Alexander Crummell’s Struggle

In the Book, Souls of Black Folks, DuBois gives a face to Fanon’s words- the face of Alexander Crummel.

Fanon’s struggle against colonialism gives birth to a new revolutionary subject. And this struggle allows him to tread on the path of self-discovery. DuBois’s Crummell treads on this path and unveils layers of this painful journey which makes him pass through the Temptation of Hate, despair and doubt. While this struggle doesn’t lead him to find his “place” on Earth, like Fanon’s revolutionary subject, however, Crummell becomes conscious of the forces of this bifurcated world. If nothing else, Crummell learns this bitter truth as stated by Fanon: “When I look for a man, I see a denouncement of man.”

And the struggle continues.

This journey begins from the day Crummell’s dreams are shattered. His bright days waiting ahead of him are stolen from him and made inaccessible to him.  The temptation of Hate takes control of his life. He begins to detest the veil which stands between him and his vision of Life.

A white hand is then extended for his help.

Crummell is then taken out of this temptation of Hate as he is admitted in a school. This black boy is understood as having emotion. The black skin is considered capable of possessing warm blood which pumps a heart that is filled with emotions such as hope and aspirations.

These hopes and aspirations are then met with a cruel reality. Temptation of doubt melts into despair. Crummell’s request of being a priest is rejected. He blames the institution, The General Theological Seminary of The Episcopal Church which refuses to admit a Negro and not the individuals that make up those very institutions. He calls them “calm, good men.” 

Then again, a white hand is extended for his help

Jhon Jay, the son of the father, allows him to preach to his black folks. Crummells is jolted back into life. And he begins to treat the “fatal weaknesses” of his people. These weaknesses in reality are defined by the colonizers. In  Crummell’s struggle to self-discovery, to finding his own place, he falls into the mistake of viewing his people with the gaze of the white man. He wants to cure them of a disease that is inflicted by the white man onto his people. This disease is only a disease in the eyes of a white man. And Crummell begins to see it as well.

The black man, however, is unaware of this. He refuses to be taught by Crummell. And then his Despair melts into Doubt. And he begins to doubt the very people for whom he is struggling. He begins to doubt the “destiny and capability of the race of his soul loved because it was his.” However, he doesn’t lose hope and continues to look for the best of the Negroes.

This time too, a white hand is extended for his help

Now, however, he refuses.

Because the help is wrapped in disgust and prejudice against the black souls. Bishop Onderdonk lays out the terms on which Crummel can continue teaching. His terms are nothing but preventing any Negreo priest sitting in his convention. This church which is run by the white man leaves no room for any coloured man to enter. Dignity and sacred are supposedly traits sacred to the white man only not black man.  Despite standing in this Valley of Humiliation, Crummell refuses to be humiliated. And so he enters the Valley of the Shadow of Death because now he had decided not to succumb to the terms of the white man. He wanted work on his own terms-terms of dignity.

So while Crummell continues to speak and influence others within the veil, but through his speech he is splitting the veil.  It is not just the splitting of the viel that is important but the extra ordinary effort it takes to see through the veil.

It appears that throughout this journey,  a white hand is extended through the other side of the veil- the side dominated by White- which stirs the black man in the right direction. It is, however, once the black man refuses to take help that he enters the final stage, the valley of shadow of death and he is able to let the revolutionary subject that Fanon has talked about to emerge out, who continues to struggle, but struggles on his own terms not those defined by the white man. Even though Crummel is denounced at every stage, sometimes by having his dreams crushed other times by being refused a respectable place in this world, he keeps walking.

Above all, this tale is a tribute to Alexander Crummell, whose struggle is marked by indomitable perseverance. Pulsating with emotion, this account is meant to acknowledge this unsung hero who continued to move forward, not because a future was certain but because stopping was not an option for him and for his people. Alexander Crummell is remembered for his courage and determination. He is remembered for he was forgotten.

“In another age he might have sat among the elders of the land in purple bordered toga; in another country mothers might have sung him to the cradles.”