Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
Since in all pain thy tender love
Will still my sure refreshment prove.
—Wesleys Collection
4.8.2 Reading and Review Questions
1. Why does Walker address his appeal to blacks? What does he hope to
achieve by addressing blacks directly?
2. Why does Walker call white slave-holders “false Christians?” What’s
his purpose in doing so? What role do American preachers play in the
oppression of black slaves?
3. Why, and to what eect, does Walker contextualize American slaves of
his present day with slaves throughout history, including those in Israel,
Sparta, and Spain, as well as oppressed peoples, such as the Irish and
the Jews?
4. How and why does Walker criticize Jeerson’s Notes on the State of
Virginia? What does he hope for his audience to do or achieve through
these criticisms?
5. How and why does ignorance endanger American blacks? How are they
deceived?
4.9 WILLIAM APESS
(1798–1839)
William Apess is credited as the
rst Native American to publish an
extensive autobiography, A Son of the
Forest (1829). In it, he writes that his
father was a white man and his mother
was the granddaughter of Metacom, or
King Philip (instigator of King Philips
War of 1676). His mother may have been
part African American. It is possible
that Apess was indeed a descendent of
Metacom; he may also have descended
from the Pequot tribe, a tribe that Apess’s
father joined. Apess was born in Colrain,
Massachusetts. His autobiography
describes his childhood as painful, as
he was left to the care of poor, alcoholic,
and physically-abusive grandparents.
He attributed their abuse in good part to
Image 4.8 | William Apess
Artist | Unknown
Source | Wikimedia Commons
License | Public Domain
Page | 850