In 1941, the African-American writer, Richard Wright, published 12 Million Black Voices: A Folk History of the Negro in the United States. The work consists of Wright’s wonderful prose combined with various pictures of African-Americans in the United States. In the work, Wright considers multiple important historical factors in the lives of African-Americans (Wright 1941).
By all means, one of the most important parts in their history was the beginnings of the slave trade. Their humanity did not protect them from the Puritans and others who would attempt to profit from their labor. He believes that their push into slavery is significant. Three hundred years of slavery resulted in significant damage to the blacks. He indicates that he is not sure how they could ever describe this experience or what it did to the slaves and their descendants. Their freedom from slavery was a crucial juncture in the history of the black person in the United States. However, once they were free, many of them became restless. Many felt the black race would not survive due to this restlessness. Just as slavery was a crucial historical event in that it upended them from their communities, so was freedom. He considers this migration to be a central aspect in the history of the African-American experience (Reilly 1982).
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It would be interesting to see how he would revamp this work in the aftermath of Martin Luther King’s ‘Promised Land’ speech. In this speech, King compares the blacks to the Hebrews who also wandered in search of a land (King 1968). One must question how Wright would see the experience once the promised land was within reach. Sadly, it was not in reach for King either. It does confirm though that Wright was correct in recognizing that slavery was not the only seminal event in the history of the African-Americans. Rather, the migration they endured since they lacked a homeland also was crucial.
- King, Martin Luther. 1968. ‘I See the Promised Land.’ http://www.mlkonline.net/promised.html
- Reilly, John M. 1982, October. Richard Wright Preaches the Nation: 12 Million Black Voices. In Black American Literature Forum. School of Education, Indiana State University.
- Wright, Richard. 1942. 12 Million Voices. New York: MacMillan.
