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Academic Seminars

Reading in the Shadow of the Gallows

Jeannine DeLombard

Tuesday, September 25, 2007, at 4:30 p.m.
Elmarion Room, Goddard-Daniels House
190 Salisbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts

PRÉCIS: In Federalist No. 54, James Madison defends the Constitution.s notorious three-fifths clause on the basis of enslaved African Americans. .mixed character of persons and of property.. Emphasizing the legal fiction of the slave as human chattel capable of criminal but not civil agency, this paper finds affirmation of black personhood in an unlikely place: the colonial and early national gallows literature attributed to condemned slaves. Focusing on inventories of stolen goods in the most heavily mediated and formulaic of these criminal confessions, I propose the relevance of such "black catalogues" to the antebellum slave narrative as it emerged in the context of American literary nationalism.

Refreshments will be provided during the discussion of the paper.

Afterwards, a supper from a local restaurant (with wine) will be served in the dining room of the Goddard-Daniels House at $17.00 per person. If you wish to stay for supper, please register online and send your check (payable to AAS) to Ann-Cathrine Rapp to arrive at AAS no later than Friday, September 21.

The Society regrets that it is unable to make refunds after that date.

Reservations are suggested (and deeply appreciated) for attending the seminar. Reservations are required to attend the supper.