Author: Fiona McCall

The morality of state intervention in sexually-transmitted disease

Is it appropriate for governments to restrict personal liberty in an effort to control disease? This issue has come very much to the fore in the wake of the current worldwide Coronavirus epidemic. In this post, Darcy Mckinlay, a second year history student, writes about nineteenth-century arguments against forcible methods of controlling venereal diseases.

Punch Cartoon, 1857

During the nineteenth century there was an increase in state intervention, marking a transformation from a previous ‘non-interference’ government approach.[1] In 1864, the first of three Contagious Diseases Acts was passed, permitting the compulsory medical inspection and detention of prostitutes with venereal diseases.[2] This law was specifically aimed at working-women in military-based towns because the government feared that the spread of sexually transmitted diseases was weakening the armed forces.[3] But the Contagious Diseases Acts were controversial, forming part of a wider debate surrounding state intervention. Historians Jim Jose and Kcasey McLoughlin argue that contemporaries opposed the Acts because they violated freedom.[4] Lisa Shapiro

Saunders, on the other hand, suggests that there was support for the extension, regarding increasing public safety.[5] This piece considers the 1870 report self-published by John Simon, the first Medical Officer of Health for London, arguing against the extension of the Contagious Diseases Act to the general public. Simon’s duty in public health did not alter his view that compulsory sexual examinations were immoral.[6] Ultimately, the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts in 1886 showed that this forcible method was unsuccessful.

A German prostitute, 1880.

Sir John Simon, 1881, Wellcome Library V0027166

Simon introduces the aim of the report, writing that it intends to determine “whether it is expedient to have … a systematic sanitary superintendence of prostitutes” in Britain.[7] The word “superintendence” is significant, suggesting that prostitutes will have no agency under state management. The Contagious Diseases Acts allowed police officers to bring prostitutes before a magistrate who could order a medical examination.[8] If the woman was found to be carrying a venereal disease, she was detained in hospital until clear and if she refused, the Acts permitted her imprisonment.[9] Maria Luddy states that the Contagious Diseases Acts introduced a wider debate surrounding the role of the state in attempting to “control the behaviour and morality” of society.[10] Jose and McLoughlin agree that this intervention was controversial among contemporaries. The philosopher John Stuart Mill, for example, publicly opposed the Acts, arguing that they took away “the security of personal liberty”.[11] In his report Simon acknowledges that this surveillance system was originally put in place to protect the army and navy. Judith Walkowitz argues that the initial support for the Acts was based on their status as “national defence legislation”.[12] However, regarding the proposal for “the extension … to the civil population”, Simon questions whether the state’s previous laissez-faire approach should be “abandoned”.[13] As Saunders highlights, some contemporaries supported this public extension; for example, Dr Elizabeth Garrett Anderson believed that further state intrusion would protect family members of those infected with venereal diseases.[14] This suggests that contemporaries approved of state intervention as a new and growing concept. However, Margaret Hamilton argues that there was sufficient opposition to this, for example, Josephine Butler believed that the Acts were “unconstitutional because they violated the basic liberties of English women”.[15] This highlights that a complex debate surrounding public health state intervention existed in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

The pioneering female doctor Elizabeth Garrett Anderson contributed to the debate over state intervention in sexually-transmitted disease. Wellcome Library 12778i,

Simon explains that the state referred to prostitutes as “dangerous members of society”, who should be “prevented from communicating [disease] to others”.[16] Luddy argues that this perspective helped to facilitate a “double standard of sexual morality”.[17] Pamela Cox agrees that class and gender impacted the treatment of venereal diseases, as women were subject to more coercive sexual governance than men.[18] Fundamentally, the report explains that the extension of the Contagious Diseases Act to the general population would result in common prostitutes across Britain being subject “to a compulsory medical examination, and to compulsory detention”.[19] The repetition of “compulsory” again emphasises the lack of freedom prostitutes had under this forcible legislation. Simon argues that the network of examination and treatment is “not likely to be met by voluntary contributions”.[20] However Catherine Lee provides evidence from Kent to demonstrate that compliance to the Contagious Diseases Acts was in fact high, for example, in Canterbury in 1871, only two prostitutes were prosecuted for non-compliance.[21] Lee suggests that poor women complied with the Contagious Diseases Acts to access free medical care.[22] Some prostitutes used medical inspections to capitalise profit, through advertising “disease-free status”.[23] However, Simon argued that tax payers would find it “immoral” to pay for the medical expenses of a prostitute so that she is “clean for hire”.[24] This demonstrates a wider debate about the funding of state intervention. Overall, the debate surrounding the extension of the Acts was based on both moral and economic factors.

Social reformer Josephine Butler also took part in the debate.

Simon held the view that “venereal diseases are … infections which a man contracts at his own option”.[25] It was not the responsibility of the state to intervene and treat them, “the true policy of government is to regard the prevention of venereal disease as a matter of exclusively private concern”.[26] Walkowitz argues that despite the Acts, “many officials continued to believe that sexual promiscuity among civilians rightly constituted a private medical risk for the parties concerned”.[27] Additionally, the phrase caveat emptor [let the buyer beware], used by Simon in his report, suggests that customers of a prostitute should check the quality of ‘goods’ before purchase.[28] Saunders highlights the economic difference between men and women, as buyers and sellers in this sexual exchange.[29] Simon acknowledges that innocent wives can be infected with venereal diseases which cheating “husbands … have earned”, but remains clear on his view that the state should not intervene to protect dependents.[30] Saunders highlights how Dr Garrett Anderson disagreed, instead promoting the compulsory treatment of prostitutes to “end the suffering of innocents”.[31] However, this report was published in 1870, before the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts in 1886, and it does not explain the exact reasons for the repeal or whether compulsory state intervention had worked. Nonetheless, Walkowitz states that Simon’s report “ended any immediate prospects for the extension of the Acts to civilian areas in Britain”.[32] Simon’s respectability as a health officer contributed to the argument opposing the extension of the Contagious Diseases Acts.

Medical staff at St Thomas’s hospital, London, with Sir John Simon on the left, Wellcome Library no. 569770i

In conclusion, Simon argued against the extension of the 1866 Contagious Diseases Act to the general population. Government intervention reflected a sexual double standard, with women being subject to immoral control.[33] Yet there was support for the extension from contemporaries who wanted further protection from venereal diseases.[34] These arguments formed as part of a wider, more complex debate on state intervention. Overall, the delay of this extension and the repeal of the Acts shows that forced sexual governance in Britain during the nineteenth century was unsuccessful.

References:

[1] Peter W. Bartrip, “State Intervention in Mid-Nineteenth Century Britain: Fact or Fiction?”, Journal of British Studies Vol 23, No. 1 (1983): 63.

[2] Maria Luddy, “Women and the Contagious Diseases Acts 1864-1886”, History Ireland Vol. 1, No. 1 (1993): 32.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Jim Jose and Kcasey McLoughlin, “John Stuart Mill and the Contagious Diseases Acts: Whose Law? Whose Liberty? Whose Greater Good?”, Law and History Review Vol. 34, No. 2 (2016): 250-251.

[5] Lisa Shapiro Saunders, “‘Equal Laws Based upon an Equal Standard’: the Garrett Sisters, the Contagious Diseases Acts and the Sexual Politics of Victorian and Edwardian Feminism Revisited”, Women’s History Review Vol. 24, Issue. 3 (2015): 397.

[6] A. N, “The Life Work of Sir John Simon”, The Journal of Hygiene Vol. 5, No. 1 (1905): 1-6.

[7] John Simon, ‘Report on the Contagious Diseases Act (showing the expense, impolicy and general inutility of its proposed extension) to the civil population’ (1870).

[8] Margaret Hamilton, “Opposition to the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1864-1886”, Albion Vol. 10, No. 1 (1978): 14.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Luddy, “Women and the Contagious Diseases Acts 1864-1886”: 34.

[11] Jose and McLoughlin, “John Stuart Mill and the Contagious Diseases Acts: Whose Law? Whose Liberty? Whose Greater Good?”: 250-251.

[12] Judith Walkowitz, Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class and the State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 73.

[13] Simon, ‘Report’

[14] Saunders, “‘Equal Laws”: 396.

[15] Hamilton, “Opposition to the Contagious Diseases Acts”: 16.

[16] Simon, ‘Report’.

[17] Luddy, “Women and the Contagious Diseases Acts 1864-1886”: 32.

[18] Pamela Cox, “Compulsion, Voluntarism and Venereal Disease: Governing Sexual Health in England after the Contagious Diseases Acts”, Journal of British Studies Vol. 46, Issue 1 (2007): 111-113.

[19] Simon, ‘Report’.

[20] Ibid.

[21] Catherine Lee, “Prostitution and Victorian Society Revisited: the Contagious Diseases Acts in Kent”, Women’s History Review Vol. 21, Issue. 2 (2012): 301-309.

[22] Ibid: 312.

[23] Lee, “Prostitution”: 312.

[24] Simon, ‘Report’.

[25] Simon, ‘Report’.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Walkowitz, Prostitution, 72.

[28] Simon, ‘Report’.

[29] Saunders, “‘Equal Laws”: 398.

[30] Simon, ‘Report’.

[31] Saunders, “‘Equal Laws”: 396.

[32] Walkowitz, Prostitution, 86.

[33] Luddy, “Women and the Contagious Diseases Acts 1864-1886”: 32.

[34] Saunders, “‘Equal Laws”: 397.

April 28, 2020
Four years on: graduation to employment

In this blog post, graduate Chloe Anderson considers her time at Portsmouth and its influence on her career. Chloe comes from the Falklands Islands originally, so is probably the student who has travelled the furthest to study history at Portsmouth. As she writes below, she is now putting her history training to good use back home. We’re pleased that she offered to put this together for us, as it’s lovely to keep in touch with our graduates and to be able to share their success stories. Whilst some aspects of our course structure have changed since Chloe studied with us, the essential aspects she discusses (our approach, the support and encouragement on offer, the options for different types of study and work contributing to the degree) remain true.

Looking back almost four years on from my own graduation, I have no hesitation in saying that the BA (Hons) English and History degree was a stepping stone for my career and getting me to where I am today.

This undergraduate degree was the main reason why I decided to study at University of Portsmouth. Doing a joint degree allowed me to combine my passion for both History and English Literature. The best aspect was that when it came to choosing subject units in second and third years I had more flexibility to either choose historical based topics or try something completely different; like American or Enlightenment literature. The subjects not only focused on important historical events or concepts but on research techniques. This encouraged different sources of information to be studied and covered various research methodologies. The joint History degree increased my confidence in my own abilities (having continuous deadlines and seminar preparation will do that for you!) and made the learning experience that more enjoyable.

Though arguably one of the most challenging parts of the course, the final year dissertation and low amount of contact hours really helped to develop my organisational, research and writing skills. Balancing numerous deadlines whilst analysing primary sources and searching the library for secondary sources, made sure that I planned my day in advance and set myself goals/targets to achieve. The essay-based assessments also meant that I learnt to plan what I would write and really analyse the different sources and research methods in order to provide a solid argument to whatever point I was making.

On a personal note the University of Portsmouth provided a great supporting environment to learn, socialize and develop as an individual. For those rare moments where I wasn’t surrounded by piles of books in the library or writing essays, I took the opportunity to volunteer at the local Archives. Volunteering is a great way for students to develop new skills, contribute to their community, and make new friends. It was invaluable in gaining the practical experience I needed to apply for my chosen Masters course at University College London. Equally rewarding was that it also contributed to my degree as I used it as the focus of the LiFE (Learning from Experience) unit which I undertook in my second year – a benefit of doing the course. Moreover, the contacts I made whilst volunteering have continued to support me throughout my professional career and have acted as referees and mentors.

For those who are thinking about doing the course, are currently undertaking it or, are about to graduate, I can assure you that the skills and experience developed throughout this undergraduate degree will set you up for the next stage of your life. Whether you are fortunate to know what career you want to pursue or not, the nature of this humanities degree opens up many opportunities and provides avenues to many job roles.

Following my undergraduate degree I went onto complete a Masters degree at UCL, fully funded by a Commonwealth Scholarship, and qualified as an Archivist and Records Manager in 2017 at age of 21. I have been privileged to work in institutions such as the British Library and Royal College of Surgeons to help preserve and provide access to their historical collections. I am now a Records Manager in the Falkland Islands Government working to formulate and develop records management processes and procedures. My biggest accomplishment has been to write and implement a records management policy and see first-hand how my work has helped improve how a public authority manages its records. I continue to be engaged in history as I also work in the Archives in the Island to digitise, catalogue and transcribe material, ensuring that the past can still be enjoyed and accessed by anyone.

In many ways the skills I developed at Portsmouth are an essential part of the work that I currently perform in the government. The chief among them being the ability: to prioritise various deadlines; to work with people as I conduct staff training and advocate for records management; to research and gather information from government files and databases; to write arguments succinctly when writing business cases, policies, guidance documents and reports; and even to reference when writing research papers. In the long term I hope to return to education once again to undertake a PhD and the research skills I utilized at Portsmouth and later in UCL, will be necessary for this.

If you are interested in this line of work have a look at: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/case-studies/records-manager-and-policy-officer-chloe-anderson-fmara

Much like the lyrics from Billy Joel’s infamous song ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’, history has been a burning passion and interest which I have carried with me throughout my academic and professional life. For those studying with the Portsmouth History team this will be the case for many. As an alumni I recommend that you experience the whole of what Portsmouth has to offer; the time goes quicker than you like but I can guarantee that what you do and learn will stay with you for life.

April 7, 2020
My Experiences with Learning Development

Cameron Meeten, who is studying for a master’s degree in naval history, encourages all students to take advantage of the services offered by our learning development tutors. Although not at the moment able to meet students face to face, the learning development tutors can still offer plenty of advice by online methods.

Learning development is one of the most valuable resources at the university and I implore all SASHPL students to take advantage of the guidance available. Learning development offer personal guidance in the development of academic skills and have something to offer all students regardless of where they are in the process of their degree.[1] Whilst attending the Student Voice Committee at the beginning of the year there were discussions about the ways in which the university provides academic support to students. I was at the start of a new degree and after hearing about the support that learning development provide, I decided to pay a visit. When I was an undergraduate I unfortunately did not utilise the help offered by learning development; this was partially because I was not aware what they did for students. I would have certainly paid them a visit during my undergraduate degree had I known how learning development can help students like myself.

Rhetoric, German engraving, c. 1541, British Museum

My first visit to learning development was to gain insight into how to improve the structure of my essays. I submitted a draft of the essay that I was writing and arranged a one-to-one meeting. At the meeting Laura kindly went through my essay with me and providing a detailed set of notes on how I could be clearer setting out my argument, and how I could improve the signposting in my work. This significantly helped me improve my essay which I later received a distinction in the clarity of writing and structure portion of the feedback. Learning development helped me with a very specific part of my essay writing, and they offer a wide variety of academic advice. In the one-to-one meetings learning development offer specific essay guidance such as essay writing skills, the use of academic language as well as the development of critical thinking skills. Leaning development also offer more general study advice such as organisational, reading, and note-taking skills. I am certain that every student could do with some help on at least one of the areas that learning development are able to assist with.

One of the most useful services provided by learning development is assignment feedback. Following my first visit to learning development I have used this service on every single assignment that I have submitted. Learning development can look at an assignment draft (up to 1500 words) and will go through it with you in a one-to-one meeting. Following this meeting your learning development tutor will email you a document which outlines their feedback and the discussion points of the meeting. No essay is perfect, and sometimes a second set of eyes on a piece of work can be of great value.

In addition to one-to-one meetings learning development also offer workshops which you can book an appointment on to.[2] These workshops are tailored to provide help to a group of students on a very specific topic. These workshops are particularly useful if there is a specific area which you wish to focus on. Workshops that have been provided in the past include critical thinking, referencing and dissertation sessions.[3]

Learning development offer appointments to any SASHPL students who are looking for guidance with their academic work. The help and advice they offer is very beneficial when acted upon, and I encourage all SASHPL students who wish to improve their work to pay a visit. Unfortunately face to face meetings are not available for the time being due to the coronavirus outbreak, however feedback can still be provided via email.

Good luck to all students who decide to utilise the help that is available to them!

Thank you Laura, for all the help you have given me so far this year.

[1] https://moodle.port.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=5877

[2] https://sashpllearningdevelopment.youcanbook.me/

[3] https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/sashpl-learning-development-6248854919

March 26, 2020
Students visit the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton

Third year student Amelia Boddice describes her first experience of visiting and using an archive, with other students of the Racism and Anti-Racism in Post-War Britain special subject, taught by Dr Jodi Burkett.

The group outside the archives; Amelia at right.

As part of my special subject, ‘Racism and Anti-Racism in Post-War Britain’ run by Dr Jodi Burkett, we had to come up with our own essay questions. At first this seemed quite a daunting prospect. As I looked through the topics and read more widely I decided to write about something I was truly interested in: the British government’s attempts at improving the everyday experiences of ethnic minorities in the 1970/80s. I wanted to touch on the themes of housing, education and policing. A trip was arranged for us to visit the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton to help us find our primary sources, as this was a documentary essay, or to find primary sources to use in our individual presentations.

For many of us, this was our first visit to an archive and so none of us really knew what to expect. We were asked in advance to look through the archive’s subject guides online and select some items which we might want to look at on the day. The archive’s staff were helpful and very accommodating in advising us further on what material they had available on each of our requests; this was done in the cases where we needed to narrow our selection: I had accidentally requested nine boxes of material on housing alone and would not have time to look at all of the material!

Upon arrival we were split into two groups and would alternately have time in the reading room and a tour of the archive. My group were taken to the reading room first. We were asked to leave our possessions in a locker room and take writing materials up to the reading room, which is common practice when visiting archives. We were each presented with the material we had requested and given a couple of hours to go through the boxes or folders of information. This was a very surreal experience as it really brought the history of the ethnic minorities I was studying to life! To look at and touch the official documentation or photographs confronts you with a new dimension of history which cannot be gathered from looking at sources online and so I really made the most of the time I spent in the reading room, taking notes and trying to understand the material in front of me. This meant that when it came time to write my essay I had done quite a lot of my source analysis. I also tried to enjoy myself, understanding this was an opportunity I would not get for a while, unless I went on to study at Higher Education or planned to write a history about another area of black history.

S.S. Empire Windrush

We paused for a lunch break and then began our tour of the building. We learnt the history of the building and why its location is important to preserving the history of the local area and its community. The project for preserving the history of the black community in Britain began in 1981 and found a home in 2014 in Windrush Square, Brixton, named after the SS Windrush.

Going to Britain? Pamphlet published by the BBC Caribbean Service, around 1959 ©BBC

Brixton itself has been known as a cultural epicentre for the black community since the post-war period and so this heritage site has been appropriately situated here. We were also introduced to some books in the gift shop which might be of interest depending on what we were looking at in our essay or what we were interested in general, for example, Black and British by David Oluoga and Brit(ish): on Race, Identity and Belonging by Afua Hirsch. It was a very worthwhile trip for both widening my interest in the topic and also helping me to understand what careers are out there for those of us who are interested in archival work. I made sure to visit the exhibition on the Neil Kenlock Archive called ‘Expectations.’ I was presenting on the history of the British Black Panthers for this class and Neil Kenlock was their professional photographer. It was interesting to see his work displayed in person, rather than on an online database, and it brought the reality of what he was trying to portray to life. The photographs included many influential black leaders from the post-war period, showing them as leaders in their own right. This introduced me to many black leaders who I had not seen before, only read about, and it was interesting for me to consider what I had read about a person and place a face to their name.

I am very grateful to Jodi and the staff at the museum for making the process accessible to those of us who were new to the experience and for making the day so fun.

March 5, 2020
Goblin scullery maids, ghostly miners and cannibal sailors: my experience of studying for a PhD at the University of Portsmouth

Dr Eilís Phillips followed three years of undergraduate study at the University of Portsmouth with a three-year PhD on Victorian monsters, supervised by Dr Karl Bell, Reader in History at the University. Her work is an inspiration to many, not least to my own students studying ideas of the monstrous in the 17^th century Civil War context. Impressively, while studying with and teaching at the University, Eilís has combined her academic studies with regular performances as a musician at many locations in Portsmouth and the surrounding areas – ed.

My PhD was a three-year, CEISR-funded interdisciplinary project which used an approach based in History – grounded in historiography – but explored theories from other fields such as Cultural Studies and Monster Theory. I studied the increased popularity of monstrous stereotypes for working-class people in nineteenth-century writing, as created and propagated by journalists and middle-class authors. I split my chapters into different monstrous archetypes and these covered a range of monsters. For example, I looked at the ways in which perceptions of spatial environments as monstrous could affect the human beings who lived and worked within them. Victorian London is a key example of this phenomenon, as many reports described the city as a sentient and malicious force for evil, hell-bent on corrupting its inhabitants. I also examined stories of Satanic arsonists, goblin scullery maids, ghostly miners and cannibal sailors. Sometimes, authors would use these comparisons in satirical drawings or as derogatory analogies. In other cases, the reports would draw upon popular folklore and fairy tales and even Gothic literature in order insinuate that working-class people were spiritually, and even genetically monstrous. In these accounts I found interesting contradictions and anachronisms. Just as elites were mocking those poorer than themselves for purportedly backwards ‘superstitious’ beliefs, at the same time they were creating their own brand of contemporary folklore partly pieced together from these stories, using them to produce monstrous identities.

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, Francisco Goya, c. 1799

Overall, I discovered that this proliferation of negative stereotypes operated as a ‘monstrous economy’. It was a network of ideas, memes and characteristics which authors for newspapers, books and reports traded back and forth. The central motivation underpinning this booming trade was a desire to mitigate a sense of middle-class guilt and of culpability in the suffering of workers and the poor in Victorian society. As greater awareness grew amongst affluent readers of the sufferings of working-class life – such as the plight of miners toiling in life-threatening conditions underground – so concerns about wealthy society’s role in such hardships became a source of angst which needed a catharsis. By depicting the working class as monsters, authors could position the wealthy as kindly benefactors of a monstrous working class whose hardships in life were portrayed as pre-determined and deserved. This act stripped workers of their humanity and worked to absolve middle-class readers of any social guilt over their suffering.

Eilís in character

In terms of my personal PhD journey, I should say that every PhD experience, like every individual, is unique. That is part of what makes undertaking one so challenging, and exciting. Whether you are able to choose your own topic, or are working on a project whose parameters have been outlined by someone else, ultimately the direction the research takes is shaped by you, and your decisions and discoveries. That can be a daunting prospect; it offers the researcher a lot of freedom but it can also cause you to constantly question your own judgement. As an historian, you might wonder if you have chosen the right sources, or even if you’re making the ‘right’ argument. It’s important to remember that having doubts, and continually re-evaluating your progress are a necessary part of undertaking any kind of critical research. The PhD is an experiment, and one which teaches you as much about your own approach to solving problems and encountering enigmas as it does about the research question you are focused upon answering.

I was extremely lucky to have an incredible supervisory team who supported me at every step of the process. A huge part of what makes a PhD engaging can be the discussions you have with your supervisors. There were so many times throughout my PhD when I would find myself encountering a knotty problem in my research, but by talking things over with Karl Bell (my First Supervisor) I’d be able to see things more clearly and would come away feeling enthusiastic about my research again. In general, I found it extremely helpful to talk to my supervisors and Faculty colleagues about academic life. It’s important to surround yourself with morale support and find other researchers with whom you can share ideas and experiences with. Attending seminars, spending time with other postgrads, and chatting about our shared challenges made things easier. Overall, it was a huge undertaking and took a lot of personal willpower and determination, but it has given me an immense sense of achievement. I still find my research topic fascinating and I am looking forward to continuing my research in whatever form it takes.

February 24, 2020
Self-identity under slavery: Frederick Douglass narrates his story

Joshua Bown, a first year History student at the University of Portsmouth, has written the following blog entry on the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, for the Fragments module, which looks at the possibilities and challenges of using primary sources for historical study. The module is co-ordinated by Dr Katy Gibbons, Senior Lecturer in History at Portsmouth.

The use of egodocuments as a primary source for historians has provided both significant and controversial contributions to the field. As Laura Sangha puts it, the potential advantages of studying these personal documents seem obvious, in that they may ‘reveal what an individual actually thought and felt about the times they lived through’. However egodocuments do not ‘give us unmediated access to the private thoughts of contemporaries, despite their look and feel’.[1] Even though they are a form of personal writing, egodocuments are still written in a certain way, whereby the individual constructs an image of themselves shaped by the historical context of when it was written, alongside their own intentions which may be hidden to the reader. This blog will focus on a particular type of egodocument, the autobiography, specifically the Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave and how through examining it we can determine its significance to the historical context it was produced in, alongside broader historiographical discussions which continue into the present day.

Douglass’s autobiography which was written and first published in 1845. Douglass was born into slavery in 1818 and later went on to escape in 1838 to the North, where he became an orator and key figure of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York. Whilst Douglass went on to write other autobiographies following him becoming a free man, his first piece of published work was arguably his most significant, and undoubtedly his most successful, as it immediately went on to become a bestseller both in the US and Europe. The motivations as to why Douglass wrote and published his autobiography are various, but it is quite clear that through highlighting the oppression slaves faced as well as humanising them in a way which would have been unheard of at the time, Douglass could have used his autobiography not just as a personal account, but as a way to build support for the Abolitionist movement he would go on to become such an integral part of.

Before going on to discuss the significance of his autobiography in terms of a historiographical context, it is perhaps more useful to firstly look at its significance in terms of the historical context it was produced in. As Robert Levine puts it, the autobiography ‘draws considerably on the conventions of the slave narrative’ which traditionally involved ‘describing in documentary fashion the journey from slavery to freedom’. However, as Levine goes on to say, Douglass’s work is essentially unique as it strays from what would traditionally be seen as a slave narrative, and through his style of writing instead provides historians with useful knowledge on ‘slavery, abolitionism and the politics of race in nineteenth-century American culture’.[2]

Perhaps also worth considering is the position Douglass found himself within society at that time, and therefore how significant it was that he managed to produce such a successful and, in a sense, inspiring piece of work, which not only created an identity for himself, but for the unrepresented minority group of slaves as a whole. In the chapter where Douglass is introduced to the alphabet by Mrs. Auld he first begins to understand the concept of reading and writing.[3] Shortly after this, Douglass writes how Mr. Auld forbids him for learning any further, stating that ‘Learning would spoil the best nigger in the world’. This is significant as it essentially acts as a turning point for Douglass, who through the harsh words of Auld begins to understand ‘the pathway from slavery to freedom’and set the foundations for his newfound motivation to learn to read and ultimately escape to tell his experience and again create a new identity for slaves, which would break the traditional way in which they were portrayed at the time.[4]

Identity, and the construction of one’s selfhood through personal writing, is arguably the most significant debate amongst historians in a historiographical context, when looking at Douglass’s autobiography. As Mary Fullbrook and Ulinka Rublack put it, on first glance ego-documents seem like they can ‘provide privileged access to the inner workings of an authentic self’.[5] On further investigation however, it seems the idea of selfhood itself is much more complex than it seems. Douglass, throughout his autobiography and again in his further works, seems to struggle with the idea of selfhood, and who he actually wants to portray himself as.[6] Celeste-Marie Bernier, whose work looks at the idea of selfhood in Douglass’s later works, makes a point which can also be related to his first autobiography, in that through his use of literature to express his experience, he seems conflicted on the representation of self he wants to emit, leading ultimately to ‘multifaceted constructions of self’.[7] Alongside this viewpoint, Levine also studies the idea of identity in the autobiographies and comes to a similar conclusion in that Douglass ‘reveals his confusions about personal identity’.[8] Regardless of the historiographical debate surrounding Douglass’s idea of identity and selfhood, it is clear in his autobiography that he successfully created a form of identity for himself which went against the notions of what a slave was deemed to be represented as within the historical context – he was an intellectual human being, capable of being a full-fledged American citizen and far from the animal he was conceived as being when compared alongside livestock whilst still in chains.[9]

To conclude, it is important to round up on the significance of Douglass’s autobiography, both in terms of the historical context it was written in, as well as in a broader historiographical context. Without a doubt, what Douglass accomplished during his lifetime was extraordinary – he escaped slavery, learned to read and write and published an autobiography which went on to change the way slaves were represented and viewed, as well as building considerable support for the Abolitionist movement. On the other hand, the historiographical debates about his work continue into the present day – Douglass struggled with the idea of selfhood and seemed conflicted on the type of identity he wanted to present within his works.[10] Nevertheless, Douglass and his works provide historians with many new ways of exploring ego-documents and allow many new conclusions to be drawn on their usefulness as a primary source.

Portrait of Frederick Douglass. By Mike Alewitz – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80805570,

Detail from “The City at the Crossroads of History,” a mural series commissioned in 2014 to be displayed in the Museum of the City of New York, but never installed. The four panels chart the history of worker’s struggles in America. This panel, “We Follow the Path Less Traveled” depicts twenty-five historically important leaders of civil rights causes.

Bibliography

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave (Minneapolis, Lerner Publishing Group, 1976)

Sangha, Laura. Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources, Routledge, 2016.

Fullbrook, Mary & Rublack, Ulinka. In “Relation: The ‘Social Self’ and Ego-Documents”, Ger Hist, Volume 28, no.3 (2010): 263–272.

Levine, Robert S. “Identity in the Autobiographies”, in The Cambridge Companion to Frederick Douglas, ed. Maurice S. Lee (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009), 31-45

Bernier, C-M. (2011). “’His Complete History’? Revisioning, Recreating and Reimagining Multiple Lives in Frederick Douglass’s Life and Times” Slavery & Abolition, Vol. 33, no. 4 (2011): 595-610.

[1] Laura Sangha,. Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources, (Routledge, 2016), 107.

[2] Robert S. Levine, “Identity in the Autobiographies” in The Cambridge Companion to Frederick Douglas, ed. Maurice S. Lee (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 31.

[3] Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. (Minneapolis: Lerner Publishing Group, 1976), 31.

[4] Douglass, Narrative, 31.

[5] Mary Fullbrook, & Ulinka Rublack, “Relation: The ‘Social Self’ and Ego-Documents”, Ger Hist, 28, no. 3 (2010): 264.

[6] C.-M. Bernier, “’His Complete History’? Revisioning, Recreating and Reimagining Multiple Lives in Frederick Douglass’s Life and Times” (1881, 1892), Slavery & Abolition, 33, no. 4 (2011): 595-610.

[7] Bernier, “’Complete History’?”, 596.

[8] Levine, “Identity”, 32.

[9] Douglass, Narrative, 37.

[10] Bernier, “’His Complete History’?”: 595-596.

February 14, 2020