Off the Page Collaborative Conversation
When writing about citizenship, Derrick Spires argues that we must claim “the everyday activities as doing the work of citizenship, often outside of or despite dominant political frameworks.”[1] Similarly in this conversation regarding early print culture, we must think about the conversations and the everyday practices outside the words on the page that also afforded Black and Indigenous literary contributors’ agency and authority.
The contributors agreed that educating oneself is crucial, whether that was in a formalized classroom or on own’s own time.[2] Their education is not made apparent in the paratexts, but it is a fundamental tool that provided them access to the space.[3] James Printer announced his awareness of being educated through a Euro-American colonization project.[4] Yet, he expressed that his understanding of more than one language was a rare gift, and he found it to be a power he had over Eliot and other white writers. [5]
Katherine Garret told the group she also learned to read and write at a young age.[6] Additionally, she explained how she purposefully exposed herself and forced herself to read sermons, where she learned about the genre.[7] While off the page when she was not yet a literary contributor and was just reading as an everyday practice, she began to understand how her work could be printed in Euro-American presses and her story could be remembered.
Phillis Wheatley clarified that she was educated by the Wheatley family.[8] By a young age, she revealed that she was able to read religious texts, Greek, Latin, British literature, and she also comprehended geography and astronomy.[9] Wheatley added that the educational background assisted her in writing during her youth and she was proud when her first poem was published when she was only fourteen.[10] She voiced that she overheard people call her a genius, and she rightfully agreed with their claims.[11]
John Marrant mentioned that he was educated in Florida at a young age as well, and he learned to read and write.[12] He found that another skill that he learned off the page and that offered him access to new places was learning to play the violin and French horn.[13] Through his musical ability, he recounted how he was invited to perform at countless venues and entered other Euro-American spaces not build with him in mind.[14]
Through their education and access to English, the writers agreed that they could then stage negotiations and have conversations off the page that impacted what they could write on the page.[15]
Printer spoke about his tireless debates with Eliot, where Printer continuously argued for his translation preferences.[16] He added that his skills in English helped him stage several negotiations with white literary contributors off the page. For example, he noted that he constantly defended his translation decisions and his ordering of his words in the paratextual materials.[17] Off the page, he also negotiated for his name to be incorporated in the Massachusetts Psalter in 1709.[18] Tired of the lack of authorship attributed to him on the page, off the page he continued to fight for his contributions to be credited.[19]
Garret shared her negotiations off the page through her conversations with Adams about the space her work took up on the page. She also voiced that she attempted to negotiate with her translator to reassure her that her speech would be translated accurately, but she indicated her nervousness and uncertainty with her translator’s ultimate decisions.[20] Garret also added that she was angry that she could not state that her text was an autobiography on the page in the paratextual materials, and instead it was defined as an execution narrative.[21] Off the page she verbalized how she continuously spread through word of mouth that her text was an autobiographical account since it was a genre she thought better fit her piece.[22] She professed that she wanted her account to be remembered as her personal story, and autobiographies offer her that ownership.
Wheatley expressed that she had countless conversations off the page with several literary contributors and tried to appeal to different audiences.[23] She stated the significance of going out of her way to speak to several publishers to catch their attention.[24] Because of her upmost intelligence, Wheatley also recalled how white publishers glanced at her curiously, but she ignored their racist and sexist remarks and continued to persevere.[25] As she continued to negotiate her place in print culture, she also conveyed how she negotiated the topics she could discuss. Soon, Wheatley explained how she was able to speak for herself and propose her actual opinions on topics like slavery and colonialism.[26]
Finally, Marrant asserted that he had several arguments where he articulated his desire to incorporate his opinions about slavery into his own narrative.[27] He noted that during his time working with Reverend Aldridge, Aldridge forbad him from offering his opinions on the matter.[28] However, he proclaimed his satisfaction when he moved away from this troubling partnership and later worked with publisher R. Hawes.[29] In this new account, Marrant was successfully able to add his anti-slavery remarks and spread his insight through his own account.
James Printer also articulated that there were moments when he did not even find it valuable to negotiate with white contributors off the page, and instead he put his future into his own hand. When his wife got pregnant, he decided to leave the printing space altogether in order to prioritize his family and kinship, as his family was something he was not willing to negotiate.[30] He felt no obligation to the white printing culture that took advantage of his skills, so he took what he learned from his education and the Harvard Press and left the space. The other contributors commended Printer for removing himself from the printing press. Not only did he make the best decision for himself and his family, but the contributors also understood how physically and mentally taxing it is for a contributor of color to constantly negotiate for humanistic decencies in their working environment.[31]
Overall, the contributors were in consensus that their conversations and negotiations off the page all helped strengthen the argument that Black and Indigenous writers need to be a part of the Early American literary canon. Although there were several attempts by Euro-American print participants to erase and silence the work of Black and Indigenous writers, the writers understood the gravity of explicitly stating their negotiations off the page since it indicates that their stories and work need to be a part of the early American print culture history and generally should be remembered.
[1] Derrick Spires, The Practice of Citizenship : Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States, (2019), 13.
[2] Lisa Brooks, Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, (2018), 72.
[3] Jodi Schorb, “Seeing Other Wise: Reading a Pequot Execution Narrative,” in Early Native Literacies in New England: A Documentary and Critical Anthology, (2008), 153.
[4] Phillip H. Round, Removable Type: Histories of the Book in Indian Country, 1663-1880, (2010), 18.
[5] Lisa Brooks, Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, (2018), 85.
[6] Jodi Schorb, “Seeing Other Wise: Reading a Pequot Execution Narrative,” in Early Native Literacies in New England: A Documentary and Critical Anthology, (2008), 153.
[7] Ibid.,153.
[8] Megan Mulder, “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, by Phillis Wheatley (1773),” ZSR Library, February 26, 2013, https://zsr.wfu.edu/2013/poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral-by-phillis-wheatley-1773/
[9] Ibid,, https://zsr.wfu.edu/2013/poems-on-various-subjects-religious-and-moral-by-phillis-wheatley-1773/
[10] Karen Weyler, Empowering Words: Outsiders and Authorship in Early America, 25.
[11] Joseph Rezek, “Early Black Evangelical Writing and the Limits of Print,” in African American Literature in Transition, 1750-1800, (2022), 23.
[12] John Marrant et al., A Narrative of the Lord’s Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant, a Black :(now Going to Preach the Gospel in Nova Scotia) Born in New York in North America, (1785), Print.
[13] Ibid., Print.
[14] Karen Weyler, Empowering Words: Outsiders and Authorship in Early America, 113.
[15] Ibid., 22.
[16] Phillip H. Round, Removable Type: Histories of the Book in Indian Country, 1663-1880, (2010), 31.
[17] Lisa Brooks, Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, (2018), 89.
[18] Kimberly Toney, “From English to Algonquian: Early New England Translations,” https://americanantiquarian.org/EnglishtoAlgonquian/jamesprinter
[19] Phillip H. Round, Removable Type: Histories of the Book in Indian Country, 1663-1880, (2010), 31.
[20] Jodi Schorb, “Seeing Other Wise: Reading a Pequot Execution Narrative,” in Early Native Literacies in New England: A Documentary and Critical Anthology, (2008), 152.
[21] Ibid., 148.
[22] Ibid., 153.
[23] David Waldstreicher, “Women’s Politics, Antislavery Politics, and Phillis Wheatley’s American Revolution,” in Revolution and Reconstructions: Black Politics in the Long Nineteenth Century, (2020), 33-34.
[24] Joseph Rezek, “Early Black Evangelical Writing and the Limits of Print,” in African American Literature in Transition, 1750-1800, (2022), 22.
[25] Ibid., 23.
[26] David Waldstreicher, “Women’s Politics, Antislavery Politics, and Phillis Wheatley’s American Revolution,” in Revolution and Reconstructions: Black Politics in the Long Nineteenth Century, (2020), 33-34.
[27] Joseph Rezek, “Early Black Evangelical Writing and the Limits of Print,” in African American Literature in Transition, 1750-1800, (2022), 26.
[28] Ibid., 25.
[29] Karen Weyler, Empowering Words: Outsiders and Authorship in Early America, (2013), 113.
[30] Lisa Brooks, Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War, (2018), 106.
[31] Phillip H. Round, Removable Type: Histories of the Book in Indian Country, 1663-1880, (2010), 41.