Harvey Bakari
Who famously said, “As for me, give me liberty or give me death”? Harvey Bakari, manager of African American Initiatives, answers his own question. “It’s Patrick Henry. He’s a patriot. He’s in our history books. Everybody knows him.”
“Now,” continues Bakari, “imagine an enslaved man standing in the middle of Duke of Gloucester Street publicly proclaiming, ‘Give me liberty or give me death.’”
It doesn’t sound quite the same, does it?
Patrick Henry and the enslaved man both want the same thing. But the consequences of that desire are very different for the African-American man.
That decisive fact, and African Americans’ centuries-long quest to achieve the full benefits of citizenship, is the basis for “Secret Keepers,” a February feature program developed by Bakari.
The title is borrowed from a letter found on the streets of Yorktown, Va., one day in 1793. Its contents revealed plans for an armed slave uprising. It was signed “secret keeper,” forever obscuring the true identity of the note’s author.
Although this uprising never materialized, the persistence of slavery in the decades after American independence ensured an abundance of fear and rumor about the possibility.
“Once that letter was discovered,” says Bakari, “the chain of secrecy was broken. He was writing to a friend in Charleston. That’s over 400 miles away. So this is the worst case scenario of fear of slaves learning to write because they would use it to plot a large rebellion.”
The existence of a conspiracy was the most obvious secret in the letter. But Bakari makes the argument that, despite a revolution fought in the name of liberty, African-Americans commonly had to conceal their desire for their own share of it.
“Secret keeper was the perfect metaphor that ties together the secret network, the secret desire for freedom and citizenship until a day would come where those desires could be proclaimed without threat of life,” says Bakari.
Everyone cheers for the emancipated slave, thinking that the story ends there. But freedom is only the first step toward full citizenship.
“When people are running away, they’re not simply running away from the whip,” says Bakari. “They may be running away to get away from the owner, but at some point you’re going to get hungry, so you have to make a living. You might get some land, but then you look around at your environment and think, ‘we need to change this.’”
Citizens enact change. And without the full rights of citizens—the franchise, access to resources, one’s civic identity—change is a tall order.
“Citizenship has a lot do with belonging as well as participation in the process,” says Bakari.
He sees the value in openly confronting the history of our racial divisions.
“In an oppressive environment, whether it’s slavery, a free black community or Jim Crow, one is not free to express one’s trues aspirations.”
“The history is such a painful history. Sometimes we forget how far we’ve come. But we need to create a space for people to contemplate some of the most difficult parts of who we are as Americans.”
Harvey wants to show that there were different roads to citizenship in American history.
“Secret Keepers” attempts to do just that, sampling moments in history where African-Americans probed the system looking for weaknesses that would grant them access.
Consider the 1655 case of Elizabeth Key, the Christian daughter of an African woman and an English man. Could the child of an Englishman be a slave? Could Christians enslave other Christians?
Racial codes were not automatic. Whenever enslaved persons undermined assumptions about their supposed lack of civilization, the slave society devised new codes to ensure its durability.
In the early years of the United States, there were proposals to send free blacks out of the country to places like Sierra Leone and Liberia, where they could create their own constitution, own land, perhaps flourish even though they had never actually been to Africa.
“We know people were debating this. You can imagine being in a black church someone might say, ‘hey, let’s go start all over again.’ Someone else might say, ‘No, I fought for this country, I’m going to stay.’” And the vast majority of African Americans had no interest in leaving the only land they had known. They were Americans.
“This is all part of our American identity. But citizenship was something very fragile because you have all these theories and laws, but someone could slip through those theories and disprove them,” says Bakari. “But in order to disprove them they had to also experience a social death.”
In other words, they would have to somehow shed their racial identity to gain those rights. Most commonly this might be accomplished by “passing” as white. A light-skinned black might be able to claim to be Native American or Italian or Irish, but in doing so would have to walk away from their African American heritage.
More than once Thomas Jefferson expressed thorough skepticism that it would ever be possible for black and white to coexist in America. “Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible lines of distinction between them,” he wrote in 1821. The Supreme Court seemed to affirm the sentiment in its Plessy v. Ferguson ruling in 1895, codifying “separate but equal” and generations of Jim Crow law.
The work of proving Jefferson wrong is unfinished.
Marshaela Collins says
This article was worded very well, making me think about how racsim reallly was
Lizzy Gort says
I don’t believe that making African American slaves should have been slaves. I would have wanted death since I didn’t have freedom. But truthfully without our past and all the hell they went through our world might not be the same. They fought for there freedom and if they didn’t back then would they still be the lower part and only Americans on top.
Melissa Perez says
Hearing this article read out loud to me made me realize so many things as well as feel unexpected emotions of graditude. I realized that if African Americans had done nothing and stayed in their “place” I wouldn’t be sitting at this table surrounded by people of different backgrounds,race,and social classes. I feel enternally gratefully to those who risked their lives to get us where we are today, living in freedom with rights.
bryanna peterson says
the writeing was very proper and fine. we are dealing with our histiory and what it means to be free the very point to be free.
Valerie says
“American independence ensured abundance of fear and rumor about the possibility” -fighting for more than freedom
Brandon Wisner says
The artical is racist. The racism is teribble and that many times if they have ant knowlege they will be killed.
Marissa Smith says
What stood out to me was when the author said that light skin African Americans could pass as italian, irish, or native american. I found that interesting because light skinned people could get away with being a different race but yet, if they were to say they were a different race they are treated better than african americans. African americans were and are treated poorly mainly because of their skin color. But it would change if you change your race. I found that interesting.
Jared Krestakos says
I’ve learned some new things I had not known.
Jakob Schuette says
After reading the about the early African-Americans and their quest for citienship , I wonder if they made the right decision by staying in The US insted of going to Africa. After all, things didn’t necessarily get easier for them.
Jonah Aungst says
The article was nicly organized and very informational.
Diego says
. “But freedom is only the first step toward full citizenship.” I belive when it says this it really opens my eyes to show me that freedom is the key to be a citizen of the united states.
Cheyenne Cole says
Very well written!! I enjoyed reading it! Very well spoken!!
Hector Redmond says
Nicely written
Abigail Hunter says
” Fighting for more than freedom ” in its self brings to mind that though our lives may be filled with the absolution , that with having freedom comes with it the feeling of being free . This is not always the case .
Being enslaved , means more then just being owned by someone ; it could mean being enslaved by your own thoughts and feelings .
Ronnie Hembree says
The article states at the end that we are still continuing to prove Jefferson wrong on how black and white would never be able to coexist. This way of thinking is backwards because in fact we do coexist, and for the most part pretty well. There are things here and there that need to be addressed, for example the police’s inability to treat colored people equally, but thinking that we are still trying to coexist just breeds anger that is misplaced and reverts us from where we came from and it is unnecessary.
Madison D. says
This article is very well written. It’s a real eye opener. Thank you
Brianna Coulter says
I appreciate the contrast made between freedom and actually achieving true citizenship, and you’re right, we do always want more, there is always room to improve.
Selenna . H says
Very beautifully written. It was really nice to read your insight on freedom and to hear your thoughts.
Shyann Fassett says
The article is well written and opens my eyes to the racism that went on back then. Its a shame he had to conceal his identity to gain recognition.
Sam Onan says
Very intriguing article.
Bethani says
This is a really good article. Learned a lot of things that I didn’t know. This is a great piece of reading for our Government class. Glad I got to read it!
Sergiy says
Very well written and very descriptive. Author did a great job explaining things.
Austin Bartlette says
I enjoyed reading this article, it was very fascinating.
Casey Boogaard says
I thoroughly enjoyed this article, it was put together fantastically and you pointed out some great details. You definitely know your stuff!
Tamika Henry says
Well written. Will be using this writing as the opening for my citizenship unit in my Government class. Thank you
Ralph Erickson says
I enjoy reading about colonial America. Your foundation should be complimented for the work it does!