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Go directly to the collection, The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.
The Nineteenth Century in Print offers a variety of primary
sources with which to practice language arts skills. Autobiographies
by Frederick Douglass and General George A. Custer provide the opportunity
to study personal narratives. Nineteenth-century biographies of women
can be examined to understand the choices that authors make and how
literature can contribute to social and political causes such as the
equal rights movement. Civil War poetry and territorial guides are also
available and can be used to study the use of tone, imagery, and persuasive
writing techniques. Finally, the historical events represented in this
collection can provide the basis for creative writing activities.
Autobiography: Frederick Douglass
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Personal narratives of American historical figures such as Frederick
Douglass and General George A. Custer provide insight into narrative
techniques and the power of autobiography. Later expanded as The
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881), My
Bondage and My Freedom (1857), is an affecting personal
narrative in which the author presents a world that would seem
strange and foreign to many of his readers:
Like other slaves, I cannot tell how old I am. This
destitution was among my earliest troubles. I learned when I grew
up, that my master . . . allowed no questions to be put to him,
by which a slave might learn his age. Such questions are deemed
evidence of impatience, and even of impudent curiosity. From certain
events, however, the dates of which I have since learned, I suppose
myself to have been born about the year 1817.
page
35
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Illustration
of Frederick Douglass,
from My
Bondage and My Freedom.
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- How would you describe Douglass’s tone in My Bondage and My Freedom?
- What are the relationships between the narrator, other slaves, and
the master?
- How does Douglass establish these relationships in his narrative?
- How would the effect of the passage above differ if it were written
from a third-person perspective?
In the introduction to Douglass’s autobiography, Dr. James M’Cune
Smith celebrates the book as “a noble vindication of the highest aims
of the American anti-slavery movement. The real object of that movement
is . . . to bestow upon the negro the exercise of all those rights,
from the possession of which he has been so long debarred,” (page
xvii).
- In what ways does Douglass's narrative contribute to what Smith
called the “vindication” of the abolitionist movement?
- How does Douglass’s authorship of his life story and his use of
a personal tone contribute to this effect?
Autobiography: Colonel George A. Custer
While Frederick Douglass’s narrative provides insight into his growing
role as an abolitionist, Colonel George Custer’s narrative offers an
examination of the conflicts in the U.S. territories that led to his
demise. Two years before Colonel George Custer and his troops died at
the Battle of Little Big Horn, he wrote My
Life on the Plains (1874), which describes a solitary and thankless
life:
How many military men have reaped laurels from their Indian
campaigns? . . . That is indeed . . . a difficult task. For let him
act as he may in conducting or assisting in a campaign against the Indians,
. . . [and] he can feel assured of this fact, that one-half of his fellow-citizens
at home will revile him for his zeal and pronounce his success . . .
a massacre of poor, defenceless, harmless Indians; while the other half
. . . will cry "Down with him . . .”
page
20
Illustration
of Custer,
from My
Life on the Plains. |
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- How do you think that soldiers would have felt as they entered
into Indian campaigns?
- Why do you think that Custer uses a third-person narration
to convey these feelings?
- How does Custer's account compare to other historical interpretations
of the colonel's efforts in the territories?
- Do you think that Custer was trying to evoke sympathy for
the lives of soldiers in the territories? If so, do you think
that he was successful?
- What other goals and motivations might Custer have had in
writing his autobiography?
- Compare the narratives of Custer and Douglass: What is the
difference between the narrators’ situations? Who are the authors'
intended audiences? What do the writing styles suggest about
the authors?
- What is the purpose of a personal narrative?
- What elements of autobiography do you think appeal to a reader?
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Biographies of Women in the Nineteenth Century
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The women’s equal rights movement captured the interest of many
nineteenth-century writers. Browse the Subject
Index for the term, Women--Biography,
for anthologies such as Eminent
Women of the Age (1868), and Woman
on the American Frontier (1877) that describe the lives
of remarkable women such as Florence Nightingale and Elizabeth
Barrett Browning.
Collections such as Women
of the War: Their Heroism and Self-Sacrifice (1866) and
Woman’s
Work in the Civil War: A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience
(1867) focus on female volunteers such as Clara Barton and Dorothea
L. Dix, who recruited and appointed Union nurses and “tarried
in Washington to finish many an uncompleted task, for some time
after her office had been abolished,” (page
108). Other biographies emphasize women's selflessness
as caretakers, mothers, and wives, while collections such as Noble
Deeds of American Women (1869) feature biographical sketches
of prominent women such as the “Mother of Washington” and “Wife
of John Adams.”
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Shoot
if you must, this old gray head but spare your country’s flag,’
she said,
from Woman’s
Work in the Civil War.
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Illustration
of Rosa Bonheur,
from Eminent
Women of the Age. |
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- Why do you think that the women featured in these works were
chosen as biographical subjects? What do they have in common?
How are they different?
- Who do you think is the intended audience of each of these
works?
- What goals do you think that the authors of these works might
have had in writing these biographies and compiling these anthologies?
- How do these biographical studies illuminate the values held
by the authors of these works?
- How do you think that these works relate to the struggle for
equal rights for women?
- How many of these women would you include in a contemporary
anthology of women throughout U.S. history? How would you decide
upon the number of women to include?
- Which women from contemporary history would you include? Why?
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Civil War Poetry
Henry Brownell’s War-lyrics
and Other Poems (1866), on the other hand, takes a Southern
perspective in chronicling events leading up to the Civil War, such
as the 1860 Republican nomination of Abraham Lincoln in the derisive
“Honest Abe”:
“Honest Abe!” What strange vexation
Thrills an office-armchaired party!
What impatience and disgust
That the people should put trust
In a name so true and hearty!
What indignant lamentation
For the unchosed—surely fitter
Growl they) than a rough rail-splitter—
Most unheard of nomination!
page
111
Contrast the stylistic differences (tone, rhyme scheme, etc.) between
the poems represented in Personal
and Political Ballads and those appearing in War-lyrics
and Other Poems:
- What types of images appear in these poems?
- How are these images reinforced by the poet’s stylistic choices?
- How do these images relate to the main idea of the poem?
- Do you think that these poems are objective? Why or why not?
- Who do you think is the intended audience for these different books?
- How do you think that different audiences might react to these works?
Why do you think that these writers chose to express themselves through
poetry rather than an essay or some other writing style?
- How do you think that political positions are represented in these
poems?
- Do you think that contemporary poets express political positions
in their works? If so, how do contemporary poems differ from these
nineteenth-century works?
- What is the effect of describing a historical event through poetry?
- Imitate the style of these works by composing a poem that discusses
a historical event or a controversial position.
State and Territorial Guides
A search on
the term, emigrant, produces territorial guides such as Western
Portraiture (1852), and The
Western Tourist and Emigrant’s Guide. . . (1855). These guides
describe the growth throughout the Midwest in the mid-nineteenth century:
“Cities have sprung up in the wilderness . . . and the arts are extending
their healthful and invigorating influence throughout the country. Blessed
with a soil unsurpassed in fertility . . . and possessing . . . all
the influences that can render a country prosperous and a people happy,”
(page
3).
- What do you think were the most advantageous aspects of territories
and states that could most appeal to potential emigrants and investors?
- What is the tone of these guides? Is it consistent, or does it change
with the intent of the guide, the time of its creation, and the place
it promotes?
- How do you think that the promotional techniques of these guides
influenced prospective emigrants reading these guides?
- What is the purpose of contemporary state guides? Is it the same
purpose as these guides of the past?
- How do contemporary guides compare in content and tone with those
of the nineteenth century?
- What do you think are the most appealing qualities of your own state?
- Create a guide promoting investment and emigration.
Creative Writing
The resources represented in the Special Presentation, "A Sampler of
Collection Themes," provide an opportunity to research a political
or social event and to write either a personal journal or short story
describing how it might have felt to experience one of these events.
Topics might include the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act, conflicts
in Kansas and the territories, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry,
or the secession of the South from the perspective of an abolitionist,
a slaveholder, or a runaway slave. The following questions may provide
a starting point for developing your narrative.
- What was your life like before the event occurred?
- How did you respond to the event?
- How did your family and neighbors respond?
- Do you think that the event altered your life?
- If so, do you think that the impact was beneficial or harmful? Why?
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