In Dan Blim\u2019s paper, \u201cMcDowell\u2019s Vanishing Indians,\u201d he exposes a contrast between how post-emancipation white Americans viewed Native Americans and African Americans. He argues that the view that Native Americans were \u201cvanishing\u201d as part of a natural process allowed them to be parodied in their portrayals in a way that Black Americans could not, as many Americans were deeply uncomfortable with America\u2019s slaveowning past.<\/p>\n
The document I chose juxtaposes two hymns with each other; one from a \u201cconverted indian\u201d and the other from \u201ca little slave boy. The two have a stark contrast in the language they use. The \u201cindian hymn\u201d uses an extremely vernacular dialect of english, whereas the \u201cslave boy\u2019s hymn\u201d is rather eloquent. To illustrate further, I will show the first stanza of each.<\/p>\n
\u201c In de dark wood no indian nigh, den me look heaben and send up cry, upon my knees so low. Dat God on high, in shinee place see me in night wid teary face: de priest he tells me so.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a book, I\u2019ve heard them say, which says \u2018thou shalt not work or play on God Almighty\u2019s holy day.\u2019 On Sundays then, O let me look, in God Almighty\u2019s holy book\u201d (Christian Advocate).<\/p>\n
Regardless of whether either text\u2019s authorship is genuine as the publishers describe it (I\u2019m not sure that it is. I couldn\u2019t find another publication of the \u201cslave boy\u2019s hymn\u201d, but the \u201cIndian Hymn\u201d has been included in numerous publications, including several that assert origins for the hymn, all of which conflict with each other. One such origin is even verifiably false. Friends\u2019 Review<\/i> published a version asserting that it was written down by Reverend William Apess in 1798. Rev. Apess was a renowned public speaker and activist for Native American rights in his day, not to mention that he was himself from the Pequot tribe, but he was born in 1798, so whatever plausibility the publishers of the Review<\/i> sought to gain by using his name is lost when the facts are checked. While the exact history of the hymn is unknown, it is certainly sketchy.) , we can see even from their choice to include these contrasting texts that some dynamic akin to what Blim describes is at play. Even though the readers of the Advocate<\/i> might not have assumed that either party would be educated, the slave boy is shown to have some eloquence, while the Indian is portrayed as a caricature that would be familiar to their audience.<\/p>\n
The column concludes with a paragraph that echoes McDowell\u2019s own comments on slavery. \u201cThank God that the old days of slavery, with all the enforced ignorance, the bitterness of bondage, and the cruel seperation of families, are gone forever, and that so much now is being done to give the freedmen both the ability and the opportunity to read in \u2018God Almighty\u2019s holy book,\u2019\u201d (Christian Advocate). This supports the narrative that Blim illuminates, where White Americans seek to uplift Black Americans in order to forget the horrors of slavery, but feel comfortable enough to portray the \u201cvanishing indian\u201d as a caricature.<\/p>\n
Works Cited:<\/p>\n
“Two Quaint Old Hymns.” Christian Advocate, <\/em>18 May 1893. American Periodicals<\/em>, https:\/\/search.proquest.com\/americanperiodicals\/docview\/125850496\/767F6D35CC094709PQ\/1?accountid=351, Accessed 19 September 2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Dan Blim\u2019s paper, \u201cMcDowell\u2019s Vanishing Indians,\u201d he exposes a contrast between how post-emancipation white Americans viewed Native Americans and African Americans. He argues that the view that Native Americans were \u201cvanishing\u201d as part of a natural process allowed them … Continue reading