1859
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Key events
- September 5, 1859Harriet Wilson Publishes Our Nig — First Novel by Black American Published in US
Harriet E. Wilson self-published 'Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black' in Boston — the first novel published by a Black American in the United States (William Wells Brown's Clotel appeared in London in 1853). Wilson's semi-autobiographical work documented the brutal conditions faced by free Black indentured servants in the North, exploding the myth that freedom above the Mason-Dixon line meant equality.
- January 1859Jermain Loguen Published His Slave Narrative and Defied Recapture Publicly
Jermain Loguen, AME Zion bishop in Syracuse who had escaped Tennessee slavery by horse, published 'The Rev. J.W. Loguen as a Slave and as a Freeman' (1859). When his former enslaver wrote demanding $1,000 or his return, Loguen published his refusal in the Syracuse Standard: 'I stand among a free people, who, I thank God, sympathize with my rights and the rights of mankind.' His defiance was celebrated throughout the North.
- 1859Martin Delany Serializes Blake — Black Nationalist Novel
Martin Delany serialized Blake; or, The Huts of America in the Anglo-African Magazine, depicting a pan-African revolutionary plot. The novel was the first to imagine coordinated Black rebellion across the Americas and established Delany as a foundational Black nationalist thinker and pioneering fiction writer.