An Enquiry Concerning the Intellectual and Moral Faculties, and Literature of Negroes: Followed with an Account of the Life and Works of Fifteen Negroes & Mulattoes, Distinguished in Science, Literature and the Arts"In his book, Grégoire systematically refutes all the major arguments for the inferiority of blacks, countering them with examples showing how blacks and black societies possess the same elements of intellect and civilization found in white societies. Its examples of African-American achievement, especially the biographical listings in Chapter VII, remained a standard source for abolitionist writings throughout the nineteenth century"--Jeffrey Makala, http://delphi.tcl.sc.edu/library/digital/collections/gregoireabout.html |
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Africa America bishop blacks Blumenbach Bosman brutes calumniated Camper Capitein christian cite civilization coast colonies colonists colour concerning conduct crimes Cugoano death defenders Demanet dissertation Domingo England English established Europe Europeans fact faculties father favour Flavius Josephus freedom French genius give groes Guinea happy Henry Diaz Herodotus History History of Jamaica Holland honour human race Ibid Ignatius Sancho Imlay individuals inhabitants Jamaica James Grainger John justice king labour Latin laws learned Ledyard letter liberty Lislet London Maroons master memoirs misfortune moral mulattoes Mungo Park nations nature negress negroes negroes and mulattoes never opinion Othello Paris Phillis Wheatley planters Portuguese praises present pretended Prevot proof prove published reason religion Sancho says Senegal shew Sierra-Leone slave trade slavery speaks species Stedman Surinam talents thee THOMAS FULLER tion Toussaint traveller Vassa virtue Voyage whites
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Page 16 - sacred soil, the altar and the god sink together in the dust; his soul walks abroad in her own majesty; his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that burst from around him, and he stands redeemed, regenerated and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius -of universal emancipation."*
Page 15 - burnt upon him ; no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down ; no matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted on the altar of slavery : the first moment he touches our sacred soil, the altar and the god sink together in the dust; his
Page 243 - fancy'd happy seat: What pangs excruciating must molest, What sorrows labour in my parents' breast ? Steel'd was that soul, and by no misery mov'd, That from a father' seized his babe belov'd : Such, such my case : And can I then but pray
Page 242 - awake the sacred lyre, While thy fair sisters fan the pleasing fire : The bow'rs, the gales, the variegated skies In all their pleasures in my bosom rise. See in the east th' illustrious king of day ! His rising radiance drives the shades away— But Oh ! I feel his fervid beams too strong, And scarce begun, concludes
Page 243 - Thus from the splendors of the morning light The owl in sadness seeks the caves of night. No more, America, in mournful strain Of wrongs, and grievance unredress'd complain, No longer shalt thou dread the iron chain, Which wanton Tyranny with lawless hand Had made, and with it meant t* enslave the land. Should you, my lord, while you peruse my song, Wonder from whence my love of
Page 243 - Whence flow the wishes for the common good, By feeling hearts alone best understood : I, young in life ; by seeming cruel fate Was snatch'd from
Page 219 - . Dispel thy doubts, with confidence ascend The regal dome, and hail him for thy friend : Nor blush, altho' in garb funereal drest Thy body's white, tho' clad in sable vest. Manners unsullied, and the radiant glow Of genius, burning with desire to know ; And learned speech, with modest accent worn Shall best the sooty African adorn.
Page 248 - mingle with the animals in the middle of the street—if a subscription were made to have them lashed in a mass, and their backs. to prevent gangrene, covered with pepper and with salt—if the forfeit for killing them were but a trifling
Page 176 - skilled in the knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages, delivered with success, private lectures on philosophy, which are highly praised in the same letter. In a syllabus, published by the Dean of the Philosophical Faculty, it is said of this learned negro, that having
Page 117 - hospitable : their amiable simplicity, says he, in this enchanting country, recalled to me the idea of the primitive race of man : I thought I saw the world in its infancy. They have generally preserved an estimable simplicity of domestic manners. They are