Walt Whitman Fellowship Papers: Second Year: 10
Philadelphia, November, 1895
WHAT WALT WHITMAN MEANS TO THE
NEGRO
By KELLY MILLER
[Address, Afternoon Session, Annual Meeting, May 31st.]
Walt Whitman is the poet of humanity. He sings the
song universal for all who suffer, love and hope. No class
or clique or clan can lay claim to him and say, he is mine.
To his '' feast of reason and flow of soul'' he invites all
mankind.
"Of every hue and caste am I, of every rank and religion."
The processes of nature are uniform in their operation and
apply with equal favor to all classes and conditions of men.
■ The rain falls, the grass grows and the sun shines kindly
alike for all who place themselves in harmonious relations
to their beneficent design. And so comes Walt Whitman,
adorning himself to bestow himself upon whoever will ac¬
cept him, scattering his good will freely over all.
As we ascend higher and higher in the sqple of moral and
spiritual excellence, the ephemeral distinctions among men,
based for the most part upon arrogance and pride, grow
feinter and fainter, and finally vanish away. The great
moral and spiritual teachings of mankind have always re¬
probated the spirit of caste. Buddha teaches: "There is
no caste in blood, Which runneth of one hue, nor caste in
tears, which trickle salt withal."
** It was revealed to the Apostle Peter in a vision that he
should not call any mail common or unclean. Saint Paul,
Viewing mankind from his spiritual altitude, saw "neither
Cxree^ nor Jew, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free."
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32 Walt Whitman Fellowship Papers
It is but natural to expect exalted sentiments from Walt
Whitman, for lie, too, dwells upon "the radiant summit."
From this lofty elevation he looks with equal eye on all be¬
low. He announces himself "meeter of savages and gen¬
tlemen on equal terms." True, it does not require the gift
of inspiration to establish the identity of all men when re¬
duced to their lowest terms. Even so unspiritually minded
a poet as Shakspere recognizes the sameness of the fool and
the philosopher in their final physical analysis. But Whit¬
man's conception of equality is all-comprehensive in its
scope; it is not limited to the lower plane of animal exist¬
ence but extends to the higher region of spiritual kinship.
Specifying the circumstances of his spiritual illumination
with the definiteness of a Methodist convert, he tells us:
" Swiftly arose and spread around me the peace and knowledge that pass all
the argument of the earth,
And I know that the hand of God is the promise of my own,
And I know that the spirit of God is the brother of my own,
And that all the men ever born are also my brothers, and the women my
sisters and lovers,
And that a kelson of the creation is love."
His cosmic breadth of view is no shallow sentimentality
or vain intellectual pretense, but is based upon the unifying
power of the love of God.
Let no favored fraction of the human family fancy that
they find in him their pet poet or special pleader. He him¬
self rebukes such unwarranted presumption:
"No friend of mine takes his ease in my chair,
I have no chair, no church, no philosophy.''
There is no variety of the human race that cannot find in
him that which is adapted to their peculiar needs.
Compelled by circumstances to view all objects under a
facial angle of vision, the negro, not unnaturally, seeks in
Whitman some peculiar significance and specialty of mean¬
ing . The automorphic tendency is so strongly rooted in hu-
jnan nature that a people are apt to form their ideal? in their
What Walt Whitman Means to the Negro
33
own image and stamp upon them the impress of their own
physical and social peculiarities. This circumstance ren¬
ders any type unsuited to artistic or literary uses among a
people of different "clime, color and degree." "Shak-
spere," says a learned critic, "ought not to have made
Othello black, for the hero of a tragedy ought to be white."
But Walt Whitman tells us that in his literary treatment he
does not "separate the learn'd from the unlearn'd, the
Northerner from the Southerner, the white from the black."
As the negro is portrayed in modern literature, he usually
plays a servile, contemptible or ridiculous role. He is
sometimes used to point a moral, but seldom to adorn a tale.
We find the negro appearing in several forms of literature.
1. In the unadorned, didactic discussions of the race prob¬
lem which have filled our newspapers, magazines and book
stalls, both in anti-slavery times and since the war. Such
works are mainly preceptive in their aim, and, strictly speak¬
ing, cannot be called literature at all.
2. In the dialect story he is portrayed as being ignorant,
superstitious, degraded and clownish, cutting jimcrow ca¬
pers and apish antics for the amusement and delight of white
lookers-on. By a strange literary inconsistency, however,
he is made to express the wisest philosophy in the crudest
forms of speech. If there be any virtue, or if there be any
praise, ascribed to him, it is of the unaspiring, sycophant,
servile sort, leaving the world to believe of the race that
"their morals, like their pleasures, are but low."
3. In anti-slavery poetry, the negro is pictured in his piti¬
able helplessness, and is sometimes endowed with manly
qualities and courage, to serve as a more effective object les¬
son of the wrongs and cruelties of slavery. Whittier, Lowell
and Longfellow tuned their lyres to human liberty and did
noble service for freedom by means of their songs. But, on
close scrutiny, we find that, for the most part, these have the
patronizing or apologetic tone. They are not intended to
please but to teach. They do not appeal to the taste but to
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Walt Whitman Fellowship Papers
the moral judgment. The sermonic purpose is apparent in
every line. This class of poetry reaches the high-tide mark
in the kindly conceived lines of the poet Cowper, who,
with conscious satisfaction of feeling, pays the negro the
negative compliment of not being outside of the pale of
humanity:
" Fleecy locks and black complexion
Cannot forfeit nature's claim."
It is no depreciation of the kindly intent and useful pur¬
pose of this class of poetry t9 say that it is "sicklied o'er
with the pale cast of thought." Contrasted with it, how
refreshing are the lines of Whitman !
"You whoever you are !
You daughter or son of England !
You of the mighty Slavic tribes and empires ! you Russ in Russia !
You dim-descended, black, divine-soul'd African, large, fine-headed, no-
bly-form'd, superbly destin'd, on equal terms with me I"
4. In recent years, it has been quite customary to discuss
the race question through the agency of the novel. Authors
of no less distinction than Grant Allen, W. D. Howells and
Paul Bourget have handled the subject in this fashion. The
negro is made the tragic representative of his own fate..
These stories usually breathe the spirit of despair and death.
They hold up no model, no ideal, no ambition, no aspira¬
tion for the youth of this race.
The growth and expansion of modern literature is co-ex-
tensive with the rise and development of African slavery.
This literature is tinged throughout with the contemptuous
disdain for the negro which he is made to feel in all the
walks and relations of life. In it he finds himself set forth
in every phase of ridicule, and derided in every mood and
tense of contempt. It appears in our text-books, in works
of travel, in history, fiction, poetry and art.
The same spirit does not obtain in the Oriental and classi¬
cal literatures. These never refer to the negro except in
terms of endearment and respect. The gods of Homer are
What Walt Whitman Means to the Negro
35
not too fastidious to spend a holiday season of social inter¬
course and festive enjoyment among the blameless Ethio¬
pians.
It is true that many of the choicest works of the human
mind have been produced during this modern period. This
literature possesses all of the qualities which Macaulay
ascribes to the works of Athenian genius. It is "wealth in
poverty, liberty in bondage, health in sickness, society in
solitude." "It consoles sorrow and assuages pain and
brings gladness to eyes which fail with wakefulness and
tears." But for the negro to derive therefrom such whole¬
some, beneficial, effects, he must be "self-balanc'd for con¬
tingencies," so as to steel his feelings against rebuff, insult
and ridicule. He must exercise the selective instinct, which
"from poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew."
The poet Virgil paints a pathetic picture. After the
wandering Eneas had suffered many vicissitudes by land
and sea, he came at length to Tyre, the land of the ill-
fated Dido; and while waiting in the sacred grove an
audience with her Sidonian majesty, he feasted his mind
on the works of art which embellished the temple of Juno.
But when he beheld, represented in art, the woes and mis¬
eries of his race; when he saw the Trojan forces fleeing
before the Greeks, and beheld the body of the god-like
Hector dragged around the walls of Troy, and saw the aged
Priam extending his feeble hands in helpless pity, his heart
failed him and his eyes melted with tears. Out of this pa¬
thetic fullness of soul he exclaimed to his faithful companion
in woe: "O Achates, what spot is there, what region is
there, throughout the whole earth, which is not full of our
misfortunes?"
Like father Eneas, the negro sees that his woes and mis¬
fortunes are universal, confronting him everywhere—in art
and literature, in statue and on canvas, in bust and picture,
in verse and fiction, in song and story. But in the literary
realm of Whitman all are welcome; none are denied,
36 Walt Whitman Fellowship Papers
shunned, avoided, ridiculed or made to feel ashamed. In¬
deed, Whitman's whole theory is a protest against such ex¬
clusion. He has in his inimitable way described the de¬
grading effects of European literature upon America. This
degradation holds with added force when we apply it to
modern literature and the negro. Whitman says :
"No fine romance, no inimitable delineation of character, no grace of
delicate illustration, no picture of shore or mountain or sky, no deep thought
of the intellect, is so important to a man as his opinion of himself is; every¬
thing receives its tinge from that. In the verse of all those undoubtedly
great writers—Shakspere just as much as the rest—there is the air which to
America is the air of death. The mass of the people, the laborers and all
who serve, are slag, reftlse. The countenances of kings and great lords are
beautiful; the countenances of mechanics ridiculous and deformed. What
play of Shakspere as represented in America is not an insult to America,
to its marrow and to its bones ? "
As a matter of course the negro can get no standing in
that school of literature which runs wild over the "neck,
hair and complexion of a particular female."
Walt Whitman's poetic principle does not depend upon
superficial distinctions, but upon the eternal verities. He
does not believe the "jay is more precious than the lark be¬
cause his feathers are more beautiful, or the adder better than
the eel because his painted skin contents the eye." He is
'' pleased with the homely woman as well as the handsome.''
This concession would bankrupt almost any other poet by
depriving him of half of his stock in trade. Truly his
poems "balance ranks, colors, races, creeds and sexes."
He does not relegate the negro to the back yard of literature,
but lets him in on the ground floor.
But let none imagine that because Whitman includes the
weak as well as the mighty, the lowly and humble as well
as the high and haughty, the poor as well as the rich, the
black as well as the white, that he depreciates culture, re¬
finement and civilization. Although he widens the scope,
he does not lower the tone. True, he is "no dainty dolce
affettuoso." He hates pruriency, fastidiousness and sham.
What Walt Whitman Means to the Negro 37
He is "stuff'd with the stuff that is coarse and stuff'd with
the stuff that is fine*.''
I know that his bold, bald manner of expression some¬
times grates harshly upon the refined sensibilities of the age.
But he speaks with the unblushing frankness of nature. To
the pure all things are pure. '' L,eaves of Grass'' must not
be judged by isolated lines, but we must consider the general
drift of its purpose and meaning. Whitman does not de¬
spise the perfumeries, graces and adornments of life, but he
will not be intoxicated by their exhalations. He maintains
his soberness and sanity amid these enticing allurements.
" He says indifferently and alike, Hozv are you, friend? to the President at
his levee,
And he says, Good day my brother, to Cudge who hoes in the sugar-field,
And both understand him and know his speech is right."
And yet he urges us to preserve all the solid acquisitions of
civilization.
"Earn for the body and for the mind whatever inheres and goes forward."
" Produce great persons, the rest follows."
"Charity and personal force are the only investments worth anything."
All truly great souls spend themselves in selfless service.
Whitman would drag none down, but would lift all up. He
would ring in for the world "the nobler modes of life, with
purer manners, sweeter laws." He would bring mankind
everywhere '' flush'' with himself.
America has broken the shackles which bound four mil¬
lions of human beings to a degraded life. But the bondage
of the body is nothing compared with the slavery of the soul.
Whitman sounds the key-note of the higher emancipation.
A great poet is necessarily a great prophet. He sees farthest
because he has the most faith. The time must come when
color will not be interchanged for qualities. When all other
considerations will not wait on the query, "of what com¬
plexion is he ? ''—when men and women cease to make
graven images of their physical idiosyncrasies, and cease to
3§ Walt Whitman Fellowship Papers
bow down to them and serve them—then the accidental will
yield to the essential, the temporary and fleeting to those
things which abide.
The providence of God is mysterious and inscrutable, but
his ways are just and righteous altogether. Suffering and
sorrow have their place in divine economy. If the woe and
affliction through which this race have passed but lead to
the unfoldment of their latent esthetic and spiritual capa¬
bilities, then the glory of tribulation is theirs. But can it
be that they are to be forever the victims of contempt, cari¬
catured in literature, and despised in all the ennobling rela¬
tions of life ? Can it be for the purpose of making a race
despicable in the eyes of mankind that this people have en¬
dured so much and suffered so long ? Was it for this that
their ancestors were ruthlessly snatched from their native
land, where they basked in the sunshine of savage bliss and
were happy ? Was it for this that they endured the hellish
horrors of the middle passage ? that the ocean bed was cal-
cimined with the whiteness of human bones, and ocean cur¬
rents ran red with human blood ? Was it for this that they
groaned for three centuries under the task-masters' cruel
lash ? that their human instincts and upward aspirations
were brutalized and crushed ? Was it for this that babes
were inhumanly torn from mothers' breasts ? that the holy
sentiment of mother-love—that finest, that divinest, feeling
which God has embedded in the human bosom—was stifled
and smothered ? Was it for this that our Southland was
filled with sable Rachels "weeping for their children and
would not be comforted for they were not ? " Was it all for
this? In the name of God I ask, was it for this ?
Whitman points to a far higher destiny. He looks through
the most degraded externals and forecasts the glorious pos¬
sibilities of this people. He leads the negro from the slave
block and crowns him with everlasting honor and glory.
•' A man's body at auction,
(For before the war 1 often go to the slave-mart and watch the sale,)
What Walt Whitman Means to the Negro
39
I help the auctioneer, the sloven does not half know his business.
Gentlemen look on this wonder,
Whatever the bids of the bidders they cannot be high enough for it,
For it the globe lay preparing quintillions of years without one animal or
plant,
For it revolving cycles truly and steadily roll'd.
In this head the all-baffling brain,
In it and below it the makings of heroes,
Examine these limbs, red, black, or white, they are cunning in tendon
and nerve,
They shall be stript that you may see them.
Exquisite senses, life-lit eyes, pluck, volition,
Flakes of breast-muscle, pliant backbone and neck, flesh not flabby, good-
sized arms and legs,
And wonders within there yet.
Within there runs blood,
The same old blood ! the same red-running blood !
There swells and jets a heart, there all passions, desires, Teachings,
aspirations, . . . .
This is not only one man, this the father of those who shall be fathers in
their turns,
In him the start of populous states and rich republics,
Of him countless immortal lives with countless embodiments and enjoy¬
ments."
No negro, however humble his present station, can read
these lines without feeling his humanity stirring within
him, breeding wings wherewith to soar. Whitman has a
special meaning to the negro not only because of his literary
portrayal; he has positive lessons also. He inculcates the
lesson of ennobling self-esteem. He teaches the negro that
"there is no sweeter fat than sticks to his own bones." He
urges him to accept nothing that "insults his own soul."
"Long enough have you dream'd contemptible dreams,
Now I wash the gum from your eyes."
"Commence to-day to inure yourself to pluck, reality, self-esteem, definite-
ness, elevatedness."
Surely he would lead this race " upon a knoll."
He has also taught his fellow-men their duty concerning
the negro. Catching his inspiration from the hounded
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Walt Whitman Fellowship Papers
slave, he has given the golden rule a new form of statement
which will last as long as human sympathies endure:
"I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the
wounded person."
"Whoever degrades another degrades me."
He will accept nothing that all cannot have a counterpart
of on equal terms with himself. Listen to his '' Thought'':
"Of equality—as if it harm'd me giving others the same chances and rights
as myself—as if it were not indispensable to my own rights that
others possess the same."
These are the lessons that Whitman would teach the world.
But one asks, what did he do practically in his lifetime
for the negro ? Beyond the fact that he imbibed the anti-
slavery sentiment of his environments, and that this senti¬
ment distills throughout '' Leaves of Grass,'' I do not know.
Nor does it matter in the least. Too large for a class, he
gave himself to humanity. These are his words:
"I do n'ot give lectures or a little charity,
When I give, I give myself."
"I give nothing as duties, what others give as duties I give as living im¬
pulses."
He knows no race, but scatters his charity alike over all the
families of the earth. He believes in Kuclid's axiom that
the whole is greater than any of its parts. He does not love
a race, he loves mankind.
I am a Christian and believe in the saving merits of Jesus
Christ to redeem mankind, and to exalt them that are of low
degree. It is nevertheless true that
" In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind's concern is charity."
Whitman has given the largest human expression of this
virtue.
On this first meeting of the Walt Whitman Fellowship all
men can equally join in celebrating the merits of their great
Comrade, who, in robust integrity of soul, in intellectual
What Walt Whitman Means to the Negro 41
comprehension and power, in catholic range of sympathy,
and in spiritual illumination, is to be ranked among the
choicest of the sons of men.
The paths to the house I seek to make,
But leave to those who come the house itself.
Belief I sing, and preparation ;
As Life and Nature are not great with reference to the present only,
But greater still from what is yet to come.
Thou Mother With Thy Equal Brood.
(42)