   xi
Introduction: Democracy’s Progress   1
1. On the Possibility of Democracy in the Present- Past: Reading
Thomas Jefferson and W. E. B. Du Bois in the Times
of Slavery and Freedom   29
2. Narrating the Present- Past in Frederick Douglass’s
Life and Times   62
3. Making Reparation; or, How to Count the Wrongs of Slavery   93
4. Failed Futures: Of Prophecy and Pessimism at the Nadir   137
5. Pauline E. Hopkins’s Untimely Democracy: Stasis, Agitation,
Agency   161
Epilogue: Democracy’s Plunges   190
Notes   213
Index   259
vii

LIST OF FIGURES
1.1. Initial entries in Thomas Jefferson’s “chronological catalogue,”
Notes on the State of Virginia, London edition (1787) 48
1.2. Final entries in Thomas Jefferson’s “chronological catalogue,” Notes on
the State of Virginia, London edition (1787) 49
1.3. “The After- Thought,” from W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk,
first edition, published by A. C. McClurg & Co., April 18, 1903 59
1.4. “The After- Thought,” from W. E. B. Du Bois’s manuscript of The Souls
of Black Folk 60
2.1. Headline, “Frederick Douglass at His Old Home,” Baltimore Sun,
June 19, 1877 66
2.2. “An Insulted City,” Washington National Republican, May 12,
1877 77
3.1. Image of slave in chains appears in Vaughan’s “Freedmen’s Pension
Bill,” Being an Appeal in Behalf of Men Released from Slavery, A Plea
for American Freedmen and a Rational Proposition to Grant Pensions to
Persons of Color Emancipated from Slavery (1890) 103
3.2. Cover, Vaughan’s “Freedmen’s Pension Bill,” Being an Appeal in Behalf
of Men Released from Slavery, A Plea for American Freedmen and a
Rational Proposition to Grant Pensions to Persons of Color Emancipated
from Slavery (1891) 106
3.3. Circular, “National Ex- Slave Convention,” Ex- Slave Mutual Relief,
Bounty and Pension Association (1899) 110
3.4. T. Starr Murfree, “Please Listen to My Plea,” Ex- Slave Mutual Relief,
Bounty and Pension Association (no date) 112
3.5. Asher B. Durand, after John Trumbull, The Declaration of Independence
(engraving, 1823) 122
ix