Quiz 1 Arlt 100

Front 1

Classica Africana

Back 1

the body of scholarship concerned with African Americans and their contributions to the discipline of Classical Studies

Front 2

Professional African American classicists

Back 2

1) William Sanders Scarborough
2) Ruth Cave Flowers
3) Frank Snowden
4) Martin Brenal

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William Sanders Scarborough

Back 3

- first professional AA classicist
- 1852-1926
- advocated classical learning for AA for the intellectual evolution of blacks

Front 4

Ruth Cave Flowers

Back 4

- first female AA to graduate with a classics degree
- graduated in 1926
- teaches latin

Front 5

Frank Snowden

Back 5

- 1911-2007
- undergrad degree from Harvard in classics
- talked about old world vs new world in terms of race
- past cultures viewed AAs as equal because they weren;t racially stratifying

Front 6

Martin Bernal

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- professor of government at Cornell
- argued that Greek and Roman achievements due to African and Asiatic cultures

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African American Adaptations of Classical Myths

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- focuses on revisions of classical myths, themes, motifs, and figures with AA texts
- classical appropriation as part of a social commentary on race & slavery
- dismisses notion that classics is Eurocentric

Front 8

Emily Greenwood

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- classics professor at Yale
- focuses on intersection between classics and Caribbean literature

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Patrice Rankine

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- classics professor at Purdue
- examines the Ulysses motif within the writings of Ralph Ellison (the invisible man)

Front 10

James Tatum

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- classics professor at Dartmouth
- traces the intersection of AA literature and antiquity

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W.E.B. Dubois

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- why is there a vexed relationship between AAs and classics?
- proposed classical learning as means of racial uplift
- emphasized culture and behavior to integrate AAs
- 1868-1963

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Booker T. Washington

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- wanted to teach skills that can allow AAs to have economic mobility
- founded Tuskegee institute to teach industrial/ technical skills for AAs
- 1856-1915

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Metamorphoses

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- Ovid (8 AD)
- grandiose epic poem that contains independent tales linked together by the single theme of change
-tries to bring together Roman & Greek mythology

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Latona

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- had an affair with Zeus and was exiled until she landed on island of Deimos
- godess of motherhood with kids APollo and Artemis

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Apollo

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- god of arts, music, healing, and death
- lyre/ laurel leaves
- sent to kill Niobe's sons with arrows (far shooter)

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Artemis

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- godess of game/ hunt
- virginal godess
- slays Niobe's daughters

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Niobe

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- Queen of Thebes, protagonist of story, wife of Amphion
- punished by latona and loses all 14 kids and husband
- transformed into stone in a position of perpetual weeping: symbol of maternal loss

Front 18

Transformation in Niobe:

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- kisses dead sons wounds shows beginning of transformation into devoted mother
- turned to stone is full transformation into symbol of perpetual weeping

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Why are Apollo and Artemis killing?

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- directly matches Latona's kids with Niobe's
- Latona is godess of motherhood and can't kill others children

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What'd Niobe do wrong?

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- thinks she is above everyone
- brags about herself and various material qualities that make her godlike
- insults gods (strip laurels) and tries to be on gods level

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Areas that arrows pierced:

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- pierced through vitals (reinforces vulnerability)
- even though they dress nicely they're not above the gods

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Niobe's reaction to son's deaths:

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- shows motherly side
- depicted as protector with sides of tenderness
- she dies a little with sons

Front 23

Transformation to stone:

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- characteristic because she's lost everything
- punishment is symbol of perpetual sorrow/ maternal loss
- stone distances reader from connection with Niobe

Front 24

Phillis Wheatley

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- First AA to publish book (born in 1753)
- First AA woman to employ classical adaptation
- learned to read/ write from Wheatley family and learned latin/ Greek
- eventually granted freedom and moved to London

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Name/ date of Wheatley poem

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- Niobe in Distress for Her Children Slain by Apollo
- 1770

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Historical Context for Wheatley

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- Mass is first colony to establish slave trade (1620)
- first period of chattel slavery (1620-1800)
- servants, but bondage was not voluntary and beginning of Slave Codes which racialized slavery

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Slave Codes

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- laws in each state that defined the status of slaves as chattel (property) and the right of masters
- limited literacy, mobility, and assembly of slaves

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Salient Points of Niobe in Distress

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- metaphor to discuss the social realities of chattel slavery and female victimization
- undermines notion that discipline of classics is only for erudite males
- challenges argument that AA are racially/ intellectually inferior

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Connection between Ovid's Niobe and Wheatley

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- Wheatley separated from family early on
- Niobe as strong character with pride similar to Wheatley
- Niobe helpless to her punishment/ outcome

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Invocation of Muse

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- shows passion for literature and latin/ references Classica Africana
- shows affinity for latin tongue and mentions Ovid to show ability to engage with old texts
- literary convention that characterizes epic poem (wants to be in same company as other poets)

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Niobe's description

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- less intimidating and more graceful
- increases level of victimization and makes readers sympathize
- toning down Niobe's arrogance by foregrounding beauty

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Apollo/ Artemis vs. Niobids:

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- 2:14 ratio similar to large pop. of blacks who are taken control of by small pop. of whites
- empowers Latona and makes her seem like victimizer

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Ending of Wheatley's version

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- left alive because its more humanistic and allows readers to identify
- has to live with the grief of utter loss

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Context of Niobe in Wheatley's poem:

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- refers to Niobe as happier mother to make her seem loving and not regarding children as materials
- watches children sleep/ thinks them beautiful
- makes children seem innocent and makes Niobe's problem seem that she loves kids too much

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Perfectus Orator

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- the perfect orator
- Cicero

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Frederick Douglass

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- born into slavery in maryland in 1818
- abolitionist, orator, author, civil rights advocate
- best known for skillful use of oratory to advocate for the abolition of slavery
- first AA to employ Cicero motif within his writings to transform racial hierarchies in 19th century

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Douglass' narrative

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- chronicles Fred's experiences in intergenerational chattel bondage
- nonfiction autobiography written 1845
- uses oratory and language as modes of liberation, resistance, and personhood
- recited passages from the Columbian Orator to achieve a dignified style of expression and advance an indictment of America's greatest crime: slaveholding

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Chattel Slavery:

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- a form of bondage that conceives of a slave as a property item, brute, or thing
- a characteristic form of labor in ancient Greek and Roman societies, but developed in the New World alongside rigid racial hierarchy that didn't exist in antiquity

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2 periods of Chattel Slavery

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- 1620-1800: first slaves brought to America
- 1800-1865: antebellum period involving hardening of racial distinctions due to an increased fear of rebellion

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Nat Turner's Rebellion

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- slave led rebellion in 1831
- 56 whites killed
- fear of eduction (Turned= educated)
- few hundred slaves murdered as punishment

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John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry

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- white man raid in 1859
- tried to take over arsenal to start mutiny
- all killed by brought attention to problem

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Legal Context of Slavery

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laws prohibiting slaves' rights to vote, hold office, bear arms, etc.

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Dred Scott vs. Sanford

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- slave taken to free states and brought back, should he be free?
- federal government has no authority to regulate slavery within states
- ruled that people of AA descent were not US citizens and had no Constitutional rights

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19th Century AA masculinity

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- constructed AA males as naturally savage, servile, and brutal
- excluded from the realm of manhood: 1) no political participation, 2) no economic gain, 3) no education
- "Negroes have little invention" and are of the "lowest grade of humanity" (Morton)

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Douglass' Early Life

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- no connection to family; no strong social ties
- no material goods, bad food, no bed, barely any clothes
- legally blacks were killed and no one cared (not worth 1 penny)

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Slaves as Nonpersons

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- no age like horses
- feeding like pigs in troughs
- Old/Young Barney and horses

Front 47

Douglass' education

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- taught by Mrs. auld a little bit until Mr. Auld found out
- learned by Mr. Auld's disapproval that knowledge is key to liberating himself form salvery