Martin Delaney and the American Dream
| | | | | Martin Delaney and the American Journey
“We are a nation within a nation, we must go from our oppressors” | Ryan CruseA.P. U.S. History
Mr. Hodgson Period 4
24th of January, 2013 |
Martin Delaney and the American Journey
“We are a nation within a nation, we must go from our oppressors” Martin R. Delaney, born in 1812 to an enslaved father and free mother in Charles Town, [West] Virginia, was a renowned and outspoken African American abolitionist, writer, and politician. He briefly attended Harvard Medical School to complete his formal medical education, but was deferred via a prejudiced petition from other students. As the sanguinary conflict between the Union and the Confederacy erupted, he served as the first black field officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861-1865), thereby encouraging scores of other black citizens to enlist (Butler). As a vehemently individualistic author, he composed numerous progressive texts that delineated the strife and various dilemmas that he and the vast majority of black citizens faced in the United States. Delaney collaborated with other prominent abolitionists including the likes of William Lloyd Garrison, and also Frederick Douglass, with whom he coedited The North Star (Stanford). As such a passionate activist for black freedom, he enthralled the [rightfully so] malcontented black slaves and denizens of America with his steadfast opinions. Delaney’s ultimate stance was one of mass emigration; he deplored African Americans to escape the ignorance of “their oppressors” by settling in West Africa along the Niger River (Butler). Thus, he is recurrently remembered as the “Father of Black Nationalism.” Nevertheless, this conventional perception of Delaney’s outlook is rendered inadequate by the actuality of his ideology of ‘transformatism,’ (which lacked reference or pride to a specific geographical region or country) or the refusal to accept subservience and the notion that
“We are a nation within a nation, we must go from our oppressors” | Ryan CruseA.P. U.S. History
Mr. Hodgson Period 4
24th of January, 2013 |
Martin Delaney and the American Journey
“We are a nation within a nation, we must go from our oppressors” Martin R. Delaney, born in 1812 to an enslaved father and free mother in Charles Town, [West] Virginia, was a renowned and outspoken African American abolitionist, writer, and politician. He briefly attended Harvard Medical School to complete his formal medical education, but was deferred via a prejudiced petition from other students. As the sanguinary conflict between the Union and the Confederacy erupted, he served as the first black field officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861-1865), thereby encouraging scores of other black citizens to enlist (Butler). As a vehemently individualistic author, he composed numerous progressive texts that delineated the strife and various dilemmas that he and the vast majority of black citizens faced in the United States. Delaney collaborated with other prominent abolitionists including the likes of William Lloyd Garrison, and also Frederick Douglass, with whom he coedited The North Star (Stanford). As such a passionate activist for black freedom, he enthralled the [rightfully so] malcontented black slaves and denizens of America with his steadfast opinions. Delaney’s ultimate stance was one of mass emigration; he deplored African Americans to escape the ignorance of “their oppressors” by settling in West Africa along the Niger River (Butler). Thus, he is recurrently remembered as the “Father of Black Nationalism.” Nevertheless, this conventional perception of Delaney’s outlook is rendered inadequate by the actuality of his ideology of ‘transformatism,’ (which lacked reference or pride to a specific geographical region or country) or the refusal to accept subservience and the notion that