Early black nationalism and its moral demands

This article explores the rich universe of nationalist discourse among Black writers of the Jacksonian era, a spectrum that ran from emigration to assimilation, and which included nuanced ideas in between. In the 1820s and 1830s, public intellectuals like John B. Russwurm, Samuel Cornish, David Walker, Hosea Easton, and Maria Stewart worked to create a framework for creating a “nation within a nation” and at the same time a global community that transcended the political borders drawn by Whites. This article scrutinizes in particular the moral demands of this nationalist project. Movement leaders promoted stringent codes of conduct, focusing on personal disciplines as well as on one’s duties to the community at large. What emerges from examining this early fixation on civic virtue are some general insights on the project of self-emancipation and identity formation, particularly in the face of racial bigotry and economic precarity.