I
recently went searching through a database of Civil War diaries and letters. It
struck me as something important and unusual, for in particular these letters
were written because of a death incurred by the disruption of the Civil War.
Moreover, I thought I might find the death of an activist or an abolitionist,
trying to ultimately demonstrate the widespread havoc and the seriousness of
the war, the racial strife that was everywhere and the struggle that still
struggled on through times of war and upheaval. Even more, I never thought I
would have trouble finding a black voice in this kind of archive, in an archive
pertaining to one of the most basic aspects of humanity, death; however, what I
found surprised me and challenged my already disconcerting views of whiteness.
Essentially, I found nothing. Let me be specific, I went through almost every
single letter and diary entry in the entire digital archive, and not a single
one was written by or for a black soldier, nurse, or family member during the
war. Not a single letter was written by or for black hands. One thing I did
find was a singular line, which did nothing to help African Americans, but
rather, it upheld many stereotypes and mindsets - "The black women were perfectly destitute, they really had nothing to wear, -- and such unmitigated growling."(1)
Moreover, in the lack of something, I found something else all the more important. For instance, I not only found a discrepancy with the archive itself for not pursuing or not ostensibly pursuing any black voices and lived experiences during the Civil War but also that black voices were suppressed during the Civil War even in death and around it. In particular, even in an archive surrounding death and destruction from the Civil War, black voice were suppressed or ignored, and even more importantly, during the Civil War, their lives were seen as inconsequential and piddling. In and around death, one of the most human and humanizing aspects of life, African Americans were yet again dehumanized and treated as lesser than: not as a human with pains, desires, heartbreaks, and depression but as something unfeeling.
Moreover, in the lack of something, I found something else all the more important. For instance, I not only found a discrepancy with the archive itself for not pursuing or not ostensibly pursuing any black voices and lived experiences during the Civil War but also that black voices were suppressed during the Civil War even in death and around it. In particular, even in an archive surrounding death and destruction from the Civil War, black voice were suppressed or ignored, and even more importantly, during the Civil War, their lives were seen as inconsequential and piddling. In and around death, one of the most human and humanizing aspects of life, African Americans were yet again dehumanized and treated as lesser than: not as a human with pains, desires, heartbreaks, and depression but as something unfeeling.
[1] Phinney, Mary, Baroness von Olnhausen, 1818-1902, Letter from Mary Phinney, Baroness von Olnhausen, December 25, 1864, in Adventures of an Army Nurse in Two Wars. Munroe, James Phinney ed., Boston, MA: Little, Brown, & Co., 1903, pp. 355. S1010-D049.
Brad, I suppose your findings, or lack thereof, goes to show how much history attempts to erase the black narrative. I do have some general questions in relation to your search.
ReplyDeleteObviously, African Americans must have written to each other during the Civil War, so where did these letters go? Perhaps they are not archived and preserved the same way the letters and diary entries you found.
Furthermore, what agency did African Americans have in terms of letter-writing and diary logging? How encouraged were these practices among the black soldiers in the Union? The answers to these questions might also shed light on why there seems to be this missing piece of writing from the black population.
Another important aspect to consider here is literacy - in the greater context of slavery, of course very few African Americans could write. Literacy was counted among one of the worst things that could be taught to a slave and given the intrinsic segregation of the north at the time it is not likely many African Americans had access to any form of education in the pre-war period. Thus, the volume of letters being written to and from African Americans was negligible - so with the lack of literacy combined with a white effort to erase the African American role in the Civil War, it makes absolute sense how the Black Narrative of the war is almost completely lost to us.
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