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Summary
Summary
The powerful story of two young men who changed the national debate about slavery
In the 1820s, few Americans could imagine a viable future for black children. Even abolitionists saw just two options for African American youth: permanent subjection or exile. Educated for Freedom tells the story of James McCune Smith and Henry Highland Garnet, two black children who came of age and into freedom as their country struggled to grow from a slave nation into a free country.
Smith and Garnet met as schoolboys at the Mulberry Street New York African Free School, an educational experiment created by founding fathers who believed in freedom's power to transform the country. Smith and Garnet's achievements were near-miraculous in a nation that refused to acknowledge black talent or potential. The sons of enslaved mothers, these schoolboy friends would go on to travel the world, meet Revolutionary War heroes, publish in medical journals, address Congress, and speak before cheering crowds of thousands. The lessons they took from their days at the New York African Free School #2 shed light on how antebellum Americans viewed black children as symbols of America's possible future. The story of their lives, their work, and their friendship testifies to the imagination and activism of the free black community that shaped the national journey toward freedom.
Author Notes
Anna Mae Duane is Associate Professor of English and director of the American Studies Program at the University of Connecticut
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
University of Connecticut English professor Duane (Suffering Childhood in Early America) casts a revealing dual biography of James McCune Smith (1813--1865) and Henry Highland Garnet (1815--1882) against the backdrop of early-19th-century debates over the future of black people in America. Born into slavery, Smith and Garnet were educated at the Mulberry Street New African Free School in New York City, where administrators taught students that black people "must either embrace a cheerful exile abroad or accept a living death in the United States." By colonizing Africa, the argument went, African-Americans could "reenact and ultimately redeem American colonization." Smith, who became the first African-American to hold a medical degree, rejected this viewpoint and argued for "dogged persistence" in achieving freedom and equality in the U.S. Meanwhile, Garnet, who became a minister and famous orator, advocated for African colonization up until the Civil War. Duane eloquently describes the threats and obstacles black children faced in pursuit of their education (Garnet, she notes, once found his family's home ransacked by slave catchers), but the narrative loses steam as its focus turns to internal conflicts within the abolitionist movement and close readings of both men's speeches and essays. Nevertheless, this erudite chronicle succeeds in lifting up two underappreciated figures of the antislavery movement. (Jan.)
Kirkus Review
An overlooked story of two important African Americans who impacted the slavery debate at a critical moment in American history.Many historians focus on Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Mary Church Terrell as the leading African American civil rights advocates of the 19th century. Yet Duane (English/Univ. of Connecticut; Suffering Childhood in Early America: Violence, Race, and the Making of the Child Victim, 2017, etc.) reminds us of two critical black leaders who influenced the national civil rights debate and symbolized the era's frustrating potential: James McCune Smith (1813-1865) and Henry Highland Garnet (1815-1882). Smith and Garnet met as boys at a New York school and grew to be both friends and rivals, achieving unprecedented honors in a society that viewed black Americans as inherently inferior. Smith graduated first in his class at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and he was the first African American to hold a medical degree and the first to run a pharmacy. His approach to the abolitionist movement was to collaboratively support and work within institutions expanding freedom, often relying on his medical expertise to refute assertions of black inferiority. By contrast, the fiery Garnet used a combative approach as a minister to advocate a kind of black nationalism that, at times, embraced separating black and white Americans as the only way to achieve true freedom. Garnet acquired a reputation as perhaps the most eloquent black orator of the time, outpacing even Douglass in the eyes of many. Duane departs from the traditional biographical formatsurveying from childhood to adulthoodand instead weaves biographical events together through a focus on documents at the school Garnet and Smith attended as children. The result creates a provocative tie between their childhood challenges and the work they pursued as adults.A compelling tale of two boys and their struggle to forge a path for freedom out of a slave nation. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Choice Review
The subtitle of this book is unfortunate. Although Duane's subjects, New York black leaders Henry Highland Garnet (1815--82) and James McCune Smith (1813--65), are inspiring, Duane (Univ. of Connecticut) does not prove that either Garnet or Smith changed the nation. She does, however, advance other timely arguments. Duane's method is to foreground the experience of black children in antebellum America; as she puts it: "Educated for Freedom traces the importance of children--imagined and actual--throughout the lives of both men, with much of the story crystallizing around moments when their 'adult' work in medicine, science, and politics was shaped by the black children in their lives" (p. 9). Duane's first goal is to show how Garnet and Smith challenged "the usual dividing lines between child and adult, black and white" (p. 10). Her second goal is to show "how deeply slavery, colonialism, and capitalism were intertwined in the first half of the nineteenth century--and how savvy many abolitionists were about the odds of disentangling these threads" (p. 10). Though not always persuasive, this provocative, rather theoretical work does shed light on its subjects. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Thomas D. Hamm, Earlham College
Library Journal Review
Duane (English, Univ. of Connecticut; Suffering Childhood in Early America: Violence, Race, and the Making of the Child Victim) presents a dual biography of African American men who made a lasting impression on the history and culture of antebellum America. James McCune Smith and Henry Highland Garnet attended the New York African Free School during the early decades of the 19th century. Both excelled in their studies; Smith became a physician and Garnet a writer and speaker. This biography details the trials and tribulations they faced living in New York, a free state, during a time when free African Americans were kidnapped and sold in the South. Duane places the men in the context of their times and recounts their travels and meetings with famous people including Gen. Lafayette and William Lloyd Garrison. The idea of colonization of African Americans separated the political views of the two friends. Duane fully explains this idea and how even Abraham Lincoln once thought it a solution to the slavery issue in the United States. Descriptions of the New York City draft riots and its impact upon the African American community is a riveting section of the book. VERDICT A vital addition for history collections.--Patricia Ann Owens, formerly at Illinois Eastern Community College, Mt. Carmel
Table of Contents
| Introduction: Slavery at the School Door | p. 1 |
| 1 The Star Student as Specimen (CIRCA 1822-1837) | p. 13 |
| 2 Shifting Ground, Lost Parents, Uprooted Schools (CIRCA 1822-1840) | p. 41 |
| 3 Orphans, Data, and the American Story (CIRCA 1837-1850) | p. 67 |
| 4 Throwing Down the Shovel (CIRCA 1840-1850) | p. 91 |
| 5 Pumping Out a Sinking Ship (CIRCA 1850-1855) | p. 113 |
| 6 Follow the Money, Find the Revolution (CIRCA 1850-1855) | p. 137 |
| 7 Bitter Battles, African Civilization, and John Brown's Body (CIRCA 1856-1862) | p. 159 |
| 8 The War's End and the Nation's Future (CIRCA 1862-1865) | p. 181 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 207 |
| Notes | p. 211 |
| Index | p. 235 |
| About the Author | p. 241 |
