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Jordan M. Harris
African American Literature
Professor Hyman
29 November 2015
Healing Modalities in the African Diaspora
The explicit identity of African American culture is deeply rooted in the turbulent
diaspora of Africa’s descendants. The African American historical experience has been
immortalized through cultural elements primarily taken from ancestral culture—elements such
as; folklore, songs, slave narratives, poetry, dance, art, and other literary works. These cultural
elements not only chronicled…, but also heralds a hopeful sign of their contingent future.
Authors like W.E.B. DuBois, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington created a healing
modality through each transitional phase of the slavery, reconstruction, and post-reconstruction
eras. This paper will explore the plight waging war against African Americans and will find the
healing modality through each transitional phase, and use literary works by authors we have
discussed to corroborate each phase.
Packed like animals en route to the slaughter house, my forefathers were bound by
chains—not only physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually as they crossed
the murky waters of the middle passage. With no belongings or knowledge of the new world,
faith was all the African slaves could take with them (Makesi-Tehuti, 2006). Told lies about the
bliss they could find in the new unknown world, they were anxious to experience its milk and
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honey. Little did they know, this celestial land they were anticipating was really a hell hole used
to birth their oppression. In order to keep their captives enslaved, Europeans used guns and a
message from God to subjugate Africa’s indigenous people (Makesi-Tehuti, 2006).
Chattel slavery in early America has been purported by some of the world’s most credible
historians as the most egregious exploitation toward any group of people in the history of the
world. Tied up in chains and packed like animals for months in the belly of ships during the
Middle Passage, slaves had no hope. Because the American government legalized this
maltreatment, there was slim hope for slaves. Amidst the dreary plight of the slaves, one man
subverted this dismal scene. On September 28, 1829, David Walker published what is arguably
the most radical of all anti-slavery documents (PBS web). The goal of the Appeal was to instill
pride in its Black readers and give hope that change would someday come (PBS, web). In the
Preamble of David Walker’s “Appeal to the Colored People,” he introduces the shameless
injustices and maltreatment that Blacks are subjected to at the comfort of European Americans.
To compel his readers, he paints a vivid picture of the severity of their condition. He exclaims,
“Having travelled over a considerable portion of these United States, and having, in the
course of my travels, taken the most accurate observations of things as they exist—the
result of my observations has warranted the full and unshaken conviction, that we,
colored people of these United States, are the most degraded, wretched, and abject set of
beings that ever lived since the world began.”
While this heartrending publication was mainly targeted to Blacks, it also addresses prejudice
northern Whites and southern slave masters who would most likely read the subversive text out
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of curiosity. While addressing the cancer of slavery and racism that affects both White and Black
Americans, and rendering its cure, Walker creates a healing modality for both Whites and
Blacks. The healing modality he brought to light in his appeal segwayed the American
government to levy the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments only a quarter century later.
Walker brings to light the role of the American government in spreading this cancer by
leveraging the inconsistencies of America’s two most fundamental documents, The Declaration
of Independence, and the United States Constitution. He references two essential exerpts: “all
men are created equal,” from the Declaration of Independence, and the Three-fifths Compromise
from the United States Constitution (Walker, 1992). With this dichotomy, Walker raises the
question, “how can this be a Christian nation when it holds people in slavery?” Walker speaks
with a unique directness and passion about the barbarity of slavery. An evangelical Christian
himself, he calls out White Christians for the hypocrisy in supporting slavery, an institution that
treated most people of African descent as non-human property to be bought, sold, or disposed of
at will (Turner, 1993). He proclaimed, “they want us for their slaves, and think nothing of
murdering us.”
He argues that, compared with slavery at other times and in other places throughout
history, slavery in the United States is the worst in history. He infuses the bible with his text by
acknowledging the book of Exodus concerning Moses and the Children of Israel being enslaved
and the consequences the Egyptians faced for oppressing God’s people (Walker, 1992).
The story of Moses takes place over 3,000 years ago in Egypt. The Pharaoh of the time
relegated the Hebrews to slaves. Eventually they grow tired of being ruled by the Egyptians and
ask God for a deliverer. That deliverer is Moses. Because the king Pharaoh was afraid of a
prophecy that foretold of a deliverer for the Hebrew people, he ordered all the baby boys to be
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thrown into the river. God had his hand on Moses and he lived. Moses became of age and
challenged Pharaoh with the authority of God. When Pharaoh did not comply, Moses sent 10
plagues to express God’s wrath with their subjugation. As the story ends, God allows the
Egyptians to be defeated and the slaves reclaim their promised land.
As in the story of Moses and the Children of Israel, Walker believes that Blacks must free
themselves in order to overcome slavery. Walker pushed for immediate emancipation rather than
the gradualist approaches or the colonization schemes of white anti-slavery groups such as the
North Carolina Manumission Society. Walker goes as far as to urge the slaves to rebel together,
and provokes this notion with the poignant question, “had you not rather be killed than to be a
slave to a tyrant?” He proposes an idealist goal, that Blacks should not only have their freedom,
but should also have equal opportunities as Whites (Walker 1992).
This text terrified already paranoid southern White slave masters. Walker unashamedly
states, “If they do not have enough to be frightened for yet, it will be” (UCI 2011). With this fear
placed in the minds of prejudice Whites and this newly found audacity to hope in the hearts of
Blacks, each had to face an imminent reality—things would not remain the same (D.W. 2012).
With hi incendiary words and optimistic aims, Walker creates an atmosphere for healing.
The healing modality as it pertains to David Walker’s Appeal is the moment Black
people understood their plight and sought to challenge and conquer it. By diagnosing the
metastasizing cancer that plagues America, Walker proves to White America that Black people
are more than just mere subservient laborers and at the same time demonstrates to Black people
that their minds too can be cured of this debilitating cancer. He challenges Black America to
invoke change through their collaborative efforts.
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As Walker proposes the equal rights of Whites also to Blacks, enslaved and freed, he
promotes healing through challenging slavery. His demand for equal rights promoted healing,
because when they achieved this demand, they would no longer suffer the injustices that plagued
the slaves. Conquering this cancer with equal rights is what Walker wanted his appeal to achieve.
Walker challenges the rising tide of racism that was evident at that time in proposed “reforms”
(D.W. Memorial 2012). Through his appeal, he stirred the hearts of the entire nation and brought
the amelioration of his people. Walker’s appeal was the birthplace of a revolution that would
liberate Blacks for decades to come. Subsequently, uprisings began that led to the instituting of
the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. The 13th amendment abolished slavery. The 14th amendment
ruled that all people, including African Americans are American citizens. The 15th amendment
gave African Americans the right to vote. Because Walker exposed the ills of slavery and
presented the remedy to this disease, he created a healing modality for slaves during the
enslavement era.
After the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were instituted, Black Americans continued to
face mistreatment. After slavery began the reconstruction era. The reconstruction era in the
context of the United States focuses on the transformation of the Southern United States as
directed by Congress, with the reconstruction of the state and society (Wikipedia 2015). This era
marked the beginning states of the “separate but equal” that would be established only a year
later. After slavery, there became a great division in the relationship between Whites and Blacks.
One African American educator, author and orator sought to eradicate this division. Washington
delivers what could be the most effective address during the reconstruction era. With the topic of
race relations, this issue affected both White and Black Americans.
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In Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta Exposition Address, he makes a desperate plea, “cast
down your buckets where you are.” ON PAGE ___ He underscores this request with a powerful
story about a ship harbored on the banks of the Amazon River. Washington makes this appeal
pertinent to Black and White attendants of the convention. He presents this appeal to a
predominantly White audience at the Cotton States and International Exposition in Atlanta,
Georgia in September of 1895.
Washington gives the foundation of his address with a powerful story. In this tale, there is
a ship which has been lost at sea on the banks of the Amazon River. Shipwrecked, away from
civilization, the sailors begin dying of thirst. As death claims the lives of more sailors, a skipper
makes an expert proposal—“cast down your buckets into the sea” and draw up the fresh water to
drink (Washington 1995). In the same way, Washington correlates this story with the plight of
the economic power structure of America. He correlated Blacks with the dying sailors. He
suggests that Blacks are oblivious to their means of survival when the means they’re in search of
are readily accessible to them. Instead of dying like the sailors in the story, Washington urges
Blacks to “cast down their buckets” by using their hands to become proficient in agriculture,
mechanics, commerce, and domestic service as a means of survival (Alridge 2015).
The main purpose for Washington giving this declaration is to address the “Negro
problem” in America—the solution to what should be done about the abysmal social and
economic conditions of Blacks and the relationship between Blacks and Whites in the
economically shifting South (Alridge 2015). He propagates this integrated work-relationship by
urging Blacks to work hard and assures Whites that Blacks are loyal people who believe they
would prosper in the proportion to their hard work. To appeal to the Southern White audience, he
proposes a separate-but-equal notion of their work relationship that they would favor. He equates
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this work relationship as “separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to
mutual progress” (Brooks 2004). He explains that by working together, Blacks could build their
own communities.
While he urges Blacks to cast down their buckets and use their hands to generate means
for their families, he suggests that this has a different meaning for Whites. He calls for Whites to
take responsibility for improving socioeconomic relations between the races (Lewis 1993). To
end this “Negro problem,” there needs to be jobs. Washington urges Whites to cast down their
buckets by employing Blacks in their businesses. With the growing population of arriving
immigrants, Washington suggests that Whites should trust Blacks over the immigrants, because
they already have a working relationship and also because Blacks are strong, hard-working, and
loyal.
Washington’s speech is culminated with a thunderous applause and standing ovation.
Washington does an exceptional job of equally targeting and challenging both parties in this very
pertinent issue. While the reconstruction was plagued with race-separation, Washington’s
address created a healing modality so viable that laws were soon changed concerning race
relations. The address was received so well that some critics say that it was the beginning of the
moral revolution in America. As a result of the compliance with Washington’s plea in his
address, Blacks and Whites began a working relationship that has lasted into present society.
In the years that followed Reconstruction, as race relations began to grow significantly, one
leader by the name of W.E.B. Dubois saw a dilemma with this partnership. With White America
still as a greater power, Dubois noticed that Blacks began to lose their sense of identity, and
sought to change it in his essay “Of Our Spiritual Strivings.” To lay the foundation of this
dilemma Dubois reveals, he brings to light a term he coined double consciousness that refers to
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the preservation of African American culture and heritage while being reared and education with
European ideals and philosophies.
Social identity is a person’s sense of who they are based on their demographic, cultural,
family and peer groups. Social identity is essential to any group of because with it people can
carry pride and self-esteem. With pride and self-esteem, one has a sense of belonging and
purpose to the social world (McLeod 2008).
 September 18, 1895 Booker Washington, ATL Exposition Address
 September 28, 1829 David Walker’s Appeal
1845 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Of our spiritual Strivings 1903
"Historical Document: David Walker's Appeal." PBS. PBS, 1999. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2931.html>.