Searching for Jim : slavery in Sam Clemens's world / Terrell Dempsey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dempsey, Terrell, 1954-

Series:

Mark Twain and his circle series.

Mark Twain and his circle series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature and society--United States--History--19th century.

Literature and society.

Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century.

Antislavery movements.

Slavery--Missouri--Hannibal--History--19th century.

Slavery.

Slavery--United States--History--19th century.

Authors, American--19th century--Biography.

Authors, American.

Slavery in literature.

Racism in literature.

Hannibal (Mo.)--Intellectual life--19th century.

Hannibal (Mo.).

Hannibal (Mo.)--Social conditions.

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910--Political and social views.

Twain, Mark.

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910--Homes and haunts--Missouri--Hannibal.

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910--Family.

Physical Description:

xvii, 316 p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Columbia : University of Missouri Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Searching for Jim is the untold story of Sam Clemens and the world of slavery that produced him. Despite Clemens's remarks to the contrary in his autobiography, slavery was very much a part of his life. Dempsey has uncovered a wealth of newspaper accounts and archival material revealing that Clemens's life, from the ages of twelve to seventeen, was intertwined with the lives of the slaves around him. During Sam's earliest years, his father, John Marshall Clemens, had significant interaction with slaves. Newly discovered court records show the senior Clemens in his role as justice of the peace in Hannibal enforcing the slave ordinances. With the death of his father, young Sam was apprenticed to learn the printing and newspaper trade. It was in the newspaper that slaves were bought and sold, masters sought runaways, and life insurance was sold on slaves. Stories the young apprentice typeset helped Clemens learn to write in black dialect, a skill he would use throughout his writing, most notably in Huckleberry Finn. Missourians at that time feared abolitionists across the border in Illinois and Iowa. Slave owners suspected every traveling salesman, itinerant preacher, or immigrant of being an abolition agent sent to steal slaves. This was the world in which Sam Clemens grew up. Dempsey also discusses the stories of Hannibal's slaves: their treatment, condition, and escapes. He uncovers new information about the Underground Railroad, particularly about the role free blacks played in northeast Missouri. Carefully reconstructed from letters, newspaper articles, sermons, speeches, books, and court records, Searching for Jim offers a new perspective on Clemens's writings, especially regarding his use of race in the portrayal of individual characters, their attitudes, and worldviews. This fascinating volume will be valuable to anyone trying to measure the extent to which Clemens transcended the slave culture he lived in during his formative years and the struggles he later faced in dealing with race and guilt. It will forever alter the way we view Sam Clemens, Hannibal, and Mark Twain.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 A Performance Spring 1891 - Hartford, Connecticut

Chapter 2 1839

Chapter 3 Slavery and the Clemens Family

Chapter 4 The Abolition Movement across the River

Chapter 5 The Contest Begins

Chapter 6 The Trial of Thompson, Work, and Burr

Chapter 7 Judge John Marshall Clemens

Chapter 8 Slavery and the Churches of Hannibal

Chapter 9 The Theology of Slavery

Chapter 10 The Face of Domestic Slavery in Hannibal

Chapter 11 The Siege Begins

Chapter 12 The Emancipation and Colonization Movement

Chapter 13 1849 and 1850 Terror in Marion County

Chapter 14 Sam Clemens and the Press in Slave Culture

Chapter 15 Runaway Slaves and Slave Resistance

Chapter 16 Battling Abolitionists in the Press The Enemy Without

Chapter 17 Dehumanizing the Slave in the Press

Chapter 18 The Slave Trade in Hannibal

Chapter 19 Leaving Hannibal and Taking a Swipe at the Abolitionists

Chapter 20 The Great Change The Railroad

Chapter 21 Steamboating Days

Chapter 22 Sam Clemens Comes Back to Fight

Postscript

Appendix

Selected Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-303) and index.

ISBN:

9780826264398

0826264395

OCLC:

61428354