American Renaissance

By Amanda Frey, Alicia Hershey, Liz Wagner, & Devan Zimmerman

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Ruthless Democracy

“But Truth is the silliest thing under the sun. Try to get a living by the Truth -- and go to the Soup Societies. Heavens! Let any clergyman try to preach the Truth from its very stronghold, the pulpit, and they would ride him out of his church on his own pulpit bannister. It can hardly be doubted that all Reformers are bottomed upon the truth, more or less; and to the world at large are not reformers almost universally laughingstocks? Why so? Truth is ridiculous to men.” Herman Melville to Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1851.

(http://www.melville.org/letter3.htm)

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Joaquin Murieta

The first novel written by a Native American, The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta by John Rollin Ridge, is a fictisous novel about a Mexican man that is "disgusted with the conduct of his degenerate countrymen and fired with the enthusiastic admiration of the American character (9)," who comes to America only to be subjected to racism and oppression from whites in America. "The country was then full of lawless and desperate men, who bore the name of Americans but failed to support the honor and dignity of that title (9)."

The racial hardships continued for Joaquin. His success in the mining industry created jealousy among a group of American miners, who decided to visit Joaquin and "bade him leave his claim, as they would allow no Mexicans to work in that region (10)," and exacted their hostility by beating and restraining him, then raping his wife in front of him. Not too long after those horrific events occurred, Joaquin, upon returning from his brother’s home with a horse, is stopped by an American mob that claims the horse was stolen.  Despite proclaiming that he had no knowledge of the horse being stolen, the mob tied Joaquin to a tree and whipped him, before continuing to his brother’s home and hanging him. These traumatic events led Joaquin to seek revenge on the American’s, and he proceeded to find and kill members in the mob.

Joaquin and his gang of bandits killed many American’s, and many bandits were captured and killed by the American mob and sheriffs alike. Joaquin escapes capture for a lengthy amount of time, and almost evades capture again after being surrounded by the mob of Americans, but is caught by Henry Love after he shoots his horse in the side. Murieta was shot a few times, and to finalize slaying the bandit, Love cut of Joaquin’s head and preserved it in alcohol, displaying it as a trophy of battle. And American's called the Indian's savage...

John Rollin Ridge’s childhood had a direct reflection on this novel. Coming from a family of influential chief leaders, Ridge witnessed the horrifyingly traumatizing slaughtering of his father and grandfather by a rivaling tribe. Later in Ridge’s life, after a confrontation with a member of the Ross family, the rivaling tribe, he killed the individual. He fled to California, where the novel takes place, and wrote for a living.

Revenge, which is highly prevalent in this novel, cloaks Joaquin. His need for revenge on the American mob that killed his brother is an extension of Ridge’s personal want for the same thing; to extract revenge for the pain and loss of his own loved ones and to highlight the injustices and inequalities that ethnic groups encountered in the 19th Century. Ridge effectively does this, portraying Joaquin Murita as representing the Native American within himself.

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Hobomok

Lydia Maria Child's Hobomok is a novel primarily about white supremacy and the repression of the patriarchal society, focusing on white women and their alliance with Native American's and people of color. Child's portrayal of women having the ability to chose her partner, regardless of color, religion, or social class, was revolutionary, considering society in the early 19th century was completely opposite of what is depicted in the novel.

While there are many Puritan connotations represented throughout the novel, the relationship between the Indian and the white woman is at the center. "For the first time in American literature, [Hobomok] embodies the noble Indian, not in a warrior, but in a woman (xxxv)." The women in this novel are not typical females of the 19th century; they are outspoken and make their own decisions in matters of the heart. Unlike women in America, the women in Hobomok who did not voice their opinions and remained pious and comely, ended up being killed in one way or another.

Mary Conant, the central female in this novel, is the mother of little Hobomok. After being denied permission to marry a priest by her Puritian father, and furthermore believing that said priest was lost at sea, Mary runs away with Hobomok, a Native American. Growing to love and admire him, Mary conceives a child. Their happiness is short lived though, for Mary does not remain with Hobomok; her former lover returns and is welcomed by her father. Hobomok, deciding to make a noble choice, sacrfices his love for Mary and separates from her so she can be with the priest. Mary takes little Hobomok with her and raises him in the Puritan society.

The notion of mixed races was hated among the Puritans, for the white races wanted to remain "pure and untainted." However, Child's depiction of Hobomok and little Hobomok challenged all previous notions of racial oppression. All Indian stories that preceded Hobomok, were about women taken from their homes by Indians to be raped and killed. This novel, however, chooses to address the notion of the "noble savage," in that Hobomok chooses to protect his white brethren from savagery, and willingly allows his son to be raised "civilized". One example of Hobomok's alliance is seen when, upon hearing a "low whooping" comes upon a group of Indians preparing to attack the settlement, and warns the white men so as to protect them from death.

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Lydia Maria Child has a contradictory approach in relation to the meaning of civilization, having had hope that the Native Americans would want for civilization because Americans brought it to the New World. However, she makes a point to question if we are in fact "civilized", considering the amount of inhumane acts committed on America's behalf.

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In politeness, as in many other things connected with the formation of character, people in general begin outside, when they should begin inside; instead of beginning with the heart, and trust that to form the manners, they begin with the manners, and trust the heart to chance influences.

Lydia Maria Child (Unitarian, author, abolitionist, reformer)

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The Puritans came to America to create a new, holy land, however, they were violent to the native people. Horrible and greedy, the Puritans were cruel to those that did not believe what they believed, and murdered the Native Americans almost immediately after the first Thanksgiving, even though the wouldn't have been able to survive in the New World without them.

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Native American Heritage Month

Not everyone celebrates it as a day of giving thanks.

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A white man and an elderly Native man became pretty good friends, so the white guy decided to ask him: “What do you think about Indian mascots?” The Native elder responded, “Here’s what you’ve got to understand. When you look at black people, you see ghosts of all the slavery and the rapes and the hangings and the chains. When you look at Jews, you see ghosts of all those bodies piled up in death camps. And those ghosts keep you trying to do the right thing. “But when you look at us you don’t see the ghosts of the little babies with their heads smashed in by rifle butts at the Big Hole, or the old folks dying by the side of the trail on the way to Oklahoma while their families cried and tried to make them comfortable, or the dead mothers at Wounded Knee or the little kids at Sand Creek who were shot for target practice. You don’t see any ghosts at all. “Instead you see casinos and drunks and junk cars and shacks. “Well, we see those ghosts. And they make our hearts sad and they hurt our little children. And when we try to say something, you tell us, ‘Get over it. This is America. Look at the American dream.’ But as long as you’re calling us Redskins and doing tomahawk chops, we can’t look at the American dream, because those things remind us that we are not real human beings to you. And when people aren’t humans, you can turn them into slaves or kill six million of them or shoot them down with Hotchkiss guns and throw them into mass graves at Wounded Knee. “No, we’re not looking at the American dream. And why should we? We still haven’t woken up from the American nightmare…

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thesocietypages.org

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"Written for the Little Folks" Children's Abolitionist Literature

Child abolitionist literature was written to teach children about slavery and of the brutality usually involved.  In “The Young Abolitionists” taken from Jane Elizabeth Jones’ child’s literature novel, the chapters are broken down to explain each aspect of slavery, regardless of whether or not it seems too mature for such young children to be reading about. The authors of the children’s abolitionist literature used different tools to teach children. Jones would often make a point to mention that even though the slaves had a different skin color, they were still human beings. They were also not afraid to pinpoint the ruthless punishments slaves would receive for the most insignificant infringements. 

Along with literature, there were social influences on these children that would eventually taint their view on the world. In “Mary French and Susan Easton” there are two little girls who are of different races who are friends, but seemingly similar. The difference is seen when the girls are sold to be slaves and Mary is eventually taken home, but it has to be accepted that Susan will likely never return home, simply due to skin color. Their race did not matter until society told them it did.

In “Uncle True and Little Gerty” there are also signs of social suppression, but more so in the economical sense. During the American renaissance, many people struggled with poverty. People of the time did not know much about children and did not understand how they thought, because there wasn’t much research on the subject. Therefor, children were often treated as little adults and sometimes left to fend on their own, such as Little Gerty was.

However, just as children can be taught about the negatives of slavery, they can also be taught to believe that slavery is good or necessary.  Between the ages of five and thirteen is when a human being is most influence by their surroundings, and for some of these children it was perfectly normal to see a slave beaten or whipped or starved without it phasing them. Some of the most ruthless of slaveholders did not know anything else, because that is what they had always been taught. Regardless of whether it was a positive or negative influence, the children of the American renaissance were suppressed by the thoughts and ideals of their guardians and the people around them.

-Amanda Frey