Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: March 21, 2021 at 3:24:41 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Slavery]: Sellick on Hanley, 'Beyond Slavery and > Abolition: Black British Writing, c.1770-1830.' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Ryan Hanley. Beyond Slavery and Abolition: Black British Writing, > c.1770-1830. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 2018. > Illustrations. 282 pp. $105.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-108-47565-5. > > Reviewed by Gary D. Sellick (Thomas Jefferson Papers) > Published on H-Slavery (March, 2021) > Commissioned by Andrew J. Kettler > > In _Beyond Slavery and Abolition_, Ryan Hanley successfully analyzes > the reasons for, and content of, black British writing during the > eras of the American Revolution and the early nineteenth century. The > work, Hanley's first monograph and an adaptation of his doctoral > thesis, is an ambitious study into the writings of some of the most > well-known black authors during this turbulent moment in British > history. Hanley specifically looks at the writers through a societal > lens, decentralizing the antislavery label that is normally > associated with their works, to examine the wider events in each of > the writers' individual lives that led to the creation of their > publications. Intrinsic to this aspect of Hanley's argument is the > interconnection of different networks that existed throughout British > society during this period. His conclusion is that black writers were > not bound solely to antislavery, as they are oft adjudged to be, but > that "through their interactions with local, national and global > networks of influence, black authors and their works helped to shape > British society, just as they themselves were shaped by it" (p. 246). > > Hanley's work is a series of intellectual and cultural biographies of > both men and women. These case studies are mostly standalone, with > the occasional reference to one of the other authors discussed when > necessary, but Hanley does such a succinct job of constructing his > arguments in his introduction and conclusion that the themes that tie > the subjects together are never lost to readers. Critical to this is > the constant presence of the societal networks that he uses to weave > together the narratives of black authors, who used these same groups > to not only gain religious, political, social, and racial ideas but > also to espouse them in their works, often to the benefit of the > networks themselves. It is an intriguing premise, and one that Hanley > clearly illustrates throughout the duration of his work. > > To underscore the importance of networks to these black authors, > Hanley has separated his case studies into three distinct sections, > with chapters focusing on each individual. The first section focuses > on the role of celebrity on certain black authors during the era of > the American Revolution. This section features studies of Ignatius > Sancho, Olaudah Equiano, and Mary Prince. Hanley argues that the fame > and influence of these individuals within disparate social networks > allowed their narratives to be created and published for a wide > audience, further boosting their celebrity status (albeit > posthumously in the case of Sancho) within the British Atlantic > world. In the case of Sancho, his band of white friends collected and > edited his letters posthumously to cultivate the ideal of an > enlightened black man to undermine the negative societal tropes > regarding race that were prevalent in British society at the time. > > For Equiano, the writing of his memoirs allowed him to engage with, > and to embody to the wider population, the antislavery movement in > Britain. In doing so, Equiano was influenced by the key figures and > groups in the abolition movement in deciding what to write on, but > his writing also influenced the direction of the movement while > simultaneously cultivating a celebrity persona within it. The final > case study in this section focuses on the heavily edited and > ghostwritten memoir of Prince whose life, Hanley argues, was > memorialized as a representative biography of all enslaved women. > Prince became a female figurehead of the antislavery movement in > Britain, becoming, like Equiano and Sancho, a model of black > celebrity used by the broader British populace to debate ideas of > race at a time when slavery was being challenged and curtailed in the > empire. > > The second section looks at the influence of evangelical religious > networks, specifically Calvinism and Methodism, on the black authors > Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, Boston King, and John Jea. Gronniosaw's > autobiography, the earliest published account analyzed in the book, > was, according to Hanley, a religious tract that favored its > subject's embrace of Calvinism over discussing the horrors of slavery > in order to promote a narrative where the institution of slavery > could be beneficial to slaves by offering them an avenue to eternal > salvation. Hanley suggests that this narrative, ghostwritten by a > white Calvinist, was constructed in a way that allowed Gronniosaw to > have very little meaningful input. Chapter 5 studies King, whose > autobiography, also most likely ghostwritten, was written while he > was living in the Kingswood Methodist School in Britain. Hanley > suggests that King's memoir, while embracing the antislavery > political agenda of the Methodists, was used by Thomas Coke, a leader > in the movement, to advance ideas and practices that he felt > beneficial to the survival and expansion of Methodism in the wake of > John Wesley's death in 1791. Like King, Jea was a former slave who > was connected both spiritually and financially to the Methodist > movement in Britain. A lay preacher, Jea adapted his writings and > sermons to suit the different locales he visited throughout the > country, particularly blending societal observations to appeal to the > working-class congregations he regularly addressed. > > The final section studies how black writers interacted with the > growing radical networks in London during the revolutionary period, > and particularly the interconnected movements for abolition and > domestic political reform. Chapter 7 discusses the life and writings > of Ottobah Cugoano, an unabashed abolitionist who acted as a conduit > between grassroots black activism in London and the established > political sphere. Hanley shows Cugoano to be an astute political > figure, carefully crafting his writings and even editing his later > re-printings, in order to support or denounce schemes aimed at > abolition or at aiding the plight of the capital's growing black > population. Like Cugoano, Robert Wedderburn was a well-known black > radical, but he did not share the compromising traits of his > predecessor. Working with radical and antislavery members of > Parliament exclusively, Wedderburn became a prominent leader of > London's working classes, writing several works that evolved > alongside the movements about which he wrote. Unfortunately for > Wedderburn, his refusal to soften his rhetoric often found him in > legal trouble and eventually alienated him from the white politicians > he once courted. > > Hanley's work is not a single flowing narrative, and the short case > studies expose its origin as a dissertation. It is sometimes > fragmented and occasionally repetitive, especially in its discussion > of similar networks and their interactions with different > individuals. The source material also is problematic, as Hanley > consistently points out, due to the amanuenses often used by and for > the black authors he is studying, and thus his reliance on certain of > these sources is sometimes distracting. Also, if you want a deep > biography of the individuals studied here, this is not the place to > go. However, these are minor critiques in a work that is laudable for > offering a fresh insight into individuals who are often the > cornerstone of scholarship on blacks in revolutionary era Britain. > The arguments are well made and the structure of the work itself is > conducive to leading readers to the conclusions that Hanley asserts. > Historians of black British history, the British Atlantic, and > slavery studies will all find something rewarding in the book. > Indeed, the Royal Historical Society deemed _Beyond Slavery and > Abolition _worthy of its annual Whitfield Prize, an award that this > novel work most certainly deserves. > > Citation: Gary D. Sellick. Review of Hanley, Ryan, _Beyond Slavery > and Abolition: Black British Writing, c.1770-1830._. H-Slavery, H-Net > Reviews. March, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55014 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#7429): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/7429 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/81508042/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
