Negotiating (through) the Skin: The Black Body, Pamphleteering, and African American Writing against Biological Exclusion

Abstract

This chapter turns to antebellum African American pamphlets, a part of the African American writing tradition generally understudied in comparison with the fugitive slave narrative. Considering the ways in which black pamphleteers dealt with the pressing task of tackling stereotypes and racialisms that sought to exclude the black body “biologically,” I demonstrate how their strategies of writing against this “biological exclusion” could also become a means for expressing environmental knowledge. While including seminal texts like David Walker’s “Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World” (1829), this chapter primarily focuses on lesser-known pamphlets by Hosea Easton, John Lewis, and William Whipper. The readings draw attention to alternative lines within the pamphlet tradition and suggest its relevance for ecocriticism.