By guest blogger Sarah Wenzel, Bibliographer for Romance and English Literatures
There are always items that "belong" in an exhibition but simply don’t fit , either physically into the cases or into the narrative formed by the other items on display. One example is a play in Special Collections that is not on view in “Haiti: Celebrating a Vibrant Literary and Musical Culture,” the current exhibition on view through September 2010 on the 3rd floor of the Regenstein Library. The exhibition celebrates the vibrant cultural life of Haïti; the play reflects 19th-century African-American appropriation of the Haïtian revolution as representative of heroism and of the dignity denied to African Americans in the post-Civil War United States.
“Haiti: Celebrating a Vibrant Literary and Musical Culture” focuses on the connections between Haïti and Chicago, as well as the musical and literary culture of the island. Haïti and its citizens have been important to Chicago from the beginning, as Jean Baptiste Pointe de Sable, often cited as the founder of the city, was a native Haïtian.
[Click on images to enlarge. An imaginary view of the site of Chicago in 1779 (then called Eschikago).... [Chicago] : A.T. Andreas, c1884. Regenstein Map Collection.]
During the 19th- and early 20th-century, Haïti was seen by other previously enslaved peoples as a bright example of independence and of citizens of African descent holding positions of power. Similarly, Haïtian literary culture was held as superior, and as a model for writers of other nationalities.
During the Columbian Exhibition of 1893 held in Chicago, the Haïtian pavilion was the first “national” edifice to be dedicated. Although it was not necessarily architecturally significant, it became extremely important to African-American fair attendees and those interested in civil rights. Frederick Douglass, who had been the United States’ ambassador to Haiti, was asked by the Haitian government to represent the republic at the fair. Among others, he was joined by the young poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar and activist Ida B. Wells. The pavilion became a focus-point for African Americans and those supporting African-American causes.
A History of the World's Columbian Exposition Held in Chicago in 1893 provides not only an image of the pavilion itself, but also this elaborate color map showing its location in the grand scheme. It is notable that the Haïtian pavilion is not located with other Latin American countries, but rather is adjacent to Germany and New South Wales.
Dessalines, a Dramatic Tale: a Single Chapter from Haiti's History is as an example of the regard in which Haïti was held among African Americans. Its author, William Edgar Easton (b.1861), takes liberties with history in order to advocate for “a healthy and substantial race pride,” portray the honor and value of “the Negro” and to decry the effects of slavery : “minds are not made captive by slavery’s chains, nor were men’s souls made for barter and trade” (p. vii).
Easton’s ancestors had fought for independence in the United States as far back as the Revolutionary War, and in Haïti. A leading figure in African-American society, he sought to write in an elevated style that he hoped would lead to a “happier era inaugurated by the…production of legitimate drama, written exclusively for Negro players and meeting…with the full endorsement of the brother in white.” (p. vii).
In addition to the the playscript, the volume includes "A Tribute to Haïtien Heroism” by Norris Wright Cuney and Frederick Douglass’ speech delivered on the occasion of the dedication of the Haïtian pavilion at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893.
The materials in Special Collections enrich and give depth to the exhibit, illustrating the long connection between Chicago and Haïti – a connection that continues to this day – and the important ideological role that Haïti played in 19th-century African-American rhetoric.
