The Black Gauntlet: A Tale of Plantation Life in South Carolina

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The Black Gauntlet: A Tale of Plantation Life in South Carolina
The Black Gauntlet.jpg
First edition title page
AuthorMary Howard Schoolcraft (as Mrs. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Plantation literature
Publication date
 1860

The Black Gauntlet: A Tale of Plantation Life in South Carolina (also known as simply The Black Gauntlet) is an anti-Tom novel written in 1860 by Mary Howard Schoolcraft, published under her married name of Mrs. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft.

Anti-Tom literature

Anti-Tom literature refers to the 19th century pro-slavery novels and other literary works written in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Also called plantation literature, these writings were generally written by authors from the Southern United States. Books in the genre attempted to show either that slavery was beneficial to African Americans or that the evils of slavery as depicted in Stowe's book were overblown and incorrect.

This article presents lists of literary events and publications in 1860.

Mary Howard Schoolcraft was an American writer, the author of the controversial pro-slavery novel, The Black Gauntlet: A Tale of Plantation Life in South Carolina. She was the second wife of geographer, geologist and ethnologist Henry Schoolcraft.

Contents

Background

Mary Howard (d. 1878) was born into the planter slaveholding elite of South Carolina. She was the second wife of the widower and ethnologist Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, who was 53 when they married in 1846. They lived in Washington, DC.

Sowing process of planting seeds

Sowing is the process of planting. An area or object that has had seeds planted in it will be described as being sowed.

South Carolina State of the United States of America

South Carolina is a state in the Southeastern United States and the easternmost of the Deep South. It is bordered to the north by North Carolina, to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the southwest by Georgia across the Savannah River.

The Black Gauntlet is an example of the pro-slavery plantation literature genre that was written in response to the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Critics accused Stowe of exaggerating (or inaccurately depicting) Southern society, slaveholders, slaves and the institution of slavery in the South. [1]

<i>Uncle Toms Cabin</i> 1852 anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War".

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1852.

Harriet Beecher Stowe 19th-century American abolitionist and author

Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. She came from the Beecher family, a famous religious family, and is best known for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which depicts the harsh conditions for enslaved African Americans. The book reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and Great Britain, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential for both her writings and her public stances and debates on social issues of the day.

The Black Gauntlet is unusual as a late example, as the majority were written and published soon after Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852. The competing novels were part of the public, rhetorical arguments between North and South in the years of rising political and social tensions before the American Civil War.

American Civil War Civil war in the United States from 1861 to 1865

The American Civil War was a war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The Civil War is the most studied and written about episode in U.S. history. Primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people, war broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery.

Plot

Unlike other anti-Tom novels, The Black Gauntlet does not have a discernible narrative. It is essentially a collection of speeches by characters who argue for American slavery as an institution. Some of the speeches were created by Schoolcraft. In other cases, she refers to quotations from other published works, including the Bible and Uncle Tom's Cabin. [2]

Slavery in the United States Form of slave labor which existed as a legal institution from the early years of the United States

Slavery in the United States was the legal institution of human chattel enslavement, primarily of Africans and African Americans, that existed in the United States of America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Slavery had been practiced in British America from early colonial days, and was legal in all Thirteen Colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It lasted in about half the states until 1865, when it was prohibited nationally by the Thirteenth Amendment. As an economic system, slavery was largely replaced by sharecropping.

Bible Collection of religious texts in Judaism and Christianity

The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures. Varying parts of the Bible are considered to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans by Christians, Jews, Samaritans, and Rastafarians.

In other works

Schoolcraft's work used quotes which had also appeared in Aunt Phillis's Cabin (1852) by Mary Henderson Eastman, a native Virginian. [3]

<i>Aunt Philliss Cabin</i> book by Mary Eastman

Aunt Phillis's Cabin; or, Southern Life As It Is by Mary Henderson Eastman is a plantation fiction novel, and is perhaps the most read anti-Tom novel in American literature. It was published by Lippincott, Grambo & Co. of Philadelphia in 1852 as a response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, published earlier that year. The novel sold 20,000–30,000 copies, making it a strong commercial success and bestseller. Based on her growing up in Warrenton, Virginia of an elite planter family, Eastman portrays plantation owners and slaves as mutually respectful, kind, and happy beings.

Seth and Mary Eastman American husband-and-wife duo authors on Native American life (illustrator and writer)

Seth Eastman and his second wife Mary Henderson Eastman were instrumental in recording Native American life. Eastman was an artist and West Point graduate who served in the US Army, first as a mapmaker and illustrator. He had two tours at Fort Snelling, Minnesota Territory; during the second, extended tour he was commanding officer of the fort. During these years, he painted many studies of Native American life. He was notable for the quality of his hundreds of illustrations for Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's six-volume study on History of Indian Tribes of the United States (1851–1857), commissioned by the US Congress. From their time at Fort Snelling, Mary Henderson Eastman wrote a book about Dakota Sioux life and culture, which Seth Eastman illustrated. In 1838, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician.

Related Research Articles

<i>Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp</i> novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp is the second popular novel from American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was first published in two volumes by Phillips, Sampson and Company in 1856. Although it enjoyed better initial sales than her previous, and more famous, novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, it was ultimately less popular. Dred was of a more documentary nature than Uncle Tom's Cabin and thus lacked a character like Uncle Tom to evoke strong emotion from readers.

<i>The Planters Northern Bride</i> book by Caroline Lee Hentz

The Planter's Northern Bride is an 1854 novel written by Caroline Lee Hentz, in response to the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852.

Uncle Robin, in His Cabin in Virginia, and Tom Without One in Boston is an 1853 novel written by J.W. Page and released by J. W. Randolph Publishers of Richmond, Virginia.

Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South is an 1853 plantation fiction novel by Martha Haines Butt.

<i>Little Eva: The Flower of the South</i>

Little Eva: The Flower of the South is an 1853 children's novel written by Philip J. Cozans.

White Acre vs. Black Acre is an 1856 plantation fiction novel written by William M. Burwell.

Life at the South; or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" As It Is is an 1852 plantation fiction novel written by William L.G. Smith.

The North and the South; or, Slavery and Its Contrasts is an 1852 plantation fiction novel by Caroline Rush, and among the first examples of the genre, alongside others such as Aunt Phillis's Cabin by Mary Henderson Eastman and Life at the South; or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" As It Is by W.L.G. Smith, both of which were also released in 1852.

Frank Freeman's Barber Shop is an 1852 plantation fiction novel written by Baynard Rush Hall.

<i>The Cabin and Parlor; or, Slaves and Masters</i> book by Charles Jacobs Peterson

The Cabin and Parlor; or, Slaves and Masters is an 1852 novel written by Charles Jacobs Peterson under the pseudonym of J. Thornton Randolph.

The Lofty and the Lowly, or Good in All and None All Good is a novel by Maria Jane McIntosh published by D. Appleton & Company in 1853. It was one of many anti-Tom novels published in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The story is set is Georgia and tells of a plantation owner's efforts to avoid bankruptcy with the help of his loyal slave Daddy Cato. Their efforts are challenged by a northern usurer and devious northern capitalists. The book sold well across the United States upon release, making it one of the most successful anti-Tom novels in the middle 19th century.

<i>Mr. Frank, the Underground Mail-Agent</i> book by anonymus

Mr. Frank, the Underground Mail-Agent is an 1853 parody novel written by an unknown author credited as "Vidi".

<i>Ellen; or, The Fanatics Daughter</i>

Ellen; or, The Fanatic's Daughter' is an 1860 plantation fiction novel written by Mrs. V.G. Cowdin.

Tit for Tat is an 1856 novel written anonymously by "A Lady of New Orleans".

The Ebony Idol is a plantation literature novel first published in 1860 and written by G.M. Flanders.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" Contrasted with Buckingham Hall, the Planter's Home is an 1852 novel by Robert Criswell, combining elements of Anti-Tom literature and romantic fiction.

References

  1. ↑ "Uncle Tom's Cabin", ENotes
  2. ↑ "The Black Gauntlet", Stephen Railton, Pro-Slavery Responses, Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture, University of Virginia, accessed 3 April 2011
  3. ↑ Preface of Aunt Phillis's Cabin - M.H. Eastman (1852)


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