Resistance, Humour and Truth in The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself

Abstract

Abolitionist discourse cordoned strict boundaries around the creativity of formerly enslaved people in its requirement of truth and corroboration of their accounts. Due to the interference of white editors at the time, some contemporary critical readership has fallen into attempts to unearth the “true” voice of the enslaved person, and in so doing have renewed the abolitionist denial of black creativity. The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself is a text acknowledged widely by critics as a clear example of white editor’s erasing black subjectivity and displacing the author’s voice (Brooks, 73). However, readings such as these perpetuate the denial of black creativity. Instead of reading practices that similarly limit the creativity of these authors, restricting their voices, these accounts can be read as sites of multiplying meaning, where the unbounded creativity of these authors can be seen. I will examine how the demand for truth plays into racializing discourse, and the discourses of slavery. I will then explore an alternative critical approach to such texts, that is exploratory rather than suspicious, using the work of Gilroy and Banner and applying it to Brown’s work in reference to Gates’ examination of Signifyin(g). This paper will explore how the multiplicity of meaning and the use of humour constitutes resistance against abolitionist, Enlightenment, and racializing discourses.