The African Preacher: Its Text and Contexts

Tentative Outline

Preface

  1. Purpose and Scope of this Book
  2. Publication History of The African Preacher.
  3. The Virginia Literary and Evangelical Magazine
  4. The Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1849
  5. Sprinkle Publications, 1998
  6. Justification for Reprinting The African Preacher in this Volume
  7. The Character and Genre of The African Preacher: What It Is and What It Isn’t [Note: Idea to be further developed in Chapters 8 and 9.]
  8. The narrator’s voice and the illustrations.
  9. A “slave narrative” with a different agenda.
  10. Problems in the Search for the Real Uncle Jack
  11. White tells Jack’s story from a narrow perspective that selects and shapes the events for his purposes.
  12. Most of the corroborating evidence we have about Uncle Jack comes from sources that share White’s perspective.
  13. Important questions about the basic facts of Jack’s life cannot be answered by any available records.

Part I: The African Preacher

This will be the entire text of The African Preacher, based on the 1849 edition, including the two appendices, “Biographical Sketch of Dr. James Jones” and “The Night Funeral of a Slave.” Footnotes will indicate (a) the differences between the 1849 edition and the edition published serially by the Virginia Literary and Evangelical Magazine, and (b) references to later discussions in this volume concerning specific persons and events.

Part II: Documenting Jack’s Story

Chapter 1: Jack’s Early Years

  1. Determining the Date of Jack’s Birth
  2. Jack’s Arrival in Virginia and Purchase by Charles Stewart
  3. The Strategic Location of Stewart’s Estate

Chapter 2: Jack and the Presbyterian Divines [Note: This will be a revised and expanded version of the SHEAR paper.]

  1. Archibald Alexander, John Blair Smith, and William Hill in Southside Virginia
  2. William S. White, Dr. James Jones, and the Nottoway Presbyterians
  3. John Holt Rice and The Virginia Literary and Evangelical Magazine
  4. Professor James Jones White at Washington College

Chapter 3: Jack and the Nottoway Baptists

  1. The Baptist Church in Nottoway County, 1770 – 1830
  2. Jack’s License to Preach

Chapter 4: Jack’s Manumission [Short chapter.]

Chapter 5: Jack’s Marriage [Short chapter.]

Chapter 6: Jack’s Death [Short chapter.]

Part III: Uncle Jack and The African Preacher in Context

Chapter 7: Uncle Jack as Slave and Freed Man in Post-Colonial Virginia

  1. Overview of Slavery in Virginia, 1776 -1840
  2. Uncle Jack in Context
  3. Apart from Uncle Jack’s preaching, how might his life be typical or atypical of the lives of other slaves and freedmen of the period (i.e., his apparently significant degree of freedom, his manumission, his interaction with educated whites, etc.)?
  4. Uncle Jack’s restrained approach to preaching seems to be typical of a Presbyterian reaction against the religious “excesses” brought about by the Great Awakening. Is this true?
  5. Uncle Jack’s approach to preaching, apparently emphasizing reason over feeling, also seems to be a dead-end in the development of the African-American tradition of preaching. Was Uncle Jack alone among African-Americans of this period in wanting to go this route?
  6. What is the importance, if any, of The African Preacher as an historical document? Does it, for example, support or contradict current interpretations of religious, social, or political history?

Chapter 8: The African Preacher in Pre-War Virginia

  1. Overview of the Print Debate on Slavery, 1840 - 1861
  2. The African Preacher in Context
  3. The African Preacher was published in 1849. Is there anything in Virginia history that makes this date significant, any trends or events that might have prompted its publication at this particular time?
  4. What else was the Presbyterian Board of Publication publishing between 1845 and 1855? Does The African Preacher suggest a strategy or agenda of any kind on their part, or does it form part of a pattern of publication?
  5. Can The African Preacher be interpreted as an apologia for slavery in that it illustrates an unequal relationship between the races that is apparently satisfactory to the former slave—or if not satisfactory, a situation that the former slave was at least able to accommodate? If so, were there pre-1849 apologia that used this rhetorical technique?
  6. Would such an apologia be typical of the stance of Southern Presbyterians of this era?

Chapter 9: The African-American Preacher, 1760-1843, as Seen through Selected Biographies and Autobiographies Published between 1810 and 1914: A Comparison of The African Preacher with Narratives of Other African-American Preachers of the Time, with Emphasis on the Life of John Chavis.

Allen, Richard (1760-1831). The Life, Experience and Gospel Labors of the Rt. Rev. Richard Allen to Which Is Annexed the Rise and Progress of the African Methodist Church in the United States of America: Containing a Narrative of the Yellow Fever in the Year of Our Lord, 1793, with an Address to the People of Color in the United States. Philadelphia: Martin and Boden, 1833.

Gurley, Ralph Randolph (1797-1872). Sketch of the Life of the Rev. Lott Cary [1780-1828] in Life of Jehudi Ashmun, Late Colonial Agent in Liberia. With An Appendix, Containing Extracts from his Journal and Other Writings; With a Brief Sketch of the Life of The Rev. Lott Cary. Washington: James C. Dunn, 1835.Washington: James C. Dunn, 1835.

Jea, John (b. 1773). The Life, History, and Unparalleled Sufferings of John Jea, the African Preacher, Compiled and Written by Himself. Portsea, Eng.: The Author, 1811.

Randolph, Edwin Archer (b. 1854). The Life of Rev. John Jasper [b. 1812] Pastor of Sixth Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., from His Birth to the Present Time, with His Theory on the Rotation of the Sun. Richmond, VA: R. T. Hill, 1884.

Weeks, Stephen Beauregard (1865-1918).John Chavis [1763-1838]: Antebellum Negro Preacher and Teacher. In The Southern Workman (February 1914). Hampton, Va.: Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, 1914.

White, George (b. 1764). A Brief Account of the Life, Experience, Travels, and Gospel Labours of George White, an African: Written by Himself, and Revised by a Friend. New York: John C. Totten, 1810.