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Imagining Slavery: Representations of the Peculiar Institution on the Northern Stage, 1776–1860

Imagining Slavery: Representations of the Peculiar Institution on the Northern Stage, 1776–1860 meli n da l awson Imagining Slavery Representations of the Peculiar Institution on the Northern Stage, 1776–1860 In October 1855, the fi rst installment of a remarkable story about slav- ery appeared in Putnam’s Monthly magazine. Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno told the tale of an American sea captain who, while sailing along the coast of Chile, stumbled on a strange ship fl ying no colors, its fi gure- head shrouded in torn muslin, drifting dangerously near land. Though harsh gales and scurvy had nearly destroyed the San Dominick and its occupants, as Captain Delano soon discovered, its sickened captain, Benito Cereno, was being well cared for by the African slaves the ship carried as cargo. Delano watched as “elderly, grizzled negroes . . . with a sort of stoical self-content” labored, accompanying their task “with a continuous low, monotonous chant; droning and drooling away.” Six hatchet polishers appeared “stupidly intent on their work, unmindful of everything . . . except at intervals, when, with the peculiar love of Negroes of uniting industry with pastime . . . they sideways clashed their hatch- ets together, like cymbals, with a raw, barbarous din.” And a “slumber- ing Negress” lay on the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Journal of the Civil War Era University of North Carolina Press

Imagining Slavery: Representations of the Peculiar Institution on the Northern Stage, 1776–1860

Lawson, Melinda,
The Journal of the Civil War Era , Volume 1 (1) – Mar 11, 2011
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Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright @ The University of North Carolina Press
ISSN
2159-9807

Abstract

meli n da l awson Imagining Slavery Representations of the Peculiar Institution on the Northern Stage, 1776–1860 In October 1855, the fi rst installment of a remarkable story about slav- ery appeared in Putnam’s Monthly magazine. Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno told the tale of an American sea captain who, while sailing along the coast of Chile, stumbled on a strange ship fl ying no colors, its fi gure- head shrouded in torn muslin, drifting dangerously near land. Though harsh gales and scurvy had nearly destroyed the San Dominick and its occupants, as Captain Delano soon discovered, its sickened captain, Benito Cereno, was being well cared for by the African slaves the ship carried as cargo. Delano watched as “elderly, grizzled negroes . . . with a sort of stoical self-content” labored, accompanying their task “with a continuous low, monotonous chant; droning and drooling away.” Six hatchet polishers appeared “stupidly intent on their work, unmindful of everything . . . except at intervals, when, with the peculiar love of Negroes of uniting industry with pastime . . . they sideways clashed their hatch- ets together, like cymbals, with a raw, barbarous din.” And a “slumber- ing Negress” lay on the

Journal

The Journal of the Civil War Era – University of North Carolina Press

Published: Mar 11, 2011

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