A Preliminary Report on
Integrating Hannibal's Slave History
into the
Mark Twain Boyhood Home
By: Terrell Dempsey
Slavery is conspicuously absent from the Mark Twain boyhood home and
museum. Following a meeting with Henry Sweets, I agreed to review the
museum exhibits and make some suggestions as to how this omission can be
corrected. Unfortunately, this report must be styled a preliminary report.
Although Vicki and I have spent more than one hundred hours in research
since my September meeting with Mr. Sweets and have engaged two history
majors from Hannibal-LaGrange College who are aiding us in our research an
additional 12 hours a week, the story of slavery in Hannibal remains in
embryonic stage. I expect our research to last at least another year.
However, even at this stage, it is apparent there are some relatively easy
additions and changes the museum can make which will be substantial steps to
cure the errors of omission.
It is important to acknowledge that the subject of slavery remains painful
even as we approach the 135th anniversary of emancipation in Missouri. The
subject should be approached without recrimination among the living.
However, it is an unfortunate fact that the history of slavery in Hannibal
has been completely obscured -- or to borrow a term from Twain, it has been
whitewashed.
The whitewashing of slavery began long before any of the present stewards
of the Twain legacy in Hannibal were born. Even Twain himself participated
in the coverup. In Following the Equator, Twain wrote about his father
punishing a slave boy the family had to work around the house, "remembering
how the lad's "trifling little blunders and awkwardnesses" provoked John M.
Clemens from time to time to "cuff" him. In the original manuscript Judge
Clemens had lashed him, but in the margin Mark's wife Livy penciled, "I hate
to have your father pictured as lashing a slave boy," and the author
cheerfully rejoined, "it's out, and my father is whitewashed." (Wecter,
Dixon, Sam Clemens of Hannibal, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston 1952.)
Why should Hannibal's slave history be included in the story of Sam Clemens
in Hannibal?
There are definite advantages to telling the full story of Hannibal and
Twain's experience. From a public relations perspective, Hannibal has taken
some body blows for neglecting to reflect even the existence of involuntary
servitude in its presentment of Twain. Shelley Fisher-Fishkin's Lighting
Out for the Territory pummeled us for this omission. Likewise, an upcoming
PBS documentary on Twain to be aired this winter appears to be taking the
same approach.
By taking the initiative locally to include our very real African-American
Heritage (Mason Township was 24% slave when the Clemens arrived), we have an
opportunity to reach out to people. Our public image can improve and we can
attract more people to Hannibal.
Another advantage would be to create more respect for Hannibal among
main-stream Twain Scholars. Somewhere along the line -- and it appears to
have not been a policy decision to which anyone stakes a claim -- Hannibal
latched on to the unsubstantiated notion that Tom Sawyer is an authoritative
autobiography of Samuel Clemens. It is not Tom Sawyer that is generally
regarded as Twain's greatest work. Nor is it the only book to treat
Hannibal. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Life on the Mississippi, and
Pudd'nhead Wilson all deal with the town. But it is Huckleberry Finn that
generates the most interest. Ernest Hemingway in 1935 made the now famous
observation, "All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called
Huckleberry Finn." (Chadwick-Joshua, Jocelyn, The Jim Dilemma, University
Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 1998). Huckleberry Finn generates
controversy, it is true. But it is also the book that generates interest.
The moral issues of slavery and racism are the basis of the book and
Hannibal is the crucible in which the issues originate.
Many local people were stung by Ms. Fisher-Fishkin's criticisms of Hannibal
in Lighting Out for the Territory and there is a natural tendency to
retrench and be defensive on the part of some people in light of what is
perceived as unfair criticism. However, Ms. Fisher-Fishkin is a powerful
voice among Twain scholars. She edited the Oxford Twain series and is
president of the influential Twain Circle. Any steps to remedy the
omission of African Americans and slavery would be received positively by
the scholarly community. This would also be reflected in tourism. People
are looking for thoughtful, insightful displays. One need look nor further
than native son Ron Powers' Dangerous Waters to appreciate the powerful
influence the slave community and its story-telling traditions had on the
transition from Sam Clemens to Mark Twain.
Perhaps the most compelling reason for including the neglected slaves is
simple decency.
The slaves of Hannibal reared and suckled its children. Slaves cooked meals
which were served and were given the leftovers. They lit the fires in the
morning and put the lights out at night. They slept on pallets in the
kitchen and beneath the stairs. They did the hard labor in the town. They
were bought and sold. Families were separated. They were forbidden to
gather in groups larger than five people except for the limited purpose of
hearing sermons by approved preachers. They could not go about without
passes. They were routinely whipped. Is it fair to deny these people even
a presence in the story of the town they helped build and the author to whom
they contributed so much?
As stewards of a National Landmark and more importantly a national
treasure, the Board and Foundation have a duty to present as complete and
accurate a picture as possible of Twain's Hannibal and the forces that
nurtured him as a writer. This means that change in the museum is
inevitable. As the Reverend Desmond Tutu wrote in the foreword of the
report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report on South Africa,
"The past, it has been said, is another country. The way its stories are
told and the way they are heard change as the years go by. The spotlight
gyrates, exposing old lies and illuminating new truths. As a fuller picture
emerges, a new piece of the jigsaw puzzle of our past settles into place."
Mr. Sweets was kind enough to give me a museum pass for the month of
October. I have reviewed the videotape and the extant exhibits. Our
research into slavery in Hannibal is going well, but I have a long way to
go. Though we have many theses which we are exploring, we wish not to be
hasty in drawing conclusions. However, the following suggestions can be
implemented immediately at little cost. They all are clearly substantiated
and documented. I am willing to aid the museum if you desire.
Proposals:
1) Acknowledge slavery in Hannibal in the videotape and in the displays in
the museum. Population information is readily available from the 1840 and
1850 censuses.
2) Judge Clemens was a juror in the infamous September 1841 trial of
Thompson, Work and Burr. A woodcut of the men in jail is available and in
the public domain. It would make a good display with a narrative about the
trial of the abolitionists and their resulting 12-year sentences.
3) Acknowledge in the residence audiotapes that the Clemens family owned
and leased slaves. The slave Jennie can be named individually. Jennie was
apparently the last of many slaves owned by John Marshall and Jane Clemens
though they continued to lease slaves on a yearly basis for household
servants. The lessee of a slave paid the slave's owner an annual fee and
agreed to provide a change of clothes, food and medical care for the year.
4) The Hawkins family across the street were also slave owners. This fact
should be acknowledged.
5) A pallet can be placed in the kitchen representing where Jennie and
subsequent hired slaves most likely slept.
6) A display representing Twain's adult friendship with Frederick Douglass
could be developed. Douglass is well-recognized by young people. It would
create a very positive association.
7) A very strong display could be developed regarding Twain's paying the
tuition of a black Yale Law student as part of, "the reparation due to every
black man by every white man." (Twain as quoted in Wecter's Sam Clemens of
Hannibal.) Further information is available in Fisher-Fishkin's Lighting Out
for the Territory.
8) The issue of why Jim was running away could be explored in the raft
exhibit.
9) A display drawing on Power's work could focus on the experiences of
Twain with the slaves at Quarles' farm. This would be a good venue to
explore African-American story telling traditions.
______________________________
Terrell Dempsey
-----Original Message-----
From: PENNY <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, January 26, 2000 2:47 PM
Subject: Re: Twain documents
>Please post to me at [log in to unmask] thank you
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