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| A Review by Dr. Wilbert L. Jenkins |
| Department of History, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. |
But We Have No Country: The 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance. Ella Forbes (Cherry Hill, NJ: Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers, 1998) pg i-xiv, 338.
The author has produced an excellent piece of scholarship on the 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance led by William Parker, an individual of African descent. Although it represents a significant occurrence in the annals of African American history, until the timely arrival of the author's fine work, it had received little scholarly attention. She brilliantly weaves several diverse sources together to produce a seminal work not only of the 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance, but one that also correctly places this event into the history of the resistance of individuals of African descent to enslavement and oppression in the Western Hemisphere. The author makes it quite clear that William Parker and the resisters genuinely believed that they had a basic human right to resist the diabolical efforts of slave catchers to apprehend African Americans. This basic human right entitled them to use any means necessary to prevent their enslavement and oppression. African Americans such as Ida B. Wells, Malcolm X, H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, and the Black Panther Party, to name a few, would later take up the legacy of redemptive violence left by Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, David Walker, Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Henry Highland Garnet, William Parker and the resisters, as well as many others.
Who was William Parker and what drove him to undertake a pivotal role in the 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance? The author notes that Parker grew up as a slave, and witnessed great oppression, of which he found the separation of African American family members the most inhumane treatment imaginable. In fact, the author writes, "it was the sale of enslaved Africans on the plantation which put the notion of escape in Parker's mind at an early age." (p 2) Moreover, "Parker condemned those who wished to maintain the institution of enslavement and he lambasted the hypocrisy inherent in the system." (p 2.) Thus, it is not surprising that Parker would come to believe in the use of redemptive violence in order to repel enslavement and oppression.
The author does an outstanding job of describing and analyzing not only the actual incident, but the consequences of the Christiana Resistance as well. After the incident, perhaps to put the best possible spin on the event, Whites maintained that there were some one hundred African Americans at the scene. If this number was correct, it could explain why the posse was not able to retake the fugitives. They were overwhelmed by the large number of African Americans. However, as the author notes, "Africans wanted to show black agency so the number given was much lower. For instance, Frederick Douglass said, 'there were fifteen in Parker's noble band.'" (p. 12) Not surprising, a large number of African Americans were arrested in the immediate aftermath of the Resistance and placed on notice that they might be executed for their alleged roles in the affair. Many White newspapers in the North and South denounced the Resistance as an outrage against American law and society. (p. 147)
One of the dangers of history is myth making, and the author notes that myth was created around the 1851 Christiana resistance. While African Americans in actuality played dominant roles in the Resistance, their importance was discounted by white contemporaries and scholars. Five white men, though they were not key players, were elevated to hero status. They were arrested and charged with treason against the United States because they would not abide by the rules outlined in the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, and assist the slave catchers in their attempt to recapture Gorsuch's fugitives. The author argues very passionately that it is imperative that scholars correct this and other historical inaccuracies. Only then can the true history of individuals of African descent become known.
What is the best way to accomplish this? The author certainly is not bashful in providing an answer to this inquiry. In her opinion, the best route to take in this regard is "an African-centered interpretation, which looks at the Christiana Resistance from the perspective of the African American." (p. 243) As a consequence, the event can be seen as an heroic occasion for African Americans. Such an analysis reveals that William Parker and the resisters were major players. Consequently then, an African-centered perspective offers corrective to a Eurocentric view which marginalizes African Americans by assigning them secondary or nonexistence roles when they are major actors. This is the challenge placed to scholars undertaking research and writing on people of African descent by the author. Indeed, it is a noble challenge.
Ella Forbes' But We Have No Country: The 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance is a welcome addition to the existing scholarship on resistance. It examines race, class, gender, and regional issues. A large number of diverse sources are superbly utilize, the author's arguments are clearly articulated, and the writing exhibits much passion. Her work will be immensely appreciated by both the general reader and scholar. With the risk of sounding redundant, this is a seminal work and should be read by all concerned with humanity. It ought to find its way to university and college libraries, and to public libraries as well. (© April 2, 1998 Wilbert L. Jenkins).
Wilbert L. Jenkins
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Temple University
Gladfelter Hall 913
Philadelphia, PA 19122
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