LITR 4232: American Renaissance
University of Houston-Clear Lake
Student Presentation, spring 2001

Reader: Charley Bevill

Recorder: Thomas Parker

06 February 2001

William Apess

John Wannuaucon Quinney

Sojourner Truth

Harriet Beecher Stowe "Sojourner Truth, the Libyan Sibyl"

If we don’t study the past, we lose any sense of how far our predecessors have taken us in terms of facing and solving the problems that come with being human beings.

-Craig White

With this in mind, the focus of discussion is on course objective number 3: to use literature as a basis for discussing representative problems and subjects of American culture, namely equality (or lack there of) based on race and/or gender. What I found interesting in the readings was that both Apess and Truth use Christianity to champion their cause. William Apess speaks of equality for the American Indian man. Sojourner Truth speaks of equality for Blacks as well as equality for all women. Basically, what they are saying is, if we as Christians are all equal in heaven, why not here on earth? An example from an earlier reading would be Cora and Uncas in The Last of the Mohicans. They couldn’t be together here on earth, but they could share the afterlife.

When reading the introduction in Sojourner Truth’s "Speech at New York City Convention," I found a very interesting line. "Sojourner combined in herself, as an individual, the two most hated elements of humanity. She was black, and she was a woman." Appearing to embody this description, I thought it was interesting that I was chosen for this selection of readings. However, my heritage very closely resembles that of William Apess.

In "Reminiscences by Frances D. Gage of Sojourner Truth, for May 28-29, 1851" on page 2049, Truth gets up and in a few words takes everything the male authority has said in two days and basically throws it out the window. "Whar did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothin’ to do wid Him." She uses wit and the Bible, of which she can not read and gets to the point.

The next reading is from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s "Sojourner Truth, the Libyan Sibyl," page 2390. It is Frederick Douglass’s view that the Christianity practiced at the time is far from Christ-like behavior. He states that "…the black race…had no hope of justice from the whites…they must fight for themselves…or it would never be done." And again, Truth gets her point across simply by asking, "Frederick, is God dead?"

I then turned to William Apess’s use of the Bible in his essay, "An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man." I found it interesting to note that this essay was in the original printing of the book The Experiences of Five Christian Indians of the Pequod Tribe in 1833 before the Civil War, but was omitted in the 1877 edition after the Civil War. On page1871, Apess refers to the theory that Native Americans were descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Although the word gentile today often means a Christian, at the time Apess is speaking of, gentile was a pagan or heathen, namely someone not a Jew. Yet the Native Americans as well as other people of color were typically referred to as heathens.

I really pondered over a line on page 1872. "Now if the Lord Jesus Christ, who is counted by all to be a Jew, and it is well known that the Jews are a colored people, especially those living in the East, where Christ was born – and if he should appear amongst us, would he not be shut out of doors by many, very quickly? and by those too, who profess religion?" So, this is where I opened the discussion. What would you do if a stranger showed up at your door professing religion? I don’t even let the Jehovah’s Witness inside the door, and the ones that show up at my door tend to look like me. I take the information they leave, but that’s all. So what would you do if someone showed up that didn’t look like you? Would you even open the door?

A very lively discussion ensued. Lynn stated that in small towns people open their doors and many times leave them unlocked. In the larger cities, they do not. Cleo brought up the song by Joan Osbourne, "What If God Was One of Us?" She also mentioned the popular concept of Jesus as being blonde and blue-eyed. Keely pointed out another line in Apess’s essay. On page 1869,"If black or red skins, or any other skin of color is disgraceful to God, it appears that he has disgraced himself a great deal – for he has made fifteen colored people to one white, and placed them here upon this earth."

The discussion then went to Will who stated that "Even if you hate someone, you are going to listen to what they have to say. That is why Howard Stern is so popular." Dr. White concluded with "Religion can be used as a gateway to understanding."

There has always been an issue of race in America. There has always been an issue of gender. But what brought many to this country originally was the issue of religion. William Apess, a male Native American and Sojourner Truth, a true African-American woman, take Christianity and use it to further their cause for equality under God here on earth.