Black Well-Being University Press of Florida Florida A&M University, Tallahassee Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers Florida International University, Miami Florida State University, Tallahassee New College of Florida, Sarasota University of Central Florida, Orlando University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville University of South Florida, Tampa University of West Florida, Pensacola   Black Well-Being Health and Selfhood in Antebellum Black Literature Andrea Stone University Press of Florida Gainesville/Tallahassee/Tampa/Boca Raton Pensacola/Orlando/Miami/Jacksonville/Ft. Myers/Sarasota Copyright 2016 by Andrea Stone All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper This book may be available in an electronic edition. 21 20 19 18 17 16 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Stone, Andrea, 1974– author. Title: Black well-being : health and selfhood in antebellum black literature / Andrea Stone. Description: Gainesville : University Press of Florida, [2016] Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2015043064 | ISBN 9780813062570 (alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: American literature—African American authors—History and criticism. | African Americans—Intellectual life. Classification: LCC PS153.N5 S76 2016 | DDC 810.9/896073—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015043064 The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida State University, New College of Florida, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and University of West Florida. University Press of Florida 15 Northwest 15th Street Gainesville, FL 32611-2079 http://www.upf.com For my parents, David and Edith Gray   The Negro thrives under the shadow of his white master, falls readily into the position assigned him, and exists and multiplies in increased physical well-being. Henry S. Patterson, M.D., “Memoir of Samuel George Morton” We should indeed regard them as wards and dependents on our kindness, for whose well-being in every way we are deeply responsible. William Harper, jurist and senator, “Memoir of Slavery” It is true, efforts have been made by wise and good men in almost every age, to enlighten and improve mankind; but these have been confined to individual instances, and have in general been devoted to the propagation of opinions only, in which each individual is in some degree at variance with every other; but the discovery to which we allude, is the practice of combining society itself in intellectual masses, for the purpose of attaining some certain, defined, and acknowledged good, which is generally allowed to be essential to the well-being of the whole. Statement of the Liverpool Society for the Abolition of Slavery Law has as much to do with the hideous monster, slavery, as medicine or any other respectable business. Martin Delany, North Star, January 28, 1848  Contents List of Figures x Acknowledgments xi Introduction. Human, Person, Self: Blackness and Well-Being 1 1. The Ruled and Regulated Self: Medicine and Race Science in the Black New World 27 2. Ancient Ideals and the Healthy Self: Mary Ann Shadd’s Plea for Emigration and Martin Robison Delany’s Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny 51 3. The Self in Pain: Colonialism, Disability, and National Identity— Mary Prince, Sophia Pooley, and Lavina Wormeny 84 4. The Protective Self: Slave Sexual Health, Crime, and U.S. Legal Personhood—Celia’s Murder Trial and Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents 121 5. The Promising Self: Sexual Expression, Heroism, and Revolution— Frederick Douglass’s “The Heroic Slave” and Martin Robison Delany’s Blake 155 Conclusion. Black Intellectuals, Black Well-Being: Questions about the Future of Black American Literary Studies 194 Notes 201 Bibliography 213 Index 229