Thoreau and Black Emigration

HOREAU 's hatred of slavery was as unqualified as his prose was forthright. Throughout his writings are allusions, passages, and whole essays insisting upon the absolute moral necessity of ending slavery in the United States. Because Thoreau chose moral truth over political expediency, what concerned him was not how slavery was to be ended but that it be ended immediately. "What is wanted," he demanded, "is men, not of policy, but of probity" who care more for justice than law.1 Although he frequently commented upon the injustices endured by slaves, he went no further to suggest what might become of blacks if and when slavery was abolished. Thoreau was, after all, a man of probity not policy; his greatest strengths as a social critic were his diagnoses. There is, however, an oblique reference in his journal which suggests that, at least for a time, he entertained the idea that black emigration could be a practical solution. Focusing on his views of slavery immediately after John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, this essay attempts to explain why Thoreau found emigration appealing in I859, years after radical antislavery proponents had discarded that strategy. By placing Thoreau in the context of his times through the use of newspapers and other relatively untapped contemporary sources, it is possible to develop fresh perspectives. The raid on Harpers Ferry in October of I859 Thoreau thought "the best news that America has ever heard."2 Few of his contemporaries, however, agreed with his unqualified praise for Brown. Many of Thoreau's journal entries soon after Brown's capture refute newspaper attempts to discredit Brown's actions and character.