Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Stamped from the Beginning, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Discrimination, Racist Ideas, and Ignorance
Segregationists and Assimilationists vs. Antiracists
Media, Institutions, and the Transmission of Knowledge
The Invention of Blackness and Whiteness
The Illogic of Racism
Summary
Analysis
When announcing their plan to secede at the end of 1860, South Carolina legislators make reference to the Declaration of Independence. When Florida secedes, representatives declare that Black people have to be enslaved everywhere because otherwise they sink into crime and depravity. Southern states begin producing propaganda that claims Black people themselves support slavery and citing examples of fugitives who regretted fleeing enslavement. In reality, the number of Black Confederates was likely extremely small. By the early months of 1861 the country is headed for war, and by summer, thousands of fugitives have fled their plantations in order to join the Union army and fight against Southern enslavers. Ironically, Union forces strictly adhere to the Fugitive Slave Act and forcibly return most of the self-emancipated back to their enslavers.
Over the course of American history, the Declaration of Independence is put to very different uses by very different historical actors. In the leadup to the Civil War, proslavery Southern leaders use it to justify their secession from the Union. Yet at different points abolitionists and antiracist leaders also use the Declaration in service of arguments about human equality and freedom. Some might argue that the document’s versatility makes it powerful; others might say that it makes it meaningless.
Themes
In July of 1861, Lincoln reluctantly signs a bill establishing that the Union army had a right to seize any Confederate property—including enslaved Black people—as “contraband.” This leads to contraband camps being established where Black refugees from the South are kept. Health conditions in the camp are so poor that a quarter of all those housed there die. Nonetheless, conditions on plantations are also “abysmal,” and the numbers of enslaved people fleeing the Deep South continues to rise. This phenomenon finally starts dissuading people from believing the racist idea that Black people are submissive and “docile.”
While some historical accounts frame Lincoln and the Union as altruistic liberators of the enslaved, the reality that Kendi illuminates here is quite different. The Union Army may be fighting against the enslaving South, but this does not make it antiracist. Indeed, the disregard, neglect, and cruelty with which the Union Army treats those fleeing slavery exposes its lack of care about the wellbeing of the vulnerable Black people.
Themes
Meanwhile, in the South, a number of Confederate deserters begin to persuade other non-enslaver white people that wealthy enslavers are the true enemy. Another “Underground Railroad” even forms to help white Unionists escape the Deep South. Meanwhile, Northern Republicans pass more antislavery measures; by the summer of 1862, it is illegal for Union soldiers to force self-emancipated people back to enslavers, meaning that the Fugitive Slave Act is “effectively repealed.” On July 17, Lincoln passes the Second Confiscation Act, a law stating that any fugitive who manages to escape the Confederacy is free forever. Days later, Lincoln drafts a bill that comes to be known as the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation; it states that any enslaved person in any state is free.
While it may seem like Lincoln is finally acting in the interests of Black people here, Kendi is careful to point out that this strategy is beneficial for the Union Army itself. Repealing the Fugitive Slave Act and allowing those who escape the South to remain free significantly weakens the Confederacy and increases the supply of formerly enslaved Black people who will now fight for the Union.
Themes
Few take this early version of the Emancipation Proclamation seriously. Lincoln remains in favor of colonization, which earns him the scorn of both Garrison and Douglass. In 1862, Lincoln writes an article in the National Intelligencer clarifying that his primary intention is to save the union; for him, the issue of slavery is secondary. This triggers further denouncements from abolitionists. Yet in September, Lincoln issues Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Abolitionists are shocked and overjoyed. The Proclamation promises compensation to enslavers as long as they agree to uphold a slavery-free society. It also allows enslaved people to join the Union Army.
While some histories of the Civil War argue that Lincoln was acting to “save” the enslaved, here he personally admits that this is not the primary reason for his actions. Some might claim that Lincoln was only saying this in order to avoid alienating important allies or to seem more neutral in service of holding the nation together. But Kendi implies that, given the record of the rest of Lincoln’s political commitments, it might be wise to take Lincoln at his word.
Themes
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Lincoln is soon heralded as the Great Emancipator, although to some extent his actions are limited to making it more possible for enslaved people to risk seizing freedom on their own. Many Black Christians as well as the New England elite nonetheless shower Lincoln with praise. Garrison welcomes the Emancipation Proclamation, expresses admiration of Lincoln, and becomes a “tenacious Unionist.” Still, the Black-owned San Francisco journal Pacific Appeal criticizes Lincoln’s actions as a “halfway measure.”
Because white people like Lincoln are the ones in power during the Civil War, it is often said that white people choose to “free” the enslaved. However, from another perspective, it is the enslaved who fight for centuries to free themselves. Considering this other angle, Kendi suggests throughout his book, is an important dimension of antiracist history.
Themes
